Meet Shelby

I'd like you to meet our new pride and joy, Shelby.  She was born December 12th!  We picked her up last night from a farmer who placed an ad in a local newspaper.

My honey has been watching the newspapers and looking online for months now hoping to find a litter.  When he saw the ad we called right away.  The farmer said he only had two girls left.  We decided we'd better go right away.  Needless to say, my honey took a vacation day and I left work early and off we went!

There were two mothers (who are sisters) that had their litters a day apart!  The farmer said at one point he had 14 puppies.  One of the mothers had four and Shelby's mother had the rest.  What an over achiever!  There were 11 puppies when we got there including the two girls! 

The farmer put the two girls in a pen by themselves for us.  It was hard to decide which one to choose.  Shelby was the one that kept nibbling on our fingers and giving kisses. So I guess you'd say she chose us!

Here are her siblings and cousins!

Here's her mother.

Here's her father.

Here she is with her new Daddy.

Just look at that cuteness!

My honey and I had another Dal who passed away three years ago.  She was almost 13 years old!  We have finally gotten to the place where we were ready for another one!  When they say dogs leave paw prints on your heart they aren't kidding!

So if I'm absent this week, you'll know what I'm up to.  I'll be playing with a little spotted pup that's stolen my heart!  It's just too hard to resist all that cuteness!

Thanks for stopping by and for all your sweet words.  Hope everyone has a good week!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Progress is being made

Carre d'Abeilles - Jardin Prive

as of 1/20/12

Carre d'Abeilles - Jardin Prive

as of 1/25/12

Here's my progress on my bees.  I've been stitching on this during my lunch hour only this week.  This week it's been my sanity saver.  Nuff' said!  I actually finished the second side strip today at lunch but was too lazy to take its picture.

Blue Ribbon Sewing Box - Patrick's Woods

as of 1/5/12

Blue Ribbon Sewing Box - Patrick's Woods

as of 1/25/12

This one I worked on quite a bit last weekend and have stitched a couple nights this week on it.  I think I'll finish it up pretty soon.  I really seem to get speeding along on this one when I pick it up.  I can't wait to see this one all put together!

I Sigh Not for Beauty - C Street Samplerworks

as of 1/20/12

I Sigh Not for Beauty - C Street Samplerworks

as of 1/25/12

Last but not least is Beauty.  The house is almost done!  I worked on her last Wednesday night at the guild's stitch-in and again last night at my monthly Stitch n'Bitch night at my house.

Funny thing about Stitch n'Bitch, we started out as a UFO (UnFinished Objects)group that was a splinter group from the local quilt guild.  Well, one thing then another happened and the four of us that have continued to meet broke away from the group.  We decided we enjoyed our nights together too much to stop meeting so now we just take turns hosting in each other's houses.

Some nights everyone is quilting and some nights it's a grab bag.  Last night there was one who finished the binding on a quilt she's been working on for four years.  Another finished her lunchtime cross stitch project (no it wasn't me) and the other was ripping apart some quilt blocks she'd gotten in an exchange because none of them were the same size.  Me, I worked on building a house!

Oh and we solved the problems of the world while eating M's too!  You just gotta love your girlfriends.  Laughter is so very good for the soul!  I hope you've laughed today even if it's at yourself.  Thanks for visiting with me today!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

TUSAL

I decided to participate in the 2012 TUSAL (Totally Usless SAL) hosted by Daffycat.  I'm number 60 on the "guest list" at the link above.  There are almost 300 of us participating this year!  How fun is that?!

Here's how it works for those who aren't familiar.  Basically, you get a jar and save your ORTs  (old ratty threads).   On or around the new moon you are supposed to post a picture of your ORTs in your jar.  That's pretty much it.

It's just something to do for fun and you get to see your jar fill up as you go along.  I enjoyed watching everyone's jars fill up last year.  So here is my progress for January!

I hope everyone's week is off to a roaring start.  It's pretty grey and rainy here in my neck of the woods.  Thank for stopping by!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Stitchaway Retreat

Hey all!  I'm back as promised with a proper post about the retreat last weekend.  I can not believe we have blown through another week already.  I guess having a holiday on Monday might have helped it speed by!  So let's get to it...go grab a cup of tea, this is going to be a long post!

