WIP Wednesday: Meet Sadie

Let me introduce you to Sadie. My productivity slowed a bit because I have had lots to do the past week--including the Library's chili cook off, cooking for and attending Cook Book Club (the best book club in the world!) and of course my stamping day! Work is also ratcheting up--working on three sets of reports at once, fun!--so I'm a little less inclined to stitch when I get home. Still, this is coming along.

I also received a call from my LNS and the threads I ordered to finish Charland's stocking came in. I'll see if I can sneak in a trip to pick them up--it's the Friends of the Library booksale this week. (Of course!)

WIP: More Stockings

I had been in a MWF blogging groove and somehow I've fallen down. I am looking at my calendar but I don't see anything that is obviously eating up my time... I have been stitching, however. And enjoying it--thinking about the girls and the Chrsitmasses they will have with these stockings.

They are walking as a matter of course now. And eating food the rest of us are eating. And they love being read to; you could read to them for hours. They're getting more exciting, almost like real people. {wink}

I have finished all of Charland's Stocking that I can without the artichoke thread I am awaiting.

So I picked up Sadie's Stocking. And then took a really crappy photo!

Oh, and I decided Special K is getting Charland's Stocking. She didn't have any hair when she was born and that angel looks bald. And we all remember that Sugar Rea had tons of dark brown hair, just like Sadie's angel. (If you don't remember, click on the "babies" label.) So that all worked itself out as I knew it would.

Thanks for stopping by!

WIP Wednesday

I continue to work on Charland's stocking. While watching the US Open, I've been concentrating on the little village on the bottom of the stocking. I have completed what I can of this section--I am waiting for the thread I ordered to come in. In the meantime, I've been filling in the dress. Getting close! With luck, you won't have to suffer through this stocking much longer. (The bad news is it will just be replaced by another!)

WIT: Work in Progress Thursday

On Tuesday, I saw Maggie. She is as hilarious as ever. At 93, she is fairly blind, and so now when you visit, she says, "It was nice to feel you." (As opposed to "nice to see you.") She can only get a general sense of people, so she thought the dude seemed really tall. The day after our visit she asked my aunt if the dude was taller than my cousin's husband. The dude is six feet, but my cousin's husband is 6' 8". Since the last time she really saw the dude, he was well into his forties, I can guarantee he hasn't suddenly shot up!

Yesterday, I saw my father's mother. She spent most of the visit complaining to my father about the "three bitches"  (her daughters) who put her in the home. She can't walk, and she has a problem using her hands now caused by carpal tunnel, so she is absolutely where she needs to be. At 94, she is still pretty sharp (her memory has those blank spots and stubborn revisions). These two fiesty old broads are demonstrating that old age isn't for sissies!

In the afternoon, I helped my mother watch the twins so my sister could take a nap. You know she needed that! So there wasn't enough time to show you what I've been up to.

I've been working on Bent Creek's Lighthouse (1998). I still love it!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday...Soldiering On

So much for finishing before the next Wednesday rolled around {cue sad trombone}. Not only did I not finish, I didn't even get to the part I was teasing you with. Instead of stitching, I:

• celebrated my anniversary with dinner at a restaurant who's motto was "Love is...getting fat together. So eat more!" (We did not know this when we planned to eat there.) 
• taking my second oldest niece to a minor league ball game in Delaware that went on f.o.r.e.v.e.r.
• making potato salad and watermelon feta salad (really, try it!) for Sunday dinner
• having my hair done 

Can that be it? Because I feel like I was run off my feet between last Wednesday and this! I'm sure there were lots of little things to do that didn't even make it to the calendar. 

Today, I continued work on Shining Star while I was getting a pedicure. The manicurist, who did not speak English as a first language, asked me about my stitching.

Mani: You like sewing?

Me: Yes.

Mani: You must have so much patience.

(I've talked about this before here.)

Mani: How long have you been working on this?

Me: This piece, or cross stitch generally?

Mani: Generally.

Me: 25 years.

Mani: You could be a teacher. Teach kids. You don't see that many people doing this now. Mostly old ladies, retired ladies.

Wow--two of my pet peeve stereotypes in one short conversation! 

Work in Progress Wednesday - Shining Star

Thank you! I'm so glad I've found the rest of you. Honestly, I've been thinking about writing that post for months but I was worried about being kicked off the stitching bloggers' internet. Now we all know.

(This happens to me at meetings all the time. We'll be sitting around the table getting nowhere with some problem or action item, and finally after ten minutes of everyone staring at the center of the table, I'll say the most obvious thing and this somehow works to move us along. And then afterwards, people come up to me and say, "Thank you for saying what everyone was thinking." So that is my role in life: saying the unsayable, being willing--or unmannered, unsticking things.)

