Stamp With Jen

Olympic Stitching

Like many of you, I decided to start a new project for the Olympics.  I wanted to stitch on something patriotic so I chose "One Nation" by ByGone Stitches.  I changed the threads and my local shop had a beautiful piece of 40 ct. R&R 18th Century Blackbird.  The only problem?  The piece would only fit if I stitched it over one.  So, that's what I decided to do! 

One Nation, stitched on 40 ct. 18th Century Blackbird Linen, over one

I just love how the colors look on this linen and the advantage of over one on this size is only needing half a cross!  Yay!  I had a friend over for the opening ceremonies so I cooked a Portabello, Bacon and Spinach risotto and we stitched and I started this.  I had to use the magnifier on my Dazor.  It was dusty, I haven't had to use it in years...  Oh well, it's going to be pretty when I finish it! 

I had hoped to at least get the outline of the stripes done during the games but I'm finding that it's tough to stitch on something this tiny and switch between stitching and watching TV.  So, I've set it aside and my new Olympic stitching project is Ann Sandles!

Ann Sandles, stitched on 36 ct. Lakeside Vintage Meadow Rue

Ah, much better!  And, now that I have a little color in her she's proving to be so much fun to stitch!  I think she'll go pretty quickly (except for the 24 strawberries inthe border).  I don't know that I'll finish her during the games but I'll sure enjoy stitching on her! 

I'm getting ready to do some framing, my frame for Mary Roe should arrive next week and I still need to lace up my Paradise Lost plus I'm sending a few things out for their frames including Mary Ann Blackburn and Grace Bridges.  So, I decided to press everything and it is fun to see all my recent stitching piled up on the bed together.  My Mom has already offered to take some of it off my hands if I have too much!  LOL, nice try Mom!!  (In the picture below, Paradise Lost is upside down, just in case you're wondering why it looks a bit funny here.)

Frames for Paradise Lost

Recently I sent my Paradise Lost to my Mom to help me pick out a frame.  She took it in to Lynn's to pick out frames and sent me some options.  I narrowed them down and then she went in and picked one based on my narrower choices.  I'll tell you in my next post which I picked but here are the choices.  And, if you look closely you can see that I added my initials over one in a silk color to match the linen in the lower left hand corner.  I did the same with the date in the lower right corner.  I love how this turned out as my personalization is there but doesn't detract from the piece. 

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

Option 4:

Option 5:

Which option do you like?  I'll tell you in my next post what I chose and it was a hard choice!  I love Lynn's for framing, they have so many neat frames!  I'm sure that if you need a piece framed they can do something similar for you.  Just click the link to get to their website and call or email them to get started. 

Paradise Lost Finish

That's right, I finished Paradise Lost this week!  Here it is in all it's glory...

I just love this piece!  It reminds me of a piece that my mom stitched for me when I was little.  It's still at my parents' house or I'd take a picture of it to show you.  This was my challenge piece for the Sampler Guild of the Rockies as well as for Becky's BAP Challenge.  I think I might need to add another piece to my 2012 challenge lists! 

I stitched this on 36 ct. Vintage Light Examplar with the called for Needlepoint Silks.  I made one change, do you see it? 

That's right, I added my black cat next to Eve!  I love adding him into pieces that I stitch as a way to personalize them as mine.  I used to change something on every piece I stitched, the linen, threads or something else.  Now I'm more content to stitch things as charted but a piece like this one just was perfect for personalization like this with all the animals so here he is!  :)

I just loved stitching this guy too, saved him for nearly last and it was such a fun addition:
And, here is Tiger wondering what the fuss is about and why she's not in this piece too!

It was such a fun piece to stitch and as I was nearing the end of this piece I started to think about all of the things I want to start next.  I want to start Mary Roe by The Scarlett House next and I think I now have everything I need but I think before I start another big project I'd like to do a few little things, like a pincushion for an exchange we are doing at Sampler Guild, the pre-stitching for my Briar Rose Etui, an ornament, etc.  Plus, I have Anniversaries of the Heart kitted and ready plus the valentine piece from the new Blackbird Designs book and the rest of Plum Street Samplers Russian series... So, I'm not sure what I'm stitching next quite yet, I think I may savor this finish for a day or two before starting something new. 

