WIP progress photo

Let's see, Wednesday night, I finished pages 7 & 8 on my PTP Floral Arrangement.  Woohoo!  That puts me at the 50% mark.

Here's the photo of my progress:

Since I've decided to make La Belle Dame Sans Merci my focus project, that is what's next in my rotation.  The next page on La Belle is going to be boring but probably pretty fast - it's about 95% black.  I've already done the non-black stitches and then the bottom and right edges of the page so that all I have to do is...black.  I guess black is appropriate considering my current Netflix viewing choice:  Midsomer Murders.  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Images from the Past: Wedding Samplers

Images from the past refers to items that I finished some time ago and were on my personal webpage but not necessarily on my blog.

Today I thought I'd post photos of the various wedding samplers I've stitched.  No, I never stitched on for DH & me.

This one was for my younger sister and brother-in-law.

 

This was for my youngest sister and brother-in-law.

 

 

This was for my pastor's daughter.  This is one of only a handful of project to have no mistakes.  The mirror image effect of the pattern made any mistakes glaringly obvious so I frogged quite a bit.

 

This was for a good friend and her husband.  She was my matron of honor when I got married.

This one was the only one that I've done a major modification on to fit the couple.  The original was for two white hands and cream colored roses.  I was matron of honor in this wedding.  Unfortunately, none of the bride's other "friends" would stand up for her because she was marrying a non-white man.

I did this one for my cousin and her husband.  I modified this one slightly by extending the borders and adding their names and the date.

This is one sampler that I've stitched 3 different times.  I stitched it for the lady who used to be my babysitter (now divorced); my uncle and his 2nd wife, the image shown, (now divorced); and my niece and her husband.  The third time was the charm with this one - the niece and nephew are still together!



 

 

I have also stitched one with swans on it but never had a photo.  I stitched one called United in Love as well but since they got divorced, I guess they weren't that united.  Never had a photo of that one either.  Oh, well.

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Stacy





Finishes and WIP photos!

Whew!  I've finally gotten 12 Days of Christmas framed!  I was going through some old computer CDs during the last couple of days and I found my first WIP photo of 12 Days.  It was taken on Jan. 9, 2006!  Well here's the finished product:

I also had another, much smaller, finish recently.  It's an ornament, Let It Snow.  This is a Dimensions kit.  No, I don't have a Christmas tree up year 'round (DH won't let me), I just started my Christmas shopping in January this year.  It's hanging on a small tree with a snow family at the base.  The tree and the ornament are both going to be presents for my mother.

 

And finally, here is my current progress photo for PTP Floral Arrangement.  I've finished page 8 which is the right edge and am filling in page 7 now.

 



As I mentioned, I found some old CDs with photos on them.  I also "lost" my personal webpage when we changed from a business to a personal account with my ISP.  I'm going to start posting photos of my completed works that were on my webpage to my blog for "posterity".  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Daily Blogging?

Well, it appears that I'm not so good at doing the daily blogging.  I don't know why, I'm on the internet for hours every day.  I think I'll drop the daily attempt and just try to be more frequent than previously.

Anyway, I've been doing okay on the Flying so far.  I'm at the stage where I'm just trying to create the "habits":  get dressed, make the bed, pick up the laundry, swish & swipe, etc.  So far, I've got those 4 down.  The laundry habit has had a side-effect.  I won't do laundry unless I have a full load (whites and reds are the only exception - we don't have a lot of them).  Well, I've had 2 days this week where all the dirty laundry was collected and sorted but there wasn't enough for a full load!  And no, I didn't have enough of our whites or reds for a load either.  Actually, today makes 3 days.

On the stitching front, I have made progress there too.  Here is where I was on PTP Floral Arrangement after Thursday evening:

I also received a couple of frames in the mail this week.  One is for my 12 Days of Christmas and the other is for my whitework sampler (the actual name escapes me at the moment).  I decided to work on framing the whitework piece first because it was going to take less effort.  Here's a photo of it in the frame. 

It's not quite framed yet, though.  I had to make my own spacers since I wasn't using any mats.  I just pinned and laced the piece, popped it into the frame and took a picture.  Then I took it out, popped in the acrylic, and glued in the spacers.  I left that to dry overnight.  Tonight, I'll most likely finish off the framing.

Since I finished 12 Days of Christmas which was my focus piece, I had to choose a different piece to focus on.  The new star in my rotation will be La Belle Dame Sans Merci.  I figured I'd been working on it the longest so it needed to get finished...eventually.  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Stitching, Flying Day 6/231

Here's my post for today and it's actually being written...today!