Of course, now that puts the pressure on for me to really bring something to my WIP Wednesday post, doesn't it? I appear to have exhausted my resources by sharing the Christmas carols story.

I ran out of Forest Glade, the color I am using for the words. Used it all up. Even after I had read Mary Agnes's admonition to keep your dye lots and color numbers and "stop stitching several strands before you absolutely run out." But I kept on stitching with that color because: magical thinking! Of course it was going to be enough. I'd just be able to eke it out. 

I have a plan. You'll just have to wait until next Wednesday (or until I finish it, which I'm hoping will be before next Wednesday).

WIP Wednesday

As promised, Sam Sarah's Shining Star which is stitched on the called-for linen with the called-for colors with the exception of the variegated green used for the words. It called for DMC Camouflage which I couldn't find anywhere; I substituted GAST Forest Glade.

My family has always been big Christmas carol singers, though none of us has the voice for it. We're happy to do it anyway. (For a lot of us who can't carry a tune in a bucket, we happily don't hear ourselves that way.) One Christmas, we were bringing something to my aunt. I can't remember what or why four of us piled into the car to make the trip, but we started singing carols. Then we decided we should seranade my aunt, so we practiced three songs. When we got to her door and started singing, she freaked out. She didn't have anything to give these carolers (was she supposed to give them something, she wondered?) and they sounded too good to be anyone she knew. So we sang to her closed door for all three songs. Finally, we had to ring the doorbell and call out her name before she'd answer!

This is how it looked the last time I worked on it, January 2014.

WIP...Monday

I keep meaning to do a Work in Progress Wednesday post because I'm making progress. But two Wednesdays ago my phone died and for some reason, my will to be online died as well. And I couldn't take a photo without it. But I got a new battery* and all's right with the world. Then I missed a Wednesday for no reason whatsoever. Suddenly I realized next Wednesday is the last Wednesday of the month, time for the Smalls SAL. So here's my Work in Progress unalliteratively on Monday.

I've finished the lettering on Wedding Row by Bent Creek and just need to fill in the hearts and swirls and dingbats. I'm trying to decide if I should put in our wedding details (this is the dude's anniversary gift) but I think since it is an anniversary gift "Of my love be sure" is enough. What do you think? Names and wedding date? Initials and wedding date?

*You probably thought I just got a new phone. That's what the girl in the Verizon store said I needed to do because, you know, they don't fix phones or even sell batteries. But a recent reading of 37 Ways to Shrink Your Use of Plastic coupled with the dude's general anti-capitalist tendencies ("why do they make it so expensive to just fix things?") meant we went in a different direction.

Baby Samplers

Special K and Sugar Rea are turning one next month. Where does the time go? I thought I should get a move on, especially since the needlework shop is having a sale on framing. (The sale is a bonus; the drawback is the influx of framing pushing the three week turnaround to six or more weeks.) I had to get these suckers done!

Last weekend I went to the needlework shops looking for additional silk because I was not going to finish both these baby samplers with the thread I had left. My two local shops didn't have the Belle Soie Carnation that I was using, so I looked for something that would "go." I was pretty successful, I think.

The original pink silk I was using forms the boxes and the lettering. The overdyed is Waterlilies Apple Blossom.

What's that you say? Mistake? Why, yes, there is. You will be relieved to know that I noticed, thanks to some eagle-eyed friends on Facebook. (Can't find it? Here's a clue. They aren't a scheduled C-section for this year.) Fortunately, I had Sugar Rea's sampler with me, so I picked out my work--more on that in a moment--and used the Carnation to fix the error. The five became a four before it went in for framing.

So, picking out the work. Well, Sugar Rea's sampler looked like this after the emergency unpicking.

My sister decided she liked the variegated/pink combination better and because I am an amazing sister--with nothing else to do--I am changing it. I hope to get it to the shop before next weekend. Wish me luck!

Work in Progress Wedsnesday

I was musing on Pamela's blog (Hokkaido Kudasai) that the time difference is so striking. She had posted her Work in progress Wednesday, and I hadn't even posted my Tuesday post. It's a good thing there's a Throwback Thursday because when she and Sharon (and indeed when I post it on Sharon's site) see this, it will indeed be Thursday. Oh, it's a great big round world.

But I've only done very little on this piece since I last showed it. I finished the words and turned the corner on the inner border. I've added the second pink to the first flower. A little progress, but progress nonetheless.

