The Happy TV List (and some stitching updates)

Thanks for all your wonderful comments, it is always so nice to hear from all of you.  I know that I have been terrible about visiting all of you lately, but I have been pulled into the craziness of life yet again...  ;-)  I hope that I'll be able to make up for the neglect during the next few days - I am really curious to see what you all are working on!

I did get a question a couple of weeks ago from Bird Cages: "Did you teach yourself all of this or did you originally learn from a class or someone else?".  Well, I learned the basics for cross-stitch in Swedish elementary school - reading a chart, keeping the back neat, making sure that all the legs are slanted in the same direction and so on.  The more advanced stuff I learned through some great designers and kits, and I was really into the designs by The Drawn Thread for a while, learning a lot of specialty stitches.  Hillside Samplings had some really good kits back then too and her instructions were fantastic.  Thanks to Hillside Samplings, I got over the fear of finishing.
As I got more advanced, as in got more skilled in other counted work than cross-stitch (pulled, drawn, Hardanger, etc), I also invested in a few really good books (if you don't already have The Proper Stitch by Darlene O'Steen - get it!  Seriously!) and used the internet more to check on particular stitches.
I did also take a number of classes, but in all honestly, I think that very few stitchers take the classes I have taken to learn new techniques, but rather to get their hands on some fabulous projects, get away from the everyday grind, make new stitching friends and meet up with old ones.  (The exception is probably the Lucet class with Sherri Jones of Patricks Woods, where we learned how to make lucet cord.  That was a lot of fun!)
Speaking of Hardanger, check out this fabulous Christening gown adorned with Hardanger lace over at the Sinister Craftiness'.  Wow, oh wow!

Well, time to get down to the good stuff!  LOL  The big update for this week is the progress on the EMS sampler.  Here it is complete with part 7 all stitched up.  (I did my usual cheating and stitched up the repeating cherry border... patience?  What is that...?  :-))  It is getting closer - almost 2/3rds there!

Below you can see a close-up of the latest additions.  The puppy and the sweet cherry border were by far the easiest stitches, while the two flower clusters to the right took some time and concentration.  I really do like how the flowers turned out; they look so delicate and transparent (you can probably see it better if you click on the pic).  The white flowers are part of a larger motif, which I am real anxious to spend some more time with in a couple of weeks!

Can you believe that there are 23 floss shades in the small flower motif!?  All of the DMCs have been lined up next to the chart so that you can see how incredibly detailed these Biedermeier motifs can be.   I have a hard time grasping that I actually keep working on this sampler, since I am normally not a fan of switching colors every 30 seconds.  It is well worth the exception though; it is so much fun to see the motifs and the entire sampler slowly grow together into one large beauty!  It definitely helps that it is broken up into a bunch of smaller segments, or it would probably already have hit the UFO pile somewhere....  ;-)
Next assignment will be a quickie, so I am already looking forward to that part to come out.

The reindeer stocking did also get some TLC this week.  It sounds like all of you are in agreement that the red rounds are indeed their noses.  It was a fun stitch, even though it was a bit tricky to stitch with the overdyed floss so that the dark and light shades worked well together.  I am pleased, even though it is not as pretty as the original is.  I think that the stockings have turned out to be a great counter-point to the fiddlier switch-floss-every-second-stitch type projects, since there is a very limited amount of changing floss at all.  I think that the reindeer design required a total of 4 different floss-colors!

Perfect timing on the finising too - the next couple of socks in line to be stitched arrived in the mail-box the same day as the last reindeer nose had been completed.  I think that I do need a quick break from the stockings for now, but I'll try to get back to them in a week or two.  I am pretty excited about scavenging for some fun and matching cotton fabric for finishing.  I saw that the local Hancocks Fabrics just started displaying some of their Xmas fabrics, so I may have to go on a shopping trip pretty soon... LOL

The stitching focusing problem hit this week again.  This is the beginning of Just Nan's Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll, started yesterday.  It has been a fun and pretty quick stitch so far, so it is hard to put away.

