My Little Hearts - May

I recently finished the May square of Sylvia's stitch-a-long.

I love how this one is turning out!

EMS Rose Sampler Take two

I recently had a chance to stitch up part of this sampler. I really enjoy working on it even though this is the second time I am stitching this project, and hope to stitch one part each month until its finished.

Stitched on 25 count antique white Lugana, over 1, with one strand of DMC variations.

Handblessings Designs progress

Before the end of April, I managed to stitch the April chart of the Year of Favor of Our Lord project. This project is very enjoyable to stitch, I can do a square in an evening or two.

April Progress - May Goals

It wasn't a good month, stitching wise.....didn't get much stitching done. Hopefully May will be better!

April Progress
Bavarian Table Topper yes
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas no
10 hours on Logan’s stocking no
November cup ‘o Tea no
8th day of Texas Christmas ornament started it
Quilt square for Loves Quilts no
April Handblessings project yes
afghan square #9 no
Mystery sampler part 8 no
Work on Cloister garden no
Meine Herzchen April yes
EMS Rose Sampler Part 2 started it
Work on Crystal Iris no
Bent Creek photo booth no
LHN Ornament no
Kit up Logan’s birth sampler and perhaps take a few stitches no
Choose and kit up Erika’s wedding sampler decided which one to stitch, have everything needed



May Goals
work on Bavarian Table Topper
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas
10 hours on Logan’s stocking
November cup ‘o Tea
8th day of Texas Christmas ornament
Quilt square for Loves Quilts
May Handblessings project
afghan square #9
Mystery sampler part 8
Work on Cloister garden yes
Meine Herzchen May yes
EMS Rose Sampler Part 2 yes
Work on Crystal Iris
Bent Creek photo booth
LHN Ornament
Kit up Logan’s birth sampler and perhaps take a few stitches
Erika’s wedding sampler

My Little Hearts - April

I finished the April installment this past weekend. Here it is so far.

Cubs Season Opener

Even Murphy is sad that the Cubs lost their opening game......

March Progress and April Goals

March Progress
Bavarian Table Topper yes
Pin cushion for exchange yes
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas no
10 hours on Logan’s stocking yes
October cup ‘o Tea yes
7th day of Texas Christmas ornament yes
Quilt square for Loves Quilts yes
March Handblessings project yes
afghan square #8 yes
Mystery sampler part 8 no
Work on Cloister garden no
Meine Herzchen January yes
Meine Herzchen February yes
Meine Herzchen March yes
EMS Rose Sampler Part 1 yes
Start a Counted Canvas project yes started Crystal Iris
Start Bent Creek photo booth no
Start a LHN Ornament no


April Goals
Bavarian Table Topper
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas
10 hours on Logan’s stocking
November cup ‘o Tea
8th day of Texas Christmas ornament
Quilt square for Loves Quilts
April Handblessings project
afghan square #9
Mystery sampler part 8
Work on Cloister garden
Meine Herzchen April
EMS Rose Sampler Part 2
Work on Crystal Iris
Bent Creek photo booth
LHN Ornament

Love Quilts finish

I finally finished a square for Love Quilts. I had resolved to stitch at least 1 square each for this worthwhile cause, but it has to be stitched on aida, and I hate stitching on aida. The design is from Stoney Creek's Jungle Babies.

Last year, I didn't stitch a square because every chart I picked up had tons of fractional stitches and since it has to be stitched on aida (did I mention I hate stitching aida?) I just couldn't bring myself to stitch. This year I found a design without fractional stitches, but it had large color blocks.....can you say boring? I am just glad it is done!

Off to stitch something else on my list, on evenweave....did I mention that I hate stitching on aida?

A Year of Favor from the Lord Quilt project

At our guild meeting on Tuesday, we received the March chart for this project.

I stitched it up right away, so here you can see the first three months of the project.

Eileen Gurak, of Handblessings Designs told us that this is a promotal chart, and we could pass on copies of the design to anyone that wanted it. So....if any of you in blogger land are interested in stitching this piece, let me know and I can mail you the first three charts, and then send you three more charts every three months.

Spring!

Last spring I was part of an exchange with the Divas, but my part of the exchange never arrived. It is floating out there somewhere, or was misdirected by the USPS. Although I told Nancy not to, she stitched another piece for me and I just love it! It is so perfect for this time of year. I just love bunnies and Easter and spring and flowers and baskets....so I don't have to tell you that I just love this cube!

