New Projects

After the two completions last week, I needed to find one new project and one UFO to finish.

The new one was easy.  One of our nephews is going to be married in September.  I am making a wedding sampler.  His mother, my husband's sister, suggested using light peach in the sampler.
The most recent issue of Just Cross Stitch had arrived a day or two before we found out about the wedding.  I was captivated by the My Heart Wedding Sampler designed by Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manner. 

Above the picture of the sampler is some light peach linen that I found in my stash.  Does it get any better than this?

Since the threads were selected for antique white linen, I had to substitute them out.  With the help of one of the needlepoint experts at Three Kittens, it turned out to be fairly easy. 

Below is a picture of the threads on the linen.

Now for the UFO.  That was a little more difficult because there are so many from which to choose.  The one that I finally chose was not even on my radar.  It's finish is long overdue.

It is First Stitches from Just Nan.  I had finished Last Stitches but First Stitches was languishing. 

First of all, I changed the wording from My Last Stitches of the 20th Century to Last Stitches of 1999.  That necessitated changing the wording of First Stitches from My First Stitches of the 21st Century to First Stitches of 2000.  The original wording is not correct because 2000 is really the last year of the 20th Century.  My wording is correct. 

With that change of wording, I ended up with a shorter sampler for Last Stitches.  I added a band to take up the space and ended up changing out a couple of the other bands.  I also substituted Meadow Waterlilies by Caron Collection for some of the green and Parfait Waterelilies by Caron Collection for some of the blue in Last Stitches.  I think that I need to show you a picture of the originally designed Last Stitches and my version. 

I have the same issue with First Stitches and had a difficult time finding suitable stitches to make up a band to absorb the additional space.  I had decided to substitute Grape Melange by Thread Gatherer for some of the purples.  I am not certain if I decided  to substitute Meadow for some of the green but I think that I will find a good place to add it.  Because I had so much trouble finding the specialty stitches, I put it all away and forgot about it.  It has now been so long that I have forgotten any previous substitutions and/or changes I might have decided upon.  It feels like I am starting over with a new project with the exception that I have stitched the top of the sampler. 

The band at the bottom of what I have stitched is not what was originally designed.  It was a bargello-ish satin stitch in dark periwinkle and reddish orchid.  My version is two rows of herringbone stitch in Grape Melange each overlaid by a row of herringbone stitch in off white pearl cotton but I think it might be creme silk pearl.  I need to search out whether or not I have some silk pearl that might be correct tucked away with my other silks and separately from the silks I had selected for both designs. 

I made many substitutions in Last Stitches, the final stitches of which were done on 31 December 1999.  I began making substitutions in First Stitches, the first of which were done on 1 January 2000; I think the are more to come. 

Buttons? Maybe a Zipper?

We have been looking for Cosmo's buttons but have not been successful.  We began to think that perhaps he has a zipper.  But the search has come up empty-handed to date. 

Look for yourself to see if you can find anything. 

A Real Life Kliban?

Do you think Cosmo looks like a Kliban Cat?
Here is a selection of Kliban Cats.  

In the first place these are all activities and poses that are typical of Cosmo.  Obviously Cosmo and the Kliban Cats are stripey cats.  Cosmo has a tendency to be a little plump, so much so, that we have begun to call him Pudge.   No matter what we do, he always looks pudgy; some family members think it is because he has short legs but I think his short legs have nothing to do with it.  When he sits down or lies down, his body spreads out; it just spreads out.  He, unfortunately, will never be svelte. 

Two Finishes

Well, that is really one finish and one almost finish. 
When I work two projects at the same time, I hardly ever finish both at the same time. 
It just happened with the two I have been reporting. 
First, let's see the finish. 

It is such a good feeling to have actually finished the needlebook and its co-ordinating scissors fob. 

Hooray, the stitching is finish on the no longer sad little sampler. 
You will see it once again after I have had it framed. 

Now I will select a new project and a new UFO.  
Choices, choices

I should have been a bit more observant.  Not all readers of this blog know North American birds.  Phoebies are cute little birds.  Here is a little information about them.  This little description also has a recording of its calls.  If you listen to it, you will discover how they were named.  First thing this morning, I hear one of them calling. 

Someone's been in my garden.

The wildlife have been visiting the garden. 
A phoebe built its nest on top of our backdoor light.  I would very much like to take a picture of her in it but she leaves when I go out the door or am any where near the door.  A few years ago, a purple finch made its nest on top of the same light.  Phoebes and purple finches have different philosophies on nest building. 

The finches locate a suitable platform and throw the nest materials on it.  The nest materials will either stay there or fall off.  Sometimes the partially formed nest will completely fall off.  On the other hand, the phoebes are very intentional and quite precise.  They first locate a suitable platform and then bring in the nest materials.  They very carefully lay the nest materials on the platform and then mud them into place.  I am not certain if they bring in mud or just use spit but it is extremely effective.  They can quickly assemble a nest with no waste motions. 

