September 2012 Update

Did I say I was going to post more often?  Well, so much for that idea!  We had, as usual, a very busy summer and I didn't get as much stitching as I had planned. On the other hand, we do have a new kitchen floor, entirely done by hubby and me, including tearing up several layers of old linoleum.  Boy, was that work!  I'm back to sewing again now, and hoping to get a lot more done by the end of the year.  Even though I didn't spend much time sewing I'm pleased that when I do sew it seems to go quickly.  I have not had to frog - knock wood that that continues! My goal is to finish page 3 by New Year's. That will leave just one page to go.

I won't make promises about when I'll post again, but at the very least there will be another update at the end of the year. Meanwhile, here is how Winter Fairy looks today.

Long time, no hear from me, eh?  Well, I haven't had much to post about so far.  I finally finished the gift I've been working on for my friend, so I got back to work on Winter Fairy. Today, I finished page 2 of 4.  Hurrah!!  I thought that backstitching would never end, but it really does add so much to the picture. I can hardly wait to start on page 3 tomorrow. Here's how she looks now. I love the little bunny and bird at her feet.

With the spring/summer weather and sunshine I expect to make a lot of progress on WF in the next few months, so I will be posting more often.

I shipped the gift to my friend a couple of days ago and as soon as she receives it I'll post a picture here.

Hope this finds all of you well.

December 2011 Update

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted here. Most of my free time until the end of September was taken up in prep for ALEP (A Long Expected Party). That's the Lord of the Rings event which Dennis & I attended at the end of Sept-beginning of Oct. It was marevelous, honestly one of the best times we've ever had.

Craftwise, after that I started working on a cross-stitch gift for a friend of mine. However, since she has access to this journal, I haven't posted about it. And, since I have not finished it I'll say no more for now.

I haven't finished the gift because I ran into the time the make my annual gift tag for our office Secret Santa gift. I started doing ornate gift tags about 10 years ago, first 3-d paper ones, then cross-stitch, then adding in beading. It should have been an easy little cross-stitch but turned out to be much more complicated than I planned. First of all, I kept getting lost in the pattern, even though I was marking as I stitched. All those shades of green... Because I had so much trouble with the darned thing, I decided not to do my usual double-sided tag. So when it came time to do the red border I stitched a piece of white felt to the back at the same time. But I wanted a nice finished back, so I took a little piece of holiday fabric and stitched over the whole thing. I also added the gold beaded hanger. In the end, I am quite pleased with the result and I know the person receiving it will like it. Never one to leave a pattern alone, I changed the red border and the candle flames to beads. I like the extra dimension beads add.

Now time to get back to my other stitching - I plan to alternate week-to-week on the gift and my Winter Fairy. Maybe she'll be ready for next winter.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the best in the coming New Year.

A different type of stitching

The nice thing about having a blog is that I can choose my topics. This post is still about sewing, just not cross-stitching. Almost all my spare time the last couple of weeks has been spent working on capes for hubby and me to wear to an upcoming Lord of the Rings event. I do not make garments very often, as was painfully obvious with this project. What should have been completed over a weekend is almost half done (1 cape done except for hem) after 2 weeks of struggling. Aside from my own slowness in getting reacquainted with sewing, there has been one delay after another, a constant stream of petty delays that has really been driving me crazy. Yes, I should have started this over the summer, but the summer was hectic enough. At any rate, here are a couple of pictures of the first cape. I sincerely hope that I've learned enough from making it that the second cape will go smoothly. At least I am very pleased with how it looks!

What have I learned? To either sew more often or not attempt it at all!

End of August post

Time for my monthly update. I did not get as much done on WF in August as I had hoped. I didn't quite finish page 2. First of all, the day before we left for Vermont I realized I'd made an error and needed to frog about a hundred stitches. ARGH! I took a smaller, more portable pattern to work on while we were visiting and then got back to work on WF when we got home. I will be alternating working on her with the smaller project week to week now. The smaller one is a Christmas gift, so I will not post any pictures of it till it's in the recipient's fair hands. So, folks, here is the picture of where we are at the moment. I'm also including a picture of the large tube I decorated, that protects WF when I'm not struggling along with her. Note the little froggies? I thought they seemed appropriate.

Stitch Tubes

I don't know about you, but where I go my cross-stitch goes. I take WF for the times when I know I'll have at least 20 minutes of waiting time somewhere. When it may be a "catch a few minutes here and there", I take a smaller project. When the fabric is too large to fit in my travel cases (I love my DMC travel cases!) I bought a couple of mailing tubes. I can roll up the fabric and put it inside, so there are no creases and it is fully protected. But I realized that plain white tubes are boring and that just won't do. So I got out the ol' Mod Podge, snagged a bunch of paper from my rubber stamping supplies and got to work. I'm very pleased with the results. A bonus of the Mod Podge is an extra layer of protection - it's fairly water resistant because you put a layer across the top of everything. A minus is the smell - the tubes needed a lot of airing out before I put the fabric back in. I don't want my finished pieces to smell! Here's a picture of the medium tube. I don't have a picture of the large tube at the moment.

August??? Really??

Wow, how did August get here so fast? Seems like it was just yesterday that we were celebrating the 4th of July. Well, because it is the first of August, here is my monthly stitching update. As you can see from the picture, I got a lot done on Winter Fairy in July. The bunny is all done, as is the snow around him, and I added quite a bit to WF's skirt. I made such good progress because I am currently carpooling with my daughter. She is a counselor at a Girl Scout day camp and also a bus aide, so I drop her off at the first pickup stop in the morning and then pick her up at the last dropoff in the evening. I go there straight from work, and most days I have 30-50 minutes of waiting time. Part of it I spend very happily in the library next to the parking lot. But most of the time I stitch. So, instead of maybe an hour or two on the weekend, I am getting several hours of stitching done per week. Yea! I am enjoying the extra time while it lasts. I had hoped to finish page 2 by the end of July, but didn't quite make it. I will certainly finish it and start page three this month. We'll be going to visit the in-laws in Vermont for several days, and aside from having a nice visit with them, I will have lots of sewing time. Once, I finish stitching page two I will add the backstitching. It is so fun to see all the extra detail pop out then!

Hope you all have a wonderful month of August!