A Work in Progress

Thanks to the Delaware Valley Historical Sampler Guild's retreat in Ocean City, Maryland at the end of April, I have lots of progress to show you this month.  The piece above is Carriage House Samplings  Alphabet.  I spent quite of bit of the retreat stitching those black boxes, and there was no frogging involved!  I have the separate patterns for each alphabet letter and most of them call for using Sampler Threads Bittersweet for the fill-in at the bottom of the block.  I was never crazy about the color (probably one of the reasons this piece has been in the WIP pile for so long) and while I was at the retreat, I auditioned a couple of different colors.  Sampler Threads Antique Rose won and I'm happy with the choice.  I also started this piece at the retreat.  I threw this in my bag at the last minute just in case I needed something with a large count when my eyes got tired.  I started it on Sunday morning before we left and eventually...

Here's what I worked on during this month's Friday Night Sew-In.  It's Sergei by Plum Street Samplers.  I find that I'm more and more drawn to pieces in a primative style these days and I'm having a lot of fun stitching this one.  I started it on my guild's retreat at the end of April and was stitching it with two threads over two.  When I got home, I decided I didn't like that and so started over with one thread over two.  I'm using the called-for Sampler threads and an NPI.  My goal is to finish it by the end of May. We have had lovely weather this weekend and it has felt so good to be home for a change. I've spent all or part of the past three weekends out of town at the guild retreat, moving my daughter home from college and my son's graduation.  All good things, but it does feel nice to have my house cleaned and to have some time to sit on the deck and read the paper.  I'm hoping all of you are enjoying the weekend as well!

It's been a busy week, starting ith my son's graduation and progressing to an overnight trip to Washington, DC in the middle of the week. I hadn't seen my sister who lives in Iowa for about 18 months. When I learned that she and her husband were going to be in DC for the week, I made plans to meet here there. A day or two later, she called and if I would like to be on a private tour of the White House with her. Who could pass that up?? So my husband and two of the kids tagged along and we all had a fabulous time. Then the new graduate had his wisdom teeth out today. I'm ready for some prolonged time on the couch with a stitching project. Pictures tomorrow, I hope. You can pop over to and join in the fun.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. Mine was spent at my son's college graduation. He made it through in four years and graduated cum laude with departmental and university honors. I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day!

Sinta at Pink Pincushion is hosting BOM Rehab.  This is just the push I need to get working on some of those quilting projects that have been languishing.  Here's one of the blocks (#6, I think) for the Thimbleberries 2010 quilt.  I had to make two of these, but this is the one I didn't have to rip out and re-sew!

Tomorrow morning, I'll be leaving for a three day retreat with my sampler guild* in Ocean City, Maryland. This will be my second time on the retreat although the guild has been doing these on a semi-annual schedule for a few years. I have a great time last year relaxing in the hotel lobby, chatting, and looking out at the ocean while stitching away. The problem was, there may have been a little too much chatting and gazing at the ocean as I had to frog the border on my piece in several places when I returned home. That problem isn't limited to stitching retreats as I've had to rip out and restitch on pieces that I've worked on at guild meetings. So, finally, I've learned that I need to keep it simple. I've chosen two pieces for retreats and guild meetings that should keep miscounting and misplaced stitches to a minimum. My bag for retreat is going to contain Carriage House Samplings Alphabet and a needlepoint canvas I picked up on Sanibel Island in Flori...

                                                           Chapter 2, Not For Us Alone                                                     February, Anniversaries of the Heart It seems that I frequently participate in Friday Night Sew-In, but rarely get the chance to come back here and show you what I've done.  So I'll combine that with April's check-in for the WIPocalyse.  I did some work on Not For Us Alone on Friday night although t...