THERE'S SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT......

being housebound, I guess. I'm busily finishing some projects I started a LONG time ago. These last two days or so have been in the framing department. I used to beat a path to Hobby Lobby or my local framing establishment to have a piece framed.

Well, after having to remove a piece and re-frame it because it wasn't straight on line in the frame, I eventually figured out how to frame needlework. And sometimes not even using a frame!

Now, if it's a real "special" piece, I'll have a frame made. But, since I love the places anyway, I shop resale shops for frames. I buy them, bring them home and clean them up, trim a piece of acid-free foam board and go to work. My weakness is the brown paper on the back, but who sees that anyway? I've been working on "Red Thread" forever. Would you believe I actually found a frame a few weeks ago that is actually long enough for it?? Now I'm stitching 90 to 0 to get it in the frame and on the wall. And the red thread and the frame match. Just a good swipe with lemon oil will do the final trick.

Here are the finishes for the week. The needlework pieces are old--some are in aida (which is easier to get completely straight on the foam board). But they're finally completed. Just don't know where I'll hang them. Running out of space.

A little difficult to see! The top left I think is a Blackbird piece. Next to it is a very OLD Paula Vaughn. It will hand in my PV room. I wish I had done these pieces in linen. But......Below it is a piece of needle work I found in my fabby stash. Have no idea how old it is. The magnolia fabby around it came from my local quilting shop which has since closed. I bought some of the fab in every color they had. The brown fabby around the mags is just a piece I saw and liked. I'm not really a brown person.

The little" Fancy a Jane Day?" piece is new. It's from The Sampler Girl and will hang on my JA wall. The little frame I found at Goodwill and it was a mess. A little Old English stain cover and it was like new. I finished it with an antique button as Tanya suggested. Here's another shot:



And a few more:

Here's some oldies!! The kitchen sampler on the left is dated 1993, and I can believe it. The deer on the left is a Stoney Creek and I probably did it in 1997, when we moved into the house. We have LOTS of deer around here and it seemed.....appropriate. At the top is an old Snapper. It's a prayer by JA and will, of course, go on my JA wall. I used some stretcher frames, patchwork fabric and upholstery trim because the design of the piece wasn't really elegant. Here's a close up. Oh,and forgive the silly photo. I should have cropped it!

So that's about it around here. It's turning cold again. We have the wonkiest weather here: cold one day and warm the next. And it's supposed to rain again tomorrow. Just a little more coughing, sneezing and blowing...



SOME FINISHES

This is Jo's bear. I began it before I received the call telling me she was not doing well. The next day the bad call arrived. I tried to work on it some a couple of days ago, but it just wouldn't come together. I finally finished it last night and now it's ready to be mailed. I didn't make it to her memorial service. I just chose to say goodbye in my own way.

Marty Bell has long been a favorite of mine. This is Morning's Glow. It's all connected to the English thing I have. I've now completed these three: one for each of my grandchildren. I actually framed it myself- how impressive is that!! It sits on my Marty Bell wall. Just to the left you can see part of my Jane Austen wall. Sometimes I have a small smattering of the organization thing. Not very often, though. You should see my kitchen table!

The Blackbird SAL starts tomorrow and I'm ready. Can't wait to get started. Some pics will follow when I get started and have something to report. Until then, HAPPY STITCHING!

NEW ISSUE!

Look what I found today!! And it's now in my hot,little hands. The ornie that caught my eye was the lollipop. It's by Prairie Moon. It's not too soon to get started.

In the meantime, the Blackbird Designs StitchALong starts Saturday. I'm doing "Autumn Bouquet" and chart, fabby and threads are at hand just waiting......

TWO WEEKS OF HARD WORK!

I've finally started finishing some projects I started a LONG time ago (plus a few small thingys).

The Amazing Grace pillow is for my granddaughter (yes, Grace is her name!). I don't remember the specifics because I did the stitching a couple of years ago. I bought the fabby and had it finished- I thought- until I saw the neat trim. So back to the drawing board. It will probably be her birthday gift.

The JBW designs are old. I dipped into the fabric stash and finally finished them. I had started off thinking I would make knob knockers, but since I have several more of the designs to do, I've decided to place them all in a special basket. As soon as I find a "special" basket.

