18th Century Birds

Last week I spent every day at the computer getting all the bookkeeping finalized so that it could be sent to the accountant for her reports. Although I love bookkeeping and the wonderful feeling it gives when everything falls into place and balances (a bit like stitching a Mandela), at this time of year it is always great to know it's done (and correct of course). My goal was to have it sent out by the end of last week and lo and behold at 5:30 pm Friday my mission was accomplished.

In order to do some relaxing stitching during the evenings I picked up a WIP that I was stitching in one color.

Last year when I was looking through some of my old cross stitch magazines I came across this pattern. I can't remember that it caught my eye as something special in 1983, yet now I found I wanted to stitch it. The magazine does not give a name for the pattern nor does it mention the name of the designer.

Rather than stitch it in the colors suggested I decided to use just one color and here is the result.

18th Century Birds (sounds appropriate)
from the April 1983 issue of 'Handwerken met Steek'
stitched 1/2 on 32 ct 18th Century Red linen
with DMC 3865

The finished piece is approximtely 5 1/2 x 6 inches (13 1/2 x 14 1/2 cm) and rather than make it into a book cover as suggested in 'Steek' I'm looking for a pretty box so I can use it to decorate the lid.

Today the rest of my floss arrived for my 01/01/09 start. Recently I checked the re-stitched area and believe it or not - I did is correctly. Next weekend I'll put the floss onto the bobbins and then pull everything I need so that it's all ready to work on.

In the meantime I could pull out another WIP but first I have a small project I really want to stitch. It is a San-Man original - 'Grin & Share It'. Absolutely adorable and a quick stitch.

"G" is for Gorgeous and ...

...GREEN!!!!

Introducing my first finish of 2009 - 'The Wicked Witch of the West'

Most of you will remember her from 'The Wizard of Oz' and many of you from Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked'. Wherever you know her from I'm sure you will remember having a soft spot for Elphaba.

When I visted Juls' home for the first time I saw this beauty gracing one of the walls and it was love at first site. I stitched Elphaba 2/2 on 28 ct overydyed (Carnival I believe) lugana. Thank you for the introduction Juls - she was such a fun project and I am so pleased with the result.

WWW was the last of my Halloween WIPs and I wanted to get her finished early in the year as Brenda, Juls, Martha and I are planning a new Halloween SAL starting 04/01/09.

Meet 'Scraps' I already have the suggested fabric - 30 ct Twisted Peppermint Pink overdyed linen and will be tossing my floss soon to make sure I have all the colors needed. This is going to be another fun project and I can hardly wait to start.

In the meantime I hope to finish a few more WIPs started in 2008 and perhaps even start something new. Since I have a few kits which will be stitched on Aida I thought one of these might be a great project for the final dark winter days. Will let you know what I decide.

One last thing before I make some lunch and get back to my bookkeeping - if you are an avid reader and haven't read Elizabeth Kostova's 'The Historian' do so. I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

First 2009 starts

Happy New Year. I hope everyone's year got off to a good start and that 2009 will bring many good things your way.

It is exciting to see what everyone 'started' on 01/01. Every time I see a new design I think of how much fun we are all going to have this stitching year.

Personally I decided to combine my 01/01 start with the Me, Myself & I Neighborhood Round Robin I had signed up for. I chose a pattern which I received from my friend Mary last year and which has been calling me ever since. Here is 'Hometown Holiday' by Stoney Creek which I am stitching 2/2 on 28 ct overdyed 'Bluebell' lugana with DMC floss.

Enthusiastically I started stitching on New Years Day and after about 15 stitches frogged and restarted (just as enthusiastically actually). However 1 1/2 hours and many starts later my good feelings started to wane a bit. With about 25 stitches in place (I think!!) I put it away for the day.

Since I am waiting for some of the floss to arrive I've decided to let it rest for the moment and am now concentrating mainly on 'Wicked Witch of the West'. Stay tuned - I'll post a progress picture of her shortly.

This morning I decided I really wanted to start the kit I received from Berta for Christmas. I love stitching mandelas and this one is so cute.

The fabric is 28 ct 'French Lace' linen and the floss is also linen. I thought stitching with linen would be very difficult but so far so good. There is also gold & copper braid to be stitched with and pretty beads & a charm to finish it off. Although I just wanted to keep on stitching I decided to put it away till next Sunday so I can prolong the fun of stitching this piece a bit.


The clock just struck 8:00 pm so I'm going to put the coffemaker on and pull out WWW.