Then and Now

Do you remember Give Thanks?  I thought the black frame looked a little harsh and considered painting the frame.  But I love the black!  Not to mention that black works so well with many designs. 

So today I present the new and improved version...

 No doubt the black frame will reappear in the future :) The green (not yellow) rick rack has washed out a little in the picture.

Remember Moonlit Garden? Another one where the frame just kept bothering me.

Ta Da!  Another much better version!  This frame came off my bedroom wall and the Mary Engelbreit print that was in it must find a new home.

Another unfinished project below!

Here it is today!  This was my first time using chenille trim and I love the look!

And a peek at the inside...

Pincushions are still an interest (and an upcoming exchange). Here's the latest before-

And the after!  This turned out better than I thought. The new sewing machine slows me down a bit and I have to re-teach myself how to thread it each time I use it, but I'll catch on.

Mary Hannah Gipson was languishing in the finished pile.

Here she is! The frame was a thrift store find and the mat was actually cut off center.  I still like the way she looks. There are some red tones in the frame that set off the red thread in Mary. Sorry for the awkward angle of the photo. The glare was a problem this morning.

 Well, what else have I been doing to keep busy you ask?  Well, here are 7 quarts of apple pie filling. Not pictured is 6 pints of applesauce.  And today's business is apple butter!

PS Alphabet Challenge

Vonna has issued a challenge to complete at least one more block before the end of 2011. It has been a while since you have seen this project. Because it has been a while since I have worked on it!  Here is the before picture.

And here is the after picture! I actually completed 2 more letters-D and F at the top. Feel free to click on the photo for a better view.  I am now stitching upside down in my System 4 stand so I can reach it better.  Thanks for the challenge, Vonna!

Two more pincushions that I have finished lately-this one is from a vintage yo-yo quilt that I have.  It is in "used" condition and this is one of my ideas on how to use it.  More to come as Christmas gets a little closer. :)

 Here is the latest Make and Take class from October.  It is a wool pumpkin pincushion. And, yes, that is a wooden spool in the center.  I liked the look of the 3 different trims around the top.  I have seen some with wool leaves and those are cute, too.

I am hosting my daughter's baby shower on Sunday.  So I am in the midst of preparations for that. AND I have quite a pile of items to be finished on my ironing board and hope to make a dent in it this week. 

Have a great Tuesday!

More Birthday

DD#3 has been busy!  This was my birthday gift from her!  I couldn't believe she thought to put my blog name on the project-it is just perfect-thanks so much!

This was not the only good stuff-I also got a JoAnn's gift card from DD#2  and a local LNS gift card from DD#1! Woo Hoo!  Shopping is to be done!  Thanks to all my wonderful family :)

P>S> DH bought me a piece of luggage.  Hmmmm....

Two Birthday Surprises

 My dear friend, Lorrie, sent this beautiful & thoughtful package for my birthday!  My girls always tell me I am hard to surprise-but you did it! Thank you so very much, Lorrie!

Mindi from Utah is so kind and agreed to let me borrow a pattern of hers. She sent along this cute design that was on my wishlist.  Well, it arrived today--exactly on my birthday, so I am counting it as a birthday present!!  Thank you, Mindi!  I'm sure you can guess who this will be for :)

Istitch Mystery Update

IStitch Mystery-Part 7 completed and looking lovely

Carol Ridyard

40 ct. HDF Jackalope linen

Mystery HDF Overdye Silk

A Finish and A CJC Update

Jardin Prive

Sampler Aux Bouquets

35 ct natural linen

DMC threads

Woo Hoo!  Another WIP to mark as completed for 2011.  Please click on the picture for a close up. I left off a snail and put in the date on the lower right.  I stitched my initials in a different color on the middle upper section of alphabet.  This was a lot of fun, but I think the reason it lingered unfinished is because I changed the thread colors because of the darker natural linen I used.  And I was not thrilled with the colors I chose--not enough contrast or something??  Only the browns are the original colors.

With My Needle

Quaker Hornbook

32 ct linen over 1

Needle Necessities overdye thread

You haven't seen this one since January.  This project was one of my original Crazy January Challenge pieces.  As you might remember, the challenge was to pick 15 projects to complete in 2011.  I ended up with 16 projects in my challenge because of my inability to make tough decisions.  Oh, I do love this design and the thread I chose.

When I picked this one up to work on it, guess what?  I ran into 2 problems-#1 is the 32 ct linen that I chose to work on-I am losing stitches (just like on my L'Atelier perdu needlebook) and #2 I lost my mind when stitching with this overdye and didn't cross my x's! This picture is only of the /// portion of the cross stitch.  The thought of trying to match up my thread and finish on this linen is too much!  I'm going to get some evenweave to stitch this project on and re-start the correct way with complete x's :) 

Executive decision-this is no longer part of my Crazy January Challenge and I am officially down to the original goal of 15 projects.  (What a weenie, huh?!)

I'm off to a wedding tonight and a dutch oven cooking class tomorrow.  Have a great weekend everyone!

More Stitching and Sewing

Here is a photo of DD#3's beautiful stitching from our family stitching day.

My 1980 Sears Kenmore sewing machine has sewn its last for me.  It hasn't been serviced in 20+ years and the tension on the bobbin needs adjusting. So instead of investing in it, I treated myself to a new sewing machine!  After much research and "test driving" this Pfaff is the one!  I spent most of a day playing with it and the only thing I haven't figured out is how to get the automatic needle threader to work.  It is important cause my eyes don't see as well as they used to!  I'm sure I will underutilize all the fancy stitches/functions but I learn a little more each time I use it.

Good news is DD#3 asked me to teach her to sew before she knew I had bought a new machine.  Looks like the Kenmore will get a good home. :)

EDIT:  I updated my sales page with some new items. Go check it out!

Stitchy Update

Finish #1

Prairie Schooler P is for Pincushion

28 ct Summer Khaki linen

DMC threads

This was my project from stitching day on Sunday.  It went so fast! I substituted DMC 666 for the called-for  3777.  It is much brighter. 

 

Finish #2

Here are two more pincushions I finished lately.  They are wool applique.

 

Finish #3

Petite Sampling Etui

`Liimited Edition Collaboration-Ellen Chester With Thy Needle

36 ct Lakeside Linen Pearled Barley

Vikki Clayton's HDF silk conversion

Part 1 of 6 finished!  The only thing I didn't do was frog the dark, dark green in the flower stems and replace with DMC thread.  I just ran out of steam.  I'll revisit it when the whole project is done and see if it still needs redoing.

Next up is Louise Henderson's Cherished Stitches contribution.  This one is a little more difficult with closed herringbone, Algerian eye, smyrna crosses, and queen stitches.

Now, without further ado, I would like to present....... Finish #4

L'Atelier Perdu Stitch Me Club mystery project completed!! Really my first official "small" project :)

This is the over 1 project that I agonized over the fabric selection-the designer called for 32 ct linen and I was struggling to see it and loosing stitches in the weave. I finally settled on a 28ct Jubilee evenweave linen-color platinum.

I don't know if you can see but I put my initials and 2011 on the back side of the scissor fob.  The scissors came from my local ANG meeting that I went to yesterday  morning.  Talk about fortuitous timing!

October is quickly coming to a close and I am going to try to finish 2011 strong.  There are 2 more Crazy January Challenges to finish and several other projects that I would like to complete this year.  That doesn't include 2 family birthdays, hosting a baby shower, a 4 day stitching retreat, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and oh yes, I just volunteered to take over the library at church!  :0  Did I mention that I am still working too?  :)  Keep stitching, ladies!

3 Generations of Stitchers!

I have many stitching updates for you this week, but today's post is about Sunday's stitching day at my daughter's house-

 This is DD#1's stocking almost finished-just a little bit of backstitching to do.  This stocking is for her husband.

 This is DD#2's stocking that she is beginning for her husband.

I forgot to get a picture of DD#3's stitching :( She has expanded her knitting to way beyond anything I can do.  Courtesy of YouTube and books like Knitting for Dummies.  And recently asked me to teach her to sew.

Here is a picture of six-year old Grandson #1's first stitching project.  It is plastic canvas, large blunt needle and scavenged 3 ply yarn from an old kit!  I charted out the flower on a piece of graph paper with colored pencils.  No problems following the graph at all. He made it into a necklace for his mom-Great Job, GS#1!

Here is my poor, pathetic excuse for stitching.  It is the beginning of another pin cushion. (I'm in a bit of a pincushion mania right now.) I should have several to choose from when the pin cushion exchange comes in November at our EGA stitching retreat.

As you can guess much of my time was spent advising and helping GS#1 with his mystery loop disease (he kept putting the needle down from the top and forgetting to come up from the bottom for the next stitch).

I have a finish to share tomorrow! Wow, it's been quite a while since I said that :)

WTNT Mystery Sampler Framed!

With Thy Needle and Thread

Mystery Sampler

35ct WDW Confederate Grey linen

Called for Threads

I ordered the custom frame from Brenda at With Thy Needle and Thread.  Click on the picture for a close-up.  This is the finished sampler in the frame-doesn't it look lovely?  You know that I am a thrift store frame shopper, but this one was worth every dime.  Love the sampler and the frame, Brenda!