I am still alive and stitchin'

Hi everyone - I hope that you are all great! I am fantastic, but super-busy both at work and at home, so I have been slacking both on the blog-posting side and the blog-reading front. I hope that I will be able to shape up soon! I apologize for not keeping up with all of your blogs, but that is the big goal for Sunday! As always, thanks for all your comments; they mean so much to me. I am still in awe every day about the fact that blogging is such a wonderful connector to stitchers all over the world. I am still as excited about blogging today than I was when I started.

Well, enough blubbering - let's get down to business! As you may remember, last weekend I took two classes with Sherri Jones of Patricks Woods; The Lucet and Hare Pyns. We had a blast and we learned so much! Now I have taken 4 classes with Sherri and I am always impressed with her teaching skills, her personality and sense of humour (her stories are simply hilarious!) and her fantastic designs. I have never taken a class with her without learning something new.
We started off with the Lucet class on Saturday morning. We were about 20 ladies, I would guess, and we were lucetting our little fingers off all day long. So much fun!
Here is Sherri showing off various types of lucets:

.. and here is a small sample of different types of cording you can make with the lucet (beaded, flat, square, multi-colored - you name it!):

DH often claims that I am "easily amused" (is that a bad thing? - I don't think so) - and he may have a point... Apparently I found something to really laugh about here - note that the ladies around me look more skeptical than grinning their faces off like yours truly.... ;-)

Here is a close-up of the Rovaris necklace upon request! (Thanks for taking the pic Froggie and enjoy Joyce! LOL)

Lady P was the hostess for the Lucet class. We crashed her house on the way out to dinner and wow, we were in heaven! She has a vast collection of gorgeous samplers everywhere. I took photos of pretty much all of them, but I will only give you a teaser here.
The is Lady P next to her Dutch Beauty. I can not even begin to tell you how pretty this sampler is - or how huge it is!

A true Kentucky couple's home - samplers on the wall and NASCAR on TV!

Part of Lady P's smalls collection - is this not just the best piece of furniture for a fabulous display?

And this is a fantastic - simply beautiful - large box topped with a Periwinkle Promises sampler. I am pretty sure that this was a class project.

Well, I had too much fun to remember to get my camera out. Dinner was great - Sherri, Lady P, L-bug and a new friend, Amy, and I went out for dinner at a steak place. We had such a nice time. Amy is just the sweetest lady and she got us all desert off the menu simply by giving the waitress one of those puppy-dog looks that you can not say no to. Amy is also a blogger - she blogs e-v-e-r-y d-a-y - can you believe it!? If you get a chance, please swing by over to check out her blog and say hi - she would love to have you stop by, I'm sure: Thread in Hand!
After dinner, L-bug and I went back home to her house. She was kind enough to let me stay over from Friday night to Sunday, which decreased my travel time by 150%! She is the sweetest friend one could ever wish for; she left chocolate and candy in the guest-bedroom for me, had a full breakfast menu, and let me play in her stash for hours. What 4-star hotel has a stash to play in? Not many, I bet!

The Hare Pyns finishing class started early Sunday morning. We were about 12 ladies at various stages of completion and we had a great time! I brought my sewing machine all the way from Kentucky and was so annoyed that I could not get the tension of the sewing thread right through the entire class. It wasn't until I was all packed up and half-way back home that I realized that the thread spool should have been in the vertical position and not the horizontal position - sigh!!! Well, that's what happens when you try to sew too early in the morning... LOL
I love the concept of "finishing class". I am pretty good about whipping up the stitched part of a design, but the finishing step is one that generally takes me a loooong time to get to.
Well, I did not get everything finished in class - far from it - but I got enough done to motivate me to stick to it. Lookie what I finished yesterday night!

The only thing that I am not 100% happy with is the overlap of the ribbon used for the pocket border. I have one corner that sticks out too much and I do not like the look of it. However, it is way too late to try to fix it, so unfortunately, it is what it is. I am very happy about most of the rest (but I seriously do have to invest in a great pair of scallop fabric shears so that my felt pieces don't look like I chewed them into shape....)