Last week we were visited by a little yellow rumped warbler.  We are in its migratory path, just a little south of its summer breeding grounds.  That probably explains why I have never seen one before. 

There are at least six tulip stems in this picture, all missing their flower.  This is just one grouping of tulips suffering the same fate.  This one just happens to be my favorite, Elizabeth Arden.  Only two flowers have been spared, the one in the picture and a second one to the right outside the picture.  One night a deer decided to munch on my tulips.  I don't know.  If I ordered and planted a couple dozen Elizabeth Arden tulips in the fall, would that just give the deer more to eat next spring or would they proportionately leave more tulips to open? 

Today my kindergarten teacher gave me a little thank-you gift, a cute little plant with yellow flowers.  The flowers and leaves are like dahlias but it is something else with a name that suggests it is a relative.  I hurried to plant it as soon as I got home because it had gotten dry over the weekend and rain was on the way.  As I walked into the garden, a very young rabbit ran out the back gate.  I planted it in front of the large rock that is in the background of the picture above.  The rabbit would have been between the white narcissus and yellow daffodils.  

We are currently enjoying a heavy all-day series of thunderstorms.  Yesterday my husband and I decided to remove the winter mulch from the gardens when I came home from kindergarten today.  It had not yet begun to rain but was threatening progressively more ominously.  As much as I did not want to change into my work clothes and go out with him before it finally would begin to rain, I did.  We put in about a half an hour, just about enough time to get our hands dirty, before the rain began in earnest. 

Good News All Around

Good News - The stitching is done.  I must assemble the needlebook and co-ordinating fob. 

More Good News - I do not have stitching progress to show you on the sad little wedding sampler but there is very good news.  The silk ribbons and Kreinik braid arrived today.  I can tell right now it is going to work.  The ribbon roses will look very nice and the new color of Kreinik braid will look much better than the color I had originally selected. 

Even More Good News - Currently Wednesdays are my UFO stitching days.  I can work on my little wedding sampler and a progress picture will follow. 

A Busy Week

Yes, it has been a busy and exhausting week.  First of all, I have finished the Little Red Hen costume.  My kindergarten teacher is having a spring program for the parents.  The students are performing The Little Red Hen.  My teacher had all the costumes under control except for the Little Red Hen.  That was a not so subtle hint I had to get busy.  Here is the result. 

Next on the agenda is my UnFinished Object (UFO), the sad little wedding sampler.  Although I have made progress, it is going to be delayed.  Wednesdays are my UFO Day.  I just discovered that the ribbon I had for the two roses is just too dark to show up well.  Complicating the issue is the fact clear, bright, and light teal or peacock colors in silk ribbons are a little difficult to find. 

Now it is on to my regular project, the needlebook. 
I have made progress. 

Blogger is being a little difficult for me to arrange.  I am just too tired to feel like playing around to make the layout better. 

Meet Cosmo

Here are some pictures of Cosmo.

November 2013 Shortly after we got Cosmo.  

He plays hard and sleeps soundly. 

I was trying to sleep.  

February 2014

May 2014

I'm guarding your laptop.  I'm keeping it warm??!!  Whatever

Yesterday I posted for the first time in almost a year.  Today I have been going through some of the posts from some of the blogs I had been following prior to the time I fell silent.  There is much going on which I want to catch up.

Christine's comment to my post yesterday brought back a flood of good memories.  I have never stitched Thea's design Heart to Heart as she designed it.  You can see it here.  I have stitched it 10 or 12 times modified to be a wedding sampler; all of the times I have stitched it, it was similar to what I uploaded for my post yesterday.  The major change, of course, was to use the bride's flowers and/or colors.

The first time I stitched Heart to Heart as a wedding sampler was for the daughter of a friend.  The young woman's name was Emily; her husband-to-be was Chad.  I stitched the sampler during a flight to Hawaii.  The young woman sitting next to me told me her name was Emily and that she was about to marry a young man named Chad.  All that I could think to say was, "Oh, I am sorry; this is for the daughter of a friend."  I felt certain that she thought I was a friend of Chad's parents and that the sampler would be hers. 

The first design of Thea's that I stitched was Peaches and Cream.  I used it as a pillow top and gave it to my mother.  I stitched it during a workshop held by a local needlework shop.  While I was there, I saw Silk Wysteria and fell in love with it.  It quickly found a home in my stash but I remained reluctant to stitch it.  Quite frankly, it intimidated me.  When I discovered that Thea was going to hold a cyberclass to teach it, I did not think twice about signing up for it.  Without that class, I would have never met Christine.  Her blog is The Alchymyst's Study.