Here's where we spent the weekend!  Can you see the steam coming out of the chimney on the left side of the lodge?  Yep, it was really really cold this past weekend and we even had some flurries too.  None of this mattered because we were all tucked away in the stitch room cozy as can be!

Here are the gifts the LNS gave us!  See that big strawberry on the right, our hostess made us all one of these!  Can you believe that?!  It's just too cool especially since I collect strawberry emerys.  I have a basket full of them.  Somehow I don't think this big one is going to fit in the basket.  LOL!

In the back is a frame, chart and all the floss plus the beads for a Lizzie Kate design.  The box next to it is pretty cool too (see below).  The three charts and thread winder in the front were a gift from Rosewood Manor!

Here's the box's inside.  Look at all that strawberry goodness.  Let me just tell you it smelled wonderful!!  See that pattern in there?  It goes with the floss and the buttons on the lid.

When it's stitched up, it will go on the lid like this.  Isn't that just too dang cute?!

Speaking of gifts, here's my gift from Bunny^Hop.  She made several of us felted baskets and filled them with goodies.  She knit this herself too!  I'm amazed since I do not knit.  See the tiny acorn button?  Love that!  Thank you so much sweetie!  It was so thoughtful of you to make these.  We miss seeing you too!

Here are some pictures of the "store" our hostess sets up for us in one of the conference rooms!  There were six trunk shows there!!!  There was Kathy Schmitz, Homespun Elegance (one of my faves), The Workbasket, Rosewood Manor, JBW Designs, and Designs by Lisa.

Just look at all this potential new stash!

Jenny actually took a bunch of close up pictures of the trunk shows.

Go pop over and see them but come right back!

Here's what came home with me.  There's no way I was getting out of there without spending those gift certificates.  There was just way too much temptation for me to resist dontcha know!

Check out my fancy new pink hot/cold mug!  Love that!  It's pink!!!!  I got some buttons from Rosewood Manor but I'm not going to use them for their intended purpose.  We'll see how my crazy idea for them pans out.  You'll have to stay tuned for it.  So here's what's in the haul:

Chessie & Me - Scarlet's Pincushion
Stitch Happy pink hot/cold mug
Homespun Elegance - H is for Halloween
Rosewood Manor - Bag o'buttons
Clip Bytes:  To Do/Joy

Here's a group pic of most of the peeps.  See Senior Frog?  He's hiding behind a light there.

Here are the other two peeps that escaped the above picture.  Betcha two didn't know I took that one.  I'm naughty like that!

There's Senior Frog keeping an eye on the M's.  You know we can't stitch without the M's and Senior Frog's ever watchful eye.  Thankfully he kept his friends away from us most all weekend.

There was plenty of silliness this weekend too.  Check out my buddy L.  Looks like P is sayin "what the heck?"

Here's some more silliness.  Marsha and I's attempt at a self portrait.  Just look at that photo bomber in the background.  We laughed so hard I thought the tears were going to run down our legs over that one!  That girl just cracks me up.

Believe it or not, we really did get some stitching done.  Here's proof!  Check out that house and those second floor windows.  I'm really glad I worked on this piece and made some visible progress.  I am just soooo close on this one I just can't stand it!

I really love the way this one is turning out too.  I actually finished the side piece but didn't get a picture of it.  It's become my lunch time stitch now but I may work on it this weekend.  We'll see.  Those bees just make me swoon and those pink flowers too!  Did I already say I love pink?  Um...yep I really do!

Here's the make it and take it we did on Sunday morning.  How stinkin' cute is this?  I just love it.

Here's where we made these little lovelys.  Yes, that is a real fire and it was really cozy sitting there making our strawberry's French knot seeds too!  It was a great way to wind up our strawberry themed weekend.  We were all sad to see it end but we are looking forward to next time.

Well folks, there you have it!  Thank you for reading down this far. Thank you so much for visiting with me today.  I appreciate each and every comment and email.   I hope you all have a great weekend.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

BAP Update

Hi all!  I made it out of the woods.  It was a great weekend spent with friends stitching till we just couldn't see.  I'll do a proper post about it later.  There is plenty I want to share!

But first I want to show you my BAP progress!  I made a promise to myself that I would give three of my WIPs attention at the retreat and this was one of them.

Here's my BAP's progress as of Saturday afternoon.  I was determined to get a good go on this one and am happy to report I finished my "assignment" for the month!