Well, so one project down, hundreds to go. It does not help that I accidentally picked up a bunch of new kits and patterns from Sherri. I am really excited about starting on a couple of these, but seeing that I have a 20-project WIP list and that the lucet piece will require many hrs of TLC before I have manufactured the required number of yards of cording, I will have to brace myself. By the way, did I mention that I am going to another stitching retreat in about a week? I'll tell you more about in my next post.... Wink-wink...

And speaking of stash - a huge box awaited me today when I finally got home from work ay 9:30 PM. Stash!!!!! The pile of silks in the front is for the Shores of HRH SAL that Valerie of A Shenadoah Sampler and I are planing on doing here soon. Oh, I can't wait!!!!

I know that 9:30 sounds pretty late to come home from work, but today was a special occasion. We had in our Swedish representatives and customers for meetings at work all day today. It was a lot of fun to speak Swedish and it is also easier to ask and discuss harder questions a lot more directly in someone's native tongue, so I was invited to come along to do the wine and dine thing. Dinner was held at one of the local Bourbon distilleries and we had such a great time! The weather was even good enough that we sat outdoors for most of the dinner. The guests did not want to leave, but luckily they did not have a choice (good planning on the hosts part...) since the chartered bus came and whisked them back to the hotel at 9PM sharp! Good thing too, they are leaving town 5:30 tomorrow morning! :-o
Well, I need to get up pretty soon here too, so I'd better get going (I can hear DH snoring all the way from the bed-room...). Bubba is sitting behind me on the couch back-rest and seems a bit antsy, so it is time to get him back to his cage for some night snacks, I think.

Well, since Henny is already in bed, I guess that I don't have any choice but to end this post with some bunny pictures.
Bubba says "Do not touch my carrot!!!"

It is a hard life being this cute. Better take a nap...

Looking at Bubba napping makes me tired too. Time to get to bed!
Good night and sweet stitching dreams to everyone!

TUSAL and Stash...

Hello All and Happy Thursday!
As always, thanks for all your very kind and sweet comments, particularly about the little necklace piece! I am so glad that you like it too! In all honestly, it is not a piece that I will ever wear to work, but I can't wait to show it off this weekend. Just out of curiosity, is this type of jewellery something that any of you would wear to work? I will try to make sure that I have some photos to show you of how it looks while worn.
As I mentioned in the last post, I did have a bunch of fun working on it, so please don't worry about the missing finishing instructions (I hope that I didn't scare anyone off!!!) - if you love it, get it or at least add it to your wish list! You can always send me a row and ask how I finished it and I will be more than happy to try to show you.

Can you believe that it is that time again - the time for our monthly TUSAL updates? This is how my container looks now. I have started to "compress" the orts lightly on to have more room to play with. I can not believe how much scrap I have created! ow I am starting to think crazy things, like "what can I make with these things once the TUSAL is over?".

Other updates: the last few days I have been getting lots of new fabric to fondle. I tend to keep an ever growing wish-lists in my head and every other month or so, I hit Etsy and gather up most of the fabrics that I simply can not live without. This time, it was mostly Heather Ross - both her Far far Away 1 (and some larger Snow-white cuts from FFA3) and her Mendocino line - and also a few fun Alexander Henry prints.

Aren't the mermaids too cute!? I know that I have said it before; the only thing that is missing now is my ability to sew and motivation to get going on it...

I am aware of the fact that you have probably had it with the Hare Pyns shots just about now - will she stop posting pics of that thing already!? - but this is the last one before finishing, I promise!
Class starts early Sunday and I am thrilled that all the stitching is complete! As you can see, every single linen thread is covered and the piece can not be more ready for assembly. Sherri and I e-mailed each other a bit last week and she mentioned that she hopes that we will leave with a finished project - that would be fabulous. I also know that there is a tiny companion piece that we can purchase in class, so there will be more stitching on this project. One day....

