Endings, Beginnings, and Stitching Progress

Last Friday was my last day at the job where I've been for the past 3+ years.  I enjoyed the work I did, but I never thought that it was a job I wanted to stay with for a long time.  It was the first time I'd worked for a small company -- and a family-owned one -- rather than a large corporation and it was interesting.  But I left on my terms, and tomorrow I start a new job working for a healthcare system affiliated with a major university.  I'll still be doing coding, but I think the new job is going to open some additional opportunities for me.  It's also much closer to my house, and my commute will be cut in half.  I'm very excited about it.

 

I've been making some progress on a couple of my WIPs.  Here's the Christmas Rose pin cushion as of this evening:

There's not much left to do, as you can see.  I'm working on the last flower, then there's a large leaf and the border and it'll be done.

I've also got the lettering done on Salina Dunwoody:

I took a week off between jobs and spent a couple of days of it visiting Mom and Dad.  Salina's stitched on 28-count, so she's a good travel project and can be worked on in less than optimum light.  I finished the lettering on Thursday evening at Mom and Dad's, so I can move on to the fun motifs at the bottom.

Finally, if you enjoy Daffycat's reindeer ornaments, you'll be tickled to know that she's released the one for 2015.  You can see it here, along with the e-mail address to get a copy.  I have a piece of Maritime White linen from Lakeside on order so I can keep doing these on the same fabric.

That's all from the stitching chair this evening.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Orion Rising

It's still dark when I leave the house at about 6:15 to go to work, and the past few clear mornings I've looked up and seen the constellation Orion high in the early morning sky.  Orion was the first constellation I learned to identify -- the three stars in his "belt" make him easy to spot -- and he's a winter constellation.  So even though looking up and seeing him in the sky is almost like seeing an old friend, it's also a little depressing because Orion's arrival means that winter isn't far behind.

 

I've actually been doing a little stitching.  I've haven't worked on Salina Dunwoody in several weeks, but I thought I'd share the latest progress with you.  I'm close to finishing the hated alphabet bands, so I'm planning to work on her for a little while this evening.  I'm also working the border as I go; that's my preferred stitching plan when it comes to borders because otherwise I find them soooo boooorrrring!

I've been making some pretty good progress on the little Christmas rose pin cushion.  You can kind of judge the size from the picture, using the needles for scale.  Love the colors in this one!

Finally, I was digging through the stash, looking for other smalls to work on, when I came across this piece:

It's a bookmark kit that I bought on some long ago trip to London, and I'd begun stitching the pavilion before I laid it aside and got distracted by other things.  I think it's about time I finished it, so I've been putting in a few stitches here and there.

DH has been off this weekend and he and I are both off tomorrow, so we'll get the rare luxury of spending three days in a row together -- nice!

Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!

Working on the WIP Pile

After I finished Beneath a Sunlit Sky a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a determined effort to whittle down the size of the WIP pile.  Unfortunately, most of my WIPs seem to also be BAPs ::sigh:: but there are a few smaller ones that I can tackle for some quick gratification.

 

The first one I pulled out was the Grumpy Kitty ornament.  I believe the design is from Brooke's Books.  The snow flakes were supposed to be stitched; I wanted to add some beads to give it a little more bling, but I found the snowflake charms in my stash and used those instead.  I also found a little sparkly doo-dad to use as the bobble on his hat.

I finished Grumpy Kitty and went stash diving again, coming up with this little piece:

 It's simply called "Acorns" and the design is by Pamela Kellogg.  I bought it from a now out-of-business LNS -- the design was a freebie that they had kitted with fabric, fibers and the button.  It's stitched on 16-count Heatherfield and the fabric is a much more yellow color than it looks in the picture.  The fibers are brown perle coton and Watercolors "Fiesta" (I think).  I'm not sure why I laid this aside ages ago unless it was because the stitching seemed rather cramped.  When I pulled it out the other day and took a close look at the instructions, I discovered that it was meant to be stitched over 2 on the Heatherfield rather than over 1 as I was doing.  Wasn't going to frog, so I just kept on with the over 1.  I actually kind of like the way it turned out.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but it might make a nice scissors fob.

With the little acorn done, I went back to something I started not too long ago.  It's a Christmas rose pin cushion design that was in Needlecraft magazine (a British magazine) in 1995.  I tore that chart out of the magazine, thinking that I would like to stitch it someday...and someday finally came!  Needlecraft was one of the first British stitching magazines that I bought regularly -- it helped that I was working part-time at Barnes & Noble and could use my employee discount!  I think that it's not published any longer, but I still have a few of the older copies in my stash.



So that's my WIP report.  I'm going to go upstairs and put a few more stitches in the Christmas rose.  Hope everyone has a good week -- happy stitching!

Why Do the Good Ones Go Away?

I got an e-mail on Wednesday from "Annie's Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly"  -- a SPECIAL NOTICE about my subscription (the caps were theirs).  I'm sure there were many of you who received similar e-mails; it seems that SANQ has ceased publication.  So, this

is the last issue we'll get.  The rest of my subscription will be filled with Just Cross Stitch.  Darn, drat, and phooey.

