TUSAL and some Tulip Progress

Here is my February TUSAL installment:

The jar still looks a bit skimpy because I am still using a single thread.

I have made lots of progress on The Tulip Patch.

I should hopefully finish it up very soon. This one has been such fun to stitch!

I think it will be a tough one to frame though. The dimensions are pretty odd.

Today has to be just a fly-by posting. I will be back soon.

And They Sinned is FINISHED!!!

About time! Right!?!

I finished it up Friday evening.

I have never underestimated a piece as much as I did this one! I thought it would be done by Thanksgiving, Wrong! I thought it would be done by Christmas. Wrong! I thought I would finish it up in the days just after Christmas. Wrong. I thought for sure, it would be finished in January. Wrong!

Well I am glad it is finally done!

Here is a picture of my husband holding it up.


And They Sinned


I have no idea when I will get around to framing this one, so for now it will have to go into the box.


I want to thank all of you for your words of encouragement on this one! I appreciated every one of them!



I needed a change of pace for my next project. I chose The Tulip Patch from Barrack Samplers. I love the Arts and Crafts styling of it, and, and very importantly, it has no grass in it! None at all!


I am stitching it on 40 count cream linen. I was disappointed that I could not find the called for, Antique Cotton in 40ct. This will have to do. I am afraid it might look too whitish in the cream, but what can you do? I am stitching it with Needlepoint Silks.


I made a small start:


I also started knitting a sweater. It has been decades since I knitted anything, so I wanted to start with something very simple. I chose the Neckdown Cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple.


It got good reviews on Ravelry, so I decided to give it a try. I am knitting with Bartlett yarns from Maine. I haven't gotten very far yet, but this is where I am:


Hopefully it will look like a sweater when it is done! It's been a long time. Hope I get it right!

Happy stitching everyone!

TUSAL and Progress on ATS

Hi everybody!

We had a nice snowy weekend. The 6+ inches kept us inside for the most part.

Hope all of you enjoyed your weekend.

Here is my TUSAL. I am off to a good start for 2012.

As you can see, mostly green from all that grass found here
I am slowly creeping along. I have finished all the animals, but I still have some plants and a large three left to stitch, and of course lots and lots of grass!

Thank you for all of your encouraging comments! I love reading them. I have received some comments and email that I was not able to return because it was not enabled. Please know that I appreciate the time you took to email me. I only wish I could acknowledge you personally.

I will keep plugging away at it! My goal is to finish it in January. I hope I can make it!

Still here in the grass with And They Sinned

I take an occasional dip into the pond, but mostly my time has been spent in the grass!

I have a few more critters here to keep me company. There are still more animals and plants to stitch.
It is crawling along slowly.

I am sooooo ready for this one to be done!

btw ...I missed my blogiversary. It was last saturday. I find it so hard to believe that it has been 4 years since I started this blog! That's a lot of stitching!

Last post of 2011

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

I got some wonderful goodies!

My husband got me this bamboo floss chest from DMC!

The chest is surprisingly heavy, and just a bit hard to move, so I have it still sitting in the plastic until I can find a good place for it. Of course it is already jam-packed with my floss and many duplicates! I also got Country Life from the Scarlet Letter. This definitely goes on my 'to do" list!

Meanwhile of course, I am still stuck in the middle of the green sea!

Doesn't seem like I have made much progress from the last post. This green stripey fill-in just takes forever!

Here is the whole thing: When I finish filling in the last bit around the tree, I will be able to start the last page, and more green sea of course!

Considering that I have been working on ATS since July, I could have had a couple more 2011 finishes, but this will be a big one for 2012 when it is done.

This year went very quickly!

Here are my 2011 finishes :

I think my favorite was This is the Day from Hands to Work.

I don't typically make many resolutions, but here are a few:

• to frame more of my finishes (I didn't get one thing framed this year)!


• to finish my ornaments


• to knit a sweater - (I haven't knitted anything in decades)!


• to find a picture or icon of some sort to replace that ridiculous google "head" as my profile


• and of course "to get into shape" LOL Yeah right!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Christmas!

This year, Christmas is a little low key for us. A lot has happened this year, and frankly it has left us just exhausted.
We did however cut down our tree, Usually we go upstate, but this year, we went to Vernon, NJ to get it. Our small living room has very low ceilings, so sometimes it is a challenge to find the right shape tree. I like the tall skinny "Charlie Brown" trees, and Keith prefers a fuller tree. We wandered around until we finally found one.

Keith cut it down.
It is Christmas Eve, and there is still plenty of this to do:
More trips to the attic are needed. We still needs more ornaments on the tree. Here is how it looks so far:
The cats have the right idea! They don't let things stress them out.

Furrytail

Ollie

Merry Christmas everyone!

Some stitching and the LAST TUSAL of 2011!

Very hard to believe that the last new moon of 2011 has arrived!

Here is my jar:

I will wait until late winter and then sprinkle it about outside on the bushes. I hope the birds will use it in their nests.

A lot of it is filled with threads from this:
Just impossible to get a good shot of this!

I am stuck in this sea of green right now. IT IS TAKING FOREVER!!! I do not like this stripey bit in the grass at all! I like the other parts where the green looks more natural. I thought about taking it out, but I didn't want to do all that frogging. Not sure how I like the way this looks though.

Here is a close-up:

I have one more finish, to show you. I stitched First Snow, a freebie from The Drawn Thread. I love this design, but I am a little disappointed that the snow did not show up so well on the fabric I chose. It is on a pale blue. I may stitch this again on a raw linen or a gray color for more contrast.
I do not know how I am going to finish this one just yet.

TUSAL and Some Ornaments

Meant to post yesterday, but a Dell update software for my printer managed to crash my computer. My husband recovered it, but only after hours and hours of effort. I think the end may be near for this computer! (If you have a Dell AIO 962 printer, watch out for that update. It's a killer)!

Here is my November TUSAL along with the Thanksgiving gang.

Soon it will be time to replace my fall tablecloth with a more seasonal one, but I just refuse to decorate for Christmas before Dec 1st! I try to hold on to fall as long as I can!

I have been working on some ornaments from an oldie but goodie, Prairie Schooler (#10 Prairie Christmas) from 1985. I stitched the cat as designed:

Then I stitched it again to commemorate Max ,who we lost this year.
I always forget just how long it takes to finish these ornaments. I only finished one of them so far. Finishing is not my forte to be sure, but I think this one turned out ok!

We miss you Max!

These are terrible pictures today! Sorry about that. I don't seem to be able to take a good picture to save my life! They really look better in person than they do here.

My Thanksgiving Friends

It occurred to me that I really don't have many Thanksgiving decorations. I usually rely upon natural decorations, pine cones, acorns, etc. I have always wanted to stitch something appropriate, but I was never able to get the timing right.

I decided to take a break from And They Sinned, to work on these little guys.



Thanksgiving Friends is a design by Need'l Love from 1989. The Pilgrim Dolls were first published in 1989 and they were so popular that it was reprinted with the Indians and turkey in 1991.

The pattern called for 7 count Klostern. I only had a small piece of this which wasn't big enough. I got the idea to use a piece of burlap, which I had on hand. Admittedly, burlap is not the easiest fabric to work, but I got used to it as I went along. I like the rustic look of it for these designs.

The finishing was a bit fiddly. Their size was different than the base size given, so I had to play with it a bit. Not my forte, but by trial and error, I got it to work. I sewed solid fabrics to the backs and the stands.

Here's how they turned out:

Furrytail had to check them out of course!

By the way, I wanted to give a shout out to Sharon at It's Daffycat . She will be hosting the 2012 TUSAL. Hop on over to check it out!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

October TUSAL and an Update

My favorite month of the year is all too quickly coming to an end.

Here is my TUSAL for October. Doesn't look too impressive, probably due to muted colors and single strand threads .

I have continued working on And They Sinned. I have been in a bit of a funk about everything. I wasn't sure I wanted to continue on this, but it actually seemed easier to keep going, rather than work on something new.

I ran out of GAST Cherry Bark, so I couldn't finish the fence. I have ordered it, and hopefully will receive it in a day or two. I think maroon is an odd color for a fence, but that is what the design calls for.

This is where I left off.

It is slowly creeping along. Here is the whole thing.
Not the best picture to be sure! These long ones are tough to photograph!

I want to thank everyone for your encouragement and suggestions. There is still no progress on the medical bill front. The insurance company has paid less than 10% of the bills. We are appealing this claim, but I do not have high hopes. They seem to do exactly what they please. I don't know what we will do.

Medically, I guess I am making some progress because I am to start physical therapy next week. I am not looking forward to adding more expense to this situation, but I guess it represents some measure of progress.

The bees did very well all summer, and then suddenly one of the hives died in September. A couple of the others seem weak. Normally we have our largest honey harvest in the fall, but this year. we only got about 20 bottles. Keith wanted to leave the rest of the honey for the bees, to help them get through the winter. We now have only 4 hives. He is going to order 2 more in the spring. I hate to disappoint people who come looking for honey. We have regular customers now who have come to depend upon us. Unfortunately there are only 7 bottles left. (Sorry guys)!

Happy Halloween everyone!

A Troubling Time

The bills have started coming in from my back surgery as I knew they would. I was certainly not prepared for what I got however! I decided to have the surgery when things got so bad that I could no longer drive (due to working the clutch), or walk more than a short distance without assistance of some kind. We were told that the neurosurgeon was "out of network", but there were no neurosurgeons that had surgical privileges in my area. All the referrals that I got from my insurance company did not pan out. The one they gave me for my county turned out to be in his eighties and was no longer practicing surgery. The pain was getting worse fast, so at the urging of my husband, I decided to go ahead with it.

Had I known the cost however, I think I would have tried to get by with a cane, crutches, whatever. We have been presented with crushing six figure bills! This is truly life changing. My husband and I are within a few years of retiring, and have no idea how we can recover from this.

With a keystroke these insurance companies can change your life forever. We were told that we might have been better off if we had no insurance. We are people who have always paid our bills, but this! I have no idea what we will do. We are truly reeling from all of this! Has anyone out there had any experience with this sort of thing? Could use some advice.

During all this I have been plodding along with And they Sinned. Normally I find stitching to help with the stresses of daily life, but somehow this piece seems to be all wrapped up with the bad feelings of everything that is going on. I think it is worse because it is so huge. I am struggling to stick with it because I am afraid that if I leave it, I won't go back to it. I also worry that if I finish it, I will remember all this trouble everytime I look at it.

Has anyone else ever had this happen with a stitching piece? Did you finish it?

I finished up the tree, and a very weird tree it is! There are three different kinds of fruit growing on it, as well as acorns dropping out of it for the squirrel! I finished the peacocks. I like them! Now I am working on the alphabet. I am hoping I make quick progress here, so I will be encouraged to finish it.

This is what I have so far:

Today is the new moon, so time for the TUSAL. Here is my ever-growing little jar.
I hope all of you out there have nothing but good thoughts to associate with your stitching!

It is wonderful to have the power on again!

I'm BACK! from surgery, earthquake, hurricane, tornados, floods, etc!

August is my least favorite month! And that is during a regular year!

This August has been the worst I can ever remember!

First of all, I had to have back surgery on August 9th. The initial recovery was pretty gruesome, but I am doing better now. I am finally getting back to doing some stitching again. At first it was just too uncomfortable to sit in one place.

We were fairly lucky during the hurricane. We did lose power, and get water in our cellar, but no other major damage. It is hard to look at all the mess, and not be able to clean it up (I still am unable to bend)! We certainly fared much better than much of our hamlet. Parts had to be evacuated, and now they are inundated with water. This includes our post office. The streets are all still closed. I have no idea when we will get mail again! Travel was of course impossible with bridges and the NYS thruway closed. Thankfully outside of our hamlet things are getting back to normal.

That said, I actually have a little finish to show.

I finished the little Mill Hill ornament Diamond Holiday, from the Christmas Jewels series.

I finished the back very simply with some purple felt.
Normally I'm not much for beading, and I don't really like to stitch on the perforated paper, but this little ornament just appealed to me.

I think if I did it again though, I would substitute some 28ct linen for the paper, perhaps some blue or lavender would be nice.

I made a little progress on "And they sinned".
Please forgive the wrinkles. It is just too hard to hobble off to use my ironing board!

This is a very slow stitch! I have been in that blasted tree forever! I am working on the spotted snake that is crawling through it right now.

Lastly is my TUSAL. Here is, showing lots of color!
I hope all of you made out ok in the hurricane, and are recovering from that or whatever other crisis you are facing.

It's always something. Isn't it?

Another TUSAL and a finish!

Two new moons in one month took me by surprise!
I have been stitching, and here is my TUSAL jar to prove it.


I did finish the Shelburne Sampler. Actually, it has been finished for some time. I gave it a quick tea bath, but it didn't seem to do too much for it. Seems a bit more yellow, not particularly the look I was going for, but here's how it came out.

My new start is "And They Sinned". I have had my eye on this one for a while.

I am stitching it on 40 count lambswool with the suggested GAST threads.

This is what I have so far:
Actually, I am finding stitching on this to be a bit boring. There are many large areas of fill, which can be tough on 40 count. I will keeps going on it though. Maybe I will like it a little more as it takes shape.

July TUSAL and close to a finish

June came and went so very quickly

Here is my TUSAL, still full of flower thread from The Shelburne Sampler.

This sampler has taken way longer than I ever believed it would, but now, the end is finally in sight. I have to finish one little tree, stitch 4 crowns, finish the border, and do the initials.

Wow! Maybe the end isn't all that close after all!

Some projects just seem to take longer than others.

Here is where it stands now:

Sorry about the wrinkles!

Hope everyone has a great time this weekend. It won't be such a fun one for us. We will be travelling to go to a memorial service. Not looking forward to the holiday traffic, but what can you do?

Will post just as soon as I finish this one. Soon I hope!