Update : Finishing

So besides stitching like a mad woman, I've been doing quite a bit of finishing as well!

In early June Kathy and I made plans to get together to finally put together her Petit Sampling Etui.  Amongst my circle of stitching friends I seem to be considered the "finishing expert", go figure.  I think I'm just willing to dive in and give things a try.  I had never put together an etui before, but my finishing skills have been steadily improving over the years.

I have to say putting this box together was not easy and it definitely required two weekends, two heads, four hands, and a lot of reading over and over!  Though I didn't stitch the panels I'm certainly proud of the end result!  Kathy and I make a great team and work well together.

Of course neither of us are planning to put together or stitch another one for a long time.

I was motivated by helping Kathy with her Etui to do a little finishing of my own!  On weekends I've been home I've been pulling out one ornament after another out of my finishing box.  I've been quite productive now that I see it all here in one blog entry!

 My first attempt at a tag finish and I have to say it turned out great!

Fa La La La - Freebie

 JBW

French Country Star

JCS Ornament Issue

 Heart of Flake - Freebie

 Rosewood Manor

Red Threads

Heart In Hand

Snow Woes

 Ink Circles

Stained Glass Holly

Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue

 Stitchers Joy

Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue

The Stag

Freebie

Post IHSW Wrap Up (Several Weeks Late)

Procrastinating to blog has certainly been my theme lately.  I can at least say I'm often just stitching, cause I want to stitch and I don't want to stop to blog.  I want to keep ontop of blogging but for some reason I just keep slacking off!  I have a few things to catch you up on but I will do that over the next few posts.  I've missed the Smalls SAL, TUSAL, and April Goals.  So stay tuned...

Now lets recap what I accomplished during March's IHSW which was March 21-23.

First of all I finished Heart In Hand's Snow Woes, this cutie is stitched on 40ct linen.

Next up I started Heart In Hand's Tall Snowman a second time.  I wasn't happy with his overall size the first time I stitched him, so a second stitch was necessary, this time on 40ct.  He looks much better on 40!

Earlier in March I got the most wonderful news, my best friend Claire had a little boy!  She's had the hardest time over the years trying to start a family, and I can't think of anyone else who DESERVES to be a Mother.  I knew exactly what I wanted to stitch for wee Zachary, since I stitched his Mom and Dad Teresa Wentzler's Wedding Sampler they of course deserve TW's Birth Announcement!!!  Here's my progress at the end of March's IHSW.  I am now focusing solely on this project.  I've got to get it stitched and framed by the end of July when I'm going to fly down to the Charleston area to meet wee Zachary!!!!

Belated WIPocalypse and IHSW

I did a lot of great stitching over the March Break, and then the tail end was one of my Timberhouse Retreats (pictures coming soon) and of course when you've been off of work for a week, it takes a bit to get back into the swing of things! (and its quite tiring)

This weekend is IHSW, and I have no plans but to stay home and stitch!  Well and do a little baking on Sunday, its my favorite custodian's birthday on Monday (we share a Birthday month, mine is this upcoming Thursday, the 27th!) he loves apple crisp so I'll be making one to take into work for him on Monday.

Here's my WIPocalypse progress which was due this past Sunday!  Since my last report I have focused most of my stitching time on The Accolade... until my little road trip to Stitcher's Garden two weeks ago.

I probably should work on my fair lady this weekend as one of my goals for March is to finish page 8 and as you can see, the end of this page is not far off!

I initially put down the Accolade to stitch up this beauty, Flowers in Black, White and Red.  I picked up this piece at Stitcher's Garden, and started it the next day.  This piece stitched up in just a few days.

Next up it was time to wrap up those Prarie Schooler ornaments I had started back in January, and I did just that while at the Timberhouse Retreat last weekend.  Here's all the ornaments all stitched up together, outlined in backstitch and backing pieces stitched and ready to go.  This is all ready to be pressed, and cut up to be whip stitched together.

Since the last WIPocalypse I finished....  The Poisonous Poinsettia (to cats)

The Pyromaniac Angel

Candy Cane Smoking Santa

The Cozy Cottage

Chubby Snowman

Finally The Scrawny Reindeer

Since I wrapped the Prarie Schooler ornaments fairly early on during the Retreat weekend, I pulled out another January start to work on, Three Little Maids which I ALSO managed to finish up on Sunday evening after I got home.