SANQ and Piecework are the only needlework magazines I still subscribe to.  I used to -- many moons ago -- take every cross stitch magazine coming down the pike, including a couple of British ones.  Over the years, various factors caused my subscriptions to get fewer and fewer.  Some magazines ceased publication or merged with others.  In some cases, my tastes and/or the content changed and I stopped wasting my money on magazines that didn't interest me any longer.  Or I still kind of enjoyed a magazine but not enough all the time to continue spending money and trying to find space for it in my stash.  I enjoy SANQ and Piecework for different reasons.  Piecework has really interesting articles about a variety of needlework (sometimes too much knitting, in my opinion, but that's a topic for another time), but it doesn't often have projects that I would want to do.  SANQ, on the other hand, has interesting articles but it also frequently offers samplers and other projects, many of which have ended up on my "want to stitch" list.  So it's a bit of a bummer to lose it.  I confess that I was concerned that the quality of the magazine would suffer when Annie's took it over -- it really didn't -- but I didn't think they'd actually get rid of it.  Another good one goes away.

On a more positive note, we're very fortunate to live in an area where local agriculture is a big deal and there are lots of farmers' markets and stands selling local food.  There's a really nice farmers' market in Charles Town on Saturday mornings, and I made a quick trip there today.  I came home with a dozen eggs and these gorgeous tomatoes:

Then I decided I really needed some flowers for the dining table:

Aren't these beautiful?  I love the zinnias, but it was the big yellow cockscomb that grabbed my attention.  So pretty!

Football season is once again upon us and WVU plays tonight, so it's time to head upstairs and check out the game.  Happy stitching, all!

Treasures

We've been married and in this house for a little over three years, but DH and I are still clearing out boxes and sorting through "stuff" -- his, mine, and ours.  We were going through some of his stuff a few weeks ago and came across this:

His aunt gave him this several years ago.  I'm not sure how long ago it was, but she's been gone since the late 1990s, so that's a bit of a clue.  It's hand quilted, and I think it's at least partially hand pieced.  Here's a closer look at some of the blocks:

Aren't they pretty?  The fabrics have a look of the 1960s and 1970s about them.  Isn't it wonderful what kind of treasures you can find when you're looking through stuff?

::Gasp!:: She's Blogging Again!

 

Yes, she is.  Blogging again, that is.  I took an unintended and unplanned leave of absence from the blog world, not for any particular reason and not really on purpose.  It just seemed that blogging was becoming more of a chore than something fun to do.  Many's the evening when I thought I might go downstairs to the computer and do a spot of blogging, but it just never seemed to come to pass.  Until today.

 

I haven't been blogging, but I have been stitching.  I finished Blackbird's "Beneath the Sunlit Sky":

 

 It's stitched on 40 count Pearled Barley from Lakeside Linens, with the called-for GAST and Weeks fibers.  I love the way it turned out; the colors in this one are so pretty.

I've also been playing with needles -- knitting needles, that is.  My goal is to make a pair of socks, but I've been working on my knitting skills this summer with dishcloths and haven't gotten up the nerve yet to tackle knitting in the round.  Here's one of my dishcloths, partially complete:

I have a ball of yarn and some double-pointed needles to use for a cloche before I have a go at socks.  The hat pattern calls for circular needles, but the lady at the yarn shop in Shepherdstown told me it would probably be easier for me to use the DPNs because of the decreasing.  So, you knitters out there, what do you suggest?  The cloche is actually knitted in the round, not knitted flat then sewn together.  DPNs or circular?

Here's wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!

WIPpy Weekend

The weather is warming -- hooray! -- and I've been working on a couple of WIPs this weekend.  Here's Salina Dunwoody:

 I stitched on her this afternoon.  The border is a little tedious, but I 'll stitch the rest of it in bits as I work my way down the sampler.

I worked on Beneath the Sunlit Sky yesterday:

Love the colors in this one.  I'm doing it on 40-count, but it's still a pretty quick stitch.

Did you remember to set your clocks forward?  I didn't, but DH did.  When he came in last night, he said "Did you move up the clocks?"  Oops.  The first few days of Daylight Savings Time are very disorienting.  It takes a little while to get used to it being bright broad daylight at 6pm.

Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!

Pretties

When DH and I were in Ireland last fall, we spent a night at a bed & breakfast outside Trim, northwest of Dublin.  For you movie buffs and/or Mel Gibson fans, portions of the movie Braveheart were filmed at Trim Castle.  Our room was lovely, with lace curtains and pink wallpaper -- a little girly for DH's taste, but I thought it was charming.  My attention was caught by two pieces of embroidery, framed and hanging on the wall. 

 

They were so pretty.  If you look closely, you can see a name and date penciled in the bottom left of each one.  I questioned our hostess about these and she told me they had been stitched by her mother-in-law.  I thought it was neat that she displayed them for others to enjoy.