Catching Up

Dear friends, many thanks for your enthusiasm about that soap dispenser. In addition to making the man crafts, I have been trying to keep up with two threads a night on that giant list of stitching projects. I did miss one out because I had to finish a book (American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food*) for book group.

On Tuesday, I put two threads into Blackbird's Friendship Sampler. This is how it looked last time I stitched it (scroll down). The basket is starting to come together, and while I stitched I've already been thinking about which friends I might document on this piece.

On Wednesday, I put a number of threads into Emerald Mermaid. She is probably etched into your memory, but in case, here's where we left her. I stitched a bit on her at stitching group, where people are so used to seeing her they don't even ooh and ahh anymore. I guess I'd better get a move on!

On Thursday, I finished the first band of the Thistle Sampler for my MIL's birthday and started the over one lettering. (Before, middle photo.) I was wondering if this should end up in the stack of over one stitching for summer, but then I realized the birthday IS this summer. I must press on.

On Saturday I put a couple of flowers and swirls in the Green Snowman's hill. (Last time I worked on it, here.) We're getting a little better on catching the green of this fabric. At least this time you can tell it is green! (That shadow is me, I took this in my office with a horrible overhead light and there was no escaping it.)

And on Sunday I did a little work on the Great Pumpkin Conspiracy. (Previously, on Stitch Bitch.) (Horrible photo but it's is pouring here.)

Back to the grindstone for me! Thanks for stopping by.

*Please read this book. It's not an easy read or terribly well-put-together, but it is so important for us to understand our food waste and work to change it, especially when we have such a high number of people who aren't getting enough to eat in our country. And we're not talking about that head of broccoli you bought to make yourself feel virtuous, and then never used because (ugh!) broccoli. (Not that I know anything about that.) But the millions of tons of food that never get harvested, don't make it past inspection (seriously, I would eat a curved cucumber; wouldn't you?), and get thrown away by grocers because it's too much of a hassle to mark down blemished food. Yeah that. Please.

New Month, New Goals

Things really did not go to plan this month. It's amazing how a few germs can throw a wrench in the best laid plans. Do not expect much.

Finish Emerald Mermaid--The latest on this project is that we are taking my mother on a trip for her birthday over Mother's Day weekend (next month for my British readers). That's going to be her present--and it's already costing me an arm and a leg--so she's getting the mermaid for Christmas. But I do want to have it framed during the May framing sale at my LNS. 
Smalls SAL--Finished just under the wire.
Cards: "Kid" cards, need three.--I made man cards, I made lovely cards for women (pictured) and I made kid's cards as needed. I'm calling this good.
And last but certainly not least Craft for Craft Month! And we know what happened with this. But be excited! Mancrafts, every Monday!

For April, back at the beginning of February, I did say I would get back to the 31 starts in 31 days this month. Of course April only has 30 days; still, I will be working on my multitude of projects this month, not necessarily in this order. 

1. Tall Guys Christmas, Holiday Sparrow 

2. Lady Gray, Lilybet
3. A Mind Independent & Free, Carriage House
4. Off the Deep End, Raise the Roof 
5.  Elizabethan Rose, Moss Creek
6. Majestic Rooster, Linda Jary 
7.  Treasured Tulips, Nutmeg Needle
8. 16th Century Knot Garden, Liz Turner Diehl 
9. Watercolor Geranium
10. A Fish Tail, Theresa Layman 
11.Shining Star, SamSarah

12. Tis the Season, Blackbird 
13. Merry and Bright, Heart's Content 
14. Love Me, Love My Dog, Mill Hill (Sticks)
15.  Leave a Light on, Teresa Layman
16.  Emerald Mermaid, Mirabilia
17. Marquoir, Bleu et Rouge
18. Santa kit, Dimensions 
19. St. Basil's Cathedral, Dimple's Designs

20. Friendship, Brightneedle

21. Green Snowman, Shepherd's Bush

22. Friendship Gathering, Blackbird Designs

23. June Morning, Good Huswife

24. Thistle, Charland Designs 

25. Great Pumpkin Conspiracy, Cross-Eyed Cricket 

26. Deruta Biscornu, Giulia Punti Antichi

27. Two Fine Houses,  Hands to Work

28. Smalls SAL

29. New start 1

30. New start 2

Diving into the WIP Pile and Surfacing

Here's the official list. The titles may change (though perhaps not as much as we might like) but the number seems pretty constant: in 2004: 20; 2007: 24. Here's the thing. I don't mind having these projects unfinished. Would I prefer they were finished? Sure. Would I want it to be so if it meant that stitching was akin to taking medicine--forcing yourself to do it to "feel better"? No, absolutely not. This is supposed to be fun, dammit!

