Secret Stitcher

Happy Monday folks!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I spent my Friday night hanging out with some of my stitching peeps and Saturday the Tiara club had an all day stitch-in.  It was a fun weekend full of stitching!  I made some progress on the Parrots.  I'll share that in another post.  This post is dedicated to this mystery box that showed up on my chair after lunch on Saturday!

 

Isn't this just the prettiest box?!  I do love all things Americana and it's just in time for the coming July 4th holiday.  I've already got it on display in my dining room.  So what's in the box you ask?

 

Check out all this goodness!  I love it all!!!  The little picture to the right is a tiny canvas.  It's just perfect to display on my bathroom shelf.  Then there's all that wonderful patriotic ribbon.  I can't wait to use some in a patriotic finish.  Let's have a closer look at that super cute fob next to the ribbon!

 

I just had to blow this picture up so you can see the pretty pink beads and the hibiscus flower!  I wish you could see the sparkle.  I promptly attached it to my small zip bag that's holding my Parrots' floss and my travel tool box.  I love it!

 

Speaking of floss, check out this pretty floss and awesome chart!  I've had my eye on that chart ever since it came out but the LNS never got it.  Now I don't have to watch for it anymore!  I'm really tempted to start this one right away.  Maybe it could be my July 4th start!  Sounds good to me!

Thank you so much Secret Stitcher!  You really made my day and I love everything you gifted me.  I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness.  I can't wait to "meet" you and thank you in person in December!

I'm really looking forward to the short week this week.  Anyone have July 4th plans yet?  I hope everyone has a good week.  Thanks for stopping by today!

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher


P.S.  On a sad note, one of my stitching peeps' mom passed away yesterday.  She used to stitch with us until her hands just couldn't do it anymore.  She's not been well for a while and she's now in a much better place.  Please keep her family in your thoughts.

TUSAL - June

It's TUSAL Day!

(For those not familiar, click on the word TUSAL above or the link to the right.)

Well folks here we are again at TUSAL day. It's been quite a month since our last check-in. Summer is in full swing and we are barreling toward the July 4th holiday one week from today. Just how did June slip by so quickly?! I always feel like after the 4th it's all downhill from there. Let's have a look at the ORTs for this month.

 

This month's ORT pile isn't all that big because I stitched most of the threads to the absolute nub fearing I would run out of floss on the Hornbook project.  Thankfully I had more than enough.  Whew!  That's my traveling ORT container laying on the project bag that contains the Parrots.  I bring it to work with me every day.  Gotta get in a tiny bit of progress when I can!

 

This month's contributors to the pile were:

 

"W is for Whale" on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done)

"Y is for Yellow Jacket" on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done)

"Z is for Zebra" on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done)

The verse block on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done)

My signature line on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done/Finished)
Russellville exchange piece (Done)

Snooty Parrots by Barbara Ana Designs ( In Progress)

"Quaker Faith" by Little by Little Designs (In Progress)

 

As you can tell, the majority of the last month has been spent on nothing but the Hornbook.  I'm still so pleased to have it finally finished.  I've resumed my work on the Snooty Parrots and even poked a few stitches in on Quaker Faith.

 

I've got a retreat coming up next month and thankfully I have the exchange piece stitched.  Now to do the finishing.  It won't take too long.  I also need to work on the round robin project a tiny bit more too.  I want to put some kind of commemoration on it and need to settle on what that's going to be then get crackin' on it.

 

There's never an idle moment for me when it comes to stitching.  If I'm not actually engaged in stitching, I'm thinking about it.  I'm sure that's the way for a lot of you as well.  Tell me in the comments what you are thinking about starting soon.  I'd love to hear about it!

 

As always, I appreciate your visits on TUSAL day.  I know it's not my most exciting post of the month but it sure helps me stay on track and take stock of things.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend too.  I'm going to spend my Saturday at an all day stitch-in with the peeps.  I know that will be fun!

 

More next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

Back to the Parrots

First, I'd like to thank everyone again for all your kind comments and emails.  It's been so much fun celebrating the Hornbook finish with you all.  I appreciate each and every kindness!

I decided I should probably pick up the Parrots and see how far I could get with them this weekend.  I even took them on a mini road trip with my honey on Saturday.  Stitching on 40ct. while bumping along the interstate can be a challenge at times but I did manage to accomplish some stitching!

