Wohooo - Here She Is!

Here she is - Anne Maria Clarke-Richmond reproduced by Essamplaire:

To stay as close to the charted piece as possible while still adding my information, I used additional "invisible stitches".  I used the cream floss to sign my full name in the lower left corner and the finishing date in the lower right corner (this morning at 00.30...) - all over one.  If you don't know that it is there, you will probably not spot it find it unless you exacarefully, so I am pleased!  Here is a close-up of the date (I had to bend the linen so that the shadow of the stitches indicates where they are):

I really got pretty excited when I recalled that the Ann Rayner sampler (Threads Through Time) uses the same type of alphabet.  Ann stitched the entire alphabet in her sampler, so I could just pick the capitals from her chart.  (This is another beauty in line to get stitched.  Where can I buy more time!?)

As usual, the real drama started once I decided to iron the sampler...  Oh, I am not a fan!  Not at all!!!  First I freaked out because it looked like the iron burned the linen.  It didn't, the linen just has darker streaks in it.  Then I discovered a couple of unidentifiable smudges that I (knowing that it was a stupid idea as I did it) decided to attack with a Tide-to-Go pen (yep, I hear the stitching-community's collective gasp from all over the World...).  Needless to say, now I have two paler spots in the linen.  One of them will disappear in the case I decide to frame her, the other...  well, I am not real sure why, but I don't really care.  I guess that I am a real odd-ball of a stitcher.  As soon as the work is finished, I am just not that intrigued or careful any more. 

And that is good news, or I would have to set up a serious talk with the parrots (in the basement).  This is a Drawn Thread design (Real Roses) that I adapted to be more personalized.   I switched the lady holding the hands of two children to DH, our - at the time - 5 (only!) parrots, and myself), composed a new verse and added all of our initials, bird and man alike.  I also decided to experiment with fancy edgings and I did have a ton of fun stitching it. 

This is what I discover today:  first off, edges are folded - I know that DH has mentioned that he has seen some of the parrot baby hang form it.  Sigh...  Then this; someones beak or claw has pulled out my right eye and pulled a strand out of the pain-in-the-neck long-arm cross-stitch border.  I am sure that I'll find some more "added personalization" to this piece as I start to patch it back up.  I love the parrots, but sometimes I tell DH that we need second house for him and the birds!!!  You don't blame me, I'm sure...

Hmmm, maybe the bird babies are hinting that they are not pleased to see that their monograms are missing, poor neglected creatures!

On to happier things - I bought myself some happiness on Ebay last week.  I go a very cheap Queen of Freedom by Mirabilia (I am thinking about linen color...), a OOP totally fantastic bell-pull designed by Mads Stage for Clara Waever back in the days (1960-70 probably), and a kit published by the Swedish Home-craft Society (hard to translate..).

Since I have problems with discipline when it comes to stitching (and since I apparently don't have a problem lying to DH in regards to stitch related issues), I did start on the Swedish kit right after my ironing adventure.
The text translates "Craft Concerns Everyone".  Pretty cute, huh!?

Yeah, about lying to my DH.  He made me promise (we even shook on it) that I would get my very-close-to-getting'er-done Peacock Tapestry back out.  I know that I really should, but I also really rather not...  PT, inconveniently enough, is the only stitched piece that DH has ever been interested in.  I did guilt him into asking to see the finished Richmond sampler earlier today, but that request was more placed out of politeness and keeping peace than out of any real interest, I suspect.  Oh well, I'll marry a stitcher next time around - but he has to have a bigger stash that I do and preferable all the hard-to-find OOP charts!

Did you note that today's post was thrown out on the net earlier than usual, by the way?  That is thanks to one of mu "guild moms" (yes, Missy R, I am referring to you!!!).  She brought her laptop to the latest stitch-in to show everyone the blogs that some of us enjoy fiddling with.  Missy R specifically asked me "what are you doing posting at 2 in the morning!?".  She is right (I am hanging my head), so I will try to change my blog-in-the-middle-of-the-early-morning habits and be better about my beauty sleep.

Oh, and a final call out: Thanks a million times to Mr L-Bug for driving over to Mrs L-Bug's work to drop of her "really important to have a closer look at scissors fob".  I had asked her if she wouldn't mind bringing it with her to the stitch-in so that I could have a look at it and take some pictures.  Mrs L-Bug reenacted the conversation that the L-Bugs had over the phone while he was trying to figure out what in the world she was trying to get him to find, and it was rather funny.  I think that it ended something like this:  

Mr L "Are you talking about this pile of crap here on the table" 

Mrs L "Yes, that's it!"

