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

More Pics of Stash and Floss Drawers

October 26, 2005

Here are more pictures of my stash room. This is my closet, filled with modular shelving and as you can see there are books from one end to the other at the top of the closet here. I need to go through all the magazine files in this area and sort through what I want to keep and what I can put up for sale on the Legacy marketplace. Some of the designs I used to like don't appeal that much to me and I will probably not get to stitch some of what I have, so I am trying to weed out those items and make some space so I can arrange the stash I have. As it is I am out of growing room in this area and need to do 'something' to make some room for the things I want to keep.


Below is the picture of my floss drawers. I spent a lot of time cutting rods and drilling before I could insert the floss bags with tabs. I also made my own tags for the colors as it was difficult to write small enough to get them done by hand. I still have some fibers to add to my drawers, and may have to add another cabinet as well since I am also running out of space in the drawers. I've added the Vikki Clayton Silks to my collection and need to put all those fibers away in the drawers as well, so I am oging to be doing that once I get the patterns sorted out in my closet and cabinets. So there is quite a bit of work left to do.



Here is a picture of the 5 drawer lingerie cabinet that I transformed into my floss drawer. I drilled holes in them, added the rods, and hen put in all the tagson the bags, and the labels, filled them with the fibers and filed them in order in the drawer. It is quite a process, but worth the time invested. It also looks very neat, and ai LIke that too.

Well, when I get more of the work done in my Sash room I will show you the final pictures.

Winter will be an enjoyable time for me - working and playing in my Stash Room, and hopefully working on a few of those UFOs too.

Happy Fall Everyone!

Cathy

Stash room -- More Pics and Plans.

This is my second post about my Stash Room. I am so glad to ahve a room in the house that is just my own. It is wonderful having stash you can go play in, and a room to retreat to to stitch, read and I hope eventually to have a computer in this room as well, and a small desk so I can work in this room when I get the notion.

Here are the other pics of my stash room and the progress I am making with getting everything put away. it is qite a task!



This picture shows my other bookcase with more books -- and of course some of them are sampler books I have collected. Will be so glad to have this room set up the way I really want it to be.

I hope to add a desk right by the window, and a computer as well eventually. Right now all I have is a work table in the room but it will eventually be replaced and I can do all my church work here, as well as just computing remotely connected to my other computer in the area off the livingroom.

As you can see therea re 3 white frames on the wall that are also empty. I intend to stitch some designs from an old Just Cross Stitch magazine of leaves and herbs and place them in the whire frames. Sinec the room is painted in "Green Tea" the green leaves will look very nice in the white frames. I'm enjoying working on this room and making it truly my own creation.

Still having some difficulty loading pics, though not sure why. Will put them in another post as the system seems to like it best when you don't have too many pics in one post.

More soon....

Cathy

Pictures of my Stash Room "In Progress".....

October 25, 2005

Boy, this month is zooming by! of course, it doesn't help that I have had a sinus infection for nearly 3 weeks, and a flu, and my husband has been in the hospital for a week, unexpectedly, I might add. All that makes for a busy month and not much productivity.

But, I do have some temporary pics (not really finished with the work in my stash room) of my stash room -- and here are a few of them to give you an idea of what it will look like, and what I am busy with right now. I hope to have it all put together by the end of this month, or in another week -- other than the new furniture which I hope to get nearer to Christmas. I hope to buy a new chair, lamp, and a ottoman for the room, as well as a television with a DVD player so I can watch movies or hear music as I stitch away the Winter.

This first picture above is of the North wall in my Stash room. The frames are not filled yet, but will have Quaker Designs in them eventually. I put them on the wall both because they are out of the way there, and to be a constant reminder to me of the stitching I need to fulfill to get them all filled with designs. A great way to be nagged 'silently' .

This is a picture of the bookcase in my Stash Room -- there are two of them, and I will post the second one later in this blog. They hold my books, some needlework books, though most of my needlework books are on the top shelf of my closet, which you will also see in a moment. It has helped me organize my books to some degree, though I have many more containers of books in the garage at the moment. What I really need is an additional room, preferrably a study added to my house . IN this photo you can see two of my floss cabinets that I put together to hold all my flosses. They are in the File a Floss type bags that have little "pendaflex" type tabs that can be hung on metal rods. I added the metal rods to my cabinets, and then all the little tabs with floss bags. These two cabinets with 5 drawers contain my DMC, Anchor, Sampler Thread, Weeks Dye Works, and Olde Willow Threads. I have two other cabinets that hold my Silks and perle cottons. It makes a great way to keep all your stash in place, and much easier to find a particualr floss when you need it.




