The best laid plans…

 Well, November didn’t turn out the way I’d planned. It was going along fine…and then I got sick the week before Thanksgiving, and for the rest of the month, I kind of lost momentum. I didn’t have much energy, even to stitch.There were eleven days with no stitching at all, and though I did do a little, there was nowhere near what I’d hoped to do.

I did have one finish, my sixth from my WIPGO board. The design is ‘Live a Quiet Life’ by October House Fiber Arts. It is stitched on a 28 ct. jobelan fabric called Rosemerta from Under the Sea Fabrics with the called for Weeks, Gentle Arts and Classic Colourworks threads.  

I also worked on Quaker Street by Marjorie Massey. It is my 25/7 piece and I am stitching three strands a day on this one. Here is my progress:

November was also Black Sampler November. I stitched a design from La-D-Da called ‘Like Home’. I really planned on finishing it, but that didn’t happen. Here is my progress:

The last piece I stitched on was my birthday start, ‘The Red House Sampler’ by Brenda Keyes. I only made a small start, but a start nonetheless!

So, plans for the rest of December…stitch day 11 and 12 to finish the 12 Days of Christmas by Satsuma Street; continue my 25/7 piece; and maybe start 12 new projects for my own 12 days of Christmas…who knows? I’ve been looking through my file drawers of old patterns and I keep finding so many treasures that I would really love to stitch, so why not start them?

Hoping everyone is enjoying the winter holidays. Remember to be kind to yourself and to others, and happy stitching!

lynda

It's really Fall now!

After lots of days in the mid-high 80's in October, we are finally settling into our usual fall temps and the rain has started. Last night was Halloween, and it was really pouring...kind of sad for all the littles who were out for trick or treat.

I had a couple of small starts in September, both of which have been put aside for now. The first was the "Acorns and Threads" sampler from Carriage House Samplings. I really like this sampler, but I am not really crazy about the thread and fabric I chose. The fabric is much darker than it shows in the photo, so I may be changing this out:

The second piece only got a tiny few stitches, but it is definately one I want to finish. It is "Olivia Ochreleiph" from Silver Creek Samplers, and I love all of the beautiful fall colors in this one.

In October, I participated in the Witchy Stitchy challenge on Embroidery. com The goal is to stitch every day in the month. The first piece I worked on was "Celtic Pumpkin" by The Scattered Seed. I have had this pattern for a long time, and I even had the called for fabric which was a brown linen. I don't normally stitch on linen, but I thought I could manage this small piece. Well, I couldn't! I just had a really hard time keeping my stitches neat. So I substituted a piece of jobelan from my stash (Anubis from Under the Sea Fabrics) and used the called for threads. I was able to start and finish this one during the month!

The second piece I worked on was "Halloween Quaker" by Lila's Studio. I started this one in 2019, but
kept putting it down for one reason or another. I showed where I was in my last post,, but I am happy to say that it is now finished! (and by Halloween too!)

I also am up to date on my "12 Days of Christmas" sampler from Satsuma Street.

My plans for November are simple...I want to stitch all the samplers! I have several I want to start and a few that are WIPs, so I hope I can get some finishes before the end of the month. I'll show what I manage to get done next time.

Also, my next 25/7 piece is another WIP..."Quaker Street" by Marjorie Massey. I started this in January of 2020, and put it down amidst all the COVID stuff going on. Anyway, this is where I started

And where I am after day one:

November is my birthday month, so I am gifting lots of stitching time to myself (I hope!) I hope you will all join me!

Until next time,  please remember to always be kind to yourself, and to others. Happy stitching!

Almost Autumn

 It’s almost Autumn and I can’t wait! This is my favorite time of year…I love the cooler temperatures, wearing warm sweaters and socks, hot cider and all the fall colors.

Now that our hottest days are pretty much over, I also get the chance to sit outside on the front porch and do my stitching. It’s usually pretty quiet in our area and I get to listen to audiobooks or music while I stitch, so I am a happy camper for sure.

I do have a few finishes to share! I have been doing WIPGO (sort of…sometimes it’s hard to keep up) and I have finished a few of my projects.

This is ‘Christmas Sentiments’ from Stoney Creek. It is stitched on an opalescent fabric from Silkweavers which was in my stash since forever. I used the called for threads, but used snowflake buttons instead of stitching all the white snowflakes.

This is ‘Charity’ by Rosewood Manor. Stitched on a white jobelan with the called for DMC, the black is from Anchor.

This piece is called ‘Lena’s Fancy’ by Vintage NeedleArts, stitched on a mystery jobelan with mostly called for over-dyed floss. I stitched this in memory of my grandma Lena, and changed the year to the year she passed away. 