Gotta' love the guys - don't they know treasure when they see it!?  And I also love her rather resigned response...

Anyway, Mrs L-Bug  pulls out the fob, informing me about the morning's adventures in regards to arranging the transaction, when I realize that I left my camera at home!  Ooops...  I totally forgot that L-Bug is also a real shutter bug, so she pulls a compact camera out of her purse, we take the pics and she e-mailed them to me later that weekend.  So, I'd like to send a big thank you to Mrs L-Bug too!!!  

Without further due, here it is.  Isn't this just adorable?  We have decided that it shouldn't be that hard to make our very own home-made ones, so that is shaping up for another "fun & quick craft" session to look forward to!

Well, time for bed.  I promised Missy R...    Plus  Blogger or Mozilla or something else equally mystical seems a tad crabby tonight, so I'd better stop before one of us ends up crying...

Take care, have a great mid-week, and don't forget to stitch!



A Large HD

Hi all and thanks so much for all your wonderful comments!  I am especially delighted to hear what you had to say about the fabric choices in my last post.  Get this, not a single person had picked the same fabric!  I love it - that means that whatever I pick, it will be right!

I have to show off my latest finish real quick.  This is the Drawn Thread SAL that I have posted about a couple of times in the past.  Well, she is done; here is Drawn Thread's Sampler of Stitches:

Here is a picture of the entire sampler:

 ...and a close-up of the last part (finished yesterday night):

 

I loved to work on some of the parts while other parts were pretty painful. 

I did notice that I enjoyed stitching the larger areas rather than many, many very small areas.  The larger sections allow you to practice the new stitch and get a flow going.  

I also learned that I love to do pulled thread work!

I have absolutely not idea what I'd like to do with this sampler.  I am looking at it and it is pretty and all, but I am very much undecided.  Right now, I have a real hard time believing that I will ever frame it and hang it on my wall. 

I'll bring it with me to tomorrow's stitch-in and see what my peeps say...

I also got a really nice surprise in the mail earlier this week - my floss from Examplarery arrived, so I guess that the Canadian postal strike is over.    All the text is in and now I get to concentrate on the border, which I really do enjoy!  I think that Queen stitches are a lot of fun.  

It is not all song and dance though; I almost threw a fit yesterday when I realized that the border is not the last part that I have left after all!  I also need to fill in the rest of the grout in the house!  Blah - I am not looking forward to that.  Not  at all.  I know that this is the very last part, and that it should be "easy" since it is just filling in areas with cross-stitch, but it is that boring "invisible thread" type stitching, so I am real keen on skipping it all together.  I know that I won't, but I will at least dream about it for a while... [ Oh, and I should probably work on whining less too.  ;-)]

And this is the final stitch-update for tonight - the Rosenstand bird bell-pull in coming along nicely.  I think that I have completed 1 page out of 4 now, which is not too bad.  As I mentioned in the last post, it really is a long piece, but the stitching-intensity is pretty low, due to all the naked areas. 

This is yet another one of those kits where the colors on the cover-photo have very little resemblance to the real thing.  The real-life colors are much brighter and greener than the dull browns and olive greens in the picture.  Luckily, I still like the way it looks, so that is great.  The bird is clamping onto the bamboo (I think that is what it is) very close to the bottom on this design.  I am already looking forward to stitch on him!  But fist there is a large tuft of leaves to take care of at the top of the bamboo.

Lastly, I wanted to show you the somewhat funny in a low-key (and probably low-cost) way; the "fortune cookies" that we get from the Thai restaurant close to work.  We eat lunch there about every other week and I have now convinced my co-workers to ask for the statement cookies rather than fortune cookies with the bill.  Here is the interesting mix of random sentences we got last time:

All in all, pretty funny, I think!  My coworkers do this thing, that I am sure is in no way unique for that group, where they read the fortune to the rest of the lunch participants and always end the fortune with "in bed" to make it all so much more amusing.  

After glancing at the examples above, I don't think that "sprucing up" is necessary at all.  But, now again, DH keeps claiming that I have an odd sense of humor and that I am easily amused...  I hope that maybe one of you, dear blog readers, has the same type of humour.  Makes the world such a more amusing place to be, doesn't it!?

