Jenny Bean Finished!

Just a quick post that I have finished my first larger sized sampler.  It may be small to some by 160 X 160 is pretty large by my meager skills.  I started this on Jan 17, 2011 and just put the last stitches in December 2011.  I did my own conversion from the called for overdyed cotton to Vikki Clayton's Hand Dyed Silks.  I am pretty proud of how it turned out.  I should have finished it back in September but ran out of the overdyed silk I used for the border.  I don't know what I was thinking but instead of finishing the border I decided to stitch the house.  So all that roof stitching sucked in the last of my dye lot like a black hole.  I ordered some more on 2 different occasions but was never happy with the match.  Fortunately, Maureen from the HDF boards loaned me the 18" piece I needed to finish up the borader and the cartouche.  So here is Jenny Bean - finished but not framed.  I will save that for another day when I decide where her permanent home is or when a good framing sale comes along!



Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler
Designed by Shakespeare's Peddler
Stitched on 40 ct Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens
Stitched with hand dyed silks by Vikki Clayton



Finishing a larger project like this give me confidence that I can tackle some of the projects on my wish list. My dearest hubby gifted me with Dorothy Walpole for Christmas (http://www.scarlet-letter.com/samplers/walpole.php)  and I think I may even kit up the large Ann Dale from Shakespeare's Peddler as my next projects.  If you haven't seen this one, it is a real beauty, but may take me a lifetime to finish! http://shakespearespeddler.blogspot.com/2011/11/thread-usage-for-ann-and-whats-next.html

See y'all soon!

Kerri

2011 Ornament Finish

Work has piled up lately and before I let too much of the year slip away from me I wanted to show two finishes I was quite proud of.  My new monitor arrived last week, so I was finally able to download my photos.  Everything is right with the world once again.

I had purchased custom Name Tree ornaments from La D Da around 2009 I think.  It was the year following the appearance of the first one in the JCS Ornament Issue.  I stitched that tree and loved it.  That one still lingers in the "Box of Shame".  But I was determined to get these ones stitched up for my lovely kiddos this year and I did finish the stitching by August of this year.  They were then forced to serve a short sentence in the "Box of Shame" until I could find some appropriate beads and backing fabric.

Since I have not completed the stitched stockings I had intended to, I decided that I would make these two little treasures into flat fold stand ups for my mantel.  I must thank the very talented Twisted Stitcher.  Without her wonderful instructions from Learn to finish with The Twisted Stitcher, I would never have attempted this.  I followed step by step and think they turned out "practically perfect in every way" as Mary Poppins would say.  So a huge thank you to Vonna for her help.  She has a wonderful blog too and you should stop by and say hello.

Here are my finishes.  Both stitched over one on 32 ct Coconut Macroon Legacy Linen.  Backing fabric is shown behind.

I struggled finding backing fabric with a Christmas theme for the first one to match the dark blue overdyed thread.  I finally stumbled on this Batik at my local quilt store that I think is a great match. 

What do you think?

I also wanted to share a snap of my girl, Zoe.   It is incredibly hard to get a good photo of a black dog and this one came out pretty well.  I don't know what this expression is for but it cracks me up.  Maybe she is thinking "Duh - of course I want what you are eating!"

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

See y'all soon!

Kerri



New Year - New Stitching Goals

I have had the best intentions of making some posts while off over the holidays but it seems the planets were aligned against me.  First the battery in the camera was dead and I couldn't find the charger.  So DH went to the store and bought me a new one but I had taken the battery out of the camera and now couldn't find it! ARGH! By that time it was almost Christmas and  with the awful cold I have been battling all of December I was way behind in getting all my Elf chores done - you know baking, wrapping, decorating, shopping.  Then my dear brother and his wife came for a visit.  It was wonderful having family visit but not really helpful in getting time to work on the computer.  So last night I finally got all the camera pieces in order, took pictures to share and what happens - the computer monitor won't turn on.  What now?  I have no idea what is going on but DH promised to try and fix it while I am at work today.  I am writing this during lunch so SHHH - don't squeal on me.

I have done some serious thinking about my stitching affliction.  How can I have stitched for so long and have so little accomplished?  Maybe I am just feeling like the under achiever after surfing through so many blogs with all these wonderful finishes.  But with a new year stretching before me it is time to teach this old dog some new tricks and be optomistic (or is that unrealistic?)  They will also go up in my sidebar (when I figure out how to do that!) so I will have them mocking me all year.  So here it goes:

1. Start a new project on New Year's Day and finish it before the end of the year.
2. Take a class to learn a new technique
3. Work on larger projects that I can display in my home and enjoy seeing everyday  That means that they also must be framed/finished and not
4. No stitching on new ornaments until half of those from the "Box of Shame" get ornamentified (that's from Daffycat - see her Dec 11 post  and I love it)
5. Blog more (plus figure out how this darn blogger program works!)
6. Improve my stitching photos

I am not very good at making or keeping resolutions but I heard a quote that "A goal is a dream with a deadline". (Napolean Hill) I like that!

If DH can fix my pc issues I will work on the year end update I wanted to post.  If not - because of goal number 5 I will post again soon.

See y'all soon!

Kerri