This is the Week

 We've had a week of stash and a week of finishes. I was thinking this week I would have a week of new starts. But today is a new start and a finish. It was an easy stitch. 

I wanted to stitch these three cute snowmen by Brenda Gervais but I wanted to do them individually. I'm a little skittish about stitching With Thy Needle and Thread designs because they are often over one on a high count linen. I stitched her schoolhouse series a while back but quit after two of the projects. So I wanted to see how it was to stitch one of these. It went so well that I finished it in short order. 

He turned out cute. I am going to finish him off for my grandkids as an ornament.

Sweet!

I had such a frustrating time with a credit card this last month. I signed up for paperless bills. That was a big mistake. It was a lot of trouble having to go down to the store to pay the bill. DH was in internet security and limits what we do online as so many companies do not encrypt information or have breaches of security. So I wanted to switch to paper bills. I got an email bill on Christmas Eve so I had to wait a couple of days to contact the company. I requested a paper bill. I thought that's what I would get. But the requested bill was not included so I still didn't know where to send the check. That was January 7th. So I called again. No, they couldn't send a bill so I asked for the address to send the check. Finally I could send the check which is what I did. I had ten days left for the check to get to the bank before the due date, from up North to Texas. It arrived 1 day late! I was charged a 31.00 dollar late fee on a bill of 65.00. Highway robbery. By the way I hate that guy in charge of the Post Office. Frustration! So I called again. I tried to be very nice when I wanted to scream. The lady did take off the late fee charge. Thank goodness. I will never ever use that credit card again. Ever.

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Close But No Cigar

I found another project when I was cleaning up my sewing room. I started it a couple of years ago. It is a  needlepoint kit. I'm sure I can finish it in short order as I am close to three-quarters done.

It is stitched with a full six strands of DMC floss. This is a good project for mindless stitching. 

I signed up for two classes with Lady Anne's Needlework Retreat in May. What I really wanted was Jenny Adin-Christie's class of the Elizabethan Mitten but it was filled already. Of course if you have only 15 spots for the world's best embroiderer there is no way to get in. So I contacted Jenny and asked to be put on the waiting list for a kit. Then I decided to try and take a couple of other classes. It is expensive. I've been stuck at home for years and these classes are on Zoom. I signed up for Pippa Haynes' Viola and Mandy Ewing's Sweet Bag. 

I haven't had these teachers before. I am looking forward to May!

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Big Finish

 I've worked hard all week on finishing the Forget-Me-Nots pin cushion. I finished it yesterday.

Finishing it was a challenge. I followed the directions but found that I needed another flower to fill the space around the circle. This isn't very large pin cushion as it has a less than 2 inch diameter. It took 11 flowers to have no spaces around the circle. I think it is very sweet. If I stitched this again (not going to happen!) I would be a lot better at stitching it. I used four different flosses for the flowers. 

See the line?  I still have to hit this with an iron to get rid of the heat eraseable marks.

The bee was a challenge and I would do a much better job if I stitched it again. 

I altered the construction a bit as the gluing recommended didn't hold. 

I signed up for a couple of classes. I tell you about them tomorrow.

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Enough

 While I was working on cleaning up my sewing room I came across a WIP that is full coverage. I looked at it and decided it was done. Is it really done? No, but it is too much to do to get it completely done. I liked the page I had completed so I will frame it and be done with it. 

I had just started the second page. Those few stitches won't show after I have framed it. This design is from a painting. This isn't very big, I would guess it is about 5 by 7 inches. Hey, I can call it a finish if I want to!

I went walking inside again. Part of my motivation is that when I reach a little over a mile I can go eat breakfast. That's what motivates me, food.

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Serendipity

 I have been trying to organize (clean up!) my sewing room. I've made progress and discoveries. I've found things I didn't remember having. I've found many WIPs. I ran across a project that was mostly done so I decided to see if I could finish it up. A year ago (maybe two years) I couldn't get myself to work on this. I was wondering how things would go this time around. I am happy to say that I finished the stitching.

This is a William Morris design. I have done two similar William Morris designs. I think they are meant to be bookmarks. I was wondering if I had a place in or on my caskets for them. They don't really fit anywhere on my caskets. I wanted to frame them individually but haven't found the picture frame moulding I want. I wish I could see what Stitchville has in the way of choices of moulding. It would be expensive to frame them.