Well, time to get to bed.  We have a "morale boost even" at work tomorrow, which means that we will have to play games and eat sandwiches in the park from 10 AM to 2 PM.  I am looking forward to it, even though I have a feeling that we will be up in the 80:s temperature wise.  Take into account that I am the type of woman who "glistens" bucket-fulls and  you get the picture.  Not necessarily a pretty one....   :-b

Take care, stay out of the heat, and have a wonderful weekend!

Danish Delights

Hi everyone!  First I'd like to begin this post with thanking all of you for the wonderful comments about the stitch-room update.  Thanks so much!  I am still in a state of thrill and so I continue to walk into the stitch-room, just to take a deep breath and sweep my eyes across all the organized shelves.  After that, I am ready to go, whether it is to work, a dr's appointment or anything else less than exciting thing that just needs to be done.

I "cheated" this weekend and treated myself to some Fremme stitching.  The beautiful fall bouquet below is a design by Gerda Bengtsson, who was the head designer at Fremme for many years.  I think that I use the one remaining Fremme phone book and finish up the design that way.  Quick and easy!
Oh, and I have to say that I absolutely love stitching with Danish Flower thread.  Initially, it took some time to get used to working with but now I am in heaven!  I love the simplicity and the understated elegance - all achieved with just a handful of colors.

Then I pulled out this petite kit - it is intended to be mounted on top of a larger sized match-box.  I would guess that stitched or ornate match-box tops are not at all unusual in Scandinavia.  In the winters, when the days shrink to only a handful of hours a day, there are always candles and pretty match-boxes spread around the houses. 
This kit came with two small pieces of linen and multi-stranded silk-floss.  I guess that one off the pieces was intended for the match-box bottom, but I decided to stitch the design twice instead.  That is another thing I love; kits that are generous enough to stitch a design several times... ;-)

Here is a photo of all three pieces together, freshly ironed (in my newly organized stitch-room!).  Note that a couple of the colors are switched between the match-box pieces.  That is one interesting aspect of purchasing vintage Fremme or Clara Waever kits - they are rarely accompanied by a photo of the stitched up piece and the colors are often described rather than numbered.  So, what is the difference between "light yellow green" and "pale sun green".  Who knows?  Does it matter?  No, not really - just one more chance to make the stitched piece uniquely yours...  :-)  Plus, I can't really decide which of the two versions was stitched "correctly".  Can you?

Then, I pulled out one of the drawers in my stash cupboard and pulled out this tiny bell-pull kit.  This is also a design by Gerda Bengtsson and it is stitched with 4 colors only.  She designed quite a few items in this series; a cushion, a runner, six cocktail napkins, and a couple of wall pictures (the single tree and there is also a version with two trees growing into each other).  This is a very quick stitch; I only spent parts of two evenings with it and it is over half way completed.  I am having grand plans for this piece - I would like to finish it into a pillow, but we'll see what happens with those ambitions...
The berries (or flowers?) are charted as regular cross-stitches, but I changed them into smyrna crosses to give more of a surface difference.  It doesn't really show though.  I have the runner waiting in my "Danish drawer" too, but now I feel the urge to getting the tree picture too.  Must. Be. Strong. And. Resist.

I thought that I'd end this post with a rather fuzzy photo of the minute Richmond sampler progress:

Note that there are now TWO sunflowers present (even though one of them is a tad pale still...)  I have also finished all the written sections as far as I could go before I ran out of floss. 
You know what the worst part about running out of floss is?  I e-mailed Margriet of the Essamplarie on Thursday evening to ask for a refill of the dark brown needed for the rest of the letters and she e-mailed me right back, apologized and then informed me that the Canadian postal service went on strike the evening before!  A perfect example of Murphy's Law, isn't it? 
So, in other words, if any progress is to be done, there will be a lot of stitching on the queen-stitch border the next weeks. 
Margriet mentioned that she will be in the US on the 27th of this month and offered to mail the floss from the Sates, which is really sweet of her - but it is almost three weeks until the 27th!  Oh well, as I said, plenty of queen-stitches to fill out the time with...