And I did get something finished-finished too.  Here is the set of Sweetheart Tree's seasonal welcomes hanging together on the wall.  As always, the idea in my head looked so much better than it ended up being in real life, but it is now on the wall!  All of it is simply pinned together, so it is not too late to get a better idea sometime in the future.....

Here are a couple of us chicks hanging out and discussing the latest news on the net and various TV shows.  Henny and Griffin are not picky; as long as there are no cats or prey birds on the screen, they really don't care a whole lot.  Meanwhile, mommy has watched a lot of positive TV shows lately, and even came up with a list of the current favorites.

 

The TV-Shows-That-Make-Me-Happy Top 5 List:

1. Secret Millionaire - I love it! This show makes me cry, but that's all right - it makes the millionaires cry too.
2. NY Med - I was lucky enough to catch the first episode and I really liked it!  Not all of the patients stories end well, which makes it even more inspiring and makes you think. Supposedly it is just an 8 episode series, but we'll see abut that.  Dr Oz is one of the stars of the show and I must say that I got a whole new respect for him after this show.
3. The Biggest Loser - talk about inspiration!  Nothing is impossible!
4. Extreme Makeover - Home Edition - it is so much fun to see the look on the faces of the receivers!  It is also good to learn about what other people struggle with in life; it definitely sheds a different light on the difficulties in my own life...
5. So You Think You Can Dance?  - By watching this show I have learned that I don't get nearly as moved by song as I do by dance.  The talent pool in this show is simply incredible.

They are all great alternatives to the celebrity gossip, the negative news and the outrageously bad talk-shows (like Jerry Springer and Maury.  No offense to the fans out there, like my DH...).

Anyway, those are the shows the chicks and I decided is what we think is the good stuff.  Any other tips about positive TV shows out there?  We are collecting!  LOL  We don't have cable or satellite though - but we do have Netflix!  (Speaking of, thy just added 4 more seasons of Hercule Poirot - I am in heaven!)

Well, time to get back to things here.  Take care and Happy Stitching,

Check out all these cool blogs!

Happy Monday (I have 2 hrs left here...) too all blog-peeps out there!  I hope that you had a great weekend and that you had to clean a lesser amount of bird-cages that I did.  DH is out on business travels again, so I spent a long Sunday cleaning the house.  It was actually quite enjoyable and all the critters have had fun scrapping everything down while I was away at work today.  The state of our house strives towards entropy much faster than it does in the rest of the universe, I have noticed.  Well, enough with the cleaning monologue and the nerdy science jokes...

I almost fell off the couch today when I saw that I have 99 followers.  I am so glad and so humbled that 99 people have signed up to follow this adventure.  I truly appreciate it more than I can express.  

So.... I really should sit down and think about a fun give-away.  I will see what I can come up with.

I did also get my first ever blog award - I am thrilled!  Heather, from It's Geek To Me, e-mailed to let me know that she has given me the Liebster Blog Award!  Thanks so much Heather, this will be fun!

So now I have to do the following (shamelessly copying the fine-print directly from Heather's blog here):

"Liebster is a German word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting.

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.

4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

So, here are 5 of my Fave-Under-200 blogs (Hmm, should I have checked that they will accept the award first maybe?  Dunno, I am new to this.  Well, I'll take the chance!)

Here they are, in no specific order:
-  Stitching with Kittens!  The blog title says it all!  LOL  She has stitched plenty of fabulous pieces - I can only dream to get pieces on this level of advancement accomplished one day.
-  Diane at Nan's Needlework Notions.  Diane is so talented - her finishes are absolutely perfect, not to mention that she has a knack for picking out the cutest designs.  Right now, she is showing off some Easter decorations that are to die for!  Nan is also the host of The All Year Long Christmas Stitch-A-Long.
-  Ruth of The Musing Badger.  Stitching and reading - can't get much better!  She is participating in the Pratchett Reading Challenge 2012 and check out her gorgeous Beatrix Potter - love those colors!
-  Marsha of Everybody Loved Clark.  She just came back from a trip to Arizona that looks fantastic AND she got to visit the Attic - lucky girl!  Absolutely beautiful stitching is not the only craft Marsha does, but she makes soaps too.  And she loves bees, which is why I usually refer to her as Bzz*Bzz*Bee...
-  Blue Star Stitcher shares photos of the neighbor wildlife (including love-birds!) and she has a huge heart that she opens for needlework that need an adoptive home.  Do you ever think about what will happen with your stash and finishes in the future?  We can only hope that there are more people like Blue Star out there.

