Stitcher's UFO Challenge

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are now ready to ring in the new year!

For 2012 ~ I am participating in the Stitcher's UFO Challenge. Thank you to Vicki for initiating this as it will be a great boost to get some older pieces done along with newer ones.
The first project I will complete is a scissor fob from Blue Ribbon Designs "Quilted Garden". I began it right after Christmas to go with my new ghinger scissors given to me by my son. I love this particular pattern because it combines two of my favorites ~ quilting and cross stitch!

Elegant Stitch Workshop W/ Blue Ribbon Designs!

Once again, Lois of Elegant Stitch hosted a wonderful two-day workshop making us all feel warm and welcome. Thank you, Lois and to Annie as well! You did a phenomenal job!

Our teacher was the delightful Belinda Karls-Nace, designer of Blue Ribbon Designs. If you ever have a chance to attend a workshop with her ~ do so! She is full of energy and besides giving us all the materials to complete the Harvest Huswif set from start to finish, we also received a binder with detailed instructions for every step of finishing it. Alot of us just kept repeating "Wow!" ~ especially afte we saw the finished sample! It was a wonderful workshop with a gorgeous piece to stitch. Thank you, Belinda!

Below are views of the inside and outside of her model of the Harvest Huswif. I don't think photos do it justice. Suffice to say that we were a very happy group with this design! We also completed a personalized scissor fob to go with it while we were there (or close to it).

Below is a pic of the beautiful thread holder given to us by Lois as part of our goodies for attending. Aren't the colors of Gloriana silk threads beautiful on it? On the right is the scissor fob before putting it together.

And of course I had to have my pic taken with Belinda with my finished "Halloween With a Y". Belinda is holding her model ~ Isn't that a gorgeous frame?!

Of course I can't go to Elegant Stitch without adding to my own stash and Lady Dot has the cutest items. I picked up a set of 3 green stacking boxes and used the middle size to complete my Thistle House. Yes, I probably could have stained some boxes myself and then lined them with moda but I knew I never would so this was a perfect solution! I love the color green!

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks as always for your kind comments!

Halloween With a "Y" is Finished!

Now I just need to find the right frame! This was stitched on 40ct Tundra from Lakeside Linens with the called-for GAST threads.
The design is Halloween With a "Y" from Blue Ribbon Designs. My goal was to finish this before meeting the designer herself, Belinda Karls-Nace this Friday at Elegant Stitch so I'm really excited to have finished it in time.

Angry Woman Walking

Each summer when school is out, I try to attend at least one clay workshop to get back in the mode of doing my own work. I was quite tired after a 10 hour drive and not happy at being in a room that was more like a noisy crowded coffee shop then the quiet workshop I needed at that moment so while the teacher was FABULOUS (and yes I am purposely leaving out names & location!), my sculpture ended up reflecting my true mood in the end. Other adults kindly commented that she looked "determined" while the kids in my classroom had a different reaction. They thought she was angry and carrying "balls" instead of bird eggs and I don't mean the kind you throw to each other, lol.

This piece is about 18" high and was done in two days including the slips & underglazes so I'm okay with how she turned out. The body is short because we didn't have time to let the clay set up. In the morning, she was a tall svelte 20 yo but by after lunch, it all had slumped down into the body of an obese 70 yo with massive rolls of fat. This is where the "determined" adjective came from. I sliced about 2" off from the middle, shaved away as many rolls of slab as I could and simply changed her legs into tree trunks since we were located among pine trees. Next summer, she will be set free out in my backyard.

Next up ~ I'm headed to the workshop at Elegant Stitch next weekend and can't wait to just sit and stitch for 2 days!

A Give-Away at Blue Ribbon!

Belinda is having a great give-away on her blog Samplings of a Blue Ribbon Girl where you can choose from 3 of her new designs. I love them all but am favoring Quilt Garden because it combines the best of two worlds for me. Be sure to head over to add your name to the list.

