My Little Tree

Our house is too small for a regular tree, so my DH made me a wooden dowel tree. I have the first year of LHN ornaments hanging on it and a few other ornies.

My company gives us the White House ornament every year. I have three of those hanging. I know I have at least one other but cannot find what box it is. Here is this year's.

One of the advantages of living across the river from Washington DC.

Thanks for stopping by.

It's been more than a month

It's been that long since I posted. My only excuse is that I want to stitch more than post. Here is my latest picture of Red. I really love this and hope it will only take me a couple more months to finish her.

I am also doing some knitting for Christmas. I still consider myself a beginner so nothing too fancy. I'll post pictures on my knitting tab after the holiday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Red Update

I have been stitching away on Red. She has a face now.

I try to stitch a little bit every day on her. All the open spaces in her hood will be filled in with beads. This design has lots and lots of beads.

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OMG She's Posting!

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. Well, I have been stitching. I promise. I finished Charland Design's Come in and Stitch A Spell a few weeks ago. It is very cute. I think I will make it into a pillow (only after I practice with the sewing machine more).

 The close up shows the cute spider and web charm. The hat is almost all metallic and was a pain to stitch.

My newest stitching obsession is this.

I started Red by Mirabilia two weeks ago. I haven't been this excited about a pattern in a long time. I think she is absolutely exquisite. Here is where I am right now.

I have a little more done, but it's under the qsnap.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll try to blog more often.

The Harvest is in!

Well, our little backyard garden finally yielded some veggies for us. First up is our carrots. The soil was definitely too hard for them so it took a long time for them to grow. DH is going to compost it more over the winter so next year it will be in better shape.

That is enough carrots to last a few weeks. Next up is our lima beans. Everyone told me they were hard to grow in our area. The bed we put them in is the one DH composted this past winter and they did fabulous.

Look at the size of those beans! Boy howdy, I am planting these again next year.

Now, on to the stitching. Yes I have stitched a little. I worked some on part 2 of LHN's Mystery.

I purchased part 3 yesterday, so I need to get off my keester and get this done. I do have another piece I'm working on that is almost finished. I just need to get the Kreinek's from my sister so I can complete it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weird stuff happens in our back yard

Several months ago we found a headless muskrat in our back yard. We figured a hawk had grabbed it and dropped it in our yard while flying overhead. The DH buried it. A week later the hole was dug up and it was gone. So, headless zombie muskrat was on the loose.

Yesterday I found this in the far back of our yard.

I do not think a hawk left this. Our neighbor says there is a coyote in our neighborhood. The DH thinks maybe it dug this up and dragged it to our yard. But why our yard?! Why does the weird crap end up here?

On the good side, hubby finished this for me.

I can sit out in the yard in comfort now. Of course I need to wait for cooler weather to really enjoy it. He's going to build me a footstool and table to go with it. Yeah!

Thanks for stopping by.

I have been stitching!

I spent all last weekend working on The Astronomer. I almost have page 9 finished. Maybe this weekend, even though I have to go into work for a few hours tomorrow. So here is where I am right now.

 Although, I may have to work on part 2 of the LHN Mystery. It's almost time for part 3!

I went out to the garden this morning and picked enough veggies for the DH and I to have for dinner tonight. Everything has been slow to start, but it looks like the plants are finally producing. I still don't have any decent carrots yet.

Thanks for stopping by!

Part 1 Done

I finished part 1 of LHN's Song of the Seasons last night. I'm looking forward to part 2.

I hosted the monthly Stitch & Bitch yesterday so I was able to get almost all of it done during that time. The funny thing is we actually do more stitching than bitching.

I felt the call of The Astronomer while I was finishing this one, so I set it up on the stand last night. I'll be stitching on it until I get tired of it and need to switch to something else.

Thanks for stopping by.

July TUSAL

Here is my little bowl of ORTS. These are all from the LHN sheep.



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Four Down

I just finished number four of the sheep. Here is "Courage".



I'm going to take a break from the sheep. I have the next two to do but I need to pick up some more fabric first. I may start LHN's "Song of the Season Mystery Sampler" tomorrow. Have to see what calls to me though.

Thanks for stopping by.


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Peace Baa-by

Just finished LHN's Little Sheep Virtue #3. I love the colors on this one and the little bird bottom is just adorable.



I plan to start #4 tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!


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First Sheep Second Completed

I finished the first sheep in the Little Sheep Virtue series. This one stitched up really fast. Done in three days.



On to sheep number 3!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Baa Baa

I finished LHN's Sheep#2 last night. I started it Wednesday night.




We attended the Lock In at In Stitches Sunday so I was able to get a lot done then. After I finished this one, I started Sheep #1.



I didn't do it first because I was going to do it on what it called for the 30 count R&R but Ellen at the shop mentioned that she's not carrying R&R anymore because it fades so much so I decided to do all of them on the 30 count Cocoa by WDW.

Well I'm off to stitch now so thanks for stopping by.

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It's Done!

I finished Hilda's Alphabet Brew by With My Needle and Thread last night at In Stitches during the Stitch Night and it is just great. I have a unique idea on how to finish it and I'll post a picture when it gets done.




After I finished I started LHN's Love.



Thanks for stopping by!

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I've Made Progress

So I have been stitching. I only have the border left to do. Hopefully I will have it done in a few days. Then I cn start something new!

