AWOL Again!

Oh my Gosh! I have missed a few weeks of posting already! Where does the time go! I will try to catch up!

Santa Sundays

January 21. 2018:

Ho Ho Ho Santa

Prairie Schooler

32 ct. coffee/tea dyed linen

DMC as charted

January 28, 2018:

Jinglepot Road

The Victoria Sampler

2014 JCS Ornament Issue

32 ct. coffee/tea dyed linen

DMC as charted

February 4, 2018:

Little Red Barn

Little House Needleworks Farmhouse Christmas Series

1st of 9

32 ct. coffee/tea dyed linen

Classic Colorworks Cherry Cobbler, Pebble Beach, Roasted Chestnut, Weeping Willow

DMC 435, 754. Black and White

February 11, 2018:

Snow and Ice

Little House Needleworks

28 ct. coffee/tea dyed linen

DMC

February 18, 2018:

Woodland Peace Kit

Lizzie Kate

Finishes:

Plum Pudding

Glendon Place

32 ct.  Sprite Cashel Linen by Picture This Plus

Threads and Beads as charted

Started on January 1 and finished on January 21.

Current WIP:

Let Freedom Ring

Lila's Studio

35 count something from Weeks Dye Works

DMC equivalents

I have been working on this during the Olympics. I have worked only on the large house (building?). The first picture above is where I was when I picked it up again. The 2nd picture is where I am currently at. I love this piece.


I am really enjoying working on ornaments on Sunday.  I think I see a finishing day in my near future. I have a 4 day weekend ahead so maybe I will do some. I'm just not sure I have all the materials I need.


I think that is all I have for now. I will be back on Sunday!

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

A Good Stitchy Week

Hello Stitching Friends!

I have had a good stitching week. Here is what I have been up to.

I have only been working on my Plum Pudding, except for yesterday. Here's my progress as of today:

I think I am about halfway done with the cross stitching and then the beads. Maybe another 2 weeks?

On Sundays, I am going to participate in the Instagram "SantaSundayxs". I want to get alot of things stitched for next Christmas. Yesterday I stitched Plum Street Samplers "Kringles Coal", from the JCS 2014 Ornament Issue. I love how it turned out.

I think I want to somehow make this into a small sack ornament. We'll see.

I had today off as it is Martin Luther King Day. I decided to finally try my hand at dyeing some linen using the tea/coffee recipe. I dyed some 40, 36 and 32 count. I love how it all turned out.

 I am going to continue on with Plum Pudding. I am really enjoying it.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching!

JillMN

It's 2018!

I have been a very bad blogger.

New year, new start, right?

I contemplated whether or not to start a new project on New Year's Day as I have for many years. I do have quite a few WIPs and have so much Christmas/Winter things I want to do. But, I did go ahead and starting a new one.

Last Christmas, my son gave me a gift certificate for an online store and I got all the things for Glendon Place "Plum Pudding". Since this came from him, I decided I really should get er done!

Here is my progress as of this writing.

I do like it so far, however, the pattern picture is much more vibrant than the stitched piece. When does that ever happen??? The above picture isn't really great also, but it is much more muted than the pattern shows. I am using all of the called for things.

This is my second try at this post. I haven't used blogger for so long, I'm not sure I am going to be able to.

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Working Those WIPs

Hello Blogger Friends!
After I finished my Christmas Joy, I picked up my Reindeer Stocking out of my WIP bucket. I was going along making good progress when I ran out of thread! Yikes! While I waited for my thread to come, I picked another WIP, No Bees No Honey. When my thread finally arrived, I was so close I just went ahead and finished it before going back to my stocking.

This is stitched with charted DMC threads. This was a really fun stitch. I then went back and finished my Reindeer Stocking.

This went pretty quick. It is stitched with Classic Colorworks Steamed Broccoli on 28 ct. Raw linen. Love it!

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Christmas Joy

Hello Fellow Bloggers!

Yesterday I finished Christmas Joy by Barbara Ana Designs, which I started on January 2. I have been sick since Friday and was able to get more stitching in than usual but not as much as I would have liked as I am just not feeling well.

This was a very fun stitch and I can't wait to frame it!

Down to 22 WIPs!

Happy Stitching and have a great week!

For The Record...

Hello my stitching friends.

So I have decided that 2017 is going to be a YOW year for me. Year of WIPS (works in progress)!!! I decided to come clean and document my WIPS. Even though my house is discombobulated, as I am in the process of repainting and getting new flooring throughout, I am pretty sure I have located all of them. If I do come across anymore, I will add them.

So, without further ado, in no particular order, here are my WIPS.

