TUSAL 2018

Hello friends! Today is the first New Moon of 2018, which means it is time for our first TUSAL check-in of the year. TUSAL stands for Totally Useless SAL and this SAL has been around for several years now. I didn't take part last year because I wasn't able to stitch for a good portion of it, but it's a fun SAL and I'm glad to join in again for 2018.

 To participate, you must have a blog or join the Facebook group (to post) and all you do is collect your ORTs  (those little leftover bits of floss) all month and post on each New Moon. It's fun, and if you want to join you can go here for all the details.

I've brought my Froggy out of retirement to help me share my orts for this month. There hasn't been as much stitching happening as I had planned, but I did start a few new projects, so the basket isn't empty!

Until next time, please remember to be kind to yourself and others and be grateful for every day!

Thanks for visiting!

Gifted Gorgeousness 2018

Hello friends, well I'm a day late for this check-in, but better late than never!

Gifted Gorgeousness is a SAL hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. We are supposed to share things that we are stitching for gifts, or things that were gifted to us, or using materials that were gifted to us...you get the idea! I'm sort of stretching it with the piece I started on Saturday. This design was loaned to me by a stitching friend, but I consider being able to stitch it a gift, so I think it counts!

This is Grim Gourds by Plum Street Samplers. It's stitched on a 28ct. Jobelan (sandcastle) with mostly the called for DMC. I substituted Weeks Onyx for the 310 and Sunset Medium from Victorian Motto Sampler Threads for 729.

Until next time, please remember to be kind to yourself and others and be grateful for every day!
Thanks for visiting!

WIPocalypse 2018 - the First Post

Hello friends! Thanks to all of you who welcomed me back. I am really looking forward to a year of stitching all the things!

WIPoocalyse is a yearly SAL in which participants try to get all their WIPs stitched before the end of the world. It was started by Melissa in 2011 or 2012 (I think) to help us all achieve that goal. You can find more information about the SAL here. Each month we also have a topic or question to talk about. For the first post...an introduction, and talk about our plans and projects for the coming year.

I'm lynda, wife, and mother to two grown daughters and 4 furbabies, and grandma to one adorable little boy; a retired librarian and a stitcher since high school. I started with crewel embroidery and then stamped cross stitch and finally counted cross stitch. That was a long time ago, and my tastes have changed a lot since then. When I started, it seemed all I stitched were Precious Moments designs, and most of them, if not all, were given away as gifts. The first big piece I did was a unicorn tapestry that my mother still has hanging in her home. Now, my tastes run all over the place and I have lots of designers that I love from primitives to quirky. I especially love Quakers and samplers of all kinds.

A few years ago, I joined in on WIPocalyse...I think it was 2012. I started out pretty well but didn't get too much accomplished. Anyway, since I am also doing the YOW challenge (more on that in my next post), I decided to concentrate on some other pieces for this year's SAL. I am pulling out some UFO's, my four carryover pieces from last year's YOW and a couple more. (I am also going to post a page at the top of my blog of all the pieces that I have put at least a few stitches in...those that I can find, that is!)
(I apologize in advance for all the wrinkles in the photos!)

The UFOs date back to 2000! The first is from Paula Vaughn - the  January Quilt from her book Quilts for All Seasons. I started it in January of that year, and my plan was to stitch one quilt a month all year! Ha! What was I thinking??? I do know why I put this one aside. First, I had joined in on some forums on the internet and was introduced to lots of wonderful designs. Then I found jobelan and realized how much easier fractional stitches were on that, as opposed to the aida I had been using. And I realized that I had made a mistake in the quilt and got frustrated. Anyway, too much rambling!

The second piece is called Alice and it is by Lynne Nicoletti. I remember having a really hard time getting this pattern, and it went pretty quickly when I started it. I don't remember why I put it down tho.

The next piece is Celtic Autumn from Lavender and Lace. I don't remember when I started this one. I do remember getting the color conversion from someone online.

The fourth piece is Love with a Capital "L" from Papillon Creations. Again, can't remember how old this is, but I remember that I had just discovered Carrie's Creations threads and ordered some for this piece! At some point,  I lost the pattern and had to re-order it too.

