My Christmas Stitching

Hi everyone,

Christmas is over in our house - it always goes fast at the end.  Thought I would post a photo of one of the golden crackers on the tree...right there next to whoever that Disney character is!

I learned a few things this year about Christmas and my family :)

1.  There's a reason people have fake trees - so they don't have to get under it twice a day to water it!  Also, most fake trees come pre-lit! Thereby giving you an extra 3 hours to decorate.

2.  If you make a needlepoint Christmas pillow THEY WILL SIT ON IT!  Not pick it up and admire it!!  Although, when you gasp they will pick it up and stare at it wondering if it is about to explode or something.

And, so now on to the New Years resolutions which are usually the same as last years....finish more projects and learn to make soup!

Happy Stitching,

Linda

Eat Your Heart Out

Hi Everyone,

It's BACK!  And a good thing Ruth packs well as the box did not look good on my doorstep :)  I get to keep the pillow until the end of January when it goes to the birthday girl!

Here's a picture of the edge... I love the rolled finish- that's ribbon wrapped around the edge

And as a last thought for today...if you have WAY TOO MANY Christmas ornaments, they make a nice centerpiece on the table and if you are really generous...party favors

But guess who's left in the kitchen to watch?  Don't worry she has presents...

Merry Christmas,

Linda

Work Stoppage

Hi everyone,

My friend Mary has stopped asking me when I am going to post an entry on my blog.  I told her you can't post if you're not stitching.  Not only have I not been stitching I put off Christmas shopping and decorating until YESTERDAY.  With everyone coming in for a week I have now put everything away until New Year's. So I have a few photos to show you what Floridians do when they are slacking off :)


Here are Eric and Emily flying to get stone crabs... (I think I stayed behind to nap)

Here's the Little October Witch Angel - love how this is turning out.  Stopped her after Thanksgiving :)

Then there's the partridge from my Melissa Shirley 12 Days of Christmas (you've already seen this)

But, last Sunday we had to take a day off to go up to the center of the state to see REAL ones!   Real ones don't wear beads FYI...

 

And lastly in order to rest up for the week ahead we flew to Useppa Island for 2 days of reading and sleeping.  Yes I did start on the 4th day of Christmas !

And this week we will be thankful for our families and pray for those who have lost so so much.

Merry Christmas,

Linda

The Three Days of Christmas

Hi everyone,

Here they are all lined up - the three days of Christmas!  Yes, I know there are 12 ...the other 9 are in the drawer waiting their turn.

Here's the Partridge

and the Turtle Doves

and the Three French Hens..

I think the borders are getting prettier with each one.

Have a great weekend stitching!

Linda

Little People Count

Hi everyone,

Tonight's the night!  It's all over but the counting!!   Tomorrow back to drug ads and perfume ads for Christmas.

Here is how we voted in Florida..  yes that was an hour long line (which was short)

With all the hoopla I have been working on the "little projects".   I probably have 20 to 1 little to big projects in my stash so here they are from crackers to angels

First the crackers.......

Ooh a finished one.....

And almost done with the third day of Christmas - need someone to help with the cording....

And here is my October angel - super cute...check out the beaded pumpkins...and, there is a different border on each one....

Enjoy the results tonight !  Remember we are all AMERICANS!!

See you on the other side of the election,

Linda

Jump Right In

Hi everyone,

I have been stitching and ripping but not blogging.  Since finishing the Mod Heart I have started Broom Parking and like the excited needlepointer that I am, I jumped right on in to the new project!  Well, the first lesson I learned with this new project is one that I should have known all along.

Step back and do a little thinking before jumping in.  The background stitch is in units of 15 so why not count the UNITS that will fit on the canvas.  Guess who didn't do that?..I got to the bottom of the area and there were only 6 threads, not 15. And so I ripped.

Good thing it was long stitches.  Now after learning that (the hard way) do you think I counted across??? to see if it would fit?  Absolutely not.  But I can tell you that it does fit since I just made it to the other side.

Now I got to the other side and it is necessary to COMPENSATE around a broom.  After and hour of trying that I decided to sacrifice a thread and just stitch over the broom.  When I get to more purple I will know exactly where I am in the stitch and then I can take out the thread that is over the broom.  DUH!

Now for my husband's words of wisdom as he watched me rip out the purple.  "You didn't almost die because of it... it's just thread and a little time."    Which leads me to why I haven't been blogging...you see he had to make an emergency landing in the chopper and I am lucky to have him.  Here is his baby without rotor blades being carried away to the shop where it still is today.