Happy Stitching and have a great Tuesday,

Founders Day with Craft Booths

Hi all!  I am very content tonight.  I decided to take a vacation day tomorrow, so my weekend has already begun.  It won't be a sit-down-on-the-couch-and-stitch-all-day thing though; no, I have to prep the house for guests that may end up here for a BBQ on Saturday.  We are just hosting the cook-out in our back yard and it's not supposed to be a big affair.  However, I have a feeling that it would be terribly rude to deny the privilege of using the in-door facilities to the guests while they are here.  In other words, tomorrow is bird-cage cleaning day, including bathroom wipe-down, living-room vacuuming and maybe even window cleaning....  Exciting, huh!? 
Plus, I really should do some good weeding out in the yard too - the never ending rain is not making my magnolia trees any happier, but those weeds are living the high life right now!
Oh, and I have been yearning to make this wreath that I found a tutorial for a while back while I know that the vast majority of my indoor plans are yearning for a re-potting session....

I may sleep in tomorrow too.  I am a night-person and, even thought I keep telling myself to grow up and start improving my bed-time habits, I can't seem to get to bed in a decent hour.  Since I also have to get into work in the mornings, my beauty tends to get shortened a lot.  Yesterday, I sat up and looked at stitched pieces designed by Mary Beale until early morning.  That lady sure can design!  I love her things and I am not normally particularly into Victorian style decor.  Have you ever run across one of her "Pocketbook Needlework" collections?  They are simply adorable!  What is interesting is that no color photos follow the charts, so many times you will simply have to take a chance.  So far, I don't think that I have seen anything that I have not liked by her, though.  Here are links to her blog and her shop, if you have not already checked them out.

Well, enough of the random babbling.  I wanted to show you photos from the Founder's Day event last Saturday.  It was a lot of fun!  The crafters and vendors were asked to show up at 9 o'clock which was one hour before the event opened to the public.  I thought that "Oh well, I'd just sit there and twiddle my thumbs for a while, since it will never take ma a full hour to set everything up".  Guess what!?  It took me every minute of that hour to get everything in order!
The opening ceremony was grandiose, with a procession of bagpipers marching in to "Scotland the Brave".  They played a few additional songs (among them Amazing Grace, which is one of the most beautiful hymns, don't you think?) and three US soldiers lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Note that we finally had a break from the rain....

 

This is one of the springs that this little part is built around.  It is so peaceful.

Musicians were taking turns to entertain the visitors the entire day.  Since I was indoors, I didn't get to hear a lot, but I did manage to sneak out to take this photo of a couple playing the dulcimer.  Note the man in the period dress sitting down to listen.

The majority of the crafters that were demonstrating craft and showing finished pieces were indoors.  We had ladies from the local quilt guild, a couple of ladies spinning and weaving (the lady below actually works in out LNS, so it was really cool to meet her here - I had no idea that she spun and wove, in addition to embroider, knit and crochet!), the Daughters of the American revolution who displayed and showed how to play with pioneer toys, a vendor selling real antique helmets and guns, a couple that were displaying their taxidermy art, and I.

The taxidermy art was really beautiful  - guess that I liked it so much because it was birds.  I know that I am supposed to find it creepy, but I just didn't.  The swan was just fabulous.  One of the strollers-through told me that this guy is quite famous in the Middle-East and gets picked up on private jets to work his magic on all kinds of exotic animals.

My home was in the very back corner, but run up through the crowd and grabbed another crafter to take a photo of me posing with these gentlemen.  Is this not cool!? 

 The solider on the right told me that the only difference between the summer and the winter uniform was that you let down the edge flap on your coat on the winter.  He also informed me that the coat was made from wool and that it was always fitted very snuggly to its owner.  That way, he told me, you did not have an insulating layer between the coat and the body so "you froze in the winters and boiled in the summers".  Those were the days!
As you can see from below, all my Michael's acquired display boxes worked out real well.  Can you believe that I stuffed all the stitched pieces in 1 single duffel bag (not even a real big one)?  Sorry about the mass of photos, but since the majority of these projects are pre-2011 finishes, I have not shared them with you before, so I figured that this is a good of a time as any.  (I'll bring a table-cloth next time, btw, promise!)

Having a great time!

