Blizzard, Chit Chat and my Latest WIP

I just love this Fob and I wanted to share a picture of it. My friend Vickie made it for an exchange we did at the Shepherd's Bush Retreat. It's so gorgeous in person, the picture doesn't do it justice.

On another note, we have a blizzard in our forecast for tonight. Someone pinch me, isn't it still October? I cannot believe it, 40-60 mph winds and 5-12 inches, whiteout conditions. I've been to the grocery store to pick up a few things and cancelled my dental appointment for tomorrow. Of course the weather here is very unpredictable, we could end up with a whole lot of nothing, but just in case the order of the day will be SB House Haunting, Pasta Fagioli and Italian cornbread, oh and vanilla coffees and maybe some hot apple cider :-). Hopefully my DH and DD will be able to stay home with me and enjoy the day, it's too soon to tell. We'll have a much better feel for what the weather is going to do this evening when the storm system gets a bit closer.

I am moving along on House Haunting. It's been a bit of a pain, I had to unpick everything I did at the retreat, somehow I got my linen turned around and I was stitching in the wrong direction. Some of it was over one and I cut a thread and then had to reweave the linen. Then I started again, and was off on my counting and had to unpick a bunch of stuff again. I've decided starting in the middle is not the thing to do on a sampler. This time I started from the top middle so I am sure my count is good :-). Maybe I will add a post blizzard WIP picture!

Autumn Chit Chat

This is the piece that I had framed by Jill Rensel, she's the person who does all the Shepherd Bush's pieces. I am thrilled with it!

I posted some goals last month, I didn't accomplish quite as much as I had hoped:

1. Complete one block of VoHRH. I'd actually like to finish it by the end of the year, but realistically one block is probably all I can get done this month :-). -- Not, did get the outline done!
2. Finish HIHN Harvest Home Sampler --I did finish this one :-).
3. Finish Trilogy Secret Pumpkin Patch --Finished this one too.
4. Finish Indigo Rose Scissor Fob --Decided as cute as the Essie Friends were, I just wasn't that interested so I sold them!
5. Finish CHS Stitcher's Prayer, I am about halfway done. --Got a few stitches done but not finished yet.
6. Finish BBD Summer House Loose Feather, I am also about halfway done with this one. --not a stitch!
7. Start CHS Green Tree Sampler --nothing!

I think instead of setting goals month by month I am going to decide what I want to accomplish the rest of the year.

1. Finish 3 Christmas Ornaments for exchanges!
2. Finish CHS Stitcher's Prayer, I am still a little over halfway done.
3. Finish the Shepherd's Bush Retreat piece, Happy Hauntings! BTW, the retreat was really wonderful :-).
4. Finish a Christmas gift for my Mom.
5. Finish at least 3 more blocks on CHS VoHRH.
6. Finish EEF Whimsical Hearts over one, I am going to finish it as a scissor fob.
7. Finish With My Needle freebie Eliza's Pyn Pillow, it's going to be a scissor fob too.
8. Finish EEF Alphabet Basket, it's been a UFO for quite a while.

If I by some small miracle I finish all of these, I'd love to finish my Snapperland pieces and Shepherd's Bush Autumn Blessings.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful fall season, This is my favorite time of year, the leaves changing, the coolness in the air, and anticipating the holidays. I happen to love baking cookies, decorating and spending time with my family. This year we are going home for Christmas, my DH is in the Air Force so we don't live close to any of our extended family, and going to Illinois for Christmas and New Year's is really exciting for us.

A Finish & Goals for the Month

It's finished! A few problems along the way, but it's done. I got to the bottom section and realized that I had cut the fabric too short. I think it may have been a Freudian slip, because I wasn't crazy about the people at the bottom. Instead, I substituted a band from Celtic Band Sampler, by the same designer. I think it came out very nice and today it's in the mail to Jill Rensel's Studio for framing. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

It's the beginning of September, time to set some goals for the month. I didn't quite meet my goals for August, but hopefully this month will be better :-). I have a few exchange gifts that I want to complete, a small little birthday gift, and then I can stitch on whatever I want! I also have the Shepherd's Bush retreat at the end of the month and i am counting down the days until I leave. This is the second retreat I've been to so I know a little of what to expect, but the projects are a mystery until the first day and the Shepherd's Bush ladies always have a few fun surprises up their sleeves. I am staying with 6 other women, we are all good friends and looking forward to the extra long slumber party, LOL. It should be a wonderful time and I can't wait!

My goals for the month of September:

1. Complete one block of VoHRH. I'd actually like to finish it by the end of the year, but realistically one block is probably all I can get done this month :-).
2. Finish HIHN Harvest Home Sampler
3. Finish Trilogy Secret Pumpkin Patch
4. Finish Indigo Rose Scissor Fob
5. Finish CHS Stitcher's Prayer, I am about halfway done.
6. Finish BBD Summer House Loose Feather, I am also about halfway done with this one.
7. Start CHS Green Tree Sampler, if I am really lucky and my needle is turbo charged I will get this one finished too. I'd like to leave the last three with Jill Rensel for framing.

I guess I'd better get busy stitching!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, it is raining and we don't expect it to get out of the 60's today. It feels more like November than the beginning of September. I think a big pot of chili and cornbread, lots of movies and stitching may be the order of the day. I will have to see what my DH thinks when he gets up :-).

