On a Roll

 I showed you the little stockings I wanted to finally finish. And I did! I got them all done. They have been laying around in my sewing room forever. Long ago I did finishing for a needlework shop. At one time I felt like I could finish Christmas stockings in my sleep. 

This is how they turned out:

DH sent them off yesterday in a box of gifts for the grandchildren. I put a candy cane in each one. Two of them are more suited to California weather than where we live. DS#2 was going to get a tree this past Sunday. Our tree isn't usually up until the 15th unless I throw a hissy fit. I may change out the stitched samplers for Christmas ones and change the pillows on the sofa while I'm at it.

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Garden Thief

 I went back to working on the Garden Thief. He is now all done except for his ears. I found some black and white dupioni check that I could use in his ears instead of sixty two carrots. But now I have to see if I can wrangle the shape. BFF gave me some Soft Fuse that I think will help with the finishing. I have to find the Soft Fuse first!

He is stuffed with black roving. I like his bunny tail.

I think he needs some black button eyes. He'll look a lot more like a bunny when the ears are done. 

I am so close to a finish on this whole project. Wow. I'll have to take a picture with all the pieces of the Garden Thief together. 

I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit before I go walking. Right now we are at 30 degrees. Let's get up to freezing!

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Now What

 I am going to finish up the latest page of Come to the Garden today.

I want to get more old WIPs finished. I found several Christmas ornaments I stitched that need to be finished into small stockings. A couple of them are from a retreat a few years ago. I think this one was from a Dying to Stitch retreat in Virginia Beach. 

It is supposed to snow later today. I got my walking in. I've been lazy and haven't walked for two days. 

Time for lunch.

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WIP Done

 I finished the Mermaid Tapestry! I started this donkeys years ago. I kept getting lost on the chart. But I was in a mood to work on this and even found it in the basket of shame. It's not perfect but it is done!

Love it! 

Thanksgiving worked out okay. The turkey breast was very easy to cook but was done an hour before I expected. The stuffing was way too salty. Store brand cranberry sauce was good, I was full so I couldn't eat my pumpkin roll. I'll make up for that today.

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Sotema

 I like watching YouTube videos by Katie Strachan. She shows the caskets she has made. She really like linen in the color Russian Teacakes. She had a giveaway of that linen. I entered but I didn't win. I thought I would buy some. I looked on the Needle in a Haystack site and they listed the Russian Teacakes color. Then I saw they had a sampler of four colors of this kind of linen, So I ordered the sampler. When it came in the mail I found out that it is Sotema Linen.  Hey, not to brag or anything, I've been to the Sotema place.  It is in Italy. We stopped there on the Italian needlework tour. I bought a bunch of linen when I was there but I didn't happen to have bought any in the Russian Teacakes color.

Russian Teacakes is the third one down, very creamy color. I also ordered a yard of it but Needle in a Haystack has it back ordered. One lady on our tour got enough of the linen to make herself a dress. I bet that cost her a pretty penny. The linen I got was 37 count.

My BFF sent me some Manor Red thread so I can finish Come to the Garden. Thanks BFF!

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Come to the Garden

 I started the next page of Come to the Garden. I've made good progress. 

I made it down to the bottom left corner. Wow, it is nice to see how far I come.

It is cold today. It was 19 degrees when I woke up. I had a scan this morning. I don't mind a test that takes like ten minutes. DH found some donuts at the grocery store. They aren't as good as Dunkin' Donuts but so far I've eaten five of them. They are small, okay?

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Old WIP

 I told myself that I couldn't start anything new until I finished the Amy Mitten Queen borders. Well, I didn't finish it yet. I wanted to work on something else so I picked up a very old WIP.

This is Tapestry Mermaid by Sharon Cohen, Nostalgic Needle. I'm rather proud of myself as I have finished up the lower left corner. I have planned for this to go inside my double casket lid as it is just about the right size. I know I put it away because I kept getting lost. Now I feel like I can figure it out. I'm working on 32 count linen one over one. I feel confident I can finish this soon. (Famous last words?!)

The sun has just come out. DH is at the store and will buy me some donut holes if he can find any. So it is a good day.

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Kreinik

 As I stepped outside my front door this morning there was a package. It was from Kreinik, Our guild has scheduled the January meeting to be a talk by Doug Kreinik of Kreinik threads. We could buy a sampler of Kreinik threads along with color cards and information about all their different threads. The package was the sampler of threads.  Wow, they have many more threads than I realized. I got quite a few whole spools of threads as well as samples of other threads. Did you know there was iron on threads? I look forward to hearing more about their threads.

What do you do with those orange circles? I think the circles are shapes of double stick tape. But how do you use them? I'll have to wait for our January meeting to find out.

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Friday

 Today is Friday.I sort of messed up this week. I thought I had published a post on Wednesday but it didn't show up. I went back and fixed it so it appeared late Wednesday night. Infusion on Thursday and nothing got done. I got my last kit in the mail from a club I signed up for. I am very glad to be done with club kits.

This is what I got in the mail:

It isn't "me" so I'll give it to somebody. I got a nice thread holder with the kit. 

I like it. I also got a needle minder and a chicken. I don't use needle minders and the chicken, well, I have too many goofy things already.

We got snow last night but it is warm enough that most of it melted. 

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Happy Mail

 I got an Inspirations kit in the mail. It is for a pin cushion.

I think it is adorable. I can't make it yet. I have ordered the book Design Collective: Pin Cushions but It hasn't arrived. So I don't have the directions yet. 

Today is a rainy day but I was able to walk earlier. It is 60 degrees, lovely for walking - if you have a raincoat! 

