Then and Now: Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel

I am still concentrating on the WIP list that I compiled in October.  Once I have pared the number down below 10, I'll add a few more UFOs and perhaps one new start to keep things interesting.  I may as well take advantage of the momentum I am gaining now that the weather has turned cooler and I am spending more time indoors,.

I hope to be able to cross the Quaker Squirrel off the list by the weekend but for now I'll just show a when last seen photo and a current progress photo.

Since I consider this project one of my active WIPs, I was stunned to realize when I checked the blog archive that I haven't worked on it since July.  This is what it looks like after a day's stitching.

I have been mulling over what will be my next new start" either Workbasket's Quaker Bear or Sleepy Hollow.  The former would work up rather quickly but I am itching to stitch the later ever since I saw rspory's finish on her blog.  Enablers lurk everywhere on the internet.  The matter will be decided by what fabrics and floss I have in stash that might work for either project.

UFO > WIP > Finish in 48 Hours

I haven't touched this piece since August 2013.  It was started as a challenge piece earlier in the summer.  I made a miscounting error [one lousy thread]  that I didn't discover till I finished stitching the border ,,, which obviously didn't line up by said one lousy thread.,  Since I would have had to frog 1/3 of the border, I set it aside in disgust. I do have the occasional stitching tantrum.  I am not proud of the fact but the truth is inescapable.

I pulled the piece from the WIP basket Sunday night  and began the tedious task of frogging rice stitches.  It took several hours and once the frogging was done, I realized I had another problem.  In one of my re-organizing frenzies, I had inadvertently un-kitted the project.  Hence, my search through the archives of this blog to find the entry that listed the fibers used:  Belle Soie Apricot, Beanstalk and Terra Potta.  Then it was simply a matter of retrieving the proper floss and getting back to stitching.  The ease and speed of the whole process makes my tantrum seem such a tempest in a teapot!

Weekly WIP Status Report

A month or so ago, I listed the current WIPs in my overflowing basket.  It is way too long and in need of serious whittling down.  Since I still have a serious case of startitis, I thought that one way to keep the WIPs on my radar was to start a weekly status report.  Last time around, the list had fifteen entries.  I've completed a few projects since then [see photos below].  Since then, I have added one new piece to the list and finished up three small pieces on the list. Now there are 13  See photos below for the three projects I have completed this week.

CEC Sqimming Instructor

PS Year Round October

M Designs Name Tree: Sean

• M Designs Sean Name tree - with the As and Ns still to be stitched and beads to be attached.  DONE.
• CECs The Swimming Instructor - with the face still to be stitched and the beaded necklace still to be attached.  DONE
• The Jacobean Elegance afghan - with 15 more squares to be stitched.
• Making Waves needlepoint project - with more than 3/4s of the bargello rows and more than 2/3s of the eyelet area to be stitched.
• Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel - about half way done
• My own design, Fertile Circles needle book, the back panel needs finishing.
• My own design, Beach Find Pansies, to be completed and incorporated into an embellished crazy quilt square
• To Thine Own Self Be True freebie - need to frog an error in the border and restitch it.
• The Victoria Sampler Mystic Smalls class project - I need to stitch the needle book and the biscornu.
• The Prairie Schooler Year Round - need to stitch the October entry  DONE
• Another needlepoint project, Rice Pudding, using many variations of the rice stitch.
• Yet another needlepoint project, an Owl, again a project using lots of specialty stitches.
• Piper's Christmas stocking  adapted from a Dimensions kit.
• HAED's The Tangle Fairy, barely started
• The Goblin Market: I started this piece 9-25-15..

• Mill Hill Daffodil Easter Egg  Some progress made.

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Transitioning: Halloween > Thanksgiving

I've changed out the ornaments on the entry hall tree and moved a few smalls around but the generic Fall stuff remains in place for now.  The next change will come when the Christmas stuff goes up in December.

Still Catching Up: Some Finds

I've visited two antique and collectible malls recently, one in Coxsackie, NY and one in Nyack, NY.   I'll be keeping some of my finds and using others as gifts.

First, the gifts.

These two ruffled edge ruby glass plates will go to my sister-in-law who collects ruby glass.  You have got to love collectors; they are so easy to buy gifts for.

Now, for the keepers.

Months ago, I saw a photo on a stitching blog of a grouping of seasonal smalls displayed in a long, narrow wooden bread tray.  At the time, I thought, 'How clever!"  Well, I found one of my own and will be borrowing the idea.