Below is my on-going Blue Ribbon project titled Halloween With a "Y". I've finished the 3rd block, 'scaredy', and have a goal to finish this by October. It wouldn't be that hard if there weren't new JCS magazines coming out with new ideas for both Christmas and Halloween ~ SO distracting!

Another Crazy January Challenge finish!

Last night, I finished stitching Tralala's ‘Moutons de Saisons – Hiver’. I don't speak French but I'm assuming it means sheep of winter. The pattern also includes the season autumn which I will wait to begin in 2012. At 85 x 85 stitches on 32 ct, the design came out to slightly larger then 5" square. Even though the pattern is in French, the chart showed the DMC conversion #'s so it wasn't a problem to follow.

I ordered this pattern plus another one from Casa Cenina online and was very happy with their service.

Pincushion Caddy Done!

My first venture into Friday Night Sewing ended up going into Saturday afternoon. I love this pincushion caddy but I won't lie ~ it's wasn't fun to make. Fortunately, there's a wonderful woman named Melanie who did a pictorial on her blog of how she solved some of the problems on this project. Now that it's done, I can't wait to move forward on the remodel and have a studio where I can make good use of this while I cross stitch or do hand applique. The design and pattern are from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner. I checked out the book from the library and there are some really cute projects in it. One of the things I love best about summer is going to the library and actually having time to read and use the books I check out!

Below are some of the steps I went through. If you're wondering why there's a can of chili in the caddy at one point, it was used to retain the shape of the middle of the caddy as I stuffed it.

Friday Night Sew In

I love all things related to needlework in any form whether it's cross stitch, knitting, or as of lately, quilting and patchwork. So when I saw that another blog was hosting a virtual Friday Night Sew In, I decided that I was IN!

If you're like me and like using THREADS in more ways then one, then head on over to the link above and see what it's all about! Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have a pincushion caddy ready to view.

Halloween With a "Y" continues

This is my progress on Halloween With a "Y", from Blue Ribbon Designs. I love how it's turning out and my goal is to finish it before I attend a workshop with the designer in late October at The Elegant Stitch.

Happy summer stitching and thank you for your kind comments!

What the Heck Happened After January?!

Did I mention that my ex-husband moved in with me on a (supposedly) temporary basis due to his current financial state? Um yeah - that'll put a dampner on posting! But I have to admit that he's doing a great job of helping to remove the invasive bamboo that took over my yard years ago.

I've decided I'm going to rename my blog Stitching for Sanity just as soon as I see that it's not already taken. I swear, if I couldn't stitch, who knows what kind of crime I might have committed by now!

In late April, I attended a Brightneedle Workshop at Elegant Stitch and what a wonderful time it was. We worked on 2 projects from BN which require stitching over one. I hadn't expected that but I'm thrilled because they're both adorable and I've always wanted to try one over one. We also received two gifts from Lady Dot - a darling pincushion and a needlebook.


As if I wasn't already thrilled, we then had red velvet cupcakes for dessert. Am I the only human to reach my 50's without ever having tasted red velvet cake before? OMG ~ I am so addicted now! Plus, I got to share a table with 2 great gals - Cheryl of Henderson, NV and Elaine of Columbus, GA. I can't wait for the next workshop in October!

With school out, I've been in a stitching frenzy! I finished SB's Be Brave for July and I'm continuing on Blue Ribbon's Halloween With a "Y".

I finished a free BBD design which I did as a reminder of my own trip to Paris. I also finished the penquin started in January as well as 'Tis Green from La-D-Da. My crazy challenge list is getting shorter and I'm staying sane. Here's to hoping you all stay sane with stitching as well!

Oh My ~ Has it really been THAT long?!

To start off, here are the Squares from the F&S BBD Exchange. The top ones are the squares I received from Sonda in Oregon and the ones below are the squares that I sent to her. Both designs (and adaptations) came from the BBD booklet A Stitcher's Journey.

