Cool and Refreshing, But It's Not the Weather!

Okay, folks, I'm finding a little difficult to think about winter when the temps are up in the 70s and I'm wearing shorts again! Not that I'm complaining. It's just messing with my mind...and I really can't afford that!

However, I continue to work on Christmas ornaments. 22 down, 6 to go! This Peppermint one is a fav of mine.

And this is my purple version of the blue Mill Hill ornament I completed recently.

And this snowman should probably go to somebody who won't see any snow this year...

Tweet

Do you think in DMC colors? You know, when you go to buy a pair of shoes to match an outfit, do you ask the clerk for something in '823' instead of 'navy blue'? Well, I do. Not all the time, but it happens. Last week I was working on a custom scissor fob (actually two) for someone and I just couldn't get a feel for what she wanted, so I asked her for the DMC colors. She went one better and sent me a picture of the scissors that will go with the fob. Here's what I came up with.

 There are lots of choices in my Etsy shop, but I am always open to custom work.

Still working on ornaments, but I did a count last night. Nineteen down, only eight to go! Woohoo! I managed to stitch quite a bit while watching football this weekend. (Go Wolfpack!!! Our season might as well be over, since we beat Carolina!) 

Tweet

It's been a busy and fun week, even though I haven't had much time to stitch. Mom has been visiting with us this week and we had a great time. A productive trip to the second hand book store and some cool, but sunny weather made for some very relaxing afternoons.

I did finish a couple more Mill Hill ornaments, but I really have to get that needle smokin' soon or I'll never have all of them ready in time.  I'm going to try to hide out this week and really get some serious stitching done, but you know how that goes!

Tweet

Signs of Autumn

When you think of Autumn, leaves changing color and cooler weather spring to mind. Well, when you live at the beach in North Carolina the signs are a little different. The weather is usually cooler, but not always, and the few leaves that change don't do it until much later in the season.  The Confederate Rose, which is really a hibiscus, blooms in October and November and yachts begin heading south on the Intracoastal Waterway for the winter. I managed to get a photo of our Confederate Rose, but I never have my camera with me when I see the yachts sailing by. So use your imagination. At night, before the temperatures get too cold, we sleep with the door open and can sometimes hear them motoring by. It's very soothing.

 

The other sign of Autumn in my house is Christmas ornaments being stitched. Here are the latest finishes of the Mill Hill beaded ornaments this year.

Tweet

Stash Enhancement

Remember when I got all the threads for the Honeysuckle Sampler? Well, I neglected to show you what else was in that package. Both of these are definitely at the top of the stack in my in-basket! I'm actually going to stitch the ornaments as individual ornaments, minus the ribbon behind them. What do you think of stitching them on perforated paper and mounting them on a real ribbon?

And Quaker Christmas II is probably going to be my first 2012 project!

And I stayed up until I finished this beautiful bejeweled ornament from Mill Hill. The backing isn't on it yet. I'll probably do all of them at the same time, assembly line style.

Tweet

I am sooooo close to finishing the Star Sampler SAL! Love the feeling you get when you finish a project.

And I added to my ornament stash at work Wednesday. I can get into so much trouble just going to work. I plan to get started on these this weekend while watching some football. Hope I don't throw beads all over the room during a hissy fit.

Tweet

Attitude Adjustments

It's amazing how my attitude improves when I take time to stitch every day! I don't mind my chores (much) when I can look forward to hours of working on something that is really enjoyable. And isn't that the whole point? 

The ornaments have not been totally ignored since I started the "Honeysuckle Sampler". Two more are done from Blue Ribbon Designs' "Red Letter Ornaments".

I had a little trouble remembering how to do double backstitch on the diagonal (the filling of the vine), but all in all, this piece gives me a bad case of 'just one more stitch syndrome'. 

I love the texture of the brick stitch in the outer petals of the flower and the rows of satin stitch in the inner petals.

