Happy Easter!

Happy Easter one and all!

This is an ornament that I found on a German Blog, it was too cute not to stitch!  I must stitch a few more Easter themed ornaments so it is not so lonely.m

Sue's Round Robin piece

I stitched up Sue's Round Robin piece.  She chose the Stitcher's Alphabet by Brooks Books Designs.  They are free charts on her web site.  It stitched up rather quickly.

This marks the end of the 4 person Round Robin!  The next envelope in the mail will be mine coming back home.

Little House Needleworks Ornaments

I received the first set of Little House Needleworks ornaments from the finisher before Christmas, and never had a chance to post them, so here they are.  Some of them were stitched more than once as gifts, but I only showed you one of each.











I also stitched two more, one from a JCS Ornament Issue and one other LHN chart.

I am currently working on the second set of ornaments, and will eventually also stitch the third.....I will need a bigger tree.....

Sampler au bouqet part 2 finished

As a stitching-a-long with members of a facebook group, I began stitching this sampler at the beginning of the year.  I am happy to report that I have now finished part 2.   I don't normally stitch this type of sampler, but I am really enjoying it!

Part 2 was the biggest of the 3 parts, so I don't really have as much to stitch to get part 3, the final part finished.

Barb originally stitched this piece, then sent the chart to Lynn, where it made the rounds of a few other Canadian stitchers, who then sent it to Michelle, who then passed it on to me.  Another stitcher is waiting for the charts once I am done, and I think there is already someone in line behind her.....kind of like a traveling pattern.

Here is part 1 and 2 together.....now to get started on part 3 so that I can pass on the chart

Some Ornaments

 Here are some ornaments by Sue Hillis that have finaly been ornamentified!

The first two are done on 28 count over 1 with one strand of floss.  One was in the JCS Ornament Issue, and one was in the Ornament Preview issue. 

 Another one from a JCS Ornament issue, I think I did it on 28 count over two.  It ended up kind of big, and I should have done it over one, but I don't want to do it over again.

This last one was also in a JCS Ornament Issue.  I have stitched this one a number of time, and given it away each time.  This one is for me!

Texas Stitching.....

Over the years I have done quite a bit of Texas Stitching.  Sadly, the Texan that was the recipient of that stitching chose to no longer be a part of our family.  The Twelve Days of Texas Christmas was to be his birthday gift last July, but they are still here, never gifted to the intended recipient.



 





Additionally, the Texas Monthly Minis that were given to him as a gift a few years ago, were left behind when he moved out.  They were still packaged the way I had given them, which leads me to believe they were never hung on the tree and were not appreciated.

Another piece of Texas stitching is this piece by Eventide Designs.  It was charted to be a needleroll or a flat picture.  I had done this one and Illinois version also and framed them both in the same frame.  I will figure out what to do with the Illinois one in the frame (perhaps do something else in the empty opening) but the Texas one is something that we don't really have a connection to any longer.

So what does one do with Texas items when one no longer has a connection to the state, and the recipient is no longer interested in having them?  Well, we have chosen a new person to be our favorite Texan, and they will be packaged up and sent to Texas.  Justin has always seemed interested in my needlework and left kind comments and e-mails over the years.  I hope he and his family will treasure my stitching for years to come.

Darla's RR

 

Darla's 4 person Round Robin came in the mail today, and I sat right down and stitched it!  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It is stitched on a 25 count pale yellow fabric, over two threads.  I forgot the name of it by it is by Ink Circles.

March TUSAL Report

I am really late with this one, but here is my
March TUSAL (totaly useless stitch-a-long) report. Lots of stitching has been going on. 

Welcome Stitchery Trip

Today 8 of us met at Welcome Stitchery for some Stash enhancement, and then had lunch together at Finn McCool's around the corner. 

This picture shows Lea, Debbie and Marguerite.

Trudi, I and Tracy were so tired after all that shopping that we just had to lay down in the booth!

Kay was taking the pictures, so we didn't get a shot of her, and Sara is missing from the photos too!

Holly was shopping but couldn't stay for lunch.

It was fun!  We need to do it again soon!

More Round Robins



 Two more of my recent Round Robin pieces.  This first one is Cynthia's.  It's one of the Whipsered by the Wind Friendship Quilt charts.

This one is Leta's.  It was a Tulip Sampler, I think by Rosewood Manon.   They were both fun to stitch.

Another Bellpull finish

This bellpull was also stitch some time ago, but I never showed you the "finished" finish.....

It is a design from Handblessings Designs that was released on section per month at our EGA Guild meeting.  Each band has a different specialty stitch or two.

To my knowledge, the design was never released in this form. 

I am not too happy with the final finishing, I think I need to find some wider bell pull hardware, so that I can have some fabric showing on each side.

How Does your Garden Grow?

With the lovely spring weather that we should be having, I am reminded of this piece that I finished stitching quite some time ago, and finally finished as a bell pull a few months ago.  I never showed you the final picture, so here it is!

This is a free design from Papillon Creations.  It was released as a mystery stitch-a-long, one part each month for 12 months.  We were just told to pick 4 colors for the flowers and two shades of green for the leaves and vines, and one color of beads......it wasn't easy!  There were three different version of the charts also, a two or three color cross stitch version, a six color cross stitch version, and a six color specialty stitch version.  I chose the most challenging, the specialty stitch version.  I chose to stitch it on stitch banding, with Glorianna silks. 

It was truly a joy to stitch, but sat unfinished for a long time because I need the scroll bars for a class project.  Once that project was done, I put this one back on and finished the stitching in no time!   The final finishing was another story.

 

It took me awhile to figure out how to finish off the back for the bell pull, but once I found the right product at a quilt shop, it was finished in no time.  It looks much more sparkly in person with the gold beads......