Well, the next one is trickier.  5 random facts coming up:
1)  I love hot-dogs with mustard!  I don't really eat them especially often, but I love'em!
2)  I "almost" became a LNS owner a few years back.  My friend Pink tried to talk me into buying a store that was closing down with her.  Luckily, we decided not to and then the economy tanked, but it was a fun dream.
3)  I love opera - I wish I could sing like that.  When I was in high-school, I used to sing the aria of the Queen of the Night in the stair-wells while running between classes.  I was not half-bad... htne I became an engineer (read between the lines here).
4)  My dream house is a southern Victorian wood house with painted details, wood-work like an ice-cream cake, and a wrap-around porch.
5)   I miss the ocean pretty much daily!

So, I finally decided to start on a new "official" project and pulled the Shepherd and Shepherdess miniatures out of the stash.  I started with the tricky shepherd and his chubby dog - pony... ? .. you tell me!  The stitching is a bit slow, since it is over-one on a fairly larger count linen, but is does look sweet.  Not looking forward to the large, green hill though.  The chart is a bit tricky to read.  It is hand-drawn and the green and red in the honeysuckle border are a "V" and an up-side-down "V" respectively.  I am not a fan of ripping over-one... LOL I got a bit stitched, but then it got put away in a corner, so that I could spend some time on the EMS sampler before the April part would be published.

I did manage to get part 3 done; the left-hand side of the basket and the blue flower sprig were the assignments for last month.  Since this pic, I have down-loaded part 4 and the fun continues!

 

The is ending up much smaller than I had envisioned.  (I would recommend actually stitching this on a larger count, if you decide to work on this piece.)  It is petite, not a whole lot longer than 12 inches, but I love it!  Check out the crazy amount of colors that go into this beauty.  Piles and piles of DMC.  Luckily, I am stitching with one strand, so it is not too bad.  Yesterday I managed to finish the pretty little brown bird in the upper right corner and the upper flower border is finally done.  That little bird is too pretty!

Next part will be the one with the mushroom.  I am trying to come up with something else to stitch instead.  I mean, I like mushrooms and all, but maybe not in this sampler.  I think that I did find a nice butterfly that can come and live here instead.  any other suggestions would be of great interest too!

Since I am hopelessly behind in my photography, I can only show you this pic of the "half-baked" CRC carrot ornies.  I can report that all 12 motifs from the three booklets have been successfully stitched up and they are eagerly awaiting the finishing party.  There really are no excuses..  I have all the mat-board parts needed, I picked out my backing fabric..  I am still contemplating whether I should finish the edges with cording or with beads.  And am I efficient enough (read "lazy") to use the glue-gun instead of sewing each ornie together?  Plus, I do need to pick out a suitable ribbon somewhere.... decisions, decisions.  I am excited about adding all the beads and bling, though!  I guess that will be my carrot!  (Bad pun alert - heheheh.)

 

(Note how cheap I am with my linen - each precut from Silverneedle was meant for one ornament.  In other words, I have enough pieces to stitch each ornament at least one more time.  Maybe next year.. :-))

Here is an example of adventures waiting to happen when you live with a bunch of shredders.  This poor blue bird doesn't even know what hit it, while peacefully sitting on its nest.  The card-board, linen, floss, and the glass-beads (!) have all been eaten up by one or two of my little angles.  My reactions are surprising even to myself sometimes - I could tell that DH was so sorry when he fished it up from behind the couch and showed it to me, but I just shrugged and started thinking about possible way to salvage the piece.  Luckily, I generally enjoy the process of stitching and making more than decorating and displaying, if that makes sense.  Anyway, I am thinking about making one of those pretty little pin-pillows that are so in right now - you know the ones that have a piece of cotton sewn onto the linen on the front (yep, I know that my description totally blows, so check out these examples on Karen's Handiwork blog instead.)