So, this is where I sat and stitched for about 6 hrs straight. Pink came by to say hi, a number of Scandinavian friends popped over as well, and DH was sweet enough to drive over to give me a lunch break.  I got plenty stitched on the Richmond sampler, so I was really pleased!
The people that strolled by did not really stay for long or say a whole lot.  Most of the comments were either compliments from people who are stitchers themselves (very, very few as you can probably imagine and most of them sighed and said that they "used to stitch before my eye sight got too bad..."), or visitors that mentioned things like "my mother used to do needle-point too".  Nowadays, I don't even correct them with the "counted needle-work vs needle-point blurb", since I have learned that most people really don't want to listen or learn anyway.  I guess it's more of a "been there, done that" or "I already know this stuff"-type of statement than anything else, if that makes sense?
A couple of men did actually take the time to look through everything and told me that "you do beautiful work", which was fun and not something that I have ever heard any person of the opposing gender say to me before.  Except maybe my dad.  DH - forget in a dream (sounds better in Swedish, right Littlest Sis?)!  Oh, and I forgot, one lady stopped by only to, quite snootily, point out that I had misspelled my sign (sigh).  Soooo.... the day progressed very calmly.
In the middle of this slow and relaxing day, the event main coordinator swung by all the tables and handed over envelopes.  I almost fell off my chair when I opened it and discovered a $150 check!!!  I thanked him so much and let him know that the check was absolutely not necessary.  He responded by telling me that it was not much and that the the men wearing the period uniforms probably carry around about $2,000-3,000, so he meant that his group was more than happy to support us.  I did not dare to calculate the value of the content in my packed duffel bag....  (but I do have a feeling that it is more than a period costume.  Much more...)
DH laughed and said that I am now officially a professional stitcher, when i told him about the check!  :-)

So, after telling you about my grand Richmond progress, I guess that I owe you a photo, right?  Coming right up!

The baskets are done and the text is about half-way complete.  Now I just have to get to the sun-flowers in and the border queen-stitched and she is done!  Plus, I am trying to figure out where to add my monogram and date. Probably in the lower right-hand corner, in a pale color that won't show unless carefully viewed.  I am thinking that I may actually have her professionally framed.  That would be my very first one!
If you would like to read more about the history and the lady behind this sampler, hurry over and cheek out Valerie's blog, A Shenandoah Sampler!  She wrote a really nice post about her visit with the Anne Maria Clarke Richmond sampler a few days ago!  Very interesting, very nicely written and with lovely photos to look at.  Simply a wonderful experience to get a piece of.

Other than that, not a whole lot to write home about....  Pink came over for out Wednesday Stitch-In.  This is our new, officially "real" thing and it is working great!  Socializing, coffee, leaving the house, and stitching - can't get a whole lot better in my book.  Of course, Henny always gets a bit disappointed when we leave.  She is pretty much 100% certain that Pink comes over solely to visit her, so she is glued to Pink's shoulder over the entire visit.  Located proudly on Pinks shoulder, Henny contentedly bobs, struts and makes very high-pitched and shrill comments about life'n other important things.
Here is a pic of "The Green Chicks" having a grand time together (it does look like they are up to no good, doesn't it?).

Well, guess what - I don't have to go to bed, so I am not even saying good night today!!!  I think that I will pull Anne Maria back out and get some more over one text stitched up.  Life is pretty great!
Good night and have a wonderful holiday!
Happy Stitching,

Spring is Sticking Up!

Hi Everyone!  I hope that you are starting to see spring all around you right about now.  We are getting closer pretty quickly - you can almost hear the growing, if you listen carefully.  It is really exciting to see what is going on in the dirt. 

Before I show you Mother Nature's progress, I'd better show you some of my  stitching updates...  Look - I am not a total slacker!  The Richmond sampler is moving forward .  I have finished the dreaded riders and even filled in the entire lawn.  Now I need to concentrate on the two over-one sunflowers, the over-one verse and after that the Queen stitch border and she will be done!  I still love her, so that is a definite plus!

I did also start on the birth sampler for the brand new nephew, who arrived late last week.  He is a giant I've heard, wheiging in at over 11 lbs!  Phew!  I am having fun with the PS sampler that I picked and decided to switch out all the pink flowers for yellows and blues.  The baby is a Swedish boy, after all!

I did also manage to slap together the scissors-case/needle-book for my Little Sister over the weekend.  I am pretty please with how it turned out and I am hoping that LS will like it.  After I had finished up this, I felt like I needed to take a week-long break from any and all crafting...   About 2 hrs later, I bounced right back.
                                                                So, here is the front:

The back:

Inside (note Sweden in the cover and the tiny globe fob):

... and a close-up of the pin-disc part:

And finally, here are the pictures from my garden that I wanted to share with you. 

Spring is such a joy!

 

Happy Spring Time, stay dry, and talk with you in a bit!