1. Mirabilia "Lady of The Flag".

2. Examplar Dames "And They Sinned".

3. The Primitive Needle "Kindred Spirits".

4. Blackbird Designs "Sewing Mends the Soul".

5. Bent Creek "The Red Thread".

6. The Gentle Art "Cardinal Points".

7. Willow Samplings "Land of The Free".

8. Northern Expressions Needlework "Twisted Band Sampler".

9. Birds of a Feather "No Bees No Honey".

 
10. Stitchy Kitty "Daisy Dog".

11. Cottage Garden "Christmas Sampler".

12. JBW Designs "Reindeer Stocking".

13. The Scarlett House "Hannah's Brownstone".

14. Blackbird Designs "My Pink Rose".

15. Victoria Sampler "Heirloom Sewing Sampler".

16. Hardanger Carpacar "Deseos".

17. Prairie School "Garden Alphabet".

18. Papillon Creations "Around the World in 80 Stitches".

19. Primitive Needle "Yule Game Board".

20. Carriage House Samplings "Alphabet Blocks".

21. Lizzie Kate "Things Unseen".

22. Long Dog Samplers "Death by Cross Stitch"

23. Barbara Ana Designs "Christmas Joy".

Whew! OMGosh! Quite the eye opener!
This list has GOT to be slimmed down. That is WAY too many for me.

Now, #23 is my current project and I will continue on this and finish it. It should be a quick stitch. I am going to stay on task and attack this list. Yes I have new projects that I will want to start, however, I am going to concentrate on these WIPs. I am not going to make any hard rules as life happens. I think I will try to finish 3 WIPs and maybe then I can start something new. We will see. Not all of these are very large projects, however, there are quite a few!

OK, I need to get stitching. Happy Stitching to all of you!

JillMN

Goodbye 2016!

I don't know about you but I am ready for a NEW YEAR!

2016 was kind of a rough year for me. My husband, who had health issues for several years, passed away on September 4. Prior to that, he had been in and out of hospitals, transitional care units and nursing homes, for about 18 months. It went pretty fast in the end, which I was grateful for.

Needless to say, I did not get as much stitching as I would have liked. However, in the last month or so, I have gotten my stitchy bug back and have lots of projects ready to be stitched.

I have been watching quite alot of Floss Tube. Have you been watching? WOW! I, myself, have not joined in on that. I just watch them. There are quite a few floss tubers out there that have done some extraordinary pieces! Of course, watching these enables one and I have done quite a bit of purchasing. Thus, the "lots of projects" ready to be stitched!

I did manage to get 2 things stitched for this Christmas. My annual ornament for my Godson, Jacob, was this:

My good friend, Viki, who I have known my entire life as we grew up next door to each other, is Italian. When I saw this Rome pattern, I knew I had to make it for her. It turned out so good. I put the fairly new museum glass on it (from Michaels), as I knew it would go in her kitchen. She LOVES it!

Then yesterday, I finished stitching up this guy:

He was alot of fun. But boy, that feather trim is tricky. When you cut it, the feathers explode off! The glasses I made out of memory wire. The full supply list is included in the pattern. It is a Blackberry Lane Designs. I was going to make him into an ornament but I haven't completely ruled out framing.

So, as I set here on New Years Eve night, I am thinking about the new year. I always have started something new on New Years Day and yes, I will be doing that tomorrow. It will be a surprise. I do know that it will not be a large piece. I need to work on my WIPs.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Who Knew!

Well, here it is June 5 already. Where does the time go? This will be the last week of school,  just 3.5 days. For a long time it seemed like the school year would never end and now I can't believe it is almost over. Looking forward to some time off.

I have been away for quite awhile and I am not going to go into all that. But the last couple of weeks I have made some new discoveries in the stitching world.

FlossTube. WOW! Now instead of blogging, people are bringing it on YouTube. They talk about their WIPs, finished pieces, stash enhancements and some are even doing tutorials on various topics. I have watched a few but I find myself wanting them to pick up the pace. However, it is kind of fun to place a face to some of the fellow bloggers.

They other big discovery for me anyway, is NEEDLEMINDERS. Who knew? Now I do already have some needleminders. It is one of the treasures we get annually at our little retreat we have from fellow stitching squad member, Jackie. However, I thought you could only use them when you were using stretcher bars or Q-snaps. I, for whatever reason, didn't think that they could be used on just ANY piece of stitching. I guess I thought it had to be a flat surface or the needle would fall off!? What was I thinking? Silly me! Since coming to this realization, of course I have a few more of these on order.

Anyway, I do have some stitching to share. I decided to start something new on Memorial Day weekend. I chose Plum Street Samplers, "Betsy's Tart". I did however, change everything about it.

I bought the below clock at Hobby Lobby. They are still 1/2 off. I removed the insides and spray painted it using Krylon Cherry Red paint.

And here is my finished piece. I absolutely love it!

Plum Street Samplers

Betsy's Tart

28ct. Lugana White/Silver

DMC: White, 326, 797 and 799

Star buttons from JoAnn's

I am so happy with how this turned out. I haven't completed a finish for a long time. It is kind of a large piece. The face is 6" round.

That is it for now. I am going to stitch the rest of today. I hope you find time to stitch as well.

Thank for stopping by.

JillMN

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