Tweet

Oh, What a Dilemma

My ornies are progressing nicely, thank you. However, some supplies I ordered for a new project have finally arrived and I want to start it so badly I can't stand it!

 
Some of you may know that I used to own two needlework shops, but I sold them several years ago. Consequently, I have a monstrous stash. I have so many samplers, most of which I still want and intend to stitch, that my friend, Donna, came to look through them when she opened her shop. She said it was better than looking through the Hoffman catalog. Anyway, when you own a shop you are compelled to stitch pieces that you can use as models. But the best part of being retired is that I can stitch whatever I want, whenever I want! If it happens to be something that is current or popular, I loan it to my LNS, but quite often I pick a project that is out of print or something that most people wouldn't want to stitch. And sometimes, it's something that's been in my stash for YEARS, like the Honeysuckle Sampler.

My dilemma is: Do I start the Honeysuckle Sampler or do I stitch ornaments and gaze longingly at my waiting project? Answer: I'll stitch ornies now and start HS after supper. Tomorrow I'll go thru the whole process again and hope my brain doesn't explode from the stress.

Tweet

One Down, Waaaaay Too Many to Go!

I promise not to post every time I finish an ornament, but now that I have this first one out of the way I'm pumped! This was a limited edition from JBW Designs, but she has an adorable collection of ornaments for you to stitch. I love the trees.

I've kitted up the stuff to do a bunch from Blue Ribbon Designs. I'm starting with the Red Letter ornaments, but I have several different sets of Belinda's from which to choose. Can you tell I'm a fan? I have my own little BRD library.  Anyway, I started them this afternoon while watching, via the DVR, Solheim Cup golf. I'm going to have to give up sleep to get my usual 25 to 30 ornaments done in time, but isn't that always the way?

Tweet

Whew!

This year's ornaments are DONE! I cannot tell you how relieved I am. Some of them have even been mailed already! (Thank goodness for Click 'n' Ship.) As much as I whine about getting them all done, I really do enjoy stitching them (not finishing) and deciding who gets what. And, of course, the oohs and aahs are an added bonus. My mom is always good for a "this is the prettiest one yet". But that's what moms do. There are a few more pics on my camera. I'll try to remember to post them later.

I am back to working on Laura's birthday present. (I heard that sigh of relief, L.) It has to be in the mail by Friday, so I'll be sitting on my duff and stitching for the rest of the week. Speaking of which, my husband looked at me last night as we were watching TV and said, "Are you back in your happy place?" I guess that s*!@-eating grin on my face gave me away!

Tweet

What was I thinking?

I've taken about a dozen pictures of my finished ornies and this is the ONLY one that came out (and it's not my best effort). I hope this is not a sign of things to come today. (See list item #6) I'll try to get some more later, but since I worked at Angelwing the last two days I have a zillion things to do today. (See list below with little change from original posting of said list.) I'm beginning to not like my list. I feel a Linda Blair Exorcist moment coming on.

And have I mentioned how much I love stitching, but hate finishing?

Christmas Panic To-do list

1. shopping - 100% DONE
2. stitching - pieces chosen and taken off the wall for sisters laying on wrapping table, one STILL to frame for Mom
3. knitting - one cowl DONE(and very pretty, I must say), 2 necklaces left assemble
4. finishing - 9 ornies finished and still too many to count and one hardanger Christmas tree (haven't even thought about it yet)
5. decorating - STILL naked tree standing in living room
6. baking - not started - next task, as soon as I post this
7. wrapping - STILL not started
8. selling - still shipping orders (yeah!) and still adding new things to Etsy because there is still time to ship for Christmas. But you better hurry!

Tweet

I'm BAAAACK

It's been a week since I posted and it feels like a year! We went to visit my mom for several days and have an early Thanksgiving. We had a nice visit, but I'm glad to be home. I'm such a homebody. I like sleeping in my own bed, drinking my own coffee, watching my zillion TV shows WITHOUT commericals. (I love my DVR.) PLUS, while I was away, I got another wholesale order from Nordic Needle, so I have three dozen sets of counting pins to make! And I have an order for fobs and stitch markers to coordinate with a line of knitting bags my LNS is carrying now. And to those of you who have been Christmas shopping at TJBDesigns, I thank you.

