Ever Such Graceful Frogs

I found this fabric on the JoAnn's Craft Store website and couldn't resist buying a yard or two.  I haven't the faintest idea as yet as to what I shall do with it.  But the very notion of graceful frogs doing yoga was irresistible.  I just had to have this.

Now, I know I am trying to limit my stash purchases to tools and supplies for finishing up the charts I have.  I also know that this fabric doesn't match any chart I have on hand so it's not as though it will come in handy as a backing fabric.  Besides which the design repeat is just too darn large.  But the fabric caught my fancy in  a way nothing has done in a very long while.  The design is on the back burner of my imagination for now.  It's only a matter of time before I come up with a project to suit it.

I expect every crafter has done this at some point or another: buying something as "inspiration" for Lord knows what future project.  I'd love to hear other peoples' stories.  If you've done something similar, leave a comment.

A New Start

I am working on increasing my collection of ornaments for next year's Wedding Anniversary and Valentine's Day Tree.

To that end, I started this lacy little heart.  Today, at work, chaperoning the Confirmation Retreat will take over my day.  If I get all of my quiet bring along paperwork done while the presenter does the real work, I may be able to get a few more stitches in.  After the retreat, I'll have the Grade 1-6 Session I program to get through.  But then I'll be able to trudge home after a 7:00am-6:30pm day.  A mere 11 1/2 hour day.  And then to finish off the week with two more 8 hour days.  Joy to the world!

Catching Up With the Town Square Series Goal

I am supposed to be stitching one of these little ornaments a month and am already a month behind.

January's stitch was Milady's Tea House, started in January but finished in February.

I started The Bakery.in February and will finish it in March.  I am hoping to start and finish The Shoe Shrine in March as well.  Then it will simply be a matter of keeping up, one building a month.

Then in April, I'll stitch the Flower Shop and in May, the Cafe du Monde.

This is one goal I really don't want to slack on since I'd like to have my Small Town USA tree in place this Christmas.

Stitching Limericks Redux

Back in March 2011 and 2012, I sponsored a stitching limerick contest.  I had intended to make it an annual event but somehow dropped the ball in 2013.  But it is time to resurrect the idea.    For educators, March is the longest month of the year, no holidays or long weekend breaks, the kids are bored to tears with school and longing for the summer, discipline problems arise, exams loom ... well, you get the idea.  So, in March, I tend to find or make up reasons to play.  So, let's all have a some fun and exercise our little grey cells as Hercule Poirot would say.  Writing a proper limerick is a disciplined exercise so to make it worthy of your effort, I am offering a $20 gift certificate to 123stitch as the prize for the winning entry.

Remember, limericks are defined by Google as a humorous verse form of 5 anapestic lines with a rhyme scheme aabba i.e., they have a definite pattern:
10 syllables/beats to the first line,
7 syllables/beats to the second line,
6 syllables/beats to third and fourth lines,
9 syllables/beats to the fifth line.
The rhyme pattern: lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme; lines 3 and 4 rhyme.

Here's my 2011 limerick:
There once was a stitcher named Riona,
Who used up all of her toner,
Printing freebies galore
Till she had so much more
Than anyone ought to be owner!

And here's my 2012 version:
There once was a stitcher named Riona,
Who, when you tried to phone her,
All your calls she'd ignore
As she stitched more and more.
Her friends thought this flaw a real groaner!

And my 2014 version:

There once was a English Band Sampler,

Stretched on a stand with a clamper.

The stitcher who owned it

Had diligently sewn it

Till she was one happy camper.

As you can see, I decided not to try and find more rhymes for Riona.   It seemed more sensible to look for another hook from which to hang my rhyme scheme.

Leave your limerick in the comments ... any entry not fitting the above definition will be disqualified ... it must be a true limerick! At the end of the month, I'll have my husband pick a winner from the comments and award that stitcher/limmericist a $20 GC to 123stitch [an online shop]. Thanks to all who participate.  I look forward to seeing all the creative entries.  Also, if clicking on your name won't lead me to a profile with your contact info, please leave an e-mail address in the comments.

Assessing February Goals/ Setting March Goals

FEBRUARY GOALS:  

BAPs:  Start work on Piper's Stocking.  It has been started.

Class Project: Finish the Mystic Smalls.  Maybe I'll do better in March.

Town Square SAL: Start Milady's Tea Shoppe.  Finished Milady's Tea House and started The Bakery.

WIP's: Finish Band 6 and start on Band 7 of The English Band Sampler. Stalled on this somewhat - still have to finish the eyelets in Band 6

WISHFUL THINKING: stitch a few more heart ornaments for my Anniversary and Valentine's Day tree.  And maybe a few sewing finishes.  Couer Courage and  Aury's Quaker Heart 2013 finished.

OFF-GOAL STITCHING:  Pineberry Lane's Mehitabel's Redwork Sampler finished.

MARCH GOALS 

BAPs:  Continue to work on Piper's Stocking.  

Class Project: Finish the Mystic Smalls.

Town Square SAL: Finish The Bakery and start work on The Shoe Shrine.

WIP's: Finish Band 6 and start on Band 7 of The English Band Sampler.

WISHFUL THINKING: stitch a few more heart ornaments for my Anniversary and Valentine's Day tree.  And maybe a few sewing finishes.

Some more rotation stitching

I wanted another quick finish yesterday, so I worked on the Town Square series' Milady's Tea House.

I

 will continue working on the Woodland Maiden Christmas Stocking [for granddaughter Piper].and will have a progress photo tomorrow.

A few small finishes

Mehitabel's Redwork Sampler

Aury.s Patriotic Quaker Heart 2013

As for the rest of the day:

Piper's stocking comes up in the rotation today.  I am going to try to stitch two square inches every week on this piece until I am done with it.  If I keep that pace I should have it done in time for Christmas of 2014.  Of course, the goal is to have both Piper's and Rocco's stockings completed by Christmas of 2014.  There will have to come a time, probably in July, when I start working on both of the stockings as the main focus of my rotation.

Biscornus

Here is my little gallery of biscornus.  I really like this finish and have a few more charts in my to-do-soon binder and my class projects basket that will be finished this way.  But for now, this is it.

This the top of About X Stitch's Ruffled Diamond.  I chose the over dyed floss to match  the fantastic pair of antique buttons I had purchased.

As you can see by the bottom, this was stitched in 2008..

 

 

This Olive Branch biscornu is the same top and bottom and boasts another really neat pair of antique buttons.  Click to enlarge and view the brass filigree button in more detail.  It is also my favorite pin cushion, always close to hand whenever I am stitching.

Again, a top and bottom view of a biscornu.  The chart was a freebie, discarded after stitching so I can't give you the provenance on the design.  The buttons are etched metal from a favorite and very comfortable old chambray dress too worn out  to survive in my wardrobe.  But at least the buttons remain.

I running out of the sample skein of this over dyed cotton while stitching the top so changed the design for the bottom a bit, using another very similar overdye in a colorway a few shades lighter.

This one, another free and unidentified chart, was stitched in pale corals, the same top and bottom, and secured with mother of pearl buttons.

This is a free design called Moroccan Tile.  The top is stitched with a remnant of over dyed cotton and the bottom is stitched with DMC floss picking up one of the colors from the overdye.

 This biscornu is secured with a pair of lovely antique glass buttons in just the right shade of melon.   I collect buttons and I delight in finding just the right ones to embellish my stitching.

Here is another that is the same top and bottom, but with the added bling of some beading in the border.  Again, I used over dyed cotton floss and antique floss buttons.  The green hexagon glass buttons are really quite pretty.

This one is much prettier in real life since you can see the entire fishes in actual three dimensional space.  Since the design elements come so close to center, this biscornu is secured with just a few straight stitches.

Since the fish design was rather fussy though quite pretty, I designed these shells for an easier stitch for
the bottom.

These cats were originally charted as redwork but whoever heard of red cats?  So, I selected colors to transform them into Halloween Black cats and used a pair of brass pumpkin buttons to secure the biscornu.

"Group" Therapy for Stitchers

I have noticed that people have been responding very positively to my gallery posts.  Also, on the message board I frequent, someone is always asking the rest of us to post our finishes on a particular theme.  There seems to be an interest in groups of finishes that share a common theme or type of construction.  I know I always like to look at such groupings on the 123stitch message board.  And I frequently see  new-to-me designer or finishing techniques and end up learning something new about my craft.  Then, there is the sheer entertainment value of seeing so many varied projects reflecting tastes that are both similar to my own and very different from my own.  So over the next few weeks, whenever I am at a loss for a topic, I think I'll compile another gallery post.

Topics I have in mind are: biscornus, throw pillows, pin pillows and pin cushions, stitching accessories, totes, witches, dragons, Quakers, patriotic, nauticals, samplers, teapots and tea cups, and botanicals.  Of course, there will be some repetition and crossover.  The same piece might show up in a gallery of patriotic pieces and in a gallery of throw pillow or banners.

Which would you like to see first?  Or can you think of other  areas of interest?

A Little Redwork

Pineberry Lane is one of those new-to-me designers that I discovered while reading another stitcher's blog over a year ago.  I can't remember whose blog at this point.  But whoever the blogger was, she was stitching a lovely little piece called Tansy, Yarrow and Rue.  I ended up browsing Pineberry Lane's website and asking my husband to buy me three charts for my anniversary gift back in 2013: Mehitabel's Redwork Sampler; Tansy, Yarrow and Rue and Autumn on Marigold Lane.

They languished in the to-do-soon binder all of 2013 because I was so obsessed with other projects, mainly Teresa Wentzler's Woodland Angel Christmas Stocking and The English Band Sampler.  But I have pulled all three charts out and stuck them in the current stitching tote.

Here is a photo of my current progress on Mehitabel's Redwork Sampler, stitched on 32ct Meadow Mist linen from Silkweaver with Needlepoint Inc.'s Russet Red Range silk floss.  Did you ever reach a point where you just couldn't take another stitch even though you were so close to finishing a piece?  I figure I have less than an hour's work left to do on this.  When it is done I plan to stitch it up into a pillow.

And even though I will continue to work on my own personal UFO and Class Project Challenges this year, I have decided to introduce my two remaining Pineberry Lane charts into my rotation as soon as I finish the redwork sampler.    Life is too short to keep putting off such simple pleasures.