Locked In

Happy Sunday morning, all! This will be a very photo-heavy post, since I went to In Stitches' Lock-In event last night. We stitched and shopped and ate and talked from 6 p.m. to past 10:00. I took my camera along to document the fun for Ellen Meyer, the owner of In Stitches. She is working on a shop blog--we'll let you know the address as soon as it's ready to go--lots of eye candy to come, including lots of charts, kits and gadgets I haven't run into in any other place on the web! And during the month of March when the shop is open every Sunday from 12:30-4:30 during the Woodlawn Plantation needlework show, I'll be helping out on Sunday afternoons. Come in and say hello! [Edited to add: the In Stitches Blog is up and running. Take a look at the goodies! It's institchesshopblog.blogspot.com]

I shopped the market finds, of course. You know I'm usually a stitcher of antique repro samplers, but I couldn't resist the cuteness here. This is a monthly from Amy Bruecken Designs for April called Lilybell April Sampler. You can't tell probably from my photo, but Lilybell is standing in the rain wearing rubber boots, accompanied by the most hilarious little duck. I bought the sampler for the duck!


This is one of Blackbird Designs' Reward of Merit little pincushion designs. I had to have it because of the rabbits, although it's small enough to stitch a handful of these designs and maybe even finish quickly. This particular RoM, called "Breath of Spring" is stitched on 30 ct. Flax Fields (R&R Reproductions) using Crescent Colors and Gentle Arts threads.


Sarah Elliot's Home Port by Primitive Traditions, along with a floss toss of the Crescent Colors and Gentle Arts threads called for. There are also 7 DMC colors not shown here. The recommended fabric is Morning Dove by Lakeside. Stitch count is 160x95 on this not-huge sampler, which reminds me of home, since I grew up just a seagull's flight from Nantucket.


"May I" from All Through the Night, a new-to-me designer. There's a rabbit here in the garden, and lots of blossoms, and it's done on black fabric (WDW Onyx 30 ct) using Gentle Art flosses. You don't have to do it on black, of course, but I think I will because it's such a striking design. It's not huge either, at 110x143 stitches.


While I strolled among the stitchers last night, I took some photos of beautiful samplers stitched by other customers. This is "Anniversaries of the Heart" by Blackbird designs, stitched by Erin. Seeing it so beautifully stitched, all in one piece, in person, made me think that I have to stitch it too. So pretty, Erin!


And this is Lela's fabulous sampler, "Jane Baxter" by Primitive Traditions (yes, the same designer who did Sarah Elliot's Home Port). Mouth-watering, and of course, I purchased the chart right away so that I can stitch Jane also.


This week I worked away on Ann Rayner. I've tweaked the colors, not really sticking with the suggested palette, because I have a wall in my home that needs brightening up. Note to Barbara at Mainely Stitching: something about this pea-green peacock reminds me of your menagerie. I wonder why?


I mentioned last week that Susan Rambo had a little color problem. I felt that the NPI purple in the outside portion of the flower was too bright, especially since it was the same color in the squirrel, but I didn't have the DMC color that the conversion was based on, so I wasn't sure. At the shop I pulled the DMC color (451) and sure enough, it was a subtle, grayish dusky mauve. So I am substituting this NPI color, 987 (Taupe Range). I'm not frogging the flower--nothing wrong with a purple flower.


Pink and Elvis approve of samplers with rabbits in them and have offered to eat the offending purple silk.


Happy week ahead!

Rolling Down the River

Hello, All! This week I started something new, which many of you have spotted in the most recent issue of Sampler and Needlework Quarterly. It's the 1839 Susan Rambo Sampler, and I'm stitching it on LL 40 count Buttercream from my stash and the called-for NPI threads (it's also charted for DMC). The colors of my first flower (the one at the top left and right of the sampler) is a very different color than the color in the photo, and I'm wondering if there's a number transposition somewhere. In the magazine photo it's a pale blue/mauve, and IRL it's quite amethyst. I don't have DMC 451 in my stash to compare, but the magazine photo appears to be DMC 415. My theory is that it was stitched originally in DMC, and someone did a conversion. The other colors so far seem true to the magazine photo. Not sure of this, and my policy is not to frog unless strictly necessary--it doesn't make any difference to me what color the flower is, but you may want to consider it if you're going to stitch it. The squirrels, which have the same color symbol (and a white shade also), are surely not amethyst though, so those I will change, to a gray not included in the floss palette or to the NPI conversion of 415. Other than that, I'm enjoying stitching it.