I enjoy cooking and baking.  So it is not surprising that I have a small collection of vintage kitchen utensils.   I found this pretty little pastry cutter in one of the stalls at the Coxsackie mall.

Whenever I go browsing for collectibles I search for antique needlework tools and for interesting teaware.  Sometimes. I am lucky, sometimes not.  I haven't spotted anything recently in either category and that's seriously disappointing.

Catching Up

It's been a month since my last post and I really can't imagine how the time managed to slip by so quickly.  It was a busy month.  There was a family wedding: my niece/goddaughter married a very noce young man.  My husband and I took my mother on a four day Fall foliage vacation.  I finally got my glasses and all vision problems have been corrected.  And the usual routines seemed to speed up.  Halloween came and went.  I'll take things in chronological order.

First:  My niece made a beautiful bride and the whole family is delighted to welcome Steve into the fold.  The wedding ceremony itself was beautiful in the fine old church of St. Ann ... a Romanesque building with lots of gorgeous stained glass windows.  The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot.  A beautiful Indian Summer day!    It was a truly joyous occasion.

The reception was a different story.   At the beginning of the month, my ever so slowly healing eyes did not do well with the dj's strobe lights and the photographer's and videographer's hot white lights [on poles, yet, the better to blind everyone across the room].  My husband and I ended up leaving the reception early because the pressure in my eyes was becoming intolerable.  I am getting to be quite a crank about wedding receptions. One would think it  a great time to reconnect with scattered family and friends but the incessant loud music makes it impossible to have a conversation without shouting at even your nearest seat mate.  And while it is fun to watch the energetic young dance to hip hop and rap music, that pales after a while, especially since I don't really care for that sort of music.  Since none of my remaining single nieces and nephews [5 are married, leaving 14 possible brides/grooms] are likely to plan a sedate reception featuring an elegant meal with a string quartet playing chamber music in the background, I expect I'll just have to endure.  I do have a year's reprieve before the next one in October of 2016.  I'll be popping Ocuvite daily in preparation. 

The next weekend we took my Mom to our favorite spot in the Catskills, the Bavarian Manor Inn, to enjoy the fall foliage and some peace and quiet.  We did a lot of driving through beautiful country with spectacular views overlooking valleys and rising hillsides and Hudson River vistas.  Unfortunately, I was so busy enjoying the sights, I never once pulled out my camera.  I did remember to take a few shots at the inn, though.  The first is a shot of the porch, all dressed for Fall.  We spent a lot of time on the  porch, sitting, reading and talking.

I took another shot of the lawn but that's about it for the Fall color photography.  A pity since the color on our mountain drives was so much more dramatic.  We took Mom to a few antique and collectible malls.  And we ate like lords at the Inn's wonderful German restaurant.  As usual, the schnitzels and wursts were fabulous but the potato pancakes outshine every other item on the menu and are a small taste of heaven on earth.

And, of course, I have been stitching.

I finished the small PS promo design, started a week ago on Sunday and finished on Monday.  This was stitched on 30ct WDW Periwinkle linen using two strands Belle Soie Poison Apple, Oatmeal Scone, Ocean Tide, Espresso and DMC 783.  I'll finish it as an ornament.

Then I went on to do a lot more work on The Goblin Market.  When last seen, it looked like this.

But several hours of stitching daily have yielded this progress.  I am more than halfway through the piece.  The last project that I stitched to have such an extensive color palette was The English Band Sampler.  I must say I am really enjoying all the color in this piece.  To describe a goblin-themed chart as bright and cheerful must seem odd but that's the way this design strikes me.  Please excuse the poor indoor photograph.  I'll do better with the next one.

Then, I took a break with this one day wonder from Prairie Schooler, a 2013 complimentary chart of a Queen Bee. It was meant to be stitched on 18 ct black Aida and I did start it on some 36 ct black linen.  It was slow going till I decided to spare my eyes and switched to a 32 ct raw linen.  Then my needle flew.  I substituted Belle Soie silks for the recommended DMC cotton, using Buttercup, Creme de Menthe, Ocean Tide, Old Crow and Vanilla Pudding.

And, while not quite another one day wonder, the PS Year round for October is stitching up relatively quickly.  I am using a 36ct natural linen and Belle Soie silks: Carrot Cake, Collard Greens, Old Crow and Wheargrass.  I have only the leaf and stem to stitch, making this year round entry a two day project.