Market Party!

Before I talk about the Market Party I attended, here is a quick progress snap on Paradise Lost.  I'm really enjoying this and next up is that big tree in the center.  Can't wait to finish that so I can stitch the people, giraffe and other remaining items.  I am considering adding my black cat in next to Eve, just need to chart him to coordinate with the other animals in the sampler. 

Earlier tonight, I went to a market party at our local cross-stitch shop tonight and just got home, well I did stop and do some other shopping since I was out.  Fanci Mats is local to me, even though it's a 40-60 minute drive depending on traffic but I enjoy getting down there when I can.  I hadn't been to a market party in years, since before I moved to Colorado in fact and when I heard that several friends were also going to stop by I decided that I must go as well. 

Well, I'm home and settled in after a wonderful evening!  I picked up the new Blackbird Designs book plus some 40 ct. Vintage Pearled Barley to stitch the red sampler on.  I also bought a nice piece of 36 ct. Vintage Examplar, I've been wanting some of this since stitching the trimkeep from the Attic's Sampler Symposium (stay tuned for a finish shortly).  Additionally I purchased a couple Stacy Nash Primitive charts (Malabar Farm Pinkeep and the Grace Bridges Sampler), the Friendship Pin Pilloow chart by Hartstrung Samplery and a few other things.  If I think of it I'll take a photo soon! Most of what I bought could be pincushions, I've been wanting to fill that star basket I mentioned in a previous post!  Also, the Sampler Guild of the Rockies is having a pincushion exchange at our May meeting so I need to get busy!

Of course, once the market party was over I went to the big mall down there and stopped at the Vera Bradley store.  Wow, Vera is my latest obsession.  I had never been to the actual store before (there is only one in Colorado although there are many places that have a little Vera) and wanted to look at several pieces that I might like to get.  I did get a camera case for my little point and shoot and a new sunglass case for my purse.  I remarked that I needed a bigger purse and of course, they said they could help me with that too!  LOL! 

I hope you're enjoying your favorites from Market, until next time... 

Paradise Lost Update and Market Must Haves

Well, I was able to get some stitching time in and it was so much fun working on the bird and flowers to the right of the big tree that I'm stuck on in the middle of.  Here's another wrinkly picture of my progress.  Next will be to finish that tree and then onto the middle of the sampler.

 
I'd love to predict when I will finish this sampler but with the Nashville Market coming and so many wonderful things to be released I have a feeling that I may set this aside for a bit to start on something new.  I am especially excited to start stitching Mary Roe 1808 by The Scarlett House.  A couple years ago I stitched Olga by Plum Street Samplers and have been trying to resist Boris and Sergi ever since.  And now Paulette comes out with Maxim and Zoya so now I think I have at least three Plum Street Samplers charts to add to my stitching list!  And of course, I'm curious to try stitching in wool to work on Jane Pattison by Shakespeare's Peddler.  I'm sure that will be just the tip of the iceberg once the market reports start coming out.  What's on your must stitch list from the market sneak peeks that we've seen so far??

Speaking of stitching lists... I may have mentioned that I was doing some organizing of my stash.  I used to have an inventory of charts and fibers and what linens I had to stitch them on well when I moved 4 years ago but then things went into storage well my inventory got horribly out of date.  So, I've spent some precious stitching time over the past few weeks organizing and cataloging my stuff so I have an updated list again and won't let that happen again! 

Well, I went to IKEA and purchased some pink baskets to hold my newly organized stash and while I was sorting and updating my list, my cat decided that he wanted to help too.  What I find especially humorous about this picture is that my Halloween kitty jumped into the wrong bin, he's sorted with the Christmas stash, not Halloween!  I guess I needed to switch the labels!  These baskets will eventually go into Expedit shelving which will go into a closet, I just need to go back and buy the shelves now that I'm ready to load it up! 

Lions and Tiger and TUSAL, Oh My!

Lions...  I've been busily stitching away on Paradise Lost since my last post.  I finished the motifs along the top so I jumped down and stitched the lions.  I've been dying to stitch more animals so rewarded myself.  Take a look...

