The Hardest Part is Just Sitting Down and Getting Started

I can't tell you how many times over the past months I've thought "I should go downstairs and blog", a thought immediately followed by "I will, I'll do that after a while".  And of course I never did.  Until today. 

 

I have actually been stitching, and I've had a couple of finishes, although I expect I've had the finishes because I've been under a deadline for both of them.  The stuff I've been working on for ages -- still unfinished.

 

The pieces I've finished have been quilt squares, and there's a little bit of a story behind them.  Back last winter, I had seen articles in a couple of the cross stitching magazines about organizations that make quilts for nursing home residents and for children with life-threatening or life-altering diseases.  The articles were interesting, and tucked them in the back of my mind.  Then, on the Saturday before Easter, we lost my dad.  He had been hospitalized in ICU for a couple of weeks after complications during a heart valve replacement procedure, and we had just taken him to hospice when he passed away.  Even though he was only at hospice very briefly, the nurses there gave us a lap quilt; every patient who comes to the hospice there gets one.  They're made by a group that stitches them specifically for hospice.

 

I don't quilt, but I remembered the magazine articles I had read, and I realized that this might be a way for me to pay it forward.  One group is called World of Charity Stitching, and they make quilts for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  They also do tote bags and stitched bookmarks.  The first piece I stitched for them was for a travel-themed quilt; I found this map of Ireland on etsy:

 

I also found a group called Love Quilts USA.  They make quilts for children who have life-threatening or life-altering illnesses.  I've done one block for them so far; it was for a Christian-themed quilt, and I found this design on-line (don't remember where). 

Love Quilts also has a branch in the UK, and I'm working on a square for them right now.  I'm a slow stitcher, so I do have to set myself some rules.  I can only do one at a time.  I also only stitch themes that I enjoy stitching.  For example, if the requested theme is superheroes or Disney princesses, I'll probably skip that one in favor of something that I like to stitch, like butterflies or cats or flowers.  That may sound a little selfish, but there are generally a variety of themes available and lots of stitchers who want to stitch pieces for the quilts.  I don't want to give someone a piece that I hate.

 

I've added links to the web sites, if anyone is interested in checking them out.

 

Once again, I'm going to try to get back into the blogging groove.  I've made progress on some of my WIPs since I last blogged, so I'll try to get some pics of those posted next week.

 

Happy stitching, everyone!

September 11th

Endings, Beginnings, and Stitching Progress

Last Friday was my last day at the job where I've been for the past 3+ years.  I enjoyed the work I did, but I never thought that it was a job I wanted to stay with for a long time.  It was the first time I'd worked for a small company -- and a family-owned one -- rather than a large corporation and it was interesting.  But I left on my terms, and tomorrow I start a new job working for a healthcare system affiliated with a major university.  I'll still be doing coding, but I think the new job is going to open some additional opportunities for me.  It's also much closer to my house, and my commute will be cut in half.  I'm very excited about it.

 

I've been making some progress on a couple of my WIPs.  Here's the Christmas Rose pin cushion as of this evening:

There's not much left to do, as you can see.  I'm working on the last flower, then there's a large leaf and the border and it'll be done.

I've also got the lettering done on Salina Dunwoody:

I took a week off between jobs and spent a couple of days of it visiting Mom and Dad.  Salina's stitched on 28-count, so she's a good travel project and can be worked on in less than optimum light.  I finished the lettering on Thursday evening at Mom and Dad's, so I can move on to the fun motifs at the bottom.

Finally, if you enjoy Daffycat's reindeer ornaments, you'll be tickled to know that she's released the one for 2015.  You can see it here, along with the e-mail address to get a copy.  I have a piece of Maritime White linen from Lakeside on order so I can keep doing these on the same fabric.

That's all from the stitching chair this evening.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Orion Rising

It's still dark when I leave the house at about 6:15 to go to work, and the past few clear mornings I've looked up and seen the constellation Orion high in the early morning sky.  Orion was the first constellation I learned to identify -- the three stars in his "belt" make him easy to spot -- and he's a winter constellation.  So even though looking up and seeing him in the sky is almost like seeing an old friend, it's also a little depressing because Orion's arrival means that winter isn't far behind.

 

I've actually been doing a little stitching.  I've haven't worked on Salina Dunwoody in several weeks, but I thought I'd share the latest progress with you.  I'm close to finishing the hated alphabet bands, so I'm planning to work on her for a little while this evening.  I'm also working the border as I go; that's my preferred stitching plan when it comes to borders because otherwise I find them soooo boooorrrring!

I've been making some pretty good progress on the little Christmas rose pin cushion.  You can kind of judge the size from the picture, using the needles for scale.  Love the colors in this one!

Finally, I was digging through the stash, looking for other smalls to work on, when I came across this piece:

It's a bookmark kit that I bought on some long ago trip to London, and I'd begun stitching the pavilion before I laid it aside and got distracted by other things.  I think it's about time I finished it, so I've been putting in a few stitches here and there.