The last UFO was actually passed on to me many years ago from a friend in Australia. It is from Glendon Place and is called Five Simple Rules. I had to buy some of the threads twice because I misplaced them, but I would really like to get this one finished this year.

The four carryover pieces from last year's Year of WIPs are;

Live Laugh Love from primitiveBettys:

Strawberry Fields Forever from Blackbird Designs:

Dicken's Last Word from The Cricket Collection:

and Sampling in the Square from Blue Ribbon Designs: (this piece was a round robin. I stitched all the borders and lettering and still have the bottom square to complete)

I would also like to work on Quaker Christmas II from ByGone Stitches: (I originally started this several years ago, but after finishing the first page, I realized that I was stitching it horizontally instead of vertically. I had too much stitched to rip out, so I restarted with different colors)

and Light of Peace, a painting from Thomas Kinkaide. ( I haven't started this one yet, but plan to this week)

Now I know there is no way that I will get all of these finished, but my goal is to at least work on each one, and who knows what might happen!

I'm looking forward to working my way through my WIPs with all of you!

Until next time, please remember to be kind to yourself and others and be grateful for every day!
Thanks for visiting!

jumping back in with both feet

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I last posted to this blog...well, actually, maybe not so hard to believe! It's been a strange ride so far this year. I've tried to start this post a few times, each time explaining what's taken me so long to get back to blogging, but I just felt like I was rambling too much, so here are the bullet points!

• our election last November in the US - still has me flummoxed, dismayed, embarassed...so many emotions that some days it's hard to believe I am really awake - but, enough said
• after 21 years at the Oregon City Public Library, I retired at the first of the year. I miss some of the people, but I love being home!
• in February, I had to have surgery on my eyes - retinal tears on the left, almost complete retinal detachment on the right (and then cataract surgery as well) - the recovery was long and uncomfortable - little reading, no stitching or driving
• finally able to get back to "normal" in June - I feel like I have so much catching up to do!
• we were able to take a wonderful vacation to Kauai in October

I had such great plans in January to stitch all the things I had been putting off, but when I couldn't stitch, I just added to my stash instead - online shopping is wonderful! 

When I got back to stitching, the first thing I wanted to do was tackle some of my WIPs. I had joined the Year of WIPs challenge with the Soulful Stitching Facebook group at the end of last year. The goal was to finish at least half of the WIPs we chose. I picked 16 pieces (one is a round robin that I still have to finish). So far, I have finished 12 pieces! These aren't all of my WIPs by any means...I don't even want to count them all! But it sure has made a dent, and I am pretty sure I will be joining in again for next year.  These are a few of my finishes:

Tea with Jane Austen from TheSampler Girl

                                                    Love Letters Celtic from Ink Circles
                                               

                                                Stawberry Garden from Blackbird Designs

                                            Abigail Gould Sampler from The Scarlet Letter


I've also joined Stitch from Stash for the coming year. When I wasn't able to stitch I just spent my time adding to an already huge stash, and then I found so many patterns that I had forgotten I had. So I know that I have plenty to keep me busy in 2018!

If you're reading this, thanks for not giving up on me after all this time, and if you're a new reader, thanks for taking a chance! With all the Facebook groups and Flosstube, it seems that so many people have abandoned their blogs. But I think I have also noticed a trend back to blogging, and I know that I, for one, have been loving getting back to reading everyone's blogs.

So, I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday...whatever it is that you celebrate. And that 2018 has lots of good stitchy times in store for you.

Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to be kind to each other.

lynda

tea cup and mug exchange

I was lucky enough to participate in Stephanie's teacup and mug exchange at The Enchanting Rose blog. This round I participated in both exchanges and, as always, I really enjoyed the exchange. I forgot to take photos of the things I sent, but here are some photos of the wonderful items I received.

Rainey sent me a package for the mug exchange. Here is a photo of the whole package

and here is a close-up of the lovely embroidered pieces she included. 

She does beautiful work, don't you think?

I received a lovely tea cup exchange from Anne. Here is a photo of the whole package

and here is a close up of the tea cup. You can't really see the design on the cup, but it is a lovely delicate silver /gray swirly pattern.

Thank you both so much! And thank you to Stephanie for organizing this exchange each year. I always enjoy it and look forward to it each time.

a wonderful giveaway to start the month!

Nancy from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having another wonderful giveaway. The drawing will be on November 22nd. Be sure to go to her blog and have a peek!

  Good luck to all!

remember me???

Hi everyone! I can't believe it has been two months since I posted last! where did the summer go?

Here is a link to what my life as been like for the past year...I hope this works. It is a time lapse of our new library addition being built. We moved into the new addition at the end of July, and now the contractors are working on re-doing the original Carnegie Library. The entire project is supposed to be finished by the end of September, and we have scheduled our grand opening for October 15, so I hope it is done on time! September was spent boxing up all of our stuff (while still keeping the library open)...quite the mess! And then we were closed for three weeks in July while we physically moved everything and continued to sort through the thousands of books we put into storage 6 years ago. Needless to say, many of those had to b discarded...they were in such bad shape. It always breaks my heart to discard a book...but it had to be done. So now, everything we own is crammed into the new addition, but the library looks wonderful! Our patrons love it...staff is thrilled...we have windows all around, so it is a bright space. After 2 years, I have a proper office...with a ceiling, a door and a window...yay! Right now, I am sharing with another person, but only until the Carnegie is completed.

Anyway, you can imagine that most days I went home from work exhausted...especially these last couple of months. Not much stitching happened, since most nights I took care of our dogs, had a bite to eat and crashed in hubby's recliner until he got home! I did discover Flosstube however, after Vonna posted a link to her video, and have been addicted ever since. It is fun to watch everyone's videos and see all the great stitching being done. I've discovered new designers (to me) and floss and
fabric suppliers...not to mention needleminders...my newest growing collection.


 Just lots of fun all around.

I wish I had the courage (?) to post a video of my own, but that is so far out of my comfort zone...I don't think it will ever happen. But I really do want to get back to blogging and I was thinking hat I might start doing blog posts as if I was doing a video...same kinds of things...showing updates,, new stash, tags, etc. We'll see. I'm determined to start taking back the parts of my life that have been thrown to the wayside over the past year!

So...I guess I'll start with my poor froggy, who has been waiting patiently for two months now to show our orts! This first pic is my June orts...

 

this next one is from July...

 

 It looks like more than I remember stitching, but that's ok!

I did manage to meet some of my goals from June. Here is my monthly ornament...and my Cross eyed Cricket mitten. June was also Whine and WIPs month on Stitch Maynia, and I wanted to work on some Blackbird Designs pieces. So I started and finished Autumn Silhouette...(sorry for the hoop marks)

 

and finally finished Morning Star

 

 which I am embarrassed to say was started in September of 2014! I can't believe I ever put it aside...it was such a quick finish! I also stitched a small Bent Creek block for the Stitchers' Timeout block exchange.

July did not go as well. The only finish I had was an ornament from My Big Toe Designs

and I think that was the last day of the month! I did start a mitten, and a new SAL...Welcome to Oz from petalpusher Designs, but I think that was about it! Oh...I also started the Long Dog Sampler Death by Cross Stitch, but so far I have only stitched the first row of stitches!

So August is going to be catch up month! I am hoping to finish my July mitten and stitch one for August, stitch an ornament, finish Part One and Part Two of the Oz SAL and maybe stitch a bit more on the Long Dog Sampler. We'll see!

Sorry I've rambled for so long. If you have made it this far...thank you for taking the time to visit.
Until next time...happy stitching!

late again....

Oh dear...I'm late again with my May TUSAL...no excuses, just forgot!

Here's my sweet froggy with lots of pretty threads in his basket...

Till next month....

May update

Sorry this is so late. I've been having trouble trying to get photos up, and then I just got busy stitching and forgot all about posting! Oh well!

I did manage to accomplish most of my goals this month. I stitched another block for the Stitchers' Timeout block exchange. This month's designer was Homespun Elegance, and I stitched a small bit of the Miniature Samplers IV pattern. I used this for a round robin once and I thought it was a really sweet design. Stitched on an evenweave with DMC.

My ornament this month was a companion piece to the one I stitched last month from La-D-Da. The design is called 'Tis Red and it was stitched on a piece of linen with Carrie's silk thread in Olde World Red...such a pretty red, and her silks are wonderful to work with. This was from the Just Cross Stitch ornament issue 2010.

I also stitched another of the mittens from the Criscket Collection. This one is called Have a Heart Mitten. It is stitched on linen with DMC and is from the Lacy Eggs booklet.

I borrowed another pattern from the Blackbird Designs Lending Library, but I didn't like the fabric or floss that I started with, so I decided to start it over! This is called Autumn Silhouette and this is how far I got.

Finally, I finished my Lizzie Kate project - ABCs of Aging Artfully. It is stitched on an evenweave with the called for Gentle Arts and Weeks threads. The fabric color is a buttercream color ...really pretty. It looks so washed out here! I can't remember when I started this one...it's been awhile, but once I started working on it, it went along pretty quickly. It was really a fun piece to do.

So that's all for this update. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!

Happy stitching!

this month's TUSAL

Froggy couldn't wait to share his basket of orts on this bright, sunny day! Lots of pretty colors in there this month.

Until next month...

update for april

April turned out to be a pretty good month for stitching. We had lots of lazy days...some beautiful weather and time to relax. My hands still hurt from time to time, but I just have to be careful to take more breaks than I am used to taking (since I'm used to taking none, even one or two seem to help!)

I finished the stitching on two ornaments. This one was mostly stitched in March, but since I always seem to wait until the end of the month to do my ornament, it didn't get finished until the beginning of April. It is Merry Christmas, designed by From the Heart for the Just Cross Stitch 2015 Ornament issue, stitched on a beige evenweave with Gentle Arts threads.

My April ornament is from La-D-Da. It was in the Just Cross Stitch ornament preview issue from 2010, and is called 'Tis Green. I stitched it on an off white evenweave with one of Nina's Silks. The color of the floss is Fairy Kingdom, and I love it. These silks are such a joy to stitch with as well!

I stitched on my Lizzie Kate (ABCs of Aging Artfully) three out of four of the Fridays in April. The top photo shows where I was, and the bottom is where I am right now. The top shows the color of the fabric better. Sorry for the wrinkles and hoop marks in the update. I'm getting to the finish line though. Maybe a few more weeks of stitching...we'll see!

My mitten this month is called Alphabet Mitten, stitched on a beige evenweave with DMC threads. I loved all the different colors in this one.

The last piece I finished was stitched in memory of s wonderful stitcher, Sue Drury,  who passed away in February. It is Seaside Retreat from Blackbird Designs, stitched on a piece of Picture This Plus lugana in pewter with a pretty blue threadworx floss that was gifted to me by a fellow stitcher. I personalized it with both our initials and the years of Sue's life. She was in my thoughts throughout the stitching, and I will always remember her whenever I look at this piece.

Anyway, I guess that all for now. Hopefully I'll have some more finishes to show next time. Until then, thanks for taking the time to visit! Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

enchanting exchanges

There is a wonderful exchange that Stephanie hosts twice a year at her blog, The Enchanting Rose.
Participants can choose to exchange mugs or tea cups, or participate in both. Last time, I chose to exchange a mug, but this time, I decided to do both.

Margaret, from Texas, sent me a delicate teacup and saucer, along with some wonderful teas, and a lovely cross-stitched tea towel. When I get home from work in the late afternoon, I take my doggies for a walk and then come home to a lovely cup of tea in this beautiful cup.

Debby, from Ohio, sent me a lovely mug in the prettiest spring color, along with some chai tea (one of my favorites) and honey to go along with it. Sorry the photo is so unclear! This is the perfect mug to enjoy my morning tea in.

Thanks again to Margaret and Debbie, and also to Stephanie for hosting such a wonderful exchange!

lynda

tusal....finally!

I've had this photo for days now, but just haven't been around to post it!
Here's my sweet froggy friend with this month's collection...

See you next time!
lynda