Two Thousand Sixteen

A New Year. A New Beginning.

I have been so amiss from not only my blog, but from stitching in general. For the past year and a half, my husband has been in and out of hospitals and rehab centers. And in September, he was put in a care center. Unless you have been in this kind of situation, I don't think you know what it is like. It is just so wearing...mentally. I still work full time as an Office Manager in Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade school, which I REALLY enjoy. However, I have really missed my stitching life and am going to give it my all to get back into it.

The other day, this came across my Facebook page.

This really hit me good. It is really hard for me to do what this says, but I decided I need to really try. I can't fix everything.

OK, enough of all that.

Working at a school, I have had the luxury of having some much need time off the past 2 weeks for Christmas break. It has been so wonderful! I decided to clean out my big walk-in closet, get rid of stuff I really don't need and re-organize my stitching stuff so it will all be more accessible. It won't all be done quickly, but I have been working on it for a few hours everyday.

My son, Giles, and may I say how grateful I am for him now, gave me 2 patterns off my wishlist and a beautiful accordian style file with peacocks on it for Christmas. I started one of them the day after Christmas and finished it in 2 days.

With Thy Needle and Thread

Holly Jolly Frosty

This was really a fun and fast stitch. I am not quite sure how I am going to finish this one.

I then started this next piece and was hoping to finish it still in 2015, but I was just a few hours short.

Plum Street Samplers

Merry One

Another very fun stitch. I really like this one. I think I would like to frame this one.

Traditionally I have always started a new project on January 1. I really wasn't sure I wanted to do this as I have sooooo many WIP's that I really would like to finish. However, since I am working on my "stash", I perused through a basked of older patterns that I have not stitched yet. What was the most fun of going thru these was the fact that about 95% of them used only DMC floss. YAY!!! Overdyed threads are overrated and I have been disappointed by them so much, I just don't use them anymore. There is no dye lots for these so the threads that were used in the picture on any pattern won't be exactly the same as what I buy. The above pattern, Holly Jolly Frosty, uses 13 different overdyed threads. One color is used in just 8 stitches. Really, how much color change are you going to see in 2 blocks of 4 stitches? And pay $2-$3 for that 1 color? Anyway, I did find "Peacock Spot Sampler" by Ewe & Eye & Friends.

Sorry this picture is so light, but it is very light on my pattern. I have had it so long that the picture faded? LOL!


It is not very big so I was okay with that. Here is my progress so far.

I couldn't get this picture to rotate. It appears that I am a little rusty at blogging. I will have to sharpen my skills back up!

Will, I think that is it for now. Happy New Year to all and thanks for stopping by!

JillMN

Another Finish

For several years at our annual retreat which is in August, we have chosen a "group project" to work on together during the next year and then gather as a group to do the finishing day. This past year we stitched Ellen Chester's "My Needle's Worke Box". Last weekend, those that actually did follow through with it gathered and we did finishing. I have been stitching/finishing for many years and yet, it still amazes me how much time finishing takes...yikes! We worked on it Friday night and Saturday. After I got home it probably took me about another 3 hours to completely finish. But once it is all done, it is sure worth it.

 

I am pretty happy with with and so glad that it is done. Thanks to MamaJoan for letting us come over to "Joan's House of Everything" and share in the finishing task with good friends.

Our project for next year is THIS! We are changing up our plan a bit for this next one. We are NOT going to save everything to finish all at once. Since we get together on Friday nights, we are going to try and do the "smalls" on some of these nights. Hopefully this will work a litter easier.

I have a very wee start on mine.

That's all I have for today. Thanks for visiting.

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Combining Talents

I am capable of doing my own finishing...for the most part. I can sew but I am not a professional like my good friend, MamaJoan.

This past Wednesday, I went to Joan's house hoping that she would help me make this piece of stitching into a pillow.

I had some fabric for the backing, some batting and some interfacing. I could have bought some lace for the ends, but since I just started to do some crocheting, I decided to crochet my lace.

Within minutes, it seemed, Joan had my pillow stitched up. I hand sewed my lace on and voila!

Peter and Peep

With thy Needle and Thread

28ct. cream linen/WDW, GAST, home-dyed and 1 DMC Variation

Date started stitching: 4/26/2012

Date finished stitching: 5/4/2012

Date finishing completed: 5/9/2012 

I am really happy with how this came out. Thanks to my friend, Joan, for helping me. You make it look so easy. But now I know how to make these!

Happy Stitching :)

JillMN

Plenty and Grace

Plenty and Grace
Primitive Traditions
36ct. Antique White linen
DMC threads
Date Started: 5/14/2011
Date Finished Stitching: 8/4/2011
Date Completed: 8/5/2011

I am so excited to be finished with this piece. The pattern calls for Belle Soie (16 of them), I changed them all to DMC. Our (dh & I) house is in the middle with initials and date, our parents' house are in each side and above our parents' houses are our siblings respectively. We each have 5 siblings so it turned out nice and balance! Since we only have 1 son, I added him below our house. This was a very fun piece but alot of stitching!

I never would have sought out to get a blue frame for this piece, but I love how it brings out the lighter colors. Very happy!



Since I was going throught the framing exercise for the above piece, I decided to see what I could do with my Soar Sampler.


Again, I would never have sought out to get this color of frame, but I love it. And, it is purple! This picture is not going to be so great but I am very happy with it.


I am getting ready for our annual retreat next week, Tuesday through Saturday, at my good friend, Joan's, house. Our theme this year is Pink Flamingo's. I am trying to figure out what I want to stitch on...good thing I have a couple of days! Currently I am working on my Hardanger HAL project. I will be going through my stash to find some treasures!

I just signed up to participate in the iStitch SAL Mystery Sampler. It will start on August 13. That should be very fun also.

That's it for now. Thanks for visiting and Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Soar...

a sampler inspired by a family of eagles living in Iowa that captured the hearts of America.


When this pattern came out I wasn't smart enough to get one right away and since she only sold 100, I was too late. When I started seeing the finished pieces on blogs, I knew I had to have it. I put out a yell to see if anyone would sell, trade or borrow the pattern. Vonna kindly offered to borrow me her pattern. I was delighted.

Her pattern came in last Friday's mail and I quickly pulled the threads (DMC, yeah!) and some 30ct. white linen, in which I dyed black. It turned out great.


By Friday evening I was well on my way with this project. I love how it turned out and truly enjoyed stitching it.

I finished it yesterday afternoon. I haven't decided if I am going to frame it or make some kind of a hanging.

Soar
Designed by With thy Needle and Thread
30ct. home dyed black linen
DMC as charted
Started on July 22, 2011
Finished on July 27, 2011

When I checked with Vonna about mentioning her name in my blog I learned that there are quite a few people that would like to borrow the pattern. I guess I'm not the only one that missed the boat.

Thank you again, Vonna, I really love this piece.

Happy Stitching,
JillMN