This is a picture of my cabinets on the North wall -- there are two - 2 door cabinets; They are filled with all sorts of books and tapes, and magazine files with charts and more charts and some kits, and miscellaneous needlework gadgets.
The doors are wonderful as they hide all my 'stuff', and it makes the whole room look neater .

The following picture is of the baskets I filled with my projects. The larger basket is filled with UFOs of all kinds, from previous years, and the interesting thing is I love them

all, so they will all eventually be stitched on and finished. The second smaller basket is filled with kitted projects, and things I am looking forward to stitching on in 2006 and beyond most likely . These are wonderful pieces, and oh how I wished I had more time for stitching so I could get to them all sooner.

This is my second basket of UFOs, but more recently abandoned for other projects. At the moment I am working on the Quaker Huswife as a SAL project, the Marquior Sampler which I am down to the last 4 squares of 9, And They Sinned, which is still on the first page; Hannah Pepper which is still on the first section from the Fine Lines magazine and the borders. I am also finishing up two UFOs which are Heart in Hand's Bless You. I have the frame for this one and will complete the finishing and get it into the frame when I am done with it this week. I am also working on an old UFO which is Eileen Bennett's Rockhome sampler. I started this maybe 2 years or so ago and am down to the last band on this one. Will get that finished but it has to be professionally framed, so won't be on the walls right away. I'm glad to be finishing a few things though as I hve not had a lot of productive stitching time this year, and certainly not enough finishes as yet. But there are still 2 months in the year and I hope to finish the Marquior Sampler, and the Quaker Huswife front panel of stitching at least by the end of the year. There are some gorgeous works in progress in that brown basket, including a Sampler in a Year by Linda Driskell, which is a drawn thread project; Lily and Laurel by The Heart's Content which I intend to finish as a memorial sampler for my Mom Rosalie, who was also called Lily. I'll make a list of all my UFOs and post them here for you to view before long. I really do want to get to these projects and finish them, though I think it may take me several years to get to them all. But I will enjoy the process of working on each one I"m sure and that makes it enjoyable 'work'.

It seems I am having a little difficulty loading my pics tonight, so I'll try adding them in another post. Yes, there are more, and more stash as well, so check out the next post .

Have a great day today too!

Cathy C

My Stash Room

HI all,
Well, I have been spending a good deal of time today cleaning and organizing my stash room. Since we put in the carpet, I have had stacks of patterns, kits, and UFOs (Unfinished Objects -- meaning unfinished stitching projects) in the room, but have not had a chance to get in there to organize all of it in the allotted space. I did add two bookcases in my stash room which hold my books -- both needlework and other Christian books I have collected. I also have two large 70" x 32" cabinets that are filled with Christian tapes and more of my cross stitch charts and kits.

Today I managed to sort through all the things that were in the room except for a few stacks of patterns which I will work on tomorrow. For now, I have sorted all my UFOs into one basket (a fairly large one), and all my new kits or kitted projects into another basket. There was one basket that I had already sorted and it has more of my Works in Progress (WIPs) turned UFO - - at least for the moment. I'll be getting back to the UFOs in my brown basket sooner because they were abandoned so I could concentrate on about 3-4 of my projects. AS I finish the ones I am currently working on (Marquoir Sampler, Quaker Huswife, Quaker RR, And They Sinned, Hannah Pepper), I will go back to these other projects and eventually empty out that brown basket. That still leaves me with literally dozens of other UFOs that I have started in the past and for whatever reason abanadoned for something else. AT this point, it will take a while to get them all done, but I have every intention of working through those baskets and emptying them eventually.

I'll take some pictures of my stash as soon as I get the room organized wellenough to take some photographs. I"m getting close though, and honestly, it is really nice to go in there and at least see the piles worked into baskets instead of heaps, and the threads are all in a couple of bags. I have more fibers to file into their little drawers, but that will happen soon enough. I do hope to start doing my stitching in that room instead of using the livingroom for my stitching spot. Thsi way I keep the livingroom cleaner, and can pull out my projects as I work on them in the stash room.

