A Tardy April WIPocalypse

So April has just flown by and it was a hectic month around here. Unfortunately it left little time for stitching. The first few days of April I did manage to make some significant progress on Dreaming of Tulips. I had completed the first half of this design by the week's end.

Last week I picked it up again and started on page 4 of 6. Here's my progress at this point.

  Besides some stitching on smalls this is as far as I have got on this wonderful piece. I love stitching this one and would stitch the day away on this if possible. However, as I said, April has been a rather busy month around here. For one thing it's a month of family birthdays...... my eldest granddaughter Oceanne, my youngest sister Lana and my niece, Dana.

 I drove to Quebec where my granddaughter lives to celebrate with her. My eldest son and his family have recently moved but it was easy enough to find. I had a wonderful visit with his girls! Oceanne just turned 11 and is a very thoughtful, quiet girl. In my previous post you will see the piece which I stitched for her as a gift. Her younger sister, Summer, likes to have lots of fun and tease. 

 Sisters and great pals! (at times at least, lol!)

 Grandma and the birthday girl

 What are these two giggling about?

 

Kat has jumped in the gift bag, hoping to hide from all the excitement.

I had an awesome time with the girls and missed them as soon as I hit the road again. I really wish we lived closer!

The next two family birthdays are only a day apart. This is my niece Dana and her mom, my youngest sister, Lana. Lana's birthday is first, followed by her daughter's. 

 

 Besides their birthdays, they were also celebrating Dana's graduation from university with her bachelor's degree in Social Work. Congrats to all!!

April also brought some sadness with it as we learned of the passing of three friends, all on the same day. Two of the funerals were on the same day in different cities so my husband and I split up, each attending one of the services.  
 The third service was for my husband's thesis advisor from his time spent at university.  Bob and John had kept in touch and John was always a strong supporter of Bob's music.
We travelled to the beautiful little town of Goderich, Ontario for his service. Goderich sits along the shores of Lake Huron and is a well-loved summer destination for many. The lake looked rather barren and quiet without all the crowds but it only seemed fitting considering the occasion of our visit.

  
 Despite the solemnity of the occasion, it was a time of friendship renewal as many of John's former students and fellow staff joined together to celebrate his life. For my husband, it was an opportunity to reconnect with many friends he hadn't seen for quite some time. 

On our travels home we stopped to visit one of my husband's cousins. She had in her possession something which she thought I might be interested in. It's a quilt from the late 1800's which had been presented to her great great grandfather on the occasion of his leaving the Methodist church in Fraserville, On where he had been the pastor.

As you can see from the pictures the name and location of each parishioner was added to the squares along with the date. 

   
I found it fascinating! The quilt was all hand stitched and is in remarkable shape. What a wonderful heirloom!

Things have quieted down here now so I'm off to spend some time with my needle and thread. See you soon!

April Small SAL

This month has been a productive one as far as small stitches are concerned. I managed to finish my granddaughter's gift into a pinkeep, finish stitching a second piece and then start another before the month was over.
 You saw my granddaughter's finish on last month's post but I had yet to do the final finishing. We had originally hoped for a pillow finish but because of its size I decided to do a pinkeep. I thought that it would be much easier for her to display it this way. I also have to admit that I detest using the sewing machine and I was much happier doing it this way. Once again, this is a finish by Blackbird Designs called Bird in Hand. I've also posted some pics of her opening her gift. 

 

Océanne has just turned 11 and she was so pleased that I had remembered to stitch the piece she had picked out. She was afraid that I might forget! I added a little charm to the bottom of the piece which says Stitched With Love. She loved it!

After finishing this I started another Blackbird Design, Pins and Tulips Pincushion which I shared the start of last month. Stitching is finished on this and it will be turned into a small pillow for displaying in my dough bowl.

I changed this up a little. I added a small sun charm in place of my initial. I then stitched my initials in a different colour within the small partial alphabet. 

I've started another new small by E Sub-Rosa called Such a Perfect Day. I love the little spool of thread in this one. It should be finished up within the next couple of days and then on to the next one! See you next month.

   

March Smalls SAL

The last day of the month and time for a Smalls update. As I indicated in the last post I stitched a piece by Blackbird Designs called Bird in Hand. This was chosen by my granddaughter to be stitched by moi as a birthday gift for her. I have finished all the stitching and all that remains is the final finishing.

The design called for my initial at the bottom right hand and I've added my granddaughter's initial to the top left. 

It was a busy month and I didn't have time to complete the second small. This one is to be added to my display bowl of small spring stitches. It's another Blackbird Design called Pins and Tulips Pincushion and it can be found in their book Sarah Tobias.

This should be finished fairly quickly if I can stay still long enough to stitch! 
I just received a few new charts from the Nashville Needlework Market and one in particular I hope to finish as part of this years' smalls. Have a peek at A Stitch in Time by With Thy Needle and Thread.  
See you next month!

Easter Greetings

 A very blessed and Happy Easter to all my family, friends and stitching family!

March WIPocalypse

It's been a wonderful month and spring has arrived on our doorstep. Or has it?

