Entries to the fairs

So far I've entered 3 fairs and all my pieces have won a ribbon! I'm tickled about that. I saw my needlepoint at the State Fair (second place), but none of the other things yet. Probably will go on Saturday to see how they've done.

On Saturday the 20th, I bought a sale kit of a needle felted bee applique. The next day I started and finished it! I entered it in Bee Related Arts and Crafts at the state fair. I'm hoping for second or third. Someone made a huge wooden bee hutch with a tin roof that opened, engraved with scenes of horses (in pastures, working and riding). I'm pretty sure that got first even though I've never judged bee things! LOL

And if any of you take pictures.....Focus, people! Focus. Although submitting out of focus pictures makes my job infinitely easier.

Found my Stitchy Kitty holiday moons

I'm thinking of doing them on one piece of fabric, two rows of three: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween and Christmas. Here's a link to the designs.

http://stitchykitty.com/designs.htm

Recent finishes and framed pieces

I've been so busy on the computer at work that the last thing I want to do on the weekends is be on the computer. I took the time today to do the last two posts and this one. I'm playing catch-up today. :)

Here are two Shepherd's Bush pieces (or is it really 5??). I finished Easter Parade from a kit. I stitched the four Easter egg kits and got them framed as one. The inner mats complement each egg and one mat on top to tie it all together. If I ever find the first set of eggs I stitched, I'll make them into ornaments for a future Easter tree.

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A friend bought me this chart book of Blackbird's Down by the Sea. I loved this so I started it immediately. I switched the threads to a nice Caron Wildflowers I had on hand.

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Every year I try to do a piece celebrating the 4th of July on the 4th of July. This year, while watching the Coney Island hot dog eating contest on TV, I stitched Pine Mountain's Liberty. The kit came with a little red frame.

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I've had several cats over the years, but by far my favorite was a male tuxedo I named Shannon. He was a rescue (as they all have been), liked to fetch a fuzzy pink catnip ball, knead me, and slept with his head on my elbow. He only lived 4 years, but they were a great 4 years. Time passes. I'm in a craft store looking at the cross stitch kits and there, to my surprise, is a picture of Shannon! The design was on white fabric with half stitched black. There were six or seven cats in the picture, but in the black was Shannon. I always meant to stitch the whole thing, but one day this spring it occurred to me that if I only liked the tuxedo, then stitch only the tuxedo! So here he is:

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In Just CrossStitch October 2010 issue was a design I liked by Lisa Roswell of Primitive Sampler. It's called Halloween Revelry. Due to a boo boo of mine, I stitched it with the wrong side as the top. That didn't leave enough room to do the entire design. I punted and really like with what I did.

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In an issue of SANQ this year was a reproduction sampler by Lucie Beharel in France. I stitched this because I like the color orange and there's a repro category in the fair.

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A WIP: Fraktur Alphabet Sampler

I just adore this piece and the colors are fantastic! I had hoped to get this framed in time to be entered in the fairs, but, as you can see, it's no where near ready! The fairs start in 10 days!

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Part 1 of Halloween Mantle

I saw this and had to have it! I'm almost done with part one. I just have to do the rest of the mantle and the beginning of the swag.



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I'm knitting Easter eggs

Why? Don't ask me! :) I saw them the other day in a Spring knitting magazine and I became transfixed. I was headed for Joann Fabric anyway so I picked up some sock yarn (self-striping) and size one dp needles. Yes, that was size ONE double pointed needles. Ick! I think size 8s are tiny! LOL

You cast on 8 stitches, join, then K2,M1 all around to give you 12. I must've ripped out and started over six times before I put pen to paper and drew it out. In my experience K2,M1 means knit two stitches and increase in the next stitch. Apparently they want K2,M1 to mean knit two and in the second stitch increase. Too confusing. I rewrote the pattern for my way of understanding and finished an egg. Too cute and it striped nicely, including a little diagonal striping! The next egg looked a bit skimpy. As I neared the end I counted my stitches and sure enough, I'd missed a major increase row. Since I'm aiming to make a dozen, when I'm done I'll see how I feel about re-doing this one. (Egg from a smaller hen? Could I sell that thought??)

Fraktur Alphabet Sampler by Lila's Studio

I'm really enjoying stitching this piece . I believe I'm using Straw and not Kansas City Blend for the fabric.
http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-perl/itemdetail.pl?item=10-2459

I stitch on it every day, but it's going so slowly. No way I'll get it finished and framed in time for entering in the fairs this year.

The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly

What a terrific book this is! This book is of a new generation of sisters; one named Josephine after her great-great-great grandmother Jo of Little Women. I never could get interested in Little Women, but I am enjoying this book.

A Dark Alphabet

This is a simply marvelous tribute to Lisa Roswell's style of design! And it's free by In the Company of Friends.

http://www.inthecompanyoffriends.com/A%20Dark%20Alphabet.htm

I'm planning on stitching mine on Poltergist, a linen classic by Silkweaver Fabrics. I'm toying with the idea of stitching it on 28 ct over one. Ick!! Yes, over 1. Just to keep the size in check.

Birds of a Feather Mystery Sampler Club

This isn't a repro sampler, but it is something that I wouldn't normally do. It's designed by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread.

http://www.stitcherstreasures.com/mainpages/birds_of_a_feather.htm

I took advantage of their pre-order discount. Maybe I'll keep up with this one. HA! But wish me luck.