 

I am very pleased to report that no angel has showed any sign of tummy aches after the disappearance of the glass-beads.

The spring bulbs are almost bloomed out in my garden now.  This pretty pink double-petaled tulip enjoys the mild spring, together with some neighboring fuchsia single-petals.

I managed to get all the pansies and the violets in the ground too.  the ones in the pots look fine, but the plants that I sat in the ground don't look pleased at all.  Life if tough, little violets!

Spring is in full swing indoors too.  The birds are getting anxious about building nests and they have started to court each other.  They strut about, fluff their neck feathers and bob back and forth - all to impress each other; scaring away the competition while impressing the potential partner across the room.  I know that they aim to look super cool and majestic, but mummy just laughs and thinks that they are the cutest little down-balls ever.  Mothers!  So they are absolutely adorable, but a great deal less easy to handle.  They get very territorial and aggressive during this time, so I have grown a good collection of bite-marks on my right index finger during the past couple of weeks.

Here they are - guarding their club house with talons and beaks... and dirty looks.

Well, it is bed-time yet again.  I will try to round up Bubba so that we all can go to bed.  (That sounds easier than it is - it generally takes flipping over both couches in the living room upside down while trying to herd her towards her room.  Well, I'd better stop talking about it and actually start doing it.)
Have a great week and Happy Stitching,

Singing in the Sea...

She is done - the Mermaid with her two tales!  I had to share her with you.  I had hoped to get her completely done before the Patricks Woods class last weekend, but I never got around to attaching the cording around the edge.  I did bring it to show it to Sherry though.  She is probably the most encouraging teacher I have ever had - she really celebrate all her students finishes with them!  She even complimented the tricky curves - yes, I was terrified before starting to work on them!  LOL

Here is Miss M in her calming mode, talking with the fish and letting the ships pass on calm waters.

 

Here she is in her party mood - the seafarers are getting a ride for their money and the fish have already taken cover....  I added little MOP shells for "feet" at the bottom of the clutch.

Here is the clam shell inside with a monogrammed pocket and where a part of my growing scrim collection will live.  :-)  The little pin-cushion and the sweet needle-book with the adorable sea-horse were part of an optional kit that we could buy when taking the class.  I did not think twice about picking that one up!

Check out the gussets!  LOL  And the pretty mermaid with her mirror on the front of the pin-cushion.  She is such a talented designer!  All of this beautiful design is stitched with just two floss-colors, which is so right for this pretty ensemble.

 

The mermaid is not the only piece I have been finishing lately.  I am not real sure what has gotten into me,, but all of the sudden I have a ball just finishing the oldies on the "almost there" pile!  This is an Oehlenschlager design with a little pig and a flock of adorable, and curious, hens.  You can check out other cuties here!  (I can hear the rooster pin-cushion calling my name.  I already have the pretty tulip design in my to-stitch-one-day pile.)  Anyway, since I already finished the Oehlenschlager goose design into a pin-cushion, I decided to make a piggie pin-disc.  I had the neat chain-link fence fabric in my stash and I added a chicken button on the back for fun,

I did also manage to get my BOAF ornament finished.  I used one of the cool hand-dyed rick-racks that I got in the trim-pack from Down Sunshine Lane (thanks for enabling me, Bzz*Bzz*Bee, LOL).  I like how it turned out, but I guess that I need to put it away until Xmas comes around, right?

While on our trip, L-bug and I stopped by a delightful needlework store.  (I'll write more about that next time.).  I didn't buy a whole lot, but since the store was also specializing in framing, I decided to pick up some teeny frames to go with some tiny designs.  To soothe my guilt over buying more stash, I stitched up a couple of quickies after Tuesday, which is when my total stitch exhaustion had lifted a bit (the stitch-tempo was pretty intense over the weekend.  To put it mildly...)  Here is a super-adorable cardinal frame and a little spring-green thing with accompanying designs.

