Fare-the-well 2014

Well, I did get quite a few things completed in 2014....not as many as I would like, but some big things, so that is a plus!!

2014 Completions

Zecca Owl with Feathers

Kelly Clark Creché

Liz Stocking ~ Abbey

Ann Wheat Pace Heart

Tiny House

Faith Flower

Fairlee Flower

4 Seasons Tree~Summer

4 Seasons Tree~Spring

4 Seasons Tree~Winter

Sandra Gilmore Turkey

Poison Bottle ~ Evil Spirit

Poison Bottle ~ Eyeballs

Poison Bottle ~ Poison

Poison Bottle ~ Warts & All

Librarian Owl

Tudors Home Study

Away Goes the Manger!

Complete!  I have been waiting to start this creche scene from Kelly Clark since it arrived (let's not even say what year it was!).  I think it is a beautiful canvas, but more over, the stitches that Amy Bunger chose for this piece are really wonderful.  I started the creche on March 2nd of this year, but it kept getting sidelined for stockings, poison bottles and the like.  I took the last stitch on October 13 and it is one of the first times that I have been sad to see a project end.  While I am thrilled to have finished it, I really loved working on it.  There were a few parts that vexed me, but all in all, I am quite happy with the way that it turned out.

I have really loved the background on this set and so I started with that and then moved onto the scene itself.

Bethlehem's buildings first, then some of the grass

The grass has all grown in and these "broad leaf plants" must be addressed!

Starting in on the wood manger 

 The hay rack was very intimidating, but in the end it worked out just fine.

I am so happy with this finished product!  It is, completed, one of my favorite projects ever.  I loved having it for my Christmas decor for 2014!

Time Flies....when I am stitching, I guess!

It has been February since I last posted about my adventures in stitching land.....that means our group has taken the Spring trip to Amy's and we are about to depart on our Autumn trip to Amy's.  I have been busy this year on Abbey's Stocking and the Kelly Clark Creche and a few other projects have been completed as well (see list on left side of main page).  My goal was to reduce the sheer volume of my canvasses and to get some of the things that I have in the que actually on the stretcher bars and stitched!!  Well, I have had some success, however, in my usually fashion, I have found many new things to purchase this year.

I can hardly wait to see what Amy has in mind for Bird Party by Vicki Sawyer (distributed by Melissa Shirley).

For the time being, here are some photos of Abbey's stocking some of my completions in progress and completed!

Abbey's Stocking
This Liz (Tapestry Tent) stocking was chosen by Abbey and Corwin because the puppy in Santa's arms reminded them of Wesley the Golden Retriever!  I hope that I made it look enough like Wesley!
I also changed the top of the stocking by removing the cuff design in favor of extending the sky up through the name.  I tweaked the color of one of the packages to make it look like a Tiffany & Co. box since I imagine every girl likes to receive one of those!

And in the beginning....there was only a painted canvas!

 Beginning to Stitch the Toys in the Sleigh

 Teddy Bear takes shape

 Love the Bugle and the Beach Ball

 Drum

 Soldier marches in

I changed this package because I thought the snowman was too busy!

 Added a Tiffany & Co package with signature bow

Decided that the satin bow had to be "sunk"!

 Sorry kitty, no room for you on the sleigh this time!  (half gone!)

Time to make this puppy look like Wesley Ames!

He is looking furry and happy to get on his way to Texas Ave.

Hello, Wesley Ames!

 Santa's Coat is finished and it is time to get the front of the sleigh worked!

 The back of the sleigh looks very comfy for Santa's long night!

Thank you to Pam Lemire for helping with with the beard and Santa's fur !

The snow is sparkling and shimmering!

I struggled with the painted colors while I was stitching the reindeer, but it works when the stitching is finished

 I chose this background to create movement in the night sky.  

 Background is taking shape

Finished with the sky!

Soon the finisher will bring me my completed stocking and I will add those photos!

I hope that Abbey & Corwin will fill these stockings with love for many years to come!  