DH has been off this weekend and he and I are both off tomorrow, so we'll get the rare luxury of spending three days in a row together -- nice!

Wishing everyone a good week and happy stitching!

Working on the WIP Pile

After I finished Beneath a Sunlit Sky a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a determined effort to whittle down the size of the WIP pile.  Unfortunately, most of my WIPs seem to also be BAPs ::sigh:: but there are a few smaller ones that I can tackle for some quick gratification.

 

The first one I pulled out was the Grumpy Kitty ornament.  I believe the design is from Brooke's Books.  The snow flakes were supposed to be stitched; I wanted to add some beads to give it a little more bling, but I found the snowflake charms in my stash and used those instead.  I also found a little sparkly doo-dad to use as the bobble on his hat.

I finished Grumpy Kitty and went stash diving again, coming up with this little piece:

 It's simply called "Acorns" and the design is by Pamela Kellogg.  I bought it from a now out-of-business LNS -- the design was a freebie that they had kitted with fabric, fibers and the button.  It's stitched on 16-count Heatherfield and the fabric is a much more yellow color than it looks in the picture.  The fibers are brown perle coton and Watercolors "Fiesta" (I think).  I'm not sure why I laid this aside ages ago unless it was because the stitching seemed rather cramped.  When I pulled it out the other day and took a close look at the instructions, I discovered that it was meant to be stitched over 2 on the Heatherfield rather than over 1 as I was doing.  Wasn't going to frog, so I just kept on with the over 1.  I actually kind of like the way it turned out.  I don't know what I'll do with it, but it might make a nice scissors fob.

With the little acorn done, I went back to something I started not too long ago.  It's a Christmas rose pin cushion design that was in Needlecraft magazine (a British magazine) in 1995.  I tore that chart out of the magazine, thinking that I would like to stitch it someday...and someday finally came!  Needlecraft was one of the first British stitching magazines that I bought regularly -- it helped that I was working part-time at Barnes & Noble and could use my employee discount!  I think that it's not published any longer, but I still have a few of the older copies in my stash.



So that's my WIP report.  I'm going to go upstairs and put a few more stitches in the Christmas rose.  Hope everyone has a good week -- happy stitching!

Why Do the Good Ones Go Away?

I got an e-mail on Wednesday from "Annie's Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly"  -- a SPECIAL NOTICE about my subscription (the caps were theirs).  I'm sure there were many of you who received similar e-mails; it seems that SANQ has ceased publication.  So, this

is the last issue we'll get.  The rest of my subscription will be filled with Just Cross Stitch.  Darn, drat, and phooey.

SANQ and Piecework are the only needlework magazines I still subscribe to.  I used to -- many moons ago -- take every cross stitch magazine coming down the pike, including a couple of British ones.  Over the years, various factors caused my subscriptions to get fewer and fewer.  Some magazines ceased publication or merged with others.  In some cases, my tastes and/or the content changed and I stopped wasting my money on magazines that didn't interest me any longer.  Or I still kind of enjoyed a magazine but not enough all the time to continue spending money and trying to find space for it in my stash.  I enjoy SANQ and Piecework for different reasons.  Piecework has really interesting articles about a variety of needlework (sometimes too much knitting, in my opinion, but that's a topic for another time), but it doesn't often have projects that I would want to do.  SANQ, on the other hand, has interesting articles but it also frequently offers samplers and other projects, many of which have ended up on my "want to stitch" list.  So it's a bit of a bummer to lose it.  I confess that I was concerned that the quality of the magazine would suffer when Annie's took it over -- it really didn't -- but I didn't think they'd actually get rid of it.  Another good one goes away.

On a more positive note, we're very fortunate to live in an area where local agriculture is a big deal and there are lots of farmers' markets and stands selling local food.  There's a really nice farmers' market in Charles Town on Saturday mornings, and I made a quick trip there today.  I came home with a dozen eggs and these gorgeous tomatoes:

Then I decided I really needed some flowers for the dining table:

Aren't these beautiful?  I love the zinnias, but it was the big yellow cockscomb that grabbed my attention.  So pretty!

Football season is once again upon us and WVU plays tonight, so it's time to head upstairs and check out the game.  Happy stitching, all!

Treasures

We've been married and in this house for a little over three years, but DH and I are still clearing out boxes and sorting through "stuff" -- his, mine, and ours.  We were going through some of his stuff a few weeks ago and came across this:

His aunt gave him this several years ago.  I'm not sure how long ago it was, but she's been gone since the late 1990s, so that's a bit of a clue.  It's hand quilted, and I think it's at least partially hand pieced.  Here's a closer look at some of the blocks:

Aren't they pretty?  The fabrics have a look of the 1960s and 1970s about them.  Isn't it wonderful what kind of treasures you can find when you're looking through stuff?