Here is the finished spring bunny (The Littles Bunny by Bent Creek) - I added the bow-tie so that he is dressed up and ready to go.  Too lazy to get the called for floss in the store, so I just pulled from the stash.

Here is the Cardinal ornie in progress.  The glue is still drying for this one, but meanwhile I am having fun thinking about what ribbon (and maybe a couple of pieces of adornments) to use.  I did switch out the cross-stitches used for the berries for beads.  Of course!  :-)  And the white details on the hat were stitched with Whisper.  

The design, Tree Trimmings II, and the frame are from Poppy Kreations.

I wonder if all of you are experiencing the strangest spring ever too?   Two weeks ago - the spring flowers are ready to go:

And then - snow!!!  And not a little bit (for here in KY, that is).

Isn't it pretty!?

Before signing off, I have to show you my baby-Hen keeping me company in the bathroom.  I am applying make-up and she is taking care of the Q-tips.

 

It's hard work, but mommy needs help with stuff early in the morning.  (I love her, can you tell?  LOL)

And lastly, just to show that I am not making up stuff.. ;-)  Here I am in Ohio, with my freshly glued Blue Ribbon Box!  I'll show more photos of the weekend that was next time.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I really appreciate the visit!  Take care, have a wonderful spring and Happy Stitching,

My, Oh My - How Time Flies!

Hello and Happy Monday all stitching friends!  Time flies - it feels like the days have been shortened with a few hours.  There is less and less time to squeeze in all the fun stuff, if that makes sense.  (I already managed to miss my very first WIPocalypse post, so I guess that I am done with that... LOL). 

I have managed to stitch on a few projects here in the evenings, so I have a few pics to share with you.

First, I realized that we are almost in March, so my pre-stitching for the class with Patrick's Woods is due very soon.  I managed to slap together five pieces out of eight this past week.  I really enjoy the stitch, even thought there is a good deal of over-one stitching.  The colors are very pretty and much long-arm cross-stitching and hemstitching.  The hemstitching is a drawn thread stitch which I am very fond of; I finish all my bell-pulls and table-cloths with drawn thread hemstitching - it is so pretty - it looks like lace!

The pieces that are left will be a breeze, since I have already taken care of the "boring" part - the borders!  LOL

Here is a close-up of the pretty little bird that is back-stitched and filled with overlapping long-stitches.  I think that I rather packed my bird full with stitches, so it looks less primitive that the original does.

Here is a close up of the pretty hemstitched part of the design hat will be the side of the mattress style pin-cushion.  Isn't it beautiful with the blue ribbon woven through?

I did also get a chance to finish most of the EMS 2012 SAL sampler.  I say most, because I am not a fan of stitching half of a motif, since I am too lazy to restart all my threads.  I also feel that the sharp start and end within the same motif can be seen after the motif has been completed..  I'd pace myself and wait to get the next part before finishing the basket. 
Now I am trying to tell myself that I need to get cracking on the upper border - 5 more repeats to go.

I have probably mentioned before that we are a group of ladies who stitch at work.  We try to stitch at least once a week, but all of us have been crazy busy lately, so it has been a sparse gathering.
Last week I managed to finish this little piece, A Stitch in Thyme  from Little House Needleworks.  The kit came with the super-cute needle-book and tomato pincushion.  Unfortunately, I have lost them...  don't you hate that!?  I seem to manage that a lot...  Drives me nuts!  Anyway, maybe here in the future some day they'll pop up.  Then it is just a matter of finding the stitched piece again!  LOL  It is a very cute piece though.

Here is the fully finished heart needle-book and the little heart box painted by Liberty Hill that came in this limited edition kit from Hillside Samplings.  This was a lot of fun - a lovely stitch and a pretty straight forward finish.  There were some tricky parts getting the assembly done, but it all got lovingly forced together in the end.  Sorry about all the pics...
I spoke with the lady that paints the Liberty Hill treasures last week.  She is so sweet and friendly and took her time to talk with me - and we even discovered that she has visited my blog - I am thrilled!  Needless to say, I am looking forward to the 2012 prim club very much!