1. Mirabilia, Christmas Elf (Really? I haven't worked on this for a year?)
   
2. Shepherd's Bush, Brett's Stocking
3. Moss Creek, Elizabethan Rose
4. Fancy Work, Noel Ornament
5. Heart in Hand, Monthly Mania (March, September, November, December)
6. Heartland House, Tree of Life Window
7. Good Huswife, Anna's Bird
8. Linda Jary, Majestic Rooster
9. Nutmeg Needle, Treasured Tulips
10. Hillside Samplings, Folk Art Threadkeep
11. Curtis Boehringer, Apple Sampler
12. Liz Turner Diehl, 16th Century Knot Garden
13. Bent Creek, Snowman Stocking
14. Watercolor Geranium
15. Theresa Layman, mermaid
16. Mirabilia, Emerald Mermaid (SAL)
17. BOAF, Scared Silly
18. Shepherd's Bush, Anna's Stocking
19. Corinne and Gigi, French marquoir
20. Dimensions, Santa kit
21. Dimples Designs, St. Basil's Cathedral
22. Heart's Content, Merry and Bright
23. Hardanger Napkin Rings

So...what was my point?

Oh, right. I'll be stitching for 10 hours on something from this list. The list is vaguely in order of how much there is left to stitch. Except those napkin rings. If I hadn't started them with a broken finger, I'd chuck 'em. I'm trying to decide if I should spend time on the ones that are closest to being done so I can have the pleasure of a finish or if I should start something from the bottom of the list which would feel like a new start. (Well, sort of.) Maybe I'll alternate each month. That ought to get me nowhere...

I know I said I would start the Sheepish Seasons as my new year start, but I failed to plan...I had hardly any of the threads. (I rectified this oversight today.) So instead, I started Lilybet Designs' Spots II. I like stitching spot samplers, you get a sense of satisfaction every time you finish a motif! I'll show you that tomorrow.

List #22: Worked on this Week

They promised us snow today, but instead my crocuses opened. (You'll note the lack of snow in this photo.) This was my first foray into gardening with bulbs. People in my neighborhood have lots of trouble with the squirrels and other wee beasts stealing them. Crocuses are apparently a favorite of our wildlife, but I bathed the bulbs in cayenne and sprinkled it liberally in the holes and successfully repelled all comers.

Turning to stitching, things have really devolved, people. I've cast the rotation aside entirely and taken up stitching for other people! What has the world come to?

• Mother's Day Roundabout by Heart in Hand Needlework. Started it on Saturday night while we were babysitting the kids and finished it on Monday (no sewing class this week, spring break). I've already sent it off for finishing.

• Why Men Fish by Sue Hillis Designs. My mother's birthday is in two weeks. I know she wants this for her mermaid bathroom, so it needs to be framed with glass. Why did I wait so long to start?
• 

• Even though we didn't have sewing class, I figured I could manage to put together a few strips of fabric on my own. I also quilted it. Don't look too closely, it took me a while to get the hang of the wavy lines; I stitched those with rayon thread so they'd stand out a bit more. I didn't put the wavy lines on the aqua strips because I like the geometric pattern too much to mess with it.
  

Poll: UFO Follow Up

Thirty four people took the poll on November 2, and owned up to roughly 600 projects on the go. So how did we get here? Whether the projects are actively being stitched on or are resting in a basket/rubbermaid tub/"The Pile," why have some of these projects become UFOs? (I'm calling them UFOs even though some people distinguish between UFOs and WIPs, and we're still only counting needlework projects.) This poll allows multiple choices. If you have other answers, please add them to the comments section. There's a love. (There are going to be lots of "other" answers. I couldn't even fit in all of my own responses when I made the poll. Like: "all that's left is backstitching...too much backstitching!")






By the way, thanks for sticking with me even though yesterday's post was cuckoo.

Searing Shoulder Pain and Clarity

My left shoulder is in unbelievable pain. Like an 8. Yeah, I used to not know what those pain numbers meant, then I had bunion surgery. I have been to the 10, and I know I'm not there yet. It's not a constant pain. It's worse when I breathe in and when I swallow hard. I have no loss of range of motion. On Monday, if I make it that long, I'll go see the former Phillies doc I work with. He's an orthopaedic surgeon, and he knows shoulders.

