A New Addition to the Family!

Welcome Baby Amber!

Thursday January 26, 2012

7 lbs. 8 oz.  18 1/2 inches

Mother and baby are both doing fine! 

For the first time ever I got to cut the cord--Dad wasn't quite feeling up to it :)

My daughter was a trooper and followed the midwife's instructions (much better than I ever did, but shhh.. don't tell her)

Do you think I could resist getting my first photo of both my grandkids together?

Well, OK, this is grandson letting his silliness out!  :)

This new little family is living in the apartment over my garage.

So as you can imagine, not much stitching is going on when I can rock little Amber. I did get a couple hours in on PSS Paradise Lost last night while watching Downton Abbey and Masterpiece Mystery Sherlock Holmes.

One more thing, my other daughter won a $100 giveaway on a coupon blog on Thursday.  I should have bought some lottery tickets that day!

Snow & Ice Storm/Power Outage & DD#1's Stitching

I'm still here! A snowstorm/ice storm came thru and we were 3 days without power!  And 4 days without cable or internet (I don't know which is worse! )

When things were back to normal, we left for Great Wolf Lodge -a waterpark south of Seattle.  It was a birthday present to my grandson who is turning 7 in Feb.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at Cabela's. Cabelas is a man-store with loads of stuffed animals as part of their displays.  Here is DH and grandson in front of the elephant, zebra, water buffalo, etc.

Here they are in front of the polar bear, brown bear, black bear, etc. Mountain goats & sheep are on the other side of these rocks.

DD #1 is still busy and here is the latest for her-

2010 JCS Christmas Ornie Issue-

Blackberry Lane Designs Frosty Blue

Mystery linen and DMC threads

Fabric from my stash

Finished by her using Vonna's flatfold tutorial

Samplerbird Stitchery

Holiday Spirit

Mystery linen

Crescent Colours Cupid thread

Yes, I'm still stitching but without power I can't use my lighted magnifier, so my stitching is whatever I can see without it :)  I will do a personal stitching update later this week.

Have a great hump day!

CJC Day #15 and BAP Challenge Update

CJC Day #15-Brightneedle Pretty in Pink

32 ct linen (from kit)

Various threads (from kit)

Now I have 15 new WIP's to work on, but guess what is calling my name?

See below-

Becky's 2012 BAP Challenge-

Plum Street Samplers Paradise Lost

36ct Edinburgh Linen

Vikki Clayton's HDF silk conversion

 I have used 3 DMC substitutions-one was for the color of the flesh for Adam & Eve. Don't you love the red fruit that is larger than Adam's head?  :)

CJC Days #13 & 14

CJC Day #13-L'Atelier Perdu Smell the Flowers

32 ct Ivory Lugana evenweave

Called for DMC threads

CJC Day #14-Sewing Chest Designs Porcelain Pincushion Doll

25 ct antique white linen

DMC threads

CJC Days #11 & 12

Little House Needleworks He Is Risen

32 ct Lakeside Linen Lt Exemplar

DMC threads

Stitch & Zip Sewing Purse

Kitted threads

This is a substitution in my CJC lineup.  I have several large projects that I want to work on this year. So I am replacing Miss Trenner's Academy with this little purse.  I have seen this one finished and it is adorable!

DD #1 Has Been Busy!

2010 JCS Christmas Ornie Issue

Casey Buonaugurio Designs

32 ct Picture This Plus Crystal Phoenix Lugana

DMC threads

DD#1 did a beautiful job on this Peppermint Latte ornie!  Her co-workers were offering to pay her to stitch one for them :) This was just her second attempt at a beaded finishing and it looks great! 

So, (in the spirit of giving her extra practice :) I asked her to finish a scissor fob for me.  Do you remember this one below?

Shepherds Bush Bee Scissor Fob Kit

Linen and threads from the kit

Here it is!  I admit that I was wonderng how yellow beads and a purple ribbon would look.  But her choices were just right and I am so tickled.  Thanks, Les! 

Now send me a photo of your Frosty Blue snowman finish and I'll share it too!