 

I've been making a little progress on Beneath the Sunlit Sky.  I'm really liking this piece. 

I think I have time for a few more stitches before Downton Abbey comes on.  Tonight's the last night for DA; we'll have to wait until next January for more!

Stay warm...hoping everyone has a great week!  Happy stitching!

Darned Socks!

No, really, they are.  Darned, I mean.  As in patched.  The thing is, I am hard on socks.  Sometimes I wear holes in the toes, but the largest holes are usually in the heels.  I don't mind consigning a sock to

the rag bag if it's one of those white crew socks that you can buy at WalMart or Kohl's for 5 in a package, but I can't quite bring myself to do that for nicer -- and usually more expensive -- socks.  I've pondered for some time on trying to darn the holes and today I finally sat down and had a go. 

 

I started by turning to YouTube.  You can find all kinds of instructional videos on YouTube; I did a search on "how to darn socks" and came up with a number of videos of varying quality.  I watched parts of several to try to figure out the best technique before I tried.  Here's what I did.

 

First, supplies.  You need a few basic tools:

 Thread of the color of your choosing, preferably of a weight similar to the thread used in your sock.  A couple of the videos suggested using embroidery floss, but I used perle coton (no. 5 for this sock).  Next, a darning needle.  Darning needles are kind of like a long tapestry needle, with a blunt tip.  I also used a needle threader, just because it's easier that way.  Also, scissors.  And finally, a darning tool.  I have two, an "egg" and a "mushroom".  I chose to use the mushroom because it gave me the larger surface to work on.  I think the egg would work fine for a small hole.  Some of the folks in the YouTube videos substituted other doodads for the darning tool; one lady used a billiard ball, and a two or three of them used light bulbs.  I can't imagine me trying to use a light bulb for darning; can you imagine if that sucker broke?  I had these tools in my sewing basket; the egg is one that was in my mother's sewing box for many years, while the mushroom came from, I think, a thrift store in London.

You also need one other thing:

 A holey sock.

 

The first order of business is to turn the sock inside out so that the darning will be on the inside and the patch will look nicer (in theory) on the outside.  I stretched the sock just a little bit to open up the hole.

 You can see from this picture why the long needle is nice.  You can work it in and out several times then just pull the thread through.  I started just a little bit above the hole.

Most of the videos recommended not knotting the thread.  Since this will be on the inside of the sock, next to your skin, that makes sense.  I left a bit of a long tail and caught it in the stitches along the edge.

I ran several rows of stitches across the hole.  Ideally, they should be more even than these are.

 Once you have stitches all the way across the hole in one direction, turn the needle and work your way across, weaving in and out of the stitches you've laid.

 

 Continue weaving until the hole is covered.

 

 I tried to weave the end of the thread through some of the stitches along the edge, then cut it and left a tail.

Voila!  The finished product!  Granted, I need some more practice, but at least I can now wear the socks.  This makes me happy, because I like these socks; they're colorful and warm.  Why throw them away if I can fix them!

Back in the Blogosphere

Wow.  It's really been a long time since I've written anything.  Blogging has been a "good intention" for the past few weeks, but life has just gotten in the way.  DH and I are finally getting over the crud that we've had off and on since before Christmas; he missed a week of work earlier this month due to pneumonia but is much, much better.

 

Like so many others, we've had a snowy weekend here.  I took this picture of the deck yesterday afternoon.  It's hard to tell how much snow we actually got because the wind blew most of it off the deck.  As you can tell from the flag, it was just a bit breezy.

I have at least been getting some stitching done.  I pulled The Lost Gardens of Heligan out of the WIP basket and managed to get more of the tree done.  All those little bits of green do get a bit tedious, but I've made it a 2015 goal to try to make significant progress on this one.

I also had an attack of startitis.  I was going through some projects that were kitted up or partially kitted up and found a project bag with a couple of Blackbird charts with fabric prepped but no threads pulled.  I decided to start this one:

 It's been calling my name off and on for quite a while.  I really like Blackbird designs and I'm especially fond of the pretty colors in this one.  I'm stitching it on 40 count Pearled Barley from Lakeside Linens, using the called-for Gentle Arts and Weeks fibers.

If you click on the picture and look at it larger, it won't look so wonky.

I've also been working on Salina Dunwoody, but don't have an up-to-date pic to share.

Has anyone ever stitched with Treenway silks?  I got the new Piecework magazine on Friday and it has a really neat 15-sided biscornu stitched using these silks.  I could always use DMC or some other silk, but was wondering if anyone was familiar with Treenway.  They have a website here.

Piecework came but I'm still waiting on Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly, fondly known as SANQ.  I got an e-mail 3 weeks ago, telling me that my copy was in the mail (uh-huh).  It seems like we're going through this exercise more and more frequently with SANQ -- e-mail, then multi-week wait for something that's allegedly in the mail.  I know magazines have a low priority with the USPS, but three weeks?

Well, it's off to stitch a little more before time for Downton Abbey.  Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!