A Big Finish and my Mary

I can now devote more time to my Mary Wigham Sampler since I finished a long time coming piece which is the Last Supper for my parents!!!!! I cant believe it took me so long

More Christmas pics

Gingerbread garland in the kitchen, table setting, coffee table in living room, family room stockings and nativity

Christmas decor

Some pics of the decorating I started on Saturday. They are of the living room stockings sorry for the bad pic,second and third are the fireplace mantle (subject to change) and the front door.Still have some to go, especially the trees. I think I will put the living room tree up today.

Christmas decorating

We always try to get Christmas decor up by or on the first Saturday in December. It usually coincides with Army Navy game. This year, due to exams, I will wait until next Saturday. In the meantime, I will post some pics of Christmas a few years ago.

Progress

I cant believe I am actually making some progress. Slow progress but progress none the less. I have photographed Mary with another pair of scissors. Actually the only one of two I own. Someone posted a compliment on the blue pair I photographed with my last update. I had decided to start collecting scissors and making matching fobs, when low and behold I found the blue pair in stash I had not looked at in quite some time.

slow progress

Not much progress but if I follow up with a pic I will keep myself motivated.

Call me Crazy

A new start. Why am I starting and not finishing??? You know... I think I just enjoy the process and I do plan to finish. I just realize that I need an upstairs downstairs project instead of hauling my bag around the way I have been doing. The new start? Mary Wigham Sampler. I have been a part of this SAL on the american SAL as well as the spanish SAL. I have been a member in name only as most folks started in the summer. I planned on doing my on a piece of blue linen.
Frankly my eyes are so tired from all the grad school reading I have to do, that stitching such a large piece on linen right now would have been self defeating. Stitching is about enjoyment and is therapy to me. I finally bit the bullet, let go of the guilt and decided to do it on aida. I started last night and the picture is my progress. i could not decide on the colors. DH suggested I do it in browns... uh i wasnt really feeling that but really appreciating his input. I had selected americana colors ( I have red sofas in my living room and some blue accents in there along with an americana kitchen) Finally I started pulling threads and found DMC 816 alot of them that I had pulled a long time ago cause they match my sofas, Istarted pulling browns and tans that looked great and realized thats what I wanted. In the meantime, Dh calls me from another room and says this is the look I was thinking of. I run in the room with my handfull of floss, he is holding out a magazine with a sweater with those same ccolors in it!!!!! What are the odds of that? it is definitely meant to be!!!

Christmas Stitching

Why in the world would I pull out more stash to stitch when I have so many WIPS???? I had to sift through those very WIPs in order to get to this one. I typically only do smalls or ornaments for Christmas. This is my first "large" one ( not really it looks like a 5x7 and then mounted it will be an 8x10) I got this on sale at Michaels or JoAnns about a year or two ago and promised my mom I would stitch it for her. I just started it about an hour ago. I will see if I can challenge myself to get it done in time for the holidays. I have another one that is larger that I want for me because it is red and gold and my living room is red and gold. I will post a pic later. I cant find my camera cord to upload pics so these pics are with my cell phone and its taking for ever

Update on the Teacher

Here is the little progress I have made on Butternut Road's The Teacher. It is s l o w.... I used to stitch so much years ago. I did modelstitching, personal stitching and gifts, sold pieces etc. Now it takes me forever to make anything! I think this knowledge slows me down in part because I see no progress. I think in the last three years I have completed only 4 pieces. Maybe once I am done with school this will change. Ah well guess I should just enjoy the process.

How To

I was adding myself as a follower on other blogs ( Thanks to my new followers Yohanny and Elisa).Somehow I added myself to my own blog. I thought I had deleted it and then when I looked again I was still there? Anyone have any ideas on what I am doing wrong?
Sorry to my followers for not having posted anything new. I really promise to get better. With school I barely have time to stitch let alone blog. Maybe I can figure out a way to do it on my phone.

Gettysburg and Butternut Road

Just got back from some wonderful days spent with the family in Gettysburg, PA. I atually surprised myself by getting some stitching done. Typically I pack the stitching bag and do no stitching. Just looking at my last posted picture of The Teacher WIP I realize just how much I did accomplish. Will post pics later on. Had to to a full recovery of my PC and lost everything!

Forgot the pics

Lost and Found

I finished this piece a while ago( dont recally exact date). Last year around Christmas time, the frame broke. I purchased a new frame and had the finished piece, and new frame with all the christmas presents ready to be wrapped and mailed packages. Shortly after I could not find the piece. It was the biggest mystery. I searched everywhere. My house is not spotless but fairly organized. So it made it even more mysterious that it was missing. I finally gave up looking for it. A few weeks ago, when vacumming behing the armoire in my bedroom(which I have done since Christmas) I found the piece smack up agains the back of the armoire. I photographed it with the armoire in question in the background. I am not sure who the designer is right now... have been racking my brain. If anyone knows, please let me know.

Inventory of WIPs

I have so many WIPS and have made such little progress this year, I thought I would take inventory of everything. I want to finish something so I won't feel guilty when my fabric for Mary Wigham arrives.

This is my Little House neighborhood that does not look very different from when I started. The fabric is way too soft on this one and sort of loopy, but I dont want to start over on another fabric

This is the oldest cross stitch WIP, I am officially done with the men, need to do the back stith which is not alot. The disheartening part is that the stuff on the table does not look like much of anything. I dont know if I made alot of errors and thats why it looks off. Not sure if the backstitching will make the blobs on the tabe look like much. REALLY do not want to frog all of that and start over again. I will feel really great when this is done, washed, framed and gifted! Found only one pic of this online but it is small and cant really make out the details.

My Father''s House, not much progress here either.... :-(

Very Bad pic of Butternut Road( Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum) The Teacher

This is my work in progress on The Teacher. I am actually really enjoying this piece, I love the fabric (not sure if its a jobelan or cashel?) and the pattern is pretty easy to follow.

Latest, whats keeping me from Mary W

This is the latest piece I have been working on (cross stitch related). No... I have not finished any of my WIPs. I have an "almost" on the last supper piece. This piece is for a lady in my church who lost her husband unexpectedly a few weeks ago. "Never Give up on God" were the very last words he spoke to her. I am almost done with the wording. I want to do some quaker type motifs in shades of blue around it but not sure how, or where to start. I dont want it to take forever and want to make sure it is too scale. Will take any and all suggestions. As soon as I am done with this one, i want to start on my Mary Wigham piece.
I will show you in another post, what else I have been up to...

Mary Wigham SAL

Ok, so I joined this SAL. I was soooo excited. I promised myself I would not order anymore fabric but would use whatever I have since I have so much fabric. After about a week's delay in going through my stash I find that indeed I don't really have anything appropriate or the right size. I may need to bite the bullet and order the fabric. I am on the fence because I found a huge, beautiful piece of a light blue scrumptious fabric, the right count and plenty of it.
I am also on the fence about wanting to keep it as close to the reproduction. Another part of me wanted to do it in a monochromatic scheme. So... I may do it in the light blue and try to use the same colors called for...OR I will order the fabric and do it in the same exact colors....OR I will do it in reds...OR...maybe in blue with red colors.....OR..... I will go back to working on one of my WIPS while I think some more.

In My Father's House

I forgot to add pictures to my last post. Here is my small progress and a pic of the piece I am working on.

By The Bay Needlearts- In My Father's House

Ok, so I should have been putting in the finishing touches to my mom's Last Supper, but I just could not do it. I really want my stitching time. I have plenty of WIPS. I have made it ok with myself to start something new in my stash. I am truly enjoying this one. Here is what I have done so far. I started this on Monday.

Finally Some Stitching Time

I have been off of school for about two weeks now and am thoroughly enjoying stitching and reading time. Havent stitched at my leisure for so long. I am finishing off my mom's last supper piece. it is getting sooooo boring now, I am struggling to finish. I want to get started on some new stuff and throwing old stuff into a rotation.
I am interested in the Mary Wiggam Sample SAL through needleprint.com, as well a sampler from ( name escapes me now, but will post when I start it) as well as finish my MLI The Teacher piece.
It is so good to read fun books for a change. I am reading one of Anita Shreves books right now, "All She Ever Wanted" cannot put it down and have another one of hers for my next book, plus a Borders gift card my sister gave me last time she came up!

Wishing I was Stitching

I am off of school for this week but have so much work to do, I do not forsee any stitching time
:-( so sad...

Some Finishes( not recent)

I have actually finished many a piece in my day. Unfortunately I have given the majority away. I made a vow last year to make more for home. Some of these pics are not the greatest. My apologies.

The Real Oldest WIP

Alas... the Last Supper piece is not the oldest WIP. This lighthouse by Elsa Williams is. I started this for my hubby in the summer of 2006 or 2007.

My to-do list

Here are two pieces on the horizon on my to-do list. One is "Always and Forever" by Little House Needleworks. The other is "In My Father's House" By The Bay Needleart.

Little House Neighborhood

Here are pics to show my slow progress on my first Little House Needlework piece. This is my second attempt to upload these pics. My first attempt, for some very strange reason, ended up on the Little House Needlework SAL blog!

Latest on Last Supper

Here is my progress as of this morning. I have about three apostle to finish and I will be done. It is filthy from being the oldest WIP, so I am praying it will come out clean when I am finished. I used to use Orvus for washing my needlework. Is this still the best thing to use?

Updating WIPs

Ok, I am going to try this once more. The whole blog thing did not work the first time around. I realized just how "un-computer-saavy" I am. I know how I want my blog to look, but can't figure it out. For now, I will try to just post what I stitch. I will try posting updated pics of my WIP.
I am really trying for a rotation but, find a hard time doing that. Currently I am working on the Last Supper, a gift for my parents that has been a LONG WIP, I hope to finish it soon.
I am also working on Little House Needlework piece and the Teacher by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum.
I will be attending a stitch and chat tonight , for the first time in years, so I hope that will be a motivator. I also hope to get into the blogworld with an active site.