Northwest Red Head

This isn't "New" but I was digging through pictures to find some things and found it and thought I'd share. This was out of the June 1995 Cross Stitch Sampler Magazine. My mom and my aunt stitched this together for my brother's children to be christened it. This photo is of my niece. Here is a shot from the magazine that shows the detail on the upper part a bit better

Just out of the washer. This bag was knitted from single ply worsted yarn and then run through one wash cycle to shrink it to this size. The pattern is for Felted Shoulder Bag by Two Old Bags.   I would like to say this is an amazing backpack but in reality its best suited to carrying my next knitting project. The design was 1 ply of worsted weight yarn which was great to work with and gave great shape but it gave no strength to the bag even with felting.  Ahh well, can never have enough bags to carry projects around right?

Another project to work on... I meant to post this yesterday but life interrupted and was quite persistent. I finished my knitted shoulder sling Wednesday evening and now it just awaits a nice bath in the washer to felt it to size. I was still in a knitting mood when I grabbed a project for the day so along came my amulet bag. I finally made a decision on the neck cord for it, as I cut the thread with the beads and I refuse to go through the nightmare of re-stringing them, I've decided to make a cord for the neck. Hmm... again, very cool but what was I thinking. I-cord on 0000 needles.  Hopefully, I will get this finished before my hands completely curl up with arthritis, or I will decide re-stringing the beads in a more simple cord will suddenly seem pretty easy.

Ok, ok I didn't stitch this one, but I could have. This is my Christmas stocking, my mom finished for me just before Christmas so I thought I'd share it anyway. We had been hunting for a painted canvas for a while when she came across this one. I have a collection of these dolls and with that and the bright colors, it was just meant to be. I have it hanging here on my curio cabinet for the shot and you can see a few of my dolls in it as well.

And now we just need a post for the ruler here where I live. She just came back from a very traumatic day at the groomers so I quickly took a few shots before she was covered in sticks and leaves. Oh yes looks all cute and innocent doesn't she? This is a bit more typical of what we see daily around here, haha. A walking dust mop is what she is. Good thing she's cute with all that hair. It might act like velcro but she just wouldn't be the same cut. Too bad I can't just have her clean the leaves up in the fall.

All about organization. When things are organized and I can find everything, I'm by far more likely to actually work on things than if I have to hunt for everything, or I'll waste time re-organizing things because I'm like that. Over the past week I've been organizing my needlework stash, even photographed much of it so I can see my projects easily. Now there was my knitting/crochet stash. Oh, what a nice mess that was. 1 hat, red mohair, been on the needles at least 10 years, lost the pattern. Why is it on the needles you might ask? I have NO idea but off it came, well ok it too much longer than you might imagine as the mohair had actually shrunk a bit over time so I had to cut it off the needles. Wow, yeah good thing I was saving that. The rest wasn't too bad I guess, other than the broken basket it was kept in so I got one of those plastic drawers to keep next to the couch for all my stitching, one drawer for needlework and the other for yarn. Easy enough, now

Yes, that's right 2! I managed to finish the last bit of the Tea Towel and Rose and Lace today.  I had best get my tail in gear finishing then I think. The Tea Towel just needs to be washed but I'm going to have to block Rose and Lace and there is a spot on it I need to get out. For the record, I had JUST enough dark blue to finish the Tea Towel. It used Anchor stranded floss and I had one single strand about 6 inches long left *whew* I was not looking forward to going to buy more for one small bit.

What a great feeling that is. I sat there this morning madly sewing the band to the basket so I could post it before I left for work. No such luck, I got it done but not in enough time to put it here, I barely had time to make sure I wouldn't scare people who came into the office. I still need to decide what I want to put in it. For now, it can sit empty, it looks cute just like that. Just a note for anyone who stitches this or ANY Lorri Birmingham design, check it and double check it. This pattern calls for 28ct linen and that is *NOT* what came in this kit - it was 22, which as you can guess made this band bigger than it should have been. I found this out when talking to some other stitchers who were having issues. One was doing a project and purchased the linen she listed only to realize the size shown was only 1 inch larger than the design. 

Finally! Now I just have to cut it out and attach it to the basket. I'm not sure what I will put in it yet, it suggests live flowers but I think not. With my luck I'd get pollen all over the place and then I'd be mad. Here it is a few hours ago, ALMOST there. I'm off now to cut... seems so wrong to take scissors to a perfectly good piece of linen.

I pulled out the Nantucket Berry Basket since it was fairly small and looked like I could complete it in short order. I managed to get all the hardanger done today but I then noticed it was in desperate need of a bath so I opted to bathe it now before I add the color incase I needed to add something to clean it that wasn't color safe. All is well and its drying now so I can add the color tomorrow. With any luck I'll be able to remove that from the UFO list before the end of the week.

My mom loves hardanger but it is definitely not one of her stronger stitching techniques.  As she's someone who is near impossible to buy gifts for she asked me to  make this for her for her birthday, last year.  There was a lot more going on here than I really anticipated so obviously it was not done for her birthday, I did make it in time for mother's day this year and in some nice spring colors. 

Always a requirement at the guild meeting, as if someone might forget who the loud-mouthed redhead was. hee hee. Ok,  I am a good most of the time. My mother actually outdoes me most of the time. This is my current one that was made at a class with Joyce Lukomski. All the rest of them are put away somewhere, really, I know where they are. Ok, not I don't, but I will find them.  Soon, possibly.

My thoughts precisely. So off I went today with several ladies from my EGA chapter on a road trip across the mitten to scout out some stores for our annual bus trip. First thing I picked up was this Italian Alphabet Sampler from Passione Ricamo called "Sampler Antico" I also have a piece from Indigo Rose that I've been hunting for a few final threads for I was finally able to find. I have had to make myself promise to finish "Fine China" before I will start on this one or I'll never get that one done. The color in this piece is quite striking. And finally, not to be all serious with projects here. I found this fun Christmas tree from Marilyn and Jackie.

Twister...My Albatross. It must have been the great use of color and texture that distracted me when I first saw this piece because I can honestly say I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I started it. It was designed by Patricia Spencer and is a modification of the Log Cabin quilt pattern for needlepoint. Each "wedge" has a different stitch some are just variations on others but you can see in the photo all the variation. Now I just have to stop typing and make myself FINISH it. One of these days...

In 2000 I attended the EGA national convention in Florida with my mom and my aunt taking a class in Stumpwork from Jane Nicholas.  Ring of Flowers was the piece and for my first piece it turned out far better than expected... plus hey, I actually finished it. ha! This piece is in Jane's book of Stumpwork designs but the class also gave you the kit with all her preferred materials as stumpwork wires can be hard to find in the US and of course classroom instruction.  It was odd being in the class, I was the youngest by nearly half of anyone in there.  This came in handy in the bookstore and merchandise night as people would let me in near tables, often to ask how long I'd been stitching, who did I learn from, etc.  All the while I'm holding things up enough for my mom and aunt to see so we could shop faster. Cheating a bit, perhaps, but I didn't ask them to give me special treatment. That somehow happened all on its own