My Newest Grand-Niece is HERE!

Well, truthfully, she has been here several days. She was born March 28th. A beautiful, healthy young lady.


Here is the birth sampler I am giving her parents. I have blocked out her name, but it is truly there. I have it laying on a navy blue cloth, and you can tell that it is. The fabric is a bit more 'airy' than I thought it would be. I changed a LOT of the threads - I didn't have all the fibers the chart called for, so I substituted things I had in similar colors . I did go ahead an purchase the Gloriana for the girls skirt. I didn't have a multi-color in pastels. Now I have a lot of that floss left over. I need to find another project for it.




I haven't worked on my 15 projects for a number of days now - finishing up this. Before I personalized this, I was working on my Pam Darney Red Bird. I don't think I am supposed to finish that one .... I've run out of green thread, again. This time, it was entirely my fault. Somewhere along the line, I have misplaced a length (all 12 strands) of Olive-ine. I am going to go ahead and finish up with the Elizabethan Green. The olive thread has enough dark patches that it will work. I substituted a bolder red for the red in Autumn Arbor. I felt that one was way too brown a red for me. I still have three ornaments to stitch. Heading for the home stretch.

Stump Work

At the Oatlands EGA meeting today, Betsy taught a stump work project. I have succeeded in avoiding this type of embroidery for years, but decided to give this a try. Now I wonder why I have been avoiding it. What we did is pretty much crewel with padding and a few twists. I haven't finished the project yet, but have made a nice start.

I have been working on my 15 projects. The past several days have been devoted to the Red Bird Sampler by Pam Darney. I have made some nice progress there, and have decided it will be an anniversary present for my son and his wife next year. But, it might wait until 2013 ... their 15th anniversary. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

My nephew's wife is still awaiting the birth of their baby. She is getting fidgety, and has said that if it doesn't come by the 25th, she is going to be induced. I remember those last few days ... by then you are terribly tired of being pregnant, and can't wait for the baby to be born. Stella is taking her time.

I'm Late, I'm Late For a Very Important Date

Well, perhaps not a date, but late.
I planned to post at least every 3 - 4 days. Most of the time I don't make that self-imposed deadline. Probably a good thing I am no longer employed because this retirements stuff takes up too much time. I have been retired 14 years, and every day has so much to pack into it that I still wonder that I had time to actually work.

You would think that by now I would have learned to organize my day better, but, no. Days are pretty haphazard. I stitch when I feel like it, and work other things around the stitching.

I have filled up the memory card for my camera and need to make a trip to get a new battery ... either that or take pictures off of the memory card. To take pictures off, I need to make big decisions. . . do I really need 36 shots of my granddaughter at her baton twirling competition, or would 10 do? Do I really need all of the pictures of my progress on the 15 Projects challenge? Probably not, but until I am through with the challenge, I am keeping them. And since I am not deleting them, and I am NOT deleting the granddaughter's pictures, well ... see you at the memory card selection.

Oh, and I have now finished 7 swans a swimming, with no place on the card for a picture.

I can't believe it has been that long since I was here ... 5 days.

I finished 8 maids a-milking. Here it is ... but I don't like the picture I took. This was the best of the lot and it is a bit blurry around the edges.

I have been working on a couple of things outside of the 15 challenge projects. I have started the miniature (on 40 count gauze) tapestry - Sense of Hearing. I am also working on an Ink Circles project - Cirque de ... the English version is Diamonds, but I forget the French. Instead of making it a one color project, I am filling the insides of the diamonds with some bright colors, magenta, turquoise, emerald green .... now I need to decide on colors for the smaller areas. I keep wanting a yellow or gold, but haven't hit the right one yet. I am still working on finishing the toys for the Toy Chest, and have started another Betsy Morgan project, Flowers for Betty. Right now I am still outlining the pieces.

My oldest grandson turns 11 this month. He is a pretty good baseball player, and has joined a new team in his new area. We got him some baseball equipment for Christmas, so we continued that for his birthday. He will get a gift certificate to use at a local sporting goods store. He still wants a catcher's mitt, and they need to fit his hand, not mine. [He and his family don't check on this blog, so I can post this here BEFORE his birthday.]

We will celebrate our 50th anniversary this year. I don't fell like it could have possibly been that long. We are talking about visiting Victoria Island, in Canada for our gift to ourselves. We were there for a few hours as part of our trip to Alaska some years ago. It wasn't long enough, and we have been looking for an excuse to return.

9 Ladies Dancing

A bit of progress ... just a little bit though.

I had her almost done, except for the back stitching and beads, several days ago. I got sidetracked.

I went to the Woodlawn show. Many beautiful entries!! I was lucky enough to get a 1st place for my Rhapsody In Red.  I wish I had taken its picture before I took it over.

I have started another new piece - a miniature of the Cluny Tapestry "Sense of Hearing." I chose that one because I have a hearing loss, and it just seemed appropriate. When I sent to put muslin around the gauze, I discovered that my sewing machine had joined the ranks of the wounded appliances. Joanne and Kaethe came to my rescue though. I haven't gotten very far with it yet. But, I didn't expect it to be a quick stitch.