JN's TrickORTreat Completed 2/4/06

I started this on Oct 1st and I really thought I'd have it done by Halloween. Skip ahead to Feb and it took me far too long but I did it. The finishing kit was very clear and fairly easy. The hard part was trying to get the corners and tips to look right. I'm not happy with the lid tip but for the most part I'm pleased with it. I'm amazed I actually turned it into a box!

Finished SB's Sept Monthly Musing 7/16

Not a lot of stitching being done lately but I did finish this on 7/16/05. It's called Sail. I think it'll look a lot cuter once I sew it into a pillow form. It's been very hot here and since I'm out in the sun all day I'm just wiped out when I get home. I'm missing my stitching but just don't have the energy or interest in actually picking it up right now.

Stitching Bee

In the WIP/UFO group on the Legacy board we do a stitching bee on the 14, 15 and 16th of every month. I've chosen to participate in the SB Bee and work on my Sept Monthly Musing. I actually got quite a bit done on it this time. It helped that last night was the 3 hour finale of The Bachelor so I stitched the night away.

I wasn't sure I would like this season especially since most of the women they picked for him were fairly scary but the ending was awesome. Charlie turned out to be a good guy. Much better than last season's Bachelorette when Jen didn't pick either of the guys.

Anyway I'm still working on Jeannette Douglas's Rocky Mountain Sampler and although all I've done to my CHS Sampler Stocking is put the fabric on a scroll frame, I do plan to start stitching it on Saturdays. This time of year (summer) it's hard for me to get much stitching done because we spend more time out of the house or downstairs watching movies since there's no TV. I don't like to take my stitching downstairs because for one thing the dogs shed all over everything and for another I'm just not set up like I am in the loft. I have my recliner and my stitching table and all my stuff here. Maybe I'll get a lot of these monthly musings done this summer since they're easy to take anywhere and easy to stitch on.

It turns out I can sew!

For the month or so since I finished stitching my PA German Stocking I've been debating with myself as to whether I should get it professionally finished or I should do it myself. Gordon kept telling me I should go for it and do it myself but I just wasn't sure. For one thing I thought it needed a lining which I was wrong about. I found some really great instructions with pictures on how to add a lining to a stocking but then after re-reading the finishing instructions that come with the chart I realized it doesn't need lining. So I went for it Saturday and this is how it looks. I'm so proud of myself!

New Project Started

I started on Jeannette Douglas's Rocky Mountain Sampler last night. It took me about an hour to do the first row which is all backstitch. Should have taken me 15 minutes but I kept starting over trying to decide where on my fabric I wanted it to start. Then I got the row done, tore it out and moved it over some more. I don't know why but I always take forever to start a new piece. It's like I need to get warmed up or something. I put another hour into it tonight and finished the 2nd row which is pretty trees.

I ordered Vikki's silks for CHS's Sampler Stocking and am going to stitch that on Saturdays with the rest of the stocking stitchers on the Legacy board.

In other news I've been a stash shopping maniac. Is it the weather? Am I the only one going nuts? There have been some really great lots on Ebay lately and I just can't pass them up. I'm watching some fabrics that end in about 5 days and then I think I need to put the brakes on for awhile.

Haven't Had Time

I miss my stitching. We went to Vegas for a long weekend (yay we did pretty good too and had a GREAT time) and then once we got home last Monday Gordon's been off work on vacation all week. I haven't had any time at all to even think about stitching. I did get to go to Needle In The Peak in Colorado Springs yesterday though and splurged big time. It's been fun having Gordon around all week and doing stuff together. It'll be nice though once I can get back into my own routine again. My business has been fairly busy this week but fortunately I've been done by about 1pm so we could play.

I've been taking a little time to decide what I want to do next. I'm finally going to really give a rotation a try. I pulled out Jeannette Douglas's Rocky Mountain Sampler and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had the fabric I needed in my stash and had all but one skein of DMC needed so I picked that up yesterday. Today I ironed the fabric, fidgeted with putting it on Qsnaps and I think I'm all set to go with that. I also decided to work on another CHS stocking - Sampler Stocking to be exact. I'm going to try just stitching that on weekends. I've got the fabric but I need to figure out the floss. I'm going to pull out all the DMC colors and see if I can convert them to Weeks I have on hand. If I'm not happy with what I have on hand then I think I'll just order Vikki Clayton's silks.

Lastly I'm doing a mail art exchange and want to get that worked up and sent out this week before we go to Vegas Friday. I have the fabric all ready. I just need to pull out some Drawn Thread designs that are spring themed and decide which motifs to use.