New Plans for Projects during Holidays

November 12, 2005 --

First of all, let me say I can't believe we are already into November! Where has this year gone? I can tell you that I spent a lot of it working on our house, and getting a lot of changes done -- major ones. But that is all I can tell you was done this year . Otherwise, it's a blurr .

Time goes go by fast, so I am planning the holidays and what I will be stitching as far as new projects. I can hardly wait to start them to be honest, and am truly looking forward to the Holidays, in part because of the new things I will get to play with as far as needlework.

Thanksgiving Day will bring the Edcina Pieters project for me to enjoy, and honestly I can hardly wait to get the silk in hand and start this project. Here's a picture:

It's on its way to me now, in Black, -- Castory and Chestnut -- which are browns, and will be accent colors in a mostly black sampler. The silks are from Vikki Clayton, who hand dyes all these lovely fibers. And they are so affordable, that anymore I am using her silks exclusively. They are marvelous and I have found that they exceed the quality of some other fibers (silks) that are higher priced. So I am using her silks more and more all the time. A group of gals on the Legacy Board and myself will be gathering on Thanksgiving Day to share our thoughts, good wishes, and some stitching and plans for sstitching on that day. It should be a wonderful time.

My second "new" project for the Holidays -- and I mean Christmas -- is the House of Hawk Run Hollow -- and I have the pattern, fabric, and will be using Vikki Clayton silks again for this project as well. I have the fabric serged and ready to go, just need to pull the colors I will be needing for the first house and that I will do this month so it is ready. I also plan to buy another Project Bag, as I am running short on those right now and could use a few for these new pretties I'll be stitching. This particular design appeals to me for the colors in it -- and I just happen to love stitching houses. I plan to change the verse a bit, just a little too morbid for me, but I love the design, and will definitely enjoy the journey stitching this lovely piece.

My other project is a redwork sampler. Scheduled for New Year's Day -- which is really pretty, and I am so looking forward to stitching on it. Here's a picture --

It's a bunch of small motifs, and some of the squares are filled with stitch examples, which will make the stitching go fast for those blocks. There are 36 in all, and I will be creating the work as I go, as I am not using a pattern for this. The borders around each block are hemstitched, which makes this piece even prettier than it is alone with the redwork done on it. I have yet to pick my fabric, but it will be white, and I am thinking a 33 to 35 ct would work nicely for this project. I have red silk on hand, and again will be using Vikki Clayton's silk -- most likely Turkey Red for this project. It's my first redwork and I can hardly wait to start it. It is a perfect project really for Christmas but I have a few gals from the Legacy Embroiderer's Guild Board who are stitching with me and I need to wait until the 1st of January to stitch this pretty design. So I am ready for this one and already ahve a few motifs picked to start the design with. I am not sure whether I will graph this out on PC Stitch so I have an actual pattern to work from -- of all my choices for the design, or if I will just pull a lot of different elements from my patterns and keep them in a folder to work from. Either way, this is going to be a delightful project and I can hardly wait to put that red floss in my needle .
Hope you are just as excited about the new projects you'll be stitching in 2006! (or late 2005 )

Cathy