I put some time in on Sarah Hatton McPhail. Here's the before pic from last week.


And after. Notice particularly the tree, which was really brought to life by just a bit of stem and back stitching. Sarah Hatton and Margriet Hogue of the Essamplaire did a wonderful job on this.


We are replacing the carpet in the master bedroom, and I had the carpet place come take out the carpet so I could see if there was any damage to floor from cat/rabbit pee. If so, I would use Killz on it to block any possibility of smell, although just taking the old carpet away seemed to accomplish that. The rabbits have enjoyed running around on the uncovered floor while I cleaned their room and prepared their dinner. Peaches is always first when she hears the dinner bowl hit the floor:


Then Pink.


Then Elvis, bringing up the rear of the Bunny Parade!


Happy week ahead!

Thank You

I want to thank everyone who stopped by with a kind word about the loss of our Yazziebear. We were lucky in that we had some time to prepare--it wasn't sudden--and say our goodbyes. In a lifetime full of wonderful pets, there are a few who truly hold our hearts, and in that, Yazziebear was a standout.

I couldn't decide whether to post today or not. I finally decided that it would make me feel better to be "normal" today, so I made breakfast, did some laundry and even stitched a little.

As I always do with a pet that we lose, Yazziebear will be commemorated on a sampler. This one, I think--Mary Ann Gollins. There are two little black dogs, one on either side of the tree (and two more dogs elsewhere in the design). I will leave one black dog, for my sister's Gracie, and replace the other dog with a little tortie point Siamese. It's working up into a beautiful and satisfying sampler. I'm not convinced I have all the colors right--it's been a tough conversion--but I like them anyway. The colors (at least on my monitor) are very true to the colors IRL, particularly of the fabric. As you can tell, this is a very large sampler.


I re-started Elizabeth Welford (Handwork Samplers). I had started it before, but my blue fabric was too blue, and I didn't care for the off-blue of the fibers that were called for. I am now using a very light blue by Lakeside in 40 count, called Misty Rain, and I tweaked the blue floss from the slightly greenish blues to French blues. I like it better now.


I also worked on Sarah Hatton McPhail this week--there's lots left to do, but I can see a finish this year.


It made me feel a bit better to look through my photos of Yazziebear, so here's a last look. Here she was welcoming Peaches to her new home when Peaches first came to live with us. We didn't worry that Yazziebear would hurt the bunny, although she made it clear who ran the show.





Happy week ahead.

Remembering Yazziebear

We adopted Yazziebear from a Petco adoption fair in Fairfax City 16 years ago. I had always wanted a Siamese cat, and I spotted her from across the room. She was tiny and intense and determined to attract our attention. We brought her home that day, along with a little brown tabby we named Martha, who died four years ago and who is sorely missed. While Martha was busy being carsick on the way home, Yazziebear was busy chirping and commenting from the carrier. She never stopped talking until we had her put to sleep today after a long and debilitating illness, and one of the most difficult things we've ever had to do. She adored us equally and thoroughly, and we adored her in return. Rest in peace, little girl.

Have Some Madeira, My Dear*

*You really have nothing to fear...

After classes closed on Monday, I worked on assorted projects, including Ann Smith:


Late Thursday I picked up Mary Ann Gollins from In Stitches, returned home and have barely put her down since. What a fabulous project Mary Ann is. The photo on the cover of the chart pack is of the original sampler, so it's not a lot of help, especially since it's pretty blurry on details, but I like a mystery--like to see it come alive. The sampler is charted for DMC or Madeira floss. I pulled the DMCs and did a preliminary conversion to AVAS. I have been adjusting here and there because my fabric is a nicely mottled 36 count Picture This in Heritage (I think) from my stash. I'm using a couple of overdyed silks also, because the colors tickled me; I have dialed up the intensity of the colors a bit so the floss isn't overwhelmed by the fabric, while sticking to the overall subdued green/gold/brown/beige autumn tones. Don't you love the black-and-ecru bird? This sampler is full of surprises! I've tweaked some stitching elements as well: I am not doing the letters in satin stitch, because I think coverage over 6 threads would be skimpy. Also, the alphabet line dips and bobs; I'm taking mine straight across because I think it would look "off."


