HAED SAL 2

Well this week I had a much more normal HAED stitching day, as I couldn't stitch all day and all evening. I went with my children on a field trip to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in Fort Worth where they make all our money...well the paper kind anyway. It was a fascinating trip, and we learned all kinds of things about how they make the greenbacks. The employees who actually run the printing presses work in fenced-in locked areas, kind of like cages, and they can only be involved in one part of the process and can never go into any of the other "cages". The security precautions are amazing. The most interesting part to me was the area where they showed how they "reclaimed" damaged money...money damaged by fire, flood and even explosives. I was surprised to find out how many people are storing stacks of bills in their homes. Unfortunately no cameras at all are allowed inside the Bureau, so I have no pictures to share.

And, I was gone most of the day, so I was only able to stitch in the evening. I got about 400 stitches done last night, and then I got another 200 stitches done this morning before everybody woke up. I just love those early morning hours when everything is quiet and peaceful.

Here is a picture of my progress on Santa's List:

I also did some stitching this week on Mon Beau Chalet, a design I am working on from the De Fil en Aiguille magazine. I finished my January goal for this WIP.

Here is a closeup picture of the motif that I stitched.

I have also been working on my Engelbreit, but I don't think I'll post a picture on that one again until I have it finished.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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....

Lizzie Kate SAL

This is just a quick post to show my progress on a new SAL which I have joined for the new year. It is a French SAL organized on the Les Copines forum for the Lizzie Kate Christmas Double Flip-Its, and they are calling it the 12 mois de noel or 12 months of Christmas. I have completed the January portion as you can see below. I used the DMC threads rather than WDW, and I am not going to attach the charms until the end. I think this is going to be a fun, easy stitch.

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.

Christmas Eve

Home for Christmas

With pomp, power and glory
the world beckons vainly.
In chase of such vanities,
why should I roam?
While peace and content
bless my little thatched cottage
and warm my own heart,
with the treasures of home.

Beatrix Potter

In all the preparations for Christmas, I still haven't had much time to stitch, but here are a couple of updates anyway :-). I continue my slow progress on my Mary Engelbreit piece, To a Friend's House the Road is Never Long. I am getting to the point where I can almost envision a finish.

And, I pulled out my Dear Diary sampler and began the fifth block, the Mary Heaton section. Here is a picture of where I was, and a picture of my progress. This is getting quite big, and difficult, therefore, to photograph.

My daughter and I have also been baking and cooking up a Christmas storm of sweet treats. Here is a platter with some of our creations. Starting at twelve o'clock and going around clockwise, we have peanut brittle, creamy butter mints, ginger snap cookies, peppermint bark, and fantasy fudge (using the old recipe on the marshmallow creme jar back from when I was a child). We also had coconut thumbprints, but even though we made two batches of these, none survived to get their picture taken.

Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas This Year

Some freebies

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful, merry time preparing for the arrival of Christmas.

I have no stitching pictures to share, but I thought that I would post some links to some freebies that I have come across lately.

This beautiful French sampler, called Grand Abcedaire, is being offered by Gazette 94 in eight parts, one part per month, from now through July 2009. There are a lot of other great freebies on this site you can browse also.

Also check out:

Madame La Fee for a pretty candy cane ornament
Joli Tambour Creation has three very nice ornaments
Isabelle Vautier, one of my favorite designers, has a beautiful Christmas freebie

That is all for now. I'll probably come back and add more later.

Enjoy the season!

Christmas Stitching Update

It is the most wonderful time of the year. The time where my family and I are so busy that we aren't home much, and when we are, it seems like we have endless Christmas chores to accomplish. I love it all, but it leaves less time to stitch. I have made some progress on my various WIPs, but not as much as I would like.

Here is what I have accomplished on my Mary Engelbreit piece. The yellow is gradually getting filled in, and the sign is almost done.

And I got a bit done on the North Pole project, participating with the Saturday Night SAL with the Only One Ewe forum. You can now see the elf's arm, appearing rather ghostly without its body.


And finally, I started an ornament from the 1999 JCS Ornament issue called Christmas Village by the Threads of Time. This is going kind of slow because I am stitching it one over one.

I have so enjoyed surfing around the stitching blogland this week, and seeing everyone's Xmas ornaments and other projects. It is very inspiring. Until next time....