Monday, October 24, 2011

Needlepoint Retreat this past weekend

I went to a needlepoint retreat this past weekend with a group of ladies from the needlepoint guild of which I am a member.  Weather was beautiful, company was great and food was delicious.

Got a good start of the Jean Smith canvas I took with me.  Grape Hyacinth, but looks a lot like bluebonnets to this native Texas stitcher.  The canvas is 13 count and the design is 8" by 8".  The picture above is with no stitches, around lunchtime on Friday.


And this picture is after working for about 2 days.  Not a lot of progress but at least there is a plan and I had some help picking out the threads.
Then on our way, my fellow stitcher Barbara and I stopped at Gerline's Quilt Shop in Giddings, and I picked up the following quilting fabric.  Don't know exactly what I will do with it but I bought 3 1/2 yards of the print and 1/2 yard of each of the other colors.  Bluebonnets again.  Love it!



I have the day off today, so it's back to stitching.  Updates later.

Sandy

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Another Finish

Wow, 2 finishes in one week.  I finished quilting the Valentine wallhanging quilt last night about 9:00.  Although about a month and a half late for this year's decorating, I'm still glad to have it finished. 




And now I move on to the Mystic Blues quilt which is pieced and pinned for hand quilting to begin.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Heritage Sampler Finished

I finished my Heritage Sampler!  It is lovely in person.

More on Heritage Sampler

I got called away for family matters yesterday, so I wanted to add to the post on the Heritage Sampler.  I used the following DMC colors:  Green (469), Blue (794), Pink (3772) and Gold (833).

Here are a few more close-up photos.


Center motif closeup


I enjoyed working on this piece so much that I promptly ordered Spanish Flair, by Lady K Needlearts, although a change in the designed color scheme will definitely have to happen.  Flamenco dancer red and black, I am most definitely NOT!  I'm thinking spring green's and blues with a little yellow thrown in.  Or maybe shades of purple and lilac? 


Next up is a Laura Perin freebie, I think Grandmother's Flower Garden, that our needlepoint guild, Lake Houston ANG, did a while ago.  I changed it up a bit and added another border.  It is mostly worked with silks, Splendor, Silk N'Colors, and I used some sequins and beads in it to add some sparkle.  I think this was a 2010 finish but I'm not sure, it could have been 2009.



Next up, is some quilting on my 2011 WIP list.  Tonight I think I can finish up the Valentine wallhanging quilt.  Oh well, I guess it will be 2012 before it gets hung up.  Then on to quilting the Mystic Stitch quilt, which has been hanging over my stairway for several years, all layered up and pinned and ready to quilt. 

Sandy

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Update to Heritage Sampler


Heritage Sampler, with band 4 started

As promised yesterday, I am posting an updated picture of the Heritage Sampler after spending quite a few hours working on it over this weekend.



This is a closeup of Band 4, with only the pink area finished.  Plus I almost finished the gold scallop at the bottom of Band 3 and added some more to Band 2.  My goal for this upcoming week is to completely finish Bands 2, 3 & 4, so I can move on to Band 5 next weekend.
 
One of my finishing projects on Saturday, was sewing this Birds of a Feather canvas onto the back of my jean jacket.  I just love the colors in it.

 Below is a closeup of the canvas.  I used Silk & Ivory threads on it.
Next up, a little Ebay purchase of a Cupid's Heart.  I think I am going to completely bead his wing and bow.  Wildflowers Flame looks good in person, but now looking at this picture, I may want to go with more of a true red.  We'll see.

Coming up soon, this little project will be finished in time to display this year!

Sandy

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Heritage Sampler by AuryTM

I was blog surfing one day in August 2009, when I came across AuryTM's blog when she first started posting this sampler, one section per month for 11 months.  I marked my calendar to be sure I did not forget to get each section.  She sells the pattern through Kelmscott Designs now, available from LNS.

http://www.kelmscottdesigns.com/aury-tm-designs.htm

I changed up the threads just slightly so that it would blend better in my home.  I am using DMC threads-Pink 3772, Green 469, Gold 833 & Blue 794.  Well, needless to say, it languished in my WIP pile, er one of my WIP piles, until this past week when I have spent some time with it. 