The little admonition on the front of the chart ("Not for the Beginner!") cracks me up. You can do it, even if you're a beginner! There's nothing I hate worse than being told something's too difficult for a beginner to master. How do you learn to do things if you don't push yourself a little? In fact, I've long wanted to take woodworking classes, so I'm investigating that now. Time to learn something new!


Elvis: Eat more salad!


Happy week ahead!

Ear-ology* and Audiology

(*Thank you, Diana, for that term!)

Greetings, all! I've spent an unpleasant week with my databases and my accounting class projects with only a few minutes stolen here and there for stitching. After tomorrow, I'm stitching my butt off (and maybe even going to the grocery store and running the vaccuum). Since it's been dark and gloomy, I got out something fresh-looking that I haven't worked on for a few months: Ann Smith by the Scarlet Letter. I'm working on it with the called-for AVAS and using LL's 40 count Magnolia. This may be my brightest sampler--the Magnolia is intensely bright cream, and in fact, so assertively bright that although the color is nice, I don't think it would work as a neutral for a lot of samplers. This sampler has a ton of over-one stitching, including the whole center panel of Adam and Eve, the serpent and the tree, so I'm looking forward to working on it during the day when I can make some headway, since probably a quarter of the sampler is stitched over one thread.

I want to get going on some of these over-one samplers, since I don't figure my laser close-up vision is going to last forever. My hearing's going, especially in places with lots of background noise, like large noisy restaurants, but given the choice, like a lot of stitchers I suspect, I'd take my vision over my hearing any day. I attribute my hearing loss to loud music and to heredity (my grandmother hated her hearing aids and used to leave them off, especially when they squealed, as they frequently did; and my mother has new all-digital very expensive hearing aids that she doesn't wear either--who knows why although she's told me she is not fond of the little voice in them that tells her things--and I figure I'm headed the same way. The little voice, by the way, is real: I've heard it. It announces things like a battery change being necessary; it does not instruct her to take an axe to her family while they sleep and it does not relay messages from the government. (As far as I know.) Well! SOMEONE has had too much caffeine today!


In between creating lookup lists and defining multi-field primary keys in my dabase projects, I have had ample opportunity to surf the web, ogle your projects and think of new charts that I need. The kind ladies at In Stitches are probably tired of hearing from me this week; at each new online discovery I'd call up and request that they add the chart to my towering pile, to be retrieved by me next week (oh heavenly day).


Here's one of my new-start whims: The Hunt by Linda McNally of Homespun Samplar. The project calls for GAST Brethren Blue on 32 count Autumn Fields Vintage Linen by Zweigart, but I am stitching it using an unlabeled overdyed silk from my stash and 36 count Picture This Plus in Legacy also from my stash. This is a fun stitch that will be easy to finish.


Speaking of ears, watch Peaches' ears in the next photos. She's speaking with them.



Translation: happy week ahead!

Sampler Sunday

Not a lot of time for stitching this past week and next; my classes are finishing up on the 31st, so it's crunch time for all those assignments I procrastinated on during Christmas, the flu and most of all, during the 15-start challenge. I haven't even had time to go to the needlework shop to poke around and pick up the wonderful charts I've ordered. So here's the little bit I accomplished on the Gingham Dog:



And a little more on Ann Rayner:


"You'd better get back to work instead of frittering away time on the Internet!"


Happy week!

Love the One You're With

A few of you asked what my favorite new/old projects were and what I intended to stitch first. My answer would have to be "it depends..." I've never been a fan of a rotation; when I'm ready to stitch, I like to poke around through my treasures and select what appeals to me on any given day. I tend to lose interest in a project temporarily after about three weeks of concentrated stitching, and because I have so many WIPs (many more than I showed you during the challenge), it might be a long time before I return to a project that I've set aside. Also, some of you hooted at my classification of the last two snow projects as "small." To me, jumbo, large, medium, small and tiny relate not only to the stitch count or dimensions of the finished work, but how dense the stitching is, how many color changes there are, and how complex the stitches are (more and more designers are adding speciality stitches--have you noticed?). It's relative--I've got about 30 WIPs going--so I do my mental scale related to my other projects.

Here are the three I'm concentrating on right now, with before and after photos. My very favorite "large" project is Ann Rayner. Here's the before, where I left off on Friday.


And Ann Rayner today.


