January WIPocalypse

It is time to post my very first WIPocalypse update.  This month we are supposed to introduce ourselves and  talk about our projects and goals.  Basically, I am married and have two children, one is really an adult now and a sophomore in college, and the other is 14.  I cross stitch and crochet and read lots of books, mostly mysteries.  As for projects and goals, I want to make some serious progress and see some finishes this year from this list of projects:

1.  Beacon House by Praiseworthy Stitches
2.  Winter White Woodland by Blue Ribbon Designs
3.  Gingerbread by Madame la Fee
4.  Dear Diary Sampler by Little House Needleworks
5.  Strawberries and Cream from Cross Stitch Collection Magazine #158
6.  Strawberry Field Farm by Victoria Sampler
7.  Mon Beau Chalet from De Fil en Aiguille Magazine
8.  Sunflower Inn by Little House Needleworks
9.  Buttoned and Beaded Latte by Mill Hill
10.  Buttoned and Beaded Dashing Reindeer by Mill Hill
11.  Greenland Santa by Mill Hill
12.  Winter Snapperland by Bent Creek
13.  Coeur au Printemps by AMAP
14.  Deer in Winter from Agenda 2009 

Probably the one I would most like to finish is the Dear Diary Sampler, made from all the Dear Diary charts by Little House Needleworks.  Next would probably be Gingerbread by Madame la Fee.  But we'll see what happens.  

This month I have so far stitched on three of these projects.  I have almost completed Elizabeth McGuire's cabin on the Dear Diary Sampler.  Hopefully she can move in soon.

And so here is a picture of the whole project also.

I also worked on Sunflower Inn by Little House Needleworks, which was also a Theme-a-licious project.

And finally, I got some stitches into Winter Woodland by Blue Ribbon Designs.

I am enjoying my stitching again, and blogging also.  Hopefully, I will have more to show for next month's WIPocalypse. 

The Blight Has Struck

Everyone here in the Bungalow has been sick in the last two weeks. It is the dreaded flu...and a very potent version of it as well. My daughter is the last to succumb, and she has had it the worst of all. After just three days, she has a "really nasty nasal infection" according to her physician. I so look forward to it being gone, gone, gone.

Let us get on now to more pleasant topics. I finished the February portion of the Lizzie Kate Christmas Double Flip-Its. I changed the pink color in the stocking to a gold one so that the finished picture will better match my Christmas decor. This continues to be an easy, enjoyable stitch, which is a good thing because I stitched it while still feeling quite under the weather.

I also started work on the next pattern in my LHN Dear Diary Sampler. This is the section for Emmaline Whitcomb in Santa Clara. I can't wait to stitch the house.

Well, everyone keep well. I would rather have a visit from the dreaded frog than this horrid little bug. If everyone keeps healthy, I should be back to the HAED SAL next Friday. I will also be getting back to checking up on everybody's blogs.

New HAED SAL

Last week I read about a new HAED SAL on Cindy's blog. They were going to work on their HAED projects on Fridays. I have a couple of HAED WIPs which had not been worked on in a long, long time, so I decided that this might be a great opportunity to work on one of them. So I joined the SAL, and yesterday, Santa's List by Ruth Sanderson came out for some attention. I got a tremendous amount done for me, and there is a reason. My husband and son left on Friday morning for a campout, and so I just stitched and stitched and stitched. My daughter and I went out to eat at Chili's last night and then we watched National Treasure II and I stitched some more into the night. It was very enjoyable to work on a HAED again, and I will hopefully be back to it next Friday.

Click here if you want to see what the design will look like when completed.
Then here is my before-SAL picture:

And here is the after-SAL picture:

I also wanted to explain a little bit about the LHN Dear Diary sampler that I am working on as well, because there were some questions regarding it. The patterns are each sold separately and they are not really intended to go together into a large sampler, but I saw a picture of a Neighborhood Round Robin project that was using the Dear Diary charts in two straight columns of four. I thought that it was beautiful. (sorry, I couldn't locate this picture online) Then I read that an informal SAL was being begun by Cheryl and Vonna as they were inspired by this same Round Robin. I played around with the patterns until I decided upon a layout that I liked, and the rest is history. It will make a large project completed (243 x 317 stitches), but it doesn't seem overwhelming because I think of each separate little chart as a finish. I am stitching it on a full yard of 32 count Lakeside maple sugar linen.

And, finally, here are some stitching posts from around the web that inspired me this week. The stitching web is abundantly full of new starts in honor of the new year this week, but I found a few lovely finishes to highlight.

Penelope in Italy finished this adorable hornbook. I am not familiar with the design, but I like it very much.

Silvia in Barcelona, Spain has finished a beautiful redwork Bienvenue
heart with roses.

And Loreta has a gorgeous wintry finish of CCN's Forest Snowfall.

Until next time....

Dear Diary Progress

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful stichy start to the New Year. For my part, I was glad to see the end of 2008. It was a difficult year, and I even had trouble getting into the holiday spirit in December. But now it is past, and we have a whole new twelve months to contemplate and make stitching plans for.