This is what I woke to this morning. Scenic but not really what I was wanting to see! Another 15 cm (6 inches) is expected on Thursday along with freezing rain. That storm will start tonight. Hopefully that will be the end of it!

I have concentrated on two stitches this month. Blackbird Designs Bird in Hand and Rosewood Manor Dreaming of Tulips. 

Bird in Hand was chosen by my granddaughter to be stitched for her birthday. 

This is a progress pic but I am actually finished stitching the whole piece. I will post a picture of the finish next week for my Smalls stitching post. I only have to finish this off now as a pillow. My granddaughter has even picked out her backing fabric!

Dreaming of Tulips is a wonderful stitch! I love Karen's designs. Completing each motif feels like an accomplishment.

What I love about Karen's designs is that not only is the whole design wonderful but you can take portions of the design and stitch them as small finishes. I'm stitching on pages 2 and 3 of this right now with 3 more pages remaining.

That's it for now on the stitching front. I've been home now for 10 days following a great vacation in Cape Coral, Florida. My mom and step-dad rent a home down there and I flew in to visit them along with my sister and her boyfriend. 
Here are some pics of our week together.

 

I loved the break from all the cold. We had marvelous weather and now my youngest sister is down there with her family enjoying the same. I only wish that I could do this every winter!

I'll be back at the end of next week with my Smalls post and hopefully another new start. See you then!

February Small and a new start

Although Valentine's Day is over for another year, I chose to stitch another small along that theme to add to my bowl of small finishes next year. 

This is Key To My Heart, designed by Shelly Auen of Primitive Stitichin'.

A sweet little stitch which is just perfect for a pinkeep. I'm looking forward to displaying this next year in my bowl of smalls.

Having just completed a larger finish it was time to sort through my stash and decide on a new start. Yesterday morning we woke to a snowy day which quickly turned into a mess of freezing rain. I was dreaming of spring on such a day and decided to start on a design which would get me thinking of better weather ahead. This design is a beautiful collage of spring tulips and is appropriately called Dreaming of Tulips. The designer is Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor. I'm stitching this on 32 ct antique white linen.

 I love Karen's designs and I love the way that she always charts smaller vignettes that can be stitched from the main design. There are so many different small finishes which are the perfect gifts.
I should have a few more progress pics in the coming days. I know I'm going to enjoy my time spent with this.

A week or so ago my husband and I travelled to the city of Kingston, Ontario to meet up with my brother-in-law and his wife for dinner. We decided to check out some antique shops in the afternoon prior to our meet up. There were several shops in the area but I found one in particular that had a lot of what I was looking for. It wasn't in the budget for any large purchases but I did come home with a few choice items.

 
 A wooden spool, some antique lace and a small heart baking tin. I love to use these larger wooden spools to display some of my small needlework finishes on the top. I look for ones with a smooth surface as seen in the pic below. You can then wrap some of the antique lace around the spool. I use the lace for decorative purposes and also to add to some of my finishes.

If this tin had been just a little larger I would have used it to display a needlework finish within it. As it is I will use it for display purposes in a bowl with some of my smalls. 
I'm definitely planning a trip back to this shop. There wasn't enough time to check out everything. There were lots of antique sewing items...... lace, buttons, fabric, ets. I'm looking forward to my return visit! 

February WIPocalypse

February... a short month to begin with and even less time for stitching here due to a bathroom renovation. I'm determined to finish off a few of my WIPs from last fall before starting anything new other than small stitches. There are two remaining projects which include Kathy Barrick's And Heaven And Nature Sing and Stacy Nash's Thistles and Spells Pinkeep. 

 And Heaven And Nature Sing posed a number of problems for me. Rather than purchasing the required silks I decided to use silks I had in my stash. Unfortunately I ran out of one of the main colours which is by Vicki Clayton and no longer available. Stitching friends to the rescue! I put a call out on Facebook and one of the ladies had the necessary floss and gifted it to me. I also came very close to running out of 2 other silks. It's hard to tell just how much floss you have remaining when they come on spools. 
Then I stitched one of the trees in the forest in the wrong spot! No frogging for me as I didn't want to waste my silks. Instead I redesigned my forest to accommodate my mistake. 
After that the only thing remaining was some beading. I chose to add beads to the holly around the deer's neck rather than just stitches. 
 Finally, a finish! I'm thrilled with the results, challenges and all. Here are some other close up pics.

After finishing this I turned to my one remaining project from last year which is the Stacy Nash design.
I am soooo close to a finish on this one. Just a few leaves left to stitch and it's complete. Once again I ran out of some floss. I was sure that I had two skeins of the necessary colour to begin with but I was wrong. Duh!!
So this piece is on hold until the floss order arrives.

I have recently started a small stitch which will hopefully be finished by Thursday so I can post a pic for the Smalls SAL. I've been hunting through my stash to determine my next big project and I've already put in my first few stitches. I should have a progress pic to share very soon. Until then, I'll keep you guessing! 

Just a note to let you know that I have finally created a WIPocalypse 2016 list of projects I'd like to complete this year. Better late than never! Check it out by clicking on the link just below the header on my blog.