New start and WIPs

I don't remember if I've mentioned here that the Sticklounge group is closing in June.  Before that happens, there is one last mystery.  I started it Monday night, I think.  With lots of stitching time today, I finished part 1.  Since part 2 was just released, I'm pretty current, but my guess is that this is a pretty symmetrical piece that wouldn't be difficult to complete without any further parts.

One of my goals for May on a BB was to finish page 6 of Dorothy.  Well, I didn't quite make it for May, but I have them done now.  I did goof on the scallops.  I misplaced a color when I started one of them but once I realized it, there was absolutely no way I was going to take all those eyelets back out.  So, this is my version and it is uniquely mine!

Last night I also made a start on the third corner of Summer Knotgarden.  This is all the further I made it before I called it a night, but for some reason this is the most monotonous part of part 3.  Now that it's done, the rest of it should be easy peasy.

I don't know how much stitching I'm going to manage today or the rest of the week.  I'm working on my new chicken coop and the boys have two baseball games.  Thankfully they're home games so there's no hour drive each way.  I really don't like not getting home till 9:30.  At least the boys don't have school that they have to get up for.  They just have to get up to go to a friends house, where one of the local teen agers is watching mine and the friends, or to camp at the university.

Yay! A finish!

I just finished Petit Sampler I stitched with the Sticklounge group. This is stitched on HDF 40ct linen in Mermaid Blue with HDF 4401/1325/2109.  Love the pop of colors!

I'm debating on what to stitch next.  I'm thinking Lust might come out to visit or 1900 ABC.  The second one will go very quickly after I finish the little bit of border on the first page of the second row of pages.  I guess I may have made my decision?

Through my Window

Thanks for all the great comments about Winter Watergarden.  I really appreciate them!  And welcome to my new followers.

This is probably the last page finish I'll have for 2011.  There's page three of Window stitched with Sticklounge.

I finished part 2 of Adriana last night and sent this pic to the Sticklounge mods for the next part.  This one already has four parts released so I need to get moving on it a whole lot faster! 

I 'm also going to be stitching a page of Chelsea's Gift with 19 other stitchers from a couple of BBs she belonged to at the time of her death earlier this year.  It will be assembled as a quilt and sent to her husband and mom.  Quite the labor of love for a very special stitcher.

Anyway, I got my fabric in the mail yesterday from Peggy in Belgium (Thanks Peggy!) so I just need to go through my DMC and pull what I've got so I can see what I need to pick up.  I think Michaels has a 25% off entire coupon out and they just gave my $5 off my perchase with my rewards card.

I think for right now though, I'm going to pull Winter Watergarden back out today and see if I can get part 9 done.  Part 10 is easy too.  Then it would just be part 12 for a finish!

A WIP update and a finish!

I finally finished part 4 of Spring Knotgarden Sunday.  Almost didn't make it though...that last repeat almost did me in.  I persevered though and here's the result.

 Here's a closeup of the upper left corner.  I'm very happy with how the colors in the leaves blended together.

Tonight I finally finished the final part of Purple Garden stitched with the Sticklounge group.  To celebrate, I pulled out Petit Sampler which has not had any love for a while.

I almost forgot!  Welcome to my new followers!

My weekend...

The following picture is one I'm not proud of.  This is one of the desks in my office.  Since we moved back into our house after the tornado, this desk has been in this space.  I've meant to finish stripping the old finish off and restrip it but life has gotten in the way.  So, this desk has become a dumping ground for books I've read and just haven't gotten taken downstairs to the book shelves, bills that have been paid, etc, etc, etc. 

My to do list that I wrote this spring included this desk.  I was going to build a cabinet for everything that needs to be filed.  You can see my plans here.  I had planned on refinishing the desk and putting it in Jakob's room for homework.

Enter my husband...

He's decided that he needs to start doing his plastic models again.  So, he needs a desk to be able to them on.  Which is going in the spare bedroom so he can close the door and the cats won't be able to get to them. So we made a trip to Menards (a local home improvement store) and I bought a bunch of lumber.  By the end of yesterday, this is what that lumber looked like.

 Then I decided I was done for the day.  It's hot and sweaty in the garage! I much prefer the a/c!!

Purple Garden was still up and I finished part 5 last night.  I really like those darker flowers around the center!

This morning, I stitched on Winter Watergarden this morning and started some laundry while I wondered if it was going to rain again.  Can't hang laundry outside if it's raining, you know, it kind of defeats the purpose!

This afternoon, at Ed's prodding, I started putting my little cabinet together.  Here's what it looks like right now.  It needs a little tweaking so the drawers open all the way.  Ed helped me figure out how to install the hinges, but I need to change where they're installed to make them work the way I want.

I still need some paint after my tweaking is done, but I haven't decided what color to use.  I have some white, which is easy.  The walls in my office are called Seringetti Sands (that name has stuck with me for 6 years!)  It's kind of a tan color.  So white would definately work. 

Anybody in blog land have any suggestions?

What did you do this weekend?

Petit Sampler

Look I am awake during the day!!  haha!!  Here's part 1 of the Petit Sampler stitched with the Sticklounge group.  I'm even done before part 2 comes out.  There's a big motif that overlaps from left to right and a smaller one at the bottom of this page that overlaps to the bottom page I haven't done yet.  I'm trying to decide if I want to do them in another color.

I've been stitching Petit Sampler during the day and Purple Garden in the evenings.  I'm hoping to finish page 5 in the next day or so.

Homage

I finished part 7 of this one last night while the boys were playing ball and lasagna was in the oven.  There is only one part to finish on this one for which I'm thankful.  I started this piece not exactly excited about the colors but I liked the proverb.  Just a little further and it will be done!

Rencently on the HDF blog, there's been a lot of talk about a 17th century sampler reproductions and I got bit by that bug, hard!  You can see Loara Standish here  She's a pretty band sampler that, from what I read, is the oldest signed American sampler.  Pretty cool huh?  In my wandering through what google listed for me, I also found Elizabeth Creasey.  I guess it's a good thing my birthday is coming in a couple of months because that one got ordered too.  I pretty much blew my stash budget, but it was so much fun! 

Joyce, Sticklounge is only open to 100 member and they've split that between German and English speaking members.  I'll try to post something here if they open it back up.  If that happens, when/if you join, just let them know I'll be your godmother.

Patches, if you're interested in doing a conversion to HDF let me know.  If it's one I've done, I can let you know what I've done.  If I haven't I'm more than willing to help you come up with one.

Later!  Gotta at least pretend to work today. :)

Sticklounge

I've been working on Sticklounge pieces this week.  This is Homage to Japan.  I finished part 6 Wednesday night.  Part 7 was in my inbox yesterday and I started part 7 last night, but I didn't get very far. 

Here's a new one.  It's called Friendship heart.  When it's complete it will be in the shape of a heart.  The picture that was shown when it was introduced to the group had it finished in a pillow which was very pretty.  But, since I have three cats, I don't know how well that would work out for me.   I sent this picture to the group this morning before I left for work and by the time I opened my e-mail again, part two was waiting for me.  This stitches really fast so I should have part 2 done in time for part 3 on Monday. 

This morning, instead of packing Homage to Japan, I pulled One Nation out of my WIP pile.  I thought it would be a nice change and a little different while I wait for new Chatelaine parts to come out on May 1.

Later!