Before Hare Pyns, on Saturday, L-Bug and I will drive up to mid-Ohio together to take the Lucet class. I can not wait!!! I am so excited and I am still doing all kinds of prep-work here at home. I have completed all my stitching, so now I am cutting lining pieces, basting interfacing and reading instructions like a mad-woman. It is a lot of fun!
Tomorrow is pretty much the last day I have to get ready. L-Bug lives 2 hrs from my house and I am going up to stay with her, so I will likely leave directly from work on Friday - I need to be packed and ready (I have been asked to bring sewing machine, cut-mat and rotary cutter, iron, ironing board etc, so I'd better make sure that I have all my ducks in a row before long...).
Anyway, L-Bug and I will have so much fun! Dinner, gossip, tea, stitching - I hope that we can get a lot of things crammed in just the two of us before the classes start.

Well, I am late getting to bed - as usual!
Take care and Sweet Dreams about Stithing,

Sneaky Bunny

The main stitching on Hare Pyns is finally completed. The hardest part was to try to find all the floss that I apparently dropped all over the house... LOL

Her he is, the Hare Pyn Hare! It cracks me up; he looks so sneaky. You just know that as soon as you turn your head away, he will start munching on all the tulips!
Below you can see the extra bunny that I added to the inside pocket panel.

One of these days, I'll show you a photo of the entire piece, but that means that I have to vacuum the floor first...

The birds are taking back the web - look at us, we are at least as adorable and interesting as that ole' bunny... Here they are taking a ride on the fan (it is not running, but if you flap your wings just a little, it will start spinning slightly, which is great fun. Plus, it is really hard for mommy to get us down...)

Bubba is not impressed!

I leave you with some summer pictures from our town. Isn't it pretty?
As I am writing this, it is clear that winter is coming; it is cool in the mornings, the cars windows are wet with heavy morning dew, and it is already dark in the mornings when the alarm clock goes off.

I wish you all a wonderful Friday and Happy Weekend Stitching,

Bees, Bugs, and Bunnies (and other critters...)

Happy Monday everyone!
It has been a while since I posted - I have been pretty busy with my new job-position. I have wanted to do something new and more challenging at work for a long time now, but I have a feeling that it will take a few weeks to get back up to 110 mph. I am most happy at work when I am really busy, so I am sure that even happier days lie ahead. Since the weeks will be a lot more packed (did I tell you that your truly was voted in as president of the local Scandinavian Heritage society? Yup, I am big time now... LOL), I am hoping that I won't be neglecting all your blogs or my own.
As always, thanks so much for all your comments. It is great to hear from all my cyber-peeps! I have not been as good about commenting on all your blogs lately, but I have been reading them and enjoyed every minute!

This weekend was interesting. We went hashing on Saturday and had a nice time. Before the running and beer drinking, DH and I had time to go and check out a hous with the realtor. This is the time to buy - 3.5% interest! I mean, can it get better than that!? On the other hand - it may be a bit harder to sell, so it all evens out at the end of the day, right? LOL
We saw another house on Sunday. Both of them were "interesting"... say no more. The Saturday house was definitely the better one and it is apparent that DH is in love with that particular house. The Sunday-house must have been built by very short folks. Nothing wrong with that, but I did tell DH that if we buy that house, he will have to sit down during #1 because the WC is so incredibly far away (as in very, very low)... On the other hand, the garden was fantastic! I am hoping that we eventually will find a house that has it all...

Well, on to the more exciting stuff.

Bees and Bugs!
With a special *hello* to my buddy Bzz*Bzz*Bee! After about 1 whole week of solid rain, we got some wonderful Saturday sun. The bees were very excited about being dry and fed. I love this first pic. If you click on it, you can see that a bee was caught mid-air in the lower right corner. I am amazed at the capacity of my camera!

I also like that these two share the same sunflower. The little yellow bug has the exact same color as the flower has.

