Some needlin' and some punchin' !

This is what I'm working on today:

Its a needle punch heart pillow. The design is by Lori Brechlin. I love everything she does. Its fun to work with her prim colors. I spent a 12 hour work day yesterday packing pattern orders for my 2 new cross stitch designs-coming soon-and finishing up some other things. So today it was nice to have a clean slate and be able to pick up a project just for fun.
I also finished up a doll order that was sent off today. This is another Jane...

I enjoyed working on her. In fact I started a new doll just to keep the doll mojo rolling. I used my Elizabeth pattern, but I will embellish and she will not look like Elizabeth when I am done. Its nice to be in the studio(ok, bedroom corner) again!

Crazy January 2011 Challenge~Days 12,13,14, and 15

We are having a huge snowstorm here today. I am so glad that it is MLK day, a school holiday. I don't have to try to figure out if school is closed, and then find out it is NOT closed, because of course, this is Chicago and they NEVER close school! And then go out in the storm and drive, white-knuckled,  the kids to school over slippery scary roads through blowing whiteness! Every time this happens I think to myself, I am just going to keep them home and spare myself the scary experience. But then I feel guilty and so I man up and head on out. LOL! So I am happy its a holiday today!!
 On to the challenge! I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge! The variety was great, and even though I sometimes wanted to continue with a certain piece, I really enjoyed starting them all. I think the preparation was just as much fun, deciding on charts, kitting them up, visiting some local LNS for supplies (always a treat!). So here are the final starts for me:

Noah's Ark Sampler by The City Stitcher

This one was actually a WIP if you can believe it! Ha! Ha! I had like 3 stitches in it before. I have to admit I wasn't feeling it, so I didn't get much done on this one.

In March and In April by The Goode Huswife

This is another WIP. I worked on the grass and the house a bit. I really do want to finish this one this year, I really like its primitive and drab colors.

No Bees No Honey by Birds of a Feather

And finally, I worked on this one which I thoroughly enjoyed. I did have to enlarge the chart on my printer so my olde eyes could see those tiny darn symbols. This is being worked in Gentle Art sampler threads(which are one of my personal favorites) on 32ct. pearled barley.

 Are you noticing that that is only 14 new starts? Well I worked on this one again on Day 15, because I really like it!.

  So now that I am able to work on what ever I like, it will probably be Days of Advent and I'll pick a small one to work on to keep myself from feeling bogged down(big projects can do that to me sometimes!). What a fun time, and I have really enjoyed seeing all of the other starts around blogland!

Crazy January 2011 Challenge~Days 10 and 11

On Monday night I worked on Fancy Peacocks by Stacy Nash. I am stitching it on 32 ct. antique white Belfast, which I tea dyed to a nice creamy brown color. I am using 1 strand of DMC. This should be a quick fun stitch, and I should definitely be able to finish this one this year.

Last night I started Sarah Spurr. I can already tell I'm going to love this one, just by the floss colors.  I have recently been totally inspired by Nancy Sturgeon's work on the Prairie Schooler ABC series, where she has incorporated lots of needlepoint stitches into a cross stitch piece. If you haven't seen Nancy's beautiful piece be sure to go here to see it-you will be drooling. So I am going to try to do the same here with Sarah Spurr. Today I am off to the library to get a book on needlepoint stitches(I can't believe I don't have one!) and see what I can do with this idea.
 If I make it to the cross stitch store tonight, I will start another Birds of a Feather piece tomorrow-"No Bees, No Honey", but I need a lot of sampler threads for it that are not in my stash. Otherwise I will be working on one of my WIPs. I promise...I will.

Crazy January 2011 Challenge~Days 7,8, and 9

Well it was a busy weekend, so I only got a moderate amount of stitching time. My fabric for AED 1746 came on Friday, so I got started on that Friday night, when I was supposed to be taking down Christmas. :) I took my Christmas decorations down on Saturday instead. Here is what I did, not much at all:

AED 1746 by Scarlet Letter

DMC floss on 35 ct. Tea dyed linen

The reason I didn't get that much done is because I came across this piece in my stash, and I started it! It wasn't even on my list so I totally cheated!

Needlepoint Christmas Light Ornament

by Susan Porta

Various needlepoint threads on canvas

This was super fun and very fast moving. I enjoyed working on it.

  But then on Saturday I was busy most of the day so I didn't really work on anything at all. I think I did a tiny bit on Days of Advent.

 Sunday I went to the Lake Michigan Sampler guild meeting and I took Days of Advent to work on there, so that what I worked on the rest of the weekend. I signed up to take 2 workshops given by Joanne Harvey of The Examplerary in April. One is called Betsy Morgan, which is a little school girl piece by an 8 year old, who later stitched one of the Balsch samplers, and another repro called Elizabeth Taylor-which is gorgeous! There really are no pics online so I can't show you these gorgeous pieces, but later I am going to go through my Examplerary catalog and see if I can find them and then scan a picture. I am excited about these workshops, because I have never taken a class from Joanne Harvey and I have always heard such wonderful things about her.

 So back to the challenge, I think I am going to start a Stacy Nash piece today. I have my regular MMonday night meeting, so I'm not sure how much I will get sone. I am loving this challenge though-it has really got me motivated to stitch!

Crazy January 2011 Challenge~Day 6

 Yesterday my new start was actually a WIP. I pulled out "Days of Advent" by Mary Beale. I haven't worked on this for at least 2 years, maybe more. All I really had done on it is block 1 and a little of block 2. Here is my before picture:

And here is my after picture:

 All I really got done was the rest of the globe and the grapes on the left hand side. I had another meeting last night which lasted 3 hours! Wow that was a long one. By the time I got home I had a splitting headache, so I had to be content with what I had gotten done yesterday afternoon.
 Days of Advent was not originally on my list, but I decided to swap it out with Paradise Lost. I love Paradise Lost, but it is another huge one and I didn't want to start too many really big ones this year. I still have a lot of BAPs in progress, so I wanted to finish some of them first. I really want to finish Days for a Christmas gift for my brother next year. He is one of those "impossible to buy for" types and I know this will just touch his heart. He's the kind of guy who is generous to a fault, but isn't into "things", so its hard to find anything for him. You end up going the practical route, like socks, and then you just feel lame! But he is a catholic priest and one of the few things he does buy is classical religious art. I know he will love this piece.
 And the other big project that is really calling to me is AED 1746 by Scarlet Letter.

I am hoping the fabric for this one will arrive in the mail today, and if it does that will be my start for today. I could really continue happily on Days of Advent, I was really feeling it yesterday while I was working on it. Its so hard to stop and go to a meeting when I would rather cozy up with a good project!! But duty calls!