WIPocalypse.......

The question for this month, What makes you pick up a long-abandoned UFO rather than beginning a new piece?

Please do not hate me but I do not have any UFO's. Once I start a piece it stays in my rotation until it is finished. Some times that means I only work on it for an hour or maybe two during it's turn in rotation but I never leave a piece to just sit for long periods of inactivity. I can not stand to have a piece that has been started and it just sits waiting for attention. So I will only keep it in the rotation just not give it as much attention as others.

I know most stitchers can not understand this but if a piece is going to be started it needs and wants to be finished and if it does not get attention then it throws a right nasty little fit. Think 2 year old tantrum. So at my house we do not let it get to that point.

Since I only joined about a week ago I will just show pictures of what I am working on currently. First is Frank's Family Portrait by Glendon Place, Christmas Cottage by HAED, Women who behave by Sue Hillis, June Cottage of the Month by Country Cottage Needleworks and finally 1of 20 squares for a quilt I am building for my son.

Frankie

 Another WIP

 I have been wanting to stitch Glendon Place Frank's Family Portrait for quite a while and finally I just could not hold out anymore so I did it. I found a piece of grey fabric that was big enough and I used a dye technique I found on YouTube. I used green and grey to give it just a hint of color. I kinda wish that I would have made it a bit darker but still for a first time it is not to bad.

 I started on this one June 25. Being that he was at the time of my start 1 of 6 WIPs I was not sure of how quickly I was going to be able to progress. But it is just so fun and a great chart I have moved quickly. So almost 1 month later I have 1 page all but complete.

I am going to modify this a bit as I go along so stay tunes for up dates on Frank and his lovely Bride!!!!!

New Stash

The last 2 days have been awesome as far as new stash is concerned.

On Friday I received 3 packages, all things I have ordered, they will be embellishments for my finished work. I got beads and charms and buttons. Oh my!!!!!!

Then early today I got up and traveled 2 hours to a friends house, because she was having a yard sale and was selling a bunch of her stash. Now do I need more stash.........no I do not NEED more stash but then when has that ever stopped me. I hope the colors are noticeable in the following pictures.

Charts, fabric (black, greys, blues, greens, pinks, reds, white, yellow) and a few miscellaneous bits. I did not take pictures but I also go 10 older Stoney Creek magazines.

Quilt for Son

So my next WIP. I am in the process of stitching squares to make a quilt for my son. I have already stitched a quilt for my daughter.

This quilt is going to be a combination of life events and a collection of nutcrackers. Why nutcrackers you may ask????? Weeeeelllllllll when my son was younger 8 or 9 years old he told me that he really liked nutcrackers, he thought they were very cool. So for many years every Christmas I found a nutcracker to give to him. Now as you can imagine as he grew and got into his teens getting a nutcracker was not all that cool of a gift, so then I got creative. I would find creative ways to give him a nutcracker. He has several of the actual statues in different sizes, he has a video of the Nutcracker play, a book of the Nutcracker play, another book about a boy who received a nutcracker during WWI. Then as my son got older and moved out on his own he got potholders, towels, pillowcases, napkins, a cookbook I made with a Nutcracker on the front. and so on. Now I am making the quilt and what better design to add but a NUTCRACKER!!!!!! Hee hee.

I have the first square finished. It is a tribute to his Grandpa.......my dad......He was a full blood Irish man. So I found a map of Ireland added an Irish Nutcracker and dad's name and the first one is complete.

I am now working on the second square and that one will honor his other Grandpa. It is a map of England, as Grandpa Barrow was full blood English, and an English Nutcracker with full name. So far I have the map done and have the start of the little man.

HAED Christmas Cottage

I am still in the process of trying to work through the set-up of this blog but I wanted to go ahead and post about some of the projects I am working on. the first one will be my largest current work.

It is a Heaven and Earth Design I have been working on it for approximately15 months. I chose the design because it reminded me of my dad. I lost him a little over 10 years ago and I miss his laugh and all the stories he used to tell. He was such a good story teller and the story never changed but the way he told it was just to funny. This is him in the cowboy hat.

So the design I chose is named Christmas Cottage by Dona Gelsinger. And as you can see the snowman has cowboy hat and the cabin in the background makes me think of the house Dad and Mom lived in when they very first were married. The last thing is I collect snowmen. I have a very large selection and this will be a lovely addition to the group. 

I am working this on 16 count dove grey aida. I work most all my designs on aida to me it is the most relaxing fabric to work on. I can not get along with evenweaves and linen is not something I enjoy. This does mean it is much larger but that is okay. I will show you a picture of each finished page up to my current picture.

I am working this top left to right. 

 The pages are from Top left; page 1,2,9,10,3,11,4,12,5,13,and finally 6.

This is were I am as of 7-22-15. There is about 1/8 of page 14 worked in this final picture.

I do not park and I do not work in 10X10 squares. I cross country stitch. For ME it works the best even in high confetti areas. I understand that others find it better to work it differently with confetti stitching but I get on best this way.

My philosopy about cross stitching

I will tell you abit about my cross stitching preferances.

1)  Other then all our stitches should lay in the same direction, there is no right and wrong ways to stitch. Cross stitching is very forgiving and it is best to do what feels right for you.

2) I prefer to stitch on aida 14,16 and 18 are my favorites. I also enjoy an occasional 20 or 22 count hardanger fabric. I do not like to stitch on evenweave or linen. If it is not fun I do not want to do it, this is my relaxation hobby so I only work with what suites me.

3) In my opinion Q-snaps are the best thing to come to stitching since the needle. I like my fabric to be as tight as possible and I get the best results from these frames.

4) I learned to cross stitch using waste canvas and to this day I love using it to create new and fun stitching projects.

5) Most of the things I stitch is being made as a gift for a family member or close friend. I love to stitch and giving these gift to people makes me happy. I also expect my gifts to be used and not kept in a drawer because someone is worried that they will get it dirty. I stitch my gifts so they can be used an washed as needed.

6) After years and years and years of trying every kind of stitching stand I have finally found the one that works for me. It is the K's Z-frame. I can use it sitting in my most comfy chair at home and it also travels well when I go to my stitching get togethers. On my lap or on a table it is adjustable to both locations. Hold the frame in a good position and moves as I need it to.

7) My go to floss is DMC. I find it the best to work with and easiest to purchase locally. I use a bit of hand-dyed floss, but since I like my stuff to be washable I do not use it alot. I have tried a few silks but not really a fan of those. Since my hands can be rough from the work I do I don't care for the silk as it snags on my fingers.

Those are my main ideas I am sure as I get going with this blog I will add new notions but this gives you an idea of where I am coming from.

Hello

Hello and welcome to my blog. I wanted to set up a place I can come and share my love of crafting. I will be sharing all of my stitching fun. This will involve cross stitch, quilting, sewing and any other crafting that I think you will enjoy.