I was so excited to see a new Jenny Adin-Christie design yesterday. It is called the Elizabethan Mitten and Gauntlet. Jenny is teaching it at the Lady Anne Needlework Retreat in May on Zoom. I had heard that sign up was last night but I kept checking and never got passed the "coming soon" button.  Then this morning it says all the spaces (there were only 15!) were booked. Rats. I didn't think I could actually get in anyway. I'll have to see if I can get on a waiting list for the kit. I love the design. 

I had to walk inside again as it is very cold today, 12 degrees.

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Mice

 I finished the Just Nan Mouse that goes with the pyramid. 

These are the two mice I've made lately. I think the first one actually goes better with the pyramid house. 

Then I got to thinking, how many mice to I have? I gave one to my grandkids so these are the ones I have in my curio. Well, two of them are actually strawberries that look the same. Did I stitch the strawberry twice?

The cutest one is the Santa. 

I got the latest Just Nan mouse chart in the mail yesterday. It is a limited edition.

I walked around my house today for 1.2 miles. Before breakfast. I've found listening to NPR makes the walking inside less boring. DH is off the to grocery store. It's Tuesday and he is a creature of habit. 

But I am a creature of habit too, My habit is stitching!

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Finishes

 This will be a week of finishes. The first finish I have for you is the Just Nan pyramid.

The mouse in this photo is not the mouse that goes with this house. I'll show you the companion mouse tomorrow.

if you look closely at the corners you will see that two of the sides are longer than the base they are stitched to. It isn't really a big deal buy I wish it fit perfectly. I am happy that this is done. It could be an ornament on the tree.

We woke up to a few inches of snow yesterday and a few more inches of snow today. Snow is pretty if you don't have to go out in it - or shovel it.

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Bargello Strawberry

 I have made some progress on the strawberry pin cushion by Victoria Laine from the Inspirations design collection.

The pattern calls for a black outline around all the parts of the strawberry but I thought that was a bit harsh. I started with a dark red outline around the berry instead and I like that better. I am still deciding whether to put a dark green outline around the big leaf. I wish I were better at shading the four green colors on the sepal.

I went through some of my stitchy stuff and was amazed at all the stuff that I didn't remember having. I am not into ribbon embroidery anymore and decided to donate my ribbon embroidery books to the library.

It is cold and snowy today so I made myself walk half a mile inside my house before breakfast. I will walk more later as I want to get at least up to a mile. That's my goal for today.

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BRRRR

 It is really cold today. It started out at 6 degrees and has doubled that but it is still too cold for walking. 

In my quest for the perfect way to transfer a design I ordered some heat erasable pens from Love Sew. I didn't realize that I was ordering so many!

There are ten in this package. I was surprised that the ink refills and the pen cartridges were not put together but whatever. It is nice that you have several different colors of pens to work with. I have to get used to how much pressure is needed to get the kind of line I want. And I haven't tried making the line disappear with ironing yet. I did some marking for putting the Forget-Me-Not pin cushion together. All ten flowers are done! Yay!

One third of winter is done today. 

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More Snowmen

 I saw this pattern being stitched by someone on Facebook and it was so cute. 

This is a small booklet by Brend Gervais.

I like the little individual snowmen, I think they would be very sweet Christmas ornaments . They look like they would be quick to stitch too. I might stitch a couple for the grandkids.

Today is an infusion day. It's too cold to go walking. I hope to finish stitching the forget-me-not pincushion, I only have one bee wing to go.

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Snowman

 I bought this Jim Shore Snowman kit because he was sweet. 

I don't really want to stitch him on perforated paper. But maybe I'll try it anyway. I need something very easy to stitch that I can pick up and don't even have to think about.

I went walking this morning as the temperature is predicted to drop way down during the day. I was thinking about my goals for this year. I want to pick out five or so projects that I want to do get done. 

I'd love to totally clean out my sewing room and get rid of all the stuff I'll never do. I have stuff from when I was a teenager. Anybody remember Joan Russell's stuffed dolls and animals from Woman's Day  magazine? Yep, I've still got the patterns.

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Compare and Contrast

 I bought these two charts. I saw one of them online and liked it. But when it came time to order, I couldn't remember which one I wanted. They are by the same designer, Brenda Gervais. I am still trying to decide which one I like best. It reminds me of an English essay assignment to compare and contrast two things. These are so similar. They both have blue birds and a house.

I'm leaning toward the bottom one as I like the strawberries and the bluebirds are a little bit bigger. Hey, what about a combo? Instead of the words I could stitch the flowers from the top design. Gotta think about this. 

I need to go walking now that DH is back from the store. 

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Haul

 I got several things in the mail last week. So this week is all about haul. One thing I had been waiting for is this stack of fabric from The French General. 