Keep stitching,


Linda

Love Me Do

Mod Heart Mystery Class

Today is all about expanding your horizons!  As a quilter, I have done trapunto but I never thought it would work on canvas!  Way too tight - NOT.  And easier than it looks!  Baste, backstitch and stuff!

Pin and Baste ...I stuck the pins in instead of really pinning them.  Then I basted the edges

Backstitch so it's tight

Then slit and stuff...careful don't cut the needlepoint stitching!

Then whipstitch it closed ( aren't you glad I don't do cosmetic surgery).  Take out the basting stitches and trim around the heart!  Finished!!

Here's the topside view - all that has to be done is outline the heart with the gold braid to hide the backstitches and give it a finished look

And that is stepping outside the box!

Have a Happy Weekend

Linda

The Little Gingham Dress

Hi everyone,

I am once again working on three things at a time - can't seem to get away from that.  This month it is  the last lesson on the Mod Heart, a new Christmas Cracker and The Stitching Club.

The Stitching Club is a Melissa Shirley canvas with 5 girls on it.  We will have one class a month for each girl.  Saturday we started with the girl on the far right of the canvas and learned diagonal plaid.  That's one step harder than regular plaid (naturally).


Here's the first pass.  You pick a pattern - here it is 2-2-1 and stitch it over and over in diagonal lines.

Then you start back the other way.  See how it starts to make a plaid?

And here is the finished jumper.

THEN so I won't get bored...

One more lesson on the heart!

And the Christmas Cracker!  Love the couched ribbon on the border!!  I hope to finish this today and then I will only be working on 2 things!  I think I need a needlepoint Lazy Susan...

I am stitching as fast as I can!

Linda

Meet Fred

Hi everyone,

I just couldn't resist!  Did you see the Peekaboo Kitty finished on Vicky's blog?

Here's my daughter's cat, Fred.

Now what canvas do you think I need to do next?

Happy weekend,

Linda

Grateful Dead Update

Just in case you thought I left my mind back in the early 70s...I do know how to spell the Grateful Dead.  And Love Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream!

Back to the flower power piece,

Linda

Back to School

Mod Heart

Hi everyone,

Just a short post to show you the progress I'm making in Heart class.  I'm trying to do about an hour of homework every night while Emily watches through the gate.  She has never been in my stitching room, but there is a see through baby gate!

This project will be for my youngest daughter who swears she was born in the wrong decade and is bewildered by the fact that I do not know all the lyrics to every song from the 60s!  When she was in  middle school we went to a lot of concerts with aging rockers...and their fans who thought they were still in high school.  That was troubling!  So I have seen Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, The Greatful Dead, Simon and Garfunkel, the Monkees and many other bands twice!  Some bands I have seen three times!!  I even have an album where I kept the ticket stubs...I apparently went to a Three Dog Night concert on November 1, 1969.  Guess what it cost?  $6 per ticket.  Well, that dates me for sure.  I'm not sure Molly knows what a ticket stub actually is.

Heart closeup

So back to school I go every night.  At least there's no traffic!

Keep stitching,

Linda

Spontaneous Combustion

Hi everyone,

It is so hot here that if you spend more than 20 minutes outside you think you will just burst into flames!  We are spending most of our time IN the water or riding ON the water or looking AT the water or DRINKING water.

Even Emily is in on the act.

Emily on the boat

Emily doing beach cleanup

Since my last post I have received Halloween finishing...

Halloween monster

Salamander candy

Candy dish

I have my UFO assignment for 2013...Here were my 3 choices

Boat Buddies was a HAVE TO HAVE canvas that I have not started yet, but has tons of ribbon flowers

Boat Buddies

My David McCaskill Firecracker which I need a cattle prod to finish

Firecracker base

Check out the bunting

And last but not least the chapter favorite and my project to finish... Rebecca.  Good thing they chose this one, I have 4 more to go!

Have a great weekend.  Stay cool!

Linda

Christmas Crackers

Hi everyone,

I have finished the first of the Melissa Shirley Christmas Crackers.  Talk about instant gratification!  It probably took a total of 6 hours of stitching.  With all the complicated projects that I have going on that require such THINKING,  this was a relief!  And a great way to support your LNS.

I did pick up a few tips during my 6 hours of stitching the cracker.  I now love Elegance thread - this was the first time I used it - SO much better than Trebizond.  The elegance "kept its twist" the whole way through and I didn't have to use short lengths.

The second thing I learned was to use a beading mat.  It's a lot faster than trying to dig the beads out of the tacky bobs.  Although the bobs are great for storing the beads so it's a trade off.

Tonight is our ANG meeting where we choose our big project to finish for 2012-2013.  Will keep you posted!

Happy Stitching,

Linda