There are a lot of projects in that room, and I have plans to do a lot more stitching now that Fall has arrived. Stitching time improves considerably for me during the Fall and Winter months, and I hope to finish at least two of my larger projects before the end of the year, and at least two small ones. This will give me room for a few more small projects, a UFO or two, and another large project. AT this point, I am tossing between Edcina Pieters as one of the big ones, or starting the Houses Of Hawk Run Hollow. I'm not sure which one will win out though...still tossing them in my mind . Here is a link to the Edcina Pieters Sampler
http://wyndhamneedleworks.com/Magazines/Sampler Antique Needlework/Volume_40a.jpg
and one to the House of Hawk Run Hollow Design by Carriage House Samplings http://wyndhamneedleworks.com/Carriage House_Samplings/Houses_of_Hawk_Run_Hollow.jpg

They are both great designs -- and I'd really love to start both of them.

My 'tradition' of the last few years is to start a project on Thanksgiving, one on Christmas Day and one on New Years, so I could easily 'justify' starting these two and one more ....but I also want to finish some of the older things -- so we'll see later how this turns out.

I will be posting pics of my stash room in the next week....so come and look later on .

Cathy C

More Updates on my projects - September 26th

HI all,
Well, I have been updating my album and it's time to update here as well. I am so glad to say that I finished my first Quaker June Freebie from The Workbasket. The stitching is done in three colors of aqua to teal in Vikki Clayton's silks, which I am using more and more these days. They stitch up beautifully and I love her colors. You'll see the actual piece in my photos below. Also, I have updated my marquior Sampler. That has gotten the most attention these days, and it is growing. My hope is to get 2 squares done by the end of October, and possibly start the 3rd one. Then I have only 1 to go and hope to finish that by mid-November. In time to get it framed for the holidays.

I'll be posting a small emery here as soon as I buy the filling to get it assembled. The stitching is done, now just need to put it all together.

Also, I'm working on two projects that are small ones, but also close to a finish. The first one is a Hope Needleroll from Heart's Content -- and I haven't much left to finish it. The second project is the Secret Garden Needle Necessaire and it is a very pretty little stitcher's accessory. Has two pockets inside but they are triangular, not square, or rectangles. A gate that is stitched and added on as a panel inside, and ties with a metal bead. Underneath you can put your needles and it has a picture of a pretty robin on a branch over the gate. There is also a garden stitched in one of the inner panels and has a brass rabbit that is running attached to it. The outer panels include my initial and Lily of the Valley stitched over it, plus the front panel which has another garden gate and path with flowers and the words "How does your garden grow?"....I'll post pictures soon so you can see them.

Now here are the updates I promised:

This is not the finished photo of my Workbasket June Quaker -- forgot I had not taken the picture yet, but this is my previous update -- I'll get the final pic up soon and add it here later.






















This is my Marquior Sampler Update:


I already have several things in the wings that I'm looking forward to adding to my stitching rotation...getting these other small ones finished will make room for the new things, and OH! I can hardly wait!
Cathy C

My first atempts at Dyeing Fabric -- what fun!

This is my second attempt at dyeing fabric. When I tried this the first time, I used small pieces because I wasn't really sure what I would get. This time I used both evenweave which is cotton, and linen fabric in 25 ct to experiment with. These are the results -- The evenweaves are dyed with tea, and the linen piece is dyed with coffee. I had never used coffee to dye with before, so that was a totally new experience for me. I'll be doing a lot more of this in the future -- it was fun watching the fabric take the dye and trying to stop when I thought I had the right look .
This process of dyeing my own fabric will also save me a bit as I won't have to buy the more expensive hand dyed fabrics and that too is a good reason for giving this a try. Here are my
pics of the end results.
The picture to the Left is Linen dyed with coffee.
Below is evenweave in cream that was dyed with tea.

Here to the Left is a piece of evenweave in cream dyed with tea. I used teabags to get the splotchy color. WHat I did was place the teabags in different folds of the fabric, then microwaved it for a minute and let it cool by itself. Then removed the tea bags and repositioned them, and repeated the same time in the microwave. There was also some tea in the bottom of the container so that the fabrick also got a little more color from the tea that was at the bottom of the bowl.