My favorite color: blue! I love the ribbon that wrapped this bundle. I didn't realize when I ordered this that I was ordering 16 half yard cuts. Is that enough for a quilt? I got the fabric for finishing.

I went walking this morning. It was just warm enough. I put some more rounds on my spiral rope beading. It looks like I'm going to run out of the bicones soon. The length is enough to turn this into an icicle ornament. Of course I have to figure out about weaving those tails in.

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Cold

 It is really cold today. At least the sun is shining. I'm taking the day off from walking. 

I tried making some spiral rope with my beads. After trying four times to have it start to look like something, I decided that I needed to watch some other videos as I was missing something. So I watched two more and my beading is starting to look like it's supposed to.

It's a little hard to see but the spiral is starting. When I have a few more rows on it will look better.

I ironed my Just Nan pyramid pieces, put interfacing on them, folded and ironed the seams and cut the ribbon into four pieces. I have to read the directions to see what comes next.  I think I have to blanket stitch around the sides. I'll show you next week. How can January be half over? Crazy.

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Pizzelles

 I made some pizzelle cookies this morning. A friend sent me some she had made for Christmas. They are long gone and I still had a hankering for some. I happen to have a pizzelle iron. So when DH went off to the grocery store, I got busy.

That dark one on top got a bit over done, I'll have to eat that one. 

I got the Just Nan pyramid all stitched and beaded! Now I can put it together.

I have a teeny start on the mouse.

I got the rest of the beads I ordered yesterday. I  don't think I ordered the right colors but at least I have enough now to try making the spiral rope trim. We'll see how it goes.

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Crytals

 I saw a tutorial by Katie Strachan on YouTube that showed how to make a sparkly beaded edging.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgQMzVs3wPk 

I wanted to try it even though I am not a beader. So I ordered some beads, It takes three different beads. I got one of the beads in the mail yesterday. Would you believe there is 72 of them in that small bag?

They are crystal bicones. I ordered the beads off of Etsy. I'm still waiting for the other beads to arrive. Katie has links to where to get the beads as well as other videos showing how to string the beads. 

It was snowing when we woke up this morning. We woke to the sound of construction bulldozers backing up. Charming. It is warm enough to walk outside but I haven't gotten my rear in gear yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgQMzVs3wPkical.

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Wednesday

 It was warm enough to walk outside today. I was feeling a bit of cabin fever so it was nice to see the neighborhood again. The construction across the street has flattened the whole area and taken out all the trees. Now they are building a retaining wall along one side. 

I am working on flowers for the Forget-Me-Not pincushion. I made two flowers yesterday (10 petals!) I used the called for threads just to see if I liked them better, I would like to use all the flowers I have made so far. In total I have six flowers and one more ready to put together. Only three more to go. 

These two flowers on the right are the called for colors of floss.

Progress!

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Base

 I got the inside base to the Just Nan pyramid all stitched. I just have one more section to go, the outside bottom.

The bottom doesn't have a lot of stitching. I could finish it in a day for sure. Then I have to go back and put on the beads. Soon to be done!

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Finally Done

 I was looking for the threads to work on a different project but couldn't find them. So I picked up the Amy Mitten queen instead.  And I finished it!

I glued acid free paper on the back of the stitching.

In the space at the bottom I had thought of stitching a snail or butterfly but in the end I stitched my initials.

I am not happy with the ripples in the linen.  Do I rip it off and try again? I cut off some excess fabric and the edges are not glued securely.  I'll have to think about what I want to do. 

It is very cold out today. I walked a bit inside -back and forth in the living room. 

I finished the book I was reading, A Gentleman in Moscow. It was such an enjoyable book. I started another book by this same author, Amor Towles. He is such a good writer. The latest book is called The Lincoln Highway. We got to see a series of videos of our granddaughter opening her birthday presents. This year her birthday cake consisted of macarons. 

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Another

 I am working on another pincushion from the Design Collection: Pincushions. It is the pin cushion designed by my friend Victoria Laine. I met her on two tours I went on. She is the nicest person ever. This project makes me think that the designer has a background in needlepoint as she uses needlepoint stitches like bargello and scotch stitches but on linen instead of canvas. I bought the kit to get all the right supplies as the kit calls for a lot of Gumnut silk flosses which are from Australia. 

I am slightly altering the design.  The background was all worked over on but I decided to make it easier on myself and do the background over two. It does change the effect a bit but that's okay. 

My toaster arrived! And it does a great job of toasting.  Today is my granddaughter's 10th birthday. How is that possible?

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