 

 

 

 

 

Palatine Library Exhibit

Our EGA chapter, Needle's Nest, did a needlework display at the Palatine Library during the month of March.  We were all to bring various items to our February meeting so that Tammy, our 2nd vice president, could have the display ready on March 1st.

Then the snow storm hit....and we had to cancel the meeting.  But many of our members, yours truly included, got our items to Tammy.

I snagged these photos from Michelle's facebook page.











My things are on the bottom shelves, and are hard to see in the pictures.  I gave Tammy a lot of table toppers and runners as well as some smalls.  I also gave her a needlepoint pillow and a monk's cloth tote bag.

It is a great exhibit, and I hope to get down there before the month is over so that I can get some close ups of my things.

Rose Quaker, page 1 finished

Most of this past weekend's stitching time was spent working on Rose Quaker by Stickideen von der Wiehenburg. 

I finished up page 1 (out of 8 pages) this evening.  I am stitching it on 25 count ivory lugana, with one strand of DMC over 1 fabric thread. 

On to page 2.....

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

This past weekend was the 3rd IHSW of the year, and although I had some other things going on  (like vertigo, sleeping, etc), I did manage to get a fair amount of stitching in.  I made good progress on Sampler au bouquet 2 and made even better progress on page 1 of Quaker Rose Sampler.  I won't bore you with pictures until each page is done, but that will be soon in the case of the Quaker Rose Sampler.

 

A Faculty Meeting

After German School today, we had a faculty meeting.  It was held at the new HofbräuhausChicago.  It was probably the most fun I have ever had at a faculty meeting, probably because there was beer involved. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hofbräuhaus is new. In fact, it is so new that they haven’t even had their grand opening yet.  It will be held on Monday, March 18^th.  Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, it was quite lively!  There was a band playing, and the beer flowed freely.  I had Jägerschnitzel with a Radler to wash it down.  I split desert with another teacher, and probably don’t need to eat for a week now. 

Blue Heart Finished

I got the missing beads the other day, and now the heart is completely finished!

This is the third Marne Ritter heart that I have done.  I do like doing these, as part of the proceedes from the kits she sells goes to breast cancer research.

Someday, I will ornamentify this one and the other two.....

Cruise, Last Day

Our last full day aboard ship was at sea, and we had both morning and afternoon stitching sessions back in the dining room.  During the morning session, Claudia and Elizabeth helped with any questions stitchers had on their projects.

During the afternoon session, I covered construction of the star shaped biscornu.  I have stitched it twice so far for Sue and will need to stitch it once more for myself. 

 

Sue also presented another cruise project, an exclusive stitcher’s necklace.












 

 

 

There were more door prize drawings, and by the time we were through every stitcher received a door prize.  There was also a grand door prize drawing won by Sandy Falconer, who claims she never wins anything!

 

There was one last dinner together that evening, and it just as yummy as all the other evenings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun cruise, I really enjoyed the time aboard ship with Sue and all the other stitchers, some who have become very good friends over the years.  Hope to do it all again someday!

Cruise Day 5

On Thursday in Cozumel, Sue and I, along with Jan, Stephanie and Priscilla, took a Mexican cooking class.  It was great fun, and we loved eating what we created with the guidance of Chef Louis. 

 

 

 

 

Although we made everything in reverse order, here is the appetizer, a Sope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main course was a fish dish.  Very tasty!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desert was fried plantains with a chocolate sauce.  It was a very enjoyable morning!

Cruise Day 4

On Wednesday, Sue and I (and our handsom escort, Karl) went to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins and then took a river cruise back to port.  It was very interesting, but…once you have seen one pair of iguanas, you don’t need to see many more.  They all look alike.  

 

 

 

The monkeys however, were a different story.  I got lots of pictures of the howler monkeys for Logan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we were back aboard ship, we took this group picture.  A few people were missing because their tenders were late getting back to the ship, but for the most part here is our great looking group.









 

 

Cruise Day 3

 

We were scheduled to dock in Roatan, Honduras, but the seas were too rough and the captain felt he could not safe dock the boat.  After a number of failed attempts in two different harbors, it was decided that we would spend the day at sea. 

 

 

No one from our group seemed to mind, and many spent the day in the stitching lounge, happily stitching for most of the day. 

Cruise Day 2

 

 

Day 2 of our cruise found us dockeding in the Cayman Islands, and where we were tendered on to shore.  Many stitchers spent the day exploring beautiful Grand Cayman.

 

 

It was a beautiful day, although it was quite warm, actually it was hot! 

Sue and I walked around, and stopped at MargaritaVille and the Hard Rock Cafe.

 

Once back on board ship, Sue invited all the stitchers and their traveling companions to a cocktail reception before dinner.   I enjoyed my chocolate martini....it was yummy!

 

 

Cruise Day 1

We met back in the dining room after breakfast, ready to start stitching! 

Besides Sue, we had two other designers along for the cruise; Claudia Dutcher Kistler of Dutch Treat Designs and Elizabeth Tallado of Dames of the Needle. 

 

 

 

 

Cruise tote bags were distributed to each stitcher

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone was very excited when Sue’s cruise project was revealed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone got busy stitching as soon as Sue gave a bit of instruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a break for lunch, we were moved to a different area of the dining room.  Apparently we were having too much fun and were disturbing the group of business men that had meeting on the other side of the large dining room.  We didn’t let it bother us, and continued to enjoy each other’s company while we stitched. 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Talledo of Dames of the Needle presented her wonderful project about South American mermaids and gave instruction to stitchers that needed help.

 

 

Claudia Kistler of Dutch Treat Designs presented her project and give some instructions on the tips and techniques of stitching a table topper and stitchers started stitching on a small version of the table topper to get used the Anne Cloth before graduating to the topper itself.

 

  

Before heading off to dinner, we were warned: