September WIPocalypse

 Although it's officially only the start of fall, the chill in the air here along with overcast skies tends to suggest.....dare I think it!..... that W word! The forecast for next week however looks like a typical fall thank goodness. 

In keeping with the fall theme I brought out a WIP from last fall hoping to complete it. Last weekend I was successful. This is a really cute design by With Thy Needle & Thread called Acorn Gathering Sewing Roll. The first pick is where I had left off when I dug this out on Aug. 22nd. 

I intend on finishing it as a sewing roll as the pattern calls for.
This is what got me to thinking about this design and pulling it out again. I spotted this little fella when we stopped for gas on a drive into Ottawa.

Next I decided to continue working on another WIP, also started last fall. This one is an OOP design by The Primitive Needle called Annie Hyssop's Harvest Moon. 

I've spent most of the past month working on this piece. There's a lot more work to it than I expected. The grass under the houses is taking me forever. I've only got 3 lines in and still have about 6 more to go. After that point I can begin to work on the border. It's a detailed border and covers 3 sides so it should take me a fair amount of time.  Then I still have a few more lines on the bottom to be added to connect it to the border. With the amount of stitching still left there is a good possibility that this won't be complete by Halloween but I'll just be happy if it's done by the end of this year. Plus I tend to get bored working on borders and often put it aside in favour of another piece.

I have a few other designs by the Primitive Needle that I'd like to get started on over the next few years. I love her designs!

I'll leave you with a few pics from one of the Ottawa markets. My favourite time to visit there is in the fall!

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July & August WIPocalypse

The summer is just flying by! I only just realized that I missed my July postings. I was so busy that month and then I was on vacation for most of this month. The end of summer is just around the corner but I managed to get the pieces I wanted finished by the summer's end completed.

In June's post I showed you that I was working on Heartstring Samplery's All The Pretty Flowers. Finishing was complete by the end of July. I love this one especially since I have very few summer pieces stitched.

Continuing on the summer theme I started next on Threadwork Primitive A Bee's Gathering. This one is to be finished according to the instructions included as a needlebook.

During early August I travelled to Sudbury to spend time with my stitching friends and I stayed at the home of my friend Cathy. Cathy and her husband are beekeepers and make their own honey so it was only fitting that I worked on this piece while I stayed with them!
Here's a pic of the group of us. I'll have a few more pics on my next post including some of the project we completed together.

 Following my visit to Cathy's I headed to the cottage with my hubby and I had my new stitch complete within a few days of my arrival. Dockside stitching is the best!

A few cooler days brought thoughts of fall so I decided to pull out a WIP that I had actually started a year ago this weekend.

This is Acorn Gathering Sewing Roll by With Thy Needle & Thread. I'm stitching it on 40 ct Picture This Plus Legacy and I'm really liking how it's shaping up.

Rather than starting a new, larger project I'm going to continue working on this and another WIP from last fall, Annie Hyssop's Harvest Moon by Primitive Needle. I'll also be starting some new smalls for my Smalls SAL. 

It's been a whirlwind month and I'm still celebrating while visiting family in Windsor for birthdays this month. On my next post I'll have a few pics from my vacation activities as well as my smalls I completed over the last two months. See you then! 

December Smalls and December WIPocalypse

Most of December's stitching was accomplished in the first few days and the last few days of the month. Early in the month I came down with a bout of vertigo due to a sinus infection which meant that stitching was out of the question. I'm feeling much better now but I'm still unable to lie down with my head flat without feeling off balance. So I continue to elevate my head with 2 pillows for sleeping. I'm just starting to feel like picking up my needle again. Thank goodness that of my stitching gifts the actual stitching was complete and only the final finishing remained. That took place in the last few days before Christmas. 

Here are my name trees which have now been gifted with resounding success.....Robert, Chris and Violet!

These were designed by Helga Mandl. In addition I completed the final finishing on a design I had stitched a couple of years ago by The Primitive Hare called I Believe in Christmas. I did an easel finish and gifted this to a close friend, Trish.

I also managed to squeeze in one final small finish for 2017. This is a sweet little design by Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks called Potted Poinsettia.

For my December WIPocalypse I managed to finish off a piece which I started early in the year or it might even have been last December. This is Joy by SubRosa Designs.

I stitched this with a Gloriana silk called Winter Woods. I love how the variegation turned out! I'm on the look now for a box on which I can display it.This will be my final finish for 2017. 

In addition, I managed a small bit of time on Heartstring Samplery Sing We Then Merrily. I'm hoping to complete this one in early January, ready for next Christmas.

A few days before Christmas I picked up a piece of my stitching from 2016 which I had framed for display this winter. This is by With Thy Needle & Thread and is called Paper Snowflakes.

The frame on this complements another piece by the same designer which my husband framed for me a couple of Christmas' ago, Heaven & Nature Sing.

So another year is coming to an end and 2018 looms on the horizon with all its promises and possibilities. Looking over my WIPocalypse list I'm pretty pleased with what I accomplished this year. I completed 4 of my original list and started 2 others. In addition I stitched 18 other pieces not on the original list. That's usually how it goes though. I always change my mind and start something other than what I originally chose. Here's a link to the page with pics of all this year's finishes.

October WIPocalypse

October has been a very busy month at our house but fortunately most of my stitching took place in the first week. It really is a relaxing therapy when one is stressed, lol! 

I finished up my Stacy Nash Tribute to Summer. I took her idea and used my maternal grandparents' initials on it. 

Following that I worked a bit on With Thy Needle & Thread Acorn Gathering Sewing Roll. Love those squirrels!

Then my stitching took a back seat to my son's wedding. I picked up my gift for them from the framer and was thrilled with the lovely job they had done on it. Chris and Violet loved it and displayed it with their guest book at the reception.