Design:  2012 Antique Sampler SAL freebie

Designer:  Ellen Maurer-Stroh

Fabric:  40 ct. Newcastle Cream

Floss:  DMC as charted (one over two)

Started:  1/9/12

January Assignment finished:  1/16/12

Here it is as of yesterday evening!  Since I was off for MKL day, I decided to continue stitching on this one and finish up my January "assignment!"  I'm so very pleased with how it turned out!

Let me just tell you that peacock has a crapload of color changes in it but it was so worth the effort.  Wow!  It's even prettier in person if I do say so myself.

I'll be back with more pics and such from the weekend retreat.  It was so good to get with the peeps and stitch.  We laughed pretty much all weekend and of course ate a ton of chocolate.  It went way too fast!  Hope your weekend was good too.

More later,

The Inspired Stitcher

Stitchaway here I come!

It's that time again!  My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.  I'll be MIA for a couple days and I'm so ready for it too.   Thankfully this time I don't have to drive that far away.

Our LNS hosts an annual retreat at a local state park's lodge.  It's practically a stone's throw away from here too!  I'll be joining the peeps later today for plenty of stitching and mischief.

There will be shopping too!  Oh yes, there will!  The LNS sets up a satellite store to feed our addiction serve our every need and I've got a couple gift certificates that are burning a hole in my pocket.  Thanks to my honey and one of my peeps!   Yep, ye old stash is going to be enhanced this weekend for sure!

As has become our motto, "What Happens at Stitchaway, Stays at Stitchaway!"

I'll be back with tales to tell and pictures to share!  Everybody have a great weekend and I wish you all a grand case of Stitch Ass as Siobhan says.  Save me a seat girls I'll be there as fast as I can!!!

More later (once I come out of the woods),

The Inspired Stitcher

It just made my day

Before framing

With framing

Some of you may remember when I stitched this picture for a coworker's surprise gift for his wife.  We'll he brought it in so I could see it framed!  Needless to say it made my day.

The frame he picked is just georgous.  It's shiny and has streaks of grey in the black.  You should be abel to click on the picture to see it.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  He told me his wife was totally surprised and really loves it.   I'm so glad they are both so pleased with it.

I autographed the back of it for him.  He says he's going to tell her he got the "artists signature" for her birthday.  He's so funny!

Anyway, I just had to share!  Hope you all are having a good day too.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

A random act of kindness

Just look at what the mailman brought me!  That dear sweet Becky Bee gifted me with a random act of kindness!  I feel so honored to receive this little cupcake pincushion.

Here it is closer!  Isn't it just the sweetest thing?

This couldn't have come at a better time.  We had just returned from my father-in-law's graveside services when my honey brought it in from the mailbox.

Becky didn't know this was going on when she sent this to me.  It was one of those serendipitous things that sometimes happens.  Needless to say it really brightened an othewise somber day.

Thank you so very much dear friend for thinking of me and for unknowingly making my day a little better with your kindness.  It will bring a smile to my face and make me think of you each time I look at it.  It is appreciated more than you can know.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

WIPs

I was reading Karen's blog over at Stitching and Sharing and it got me to thinking about my WIPs (work in progress).  She inspired me to get crackin' and record my WIPs today too.

I think this will help me keep track of what I still have to finish stitching.  It will be fun to see how I progress.  So here goes in order of oldest to most recent.

Design:  I Sigh Not For Beauty

Designer:  C Street Samplerworks

Fabric:  32 ct. Dirty Linen

Floss:  My conversion to NPI and HDF

Started:  3/5/11

This project was one of Ellen Chester's 2011 newsletter SALs.  As you can see I made a little more progress since the picture in my post the other day was taken back in October.  I spy the beginnings of a house!

I really have really enjoyed stitching this one and will miss stitching it when I'm done.  Have you ever stitched something like that?

Design:  ???

Designer:  ???

Fabric:  7 ct. Monk's Cloth

Floss:  DMC

Re-Started:  5/1/11?

Does anyone know the designer or design name of this one?  I've been working from a sketch from an old snapshot since I can't find the chart.  Doh!  I'm just sure nobody else has ever done that.  Winks!   Umm...yep, moving on now.  LOL

Seriously, I don't know what posessed me to do this on Monk's Cloth.  At this point there's just too much work done to toss it so I'll most likely continue on with it.  It's obviously been bagged long enough.  Just look at the raveling on the edges.  Geesh!  It really is true, once you stitch on linen you never go back!

Design:  Jolly Jack

Designer:  All Through The Night

Fabric:  30 ct. WDW Putty

Floss:  WDW as charted

Started:  9/9/11

This one I started at the Tiara retreat and I bought the fabric when I was at the Shepherd's Bush retreat in 2010.  There's just something about that pumpkin!  I'm a sucker for vintage looking jack o'lanterns.  Love those oak leaves too. 

Design:  What A Cut Up freebie

Designer:  Patrick's Woods

Fabric:  32 ct. antique white scrap

Floss:  My DMC conversion (1over 1)

Started:  10/12/11

This one needs some frogging before I can finish it up.  I've been putting it off since it's over 1.  It's not good to try stitching over one late into the night/wee hours of the morning.  Ask me how I know?  Yep, that's why there's frogging to do.

Design:  Santa's Buddies (from 2009 JCS Ornaments)

Designer:  Angel Stitchin

Fabric:  28 ct. lambswool

Floss:  DMC and GAST as charted

Started:  11/27/11

This one is really close to being done and I'll most likely finish it soon since it's been my lunchtime stitch.  Even though the holiday is over, I'll still at least finish the stitching.  Whether I ornamentify it before the holidays roll around again remains to be seen.

Design:  Blue Ribbon Sewing Box

Designer:  Patrick's Woods

Fabric:  32 ct. antique white as kitted

Floss:  Silk as kitted

Started:  12/29/11

This one has been such an enjoyable stitch thus far and is working up nicely.  I'm loving the happy colors in it.  I think this will be another one that I'll miss spending time with when it's done.  I'd like to get it done in the next eight weeks.  We'll see how that shakes out. 

So there you are, all my WIPs in one place.  That was actually kind of fun to do.  Did any of you record your WIPs somewhere?  Leave me a link in the comments and I'll come check them out.

Thanks so much for your visiting with me today.  I hope you got a kick out of seeing what's up in my world.  Happy stitching!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

2011 Stitching Report

Seeing everyone's 2011 stitching reports made me go through my timeline (more about this another day) to see how I did last year.  So here's the tally:

40 starts
34 finishes
20 completed pieces (4 need framed)
6 WIPs carried forward to this year

Not too bad I think.  I'm not really a serial starter so that accounts for only having 6 WIPs.  The peeps tell me that will change.  I don't know about that.

My personality is really more suited to starting something and sticking with it until it's done.  I also get overwhelmed if I have too many things going at once.  For me, stitching is supposed to be fun not filled with pressure dontcha know.

"Beauty" Progress as of October 2011

Of those WIPs, this one is my first BAP (I Sigh Not For Beauty) and I'm really close to being done.  I got a bit sidelined when the Sherri Jones' class grew closer.  I really had a mental block on all that tent stitching.  It was a first for me to do so much of it in one piece.  Thankfully I think I've got the hang of it now.  Although I still have trouble changing direction sometimes.

Speaking of classes, I also had the good fortune to take two classes last year.  One with Ellen Chester and the other with Sherri Jones.  Here are the projects we worked on:

Lucet and A Silk Purse by Sherri Jones

This is one of my WIPs that will be carried forward into 2012.  I still need to get the hang of making the lucet cording with consistent tension.  Once I master that the finishing should be a snap.  Stay tuned!

Long May She Wave by Ellen Chester

The other was a class that a group of my peeps and I arranged with Ellen Chester.  We are lucky that Ellen is local.  Ellen taught us more than how to make the needlebook but also the history of the flag and hornbooks (a personal favorite of mine)!

I was also able to attend three retreats last year!  The first one was hosted by the LNS and it's an annual event held in January.  As a matter of fact, this year's retreat is going to be next weekend!  I can't wait.

The second one was in Russelville, Kentucky (more about it here and here) and the third was our Tiara Group's retreat (more here and here too) held in southern Indiana.

Overall, I think it was a good year and I got a bunch done.  I think one of the best things was starting this blog.  It's helped me keep track of things.

I've made some wonderful new friends from around the globe and been inspired beyond measure by your wonderful stitching.  I'm looking forward to another great year!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher