Late TUSAL and some progress

This spring has been incredibly turbulent for us! One thing after another. Last week, my brother-in-law had a stroke. It turned out to be a relatively small one. He was very lucky. It totally upset all of us though. Thankfully he is home now and doing well.
Anyhow, here is my very late TUSAL.

Lots of orange from the pumpkins and her hair.

I completely underestimated how long this design would take to complete. All of those swirling vines, etc take a lot of looking at the chart, which slows things down. The basket also took forever. I know there are many mistakes in that basket, but they will have to stay there! LOL!

For a long time, we have wanted to have chickens. Years ago when we moved in, there were chickens living on the property. They had basically gone wild. Needless to say, they did not meet with a good end with all the raccoons around here.
Keith was furloughed from his job for 3 weeks in April. This came as a surprise to us. We certainly were not ready for it. Financially we took quite a hit, but we made use of the time to construct a chicken coop. We had fun doing this!
We ordered the day-old chicks from McMurray Hatcheries. We ordered the "Rainbow Layers" mixture. Looking at them now, I cannot believe they came in this little box. Here I am picking them up at the Post Office.


 We got them April 1st, so they spent the first month of their lives in a plastic box in my foyer.

It is amazing how quickly they grow. They seem to double every other day. We were up to three containers before they were big enough to put them outside (Thank God)!

It was not without its harrowing moments!

Here they are at 4 weeks old, finally out in the coop.

The weather has been warm, so we have been experimenting with letting them out of the pen. Of course this required putting up fencing to keep them out of the neighbor's yard. We still have more areas to fence, but so far they seem to keep to the wooded areas in the yard. I have to keep an eye out for hawks though. We have quite a few of them here.
Here is a picture of Millie that I took this morning:

They will be 9 weeks old tomorrow. They should start laying eggs between 22 and 24 weeks. We should have eggs by October!

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Keith harvested the first honey of the season. We got about 40 bottles. We were hoping for more, but it seemed like a short spring for the flowers. Hopefully, we can harvest again around the 4th of July. The bees seem happy though.
Back soon!
Erica

Willie

We lost little Willie last night.
He has been my constant companion for almost 18 years. His favorite spot was the chair in my office.
He did have some medical problems, but until recently they were managed very well. We gave him his daily insulin, and he did very well until about 10 days ago.
He spent 5 days at the hospital. We brought him home last Thursday. We force fed him and nursed him all weekend, but it just didn't work.
I know his spirit is free now, but the chair behind me is empty, and I miss my little friend so much.
I hope he knew how much he was loved.

Willie

(1994 - 2012)

TUSAL, L'Automne and BLOGGER problems galore!

I know I am late with my TUSAL, but it has been total chaos around here! (More about that later).
Here it is:

All of the threads come from L'Autumne. I am just about 50% done with it.

Please ignore the purple thread across her sweater. Don't know how that got there!
This one is taking much longer than I thought it would, and I have to admit that I am starting to lose interest. I hope I can manage to keep going to the finish.
That sweater of hers, with its knit pattern nearly drove me insane!


I would have posted a few days ago but I am having so many problems with Blogger! I have been close to tears trying to get this published! I just hate their new interface. I thought I had it figured out, but once again, all my settings were changed. I can no longer use my regular browser. I have to go on using Google Chrome! 
I am no longer a Google fan!


So much has been going one here. Much to tell, but I will have to come back later.
Here's hoping this publishes!

TUSAL, Easter Parade, and some progress

Happy Spring everyone!

Here is my TUSAL:

Last week when it started to get warm, I dispersed my 2011 orts on the bushes around my house. I always hope the birds will use them for building their nests.

I do have a finish to announce!

Here is Easter Parade:

Easter Parade by Blackbird Designs - Stitched on 32ct Waterlily with GA Threads.

I loved stitching this one! Now I have to find the right frame. I have an attic full of frames and yet none of them seem right. This is an odd size. It will be tough to find one. I would like to stitch it again on 40ct to have it a little smaller.

I made a little progress on L'Automne. This is very slow going one over one. It is frustrating because I made a critical error somewhere early on. I thought I found it and fixed it, but no such luck. Don't you just hate it when the lines don't meet up! It is especially important in this as it is a line drawing! I have been improvising as I go along but I am afraid there is something unfixable looming out there! Not a good feeling.

Here is where I am:
Hope everyone enjoys the day out there! It is beautiful here in New York. Hope it is nice where you are.

Progress on "the girl with the orange hair" and a new start

Progress comes slowly when you are stitching one over one, but here she is:

Those viney bits take forever!

I decided to take a short break from her to stitch Easter Parade from Blackberry Designs.

I love this design! It reminds me of an old time post card.
I am stitching it on 32 count linen on Water Lily. Sometimes green can be an iffy choice, but in this case I think it works. It is a very pale green, and looks like spring. I am using the suggested G.A. Sampler Threads. I am still waiting for some threads to arrive, but this is what I have so far:

Really hard to tell the color from this, but I hope it will work. It's nice to use up a piece of linen from my stash for a change!

BTW - Blogger is absolutely giving me fits! It has changed all my settings. For some reason it will no longer use my normal browsers. The only way I could post this was through Google Chrome, and I do not have the ability to change anything. Something is really wrong here with Google! GOOGLE are you listening? I HATE THIS !

Tulip Patch is finished!

I should have posted this last week, but here it is:

I wanted to keep the Arts & Crafts style with the signature, so I used a Roycroft font for the initials.It was stitched on 40ct Ivory linen using Needlepoint Silks.

Now I will have to find a frame for it!

After that, I started L'Automne.

I have wanted to stitch this for a long time but have been put off by the huge size of it! As published, I would never be able to find wall space for it. I decided to stitch it one over one on 28 count, in Flax.

Even with that, it is pretty big. I am using 2 threads, making the stitch pop a bit, to give it a 3-d effect.

I have been a little surprised at the colors. I decided to use DMC, and it is coming out nothing like the picture! I knew it would be a bit different, but this is really quite a bit different. The colors are not so fall-like as in the picture. I am not sure how I like this just yet. I am reserving judgement for the moment.

I was unfortunately visited by the frogs! I think I have spent as much time frogging as I have stitching! LOL. This is what I have so far:

That hair! It is much redder in the picture. Here, it is flaming orange!

I cannot believe that it is March! I do love my calendar picture though. We have been getting this calendar every year from Wolf Creek in West Virginia, for years.

I just love the sheep!
March is going to be a difficult month for me. Besides being my birthday month (who wants to face that), I will be having some medical tests. This sort of thing should get easier as you get older, but I find that I have become very distrustful of the whole medical industry! I face them with great trepidation! We are still awaiting the results of our insurance appeal from my surgery last summer. I do not have high hopes for a good outcome. UGGH!

I will have to do a lot of stitching to counteract the stress!

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.