I finished Hog Wash by Teresa Laymen in the past week.  The pink fabric will be used for the finishing.  I just love dupioni silk for finishing.  I usually buy my own so the finisher has the color I want and it may be more expensive than what a finisher wants to charge. 

 I made progress with Beautie Spot.  I spent the week working on the final bunny motif.  I also did some of the boarder that you can see in the picture.  For me, this was a big week. 

I did pick up some finishing over the weekend.  I gave these projects plus some others to the finisher last March.  She did a nice job but since it took so long she did not even charge me for the finishing.  She did have four more pieces to finish but she did not even get to those. I asked for my other pieces back because eight months is ridiculous.  I got to worrying about never getting my projects back.  I will let my friend finish my pieces and she will have them back to me in a month or so. 

I am all packed and project ready to go to Florida tomorrow.  I have some very high expectations for the projects.  I spent more time gathering projects than I spent on packing.  Plus, I have three library books for the trip.  The evenings are quiet and there is not much to do after we eat on Thanksgiving so I might manage to get some things done.    We are going to the Club for dinner so no one has to cook or clean but the food is not the same as homemade.  My husband usually does all the cooking but he has to stay home due to work.  I am grateful he has a job but I like it better when he consults because he does not work as much and can play with me. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with lots of good food, family, and friends.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  My blog is looking a little more like Christmas than Halloween.  I have had a big couple of weeks of stitching but my picture taking is more limited than my stitching.  On Saturday, my Guild had a stitching day at the Oak Park Library.  My friend that finishes for me was there so I wanted to get this ornament done.  I don't care if she has it done by Christmas but it gave me a goal to get the stitching finished. 

 The same goal applies to Hog Wash but a week later.  Next Saturday is our Libby Sturdy, Windy City Santa class and my finishing friend will be there so I want this one done by next Saturday.  As you can see from my current picture and how it looked two weeks ago, I did get a lot done for me. 

Currently

Two week's ago

I have also been working on Frog Stew and my Long Dog Sampler but I had an early morning meeting and did not have a chance to take new pictures of my progress.  That is fine, because it will give me an excuse to blog about these projects. 

My weekend was filled with stitching and very little else.  This should be a good thing but I did go a little stir crazy just hanging around the house.  I have three trips booked between Thanksgiving and New Year's so I should take advantage of this down time.

Enjoy your Halloween and the little Ghosts and Goblins that will hit the streets tonight!

Happy Monday morning!!  I feel like I have already put in a full day and in reality it is not even lunch time yet.  DH had early morning calls with Asia and another with Europe so we were up early.  Actually, I stayed in bed and read while he was getting ready.  I will finish A Discovery of Witches today.  I am really enjoying this book and I have heard others say they enjoyed it as well.  It is a 600 page Vampire/Witch book so be prepared to spend some time with these creatures. 

Speaking of Witches, Frog Stew is coming along.  We had a very quiet week and weekend last week so I got a lot of needlepoint done.  Last week, I finished her vest, hat, Frogs (other than beaded eyes and back stitching which is done at the end), the moon other than the lower left hand side still needs to be couched and the cauldron which also needs to be couched.  I think I will continue to work on her through Halloween and see what I can accomplish. 

 Hog Wash got a few more knots.  I did some of the pink flowers in the boarder and some more grass. 

 On Friday's, I typically work at home.  I had our bed torn apart and I was washing the bedding.  I had the sheets done and was waiting on the blankets to dry.  I walk into the bedroom and laying on my bed pillow at the end of my chase lounge was my little old man enjoying the down pillow.  He is 17 years old so he gets to do what he wants and I have mismatched pillow cases on my bed this week.  It is good to be the King!

Have a great stitching week.

Be Merry and Be Happy

Hi,  I am happy to report that the last couple of weeks have been pretty big stitching weeks for me.  I worked on my French Knot Pig.  Since the last time I showed this project, I finished the sky, all the flowers at the pig's feet and some more of the green, grass.  I love doing the FK projects!! 