Flying:

Make the bed
Swish and Swipe
Collect and Sort Laundry
Start a load of laundry
2 minute room rescue


Stitching:

Well, the frog got me on Saturday.  I managed to rip out what was off, by one stitch.  The problem was it was a big block of color, one stitch too far to the right.  That made the outside edge off.  UGH!

I seem to have gotten it all taken care of and even some of that area put back correctly.  Here's my current progress:

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Day 5/231

Well, I obviously didn't write anything yesterday. The reason is: I was gone all day (photos below!). So today, I'm going to write for both days. Here's what happened on...

Sunday

Flying:

More like fluttering 'cause as I said, I was gone.  I did manage to

Make the bed
Take care of the laundry

That's it, but at least I made an effort.

Stitching:

I worked on some crocheted snowflakes while DH & I were driving around.  I got two done and a third started.  No pictures yet, 'cause they look more like snow lumps right now.  They need to be starched and blocked.

Now for a couple of photos showing where I was yesterday.  You can click on them to see larger versions.

This is Kalaloch creek heading into the Pacific Ocean. Kalaloch is pronounced CLAY-lock.  This is the west side of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

 

Here is Ruby Beach which is north of Kalaloch.

 

This was a very determined tree. 

 

  Here is the north end of Lake Ozette.

 

And my favorite photo.  Yes, that is a fish wearing a skirt, bobby socks and sneakers!  This town is pronounced SEE Q.

 

Okay, that takes care of Sunday.  I'll write Monday in a separate post.

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Stacy

Flying, Patterns and Stitching day 4/231

Hey Everyone!

Here's today's update on the stuff listed in the title.

Flying:

Make bed
Do Breakfast Dishes
Swish & Swipe
Laundry
2 Minute Room Rescue

Yesterday, I also dusted the tops of all the door jambs.  Ugh, were they filthy!  There were also tons of cobwebs in the corners.

Patterns:

Yesterday, I received 2 sewing patterns in the mail.  They are for...handbags.  While I love the tote that I made, I still need a new purse so I'll be working on that in the next few days.  Here are the patterns I got:

Claire by Lazy Girl Designs: 

 

and also from Lazy Girl Designs, Miranda:

 

 



I'll most likely start with the Claire bag 'cause I should have all the supplies on hand to make it.

 

 

Stitching:

 

I did more work on my PTP Floral Arrangement last night.  Here's a progress photo:

 

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Stacy



Flying and Stitching day 3/231

Flying:

Make the bed
Pick-up and sort the laundry
Start a load of laundry
Wash breakfast dishes

I also wiped down the entire stove (need to Google how to clean the inside of the door) and all the kitchen cabinets.

Today I'm going to start working on my Control Journal.  I did one a couple of years ago so I'll start with that and see what needs tweaking (not twerking!).

Stitching:

I don't normally take WIP photos until I finish a definite section or page but I figured that a blog post without pictures is snooze-worthy.

My current WIP is HAED's PTP Floral Arrangement.  Here's what it looked like when I started this time:

 

 

Here's where I was at the start of the evening yesterday:

 

 

And here's where I left off yesterday.

 

I'm stitching this 1x1, tent (half) stitch on 40ct. linen.  Usually, I only work on one page at a time but page 8 (the far right) was a partial page so I'm stitching 7 & 8 at the same time.

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Stacy

Flying, Quilting, Sewing (day 2/231)

Well, here I go on my attempt at blogging at least once every day.  The 2/231 in the post title refers to my 2nd day of the 231 days that were left in 2014 when I started.  I'd have my fingers crossed about this little journey but that would make typing more difficult.  ;-)



Flying:

I actually made my bed this morning!  This is definitely something I usually avoid.  I also scrubbed down my tub/shower before I took my morning shower.  It was so nice to be in a scum free environment.  There's a load of laundry in the dryer.  Next up...putting the games back in the game closet (I need a step ladder to do this and now I have my own!).

While I was writing this post, I hung up the dry laundry and started another load!

Quilting:

Months ago, I finished a quilt wallhanging and finally hung it up last week.  Remembering to purchase a curtain rod last week might have had something to do with it.  Here's the quilt:

The pattern is my own design.  It was a way to use up some of my precut scraps.  I cut up my scraps following Bonnie Hunter's Scrap Users System.


