Mambo

What's this you ask? It's my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler from the Gift of Stitching magazine. A WIP from forever ago that I haven't worked on since April 2010. Last week, I decided that I was fed up with Hare Pyns and needed a break. Since I'd been talking about red samplers, and I remembered this one was languishing in the closet and has red in it. So, out it came. I've completed parts 1 & 2 (out of 5) and am currently working on part 3. I'm almost done with part 3 and I'd like to go ahead and finish this part at least while I'm excited about working on this piece. Part of the reason I keep pushing this piece aside is because I'm afraid I'm going to run out of thread. It's charted for Vikki Clayton silks, but I know she's changed a lot of her colors since then and I don't know that I could get additional silks that will match. Guess I'll figure it out when the time comes.

Here's how the whole thing is looking - please excuse the crappy crappy photo - I really should have at least taken this out of the frame but I was being lazy.

I did work on Hare Pyns a bit on Saturday. I'm still not excited about working on this piece. But I did get the background over halfway finished. I'm hoping to get the rest of the background done soon so that I can start working on the bargello panel. Oh, and to answer Dale's question on my last post - this is a class offered by Patrick's Woods through my guild. I don't believe the pattern is available outside of a class.

And I've been working along on ATS on Sundays. That tree has been interesting. I got all the branches and leaves done quickly (which you'd think would be the hard part), but then my tree trunk was over one stitch too far, so it had to come out and be restitched. Then I was able to get most of the fruits in. This is what it looked like yesterday before I settled in to work on it.

Last night I was finally able to get the fruits finished and the snake. I'm now officially done with the tree and have started on the angel on the left. I'm glad to be moving on to something other than the tree, although I have to say that since I saw Missy's snake - I've been anxious to get mine stitched. He's pretty darn cool with his blue spots.

I am grateful for migraine meds and Mountain Dew (well, I would be if they were working faster).

Finally Feeling Like a Real Stitcher

Up until now I've only had two pieces professionally framed. Since one is a Halloween piece, I really only have one out for anyone to see. And there are days that I see other stitcher's homes and feel like such a phoney. I'm not sure you would even know a stitcher lived in my house. But, all that is changing.

On Saturday I went and picked up two framed pieces (so I've now doubled the amount of framed pieces I have!). I used a little bit of the bonus I got earlier in the year and decided to have one piece framed. Well, then I remembered my little A&E, so I thought "why not bring it along". And look how well it turned out! I happened upon that little pre-made frame and thought it was perfect. The stitched area is only 2 inches square. (Sorry for the glare in the photo).

But the piece I mainly wanted framed was my Where My Heart Blooms. I was thrilled when I saw how this turned out! And this piece, you may remember, was actually my Valentine's gift to Eric this year, so I was glad to finally be able to get it framed.

Here is a close up of the frame. It has a little bit of red in it, that looks great with the piece. And the shop owner had this hanging on the wall at the shop and she said a bunch of people were asking about it. Of course, it's an old Loose Feathers design, so it's out of print.

We ended up hanging the piece in our bedroom, which is where I envisioned it going. But it's one lonely piece on a big wall, so it looks a little sad there. I'll have to get stitching on something else with red in it to add to that wall. I'm thinking a nice sampler would be good. Any suggestions?

And I'm so happy that my A&E wall has begun. It's a small start, but it's still a start. I'm hoping to get Margaret Pence framed in January when they have another framing sale. She will look good with these two!

So, it's not much, but I am thrilled. I'm feeling a little bit more like a real stitcher. Now I just need to finish a big repro sampler and have that framed!

But of course, in the meantime, it's all Hare Pyns all the time.

I think I made a lot of progress in a week. I finished my leaves, filled in the two side flowers, stitched the bunny (he is so stinkin' cute!) and added my initials. I've started filling in the background, which you can probably see. Once that background is filled in, I'll be moving onto the back panel. I'm way off my schedule of having a panel done a month, since I'm now into July on that front panel. But, hopefully I can get back on track.

Yesterday, I stitched on ATS as usual, and that is coming along slowly. I think I may be the slowest stitcher ever. Or possibly everyone just has way more time to stitch than I do. Either way, I need to step it up a notch if I'm going to ever get anything finished.

Oh, if you're interested in seeing my firework photos from the 4th, head over here.

I am grateful for watching the space shuttle launch.

Stars & Stripes

Happy Independence Day to those of you in the US! I am thoroughly enjoying my long weekend and look forward to going to see fireworks tonight. In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I'd show you what I've been working on. Remember when I mentioned I was sewing the binding on a quilt? Well, it's finished! And just in time to use on my dining room table.

This quilt was a kit that I bought from my local quilt shop my first year of quilting. I cut and pieced this quilt and finished the top back in October of 2002 (just a few months after purchasing the kit). I've shown this quilt to you before, and every year in July I wish that it was finished. Finally, I decided that this year it was going to be done. I dropped it off with my quilter last month and she actually had it finished the next day! All that time of sitting around being unfinished, and it only took a couple of weeks to have it quilted and sew on the binding.

I am thrilled with the quilting she did. I had asked for something with stars on it, just an all over pattern, and she did a fabulous job. I love the stars and the swirls. And in the middle of each of my pieced stars she quilted a spiral. How fun!

I am so happy that I can finally enjoy this quilt and it makes me so happy every time I pass by the dining room. I have one last quilt that is ready to go to the quilter, and I'm hoping I can do that sometime soon. It would be nice to have it finally quilted as well. Everything else is in need of piecing, so I'm working my way through the list slowly but surely!

In stitching news, I've been working away on Hare Pyns. I've almost got all of my leaves finished and then I'll move onto those two side flowers. It's coming along, just very slowly.

I hope you have a wonderful 4th, whether it's a holiday for you or not. Thanks so much for stopping by!

I am grateful for this country I live in.