Another one bites the dust!

Remember that song, "Another one Bites the Dust" by Queen?  Well, this is just how I am feeling overtime one of these nativity pieces is completed!  Is that sacrilegious?  I sure hope not!

You may want to open another window on your browser, paste this link, and turn the sound up whist reading the following narrative!   Queen ~ Another One Bites the Dust

So that we can keep a running list ~ the following are complete and with the finisher:

Mary
Angel of the Lord
Shepherd 1
Shepherd 2
Donkey
Camel 1

Waiting for tassels:
Elephant

Waiting for Background and bands at the bottom:
Joseph
Camel 2

Image stitching in progress:
Baby Jesus
Sheep
Drummer Boy
Arabian Magi
Magi of the Orient
Russian Magi


Big shout out to my friend Jill for the "schedule" that she created to make me see that it is totally doable to have these ready to sell at the April 11 action!

I am hopeful that tonight I can sing the refrain from Queen's hit for the Camel #2, as it is very close to being completed!

Have faith ~ just like the spider!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE

2015 ~ Where have you been all my life?

2015 and I have entered into a relationship!  It is fresh and new and I hope to give it the respect it deserves.  Like any new relationship, I do not want to show 2015 all of my faults and bad habits.  This relates to my needlepoint pursuit as well!  I will try to keep my bad habits relating to my stitching to a minimum :  the procrastination, the overbuying, the overcommitting, and so on!  I will strive to show 2015 good technique, excellent thread choice, and a general good pace on my projects.  2015 and I should get off to a healthy start in our relationship!

So, we kick off this year with the Strake Jesuit College Preparatory Auction pieces.  My friend, and an excellent stitcher, Debra and I are chairing this project together.  We chose Kelly Clark's nativity that I have already stitched.  We have farmed out all of the pieces to other mothers and supporters of the school!  Debra and I are going to complete the backgrounds and the 3 bands at the bottom of each piece.  So far it is going very well.  We have already gotten the 2 camels, 1 donkey, Angel, 2 shepherds, Mary, and the spectacular Elephant back.  The drummer boy and Joseph are very close to coming back.  That leaves the three Kings, the sheep, and baby Jesus Himself to be returned.  I think it is going very well.  Debra and I have hosted "stitch ins" on Thursday nights and it has been a lot of fun.  Every single woman that we have met has been interesting and fun!  How refreshing.......I guess it is a fact that all stitchers are nice!  

So, my hope is that January will be filled with the Nativity finishing and then I can move on to other 2015 projects.  We are headed back to Amy's in March so I need to decide what to take with me to work on for those delightful 4 days!

Having trouble uploading photos today, not sure why!  I am going to try to make the blogging a weekly event to keep my honest on my relationship commitments to 2015!  However you know what they say about a good friend, "He knows you well and loves you anyway"!

So here's to 2015:

May your troubles be less

Your blessings be more

And nothing but happiness coming through your door!

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!)