2015 State Fair results

Back in August, I must have been so spellbound by my new granddaughter that I forgot to post State Fair results.  It had been several years since I had sent anything so I had plenty of work from which to select.  Six of the seven things I entered won ribbons.  It was a lot of fun and pretty shocking.  My work isn't the most beautiful, elaborate or technically perfect, but the judges were kind anyway..

Back row:  Ott light tote bag embellished with needlepoint panel & Ol' Glory project bag

Middle row:  Clover stumpwork oval, Tree of Life amulet necklace, Eagle framed needlepoint

Front row:  Needleworker cross stitch from Little House Needleworks 

Better pics:

The ribbons are wonderful but the prize money paid for the two trips over and back to the fairgrounds.  I think that tickled me more than the ribbons!

Until next time, Stitch Happy!

Happy Dance x 3

***

As the temps have risen above freezing, I have felt my brain slowly reawaken from its winter stupor.  Now that I'm full alert and feeling like a human again, it is time to address the ever-growing "To Do" list.  First on the list was to spend the $50 gift card I won last Christmas at the annual guild luncheon.  Framing for Needleworker took care of that "To Do" item:

Needleworker by

Little House Needleworks

Second up was to finish a few things in the WIP/UFO/Monthly Education basket.  Since this little cutie had me at Hello, it moved to the top of the list for finishing and framing:

Clover from Stumpwork Flowers book by

Sachiko Morimoto

And finally, my tiny little Contemporary Forest necklace from the Catherine Jordan class my guild hosted in March.  What a fun piece and outstanding designer/instructor.  

Reversible pendant (front on left, reverse on right)

That's all the news that is fit to report for now.. Until next time, STITCH HAPPY!

Slow Hand (as in Geez, am I slow or what!?!)

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Good day, friends!  It has been forever since I've update my corner of the world wide web and I thought it was high time to do so, a month ago, and then two weeks ago, and yesterday...  So!  Without further ado, allow me to apologize for myself.  I have several excuses.  Select whichever one you like best.

#1) I retired at the end of February.  Yes, like I am no longer in the work force and loving every minute of it.  But, like so many of you know, one doesn't just dive headfirst into the stash pile upon retirement.  No.  "Things" must be done like major housecleaning, closet purging, trip taking, establishing a new routine.  Yes, these things I felt had to come first - so that was my March.

#2) Stepson 1 AND Stepson 2 got married (March and May).  I was asked to photograph the May wedding, hence the photography class in March-April.  Taking the wedding pictures was an honor and a pleasure but one that put me into a state of panic, for a couple of months.  Let me state it clearly for the record, I am not a professional photographer.  I am just an avid shutterbug, doing the best I can.

#3)  I accepted a regional position with the EGA and had to learn a whole new raft of things in preparation for the regional meeting in June in Knoxville.  My stitching pals and I had a great time in Tennessee and didn't make any new enemies - always a plus!!!

#4)  SISTERS TRIP to Cincinnati to see the Princess Di exhibit.  If you are close enough to go see it and haven't yet, go now before it returns home to England  (closing Aug 17th).  Not only are the contents of the exhibit extraordinary, the museum must be credited with putting it all together beautifully.  Truly, one of the best exhibits I've ever seen - and I'm a museum hound.  Oh, did I mention that the hotel valet service in Cincinnati lost my car?  Yeah.  Long story.

#5)  June - the month of wine and roses.  Multiple major family events in June.  I can write off the month of June every year due to back-to-back-to-back celebrations for my baby sister (birthday), husband (birthday) and father (father's day), and my wedding anniversary.  Whew... 

Then, hubby retired at the very end of June.

Now, throw in three funerals between #1 and #5.

Which brings us to JULY and can you believe I actually have an actual FINISH to share?!?!?!  Yes, a stitching finish...

A couple of my sweetest stitchy pals gifted me this kit when I retired.  How sweet is that?!?

Additionally, I am totally chuffed to show you this near-finished Little House piece:

But wait, there's more!  After carefully reading Mary Corbett's recent tutorials about her Tudor Rose project, I could not wait another minute to start my luggage tag, which has had me mystified for over a year.. (I know - it's not rocket science, but needlepoint is new to me).  Mine isn't supposed to be like hers, she just inspired me to find my round 'tuit'.  Working with the Neon Rays and Very Velvet and Planet Earth silks has been a ton o' fun.  The Gumnut wool french knots were just the thing for the center, I thought..

 

 

I'll leave you with this last pic of my soon to be complete wedding sampler WIP called "The Wedding" by My Big Toe Designs.  S2's wedding was in lavender, purple, grey and white so the ground fabric is a platinum linen.  The threads are two shades of GAST overdyed purple (lavender potpourri and hyacinth).  The center section is designed to read "two shall be as one", but I think I will chart their married monogram and stitch it in the center instead (as inserted with photoshop below):

 

 

Me thinks this is plenty for today.  Tune in next time when I tell you all about my super terrific Charley Harper canvas called "And One To Grow On".

 

STITCH HAPPY!

 

 



Happy happy joy joy

***

Happy Wednesday friends!  I'm so excited to have finished my first handpainted canvas that I just had to pop in for a quick minute to share it with you...

canvas by Lee

Like I said earlier, I purchased this canvas in San Francisco at the EGA National seminar in the fall of 2010 along with two Lee luggage tags.  I promptly plunked the tags and the canvas down in a large zip bag and began adding (from stash) any red, white and blue thread I thought might come in handy to the zip bag.  You've never seen such a bunch of red, white and blue thread in all your life.  I let the options paralyze me for awhile.  Too many options.  Had to decide where to start and work from there.  I studied the nine little color blotches along the edge of the canvas until I felt like I had a good handle on the "true" colors of the project.  The brown was such a pretty brown that I decided to start there.  So, I had the 'perfect' brown thread in my hand, ready to start, but, uhhhh, how should I start was the next question...

Luckily, I have picked up a few basic needlepointing books along the way so I referenced them and came up with some fairly easy stitches for the eagle.  I just love how he turned out which spurred me on to get the flag started.  Cue the koo-koo crazy music... 

It took me about two nights of trying different stitches before I found the diagonal stitch you see above throughout the flag.  I don't remember what it's called in real life, but I call it the long-long-short stitch.  Long-long-short became my best friend as I stitched and ripped, stitched and ripped...

The flag needed to have some sheen to it, I thought, but not too much... So after MUCH trial and error, I decided I'd use two kinds of thread in each color block of the flag - one shiny, one not so shiny.  If you look closely you can see that I've used a #5 perle cotton and a rayon in the same exact color, in altering rows for the entire flag.  The flag has two shades of red and three shades of blue, thus I used 4 reds and 6 blues for the flag.  The stars were the last to be stitched.

Again, for about two full nights, I tried every thread and every stitch I could think of but nothing looked right.  I stitched and ripped, stitched and ripped...

I finally gave up and threw myself on the mercy of a couple of my needlepointer stitchy friends.  What we landed on for the stars is what is called a Rhodes star.  I think it's just about perfect!  The thread for the stars is called Hi-Lights by Rainbow Gallery.

Special thanks to Miss Pat for that suggestion!  Kiss Kiss Miss Pat!

So in the span of about a week, I nearly tore my hair out figuring it out, but I started and finished my very first handpainted canvas.  All in, I think I used 19 different threads from 6 thread 'families':  perle cotton #5, DMC floche, DMC rayon, DMC antique effects, Rainbow Gallery Hi-Lights, and Mandarin floss (bamboo). 

It's so uplifting to finish something quickly, don't you think?

And, as promised, here is "And the Rain Fell"  all framed up:

sorry about the glare... couldn't be helped...

And that's all the news that's fit to report folks..

Have a great remainder of the week and keep on stitching!

Playing catch up...(picture heavy)

***

Hello Friends!  Hubby and I are just back from a last minute, very quick vacation cruise of the Mediterranean so I have a few vacation pics to post but first, I have a few stitching finishes to share!!!

I finished "The Rain Fell" and whisked it off to the framer so fast that I neglected to get a finished snap of it first.    :-(  

Don't worry though, I'll be sure to upload a couple upon its return..

