Woo Hoo!  I can’t believe it, but I actually managed to finish a piece tonight!  Sadly, given it’s late August, I think this may be my first finish of the year.  On the good news front, at least it was from my 2011 WIP/UFO Challenge list.   As always, click to biggify.

Snow Garden
Designer: Blackbird Designs
Fabric: Recommended 30-count Creme Brulee (R&R Reproductions)
Fibers: Recommended GAST & WDW
Stitched 2-over-2
Completed 24 August 2011

In closing, I know many of my long time readers know I’m a big fan of Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols from the University of Tennessee.  My thoughts are with Coach Summitt and her family during this difficult time and I wish her the best in facing the challenges ahead.

Until next time …

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I’m getting very close to yet another finish. This time it’s on Snow Garden from Blackbird Designs. Being sick for nearly a week has clearly been very beneficial to my stitching progress.

Here is the progress I’ve made between my most recent update (July 1) and today (July 6):

I can’t believe I’ve made so much progress! I’m doubly amazed when I take into account that I’ve finished two other small pieces during that same time frame. This is absolutely not my usual stitching speed. Go me!

I am a bit perplexed over one aspect of this design. My colors definitely look much different than the model photo, even though I am usually the recommended fabric and fibers. I’ve gone back and double & triple-checked to ensure I used the proper colors in the proper places, and I did. The only elements that really look the same to me are the peacock and the tree on the right side of the design. Some portions of the border are almost completely lost into the linen in my piece.

This is one of my greatest annoyances about model photos. The finished product just doesn’t always look the same. Even though I still love the design, the colors of mine just don’t pop nearly as much as in the model which is what attracted me to the design in the first place. Oh well, what’s a stitcher to do?

Until next time …

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I want to pose a question to those of you who blog and are also active on social media sites. Do you find you blog less often now? I have definitely noticed that about myself. I know that many of my regular readers (based on those who frequently comment) are also friends with me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. I tend to post photos and quick updates of what’s going on in my life in those places. Accordingly, I don’t feel as much “pressure” (for the lack of a better word) to update my blog as often. I’m just wondering if others have found the same to be true. Please leave me a comment with your thoughts.

In stitching news, amazingly enough, I actually have been doing a little bit. I stitched a summer pinkeep for Kim as part of a seasonal exchange. After that was away in the mail, I’ve been working a bit on “Snow Garden” from Blackbird Designs as well as another secret project. Here are some pictures of the exchange:

The pinkeep design was taking from the “Friends for All Seasons” chart by Lizzie Kate. I also included the “Small Sampler 1” chart from Ewe & Eye & Friends, a couple of skeins of Dragon Floss from Polstitches, a couple of skeins of Soy Luster floss (one solid & one shadow) from The Pure Palette, and a pack of strawberry blank notecards.

Here are some close-up shots of the pinkeep by itself:

My Dovos were for demo purposes only and weren’t part of the exchange. Sorry Kim!

This was my first attempt at doing a scissor pocket on the back. I thought it turned out ok, but I definitely learned some things that I will do differently next time. For example, I didn’t leave a bit of slack in the pocket when I assembled it. As I was sewing, the pocket kept getting tighter and tighter to the point that it pulls slightly downward. If I had given it a little leeway at the beginning, I think it would have come out much nicer in the end.

Here are my before & after progress pics on Snow Garden:

Previous Progress

Current Progress

I know it’s not much progress, but at least it is noticeable. I try very hard not to compare myself to the speedy needles of some of my other stitching friends whose speed is simply astounding! I just seem to be in a bit of a stitching slump this year, and I’m not sure why. Normally by the mid-point of the year, I would have at least 10-15 finishes, but this year I only have three. The sad part is that I know my time available for stitching is about to get drastically reduced, too.

That leads me directly into my last bit of news. I’ve officially gone back to college to finish my degree. I dropped out of college at the start of my senior year back when I was 21 years old. I said I was just going to take a couple of quarters off, but somehow that mushroomed into taking 25 years off. One of my biggest regrets in life has always been not finishing my degree, so now I’m going to remedy that. In fact, my plan is to finish my Bachelors as quickly as possible and then go immediately into a Masters program.

I have chosen an online competency-based program through Western Governor’s University. It’s basically an independent study program where each student goes at their own pace. They will also allow students with extensive real world experience to test out of some classes. I decided this particular model sounded perfect for me, so let’s hope that it is! I guess I’ll find out soon enough given that I start classes today.