Say Grace is going into the basket, too. I plan to do a couple more of them as gifts. A really quick stitch.

The two pincushions are made from the freebie on Blackbird Designs blog. I did the first one (pink) and was shopping for the backing fabric. I found the fab but also another piece I liked more. So back to the needle and thread (this time Belle Soir's Chester Blue and Lagoon).

So here's the latest. Plus all the cleaning closets I've done!

Well, back to watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's the first time I've seen it. Love it!

SIXTY FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY

I've been watching Fox News today and seeing all the remembrances of today's anniversary of D Day. It was especially poignant hearing the story about the veteran who traveled to France, visited the cemetery yesterday and then passed away in his sleep. The newscaster pointed out that we are losing these veterans quickly now. I only hope that they realize how much we appreciate all of them- living and dead.

Okay. On to other things. I've finished a little stitching and actually sat down today and trimmed the pieces, as well as the fabric I will use to complete them. There are several JBW designs I finished a LONG time ago, so they are ready to be done. And I have finished "Souvenir de France", the freebie by Blackbird Designs. I actually stitched two of them. When I was looking for the "perfect" finishing fabric, I saw a piece I liked-which didn't match the stitched piece. So I bought it, came home and re-stitched, and now I have a birthday or Christmas gift as well as the finished pinkeep in the fabby I liked. Will post photos when done.

I actually got the courtyard furniture painted this week-black paint all over ME! But it looks good, so maybe I'll take the photos outside.

Oh! Wiehenburg is having a new SAL: a personalized sampler. Check them out!

A COUPLE OF FINISHES: A NEW LOOK FOR AN OLD PIECE AND THE FIRST DAY OF HURRICANE SEASON

Hello, all, on this first day of hurricane. That's right: until the last day of November we'll all be sitting here, waiting and waiting and waiting.....

I did this piece in 1976. It's surface embroidery and I believe it was kit. Anyway, I had a very old frame that belonged to my mother. I removed the picture from it and replaced it with my embroidery. It wore thin on me, so I filed it away underneath the bed for many years. Last week I got inspired. I removed the sampler from underneath the bed, opened the frame and went to work cleaning the whole deal.

In the middle of all this, I decided the mat wasn't the right color and I could save big bucks by painting it. Actually works! Then I messed up. I decided to stencil the newly-painted mat. Dumb move. The mat began to crumble. Off I went to Hobby Lobby and had a new mat cut.

Here is the finished product. Looks pretty good. I might could have centered the piece better, but this is passable. It hangs on the wall over the tub in the master bath. I know it's a replica of an actual sampler. If anyone recalls the name, please let me know!

This one is also a new addition. It's LHN's "Home of a Needleworker". I didn't notice until I was taking the photograph that it's not quite level in the frame. Back we go. Gotta get it right.

Nothing else new on the home front. I saw my doctor today and she made a few meds changes. Finally have had to add a med for HBP. Guess I'll get over it. She said I'll have to watch it for a while- to make sure my BP doesn't go too low. I guess I have officially joined the ranks of Senior Citizens: I have high blood pressure. Whooee.

I'm going to re-do my blog in a few days. I have some great new blogs to add, so I'm going to get rid of some of the other stuff to allow room. And I'm joining the Blackbird SAL. I'm not making much progress on my BP SAL, so I'm hoping this will do better. We have our choice of the Flea Market (which I've already completed) or Autumn Bouquet, which is the one I've chosen.

TIME MARCHES ON!

It's almost the middle of the week. Time goes somewhere!

We had a great afternoon Saturday. Michael, the birthday boy, came over and had dinner. Then we spent some time telling stories of our early lives. We all laughed and had a great time.

I went to the movies today-second time this week. I saw Angels and Demons on Monday. It was very good. Tom Hanks has dropped the mullet. And I enjoyed seeing some of the sites I visited on my trip to Italy. The Vatican is absolutely beautiful. The Sistine Chapel, well, it was something being in a place that Michaelangelo poured out a great part of his life.

Today I saw State of Play. It was quite good. A lot of name brand stars. Good story line and a lot of twists and turns.

I've found another series of books to add to the list. I'm reading the first in the series right now. It's A Rose for the Crown and it's by Anne Easter Smith. It deals with the life of Richard III, the alleged murderer of the two little princes. Of course, it's English history, which is one of my favorite subjects.