Sewing:

Last night I completed a tote bag.  This one is called Sausalito by A Quilter's Dream.  I used 6 fat quarters from my stash.  I was planning on replacing my normal purse with this one but this is definitely a large tote bag.  I think I'm going to use it as a project bag.  I like to work on small stuff when DH and I go places.  My "car project" used to be crocheted snowflakes.  I think I'll go back to working on more of them.  Anyway, here's a picture of my new tote:

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Blogging

In my last post about destashing, I mentioned The FlyLady.  I've been "fluttering" a bit with her but not like I want to - I'll admit it, I'm lazy.

Well, I've decided it's time to stop being lazy and get off my well-padded a** and be more productive around my house and business (I have a retail shop out of my home).

I figure that there are going to be several benefits to this:

• My house will be tidier
• My business will be more professional looking
• I'll be able to actually find things
• I'll end up with more time in the evenings for fun stuff, like stitching
• Moving more should help me lose some weight

I've made a start with this philosophy today...just a sec, I've got to put the laundry in the dryer.  Done, plus another load is in the washer.  Earlier, I did a 15 minute fling in my closet.  Twenty-four hangers have now been liberated of their loads and 6 pairs of jeans are off the shelf.  I did find 2 pairs of jeans that fit that I didn't know about!

As part of this effort toward organization, I'm going to attempt to do one blog post a day.  I'll write about "flying" and as always, stitching.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Destashing...

All the books, magazines and patterns that I've decided to let go to other homes are now available in my Etsy shop, XedStitches. 

The final tally of items added:  60!  That does mean I didn't hit the 200 item mark in the shop but oh, well.

Now if I could just manage to get my sewing room tidied up...I mean I have extra space now, or at least you would think so. 

I'm also letting my Singer sewing machine go - to my sister and nieces.  It's not actually out of the room yet, it's more in the middle.  The corner where it sat has been taken over by stuffed animals!  Yes, I love my stuffies.

I think I'm getting motivated to do the actual cleaning/organizing that the room needs.  I should take a tip from the FlyLady and set my timer for 15 mintues and see what I can get done.  Of course, since it's my hobby room, I do get easily distracted.  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Major Destashing

I went through my impressive stash a couple of evenings ago and pulled out all the "stuff" that for one reason or another, I'll never get around to doing.

The resulting stack of books, magazines and patterns is about 1½ feet tall!  Even with all that removed, my stash is still impressive.  ;-)

For those of you who stitch for holidays, especially Christmas, the upcoming items for sale are for you!

I've already started creating the listings in my Etsy shop, XedStitches.  I'm going to enter all my items and then start them all together.  At the moment, I have 104 items listed.  I don't know if this destashing will put me up to 200, but we'll see.

Stay tuned and Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Update:  So far, I've got 26 magazines and patterns ready to list.  There are a few more of those and I haven't even started on the books!

A thoughtful post...

This post is full of my thoughts while stitching.  In particular, with regards to TW's 12 Days of Christmas.  As my loyal readers know, 12 Days has been the focus piece in my rotation.  Every other time I've rotated, I've switched back to this one so that I would eventually get it finished.

Well, 12 Days got it's turn again last week.  It was time to work on Day 10: 10 Lords a Leaping.

Since the borders are done over 2 using blended colors, I've been cutting long lengths of each color then threading 6 needles with all the blended strands.

I started by doing the borders for Day 10 and had threaded needles sitting there so I thought: 
"I find doing the borders boring, so I'll just do as much as I can on the Day 11 & 12 borders with these threaded needles."

When I finished using up the pre-threaded needles, I thought:
"I'm so close to finishing the borders, I might as well get them done.  I'll backstitch them too 'cause I hate backstitching."

After I'd finished the borders, I thought:
"The holly in the corners is easy to do, so I'll do the holly on all three remaining days."

With the holly all done, I thought:
"If I stitch the 'of Christmas' for each of the 3 days left, I can discard that page of pattern."

After I threw away the "of Christmas" part of the pattern, I realized that I didn't enjoy the lettering due to all of the backstitching, so I thought:
"If I get all the lettering done, I'll only have to do the inside area for each day.  That will speed up my progress when I rotate back to this project."

Once I'd finished all of the lettering, I started working on the center of Day 10.  It was going along so quickly, I thought:
"Hmm, why don't I just finish the other 2 days as well."

After all that thinking, 12 Days of Christmas is DONE!

Now I'm heading back to my craft room to see what my next rotation project will be.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy