A Work in Progress

I have another finish!  This is Love and Live Happy by Guild House Samplers.  I saw two versions of this piece at the needlework show in Woodlawn several years ago, and tried to track down the chart at the time.  The designer is Pamela Darney but she didn't have a website at the time.  (She still doesn't, but I understand she is working on it).   I sort of forgot about this piece and of course, I had a *few* other things to stitch!  Then Caryl C. showed her completed piece at one of our guild meetings and loaned me the chart.  I did mine on 36ct. white Edinburgh with the Gloriana silks recommended on the chart.  This was lots of fun to stich and I had fun with the color variations in the silks, particularly Red Clay.  Guild House Samplers was supposed to be one of the vendors at Annie's Needlework Festival in Williamsburg last December but she ended up not having any items at her table.  Pam spoke at the openin...

I signed up for One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts  and I'm happy to say that I finished a small quilt.  This top was pieced several years ago and put aside because I wasn't confident about quilting it.  I unearthed it when setting up my new sewing room last summer and decided it needed to be finished and donated.  I recently took a class on quilting with rulers on a home machine and thought I might be able to use that knowledge on this project.  I discovered that I'm going to have to put in a LOT more practice with the rulers so I quilted this by (mostly) stitching in the ditch.  It was shown at the January meeting of my quilt guild and given to our Pieces of Love project for donation to a charity that needs baby quilts. Now to chose another project for February!

I know, I know--this blog was silent for six months and suddenly I've started posting every day.  Please don't expect that to continue!  The beginning of a new year has brought the opportunity to set some goals and participate in a few fun things around the guild so I have some extra things to write about. Measi   has been hosting the WIPocalypse for several years.  This month, she asked participants to introduce themselves and talk about projects and goals for the year.  The duClay Chapter of EGA  has a challenge every year and it's a great way to set priorities.  These are my projects for the WIPocalypse and duClay. 1.  Ann Smith by Scarlet Letter--I started this on Super Bowl weekend last year and stitched on it a lot during 2016, but I still have a long way to go.  This will be my focus in 2017. 2.  Sampler Houses by Brenda Keyes-This was a New Year's Day start for a SAL with duClay. 3.  Anniversaries of the Heart by ...

I've been Kate's blog  for some time and especially enjoy her posts about her OMG or One Monthly Goal.  This is hosted by Patty at El m Street Quilts  in order to encourage quilters to focus on one project that can be completed within a month.  That sounded like a great way for me to turn some UFOs into finished items, and I'm glad it's starting up again for 2017. We did some home improvements last summer with painting and new flooring in the three bedrooms that our children had used.  Since they're all gone and not likely to be living at home again, we turned one of the rooms into my sewing room.  Wonderful, except that the furniture was placed back in the rooms an hour before I had to go to the airport to pick up my sister who came to help when I had the rotator cuff repair.  One of the craft related things I could do during the first two months after surgery was sort through my stash.  I organized all my fabrics by color and found a few for...

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 s...

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.  E...

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...