Updated Anniversary Sampler & Ramblings pt. 2

I am making progress on the Sampler that I am doing for my DH's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. We feel really fortunate to be able to celebrate this special occasion with them and we are looking forward to the trip to California. I am hoping to have this piece finished up sometime Monday or Tuesday but that may be a bit optimistic :-). I want to send it to Jill Rensel Fine Art for framing. Jeff's grandparent's are very "artsy" and I think they'd love it if the matting had handpainted touches on it.

I've been thinking a lot about simplifying and being a bit more practical about what I can and can't accomplish. I am fortunate to have a large number of designs in my personal collection or stash as we stitchers call it :-). Lately though I am realizing that I have more than I can finish in this lifetime. What strikes me is the excess of it, it's not that I don't love my hobby or that I never want to purchase a new project again but I do want to feel like I am being a little more discriminating in what I do get. I am really serious about this. I feel like I need some balance in this area of my life and I want to change the attitude that is behind accumulating all this stash. I've been chatting with some of my stitching friends about how to accomplish this and I've made the decision to go on a "diet". My start date will be 1 January, I wanted to start a the beginning of the year. I will go cold turkey, no fibers, linen, or charts and I am going to do it for {gasp} 120 days so the end date is 1 May. The only exception will be my autos, the Loose Feathers and BC Snappers and those only through the Autumn Snapperland series. After that if I still want to do them they will fall under whatever my new standard ends up being. Between now and then I am going to be very discriminating, I think whatever I get is going to go under the Christmas tree. When I am done with the "diet" I am considering possibly a two for one thing where I can't get something new until I finished two projects with a few exceptions, but I am not sure yet. I don’t want to think of this as restrictive but as an effort to simplify and be a little more practical about what I can finish. It's definitely not to take the fun out of it either, because like I said, I love my hobby. I just need a bit of balance. I know I am not the only one who feels this way because when the subject came up several of my fellow stitchers resolved to join me :-). That said, this is a personal thing that I want to do for myself and I certainly don't think because I feel this way everyone else does. I think everyone should do what makes them happy and allows them to enjoy stitching to their heart's content!

Ramblings and an Anniversary Gift

I am working on an anniversary gift for my DH's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. It's all cross stitch so I am hoping to finish it by the end of August. We are going to California to celebrate with them and I'd like to have it framed and ready to go way ahead of time since the week before we go to visit his grandparents I will be at the Shepherd's Bush Retreat. I let my DH choose the piece it's Homespun Samplar's Wedding Band. If I could stay away from the computer I might get more done, LOL.

I spend way to much time surfing and piddling on my laptop and I need to be a bit more disciplined about how I am using my time. I know I can't be the only one who has this issue? I have so, so many projects I'd like to do but I can't seem to stick to a rotation. I haven't got much done this year in general, the problem seems to be a lack of focus. I tend to skip around from project to project and I am not actually finishing very many pieces. So I've kitted several projects and they are neatly packed in my stitching bag, my new rule is I have to finish two before I can add anything to my project list.

Projects:
Bent Creek Spring Snapperland

Bent Creek Summer Snapperland
Birds of a Feather Green Santa Ornament
Birds of a Feather Peace
Birds of a Feather The Night Before Christmas Ornament
Blackbird Designs Be Kind Be True
Blackbird Designs Quaker Garden
Blackbird Designs Strawberry Garden
Blackbird Designs Tulip Manor
Brightneedle Ghosties and Ghoulies

Brightneedle No Peeking Ornament
CHS Green Tree
CHS Maria P. Oliver (gift)
CHS Stitcher’s Prayer
CHS Village of Hawk Run Hollow

Heart in Hand Needleart Happy Heart Day (gift)

Heart in Hand Needleart Steeple Sampler (gift)
Shepherd’s Bush Autumn Blessings

Shepherd's Bush Thoughtful Heart
Trilogy Harvest Home Sampler

Trilogy Secret Pumpkin Patch

By the end of the month I'd like to:

1. Finish Granny and Paw's anniversary present, Homespun Elegance's Wedding Sampler
2. Finish Trilogy Harvest Home Sampler
3. Finish Trilogy Secret Pumpkin Patch
4. Finish First Block of CHS The Village of Hawk Run Hollow Finished

The long of short of it is, I need to get busy stitching, LOL!

VoHRH Block 1

I've finished block one of CHS Village of Hawk Run Hollow. I had a few issues with the thread conversion, the DMC colors were a tiny bit orange for my tastes. I've changed a few of them and I am much happier with the overall tone of the piece. My plan is to do a bit of personalization with the names. I am going to include both my family names and my DH's family names. I am trying to decide it it's too morbid to add my grandparents who have died intitals in the cemetary portion of the Village?

Spring Snapperville

I've just finished the first half of this piece from Bent Creek, it's called Spring Snapperville. Now I have to wait for the rest of the series to come out. I did change the color of the border flowers a tiny bit, the pattern called for the flowers to be stitched in GAST Harvest Basket and WDW Cocoa. I just couldn't do it so I changed the colors to pink :-).

Hi, this is my first blog. I've seen other stitcher's blogs and thought it might be fun to have one of my own. I hope to share pictures of my stitching in progress!