This picture is as of  Wednesday night, January 19th. 
 Band 1 completed.
 Band 2 laid out, but far from finished.  I ran out of the green floss before I could finish the last leaf, but have gone back now and filled that in.

Band 3 now has the green and blue finished, but no more of the pink done.    I've also made some good progress on Band 4.  I'll post an update picture after tomorrow's stitching.  BTW, I'm stitching it on 28 ct Jobelan Cameo Peach, but it is just a soft cream color.

I did spend some time doing some "finishing" of some 2010 finished projects, which I'll post pictures of tomorrow as well.  Just as a tease, one is a Birds of a Feather painted canvas, attached to the back of a jean jacket and another is a Fall Mill Hill Bead kit.

Until another day,

Sandy

Friday, January 21, 2011

Progress on Susannah King Sampler

It's been a busy week at work, but I have made some progress on my Susannah King Sampler. Even with a three-way bulb over my shoulder and an Ott Light, I still can't hardly see what I am doing, so it is very slow going.

I stitched the Eagle above the house, and the motifs to the left of the house.  I also finished a few more letters in the saying, which is stitched over 1 on 28 count linen (how do you 40 and 45 count stitchers do it?).  I also finished some more of the flowers around the border and the grass under the houses.


I realized after I stitched the chain stitch around the Eagle that it was supposed to be in the tan color, but I rather like the blue.  Sorry, Susannah, this is my sampler now and with all due respect to the integrity of your work, I'm just not going to change it.  Of course, I changed the left wing to be the same as the right wing.  The pattern called for it to be somewhat smaller, but my accountant brain just couldn't stand for it to not be a mirror image.  I asked my DS (15) what the proper word for that was, and his reply was "A-Count-Ant."
What would we do without teenagers to bring us down a notch or two?


Sunday, January 9, 2011

Pillow for single nephew


Sometime in 2009 I decided I wanted to stitch a canvas for a pillow for my single nephew, so I began thinking about what he would like.  He lives on the other side of town and we don't see him that often, so I was not even that sure of his tastes.  But I knew he had a brown leather sofa and was renovating his living room to more of a tan stucco with dark wood floors and eventually wanted to replace the spindles in his stairway with iron ones.  So I began designing this canvas with those things in mind.



Eventually, the canvas was finished with much silk thread, tan Very Velvet and Kreineik metallic threads and became this.



Then I found these fabrics and sewed the canvas into a pillow, adding an appropriate trim and fringe, and about 2 days before Christmas along with second trip to the fabric store, because I had underestimated the length of trim I would need (and of course, they no longer had the trim I originally bought), I had this:


I was very pleased with it and I think he liked it as well.

Sandy


Friday, January 7, 2011

Purse and checkbook

Last year, I stitched these two Lee canvases.  The larger one I made into an insert for this purse I sewed and I sewed the smaller one into this checkbook cover, that I made out of the same black fabric I used for the purse. 


The green in the center of the flowers is a petite very velvet and the pink for the flowers is Gloriana Silk, I think.  I stitched them in a way to maximize the variegation in the thread.  The purse is lined with a pink and white fabric with flowers and butterflies. 

Oh, and I have to add a picture of our furry girl in her Christmas dress.



And the four bunnies in our garage.  (Son's FFA project, but I'm already attached to them.)

It's been a long week.  Back to work after 2 weeks of vacation, so I'm off to bed.  More to come.

Sandy


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

One year older, still can't figure out Blogger

It's been over a year since I posted, and I just spent 30 minutes trying to figure out my password to sign back in.  My dh keeps telling me I need a list of logins and passwords and reluctantly I have to say he is right.

But I have been doing some serious stitching.  Let's start with what I am working on tonight, shall we?  It is a Susannah King Sampler from Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1824.  This is what it will eventually look like:


This is what it looks like today.




I can't even tell you when I started this, but I know it was 4 houses ago, because it matches the color scheme I had going in our first house about 28 years ago.  However, I still like it and have set a goal of finishing it in January. 

I promise to keep you posted.

Sandy