And, here's a shot of the total progress:

I am so excited to get to this point!  Next I think I'll take a break from the tree and finish the motifs on the far right which will let me pick a frame whenever.  Then, I'll finish the tree and then I'm on to all the fun animals and Adam and Eve in the middle! 

Tiger... Nicola is having a contest on her blog, Stitching by a Cornish Sea Shore to share the cutest pictures of our animals sleeping.  Well, I think all my animals are cute when sleeping but one of the things I've been getting a kick out of over the last year is how the cats have completely taken over the dog's beds.  In fact, she has several on the chance that she might get one but usually there is a cat on it instead.  Here's Tiger on the dog's bed...
Granted, I woke her up trying to take this picture.  I had stacked the dog beds up to vacuum the family room and then later in the day found Miss Tiger cuddled up on top, kind of makes me think of Princess and the Pea and believe me, she is definitely a princess!  But, this is one of my favorites.  This is Mr. Scooter on the dog bed and Miss Sage on the floor.  You can definitely see who is the boss in this relationship...

TUSAL...

Lastly it's time for my February TUSAL report.  Here's my jar as of today, I squished it down recently and am now wishing I had waited until after I took this photo.  Oh well!  It is sitting next to a star shaped basket that I recently picked up at Pier One thinking it would be great for all my smalls.  Hmm, I suppose I should get busy on finishing those smalls!  LOL!  I'll take a photo of the basked when I have something to put into it I suppose.  :) 

I hope you have a wonderful week! 

 

Paradise Lost and Home Improvement

Wow, I have had a busy couple weeks but it's been great!  I've been stitching some but have turned my attention to a couple house projects lately that I've wanted to do.  So first, here's a quick progress pic on my Paradise Lost. 

 
I finished up the cloud and then moved on to the banner.  I'm now going to work my way down the right side saving the middle for last (I can't wait to do all those fun animals)! 

I have a friend who is a contractor and he does awesome finishing work!  I hired him to come put up some crown moulding in my dining room (remember that sampler wall?) and to re-do my fireplace wall. 

Here's a photo of the fireplace wall before: 

It had kind of always bugged me that my builder used bathroom tile around the fireplace and the paint on that mantel was so thick it was always sticky.  I think this looks OK but I had dreams of doing something much nicer!  So, I bought a new mantle and a bunch of stone.  My friend prepped the wall the weekend that he was doing the crown moulding so for a week my living room had just cement board on the wall and every time I looked at it I'd get so excited about what was to come.  So, after a full day of adding stone and the new mantel here is what my fireplace wall now looks like:

Doesn't it look so much better??  Now I just need to get some paint on those walls! 

By the way, that picture above the fireplace works in that spot but I have Anniversaries of the Heart all kitted up and ready to start and would really love to have it hanging there.  With the stone I'm not sure if it "goes" anymore but I'm going to stitch it regardless and if it doesn't work there I'm sure I'll find a good spot for it around here somewhere! 

Clouds, Clouds and More Clouds

First there was the monster cloud from And They Sinned...  I've been enjoying reading so many blogs lately of people working on this project.  It does take awhile to stitch but is such a great piece!

 
 Then, there were the blue clouds from CHS' Black Horse Ranch...

Then, the green clouds from Frances Eden...

And now, my latest cloud...

I didn't get much stitching done this week as I was preparing for some home improvement projects going on which meant running errands to pick up supplies and to somehow find a fireplace mantel.  Do you know how hard that is?  You can't just walk into a fireplace mantel store and pick one out but instead have to custom order one, find a specialty store or do what I did and go to three Lowe's stores to find the right one in stock plus some stain and poly.  That will be my project for this week so the fireplace redecoration project I have going on can be finished.  So, I may not have much progress to show you for a bit. 

So, I think it's probably pretty easy to guess where this cloud came from, it's from Paradise Lost!  And, here is my progress so far. 

The words at the bottom don't really travel uphill like the photo makes it look, I just took this picture by sticking my piece to the back of the couch and it's so large that it wraps around the couch cushions and looks distorted in the photo.  I am just loving this piece, the bright colors, cute figures and animals, it's so much fun to stitch!  I'm either going to move onto the sun next or just dive into the blue banner with the lettering so I can do the cherub on the other side.  I'm avoiding the middle of the piece for now because I really want to stitch the adam and eve, lions and giraffe so I'm getting some of the other things done first.  Thanks for stopping by and happy stitching!

