My Sampler is Home

My sampler arrived home this evening from Jill Rensel, and I just love the framing she did.  I'm so glad that I found Gigi Ries' lovely Belles-Lettres D chart to stitch and celebrate a milestone anniversary.  Next week is our 41st anniversary, and we're happy this will now have a place of honor in our home. 

My 40th Anniversary Sampler, Belles-Lettres D by Gigi Ries

To make today even better, the Lakeside Linen I've been waiting for finally arrived as well.  That means I'll be starting And They Sinned soon.

Final WIPocalypse Check-in for 2012

I forgot to post a final WIPocalyse check-in.  This is a bit redundant, but my Belles-Lettres D by Gigi R was completed on December 30, 2012.  I'll be taking this piece to the framers in the next couple of days, so here's the finished piece, both front and back, plus the WIP picture from January 2012.

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D - Finished - Front

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D - Finished - Back

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D - WIP January 2012

The Other Side

I plan to take my finished Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D to the framers on Thursday, but before I do, I thought I'd share a picture of the other side.  This is my back, which will be covered when framed.  It's probably my neatest ever.

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D - Back

Happy Dancing Tonight!

I am very excited to announce that Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D was finished tonight.  This was stitched as our 40th Anniversary Sampler.  Our anniversary was actually February 12th, but I figured it would be fine if I finished it this year.  That goal was accomplished, and now I can look forward to some other projects for the New Year.  Since I've been stitching all day, I haven't taken time to iron, but here's the finished piece hot off the frame.

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D Completed!

A Brief Update On My Sampler

I had to re-position my Q-Snaps again, so here's an updated picture of my anniversary sampler, Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D.  On Sunday I had taken time to go through a bunch of Sajou alphabets to find one that would fit our surname in a section at the top of the piece.  As you can see, I have stitched the DIBLA and will next stitch the NCA to complete that.  With 11 days left in 2012, I'm really going to try to get this done before the year ends.  It will help that the 11 days includes 2 weekends, the holiday, and a shortened work week.

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D

Time to Finish My Anniversary Sampler

I've been trying to finalize my stitching plans for 2013, which have changed several times as things pop up and draw my interest.  Most recently, my thrift store find of And They Sinned led to my joining a SAL for that piece starting in February.  I've decided that before starting that one, I really need to finish Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D, being stitched as our 40th anniversary sampler.  That anniversary was actually February 12, 2012, but I was stitching it on that date and if I get it done before February 13, 2013, it will be finished in our 40th year of marriage. 

So I picked up that piece this week and will be stitching it daily until Christmas Eve, when I've committed to starting Wisteria by The Silver Lining.  I also have new starts on New Year's Eve and January 4th, but Gigi's sampler is going to be my focus piece until completed.

I just took it out of the Q-snaps to be re-positioned, so I took a picture to post here.  Pardon the wrinkles, but it's tough to keep fabric smooth when you're stuffing a piece of fabric 36" x 31" into 11" x 11" Q-snaps! 

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D

I intend to stitch as much as possible this weekend, which is also International Hibernate & Stitch Weekend, so let's see how much I can get done!

Closing September

With the re-build of this blog, I figured I'd follow the lead of Cindy Manock, who consistently updates her blog once a week.  Maybe that will keep Blogger from punishing me for being inconsistent in my posts!

Before I continue, let me thank those who expressed sympathy for my reverse stitching of Eternal Promise.  I will say that I consider that a long-term project.  Stitching with 3 strands on 25 count, even using the tent stitch, created a very heavily padded back due to all the confetti in this piece.  Several other projects are ready in the wings before this fabric is needed again, so I pick it up and do some frogging when I'm in a rare mood to do that.

John on vacation in San Juan

This past week has been one of planning rather than stitching.  My birthday is October 24th, and I'd teasingly asked my husband last week what he was going to get for my birthday.  He grinned and said, "Okay, you've obviously got something in mind.  What are we getting?"  I told him I wanted to get a floor frame, and he asked how he was going to know what, where, and how to make the purchase.  Now it was my turn to grin and say, "I can take care of all of that.  You can just take credit and say Happy Birthday."  He liked that idea, just as he likes my stitching. Isn't it nice to be married to someone for over 40 years who appreciates your hobbies?

I'd really done my homework on the floor stand I wanted and selected the Mark 2 by Hearthside Craftworks.  After discussing particulars with Helen, I placed my order this past week and should have my new workstation by my birthday.  It will work with my recliner and everyone I've been in touch with who has one absolutely loves it.  This will certainly put my stitching mojo on hyperdrive!

 The first piece that will be set up on the Mark 2 is HAED's Angel with Iris by Nadia Strelkina.  I started this piece in January 2011, and she's been stitched off and on since then, with 8 of 42 pages currently completed.  I've been stitching her using a K's Creations Z Lap Frame with Clamp which holds an 11" x 11" Q-snap nicely.  That was good for learning to stitch 2-handed, but now that I know I can do that, I really want her to be displayed on a larger scroll frame rather than all bunched up to fit the Q-snaps! 

I haven't really taken a picture of her since I finished page 7 and ironed her out.  Now I'm afraid to iron her again until I get a new iron.  Mine's getting old and we have hard water that occasionally leads to rust spots.   

As you can in the picture to the left, the fabric for the lower part of the pice is all bunched up in the Q-snap cover.  On the right you can see an earlier version of the full design off the Q-snaps.  What a pleasure it will be to stitch with the full width of the piece visible, rather than just a small window!



2419 Love's Messenger



My last stash purchase of September was a new release Golden Kite chart titled Loves's Messenger.  This is the smaller version at 200 x 249 stitches, but has 199 colors, of which 80 are solid and 119 are blends. 

In case anyone's interested, Golden Kite is having a 25% off sale on their site, and a few new releases such as this one are specially discounted.  The website link is http://www.goldenkitestore.com/ with the latest new releases listed at the bottom of the main page.

Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D

Finally, some notes on the coming week.  I do have one sampler I'm working on, Gigi R's Belles-Lettres D, which will not fit on my new frame.  This one is 36" wide, and I opted initially to purchase a crossbar that will fit up to a 30" frame.  All of my other pieces and those I plan to stitch in the near future will fit that size, and I can stay situated in my recliner where it stands.  So until the new stand arrives, I'll be concentrating on that piece, and maybe even getting it near to completion! 

That's it for now.  I hope you all have a great week in stitches!