Thank you Nancy, you didn't have to, but I am glad you did!

October Cup 'O Tea

10 down and 2 to go!

I finished up the October Tea Cup chart the other day. I am really fond of Halloween, so I wasn't sure I was going to like this design, but I just couldn't skip a month so I just bit the bullet and stitched it. I suprised myself and found it really enjoyable to stitch.

Only two more tea cups left to do!

The Sending of the Green

I recently participated in a "Green" exchange on the Threads of Life message board. I received this wonderful package from Elaine. So many lovely green things. I especially love the Ladybug socks!

Below you can see what I sent Suzie for this exchange. It was fun hunting for green things to include.

7th Day of Texas Christmas

Since I am back to my rotation, I was able to stitch up the 7th in this series of Texas ornaments. Only 5 more to go!

Northwood Afghan progress

I finally got back to the Northwoods afghan and stitched another pine tree block. I have 8 blocks stitched to date. Hopefully I can stay back on track and get this finished in 2010.

EMS Rose Sampler, Take Two

I stitched Ellen Maurer-Stoh's Rose Sampler in 2008. I loved stitching it, but the end result was a rather large piece even though it was stitched on 32 count fabric. I had no place to hang such a large piece, so I gave it to Sue who loves it! She has it hanging in her home office.

I still love the piece. The cabbage roses and the scalloped part near the top remind me very much of a piece of embroidery that hung in my Oma's kitchen as I was growing up. The roses and scallops are traditional Austro-Hungarian themes and are close to my heart. I knew I had to stitch the piece again for myself.

This time I am stitching it on 25 count antique white Lugana over 1 thread with 1 strand of DMC Variations floss. Part 1 is now finished, and I am please with the way it looks. Perhaps next month I can stitch part 2.

My Little Heart SAL

Sylvia is hosting a Stitch-a-long on her blog! My Little Hearts is her own design, and she is releasing 1 square per month. I have finished the first 3 months to date. I did adjustments to the colors in the border and the hearts in each square, and I am quite happy with the results. I look forward to stitching these sweet little charts each month.

A 12 Part Stitch-a-Long

The EGA Chapter that I belong to has a 12-part project that many of us are doing. The vice president of our chapter is Eileen Gurak of Handblessings Designs and she is sharing her designs with us.








I had a great deal of trouble tracking down the fabric and one of the fibres, but I finally got it all together and was able to get the January and
February installments stitched. We will be receiving the next chart at our March meeting and I look forward to stitching it.

February Progress and March Goals

After a bunch of model stitching (most of it on short notice) both last year and the past two months, I finally feel like I can get my rotation back on track. I am much more productive in my stitching if I set goals for myself, so here we are!

February Progress
Start Bavarian Table Topper yes
Finish Thank Heaven for Little Girls Model yes
Valentine Ornament yes
September Cup ‘O Tea yes
January Handblessings project yes
February Handblessings project yes


March Goals
Bavarian Table Topper
Pin cushion for exchange
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas
10 hours on Logan’s stocking
October cup ‘o Tea
7th day of Texas Christmas ornament
Quilt square for Loves Quilts
March Handblessings project
afghan square #8
Mystery sampler part 8
Work on Cloister garden

Back to the Tea Cups

Now that the emergency model stitching is done, I can get back to my regularly scheduled stitchine. I am quite behind on my rotation, and all my goals have just flown out the window.

I stitched the September Cup 'O Tea chart from Just Another Button Company this past week. It was a bit frustrating as I ran out of the main color and had to hunt down more so that I could continue stitching. Then there was the visit from the frog, causing me to restitch the outside border 4 (yes, count 'em, 4) times! But I finally got it right!

A New to Me Shop

I am still short some floss for an upcoming project, and I didn't want to drive all the way out to Welcome Stitchery for just a little bit. I remembered this needlepoint shop in Northbrook, not to far from my office, so that's where I went on Tuesday's lunch hour.

North Shore Needleworks is great shop, even if you don't do Needlepoint! It has lots and lots of fibres! I was able to pick up the few skeins of Weeks that I needed, and was able to check out the Caron Wildflowers colors so that I can make some color changes to a future project. I wouldn't go there for lots of overdyed cotton, because they are a bit more expensive than Welcome Stitchery, but when you need one or two skeins, it is a handy option.

I found out that they also do framing and finishing, so I will keep them in mind for those services, too.