Anniversary and Finishes

First the anniversary was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was March 3rd,  I didn't quite finish their sampler in time, but since it's a surprise I'm not too worried. I finished the stitching on the 7th I believe and got it over to the framers where I'd already decided on the frame and they had it in ready to be put together. It should be all ready later this week. My pictures aren't great since I had to take them on the sly and was using my Dazor lamp for lighting.

An Emblem of Love, Designed by With My Needle

And a bit of a close up of the bottom, right hand corner.

It was stitched on 36ct Lakeside, V. Lt. Examplar with a single strand of Belle Soie in Eggplant and Florimell Silk Floss from Gloriana Threads in Old Gold. I couldn't have done this without two very special friends. First Melody (Woolwoman) who not only had the pattern in her stash and was willing to let me purchase it from her, but had the perfect fabric and the Belle Soie in her stash as well. "Shopping at Melody's" was wonderful and so helpful and allowed me to get started on it that much quicker. I knew I wanted to add some gold in, since this was for their Golden Anniversary. I tried two different silk fibers from my own stash and neither was right. Lucky for me Jackie (Jackie's Stitches) bought the perfect Gloriana silk while we were at The Attic in January and since I didn't need much and she doesn't need much for her project loaned me her skein so I could "get'r done". It's wonderful how great stitching friends are!

Speaking of Jackie, she's not the only one to finish Stacy Nash's Schoolgirl Linen Sewing Book.

Mine is a stained a little darker than Jackies as you can see, and the inside is probably different since I didn't like the pocket and decided to use some mother of pearl thread holders I had in my stash.

It took a lot of time to put together, but they look great.

I also finished a needlepoint ornament. I adore how it turned out and can't wait to see it on the tree next year.

And of course the back because...isn't this fabric just too adorable?

I was very lucky to be in just the right place at just the right time when I purchased this canvas. DF Jean and I were at In Stitches in Atlanta looking for a little something for me to work on while I was up there one time since I hadn't brought any stitching with me and we were going to stitch group that evening. I found this adorable snow bunny and of course had to have it but was having trouble deciding on fibers. As luck would have it Julia Snyder was in the shop just hanging around having gotten into town early for classes she was teaching at the shop that weekend. Since everyone else was busy she helped me put together a stitch guide and pick fibers. Of course that meant Jean and I had to sign up for her class the next time she was going to be in Atlanta, but that's a whole other post and picture.

That's all the finishes. I have been able to mark 2 more items off my list, the bunny was stitched last year. I'm slowly getting February's block of AotH finished. I did finish February's goal for Alphabets.

And with January's goal:

I'm not sure I'll attempt to take it off the scroll again any time soon. Maybe wait a few months. I'm hoping I can get March's goal complete, hint it fits in the blank spot you can see, fairly quickly. But first to finish up with Valentine Rose (AotH - February).

Hope everyone else if having a wonderful spring and enjoying time spent with needle and fiber!

One Goal Accomplished

I know, it's only January, but we find our happiness where we can. I'm sure that it won't be long before I fall off the goal bandwagon for this sampler, but for at least one month I did well.

My January goal for Drawn Thread's Alphabets was to complete the entire top alphabet.

 

I'm not sure I like the cream colored 100/3 silk that the "T" is done in. I don't think it shows up that well, but then again it's not done as crosses, but as a double 4-sided stitch. I'm going to leave it and then if I really don't like it later I'll go back and rethink the color/thread. 

One of the things I've noticed is that my fabric, and I actually purchased the called for fabric, looks completely different than the picture of the completed one on the DT website. I'm chalking it up to the photography. The picture I made above is really pretty close to how my fabric looks. 

 Next month I'll do the vine and blue alphabet on the left side below what I've completed.

A Little Vacation Stitching

Thought I'd share what I worked on while I was visiting with my stitching and knitting friends up in Atlanta. I had hoped to get more done, but as usual we spent some time just hanging out and doing some things other than stitching, like eating and beading and chatting.

But you don't really want to hear all that, you're here to see some eye candy. I really didn't work on anything that was a WIP, it was all about new starts. Like this one...

 Which I realize is hard to see. The colors are very, VERY light, but hopefully you'll get a better idea as I go along. I decided last year that I wanted to do Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart and do it all on one large piece of linen to be framed together. I found the perfect fabric when our Sampler Guild went down to Mt. Dora for an ornament finishing class late last year so I bought it and the first leaflet. If you can tell I've got a good start going on the first block, which is January. I'd love to say I'll work one block a month, but I know that's not going to happen. I'll work on it as I can and maybe in a couple of years I'll have a wonderful sampler that celebrates my family and friends.

The next start I made was one I've been looking forward to quite a bit. I was captivated by this sampler when The Attic had it as one of their samplers of the month and ordered it thinking I'd get around to starting it at some point. Here's what I've managed so far...

By Miladys Needle, Margaret Brown using the silk conversion that Jean at The Attic came up with. Not much of a start, but at least it's something. This isn't a very large piece, so there is hope I'll finish this one during 2011.

Finally I started another large project with a couple of friends. My DF Jean, who's birthday I went to help celebrate, "talked" me into this lovely piece, Alphabets by The Drawn Thread. Jean thought it would be fun to start something on her birthday, so we did. We got all our materials together and had a lovely time getting started, after a bit of a false start when I miscalculated where we should start. But all is well and I am very happy with how this is looking.

I managed to finish the first row of the top alphabet before leaving Atlanta. It's done in NPI silks and a couple of silk twist fibers on Lambswool linen. While the three of us are working on this, our DFs Andy, Jill & Heather will be working on a Drawn Thread piece that they had in their stash. I'm not sure who's doing what other than I'm fairly certain Heather is going to be working on Random Thoughts. (I'll let her tell when she gets set up as a contributor on this blog since I know it's going to be one of the 11 in her rotation.) I did sit down today and figure out what I'd have to finish each month to finish in a year. We'll see what happens.

I also did a bit on the sampler I'm working on for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary but I couldn't get a picture today since they are around. I'll try to sneak some pictures in soon. I loved my visit in Atlanta and am upset that instead of being able to spend Sunday there with everyone I had to fly home early to escape "Snowopolypse 2011", but it all worked out well. I was able to take my mom for her birthday dinner yesterday when I got home which she enjoyed a lot.