Need NP Rain Dance!

Why am I blogging when I could be stitching?  I do not know!  I need to get all my supplies organized before I can sit down and really get some stitching completed!  So, instead, I am writing in a stitching blog about not stitching!  This is a bad sign!!!  OK...now I am getting up the hutzpah to get going...thank you blog-o-shere!

In a stitching drought!

I have not touched a single canvas since my last post!  I did, however, deliver the cummerbund to my sister for Asa and she loved it!  I am so happy about that!

So, trip to the barn tonight and work tomorrow.  Possible lacrosse (weather permitting) for both children tomorrow evening, so I am probably not touching the needlepoint until Wednesday evening!

Until then......keep the faith!

I Do....but won't if you don't want it!

I am excited to day because Corwin has become engaged to marry Abbey.  I am trying to think of a nice way to offer to needlepoint her bride's book without making her feel like she has to say yes.  I would only want to do it if it is something that she would like.  I loved doing the book for Jordan Folloder (Susie Gold's daughter).  I think it turned out really beautiful and I have some pictures that I can share with Abbey if she wants to see what one looks like.  Logan and I had also talked about me making a stocking for Abbey if that is something that she would like.  It is hard because everyone has their own traditions and I definitely do not want to step on any toes, but I also want her to know that I would love to do it for them.  Then the questions comes, should I do one for both of them so that Logan keeps Corwin's that she made at her house and Corwin and Abbey have their own set?  I am not sure.  I would be happy to do one for both of them since the one he has had since boyhood is less grown up.  But then, I thnk about sweet little Logan.  I just finished hers in the last 5 years and so it is really perfect for an adult.  So, I think for Logan and CJ, I would not make one for bride and groom, just one for the addition!  Then, again, with Asa, his is really young looking, so I might do one for him and for his bride should they want them.

All this is, obviously, contingent on the bride (in this case).  She is a lovely girl and certainly has her own style.  What I would NOT want is to make it for her and have it be something that she HAS to use even though it is not what she wanted.  Or, do it and have it be the "B" book that does not really serve as the wedding book....or the same with the stockings.  I have sent her a note to let her know that I am happy to make it should she want it, but for her to let me know!

This is the book that I stitched for Jordan Gold Folloder

I loved these bullion roses that Nancy taught me!

Bride's post-nuptual initials ~ a must!

These little white "blue" bells look so pretty and dimensional!

Post Script:  Abbey was excited at the idea so we will chose something that she will love....I hope!

In the Mud with the Pigs!

Can I possibly keep this blogging pace up for an extended period?

I am almost finished with the pig egg from Melissa Shirley.  I need to make the ear and the tail and do some beading.  So, as always, I have saved what I dread for the end!  I planned on making the band of flowers on his neck out of River Silks as the stitch guide calls for, however, a customer brought some in for finishing to Needle House and I fell in love with the beading that she did, so now I have to find those beads!  Here is a picture of her completed project and mine that is still in progress!

I really like the bottom of hers so much better than what my stitch guide called for in place of the yellow.  I have not decided if I want to change it!

Nativity Stocking for Laury!

Any day now I will be getting the stocking that I stitched for my sister in law, Laury, back from the finisher.  The canvas is the Liz Nativity jewel tone and I was really happy with the way that it turned out.  This completes the set of four that I stitched for my brother, Christopher's family.  I did my brother's first; it was the Liz three wise men.  After completing that, I worked on my niece, Logan's stocking.  It is a Princely design that I fell in love with that features an angel surrounded by flowers.  It was HARD for me and I love the way it turned out!  Then I worked on my nephew, C.J.'s Southern Santa from Liz.  I believe it is my favorite stocking design ever.  I really want to do it for my own son, Shaw, because I do not love his as much as I did when he was a baby!  Then, I worked on Laury's Nativity stocking.  I think it is beautiful.  I got the stitch guide from Amy Bunger in Memphis......I love the guide, but probably not as much as I loved the class and the trip to Memphis with Laurie and Lynn and then back with Pam!  It is completely decadent to spend a long weekend in a needlepoint class with some of your most favorite people!  The photo here shows the heralding angel at the top of the design and the heads of the three kings.  Oh, how I struggled to do those wings on the angel.  Really, I struggled to START the wings...once I got going, it was not so bad......as with most things!  I had to keep reminding my self of direction by referring to the drawing that Amy made for me on the white board (as seen here).  Why?  I have no idea, it was just hard for me to get it completed!  I felt better when Laurie did the wings on her angel from Kelly Clark's Nativity and had the same hesitation!  Misery loves company, right?

This is the stocking that I stitched for CJ (quite possibly my favorite ever!)

This is the stocking that I stitched for my brother, Christopher (although I stitched over the toe detail making it sand)

Author's note:  Looking for an image of my niece, Logan's stocking to add tot his post!

Olé Asa!

Day 2 of this blogging project! The month of February 2012 was dedicated to what I call a "pop-up" project. A Pop-up project is something that I interrupt all other stitching to complete. This time, it was born out of an idea that my sister, Logan, and I came up with one weekend. Her son, Asa, is attending his first Fiesta San Antinio as a member of a men's organization called The Order of the Alamo. When his brother, Corwin, was in college he requested a cummerbund for a Christmas gift since he had those infamous University of Texas Christmas Formals to attend. I looked an looked and then finally said to my husband, Richard,  that I could not, in my extensive search, find a decent cummerbund. He, begrudgingly offered up his "vintage" college cummerbunds as a stand-in gift until I could locate one that met with my approval. Well, they were a hit and Corwin still has them 6 years later! So, this leaves me cummerbund-less for Asa! So, Logan and I searched the world wide web and I poured over the voluminous catalogs at Needle House with Fiesta 2012 in mind. I kept coming back to an Elizabeth Turner Purse pattern that looked very San Antonio/ Fiesta. Indeed, Elizabeth Turner agreed to paint it for me in 18 mesh and rush it at that! (Thank you to E. Turner & Co.) All progress on other projects ceased and ardent stitching on the Asa Ames Fiesta Cummerbund commenced! Obviously, the colors are bright and an homage to the culture which is celebrated during the annual historical Springtime festival in San Antonio. I added his initials on the "edge" of the design to make it his and his alone!  I am really regretting that I did not have the back embroidered with an inscription to Asa.  I am back to my other current projects, however I thoroughly enjoyed the soothing repetition of the basketweave stitch on the cummerbund and, even more, using the craft that I am so passionate about to make something for a boy that I adore!

P.S.  I also learned that the word is "cummerbund", not "cumberbund"....so needlepoint enriches in many ways!

...and so it begins

I have all the canvasses I will need for a lifetime (and still collecting) and enough threads to spin many webs....I have tools to stitch with, tools to stitch on, and so on and so forth!  What I do not have is a permanent record of my projects and my adventures in stitching.  With that in mind, I have decided to start blogging about my projects. It will be of little interest to the blog-o-shere, but fun for me to see what I did and when!  Here goes!

Gallery

This post contains an ever changing gallery of things that I have stitched.  As everything with this blog, my goal is to create a cyber-scrapbook for my own reflection and memory( as it is failing me FAST).  To any visitors : enjoy the ride with me!