Speaking of primitive and clubs, have you seen this one, Prim Sister's Club!? 

Country Sampler, Notforgotten Farm, Primitive Bettys, and Pineberry Lane have joined forces to send the club-members a kit every other month.  I have signed up!


I bought as tiny bit of stash over the Superbowl weekend at Silverneedle's sale.  I was good and I only bought finishing materials and a Very Bradley organizer (I love the bold white, green and turquoise colors) that I wanted to keep coupons in.

 I have to share a close-up of this funny little note that came back in the package with you:

LOL!

I hope that all of you had a nice Valentines Day.  I had great plans - more than months in the making.  I got the idea inspired by this beautiful Valentines wreath made from reproduction vintage cards by Williams Sonoma.  Isn't it lovely?

Well, I found a few tutorials here and here and there are so many wonderful and generous web-pages full of images of fun and pretty vintage Valentines cards.  This site is my favorite! 

I did get cracking on the wreath and it would have looked grand, except for the fact that I ran into trouble with the Modge Podge - it never seemed to dry up and in the end, all the cards curled up, so I decided to give it a rest!  As you can see, I decided to go with the vintage reds and the cheesy greetings - they are too funny!  Makes me smile!

I added some glitter paint to make things sparkle a bit - it looked great (this was before the blasted Modge Podge!). 

 

 

I'll definitely give it another try next year - or maybe I'll try for the precious Easter wreath here in a few weeks..  Just have to rest up my tired scissors fingers and print out some fun Easter greeting cards first...  :-)

Speaking of Valentines - here is Rusty guarding his (?) nest-box with Pixie peaking out from behind.  We'll see if they lay any eggs.  That would be the first clutch for them, so it is exciting (even though I am hoping that there won't be - we don't have any more space here!).  Pixie and Rusty are different types of Greencheek mutations, so their babies would likely be quite unique.

 

This is Nibbler - also known as "Big eye", since his (?) right eye, the one that is looking at YOU right now,  is much larger than the other.  Soooo cute!

Nibbler almost died when he was a baby.  He flew into a window really hard and started to bleed into his beak.  He almost suffocated on his own blood.  DH freaked out, which helped keeping me much calmer than I would normally have been.  I took Nibbler out to the bathroom, held him upside-down while rinsing his beak with water.  I was sure that there was no chance that he would make it, but we were all very, very lucky!  It is hard to have loved pets die in your hands and especially that young.

I swear that the big eye is a memento of his near-death experience, while DH thinks that I am imagining things.

Nibbler's "big eye" is focused a lot on Scrappy.  Scrappy has a set of admirers that follow her (?) anywhere through the house.  It is a bit of an interesting situations.  Pebble and Nibbler chase after Scrappy, who goes "home" to Henny in the evenings, since they are cage-mates. 

 

And this beautiful basket is what my "cage-mate" keft for me to discover after work.  He knows that I love bulbs and he really overdid himself - I am so spoiled by that man!  They are starting to bloom out, but I can't wait to dig these babies down in the ground and see what happens next spring.

This is what is going on right now - here in Kentucky, we are all very confused about the winter that never seemed to come.  We are all holding our breath and waiting to see if there will be any late winter-storms before the real spring finally arrives.  Some of us are less patient than others - my mini irises decided to take the plunge and they look happy.  It put a big smile on my face when I left the house Thursday morning and saw these brilliantly blue gems glistening in the flower beds. 

 

Henny says that it is time to get back out of the basement!  "It is cold down here, mom!"  Isn't she the cutest little thing?  Even though I clipped her wing-pens way too short last time.  No worries - it is like clipping hair or nails; they do grow back out, but it takes a few months.

Well, how can I say no to my special little hen?  Better get up to the warmer part of the house. 

Bubba says Bye!

 And I'd better say bye too - it is bed-time again!  Lots of wishes of many hours of lovely stitches!  I am (once again) hoping for enough time to visit all of your blogs this week!