The rest of this week I've been working on yet another ornament, this guy has been calling my name since I picked up the chart in January.  I picked up all of the threads for Snow Woes by Heart in Hand at Stitcher's Garden and decided he was next, I haven't been in any rush to get back to my over one stitching.

So there you have it, this is where all of my recently touched projects stand!

Catching Up Post - Smalls SAL

I'm horribly behind on posting updates for a few of my SALs, I'll get them taken care of over the next few days.  Why did I get behind, because I've just been so engrossed in my stitching the last little while that I haven't wanted to take time away from it for blogging.  Things are also fairly busy because I'm getting ready to head out on my annual Dominican Experience trip (we take off on February 21st).

For the month of January I stitched quite a few smalls!  Nothing new you haven't seen before but here they all are.

 Lizzie*Kate

A Little Christmas

 Prarie Schooler

Christmas Favorites

  Prarie Schooler

Christmas Favorites

  Prarie Schooler

Christmas Favorites

 Heart In Hand

Tall Snowman

Just Nan

Cardinal Tweet

January IHSW - Timberhouse Retreat 2014

I am behind on all of my scheduled blogging lately, so here is my belated IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) report!  I hope this isn't going to be the trend for 2014, I'd hate to start the year off behind and continue the year that way!

I honestly didn't hermit at ALL the weekend of January 17-19... it was even BETTER than hermitting I was stitching with 17 other ladies at the Timberhouse Country Inn Resort!  As a group except for a quick little trip to do a little stash shopping most of us pretty much stayed inside warm and safe stitching!

Up until this past November the retreats I go to at the Timberhouse were run by Ann of Knowledge and Needles but now that she has become a Snowbird, she's not around anymore.  We all wanted to continue the tradition of our January, March, and November stitching retreats so Bonnie and I have taken over running them.  In all honesty Bonnie does much of the work as she's much closer to the facility than I am.  But I'm there as a sounding board, support and help whenever she needs it.  January was quite a challenge to get off of the ground this year.  Up until late November we had a full retreat and slowly people started dropping out.  That is quite a challenge and frustrating when you have people dropping out and needing to fill spots three weeks before a retreat!  We've learn a few lessons and will put a few things into place to hopefully reduce that stress.

On the upside, we had a few new faces there!  It was nice to spend the weekend with my friends Julie and Mylene.  Julie and I took a little selfie Saturday morning!  It was wonderful to get to spend a weekend with Teresa who I had previously met twice at the annual Knowledge and Needles open house that Ann holds near the end of August.  So I guess that's the upside of some of the usual retreaters dropping out, we get some new wonderful additions to the group!

I didn't really take any pictures this year...  My urge to take pictures seems to have left me this last year.  Saturday afternoon we did get out to Knowledge and Needles since Ann had left the keys for Bonnie and I to open the shop to anyone who wanted to do a little shopping.  I of course couldn't help myself and I did buy a few things.

I was also able to finally pick up the signed chart I had won off of Facebook from Norden Crafts.  They regularly give away charts and if your name is drawn its sent to the LNS of your choice to pick up.  I'm looking forward to stitching this one on 40ct in a gorgeous red!

... I like long romantic walks on the beach.... (please note down winter coat, snow on the ground and that Lake Ontario is FROZEN!)

On the way back to the Timberhouse, I wasn't in a very social mood so I took a little time by myself with my camera.  I stopped a few times on my way home AND I went down to the "beach".

Here are some of my shots...

Meanwhile back at the Timberhouse...

 Stitching-wise it was a productive weekend!  I worked on getting all of the white put in on the adorable owls in Three Little Maids.

Tall Snowman

cHeart In Hand

Stitched on: 32ct Belfast Linen - Autumn Field from Zwiegart

Stitched with: DMC & WDW

When I had enough of stitching with white floss I pulled out some of my other January starts which were ornaments and worked on those.  I managed to have three finishes!  So that's I think 5 of my 15 starts finished in the fist month of 2014.

Christmas Favorites Santa & Reindeer

cPrarie Schooler

Stitched on: Mystery fabric

As usual Sunday came around all too soon and it was time to head home.  Normally we pack up around lunch time but it was snowy, and windy.  I decided shortly after breakfast it would be best to start making my way home.  Instead of 3-3.5 hours to get home it took 5.5 hours!  Wow!

Check out both Bonnie and Christin's blogs they took a few more pictures than I did, many of the stitching on display.