I'm posting this from my iPad as my laptop is acting up. First time doing this. Crossing my fingers that it works.

Thanks for stopping by.



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I'm a bad bad blogger!

I know I know! It's been over a month since I posted. I've been in a reading mood lately, so I haven't been on the blog. I have been stitching though. I have a finish and progress on another piece to show.

First, the finish. I'm not sure when I started this, probably a couple years ago, but I finished it a few weeks ago. Here is Peppermint Twist by Blue Ribbon Designs. Please excuse the wrinkles.

I also got a lot done on Hilda's Alphabet Brew by With thy Needle & Thread. I like this one a lot. I hope to have it done soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

March WIPocalypse

I actually worked on some stitching this month! I also followed the theme a bit too. I worked on Chatelaine's Chinese Garden. I also picked up BRD's Peppermint Twist. Here are the pictures for this month.

Chinese Garden Before

Chinese Garden After

Peppermint Twist Before

Peppermint Twist After

Thanks for stopping by.

March TUSAL

You know if I didn't read other blogs I would never know what day to post for TUSAL. So here is my offering. I need to clean it out and start a fresh one for next month.

This past Saturday my sister Lynn and I went to the Needlework show at Woodlawn. There were many beautiful pieces entered though it seemed much smaller than past years. There was some really nice stumpwork and I have to say I was tempted to learn a new needlework but I keep saying I really do not need to add another hobby.

Afterwards we went to In Stitches and I spent waaaayy too much money on new stash that they brought from market. Here's a picture of what I purchased.

Garden of Skulls by Prairie Moon, Old Windmill Village from GPA, Kell's Kritters from Long Dog, A Bee C from Lizzie Kate, Siren and the Shipwreck from Mirabilia, Love from LHN, and My Stitching Bag from Shepherd's Bush.
I am such a stashaholic.

Thanks for stopping by.

Victorian Motto Give-Away

Victorian Motto is having a give-away. Go here to sign up. I just recently used their threads and I really like them.

February WIPocalypse

Here are my offerings for February. It being a short month, I don't feel like a got a lot done.

Hardanger - After

Hardanger - Before

Sorry the pictures aren't better for the hardanger, but cream on cream is hard to photograph.

Peacock Tapestry - Before

Peacock Tapestry - After

I also started and finished a little something this month. I desperately needed to stitch something small and fast. So I printed out one of the Pears from Samplers & Santas which can be found here. I think I'm going to stitch one of these every once in a while when I need to do something small. That's the problem with doing so many BAPS.

I used Victorian Motto for the gold and green and Crescent Colors for the blue. I have been wanting to try the VM floss and I was very happy with them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jan

Sitching this weekend

Well, between chores and errands, I did get some stitching done. On Saturday I worked on PT. I got  the branches and leaves on the right hand side of the peacock.

 Then on Sunday I started Sampler Pear III freebie from Samplers-and-Santas. I have this piece of 32 ct. belfast linen that measures 9x56 so I figure I can stitch most of the pears on it. I'll have to peruse the fabric store and see if I can find some backing material for them. If you have never seen these go here. They are quite brilliant.

The DH and I just came back from hiking/birding Huntley Meadows. Saw some great birds - a Red-shouldered Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Pintail Ducks, Green-wing Teals, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Cold but a good day.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Valentines Day

Well, I have had a very busy and fantastic Valentines Day. They finally let me move back into my office after the renovation. I still have some fine tuning to do, but I'm happy with my new furniture and the paint choices they made. Here's a couple pictures.

You'll notice a vase of beautiful roses in the pictures. My DH had them sent to me today. Here's a nice close up.

Lastly, he surprised me with a Pandora starter bracelet. He picked the ladybug bead for me. I love it and I've already made a wish list of beads he can get me for other occasions. It will really make it easy for him. Anniversary? Pick a bead on the list. Christmas? Pick a bead on the list. Birthday? Pick a bead on the list. You get the idea.

He did real good!

Thanks for stopping by.

Jan

TUSAL for February

It's that time again. You will see mostly perle cotton for the hardanger I'm doing. There are a few threads threads the Peacock in there too.

The hardanger piece is coming along quite nicely. I am almost done with the kloster blocks and then on to the satin stitches.

Yesterday a couple of the ladies who go to stitch night, Helen and Connie, came over and we stitched the day away. I worked on PT. I don't know how much longer I can work on it before I have to go to something else. The combination of blended threads and quarter stitches are going to drive me up the wall pretty soon.

I'm trying to do some of the back stitching as I go along. There is a boatload of back stitching. Oh well it's not like I don't have anything else to work on. LOL!



Thanks for stopping by!

Jan

SuperBowl Stash

Our local LNS had a sale yesterday and of course I had to go see what I could get. They were holding a pattern for me so what better time to get it. Here is what I got.

I got the new Cross-stitch and Needlework magazine, Letters for Santa by Country Stitches, Better Not Pout by Widgets & Wool Primitives, and LHN's Hope (this is the one I had on hold) plus a hank of 35 ct. WDW Havana.

I stitched on PT a little bit. I did some of the back stitching so I wouldn't have as much to do later.

I also stitched on the hardanger a lot, but the lighting is so bad right now it is not photographing very well. I'll have to take a picture on a sunny day.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jan