 Windy City Santa has been around for several years.  I know I am going to look like a kiss ass, but this is going to be a class I am taking with Libby Sturdy at the beginning of November.   For some reason the top part of his lapel was confusing me.  I wanted to get this in before the class because I knew I could do it if I would think about it a bit.  Since the project was out, I finished the bronze stitching along the bottom because it was about half done.  Then I did the shoes because that was mainly basket weave and up right crosses.  I started the mittens but I think I will put this away until the class.  I will be well behaved in class and work on the beard if I am ahead of the others.  The beard is not done because I am not sure if I am doing it right.  In Libby's picture you can see the gray outline.  If I use all that thick wool, then the outline will not show so I am at a loss.

 I got a couple pieces back from the finisher.  Be Happy was finished into a scissors fob and Be Merry is a little stand up.  Both turned out so cute.  

Last weekend was the Windy City EGA Chapter's 30th Anniversary party. We had a very nice lunch and several former members were able to join us. We even got a couple of the ladies to come back to the Guild after a few years. Most were still stitching or working at their other art forms.

My weekend should be fairly quiet. I have our regular Guild meeting tomorrow and Sunday is the Chicago Marathon. I live at the half way mark so it is easy to get out and cheer the people on. I have no desire to run a marathon but I have a few friends running. After most runners are through mile 13, Bloody's and Mimosa's will be served. It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend!!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. It may be our last really good one until Spring!

It's Beautie

Beautie Spot

 I have been working on Beautie Spot over the weekend.  I showed my progress on the blue star a couple of weeks ago and now it is finished.  I have the black outline done on the flower so it needs to be filled in with color and you can see a tiny black line for the tail of the Dodo Bird.  I have the Dodo, the bunny, the boarder and a few touches like spangles and initials to finish for the Guild Challenge at the end of the year. 

I have also been able to get in a few French and Colonial knots into my pig project.  I worked on the flowers and some of the sky. 

I did read a wonderful book this week.  It is Mudbound by Hillary Jordon.  It was her first novel and it took her seven years to write this book.  Her second book is coming out in October.  This book reminded me of The Help because each chapter was the voice of one of the main characters.  A question has been going around Facebook:  What book has kept you up way past your bedtime reading?  This could be one of those books.  I did not stay up but I did finish this in about a day.  I also read Mockingjay over the weekend.  This is the final book in the Hunger Game trilogy.  This series could also keep me up past my bedtime.  What book kept you up past your bedtime?  I would love to hear about any great books you have read. 

Last night I apparently gave up on walking.  I live in a soft loft (bedrooms have walls and doors) and it has exposed duct work.  When we do laundry in the summer, condensation forms and it drips on the hallway floor.  I was walking down the hall in flip-flops and fell flat on my bottom.  I was not hurt other than a bruise on my knee and a little jar to the body.  So today I decide to wear sensible shoes and I have tripped no less than 4 times today.  Seriously?  Am I determined to land on my ass again only this time in public? 

My husband has a business dinner tonight which does not happen very often.  I am planning my evening.  I am going to do my household chores like water the poor plants that are subjected to this 100 degree weather, make a quick dinner, and curl up in the stitching chair with my projects and DVR.  I am not home alone all that often so it is something to look forward to. 

Hope you have a wonderful day with at least a little stitching time. 



Happy Friday!

Last Friday...

Today

Seriously, not that much to brag about. I am not really sure where last week went but it was not spent in the nest. We had a big party last Saturday and a small dinner party Sunday night so that shot the weekend. Monday was my book club. By Wednesday, I was a blob and Thursday required adult beverages.

This weekend should be quiet. About all of our friends are on their winter holidays so we are the only ones still in town. Since DH got a real job, our traveling has slowed down. I am going to Europe next month but I would still like some time with sand and sun. Tonight is my first massage at the Spa around the corner. I bought a package so I have a year of reasonable massages and facials.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend.

No Project Loyalty Around Here

When I had time to stitch this week, I could not settle on any one project. Let me start with Beautie Spot and its wrinkles. This is a solid three years of wrinkles that we are all going to have to live with until the end. Margie wanted to see the whole picture and the one below is the progress I made on my current motif. I finished most of the stitching below the two smaller leaves last night. I am going to try to finish this motif over the weekend and start a March Motif. Several readers have said they have this or the sister piece hanging around in the WIP pile. If you want to set a goal to finish a March Motif with me, we could encourage each other along the way. (Goals for other pieces are welcome too.) I think I have five designs left to finish.