My current "medium/large"--Sous le Soleil as I left off Friday:


Sous le Soleil today:


The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat (small/medium) Friday:


And the Gingham Dog today:


Sunday salad. We've been doing well with our salads. My goal is for us to eat more good salads and also consume all the stuff we buy so that we're not wasting food by having it turn into jelly in the crisper. Last night was the end of most of it, so I combined what was left--romaine, some radishes, sunflower seeds, a few Kalamata olives and slivers of red onion--and then made homemade blue cheese dressing with the leftover blue cheese from the salad earlier in the week. This is not low-fat blue cheese dressing, but a little goes a long way and if you eat it, you will never buy that bottled stuff, with its preservatives, uniform, stamped-out "chunks" of blue cheese and pourability again. This is the real deal: stuff that has to be spooned onto your salad. (1/2 c. of mayo, 1/4 c. of buttermilk, 2 tbsp. of sour cream, 3 tbsp of olive oil, 3 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 2 tsp of sugar, pepper to taste. Wisk those until smooth, then gently fold in 4 oz of crumbled blue cheese. Allow to chill for several hours to let the flavors develop, but you can eat it right away also.)


Elvis loves to snuggle,and here Pink seems to be using Elvis as a Pillow Pet.
It's a sleepy Sunday here--cold and sunny out. I think I'll stitch a little more!


Oh, to answer a couple questions I've been asked: the banner photo is the upper left-hand corner of "Christinia Cathcart." And the cats and the bunnies get along fine--mostly they ignore each other's existence. At night when I let them out of their room to run around while I clean their cages and floor, they're on the loose with the cats. Occasionally Peaches and Chester will engage in a game of chase and a nose bump or two, but mostly they pay no attention to each other. I've seen Elvis lying calmly next to Yazziebear under the bed nearly touching.

See you later in the week--perhaps with a new start!?

15a. Winter and 15b. Winter Row

Number 15 is a two-fer because they're small. Cricket Collection's Winter: I am stitching this on 40 count Picture This Plus in some sort of blue from my stash, using the recommended DMC.


My blue is a little lighter than the recommended fabric, which on the model photo is R&R Reproductions "Morning Fog," and I was a little concerned about the white floss showing up, but I think it's ok.


I picked up Winter Row at In Stitches based on their model, which was stitched and framed without all the buttons. (Everything pictured on the chart which is not in these four colors of floss are buttons!) It does look more sampler-y without the buttons, but I might add a few: a little red cardinal, the two black birds and the hat and mittens on the right-hand snowman. I'm stitching it on 36 count Americana blend seen here using WDW and GAST threads.


This concludes my 15 crazy January starts/re-starts! I was going to continue to number 17 but then figured I could show you those down the road. I've been spending lots of time with this project, as have the rest of our Crazy January stitching bloggers. I've enjoyed the heck out of it, but it has pointed out to me the crummy way I have my supplies organized. Things are scattered everywhere, and I had to scramble to find all the parts and pieces. Right now I'm missing a chart (so annoying, since I bought the buttons, beads and floss for it in order to start it). Oh well, it will turn up soon, and I certainly don't lack for things to do. In fact, I could show you four or five big WIPs (and will in the coming weeks) along with another project or two I'd like to start. I am pleased that I was able to purchase minimal supplies to do this challenge--a couple of charts, some fibers, and a piece or two of fabric.

Peaches: "Do you have time for us now?"


Back to regular posting on Sunday--see you then!

14. Catherine Metcalf

Hi, everyone! Catherine Metcalf, from the Scarlet Letter, is #14 on my list. While I doubt I can truly finish this sampler this year, I can certainly give it a good try. I truly enjoy working on it, and there are so many different elements, it shouldn't get too boring. I love the spotty cow, and the flock of little (sheep? lambs? four-legged birds?) on the grounds of the very nice estate. The border is even not too large, so it is not as time-consuming as some SL sampler borders.


I like that the chart is bound as a booklet, and the instructions are very clear. I'm stitching it on 40 count LL (navy bean?) using the recommended AVAS threads, although the chart gives the DMC numbers as well.


Here's the rabbit bunch, having a little snack. This food isn't terribly good for them--I expect it's rabbit junk food--but mostly they live on timothy hay and fresh greens, so a little doesn't hurt. And they love it.


See you tomorrow. Tomorrow's project is brand-new and also smallish, so I'm thinking, since I post on Sundays anyway, that I'll just continue through the week and end with #17.