I'll post some wedding pics later this week.

Now that everything has somewhat calmed down I was free to make a new start. I chose The Primitive Needle Annie Hyssop's Harvest Moon. I've waited a long time to start work on this sweet stitch! Since Lisa's patterns are now out of print, it was difficult to find this one at a reasonable price. I'm stitching it on 32ct Weeks Dye Works Tin Roof using the called for floss.

It won't be long before I put this down and get started on some Christmas stitching. I've already started in on a small project for Violet for Christmas. See you soon!

August WIPocalypse

I feel like I never had enough time to stitch this past month but when I look back at my pics of my progress I realize that I accomplished more than I thought. 
Towards the end of the month I started two new projects. Both are on 40ct linen so the going will be a little slower than usual for me. I prefer the outdoor light when working on 40ct so there will be no evening stitching on these projects. I have a daylight lamp but I still prefer the real thing. The first pic is Quaker Friends by Threadwork Primitives. I love that motif! It's a monochromatic so it will go a little faster than the other. The second pic is of my meager start on Acorn Gathering Sewing Roll by With Thy Needle & Thread. I'm stitching this on a lovely, mottled piece of Picture This Plus Legacy.

I'll continue to plug away at these two over the next month. In addition I made significant progress on Stacy Nash Tribute to Summer. 

I stopped working on this a couple of weeks ago because I wasn't sure what colours I was using for the flower border. The called for Chamomile for the leaves was a brown colour which looked nothing like I was expecting. The centre of the flower is stitched in Chamomile. Apparently the dye lots for Chamomile used to incorporate a lot more green than they do now. So I've been playing around with different colours. That first flower in the border has two different shades of green for the leaves right now as I try to decide which I like better. One is GA Piney Woods and the other is GA Green Tea Leaves. I toyed around with the idea of changing the colour of the flower which uses the called for Lambswool but have decided to leave it as is. 

Wedding preparations continue to take up a lot more of my time lately as I take the boys for suit fittings and search for a dress and shoes for myself. As of last week I've been successful in finding a dress but I'm still on the hunt for shoes.
 Our weather has been quite a bit cooler lately but I hope we can squeeze out a bit more warmth before fall officially takes place!

May Smalls and WIPocalypse

As seems to be the case lately, I'm a little behind in my posts and have combined my smalls and WIPs. May was a very lean month as far as stitching was concerned. I attended the Prim Stitchers Society retreat during the first week of the month and it was downhill after that. I think I've only picked up my work 3 or 4 times since then. Other commitments have just taken over...... birthdays, Mother's day, gardening and some long overdue spring cleaning. I only have one small for the month to show you. This is Tulip House Stitching Companion by Blackbird Designs. I chose to finish it a little differently instead!

This piece was my exchange gift for the PSS Retreat. There were only 2 exchange gifts left to pick on the table, one of which was this one and my name still had not been called so one of the other ladies ran up to let them know so that I wouldn't end up with my own gift, lol. Here is the lovely gift that I did receive.

Isn't it gorgeous? Apparently it was a limited edition kit put out by With Thy Needle & Thread called Flag Day at the Potting Shed. Thank you again Ann Thompson for this lovely reminder of the retreat!

For my WIPocalypse this month I concentrated on Blackbird Designs Summer Jubilee. I really haven't got very far on it since last month. Time to pick up the pace!

I'm not totally thrilled with the difference in dye lots between the cover design and my own. In particular, the GA WoodRose used on the basket is too close to the outline of the basket done in WDW Hyacinth.The possibility exists that I might still restitch the outline in a darker pink. We'll see!

The remainder of the photos are of birthday gifts I received from my dear stitching friends Nan, Michelle, Cathy, and Pam. I loved each and every one that I received!

 This little mouse was handstitched out of mohair by Cathy!

 The Ball jar and oil can lid will be used to hold my crushed walnut

shells for stuffing. There is also an antique pin cushion with bone rings!

Thanks Michelle!

 Pam made this lovely pouch from scrap fabrics and her daughter

made the scissor fob.

 Nan gave me some lovely wool for finishes as well as

some awesome vintage bone buttons. The safety pin

on the left holds a collection of charms. As well there 

is a vintage pin box

I was spoiled rotten!!

That's it for this month. Next post I'll devote to the retreat with lots of pics of the event as well as some photos of the items I purchased there. See you in a bit!

April WIPocalypse

A rainy, cool April resulted in a lot stitching here. I love Blackbird Designs and it seems I have a number of them on my list of must stitches for this year. The latest finish is one of their new designs from market and is called It's Spring Fever.

  
I love all of the blues and browns in this piece. It was a fun, quick stitch and as soon as it was finished I went to work on another of their designs. This one is from the August 2003 issue of Just Cross Stitch and is called Summer Jubilee. I'm Canadian but my sister lives in the U.S. and I thought she might like it for a housewarming gift in her new condo.

I'm stitching this on R&R 18th Century Blackbird linen with one strand and I'm enjoying it very much. Love the collection of colours chosen in this one.  
I have another Blackbird Design all kitted up and ready to go after this one which is also a new release called Winter is Past.

I also finally finished up Paper Snowflakes just as winter left us and spring arrived. This is a design by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread. Love the border on this one!

As promised, spring has arrived along with the rain to grow those May flowers. It was time to add a bit of spring decor to the house.

This candle and potpourri arrangement, along with the thread waxers that follow are from the talented hands of Misi at Gable House Goodes. The potpourri is her own scent called Tulips, the candle is a spiced Chai and the little bee skep candle smells of honeysuckle!
Here are a couple of the lovely thread waxers that she made.

That's about it for this month. Hopefully May will be just as productive. After all, outdoor gazebo stitching has arrived!