The Attic Retreat

Last weekend I was privileged to be able to attend the Sampler Symposium put on by Attic Needlework in Mesa, AZ with a group of friends, some who I knew from my local sampler guild and others who I've only emailed with.  It was such fun!  And, when I got home my Mom and I had the most fun chatting about my wonderful weekend, the shop, the retreat and how much fun everything was on my trip!  Since I'm not sure where to start I'll just dive right in! 

We arrived on Thursday and our first stop after dropping luggage at the hotel was to go directly to the shop.  I have only heard about how wonderful the shop is but having experienced other nice shops with lots of stitched models I wasn't sure what to expect.  Let me just say that if you ever have a chance to go to Mesa (near Phoenix) you MUST go to the Attic.  It is a fabulous shop!  You walk in and immediately to your right there is the most fantastic wall of samplers that I've ever seen!  Isn't that amazing?!?  I happily spent some time at that little table stitching while I was there too!  This puts my sampler wall (that I'll show you soon) to shame so I really need to get stitching! 

Each of the Samplers is numbered so that you can easily find the chart and the Attic thread conversion (if they've done one and usually they have) for the chart.  I have been reading the Attic's newsletters for awhile now and have read about their conversions but seeing the pieces stitched with them in person was just fabulous! 

I picked up this sweet Margaret Brown chart and the linen and threads to stitch it with as just one of the projects that I came home with.  This picture shows it stitched with the Attic's conversion to a lighter pink silk palette and I thought it was just gorgeous (love that frame too by the way)!    

 

On Friday we went out to lunch as a group.  Although I don't think this is a great picture of me, it's fun to have a picture of our group out to lunch together!  From left to right, this is me, Karin, Sylvia, Tanya, Sandy, Natalia and Katrina.  What fun we had and we went out for Mexican food which is one of my favorites!  One of the things we did after lunch but before the retreat started was... you guessed it... we went back to the shop for more enabling.  In case you couldn't tell, being an Attic newbie I was completely unprepared for the awesomeness in store for me there so was glad to be a frequent shopper over the weekend.  And, all of the ladies in the group helped enable me in one way or another during the weekend.  I was like a kid in a candy store and just got passed from person to person while they showed me what I needed next.  It was really fun!  :) 

Friday night the retreat started and it was great!  To start the evening, Vickie Jennett of Needlework Press shared a reproduction of a sampler that has roots back to who I think she said was the first Mayor of Phoenix!  Here is a photo of Vickie  with both the original sampler and the stitched reproduction.  This chart will be released at market in February so keep an eye out for it!  In addition, we received a chart for a small piece based on the original sampler.  Here is a picture of one version of the chart finished as a great needlework pocket:

Next Darlene Anderson presented a slide show of her sampler ornaments and wow, she brought a bunch of them to share!  Saturday morning she also presented a slide show of the Adam and Eve samplers that she has stitched.  That motivated me to get busy and start stitching!  I know just where I'd hang a collection of A&E samplers too! 

Also on Friday night, Paulette from Plum Street Samplers presented an adorable project called A Lady's Trimkeep.  She also showed us one of her new Market releases called "My Brother's Keeper".  All of us at the retreat got a copy of the chart but since it's a new market release I'm going to hold off on showing a photo.  However, here is the trimkeep project along with two smalls that Paulette made from the Brother's Keeper chart:
Here is Jean, the owner of Attic Needlework bringing the Trimkeep around for show and tell.  I love this project and I really liked Jean, such a sweet woman and her husband is a hoot!

