Whole lotta stitchin' goin' on!

I keep saying to myself, "After this small project I'll post a blog".  Now here it's been almost two months.  Where does the time go?  Village of Hawk Run Hollow is coming along.  I know my SAL partner is getting irritated with my snail-like pace and I do apologize.  Five blocks are done.

I took a break from Village after the forest block and finally finished Red Snowman.

And then I went on a Shepherd's Bush small stitchathon.

I finally got my Athena framed that's been in my closet for oh so many years and took it to a local artist to have the mat painted.  She's no Jill Rensel but it's good enough to put up in my big fat Greek restaurant.

Speaking of Jill Rensel, I decided to send her my Halloween Garden and three Lavender and Lace angels, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.  THAT'S going to be exciting to get up on my wall and I will post pics soon.  Until then, happy blogging and happy stitching!

Four blocks down, eight to go, OY!

Green is one of my favorite colors so stitching block five of Village of Hawk Run Hollow was a fun easy stitch.

I'm stitching out of order so here is a picture of what I've done so far.  I know, one of the trees isn't finished in block two but I HATED stitching the first one so much that I'm saving for a day when my mood is blissful.

My dear son, Theo, has been waiting two years for his school trip to Spain and turned 17 years old on the plane.  We had an early birthday party for him and everyone had a good time.  Happy birthday Cocoa Pop!

And one last picture.  All you pet people know that sometimes we have more pictures of our fur babies than our real babies.  Here's my little Nikko getting hydrated for the party.

Thank you for looking at my blog and I'm off to stitch block three.  May the frogs stay away!!

WIP a tee doo da!

   As a stitchaholic, I realize I need therapy.  Maybe not in-patient, but certainly some counseling.  I just can't seem to stay on the same project.  I try but fail.  Just like dieting.  After a week, I'm done.  My Village of Hawk Run Hollow SAL came to a screeching halt.  Tired of stitching on block two (and dreading that second willow tree), I moved on to block four with Lori.  But I forgot that in an effort to spread out the cost of the silks, I had only purchased 1/2 of the silks.  Quickly I ordered them but my haste  is not being shared by my INS.  Guess I should have mentioned to her it was AN EMERGENCY!!  Here's where I had to stop on Village.

     So I picked up Frances Eden.  I just love this project.

     THEN I received The Proper Stitch in the mail.  I've just been thumbing through it looking at all the beautiful stitches I've never tried.  Well, guess I'll try them.  I started the never ending sampler.  No chart.  Three colors of silks and 36 ct Vintage Lentil.  Once a week I will put some stitches in her.  No pressure.  Just a relaxing piece for me to work on when I want.  And I won't feel guilty about how much I have left to do because I can end it at anytime.  

    The next stitch in the book is reversible cross.  The plan is to stitch it down the right side and stitch "reversible" (probably over one) down the side. 


   Once again, thank you for looking and happy stitching!

Some finishes!

This is my first post from my new computer.  It's an Apple and we have a love/hate relationship.  It's taken me 15 minutes to figure out how to get pictures from my iPhone to the computer and surely when I try to load them on this blog I will have to hunt them down in the depths of this device.  Mystery sampler got framed!

I moved on to Eulalie Long by Plum Street Samplers.  This was a fun stitch and also my first PSS design even though I have loads of them in my stash.

And here she is framed.  I used a fillet as well to give the framer some more of my husband's hard earned money.

Next up is the beautiful and highly coveted Frances Eden.  This is what she will look like when I'm finished in 10 years.  Lol

And this is what I have done so far.  Well, actually I have started a bit on the cloud as well but you get the picture.  This is my first time stitching on 40 ct linen.  It's challenging but I love the color of the linen and will not start over.  I do have a concern that the verse at the bottom is done over one.  Either I will use a 1/2 cross stitch or purchase a finer silk. Oh ya, I'm stitching this in all over dyed silks chosen by Theresa from Shakespeare's Peddler.  Frances is going to be glorious!

One last thing. A friend of mine has an amazing job and gets to travel all over the world.  Last month she went to Turkey and I asked for a tablecloth.  Just a little something something for my house.  Hee hee.  This is what she brought back for me.  Thud!