On the sewing front, "Saving Grace #1" is almost finished. The second one will come soon. I took "Quaker Christmas" to be framed today. And if I don't have enough to do, I'm about to convince myself to do the "Abecedaire" on Gazette94. I also bought a great wire basket to store my needle necessaires in and filled it quickly. So back to the store for another one.

Oh, there is the greatest freebie on the Blackbird blog. Really, really nice.

Well, that's life here-sort of. If you watch weather forecasts, you may have noticed a little tropical depression in the gulf. It's about 2 weeks early: hurricane season is June 1-Nov. 31. We're just hoping it will fizzle out. At least let me get the damage from Gustav repaired before we do it again!

Ta for now,

Guess I'm slowing down!! Or side-tracked. All of a sudden many of the people I graduated from high school with (bad grammar) are showing up on Facebook. Could be because our 45th reunion is this weekend. I won't be going, but it's been great re-connecting. And seeing how they-certainly not me- have aged. I will say that our class beauty is still lovely. But some of the men have gone a little to seed. My cousin Jimmy excepted. He still looks the same.

On the needlework scene, I'm in the process of having Stephanie at Nouveau Encore design a family sampler for me. I need to send her the info that I've chosen because the more I look, the more I change. It will probably be the largest piece I've attempted and probably the last large chart I will do. There's something great about finishing a piece in a few days and then putting it together or taking it to the framer's.

Have a look: http://www.nouveauencore.com/

On the reading scene, the Jane Austen Stitching Group decided to read a book together. Well, I bought it and have read it. Okay, it was passable. To me, there's absolutely nothing about JA that says detective. But I also made another discovery. There is a series of books written by CJ Sansom. They're about a Quasimodo-like character named Matthew Shardlake. He's a Tudor age attorney who solves mysteries. I'm about half finished with the first one. Very good series and I'm going back for more.

That's all on the home front. See ya'll later.

.

HAPPY ST. GEORGE'S DAY!......

To all my English friends here and across the pond. To those who don't know, St. George is the Patron Saint of England. He's the famous one who slew the bad old dragon. The symbol worn today is the red rose, one of my favorites (the favorite being the lavender rose). My favorite statue of him is the one in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He's pictured as a young man, quite well done by the artist. I think of him as one of "my" saints because I'm such an anglophile.
To Julie, Elisa and all the special friends (including Midge and Mr. Moe): I hope it was a good one.



I finally managed to get the Traveling Stitcher put together. Not without its problems! I decided to make the case myself. First mistake. I used some fabby from my collection here. Second mistake: now that it's together I don't really like it. There is an extra case because of a stitching mistake. Third error. But it's all done and in my needlecase basket. It's getting so full now that I need to find a larger way of displaying them. OH, and for fun I corrected the grammar!


I've now got Loose Feather's Peacock Pinkeep kitted up and am ready to start it. The fabric is wonderful. Colors-well???? Not my favorite.

Anyway, that's about all going on here. My visit to the retina specialist wasn't so good. I had it figured all wrong, of course. I thought the problem might be from diabetes (I'm insulin resistant and I thought maybe I had crossed over) or perhaps MS. It's not, of course. It's a part of my heart disease. It's hell growing old!

MY "FINALLY FINISHED" FINISH

Yesterday I ended this long-running relationship! This is "My Quaker House" from With My Needle & Thread by Blackbird Designs. I stitched it on Ligonier Latte Belfast Linen. I used the threads recommended in the book. I started it last year, put it away and then brought it out last week to finish. Don't know if I'm going to frame it or make it a wall hanging. Or whatever. It's really not blue. It's just the picture. It's dark tan.

The weather here is amazing. One day it's 40 and the next almost 80, so almost everyone has a respiratory infection or, at the least, a bad cold. Except DH and me (fingers crossed). I've been a pretty good girl, staying inside and either stitching or cleaning a closet. Oh, for a breath of Spring.

I've been working on Beatrix Potter as well as my Quaker stocking. Hopefully I'll see some BIG results soon. They both seem that the more I stitch, the more there is to stitch. The petite etui will be here soon and I imagine the whole world will stop so that I can work on it!