CJC Days 9 & 10 and Another Finish

CJC #9 Sheepish Designs Alpha Menagerie

32 ct Lakeside Linen Sand Dune

DMC threads

CJC #10 L'Atelier Perdu My Christmas Stocking 2012-The Magic

32 ct Lambswool linen

Called for DMC, WDW, and Gast Threads (substituting WDW Sea Foam with GAST Tropical Ocean)

2012 Finish #2-BBD Autumn Song pincushion

30 Ct R & R fabric

Called for WDW threads

First 2012 Finish

Birds of a Feather

Le Printemps

36 ct Edinburgh Linen Cream color

Called for WDW threads

Stitch count 295 X 384

I was hoping to have this finished before the New Year.  Obviously I greatly underestimated just how much stitching needed to be done!  Feel free to click on the picture. Instead of feeling motivated to start one of the 3 sisters to this one,  I am ready to move on to something new.  

Last Summer Yard Sale Find!

Yes, those ducks are cross stitched!  My plan was to use the frame for Le Printemps. But I am having second thoughts now.  Do you think the frame is too old-fashioned? I would love to hear your thoughts.

As I was starting Plum Street Samplers Paradise Lost (as part of Becky's 2012 BAP Challenge) disaster struck.  I stitched out to one end of the design and found out there was only a scant inch of fabric left! What????

So I double-checked the midpoint (where I started) was in the correct spot.  Yes.

So I re-measured the fabric and found it to be an inch short AND the measurement included the selvage end :(( 

Upon consulting with my LNS it was pointed out to me that overdyed fabric is cut and then dyed resulting in some shrinkage to the fabric.   Most of the time it doesn't matter, but on this design I needed every inch!  So I had to start over with a new piece and I bought enough to stitch PSS The Flood in matching fabric.  The Flood is even bigger than Paradise Lost!  That project will have to wait until 2013 or so  :) 

Paradise Lost is begun (again).

CJC Days 7 & 8

CJC #7 Renaissance Designs Six Patchwork Stars Shimmering

Stitch guide by Pamela Harding

Various threads including Vineyard Silks, Anchor Floss, Fyre Works, Neon Rays, Silk Lame Braid

CJC #8 Heart in Hand Needleart Grateful Hearts

32 ct Lakeside Linen Navy Bean

Called for DMC threads

CJC 5 & 6

CJC #5 Blackbird Designs Peacock Pinkeep

28 ct mystery linen

Unknown Gloriana silk threads

CJC #6 Little House Needleworks Liberty Belles

30 ct R & R Reproduction scrap

Called for threads-DMC, CC and GAST

CJC Days 3 & 4

CJC #3-Blackbird Designs
Waiting for Harvest

32 ct Zweigart Belfast Linen

Waterlilies #052 Marigold

CJC#4 Blackbird Designs
Prairie House

30 ct R & R Olde Towne Blend

Called for GAST threads

2011 Wrap Up and 2012 Starts

2011 was a very, very good stitching year for me.

I participated in the Crazy January Challenge and finished all 15 projects!

I joined a Make & Take class at my LQS and added several mini-projects.

I also finished some large projects-

City Stitcher's Adam & Eve-

Mary Glover-

Mary Hannah Gipson-

With Thy Needle & Thread Mystery Sampler-

Blackbird Designs Mystery Sampler-

Heartstring Samplery Permit Me Not to Stray-

Jardin Prive Sampler Aux Bouquets-

Debbie Stiehler's Timeless Tomato-

Whew! Looking back makes me tired!

There was a total of 62 finished projects in 2011!  A new record for me!!  Of course, not all are "finish-finished"

And I won't even try to beat this record in 2012.  Not with a new grandbaby coming next month and living right across the driveway from me.  Rocking the new little one is more important than stitching :)

But I have started 2012 with a bang-

CJC Day #1-Goode Huswife June Morning

24 ct Congress cloth

Called for DMC threads

Pretty pathetic start but I worked all day yesterday

CJC  Day#2-Tree of Life Samplings Penny America

36 ct Lakeside Linen Maple Sugar

Combo of called for threads-WDW and DMC

You might recall that I actually stitched the gold threads early in 2011 and got distracted by something else and never found my way back to this one.  This one is "practically" new :)

Becky is hosting a 2012 BAP Challenge and I joined in just to pull this one out and get started. It has been kitted and actually on stretcher bars for a year!

Plum Street Samplers Paradise Lost

36ct Lakeside Linen Vintage Light Exemplar

Vikki Claytons HDF conversion silks

Still a very long way to go!

Thanks for sticking with me thru this very long post!  I hope all of you had a wonderful New Years Eve (we spent ours quietly at home with friends and watched the original True Grit)

I am enjoying all the new blog postings but have fallen dreadfully behind. Don't worry-I'll catch up!