Thank you for looking at my blog.  I do read each comment and appreciate your words.  Till next time, happy stitching and blogging, my friends.

A finale, a finish, and a find.

     Apologies for taking such a long break between posts.  Jill was finally able to get And They Sinned back to me and I must say when I opened that box I was so pleased.  Samplers are not traditionally matted and especially such a large sampler but I am glad I did it.  Here she is in all her glory.

     Occasionally I get the urge to shop when I'm in my pj's.  eBay was calling my name one night and I found this lovely sampler on eBay UK.  I don't recall the name of it but the original is hanging in a museum somewhere and this is a reproduction of it, perhaps by Permin of Copenhagen.  I requested that it be sent without the frame so I get to go shopping again.  Oh what a shame.    

     This piece is massive and judging by the tiles on the floor, looks to be three feet long.  Hopefully those aren't four inch tiles.  Lol!
     I have been getting some stitching done while waiting to get back to Village of Hawk Run Hollow with my SAL partner, Lori, who is stabbing her needle in a model.  Better than a model stabbing a needle in her.  Hee hee hee.  This is Birds of a Feather, a mystery sampler by With They Needle & Thread.  It was stitched using the silk conversion on the Shakespeare's Peddler blog.  The large flowers were supposed to be burgundy but I wanted something more fru fruey.  I'm such a girly girl. 
     Thank you for checking in and leaving any comments.  This is the last post I will make on my PC then I have to cut the cord and switch over to the Mac I just bought.  You may never hear from me again...........

                                                           

Half is better than none!

Today's email brought me some relief on And They Sinned.  Jill still has it.  It has not been lost, stolen, damaged, or forgotten about.  Those nightmares are really interupting my sleep!  She has cut the mattes and prepared the frame.  ATS is stretched and she is ready to embellish.  Oh, I can't wait to see the good stuff!  I'm even having my walls painted before hanging it up.  Must be the perfect background!  Good things come to those who wait....Patience is a virtue....Good things come via the UPS truck....Good things come in large packages!  THIS IS KILLING ME!!!  AURGH!!!!

Impatiently waiting, and waiting, and waiting....

     After begging Jill Rensel for months, she has agreed to frame And They Sinned.  Because I stitched it on 35 ct linen it only ended up being 48 inches long.  Now comes the hard part.  Earlier, she had sent me a picture of three frames she thought would be appropriate for the design.  Pictured below. 

     I really couldn't make up my mind on which one so I left it up to the ladies in my favorite Facebook group, The Superstar Serial Starters and Divine Disciplined Divas Club.  They couldn't make up my mind either!

     Do you remember the horrific Santa Anna winds out west this fall?  There were semi trucks flipped over, houses damaged, trees everywhere.  My ATS was in route via snail mail when all this was happening.  Yikes!  Talk about anxiety!  It could have easily blown away and never been seen again.  I've had several dreams about it and they never end well.

     Jill emailed me and told me it arrived safely and also included the following photos.  It is her choice of mattes (which I love) and two different frames. 

     This feels like a Goldilocks moment for me.  The top frame is too dark, the bottom frame could be a bit darker.  Maybe Jill will find something  just right.  There will be some carving and hopefully a small bit of painting on the mattes as well.  Many people advised me that 1.  This piece is too large to matte.  2. Traditionally, samplers aren't matted.  3.  The vine border serves the purpose of any embellishment it might need.  The opinions of others are appreciated but in the end this will be hanging in my home and I have envisioned Jill's artistic touch on this since I first picked it up.  There is a perfect spot in my home to hang it as well.

     Did someone say, "New Start"?  I seem to have gone into a frenzy with what to stitch next.  The girls in the above named group aren't helping any bit.  They keep chanting, "Whatcha gonna start, Dawn?  Whatcha gonna start?"  Never mind the dozen WIPs I already have.  I sunk my needle into A Mystery Sampler, Village of Hawk Run Hollow, stitched a cute sampler for my bestie stitching buddy, stitched and ruined a cute sampler for my bestie stitching buddy, (note* Blow torches and linen DO NOT MIX), have Ann Grant still on my mind, and am ignoring Red Snowman. 

     Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a wonderful, careful, cozy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.  Cheers, Dawn
 

Happiest girl in the whole USA!

     And They Sinned is finished!!  Yippee!  Hip Hip Hooray!!  Celebration!  This was finished on Sunday night but I have been basking in glory and not wanting to do any work or blogging.  Just some stats before the pictures.  You gotta take the bad with the good.  Hee hee.  Total time to stitch it was nine months, three days or 390 hours.  Not bad as I had read somewhere it took someone 500 hours to stitch.  I kept track of my time by tally marks in one of those little mole skin books.  You sure can tell when I got my Ott Lite as my time went from 10-15 hours a week to 15-22 hours a week.  What a difference a nice light can make.  The bottom green section took me more than two months to stitch.  It is 9 1/2 inches wide by just under 48 inches long, stitched on 35 ct linen with one strand of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads.  Okay, enough of the blah blah blah and on to the good stuff.

     I love the big cloud at the top with the sun shining down on Adam and Eve. 

     The verse is my favorite part of the sampler.  I redesigned it by adding colors to it, centering it, and adding the butterflies.  The lion and the lamb are so cute!  I also changed the girls hair color to resemble my own. 

     Thank you to Claudia for asking me if I was going to stitch all 10 rows of grass under the lion.  Heck NO!!  Moving on to bigger pastures.  Literally.

     If I were to stitch this again I would have left out the darker green color of the pasture.  The lighter green would have made it easier to see the motifs. 

      Thank you so much for everyone's support during the making of this project.  From the very beginning I had everyone cheering for me.  Patricia Franklin helped me find the perfect linen via The Internet.  Claudia talked some sense into me several times and Lori Fournier was my rock.  Poor Lori heard me wailing and whining for the last two months about my grass.  If I forgot to mention anyone I'll just say that I've been up for 20 hours and am having a Rick Perry moment!  Till next time ladies, happy stitching and happy blogging.

The Penultimate Post

     This will be the last post with progress pictures of And They Sinned.  The next post will show a completed piece.  Did I just write that?  A finished piece?  Yes, I am patting myself on the back.  I have never stitched anything this large and certainly have never started a piece and finished it without starting another project, and then another, and then another!  Ha ha.  Actually I did start two other pieces but only worked on each one for a day, just to stroke some silk. 

     There is a fruit tree that needs to be stitched in the corner and a few flower motifs.  I'm going to be optimistic and even stitch the date 11-11 before I fill in everything with grass.  The excitement is overwhelming me.  As I'm stitching grass though my mind is always wandering to other projects.  It feels like not thinking of your partner while being intimate.  It feels like cheating...but it's so fun!  Till next time, happy stitching ladies.

You might bubble but I'm gonna eat you!

     Stitching all this grass is making me an angry woman!  Some of you may know that I am married to a Greek God.  He came to the United States when he was 20 years old so he has the sexy accent and everything.  He tells me stories of his hometown periodically and some are true, some are just wives tales.  This one is true.

     There was an old man who went to the market to buy some feta cheese.  Back in the day cheese was kept wrapped in paper.  He bought a block of the best feta he could afford and went home to have his dinner and enjoy his fabulous cheese.  Alas!  When he took a bite of it and began chewing it started to bubble in his mouth.  The person who sold him the cheese at the market accidentally gave him soap!  The old man grew angry because soap was cheap and he had spend a lot of money on this cheesy soap.  Hence, he said to himself, "You might bubble but I'm still gonna eat you!" 

     I love that story and refer to it often when I make a mistake but have to live with it and forge on, much like this grass.  One day it will be over but I read about one woman who stitched all the green in one color horizontally, which would be much quicker than this diagonal stitching is.  Then there is another woman who didn't stitch the green at all and it looks wonderful.  Also my friend Lori stitched hers with one color of green in 1/2 stitches and it looks great as well. 