I"ve already picked the project I will stitch on the Linen that I dyed with coffee. I have chosen from the Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly -- latest issue -- the sampler titled 1816 Edcina Pieters Black Sampler. I think it will be a lovely compliment to this piece of fabric with the black silk stitches.

I'm looking forward to a lot more of my own hand dyed fabric. This turned out to be a great experiment!

Cathy

More pictures of my projects in progress...

Well, I successfully added a picture of my Quaker RR, so I'm going to try to add pics of the rest of my in progress pieces.

House and Garden Sampler:


This is a SAL that I am leading and participating in on legacy Embroiderer's Guild on line. WE are using designs of houses from miscellaneous designers, adding trees, animals, people, birds, etc., and creating our own House and Garden Sampler. The possibilities are endless and it's a great project. My piece had 2 shaker style houses an apple tree and fence, ducks, pond, and grass, more trees in background as silouhette. That is what will be on my first row of houses in this sampler. The rest is anybody's guess .

Marquoir Sampler


This is one of the most enjoyable samplers I have ever worked on. I don't know if it is the fact that I am picking colors for it as I go, or if it is the fact that I am changing it to fit my own life. The motifs represent different things in my life, not all, but some -- it is a free design by a French Designer. I am going to miss this one when it is finished. Right now I have the center rectangle finished, and am working on the one next to it on the right. Will add a new picture at the end of the month when hopefully I will have the current rectangle I'm working on finished. I would really like to finish this by December. I have 4 more sectiosn to go, and that means I have to stitch one and one-third sections each month. This design when it's finsihed will be hanging in my 'stash room'.

And They Sinned

I have not made much progress on this piece, though I do have the sun finished and more of the cloud and motifs in the cloud. I need to update my album and pictures for this site. BUt at least thsi gives you some idea of the work I'm doing. This is a very long sampler, and a lot of fun to stitch. It uses Overdyed threads, which are great to stitch with.

Trinity Sampler

I started this in 2004 and haven't gotten much farther than this. I hope to get back to it though soon, and maybe even finish it this year. It would be nice to get it out of my UFO/Rotation and framed for displaying on my wall. This one will go in my bedroom when it's finished. I am working on a sampler wall of sorts over our bed, and this would make a nice addition.

Dutch Beauty

This is my really BIG sampler. It's huge, though I am working this one on 50 ct linen, so it will be smaller than what most people who stitch this design will have. I really am glad now that I chose this fabric, partly becuase it works beautifully to stitch with one strand of Vikki Clayton Silks, and it really is not difficult to see. I do use those little drug store 'cheater' glasses, at 150+ to see the fabric threads better. But it is not bad at all to stitch on. I have more stitched on this piece, but need to take new pictures. Will try to load them by the end of the month.

Cathy C

Trying to Add Pictures -- Hope this works!

Since I have never added pictures before, I am hoping that I don't have any problems. We'll see how this goes .

This is a picture of my Quaker RR Sampler to date. Hope to finish it this year.



Well, it looks like it may have added the right information -- so we'll see how if the picture shows up alright . Don't you just love doing things for the first time -- fingers crossed and all .

Great day for blogging!

HI!
Well, I have a new blog site, and I am enjoying learning how to add posts and pictures to it. It has been wonderful being able to share my pictures on line through on-line albums, and blogs give you a whole new space to share your thoughts as well. Since I have many friends and some family in different parts of the country, this is a marvelous way to stay in touch and let them know what's happening in our neck of the woods....Though I'm not in the woods .

So you know a little about this page and me, I'm enjoying the midlife years ...And that is actually possible. Young enough to still be able to do most everything I want to do, and old enough to stay out of trouble for the most part. Married, no children -- though I love kids. Have lots of family and enjoy them often as almost all my family lives in or around the same area of New Mexico. My DH's name is Roger, and he's an engineer, and we've been married 14 years. Seems like we were married yesterday -- and thankfully -- we really do love each other . I thank God for that, because today so many married couples are stuggling or worse, divorced after only a few years. We really do like each other .