One Crazy Project down . . . . .

Since I ran out of thread for Mr. Penquinee, I jumped ahead to this design and finished it last night. It's a Tralala freebie and I thought it would be perfect with February being right around the corner. The thread is GAST in cranberry and the linen is 32 ct Italian siena in cream.

We had 71 degrees in my area of Northern California yesterday when normally it would be around 50. I wanted to be like a cat and just spread out in the sun and sleep! I completely skipped cleaning house and it's looking pretty scary around here. Instead, I watched Salt on DVD ~ not bad for a rental ~ continued reading Water for Elephants. I love to read books BEFORE they're made into movies and this one's coming out this year. I highly recommend the book!

Oh nooo, Mr. Pequinee!

January 16th ~ The day Mr. Penquin and I would be meeting again and wouldn't you know it ~ I ran out of thread! Ah well ~ Guess the Elegant Stitch will be hearing from me sooner then April after all.

Crazy January Challenge ~ Days 10 - 15

I admit that I may not have done much but I DID start a new piece each day!

In the last 6 days I have begun La-D-Da's Tis Green, Knotted Tree Needleart's Peace, Full Circle's Tweet Gift, Big Toe Design's Hope, Chessie & me's Joy to Ewe and early this morning I began Blackbird Design's Tis the Season.

Some of these 15 projects will get done quickly while others ~ like 'Tis the Season' ~ will be year long projects. My goal now is to not only stitch each piece but then to actually FINISH them.

I also have a 2nd bag containing at least 12 projects begun sometime in the past that need tending to so outside of attending a workshop at the Elegant Stitch in April and knowing that I'm going to buy, buy, buy when I get there, I am hoping to work as much from my stash as possible.

Crazy January Challenge #9 . . .

This is a freebie from The Workbasket called Quaker Acorn.

Craazy January Challenge Days 3 ~ 8 . . .

YIKES! One can enjoy their daytime job but it sure does reek havoc on stitching time! I've had great fun visiting other blogs that are participating in the same challenge and seeing what everyone is working on. Here's what I've begun so far . . .

Day Three ~ A freebie from Tralala
Day Four ~ A start on Shepherd's Bush 'Be My Valentine'


Day Five ~ I began Blue Ribbon's 'Beyond Measure' with the full intent of doing the peacocks only to change my mind to the rabbits and then yet again over to the alphabet design.
Day Six ~ A minimal beginning on LHN's 'Needle & Thread'


Day Seven ~ Shepherd's Bush 'Sweet Land of Liberty' sissor fob
Day Eight ~ Early this morning, I began Shepherd's Bush 'Be Brave'

So while I did manage starts for each day, I admit that I'm already having cravings to get back to an earlier start. I know it's not against any rule but I still like I'm cheating for wanting to spend time today with a certain penquin. :0)

Day Two of Crazy January Challenge . . .

My 2nd project is a design from Tralala. I'm going to enjoy this challenge because it's the nudge I need to stitch more. And considering all the purchases and downloads I acquired last year, I'm determined to do it without any further purchases . . . . At least until April when I'll be attending a workshop at Elegant Stitch with Ann Pettit of Brightneedle Designs.

Speaking of Elegant Stitch ~ I just saw that they are having a sale from Jan. 4th - 8th with 25% off everything in their store. I am now chanting to myself "stay strong" "you really don't need anything" "you don't want to make the drive" "look at your stash already!"

Stitching & Wine . . .

So far, 2011 is going fine! Happy New Year everyone!

This is my Day One project for the Crazy January 15 Challenge. The design is Mr Penquinee from The Workbasket. I made a dash down to Elegant Stitch in Modesto last Thursday for thread and found this color, Black Crow, from Sampler Threads. It's a beautiful dark midnight blue and I'm loving it for the penquin.

My added goal for this challenge is to not just stitch the 15 pieces but to also "FINISH" them in time for their individual seasons. Hmm, I might have to cut back on the wine.