This was not aWIPGO piece, but it a a project that I started in 2016! I actually originally started it in 2012, but after stitching almost 1/4 of the piece, I realized that I was stitching it horizontally instead of vertically!There was too much stitched to frog out, so I shed a few tears and put it away. I finally decided to restart it in 2016, using different fabric and different colors. The flosses are from Victorian Motto. It has been slow going, but at the beginning of August, I joined a new group, stitching 25 minutes or 25 stitches a day on a project. Some days I stitched more, but I was able to finish the piece by the end of the month.

This is ‘Quaker Christmas II’ by By Gone Stitches.

My next 25/7 project is ‘Halloween Quaker’ by Lila’s Studio. I was anxious to start this when it came out, but couldn’t decide on a fabric. Anyway, I finally started it in November 2019, but kept putting it away. I don’t know why! So, this is what it looked like when I picked it up again on September 1st…

And this is where I am now. I’m stitching it on Haunted from Picture This Plus, with the called for flosses, substituting Anchor black for DMC 310. I’m really enjoying this again and hope to have it finished by Halloween.

So, I think that’s all for today. I have lots of stitching plans for the next few weeks, so we’ll see what happens.

  I hope everyone is finding lots of time to stitch, or at least time to play in your stash!

Please remember to be kind to yourself, and everyone you meet.

Until next time…cozystitcherpdx

Spring has sprung….or has it?

It’s the week after Easter, and we had snow flurries last week, so is it really spring? The sun is peeking through the rain clouds, and baseball season has finally started, so I’m saying yes!

Does anyone still blog in the age of Flosstube?? I’m thinking probably not so much, but I’m remembering how much I used to enjoy this, so it’s worth trying again.

I have been doing some stitching  this year, but not as much as I would have liked to. I have finally realized that I am a very slow stitcher, but that’s ok. I still enjoy every stitch, and that’s what is important to me.

I’ve had 2 finishes this year, as well as several starts. I’m doing WIPGO again, but am doing starts instead of WIPs. I’m keeping up with my goal of working on each called for project for 5 days (mostly), and I can see some finishes in my future, so I’m ok with it.

My last finish of 2021 was finished on New Years’s Eve…it is ‘Miss Bingley’s Library’ from Plum Street Samplers.  I really enjoyed stitching this one. Since I hate stitching with white thread, I changed the color of the library…I used a thread from Threadworx that was white with a bit of blue mixed in. I really like the way it turned out.

My first finish of 2022 was actually one of my January WIPGO picks. I finished stitching it during the Love to Stitch 2022 challenge at embroidery.com. Stitching on it every day during February helped and I finished it the first week of March. It was a bit stressful, because I was using a thread from Victorian Motto Sampler Threads…I thought I had enough, but the closer I got to the end, the more nervous I got. Victorian Motto no longer makes all their individual colors, but I was very lucky to have a fellow stitcher send me a skein, and I was able to finish, with a little bit to spare! 

This is ‘Peace Band Sampler’ by Heartstring Samplery. The thread is Angel Flower from Victorian Motto.

My second finish is an older WIP…I’m not sure when I started it, but it was at least a few years ago. At the time, I wanted to finish it during Lent. I think this happened two or three years in a row. But this year I decided to just keep at it until it was finished, and I did finish it in time for Easter. This is ‘Prayer of St. Francis’ from Lizzie Kate, using most of the called for threads (except 1, I think!)

And I’m getting really close to a finish (finally!!) on this one ‘Quaker Christmas II’ from ByGone Stitches. I feel like I’ve been working on this one forever! Maybe soon…….

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hopefully, I’ll have more to show soon.

Please be kind to yourself, and others.

And keep Ukraine in your prayers.

December 4 - trying again!

I started 2021 on a roll, stitching every day and making some progress on my pieces, and then things began to change fast!

My daughter had moved back home while she searched for a new job. In early May, she was offered a position, accepted it and by the end of the month she had packed up all her stuff, sent everything back East, found an apartment, and headed out on the drive cross country. She is now living in Manchester, New Hampshire (3000 miles from here) and enjoying her new job and her new apartment.

We are still in some sort of pandemic mode. We're all vaccinated and boosted, but still being careful. So far, we have been very fortunate that no-one has gotten sick.

My sister found out in early June that she had a blood cancer, and would need a bone arrow transplant. I probably would have been a good match, but I am too old (I didn't know there was an age limit!). She was very very fortunate that an almost perfect match was found for her, and she had her transplant in early September. She is doing really well, although she still has a long road of check-ups ahead of her. But we are all very grateful this year!

Time has seemed to fly by and now the holidays are here and I'm in no way ready! But at the same time it feels like life has also slowed sown, and my past life of being frantic at this time of year has passed. Every day is precious, and the most important thing is to be grateful for what we have and those around us, and there is nothing wrong with slowing down!

I feel like my stitching time has been hit or miss for most of this year. I have had periods where I felt like I was accomplishing quite a bit and other times when I felt like my stitches were few and far between. I have also spent lots of time reading, and its hard to do both at the same time...although I did listen to all of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series while stitching this summer, and a couple of other audio books!

So let me share some of what I was able to finish over the past months since I blogged last...

My focus piece for Semi-Sane Stitchers was Quaker Christmas II by ByGone Stitches all year, and while I thought I might get it finished this month, now I kind of doubt it! But I have made some progress! Here is what it looks like now:

I also had some other finishes, so I think I’ll just post some of them here:

A Good Mattuage byLizzie Kate

    Melody’s Song by Silver Creek Samplers

At Our House from Lizzie Kate

Through the Storms by Silver Creek Samplers

Henna Mandela from Ink Circles

Relentless from Ink Circles

Autumn Squirrel from The Blue Flower

Olde Pewter Letters from primitivebettys

Grace Quaker Sampler from The Sampler Cove

So, I guess I did get some stitching done after all! And I also realize that I am very rusty with my blogging skills, so I am going to leave it for now! If you’ve gotten this far…thanks!  

Until next time, please stay safe and be good to yourselves and others!

Where did April go???

 Hi again! It feels like the month has just flown by...once again. Maybe it’s me?

I felt like my stitchy bug was back, at least until the last few days. Didn’t make as much progress as I’d hoped, but as a wise stitcher told me, any progress is good progress!

I thought I might be able on catch up on my March WIPGO pieces, but that didn’t happen. I did better with my April picks though. My first piece was ‘Winter Band Sampler’ from Little House Needleworks, and I had a finish! Now I have stitched all four of these seasonal samplers and am trying to find a way to display them. I’d like to be able to change them out each season.

My other April piece was ‘At Our House’ from Lizzie Kate.I didn’t finish this one, but I think I can with a few more days’ stitching. The fabric is actually a much brighter blue.

My  May WIPGO picks are ‘Queen of the Needle’ from Just Nan and ‘Prayer of St. Francis’, another Lizzie Kate design. Let’s see how far I get on these!

My focus piece for Semi-Sane Stitchers is still ‘Quaker Christmas II’, and after having to frog a couple of motifs, I still managed to make a little progress.

Still also keeping up with the Alpha-My- Bet challenge, also with Semi-Sane Stitchers. My piece is Lizzie Kate’s ‘Autumn Alphabet.

The last piece I have been stitching on is ‘Relentless’ from Ink Circles. I added two more of the fill-in colors. I’m hoping to finish this by June.

I think that’s pretty much all I’ve been working on. I have been reading a lot though too, and I have another series of books to recommend. These are not cozies, but they are really good legal thrillers. The books are written by a Portland author, Phillip Margolin, and the series is the Robin Lockwood series (set in Portland, as well). There are four books so far, and I’ve just finished the fourth. All really good. The first is called ‘TheThird Victim’.

So, happy stitching and happy reading! Stay safe and be kind,

lynda

TUSAL & catching up

 It has been an interesting month...some good...Jeff and I got to take a couple of long weekends away, and we both received our COVID vaccines...I had my second last Friday, he gets his in a couple of weeks. We can’t wait until our family is all vaccinated, so we can get together again. It’s been way too long and I need my grandson’s hugs!

We also has some sadness. Our little Fiona passed over the Rainbow Bridge. She was diagnosed with diabetes and passed two weeks later. Fiona was my brother-in-law’s dog, and he asked us to take care of her when he passed. We had five wonderful years with her and miss her so much.

As far as stitching goes, I didn’t manage much! I think my stitchy bug went on spring break! My March WIPGO was a disaster. I decided to scrap one of my March picks...a sampler from Little House Needleworks. I think I may re-start it at some point on different fabric. I just didn’t like the way it was looking. So, I substituted with a new start...Henna Mandala from Ink Circles, but did not meet my goal. I also did not meet my goal on Quaker Street and only made a little progress.

Quaker Street

Henna Mandala

I’m doing better with my April picks, so hopefully I’ll have better progress next time.

I also made a little bit of progress on Relentless, also from Ink Circles. I added the first color.

I did get lots of reading done though, and found a great (new to me) cozy mystery series. It’s called the Little Library Mysteries, written by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli. Interesting characters and great stories.There are four in the series, and I hope she adds more!

Oh....I almost forgot my TUSAL! I actually managed to get it posted on time for a change. Most of those Orts are from frogging I had to do on Quaker Christmas II.

So, until next time, I hope you are all staying safe and getting lots of stitches in.

Be kind to yourself and others....

Lynda