I got the top orange stripe done this week. I am not sure I did the corners correctly but I am not picking this out. It took a long time to put in. The stitch is a six trip herringbone. I think I have five more lines in this project. The same designer as Mayan Lightning will be teaching a new project at our March 12th Guild meeting so it would be nice to have this one done before I start a new project.

Hogwash is coming along. I completed the grass on the right hand side and the tops of two trees. I just love doing these knot projects.

The weekend is almost here. We are hosting two dinner parties this weekend. One is for 10 of our close friends. He is serving a menu of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Breakfast is asparagus with poached egg and pancetta, lunch is a chicken crepe and dinner is beef bourguignon. On Sunday we will have a smaller party with homemade ravioli in a cream sauce with peas that is so good. I am really going to have to start going to the gym again so I can show my arms and not my belly during charity event season this spring.

Have a very happy, stitchy weekend.

Soon to be released!!

Blogger is not cooperating with me and will not allow me to delete this picture so you get to see my backside...

Hello!! A friend of mine who just finished NAN training and designed Mayan Lightning was asked to write a chapter for a book. The book is Crafting by Concepts: Fiber Arts and Mathematics. You would never guess she is a Math professor. The cube is a diaper pattern and there were some pretty big math terms in the directions. My finishing is not the greatest because I misunderstood the directions which as a pilot stitcher this is part of the process. This cube and some others were stitched last summer and it is in some of the pictures in the book. This is the second math/craft book these ladies have written. The first book was so wildly successful that they were asked by the publisher to write a second book. Who would have guessed?!

I figured I would lose followers if I did not get off the slow progression of Beautie Spot. I finished this small ornament /necklace. I do not see myself wearing this. Orna Willis gave this to me because the first on I did was so short on thread she felt bad. I changed the colors in this one so it would look a little more like Christmas.

Finally, I want to show you my progress on the Pig. This Teresa Layman project has a ton of Colonial Knots which move much more swiftly than the French Knots. I finished the water, the tree trunks and started on the grass. The flowers will be fun so I am saving those for when I get tired of grass and sky.

Today is my birthday so we are going out to Moto tonight for dinner. This restaurant has been all over the Food Network, it was one stop Anthony Bourdain made on No Reservations when he was in Chicago, and they have their own show Future Food on Planet Green. We are having the ten course meal (opposed to your other choice of a 20 course meal) with the wine pairing tonight so it should be yummy! DH did not think he could take 4 hours in a restaurant to eat 20 courses. I figured that would come with 20 small glasses of wine and I would be drunk before dinner was over.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend with many hours of stitching and sunshine.

Oooh Ahhh!!

Actually, I am being sarcastic with the title of this post. I have accomplished so little that I should hang my head in shame. To my defense, I had an eye infection and that did not make me want to strain my eyes any more than what I do all day on the computer. On Beautie Spot I worked on the green boarder. I went half way down the right side and turned the corner. Turning the corner did result in some frogging being necessary. I thought the boarder would be boring so I should occasionally throw in a few stitches. Actually, I am enjoying the brainless effort this takes.

I did spend one evening with my pig. I filled in her skirt and finished the colonial knots that make up the hose.

Since my stitching is a bore this week, I thought I would mention my new fetish. I am really liking readers now. I want a pair in every project. Since we hang in Florida so much, readers are everywhere. They even have a store call Grandpa's and all they sell are readers and magnification products. (Tell you something about the age in the community?) The top two pairs are cheep readers from Grandpa's. The bottom two are much cooler Eye Bobs. When I bought the bottom pair, I did not know about Eye Bobs and paid full price. The pink/orange/green pair are really nice and I got them for something like $15.00 at Saks Outlet. I always check Saks and Neiman's Outlets for readers.

I have been busy ordering little gifts for the Guild retreat off Etsy. All the vendors have been so nice. The send little thank you notes with your order. Personally, I should be sending them thank you notes for making such cute things. I will take pictures before the retreat so you can see all the gifts. In case anyone is reading my blog, I want to leave a few surprises.

Tomorrow is stitching day at the library. I am excited and hope to progress on some projects so I have something to talk about next week.

Everyone that is having bad weather, stay safe and warm. Happy Stitching!