I have been stitching some. Not as much as I would prefer, but enough to finish the Mary Heaton section of the Dear Diary Sampler.

And here is a picture of the whole sampler to date.


Also, about a week ago, I purchased a skein of Crescent Colors Apple Fritter. I usually just buy the threads that a design calls for, but when I saw this one, it just called to me. I wanted to try it out on something small. Anyway, when I got home, I searched through some freebie patterns, and chose to stitch this Noel design by gazette94 . I love the color and I think that I am going to use it on a larger design that I have plans for later in the year.

Till next time....enjoy your stitching and families.

My First Blackbird

Well, after a long, long blogging absence, I have been inspired by my completion of The House on Acorn Hill today to actually get out the camera, take a picture and upload it onto the computer. Once that was done, it didn't seem like such a huge step to actually make a new blog post. So here I am.

It seems appropriate that this design is finished right at the beginning of autumn. And I have to say that, even though it has become cliche, I enjoyed every stitch. Fall is my favorite time of the year and I just love the colors that go with it. There are a few more Blackbird designs that I am eager to stitch, so there will hopefully be a new start around here soon.

Since I had the camera out, I snapped an updated picture of my LHN Dear Diary sampler. I am exactly at the halfway point on this one, and I'll be starting on the fifth little sampler tomorrow.

So far, the Abigail Winslow sampler has been my favorite. I just love the little ship, the dock and the brown house.

I also did the Lucy Fairchild in Savannah sampler which came out rather elegant.

I might take a short break on this large sampler compilation to work on a smaller wintry LHN. I haven't quite decided yet.

That is all for now. Until next time...

Fair and Square Round #5

Yesterday, I received these lovely squares in the mail from Nancy. K. for the Fair & Square Exchange. She stitched part of LHN's Schoolgirl Lessons one over one in a lovely varigated rose thread. They are so delicate and pretty, this pattern looks marvelous stitched one over one.


And here are the squares that I sent Nancy. This pattern came from a magazine out of my extensive (embarassing even) collection of cross stitch magazines, and I stitched them using Gentle Art Sampler Threads.

And finally, I did manage to find just enough time to finish Julia's portion of the growing Dear Diary Sampler.

Here is a picture of what I have stitched on this so far. Next, I think I will work on the next virtue square which goes above the Mercy one.

Have a great stitchy week everyone!

Julia and Her Sheep

Just a short post to show the recent progress that I have made on the Julia Flynn section of the LHN Dear Diary sampler. And just let me say that I did not enjoy stitching the fence. No, it is not complicated or difficult in any way, my brain was just not fully functioning that day. I can't recall when I made so many little counting mistakes before that had to be frogged.

But I think I will keep stitching on this so I can hopefully finish the cabin, as everytime I look at this sampler, Julia seems to be reproaching me for not finishing it, so she can go in out of the snow. And looking at this picture, I just realized that I still need to finish the buttons on her coat, so she can't even button up against the cold. Unfortunately, I don't have much stitching time in the remainder of this week, but I'll see what I can do.


Happy stitching!

I just thought I would make a quick post to show some of my progress on ongoing projects. I am still working on the Dear Diary Sampler, which is a compiliation of all the Dear Diary charts by Little House Needleworks. I am now working on the second little sampler, Julia Flynn from Steamboat. The fence, which is what I am stitching now is driving me crazy...I keep making little counting or chart reading mistakes.



I am also continuing to stitch on Sampler Saisons by Anagram Diffusion. Here is the progress that I have made.

And finally, I thought I would show some of my favorites amongst the many new designs that are available so far this year. Just below is Crab Apple Hill by Elizabeth's Designs.

Then here is Hearts of Freedom (I think) by Little House Needleworks.

And these are the Saltbox Seasons which are a Little House Needleworks/Crescent Colours collaboration.

I also love the new Shores of Hawks Run Hill by CHS, but I'll refrain from showing a picture of this one as it is getting lots of bandwidth EVERYWHERE.

Well, I had best get back to my stitching if I ever want to finish something. I hope everyone can wrap February up with a fruitful stitching week.

San Antonio

This last week, we were visiting San Antonio while our daughter was rehearsing and performing in the All State Honors Band. Here is a picture of the All-State Honors Choir, All-State Honors Orchestra, and the All-State Honors Band. Allison plays the Bass Clarinet and this was her first year to play in All-State, although she has done All-Region at the Middle School level for a couple of years.

While she was in rehearsal for most of the day, my husband, son and I went and explored the city of San Antonio. The Riverwalk is a beautiful area downtown along the river with restaurants, shops, boats, and lovely walkways. Everything is very colorful in keeping with the area's Mexican heritage.

The Alamo is in downtown San Antonio and my son especially enjoyed visiting here. We were there on the first Saturday of the month which was fortuitous because they do re-enactments then.

I didn't get a whole lot of stitching done this weekend, but here are a couple of pictures showing the progress that I made on the Dear Diary Sampler and Sampler Saisons. I am not happy with how well the white is showing up in Sampler Saisons and I am contemplating switching to a varigated thread or a lighter blue for the white parts. I have only stitched a tiny bit of white so far, part of the skirt above the two blue legs.