One of the best parts is that since the university if fully accredited, they qualify for tuition reimbursement through my employer. w00t! By the time I get my reimbursement checks each year, I should hopefully only spend around $1000-$1200 out of pocket annually. That means no student loans!

I suppose that’s the last of my news & updates for now. I will try my best to update as often as possible, but please understand that I’m likely just uber busy between work and school should I disappear for extended periods of time. If you want to keep track of me more frequently, I would recommend Facebook.

Until next time …

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Meh … I haven’t felt like blogging lately mostly because I haven’t felt like stitching either. I think I’ve only stitched three times this month, so I’m definitely in a stitching slump. However, I’m apparently not in a stash acquisition slump. Here are my latest purchases:

Most of these items were purchased Saturday when I headed over to my LNS for our 5th Saturday open stitch class. Yes, this is in addition to our regularly scheduled monthly Saturday stitch, so we got to stitch twice this month! So, for those of you who are quick studies, you may have quickly deduced that this was two of my three times stitching this month.

On the left is the latest in the anniversary series called “A Wish for You” from Blackbird Designs. Given it’s 1) designed by BBD, 2) has a house, and 3) has a bunny, how could I not get it?

I also picked up the Lila “Needle Tweets” needle case from Just Nan. As an added bonus, the owner of my LNS had them kitted which was really nice. One of the other woman at our all-day Saturday Stitch had hers finished and it was absolutely adorable! I also picked up the matching stitch marker “tail” to complete my little birdie.

At the bottom of the photo are a couple of accessories purchases. The blue rectangle is actually a magnet mounted to a metal bracket. It’s for use as a needle park with the mini stretcher bars used for canvas work. The magnet is actually strong enough that it will hold a pair of scissors as well. The other accessory is a button pack from Just Another Button Company. It’s the set needed for the Miracles Happen chart I picked up during my trip to San Francisco back in December.

The last item didn’t come from my LNS. It’s the next installment in the Little House Needleworks ornament of the month series that I get on automatic from Drema at Needlecraft Corner. The design is called “Red House in Winter” and it so cute! I just love Diane’s houses.

I also learned about another canvas class coming up at my LNS beginning in August & September (two Saturday classes with a month between) that I would love to take. I’m just not sure if I can swing it though which I will explain in the next paragraph. The piece is called “Summertime” and is from my dear friend and local designer, Margaret Bendig. The photo simply does not do this piece justice. It is absolutely GORGEOUS in person. It’s worked entirely in silks and is just so delicately beautiful. If you’re in the southern California area and are interested in the class, just contact Diana at the shop for more information. I wish I had a larger photo so you could see it a bit better, but this is all I have:

Now, as to the reason why I don’t think I can swing two Saturdays for the class, I’m going back to school. When I was younger, I dropped out of college at the start of my senior year to get married. I intended to go back and finish my degree after taking a little time off, but I just never did . I’ve been putting off going back for years, but finally decided it’s time to just suck it up and get it done. I’ve already been accepted into the program. All I’m waiting for now is for the school to receive my transcripts and to get the approval from my employee for the tuition reimbursement program. If everything goes well, I’m hoping to start classes on July 1. If I can’t get everything finished in time for that date, then it will get pushed back to August 1 instead. Either way, I’ll likely need those two Saturdays when the “Summertime” class is taking place to study, write papers, etc. Time for stitching may definitely become a real luxury for me now which makes it all the more sad that I’ve been in a slump of late.

I guess that’s it for now. Until next time …

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Halloween designs have definitely become a favorite of mine over the past three or four years. That seems to be the case for a lot of other stitchers as well. Thankfully, the designers clearly realize that because each year they come out with more and more amazing Halloween designs for us. For example, check out the latest from the Barb & Alma over at Blackbird Designs:

It’s called “Midnight Watch” and Jolene is graciously giving away a copy of this wonderful chart (along with fabric & fibers to stitch it!) on her blog. So, if you would like to enter the drawing, hop on your broom and fly over to Jolene’s blog for all the details.

I’m actually working on a Halloween design right now, but I can’t share a photo yet. It’s for the Halloween round of the Fair and Square exchange. The deadline for mailing is October 12, but I’m hoping to finish it up this weekend to get it in the mail since I’ll be sending it off to Jeanie in Singapore (doesn’t blog) which will require a bit more time for delivery obviously.

Well, that’s it from me for now. Until next time …

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