But the main reason I'm glad to be home is that I have so much stitching left to do in a short 5 weeks. I'm still stitching ornies and I have to finish about 26 of them! That's the really tedious part. I'll be in a cord twisting tizzy. Thank goodness I have the old electric hair braider to make it go faster. I can't believe I used to used a pencil to twist cord. That's like watching TV without a remote!

Anyway, I have finished a couple more ornies, including the pink angel I showed you only a start of.

I'll try to keep up with the blog a little better, but don't hold me to it...at least for the next few weeks. I really need to catch up on my blog reading too.

Tweet

The Christmas Panic Continues

Only ten ornies left to stitch and about two dozen to finish! Those of you who read my blog and receive one of these little jewels every year may quit reading now. But even if you continue, you'll never know which ornament you're getting until arrives in the mail...or in your pile of goodies under the tree. So, in those immortal words...na na ni boo boo. (Loses something in the typed translation, so sing it to yourself. But if there is anyone else in the room be prepared for strange looks.)

I was looking for some new ones to stitch (in a hurry) and found these hardanger angels from Twisted Oak that I added to my stash some time ago. I promptly filed the chartpack with all my other Christmas patterns like the good, right-brained, anal retentive freak that I am. They definitely fit the parenthetical criteria because hardanger has few, if any, color changes and the geometric nature of hardanger makes it easy to follow the pattern.

Of course, I have to do something different with them (I have a contrary nature, as my grandmother used to say), so I'm doing them in the three colors you see here. Unfortunately, there are beads, but I'll suffer through. Ironic, isn't it, that my Etsy shop is all about beads, but incorporating them in my stitching projects makes me want to scream. Okay, I admit it, I'm a little weird.
Hopefully, my finishing will be somewhat close the models. Not my forte. But you should see the ones I stitched for my family 30 years ago! Scary.

Tweet

The Christmas Panic

That's what my husband calls it when I start getting twitchy in June. You see, I've been stitching ornaments for my family plus ? for over twenty years...make that thirty years. Suffice it to say that when I look at the early ones I can see growth in my stitching skills. Not to mention my finishing skills, which are still not expert.

I also try to stitch a larger framed piece for my three sisters at least every other year. In the off years I just take one off my walls that each sister has admired. My mom gets a sampler every year. I stitched a Santa for my dad every year for 16 years and they cover the living room walls 365 days a year. He loved those Santas and used to come into my shop and peruse the Christmas charts trying to figure out which one I was going to stitch for him next.

Anyway, the ornament thing has become a tradition and I've been threatened with familial excommunication when I've mentioned that I might not get them done. So I try to get about half of them done in the weeks after Christmas when I'm still in the mood, but the pressure is off. So, you may ask, "how many ornaments do you stitch?". Well, just for family, I'm committed to stitch fifteen. (Fortunately for me, my family is not very prolific! lol) And by "committed" I mean I want to stitch them. After that I have eight friends that I stitch ornaments for every year. After that, the number varies between five and ten. So that makes 28-33 ornaments a year.

The point of telling you all this is that I have put "Shores of Hawk Run Hollow" down for a nap to stitch a birthday gift for a friend who reads my blog. Since I can't show you pics of that piece I've decided to share this years ornaments with you...a few at a time. Most of these are not yet finished. I usually do that in an assembly line manner when they are all stitched or when the mailing deadline gets close, whichever comes first. You guess which. (Excuse my grammar.)

Some of these are freebies I've collected over the years. Some you will recognize from charts and previous JCS ornament issues. Some will even be repeated in various color schemes, rarely do I repeat the design exactly. Sometimes there is a theme, mostly not.

Tweet