On the Road to Bethlehem

I am so excited to finally start stitching on my Kelly Clark Nativity Creché!  This piece will be the backdrop for my Kelly Clark Nativity figures ~ and the guide for this is also from Amy Bunger.

I started on January 26th with the stitch for the sky.  I made very little progress the first day!  I was beginning to worry that this sky would be the beginning and the end of my work on this project!

End of Day 1 !

When I finally called it a day it was actually the morning of the 27th!  2:04 a.m. to be exact!

2:04 a.m., 27 January 2014

I made better progress on Day 2 and ended, officially on day three, January 28th at 1:56 a.m. ~ sleepy!

I finally made it over to the other side of the canvas on Day three and ended on day four!  January 29th at 1:01 am

I filled in all of the center motifs (the clover like design) by the evening of February 2nd.  

(Photo to come!)

I am off to Tucson tomorrow for the Gem and Mineral Show and so this project will stay home for the week ~ all alone!

For my trip, I am taking two poison bottles with me ~ we will see how far I get on those!

I will soon start on Abbey's stocking and so I will not make much more progress on this Creché for a good while!  I am happy to have started on it, however, and I can tell it will be a favorite project for me!

It May be Poison.....

....but it sure was fun to stitch!  I completed Warts & All today using Amy Bunger's stitch guide.  It is my favorite of her poison bottles, perhaps because it is a saying that my grandfather used to use!  I loved the layers and on the green bottle and it was so much fun to work on and went really fast!  I do wish that I had used the Identipen to color the canvas for the green background ~ I am not happy with the white that shows through.  I am thinking about going back over it with some flow that matches, but I am finished with it for now!  When I finish the other poison bottles that I have, I will make that decision before I send them off to the finisher!

So, here it is, warts and all.........

(notice the witchy hair growing from the warts no the cork!)

Banner Day!

My completion of The Tudors Home Study Project is a true testament to "get 'r dun"!  I had completed all but two Jessica's around the green cabochons and attaching the peyote beading to the canvas.  I could not get either element to look the way I wanted it to , never mind to look the way Amy's does!  Well, I just decided to power through and I finally took the last stitch this afternoon!  I have no idea what I am going to do with this project, but I learned a great deal while stitching it and I think that Amy's ideas are amazing!

I am working away on my Librarian Owl from Zecca and loot forward to completing him this weekend (fingers crossed!).

It's About Time!

Well, in fact, it IS about time that I made a post to the practically defunct Faith of a Spider Blog!  I have been busily stitching, however!
I finally completed Henry's Stocking and sent it Down Under to him in Sydney.  It enjoyed a happy greeting from Henry and Jeanne and hung next to Teddy and Eloise's Stockings for the 1st year!  Whew!  Here is a photo of the finished project.  Notice that I left the lion's mane long so that Jeanne could decide how wild she wanted it to be when the stocking got to her!

I have searched my photos and do not low why this is the only one that I can find, but here it is in all it's glory! I will look for the other photos to post.

Among other things, I was inspired by my stitching friend, Judy, to work on the Thanksgiving Trio from Sandra Gilmore.  I have completed Miles and Priscilla and love the way that they turned out.

(Turkey has background completed!)

They cannot wait for me to finish the turkey to go with them!  These are Nancy Laux's stitch guides and my favorite thing that she has done!  I love them and I anxiously await the "Brave One" and "little Feather" companions.

Another smaller finish was the green owl from Needleworks series by Raymond Crawford.  This is such a cute little fellow

I loved this last owl in the series for me!  He is so happy and fun!

Mary, Pam, Laurie, and I headed to Memphis for a stitching get away with Amy Bunger and Jill Wilensky!  Aside from being great fun, we actually got some stitching accomplished as well!  I started work on my Brooch for Amy's Tudors home study and created the "eye" for my Ouch! project using the same technique.  

The Holiday's took over and I had to put the stitching aside!  However, I started New Years Eve on a new project.....the Librarian Owl from Zecca.  He is very fun!  Photos to come!

Thank you for the "blog" encouragement......will try to blog more in 2014!

Cheers!