 
Paulette wrapped up our Trimkeep projects in these sweet little boxes, here is mine before I opened the tissue.  You can also see my progress as of last Friday on Paradise Lost also designed by Paulette.
At the retreat, Katrina was the first to dive in and get some 45 count linen from the shop.  We all wanted to try stitching on it so then we had the idea to all put some stitches in each others pieces.  That will make me treasure my Paradise Lost piece even more.  I won't show you the photo of SOMEBODY pretending to blow their nose in it unless I need it for bribery later... :) 

Here is a quick pic of the contents of this box.  I don't know what to stitch on next, whether I should keep going on Paradise Lost or set it aside to stitch this sweet project!
As if that weren't enough, Paulette also designed this cute project for us!  I love how the cherub happens to be holding it up in this pic:

Wow, what a night! On Saturday, after staying up too late stitching and chatting the night before and after copious amounts of Starbucks we started the day with Darlene Anderson's A&E lecture.  I didn't take any photos but was truly inspired!  Then, we spent the rest of the day with Tracy Riffle of Hands to work making some distressed finishes to wooden boxes, a frame and making a cute little paper mache teacup to hold our ORT's.  Mine aren't quite finished yet but here's a photo of Tracy's box.  Cute, huh?  Then, guess what?  We went back to the shop for more stash enhancement! 

Sunday morning we had Catherine Theron as our teacher.  She presented a great project called "A Stitcher's Envelope" stitched with silks and a lot of Florentine stitch.  It is gorgeous!  I started it in class but have a loooong way to go to finish it.  Here's a photograph of the finished piece.
After class ended on Sunday and we were all thoroughly depressed to be leaving the kind folks at the attic, our group of friends and the warmth of Arizona we decided to skip lunch for one final visit to the shop.  This last trip I was finally good to my budget and didn't buy much but instead took the time to walk through the shop and ooh and aah over the models one more time.  It was great!  Here are a few last photos I snapped. 

If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading!  I had a wonderful time with a great group of women at the Attic, a shop that you simply must visit!  Now, I really need to get off the computer and get to my stitching, I have a lot of new projects now!

New Year's Starts

I know that many of you out there in blogland started new projects for New Year's day and so did I.  Only I started not one but two new projects!  First, I started Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers.  You might remember that I was trying to decide between this and Ann Grant and this won.  I'm so glad I did too, it's such a fun design!  I started with the verse at the bottom because words are never my favorite. 

I did a little grass above the words so I'd have something other than red done.  :)  I'm stitching this on 36 count Vintage Light Examplar fabric with the called for silks.  Sorry for the poor picture, you'll see better photos when I come back to this.

Then, I started the pre-stitching for a project that we're assembling at our next Sampler Guild of the Rockies meeting, a snowflake biscornu.  I have never assembled or stitched a biscornu before so this was a great opportunity for me to learn!  But, ugh, all that backstitching...  Here's my progress, I hope to finish the rest of the snowflakes in the next day or two:

Once I finish the pre-stitching for the biscornu project then I'll go back and finish up Elizabeth Sheffield.  I made some nice progress on her and ordered a frame at Lynn's when I was home at Christmas.  I'm going to wait to show you an overall photo until she's done but all I have left is the band with the little people and the house:

For some reason I keep thinking that the guy on the left looks like some of my old lego dudes from when I was a kid.  Maybe it's the shape of his face, maybe it's the funny (but cute) smile but I kept thinking Legos when I was stitching.  What do you think?

And, last but certainly not least, I signed up for a couple challenges this year.  One is the BAP (Big Arse Project) challenge hosted by Becky Bee.  Paradise Lost will be my challenge piece for this challenge since it's larger than 10" x 12".  I'll be posting updates here on this blog as I work on her (after finishing Elizabeth Sheffield of course) so check back to see how it's coming along. 

The other challenge I signed up for is the TUSAL Challenge.  For those who don't know, TUSAL stands for Totally Useless Stitch A-Long.  It's where stitchers post a photo on their blogs of a jar filled with their ORT's (Old Ratty Threads) on or around every full moon.  I had a lot of fun seeing these ORT jars on other people's blogs over the last year so I decided to jump in too!  The challenge is open, anyone can join in at any time of the year and all the information is on Daffycat's blog.  I have had this pretty fluted jar in my basement forever trying to figure out what to do with it.  So, I tied a pretty ribbon around it and voila! that's my TUSAL jar.  My first update will be later in January so check back for more photos of this one too. 

Well, that's it, I'm off to go work on snowflakes so I can go back to stitching on Elizabeth Sheffield.  I hope to have a finish on her to show you sometime soon! 

Jen