     Well I'll get off my soapbox (hee hee) and actually post a pic of my progress.  Not too much more to go now!  Till next time ladies, enjoy your blogging and your stitching.

What have you been doing for 18 days? Grass.

     It seems like I'm never going to get this project done.  Here's the latest on And They Sinned.  Thank you Evan for helping me out, oh and Nikko too.

     Judging by my stitch speed (which is snail-like) and how much is left, I think I have about one more month to go.  The boy and the tree were fun to stitch and the pond was as well.  Here's a close up of the bottom.

     My dear friend Lori changed the colors of her geese and I liked it so much I decided to do the same.  The big swan is stitched with Pebble and I dug into my stash to find a peachy/pink color for the little guy on the left.  He's stitched with Apricot Blush although he looks more white in the picture.  The plan is to move up and stitch more motifs and then stitch grass, grass, and more grass. 
     My left hand is getting tingly while stitching this.  It's really getting heavy.  I'm not going to know how to act when I actually get to stitch something normal.  Thank you, my dear followers for your encouraging words and support you've given me during this project.  Until next time, happy stitching ladies!

I haven't done this much grass since.....

     Apparently 12 days is the magic number because the right side of the grass took another 12 days.  I have three more sections the same size to do so 24 x 3 = 72.  This sampler will be done in 72 days which is December 1st.  That is my goal. 

     My aunt passed away this past week and it was sad news because she was only 56 years old.  She had a hard, undeserving life, losing her husband to brain cancer when he was in his early 40's, leaving her to raise their son alone.  She then developed crippling rheumatoid arthritis and a couple years ago she had to be placed in a nursing home because of it.  Through all of this she remained bubbly and optimistic.  She will be missed.  My dad and step-mom came for the funeral all the way from Texas so it was nice to see them, the silver lining of a dark cloud.  No stitching was done while they were here so I have some catching up to do.

     My family thinks I am crazy when I say, "I'm going to go do some grass."  My husband said, "So am I" and got the lawn mower out.  He thought I was going to help him but when I disappeared into the house he just chuckled.  Till next time happy stitching!

     

     

Watching grass grow....

     This took 12 days to stitch.  There's sooo much grass!  A part of me regrets stitching the grass as I've seen others who haven't and their samplers are beautiful.  I just felt like after my conversation with Vilma, I had to stitch it as she intended it.  She told me on the phone that the grass is supposed to be a pasture.  Anyway, enough babbling, here she is.

     The right side should take a week more to stitch.  This would be 40 rows stitched and there are 160 total which means the finish line is 10 weeks away.  No, I'm not excited at all!  Ha ha.  Maybe I will kick it into high gear and get her done in six.  The grass stitching is mindless and I don't really have to pay attention too much to what I am doing.

     The list is long for what will be started after this is finished.  Ann Grant is at the top, for sure.  My dear Facebook friend Adana gifted me the Frances Eden sampler which I have been hunting for for nearly a year so that is going to be started as long as I can figure out a silk conversion.  WIPs are calling my name too.  There is Red Snowman, Quaker Diamonds, and another sampler that I don't recall the name of that isn't as fun to stitch as I thought it would be. 

     Check back in a few weeks my fabulous followers and until then, happy stitching.

This feels like a finish...but it's not!

I've been busy stitching what appears to be The Garden of Eden.  Here it is.

I changed the color of the lion to a lighter shade so his mane would stand out more.  There are supposed to be 10 rows of grass under him but I think five is enough.  (Thank you Claudia for the idea.)  Here is the whole sampler so far, pardon the wrinkles.  Gosh, I hope they iron out later!

The big green bottom is next and will take me at least two months to do.  I fell off the wagon last weekend and badly wanted to stitch something else so I kitted up Mother's Honor Due by Blackbird Designs.  I'm not stitching the verse, just the floral.  Here she is.

After stitching on it for two days I missed ATS and picked it back up again.  Sometimes we just need to see different colors and feel different fibers.  My silk petting is over and I am happy.  It sort of felt like I was cheating on Adam and Eve and I felt very sinful.  It was fun!  Till next time, happy stitching ladies!