I loved stitching and finishing the Royal Wedding Souvenir almost on time for the anniversary...

design by The Sampler Girl

Most of it is stitched with silks from stash.  I used a scrap piece of 35 ct. hand-dyed R&R linen.  It might just be my favorite fabric of all time to stitch on..

And, hot off the stretcher bars is this bargello Easter egg...

I love the bargello pattern and the overall size of the egg, but I'm not 100% sure about the colors I selected.  The yellow might be throwing the harmony off...  You think?  Plus, the thread coverage is a smidge on the thin side for my liking.  I might just have to do this one again in another colorway with a heavier weight perle cotton.  Next year???

That wraps up the small seasonal pieces I wanted to get off my To Do list this year.  Currently, I'm working on a modern wedding sampler for my newly remarried cousin and his wife.  It should be finished in a week or so.  Then, I plan to dive head first into a Monet impressionist piece that I've had set aside for years.  It is Parliament at Sunset, if you've seen the painting.  I triple heart love it but it is pretty daunting.  I'm sure it will keep me busy for several months.

Now, as for the highlights of the cruise...

First stop:  Sicily where we were once again astonished by the natural beauty of Italy and the genuine character of the people..

Mount Etna

Port of Messina (Sicily)

from Taormina (Sicily, Italy)

Second stop:  Turkey (Ephesus) where we visited the Church and House of the Virgin Mary and celebrated mass.  Afterwards, we toured a rug making factory.  I particularly enjoyed watching the lady pictured below charting an antique pattern.

charting a rug pattern

Turkish rug weaving

an exquisite, small silk rug (placemat size)  

I would have loved to have brought home one or two small rugs but the ones I liked were thousands of dollars (of course).  So sadly, we left Turkey empty handed...


Third stop:  Athens, Greece where we climbed up to the Acropolis (what a hike!) and had the most magnificent views of Athens, and saw what's left of the Parthenon.  We also got to see the Olympic flame which was being transferred to the London Olympic committee the day we were there. 

looking down on Athens from the Acropolis

the Olympic flame with the Parthenon in background

Final stop:  The isle of Crete where we had a quick tour of a few houses of worship, central market, Old Harbour and an ancient monastery turned museum. 

Western Crete shoreline

150 year old Greek Orthodox church

Greek olives in central market

docked in Rome:  instead of rushing off the boat to the airport, hubby and I checked into a hotel and spent the day in Rome.  We revisited a few of the major sites that we saw last year (Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, etc.) but we also took the time to walk around inside a few of the most significant churches/basilicas in Rome (Santa Maria Maggorie, the Church of Louis of the French, and the Church of Saint Agnes in Agony).  Since it was Sunday, we were actually able to participate in several services.  It was an amazing day to end an amazing week.

Trevi Fountain

massive Caravaggio painting in the Church of Louis of the French

The trip was too quick and I'm dreading work tomorrow but it was nice while it lasted...

Here's hoping you all are finding time to stitch and making plans to enjoy Memorial Day weekend with family and friends.  I'll be in the laundry room if you need me...  :-)

The Rain and taxes

Here it is mid-April and I can hardly believe it!  Dad entered the hospital with pneumonia on March 3, was in intensive care for a week, step-down for a week, then transferred to a skilled nursing facility for 20 days of rehab, then discharged to come home on Good Friday.  My sister and I made tracks back and forth every day.  Some days we were with him all day, some days we just visited after work to make sure he knew we were keeping an eye on things.  He is extremely pleased to be back home and feeling better than he has in years.  Sis and I, on the other hand, could use a vacation!

Since Easter, I've managed to slip a few stitches in The Rain Fell...

I can't remember the exact color of the linen, but I'm loving it.  The colors of the piece really pop against the soft blue of the linen.

Today, I wish I was doing nothing but stitching more on this piece and kitting up another April piece I'd like to complete this month, but my house is in desperate need of a good spring cleaning.  And then there is the tax return that isn't going to file itself.  

BOOO!!!  TAXES!!!

Here's hoping you have a wonderful mid-April weekend, friends!