I didn't realize the poll would cause so much angst. A project is finished when you take the last stitch. If it has buttons and beads on the pattern, they must be added. And we're only counting, let's say, embroidery. So yes to punch needle, Theresa Layman French knot pieces, needlepoint, but no to knitting, quilting, sewing, and crochet. Just because I don't want to have to count the knitting, quilting, and sewing projects that are in the basement. As for the finished but unfinished projects--the ones that you have to make into pillows, ornaments, wall hangings, or framed pictures, we'll talk about them next week.

Of course, I am ashamed to say, I have to add the Mirabilia Christmas Fairy and the Theresa Layman mermaid to my count below. I don't, however, have to change my vote!

I went to Joann's today to pick up fabric for the Great Stocking Finishing project. Pictured here. The plaid goes with Elisabeth's stocking. The floral goes with Jillian's. Both are miniwale corduroy. I'm a little worried about the plaid, I prefer working with all over patterns. You know, because I suck at sewing...

Poll: Projects on the Go

Recently on Knitting Daily, they had a poll to see how many works in progress everyone has. Since I don't think Interweave will ever make "Stitching Daily" (though they do have "Beading Daily")--frankly, I'm not sure what there'd even be to say in Stitching Daily, though we may find out here this month--I thought I'd see how many projects we are talking about when we talk about things we've begun--just to be clear, you've had to have taken a stitch. (What you have kitted up doesn't count.)

I'll go first. I have: Anna’s Bird (Good Huswife), Elizabethan Rose (Moss Creek), Majestic Rooster (Eileen Bennett), Tree of Life Window (Heartland House), Watercolor Geraniums, Apple Sampler (Curtis Boehringer), Summer Place* (Cross Eyed Cricket), 18th Century Knot Garden (Liz Turner Diehl), Tall Flowers Sampler (Liberty Street Designs), Snowman Stocking (Bent Creek), Ancienne Marquior Bleu et Rouge (Gigi), St. Basil’s Cathedral (Dimples Designs), Hardanger Napkins (Stella Bjerg), Merry and Bright (Heart’s Content), Toy Gatherer (Shepherd’s Bush), Treasured Tulips (Nutmeg Needle), Santa kit on black fabric (this is from memory), Scared Silly (BOAF), Animal Samplings (Hillside Samplings), Jillian’s Stocking (Shepherd’s Bush), Noel ornament (Fancy Work).

I'm hoping I have not started anything else that I've forgotten about... Some of these are shockingly close to being finished. But if you had asked me how much I had to do on those, I would have told you that there were still weeks of stitching on everything. (I can just hear you saying, you mean she hasn't finished Toy Gatherer, yet? Doesn't she just have to put in the beads?)

Interestingly, while I was going through the archives, I realized I have held steady at the number of projects I have had on the go since 2004. Maybe I should just be a twenty at a time stitcher. I own it.

*I should retake that because I have more done on that one now. DD I have looked in the baskets, but I'm looking in the other places you suggested tonight! Then, we're buying a new camera, which we promised ourselves last Christmas.

When You See These Again, They'll be Finished!

These are the last two ornaments I have to stitch for my inlaws. Our big shipping deadline is Monday since they are going by slow boat. Well, actually the deadline has passed, but we're doing our best to send things sooner rather than later. Not like in the past, when the presents arrived in February...or not at all. (That was a tragedy. But we'll choose to ignore it.)

The last swirly Santa: Green Man
Barbara Sestock in Cross-Stitch Christmas: Handmade Heirlooms (2002)

Peace Tree by M Designs in the JCS Ornament issue 2004

Anna's Bird Progress Report

After 4 hours in the car with the dude to get to my first college friend's 40th birthday party (sounds like torture, right?) I made some significant progress on Anna's bird. I am anxious to finish this because I have the perfect place for it in the living room.

This is where I started with Anna's Bird:













Here is my progress after 10 hours. The black parts on the bird have now been stitched with black floss.

By the Sea, By the Sea...

I had such a wonderfully relaxing time in Maine. I spent my days with my toes in the ocean listening to the waves and gulls. I did get some stitching in too. After at least three sessions where I had to pull out way too many stitches, I did finish the bulk of the stitching on one hardanger napkin ring. I just have to weave a few bars and whip up a few dove's eyes. Unfortunately, I left my camera in NH where I took pictures of some of the projects I had stitched for my mother over the years. She found it and is sending it to me, but I'm afraid it will be a few more days until you can witness the fruits of my labors.

I also did a few stitches on Enchanted Alphabet, and started a project for my cousin's baby. I'm going to bring that with me next week when I travel to Nashville for a conference.

I should start on the second napkin ring too...