Bunnies!!!
Here is the progress on Hare Pyns. Two out of the three panels on the main part are now done. The first photo shows the "invisible stitching" on the part that will be the inside of the purse. Thank goodness that I am done with that part! I did decide to add an additional bunny in the second zero. That bunny is facing the first bunny and I like how it turned out.
The photo below that shows the progress on the last panel. It is actually working up much more quickly than I thought (tent-stitch). I ran out of floss while stitching the outlines, but found a good substitute among my Sailors Huswif leftover silks (plus - of course - I used the wrong color... I would have run out of the other color too though). This panel has a completely filled in background too, which I must admit that I am dreading a bit... The upper left corner has already been filled in, but as you can see, it is another page taken from the book of "invisible stitching".

Here is DH and Bubba saying hi!

Is that a bunny under your jacket, or are you just happy to see me? (Sorry, it's past 10 PM and I guess that I am slap-happy over here...)
I have been meaning to share a couple of interesting videos with you. If you are under the impression that bunnies are shy and very timid animals, these movies are for you (no bunnies got harmed during the making of these films...)


(I love birds, so I do feel bad about the poor crow in the second movie. If you have a heart that bleeds for feathery friends, you should probably not click on the second link. It is not a funny movie, just showing that bunnies can be super-dangerous!)

Speaking of Bubba, he is even more world famous now! Check out the post on Beth Twist's blog (Heartstring Samplery)! Bubba got us a wonderful freebie for posing for this pic; the wonderful I Sew'd My Heart design.

All right, Henny is seriously starting to get jealous, so I have to pay more attention to her for a while. It is always an adjustment to get a new sibling. LOL

Other Critters
Speaking about feathery friends, check out what we had hanging out in out tiny hanging Japanese cherry tree:

Doesn't this put you in the Halloween mood? I love it!

And finally, a bunch of gifts from all over the world! Check out this super-cute strainer from Little Sis back in Stockholm. Littlest Sis showed Little Sis what she was sending me fro my birthday and Little Sis decided to send a matching piece. Love it! And I got more tea - yay!!!! But, best of all, the Godparent Certificate for the baby-boy. DH and I have 4 God-children now, which we are thrilled about - what an honor. (Brag, brag, I know that I am pitiful... LOL)

During the retreat the weekend before last, my best stitching buddy L-Bug gave me these wonderful gifts. L-Bug is a very talented seamstress and made these wonderful stitching pockets for a bunch of her friends. She made sure that the one she made for me matches with the tote-bags that we made a couple of years ago. It is simply gorgeous!

The contents; a wonderful sampler book, a sweet book-mark, a beautiful (really gorgeous!) slide-lid magnetic needle box, and...

...this fantastic pin-cushion. Both L-Bug and I are die-hard Prairies Schooler fans and as many of you probably know, this design is taken from the "Forget Me Nots" chart. Isn't is just the prettiest thing you ever saw!?

L-Bug and I were especially thrilled about the photo below, Berthe Dupont. The book does only contain charts for some of the samples presented, but I found a Berthe Dupont SAL on this French blog: BD Sampler. Isn't she a beauty!? This blog has a lot of free vintage/antique charts; a real gold-mine.

L-Bug and I have decided to start a SAL sometime after our Patricks Woods class/es are over with. This link (same blog) shows a few other samplers that are also displayed in the book.

I am also super excited about another upcoming SAL. Valerie of A Shenandoah Sampler and I are planning on stitching Shores of Hawk Run Hollow together. She is already ahead; everything is kitted up and ready to go. I have some serious shopping ahead of me... ;-) My sweet MIL sent me a gift-card for $50, so I know exactly what I will invest all those dollars in. I am planning on stitching it on silk-gauze, which I think will be a lot of fun!

Finally, here is a photo showing a very tired stitcher wearing some very cool earrings. Froggie gave me these peacock inspired earrings during the retreat. Don't they look glam!?

Well, if I want to avoid looking that rough tomorrow, I'd better get to bed!
Take care, Happy Stitching , and talk with you in a bit!