Nov: Off the Assembly Line

Here is a sneak peak at my latest finish.
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This is a portion of the project I stitched for Round 4 on the Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. I mailed it off today and will post the full picture after my partner receives it.

Over the weekend I manged to complete a few ornaments:


Left: Believe (freebie from The Sampler Girl) finished as a small pillow ornament.
Middle: Nutcracker (from an old cross stitch magazine)
Right: Renne de Noel (Valarie) (freebie) finished as a humbug ornament.

Today after I returned from the post office I had this beautiful ornament waiting for me.

PS Chart #25 Up On the House Top
32ct Vintage Sand Dune
recommended DMC
This was stitched for me by Edgar. It is beautifully stitched and finished. It has a wonderful ruffled plaid ribbon for the finished edge and the hanger. A wonderful addition to my collection. Thank you Edgar, your work is appreciated and it will be cherished.

Thanks for stopping by,

Gwen

Happy Thanksgiving!

Frog infestation

I hoped to be sharing my finish of Softly Walk over the weekend. I found out that my project had a frog infestation. I had miscounted the placement of my verse, the two lines started running together so I had to rip it.. rip it.... I finally got the verse restitched on Sunday, but I have not been able to get a good picture. Since the time change, when I get home the lighting is bad or not existent. It seems to get dark by 5PM now. 'How to finish the piece?' is the question that I have to decide. I have seen several different treatments of this piece from framing to pillows and they all looking like good choices. I have 2 pieces of left over fabric that may work for a pillow back and piping.
Decisions .... decisions ..... I guess this will be my first project for Halloween 2010.

Something Wicked: Vonna's, The Attic's, Corine's, Gandja's

Softly Walk is finally finished:

Softly Walk
La-D-Da
This week I will be working on an exchange project and finishing some ornaments that have been languishing on the finishing pile for way to long.

Love and Stitches,

Gwen

edited to add link

Treats not Trix

Last weekend I attended ASG at Hilton Head, South Carolina. This is one of my favorite retreats each year. Our classes this year centered around a nautical theme. Rae Iverson of Moss Creek Designs was our hostess and teacher, along with Jackie du Plessis of It's Fine-ally Finished, and Marcy Pumphret of Scrimshaw by Marcy. I must say, I approached Marcy's class with intimidation. How could someone with no artistic ability enjoy or get anything from this mere 4 hour block of time? Well, I am here to tell that I not only survived but I had a great time. Marcy is a very patient and gracious teacher. She made us all believe in our ability to at least try the the technique and each person left class with a greater appreciation for the art of scrimshaw and each piece that we own or hope to collect in the future.
Jackie's piece for this year was The Ship to Shore Etui ( sailboat with pinkeep and needlebook sails, scissor holder and option scrim anchor) and Rae's piece was a Fish Purse Etui. Both pieces are just stunning. It will be hard to decide which to stitch first.

This week I finished stitching Softly Walk, tonight I will be working on Something Wicked. I was almost able to get it done but, I need another couple of hours to finish the verse and put in the border.

Gwen

Progress Report

I have been stitching on Softly Walk, I am not finished it yet. I finished the bottom border and I'm working on the flowers on each side, but I don't have a recent picture. I started working on Something Wicked and made some progress on Friday night and Sat. I wouldn't get much stitching done this week, but I hope to have it done before the 31st.

Something Wicked
La-D-Da
35ct Havanna
DMC

My most recent finish is a beaded project. I have had this in my stash for awhile and finally finished Frizzed. This project is by Fern Ridge Collection and was originally meant to be a necklace, but I made mine a pin.

Frizzled
Fern Ridge Collection

Thanks for stopping by,

Gwen

Halloween stitching

I have finished a few Halloween pieces. The first two are Mill Hill Autumn Harvest Kits.

Wanda's Hat .............................. Magical Spell

The kits were designed to be pins, but I covered the back of each with sticky back felt, added a hanger and made them into ornaments.

I was looking through my stash and found this kit from Shepherd's Bush and decided to finally stitch it. I put the finishing touches on it last night.

Halloween Treat Bag
Shepherd's Bush Kit

On Saturday I received this needleroll from April. We took part in the HoE Blog Fall Needleroll Exchange. April stitched a LK Flip It and turned it into a needleroll. Tom Turkey is at home with my other needlerolls. Thank you April! April has been stitching up a storm stop by and take a look.

November Stamp
Lizzie Kate Flip It

Thanks for stopping by,

Gwen

Softly Walk

I started this a few weeks ago and thought I would have finished it by now. No such luck. The skein of GAST Fudge Ripple (recommended by chart) that I have looks to brown for a rose color. I didn't want a dead rose on my sampler, so I went through my thread stash looking for a substitute and came up with 2 very different dye lots of Clover (an good example of how dye lots can differ) and an other choice Antique Rose. The Antique Rose may be to close to the Old Red Paint to offer enough contrast. While I am making up my mind I have jumped to the bottom portion of Softly Walk by La-D-Da. Hopefully by the time I get that all stitched I would have make a choice about the rose.



As promised, here is a picture of the lovely box I received from DixieM.



Thanks for stopping by,

Gwen

Sharing

I received several stitched items that are too cool to keep to myself. So I would like to take this opportunity to share them with you.

Th first picture is the package I received from a fellow stitcher Karol on Stitching Blogger's Birthday Club exchange. Each participant stitches an item and sends it to their exchange partner along with any extras if desired. The idea is to have the package arrive on or before the big day. Who doesn't love being remembered? The needleroll Karol stitched for me is the Stitcher's Roll from Shepherd's Bush. The inscription reads: 'A needle thin, Be placed herein, Can stitch & hem, Darn sew & mend.'


Stitcher's Roll
Shepherd's Bush kit

The second set of pictures are of a Midsummer Night Designs piece that is a needlebook with 2 self lined stitching pockets. The Remember Me Stitching Pocket was made for me by my dear friend CarolB, who usually breaks into a sweat at the thought of using the sewing machine. She has gotten a lot more comfortable at the sewing machine recently, and is well in her way to conquering her fear altogether. She did a wonderful job on the stitching and finishing.


A Stitcher's Pocket
Midsummer Night Designs

I also received a beautifully lined box with a stitched lid from another dear friend DixieM. Hopefully I will get home in time to take a decent picture and post it later this week.

Thank you ladies for sharing your wonderful talent with me. I wish my camera skills were better and could really do justice to these pieces.

Gwen