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Showing posts from 2016

Goodbye to 2016

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And good riddance!  This year has been a challenging one and I'll be glad to see it go.  It seemed that every month brought a crisis or disappointment, and my husband and I found ourselves becoming less resilient.  The most upsetting event will likely be an ongoing issue, but I am very grateful for a wonderful friend who supported me through the worst of the drama and beyond.  There were smaller setbacks such as our refrigerator conking out one night in early December.  It's true that I like the new one better, but the timing wasn't the best.   Nor is it ever good timing for three root canals, which my husband had in November.  I'm sure you're getting the picture of what our year was like--just one thing after another.  In fairness, 2016 wasn't all bad as we were able to travel to Cuba.  It was a trip we had dreamed of taking for several years and were happy that we had the opportunity.  In the city of Trinidad, I spotted a woman doing needlework in the outdoo

Finishes

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I'm back.  Shortly after the  Duclay EGA  retreat in Florida in July, I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder.  I honestly had no idea that the recovery would be so long and difficult (physical therapy is not for the faint of heart), but I finally have nearly my full range of motion and strength.  I couldn't stitch for about two months, and really missed picking up needle and thread.  My large samplers are still in progress but I finished these two smaller pieces. This pincushion from Blackbird Designs was the piece I stitched for the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild exchange earlier this month.  It's always fun to see what people make and great to be able to take home a reminder of someone in the guild. I sat down to stitch on Monday night and wanted something that wouldn't involve too much looking at the chart.  I pulled out this needlepoint canvas, one of six from a club run by Old Town Needlework in Scottsdale.  Each canvas represents a stor

Getting Ready

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Jackie  posted about cleaning out her stitching bag so she can get ready for retreat this weekend.  I'm going to the same retreat, and thought I had better clean out my bag as well.  Here are the contents: Not too bad since this is the bag I use each week for an afternoon of stitching with friends.  But take a look at that small owl on top of the green pouch.  It's from a kit to teach how to stitch on linen that I bought several decades ago from a shop that has long since closed.  It's all stitched, so what is it doing in my bag?  It is now in the "to be finished" pile and won't be going on retreat! The rest of the things are much more current and more or less in progress and some are going back in the bag.  The kit from the Lauren Sauer class I took with the duClay EGA last fall is there and some of the ladies are going to be stitching on it again this weekend.  I'm a little obsessed with Ann Smith right now and that's in the large clear bag u

It's Done! (June, 2016)

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When the woman at Rittenhouse Needlepoint  in Philadelphia called to tell me that this piece was finished, she referred to it as my "adorable penguin."  She was so right--this penguin is adorable and I loved stitching it!  I can't remember the name of the designer, but it was a part of an animal ornament club from Fireside Stitchery  several years ago.  I chose to expand the background and have it made into a stand-up.  This was one of my duClay EGA challenge pieces--from 2015.  I didn't get it completely stitched until May of this year, but done is done, no matter what the date on the calendar.

This Has Been Challenging

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I'm participating in year long challenges with both the duClay EGA chapter in Jacksonville, FL and my local guild, Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild ( dvhsg.org ).  The challenges are similar since both allowed participants to choose up to a specified number of pieces to focus on during the year, and prizes may be awarded for completion.  Delaware Inspiration from Heart's Ease Examplar Workes is my main focus piece this year.  Here's where I was a week ago.   Notice the vines and leaves on the upper right?  They have been ripped out and re-stitched twice, both times because I was off by one vertical thread.  The frogs have been banished from my house and this is where I was as of last night.  I'm using the Belle Soie silks called for in the chart, and the colors are amazing. 

Progress Has Been Made

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This is the very lovely Ann Smith sampler from The Scarlett Letter.  I started this the first weekend in February.  It was put aside for a month or two, but has become my travel project.  The repetition of the borders make it a great project for my Wednesday afternoon stitching with friends.  I love the colors in this sampler and that keeps me motivated. My friend, Melody at  wooley-thoughts.blogspot.com , keeps encouraging me to return to regular blogging.  During the past few months, we have had several major family situations.  That, coupled with persistent dreary weather in southeast Pennsylvania, made me withdraw from many things.  I seemed to spend a lot more time reading that stitching, and I didn't do any quilting for several months.  I spent time re-evaluating and re-prioritizing what was important to me.  My emotional tide is turning, the weather is better, and I am gradually getting more motivated to resume some activities.  Thanks for continuing to read my posts!

Stitching Along

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This blog has been quiet, but I've actually been stitching quite a bit this year.  Here's my progress on Starstruck, a charted needlepoint design by Kathy Rees of Needle Delights, done in the blue/green colorway.  The duClay EGA chapter in Jacksonville, Florida is hosting a stitch-along for any Kathy Rees design, and I'm delighted to stitch with them.   I took a class, Afternoon Leisure Basket, with Sherri Jones at Salty Yarns in Ocean City, Maryland last weekend.  I'm headed back down to OC tomorrow for my guild's spring retreat.  I spent a large portion of this afternoon deciding on projects to take and organizing my stitching bag. There are six projects, all WIPs, in my bag.  My goal is to make a lot of progress on Ellen Chester's Milady's Workebox, and do some work on Ann Smith (The Scarlett Letter).  Over the years, I've learned to take projects that are at the stage of filling in solid areas of stitching or that require minimal counting.  To th

At Long Last

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I finally have a finish!  Here is Susan Rambo in all her wrinkled glory.  I stitched it on a vintage 36 count fabric that is close in color to the amber/toasted almond Wichelt fabric called for in the SANQ chart.  The fibers are Needlepoint Inc silks.  I love the colors and this is my all-time favorite sampler.