I'm noticing a personal movement towards repros

I've bought a few reproduction charts over the decades. I've even stitched a few. But in the last week I've bought TWO reproduction sampler charts. Today I orders Lisi Sloboda 1828 by Hawkins House.

http://www.wasatchneedlecraft.com/Hawkins-House-Lisi-Sloboda-1828_p_2435.html

I love that the borders are different from each other and that there is a lobster in the motif section. How quirky is that?! The count is 319 x 257 and it uses WDW (DMC conversion).

I ordered Vol. 63 of SANQ for the cover design of a reproduction. Gorgeous!

New patterns

I went to In Stitches after seeing the exhibit at Woodlawn Plantation. A new design to me was Renouveau by a mon ami Pierre. Lots of alphabets very uniquely done. It was also peopled which was nice for a change. I'm stitching it on 32 ct Autumn Gold by Lakeside Linens. (It calls for 40 ct - an obvious typo if there ever was one! LOL) And I'm using the GAST threads instead of DMC. Does it have to be said that I came home and started this one?!

I was off yesterday and it was a beautiful day. A tiny chill in the air, but that's how I like it. It was so pretty I went and got my hair cut. I always seem to get a haircut on beautiful days. I also caught up on some episodes I'd missed on TV.

Posting January finishes and a work in progress

I finished a few items in January. Here they are:



JBW's French Country ABC's. SNC Fairy Quilt Cottage on 28 ct Ray of Light Lugana.




Ewe & Eye & Friends February





Shepherd's Bush Busy Bee (just need to sew on bee button)





Make-Do #5 by Shakespeare's Peddler. I flipped the upper right corner to make the lower left corner. I like this better!




Ewe & Eye & Friends July (a work in progress)

Tired...

I'm tired this week. I haven't done much stitching, but I did make a few more hexagons. Last night after making 2 complete hexagons I started making just the centers. I have 5 centers done. When I was working on my scarf at the beach I used this technique. It actually made things go faster since I did all my centers, then all my next rounds and then all my last rounds.

I "re-found" a WIP

My cross stitch seems to churn around. First it's on top; the next day it can't be found. Two months later it's back on top again. I don't understand it; I just accept it for what it is.

That is the story behind my 12 Days of Christmas from the issues of 2005 British Cross Stitcher magazine. These are particularly goofy for they are by Margaret Sherry. The 7 Swans a swimming has a swan wearing a 3-D flowered swim cap with an inner tube around her neck. The Lords a Leaping is a frog; the Maids a milking is a cow with an apron carrying a tray with a glass of milk on it. You get the idea.

I need to start these! I should start one this weekend and make it part of my 15 in 15 project. HA.

A couple of new starts

I started Midnight Watch (a Halloween design) by Blackbird Designs on Tuesday and Busy Bee by Shepherd's Bush yesterday. I really want to keep on stitching on either of these so I may modify my "fifteen starts in fifteen days" so that I keep my sanity!! ;)

Besides that, I pulled out about 7 SB things to work on right-this-very-minute. Most of it is small stuff or stuff I'd started once upon a time.

Books finished in 2010

Books finished in 2010
*Lipstick in Afghanistan by Roberta Gately 12/31/10 really good
*How to Knit a Love Story by Rachael Herron 12/28/10 enjoyed a lot
*Exposed by Alex Kava 12/27/10 must keep reading series!
*Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire 12/22/10 interesting bio
*A Necessary Evil by Alex Kava 12/20/10
*Psych Book: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin 12/10/10
*Black Friday by Alex Kava 11/25/10
*Monk Goes to Germany
*Sea Escape by Lynne Griffin 10/3/10
*All the Queen's Players by Jane Feather 9/28/10
*A Tisket, A Tasket, A Fancy Stolen Casket by Fran Rizer 9/18/10
*Knockout by Catherine Coulter 9/2/10
*Hollywood Savage by Kristin McCloy 8/14/10
*Kitchen Help by Kathleen Grissom 7/29/10
*Blue Nude by Elizabeth Rosner 7/21/10
*Crashers by Dana Haynes 7/13/10 WOW!!
*29 by Adena Halpern 6/18/10
*The Opposite of Me - Sarah Pekkanen 6/12/10
*Brooklyn - Colm Toibin 6/7/10
*Spartan Gold - Clive Cussler 5/7/10
*Solomon vs. Lord - Paul Devine 4/30/10
*Cleopatra's Daughter - Michele Moran Apr 2010 very good
*The Morning Show Murders - Al Roker Apr 2010 not good
*A Homemade Life - Molly Wizenberg 4/9/10
*Impact by Douglas Preston 3/31/10
*Gator A-Go-Go by Tim Dorsey 3/19/10
*Eternal on the Water by Joseph Monninger 3/5/10 moving
*Under the Dome by Steven King - 2/21/10 good
*Inca Gold by Clive Cussler - Feb 2010
*Plague Ship by Clive Cussler - Feb 2010
*Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus- Jan 2010
*The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman - Jan 2010 recipes
*The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews - Jan 2010
*The Wrecker by Clive Cussler - Jan 2010

My starts for the first 2 days in January

January 1 - started Johnny Appleseed by Monsterbubbles

January 2 - started crab from Trilogy's Seaology (to make into ornament)

I find that although I like to start plenty of projects, doing them on this type of schedule does NOT appeal to me. I'd rather keep working on these for a few more days then start a new one. We'll see how this goes.

I am continuing to work on hexagons for a "use it up" afghan. I may buy yarn to do the assembly so it all matches. We'll see how that goes. :)

On December 27, 2010, I finished the Bent Creek Reindeer Globe. It looks nice with the cardinal on the antlers (not shown in the photo).