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Bunny

 I started stitching the bunny from the Garden Thief together. Do I have the blackwork ears done? Nope. My problem is that I don't want to stitch a million carrots on the ears. So I am deciding whether to stitch a different pattern on the ears or just sew a printed fabric on the ears. Actually it is about sixty two carrots. I don't want to do that. 

The construction across the street continues. Today more trees are being cut down. It shakes our whole house when a tree falls. They are having to be very careful as some of the trees are quite close to power lines. It is nice to go out walking just to see what they've done. There are lots of hills made of wood chips.

Our guild had a zoom meeting on Sunday. Susan Greening Davis gave the program showing many samplers. I enjoyed it very much.

I won't let myself start anything new until I get the Queen borders done. Maybe that will encourage me to get my rear in gear.

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One More Page

 I finished stitching another page of Come to the Garden by Teresa Kogut. 

I think I have three more pages to go along the bottom of the design.

I have been ordering stuff for the grandkids to make sure they receive them before Christmas. 

Walking is done for today. DH found a turkey breast for us for Thanksgiving. Yah!

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Whitework

 I am a lucky duck. I went on a tour where I got to have class with Jenny Adin Christie. She brought lots of stuff for a little shop. I got her book on whitework. I was interested in looking through it since I read that Jenny is writing another book on whitework. The book I have looks like a book of lessons. Since I have made many of her kits, I know her directions are very clear and understandable. I will definitely get her new book when it is available next year. 

(Trying not to show too much)

I found directions in this book about doing trailing stitch. It shows what to do when two lines cross which would have been helpful when I was working on Wreath of Roses. There are instructions on doing way more complex stitches too. I have one of her whitework kits that I haven't started - yet.

Snow and rain today so I'm not walking with all the slush outside. 

DH looked for a frozen turkey breast at the grocery store yesterday. No luck. On to Plan B. What is Plan B? Don't know yet!

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Another Finish

The Garden Thief tray is all done.  Spools fit in it. I guess you wind threads around them.

Without the spools it looks like this:

This is my favorite side.

This is the bottom.

I love this.

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New Book

 I don't remember ordering this book. I think Mary Corbet may have reviewed it on her blog. Anyway, it came yesterday. It is a really good book about silk shading and how to do it. 

It has really clear pictures and explains exactly how to do silk shading from what you need to what order to work.

Up close photos.

Easy to follow instructions.

I shuffled through the leaves on my walk. We could get snow tonight! Not ready for snow!

It will rain first. 

We are off to Target.That's my excitement for today.

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More Finishing

 I began putting together The Garden Thief tray. It is going well. (Translation: I haven't messed anything up yet) 

There are little ball feet on the bottom of the tray. Today I am going to work on the felt strip dividers that go inside the tray.

I went walking. It was 32 degrees when I got up so I wore my winter coat. It is supposed to get up to 55 degrees by this afternoon. The sun is shining which makes me happy.

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I Did It!

 I worked on the finishing of Wreath of Roses all day yesterday and I did it. I finished it. I am really proud that I got it done. Some parts are a little messy. I wish I could redo the pockets but I don't have the materials to do that. It is what it is. I tried to follow all the finishing directions.

I am very happy that this project is all done.

There is a felt pad for pins and felt pages for needles.

I followed the directions for the loop but didn't like how it turned out so I cut it off and tried again doing a hedebo the way that I have done before. I am happy with it now.

The pocket isn't as even and straight as I would like. It holds a needle threader.

This pocket looks a bit better but still not as even as I would like. I had to sew two pieces of the lining back together. I don't think it is that noticeable.

There was a lot of hand sewing to put this together. Now to concentrate on The Garden Thief tray. 

We have a lovely day today. I better enjoy it while I can!

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One More Motif

 I am so almost done stitching the tray from the The Garden Thief. 

Four sides and the top and bottom.

Some projects seem like they take forever. This is one of them. After I get the tray all put together there is only the thimble holding rabbit to do. It's ears are stitched bit all the rest is black felt.

Boy was I tired last night and trying to keep my eyes open until my standard bedtime. It is nice to wake up to some light but hard to see it getting dark so early. Ah, winter.

Going out to eat today with a gift card. Thanks Celia! 

Question of the day: how does a senator afford to drive a Maserati?

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Progress or Not

 I am still working on the finishing of Wreath of Roses. Here are some of the pieces:

I messed up the cutting of the dupioni and the silk lining. There were no diagrams and I think the size of the dupioni and lining were at least half an inch short. The pockets are the most messed up part. 

The white silk should not have been cut in half. I'll have to sew it back together. A lot of the finishing involves quarter inch Steam-a-Seam which is a pain to work with. 

We are having a glorious weekend temperature-wise. And we get an extra hour tomorrow. How can it be November already?

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Project Bag

 This is the third bag that my friend Vicki made for me. 

I was happy to have finished this as it had been languishing for a couple of years. I found this quilt top I had started a long time ago. I totally forgot that I made this. It was the right colors for finishing this bag.

I like the quilt top lining. 

I tried some Pumpkin spice latte and it was very good. I also ad a piece of pumpkin roll. It was so good. DH doesn't like pumpkin so I was glad to eat pumpkin stuff. Now there is just one more thing I want to try, pumpkin spice tea. I just bought a tin of it so I can make some. Neat.

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Happy Mail

 Guess what I got on the mail yesterday? My friend Vicki finished my stitching into bags. Beautifully made bags. I am thrilled!

his one is for me:

Inside:

This one is for my granddaughter for Christmas: Front

Inside:

Back:

Love these!

There is one more that I will show you tomorrow. 

I am going to have coffee with a former co-worker this afternoon. It is very nice to get out of the house and see old friends. 

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