And finally, here's a photo of my last harvest: enough spearmint to make a large pitcher of iced tea, enough basil for a quick pesto sauce, some eggplant and some tomatoes in various stages of ripeness.  There was  enough eggplant for a small tray of eggplant parmigiana.  The green tomatoes ripened on the kitchen windowsill, keeping me supplied for two weeks.  The days are still relatively warm but the nights are getting colde.  I was afraid to leave anything on the vines much longer.

October Giveaway

I fussed a while trying to decide what this month's theme would be and finally came up with these three Glory Bee Christmas charts:

GB23: Dear Santa [... define good]

Gb53: Santa 2003  [...please leave toys but take my brother]

GB82: Believe  [When you stop believing in Santa, you get underwear]

Here is a link to the designer's website where you may view the designs.  I no longer have photos of my stitching of these due to a computer disaster.  

As usual, leave a comment if you'd like to receive these charts, making sure to include your e-mail address if your profile does not include that info.  I'll draw a name on the 15th so that there'll be plenty of time to stitch at least one of these up by Christmas.  They're actually very quick stitches: a determined stitcher could have all three done by Christmas.  I enjoyed making them up as gift totes many years ago and used them to"wrap" gifts for my nieces.

Stash Management

I have accumulated such an enormous collection of fabric, fiber, charts and embellishments over the years that I am well-provided in my retirement.

I have been organizing my stash so as to better enjoy it.  One of my loves is fiber.  There are just so many options available and I have a fairly representative collection.  [See my Gallery Post - Fibers as evidence of this].    The ownership of a favorite silk company, Belle Soie, has changed hands.  Since I am unlikely to find much more of the stuff and have many partial cards of many colors, I am systematically using up my stash of Belle Soie on smallish projects like the Prairie Schooler Primitive Americana and Prairie Schooler Year Rounds and this Prairie Schooler promo card, Stars and Stripes, from 2009.  Substituting the Belle Soie for DMC allows me the pleasure of stitching with silk and the righteous feeling of using what I have.  It would be such a pity to waste such lovely stuff.  I enjoy seeing the silk on linen.  I collect to use not to hoard.  

My next needlepoint starts, two small Nutcracker Christmas ornaments, will involve the same strategy.  I have loads of partial cards of Rainbow Gallery fibers of all kinds: perfect for adding interest and texture and shine to needlepoint canvas.  I've never understood the mentality of saving stuff just in case you'll need it later.  That works for money but not much else.  It's rather like never enjoying the good china at meals and always dining off Melmac.  I am probably dating myself by even mentioning Melmac, a hard plastic dinnerware that was a popular wedding shower gift back in the late 60s/early 70s.  Ugly designs and stubborn indestructibility were its main features.

But I digress.  I should stick to talking about stitching.  I need to buy a set or two of stretcher bars before I can start the ornaments.  Which is just as well considering all the WIPs in the basket already.  Even so, I have rediscovered a fondness for needlepoint and am anxious to start these little beauties in time for this Christmas.  I am afraid I am like a kid in a candy store now that I am retired ... I want to do it all ... and all at once.




I have also been trying to gather all my stash in one place, a sort of pre-inventory browsing and organizing effort, if you will,  In doing so, I have found four tubes of white linen I had forgotten I had,  A godsend really since I thought I was all out of white and needed to restock.  I also gathered up an appalling number of stitched but unfinished pieces that need to be transformed into useful or decorative items.  I'll be taking care of the Fall pieces first, and then the Christmas and then the miscellaneous.

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A Small Finish

The last of the Prairie Schooler Primitive Americana charts, Lady Liberty, is done.   I'll finish it as a flat stand up using one of the handy little acrylic braces that I bought from the Silver Needle [Tulsa]

I plan to spend most of the rest of my day alternating housekeeping and finishing Halloween pieces .  I hope to have loads of photos for tomorrow's post.

Pulling It Together For Autumn

Autumn has always been my favorite season.  It is evident in the quantity of decorative stitching items with a Fall theme.  The number rivals my Christmas collection.  Every year, I place an ornament tree in my entry hall, set out a half dozen or so framed pieces, scatter some smalls about the place.    Here are a few photos of  my Halloween and Fall season displays.   I 'll show photos of this year's decorations next week.  I need to do some heavy cleaning before I start the holiday season.

But this year I hope to do a little more.  I have gathered together 21 of my stitched but as yet unfinished or unframed or "some assembly required" Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving pieces and plan to work myself up into a finishing frenzy.  I'll need to hit the local Michael's and A. C. Moore for some frames, craft paints, matte board and pillow forms ... as well as the local quilt shop for a light bulb for my sewing machine and some spools of thread and a few properly autumnal finishing fabrics... before I can get started     Tomorrow is a day for running errands, so I'll just add these tasks to my to-do list.  That way I'll be ready to start on all these projects over the weekend.

It's amazing just how many unfinished projects  have been languishing in the great laundry basket of finishing.  In no particular order, here are a few photos of projects that I hope to see through to a final finish this month.

Halloween Revelry by Primitive Needle From JCS Sept 2009.  I fell in love with this quirky piece as soon as I saw it.  I hope to make it into a large throw pillow.

This piece is called Hat in a Cat from The Cricket Collection.  A riff on Dr,Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.  I [lan to finish it as recommended, as a doorstop, by filling it with shredded walnut shells.

This piece, called Nevermore, references the Edgar Allen Poe poem, The Raven and comes from the same CEC leaflet mentioned above,  Every time I look at it I can hear Vincent Price intoning, "Quoth the raven, nevermore,"

This little witch is another piece that I stitched so long ago that I have no clue as to designer or design name.  I'll finish it as a small pin pillow.

Here's another unidentified older jack-o-lantern chart, probably a freebie.  It was stitched with over dyed cotton in vertical  curved rows and so dates from 2005 when I took a class at CATS on using over dyed floss most effectively.  Over dyed floss was still relatively new back then and sich a now obvious choice was a fresh idea.  O'll make it into a Trick or Treat bag for oe of my grandchildren.

This is called Owl Row by Homespun Elegance.  One of my favorite designers, HE has a very distinctive look;  I'll finish this as an ornament.

This is another piece that I have no clue as to provenance.  When I have a moment, I'll dig out my old hand written stitching journals and try and trace it.  I think this would make an adorable trick or treat bag.

This Haunted House was probably a freebie,  It should make a nice little pin pillow,

This is a Shepherd's Bush Be Attitudes entry: Be a Witch.  This fun little piece is destined to be a Trick or Treat Bag for my granddaughter who is the princess  of pink every other day of the year.

Another Primitive Needle piece, Here Lies My Needle, will make a nice pillow for my stitching chair.

There are four designs on this one piece of linen, all destined to be pin pillows.  Tansy, Yarrow and Rue are from Pineberry Lane and the A is for Acorn piece was probably a freebie.

Pineberry Lane's Autumn on Marigold Lane should make another lovely throw pillow.

Changing the color way to Fall colors and replacing the flower motif with thrifty and saavy squirrels transformed this Earth Day sampler into a Fall sampler.  The original chart was offered as a freebie on Heartstrings blog.

This Pineberry Lane Tansy, Yarrow and Rue sampler has a harvest feel to me given the colors and the lady's rake.  I imagine she is putting the herb garden to bed for the coming winter.  I don't yet know how I want to finish this ... maybe I'll try my hand at framing if I can fid one the right size and style.

Brightneedle's Esmeralda's House is a  delight to the eye, wonderfully quirky with loads of visual puns and jokes.  Every time I post a photo, I get an e-mail asking me to sell the chart.  But since I was lucky enough to take a class with Ann Pettit, my copy is autographed and a permanent part of my collection of treasured charts.   And who knows I may use individual rooms to stitch some Halloween exchange pieces in the future.

Witches Stitch, Too is a Halloween companion piece to another  Homespun Elegance chart, The Stitcher.  I have toyed with making the two [oeces into a flippable pillow.

I used Prairie Schooler's Harvest Time leaflet as the basis of a round robin I participated  in back in 2010.  I stitched the top panel and used the acorn border from 2001 Cross Stitch Designs from Better Hoes and Gardens.  The other participants used either autumn leaves from the above mentioned chart or scenes from Prairie Schooler's Country Seasons chart.

My first Secret Needle Night, which I adapted a bit to my own tastes.  I need to finish the quilting using an acorn motif from Tom Pudding before turning it into a large shopping tote.

This is the very first piece I ever stitched with over dyed floss.  I used Needleworks on this design from an old Celebrations magazine chart.  It's so olf, it is stitched on a piece of Aida and I have been stitching on linen for three decades.








There are still a few more Halloween pieces left in the basket but those are pieces I wish to have professionally framed in 2016.  I tend to pace myself when framing since I always seem to go for  the more expensive options ... the 2015 framing projects are The English Band Sampler and TW's Autumn Faerie.