Well, that is all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful week of stitching.

Rebecca Small Finish

Well, I have to tell you that this week has been one where I would rather stitch than blog. With two new projects and several older ones demanding my attention, it hard to pull myself away from the needle. I worked mainly on my two newest projects, the Dear Diary Sampler SAL and Sampler Saisons which I am doing with a sampler SAL on the HAED forum. I have found that SALs are a wonderful way to keep myself motivated, and blogging as well.

Here is the progress that I made on Dear Diary. I have finished the small sampler for Rebecca Small. I believe that I shall stitch one of the virtue squares above this one before moving on to another of the small samplers. This is so much fun to stitch, and it so cute IRL. Somehow I don't think the camera quite captures its essence.

My other main stitching project this last week has been Sampler Saisons 2007 by Anagram Diffusion. I am stitching this one over one on 28 count Sugared Coffee Lugana from Sassy's fabrics with Vikki Clayton silk in Woad Blue 2411. This is my first purchase of Sassy's Fabric which I decided to try after reading Vonna's glowing review on her blog. It totally lives up to her review. It has certainly become my favorite for evenweaves, and I am sure that I'll be trying her linen soon. The Sugared Coffee color is lovely, my ideal sampler color. This is also my first time to use Vikki's silks and I am extremely happy with them also.

Anyhow, here is my WIP on Saisons. I am eager to stitch some of the little design figures, but I am trying to get a good section of border completed first...borders are kind of a little obsessive compulsive thing with me.

I have also been stitching on Petite Maisons, but I have decided to wait until I finish the August square before I post a picture. The August square is very cute, and possibly my favorite so far, but I am finding it hard to pull myself off these other two to work on it. I am determined, however, to finish this one this year. And finally, like everyone else, I am eagerly awaiting the Nashville releases. I am particularly hoping to catch a glimpse of CHS Shores. I was surprised to see that Vikki Clayton silks already has a conversion pack for the threads available.

Well that is all, now I must rush back to my needle.

Dear Diary Progress

I really don't have much to write about, but I thought I would post a picture of the progress that I made on the Dear Diary sampler. I did not finish Rebecca Small's section, but I hope to next week. I really like the red that is used in this pattern, DMC 355.

This weekend I am participating in the HAED Sampler SAL. This is a year-long SAL where you just stitch on a sampler of your choosing every 3rd weekend of the month. Of course, the samplers aren't HAED designs, so you find the SAL organized in the HAEDless Stitching section. If you like samplers, you should go take a look at the SAL thread because there are a lot of beautiful ones being stitched.

I decided to go with Sampler Saisons 2007 by Anagram Diffusion, even though it is going to be enormous. I don't know what it is about me and big projects. I'll post a picture next week of my progress. This should be my last new start for a long time. I certainly have enough to work on now. Here is a picture of what it will look like when completed, except mine will be blue.

First Finish of 2008

I put the last stitches in Redbird Sampler by Bent Creek tonight. I really like the way it came out, and I think that Nutmeg Lakeside Linen was a good choice for fabric. It is more reddish in tone than the dirty linen that the model was stitched on, but I like that ruddyness. I would have finished it earlier, I had it all done except that snowflake next to the Z on the bottom row and the pine tree branch next to it on Sunday, but then I came down with a bad cold. I was too sick to stitch Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday. I felt better today, though, and finally got those last few stitches in.

I also stitched today on my Dear Diary sampler. This is supposed to be a Tuesday SAL, but since I was too sick then to get much done, I worked on it today. I have started with Rebecca Small's sampler because she is from Texas and so am I. This was so much fun...but then aren't all new starts fun. I almost didn't want to put it down so I could finish Redbird, but I did.

This weekend I'll be stitching on HAED Fairy Village as part of the HAED Challenge SAL on the HAED Forum. So I probably won't get back to Rebecca Small until next Tuesday, but I am enjoying this SAL so far!

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the week, and has plenty of time to stitch.

Dear Diary Sampler

I have been stitching away on Redbird sampler this week. I am now about two-thirds finished. Perhaps I can finish it over the weekend. Starting on Monday, however, I will have less stitching time, because it is back to school (well homeschool) for us here at the Bungalow. I shall have to return to Geometry theorems and Renaissance history and linking verbs and Spanish conjugations. Ah well, it makes the time I get to stitch all the more sweet.

I have also decided on another new start! I am going to join Cheryl and Vonna in a LHN Dear Diary sampler SAL. We were all inspired by seeing Lizzy's RR on the Heartfelt Friends Round Robin.

I have decided to stitch my sampler on Maple Sugar Lakeside Linen. Yesterday, I made paper cut outs roughly the size of the samplers. The small squares are the little virtue pillow designs that come with each sampler. On my 32 ct. linen, they should be three inches square. I am only going to stitch 4 of them on my sampler. The rectangles vary slightly, but will be roughly 6 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches. I played around with my cutouts on the fabric and finally decided on this layout. I still need to calculate how many stitches between the motifs, etc., but I should be ready to start stitching on Tuesday. I can't wait!

Happy stitching everyone!