My life consists mostly these days of taking care of our home and landscaping, and doing lots of volunteer wrok at my church. I teach two classes a week, help with the accounting, and sing with the praise team. Keeps me busy! I also am an avid needleworker -- started that early in my life -- maybe in my teens. When I was older and on my own I spent quite a lot of time crocheting and doing surface embroidery, which I enjoyed. There were lots of crewel kits around at that time. Now, I stitch mostly cross stitch, and that includes other forms of needlework with special stitches (more complicated ones). My love is samplers -- reproduction samplers and some modern samplers. I used to stitch a lot of 'cute' things at one time, but have gotten away from that. Somehow my love of books, history and linen/threads, led me down the road to reproduction samplers, and I have sort of settled there in my tastes for needlework. There are loads of styles and offerings for this type of sampler, English, German, American, French, Canadian, Scottish, Norwegian, Spanish style samplers, so I won't be running out of options for projects for a very long time.

Right now I am working mostly on the following samplers:

Dutch Beauty - A Permin Design. This is a German Sampler, and it's huge -- I'll hope to be sharing a picture of this before long with you so you can see the entire design. It's quite impressive. I've not even finished page one, but I am working on this more regularly now.

Marquior Sampler (French Free Sampler) - This is a Free sampler you can get on line, and it's quite a fun piece to stitch with all sorts of motifs. It consists of 9 rectangles, and different motifs that reflect happenings and special memories in life. The original sampler is offered with all the motifs that reflect the owners life and interests. I have substituted some designs to show special memories, or meaning in my life. So there isa piano in mine as i am just learning to play, and a church which is a very signifiant part of my life. Also there is a ligthhouse which has nothing to do with my life except that I have always loved them. I will be posting apicture here for you to see before long.

Hope Needleroll - By The Heart's Content/Maureen Appleton - Needlerolls are little pincushions made in a roll shape. They sometmies have hemstitched edges, which are very delicate and pretty, and finished off with ribbons, they look like a very small bolster pillow . This one I am working on is stitched over one thread on linen, using one strand of fiber (overdyed cotton in this case). I am almost done with this project, just need to add one pot with flowers and the words hope in the center of a cartouche. After that I'll do the hemstitched edge and assemble it. This was a great project to work on, but over one is not fast stitching. So I have stopped and started this project several times. Pictures will follow -- you might even get to see the actual finished piece before long .

Cross Eyed Cricket's - Acorn - I have about 2 - maybe 3 hours left to work on this and it will be finished, at least the stitching. I plan to frame this piece. I've used a victorian red fabric (lugana) which is a very rich red. The colors are very autumn, and of course, so is the theme. It's a large acorn worked almost like a patchwork pattern. This will be completed by next week (9/17/05) and I will then post a picture for you to see.


Quaker Huswife - By The Sampler Cove. This is a project I started this year, using one strand of thread on 35 ct linen. It is of course, Quaker motifs that make up a long needlework tool kit. This one happens to have a tool pocket, a pincushion, a needlebook, and a woven pocket for 'whatevers'. When I first stitched this piece, I didn't like the coverage of the threads on the linen, and decided to go back and take out all the stitching and start over. I am now stitching the piece using two strands of Vikki Clayton silks, and it is looking lovely. Also I had the silk threads dyed special for this project, as well as the organza ribbons, so I am looking forward to getting this piece and all the inside pockets worked on. It will be a lovely piece to own and display in my needlework box. Though starting over has set me back considerably, but I hope still to get the piece completed by the end of the year. Hopefully I can start the pocket assembly in January 2006. Will have pictures to share soon.

Quaker Round Robin (my own) - This is a group that I led in 2004. We finished December 2004, and I have a bit of work to put in on this sampler before it is completed. I will have a picture of where I am with this project for you to see very soon. Then I hope to post some updates every month until it is done. It is done in burgundy, pink, rose, cream, pale aqua, and hunter green silks on a cream 35ct linen. Right now it seems I am in a 'Quaker Bent' ...that seems to be what I seem to want to stitch and collect as far as charts and patterns of samplers. They are lots of fun to stitch, and very pretty. They can be muted colors, or very bright, and both have their place. This piece when it is completed and framed will be hanging over our bed on a cocoa colored wall. I think it will be a lovely contrast, and should compliment the decor in my room very nicely. PIctures will be forthcoming....

Now to figure out how to add pictures . Hopefully i can do it now that I have promised you all kinds of updates on my needlework projects hmmm....