Progress as of 6/22/14

Our last visit on 4/28/14

As you can tell from the two pictures, I have made some progress.  I got the basket done in the car and the rest of it was my Sunday stitch while listening to the TV.  Hopefully it won't take me too much to get myself caught up again.

Sea Spray vs. Tropical Ocean

I did decide to change another color on this one.  The Sea Spray (on the left) just wasn't showing up so I went with Tropical Ocean (on the right) instead.  I really think it shows up much better!  Now I have to go back and frog the left side where this color first showed up.  It's not much and I know I'll be happier when I do.

Well, this one is short, sweet, and uneventful.  It feels good to be moving this one along again.  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  Thanks for stopping by today!

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary...DONE!!!

Folks, did you hear me last night?  At about 8:55pm I put the very last stitch into the Hornbook Bestiary!!!  Can I get a woo hoo from the blog-o-sphere?!!  Oh yeah!!!  First, let's check out the last few blocks before the big reveal.  I want to document the whole thing...every block!

Progress as of 6-9-14

 

6-10-14

"Z is for Zebra"

 

6-14-14

"Verse Block"

I had thought at one point I'd do away with the verse block and use it as my signature square but the more I thought about it I decided I really wanted to keep the verse.  It fits with the rest of the design so well.  Besides, a sampler needs a verse.  Here's what it says:

"When land is gone and money spent then learning is most excellent"

 

6-15-14

 

So here's what I decided to do for my signature instead.  I took my inspiration from Marsha's gift to Nicola (seen here).  I wanted to do something that complemented the design so I charted my name, city, state and the years I worked on this sampler.  For privacy's sake, I won't show you my last name or city/state.

 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...........

 

Design: The Hornbook Bestiary

Designer: The Scarlet Letter

Fabric: 35 ct. as kitted

Floss: AVAS as kitted

Started: 12/25/12

Finished: 6/18/14

I present to you, my finished Hornbook Bestiary!!!!  Last night was my guild's stitch night and I was surrounded by my stitching peeps as I counted down the last stitches.  My hands were shaking when I put in that last stitch.  I couldn't have been in a better place.  Everyone celebrated my finish!!  I even made a victory lap around the room with it while they cheered me on!!  Oh yes I did!!!  I feel like I've climbed a mountain and am standing on cloud nine today!!

I can't believe I put in all those over one tent stitches on 35 count!  I'm confident I can now say I'm a tent stitch master.  So how many stitched are in there you ask?  Well, let me tell you!  In the angel there are 7,633 stitches, in the charted squares, not counting my signature, there are 75,825 and my signature added an additional 4,725 for a grand whopping total of 88,183 stitches!  Holy crap!!!

I'm glad I took the time to add the signature line.  After spending a year and a half of my life stitching this, I wanted future generations to know who did it.  I'm also a big proponent of making sure the place was noted too.  The years represent the time it took me to stitch it.

I can say with confidence that this is probably my masterpiece.  I'm completely aware that I won't always be able to stitch things like this without magnification or glasses.  It was a test of patience, perseverance and diligence for me.  I'm super pleased with the result.

I also wanted to note that I had plenty of floss to see me to the end.  Marsha was quite generous with the contents of this kit.  Thank you so much, Marsha!

Now to find an extra special frame for it.  I don't mind spending some time searching for just the right one too.  I know I want one that has the handle on it so it looks like a real hornbook.  A rectangular frame just won't do for something this special.  So stay tuned for that!

So what's next you might ask, well never fear, I have plenty in the wings to keep me going.  Those poor neglected parrots are squaking at me right now and I do have some smalls I need to do soon.  Oh yes, I'm always thinking about the next ones.

Thank you to everyone who has cheered me to this finish. You all kept me motivated. I truly appreciate each and every email, comment and encouragement I received.  I'm so pleased to be able to share this milestone finish with you today!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary...rounding third and heading for home!

As one of our beloved sports announcers used to say, I'm "rounding third and heading for home!"  I'm just beside myself that I'm this close.  I get goose bumps just looking at it!  I wanted to pop in for a quick update to show you my week's progress.  I've pretty much only been working on this.

Progress as of 5/30/14
 

"Y is for Yellow Jacket"

Progress as of 6/2/14

 

I actually finished the "Y is for Yellow Jacket" last Monday night but wanted to wait to post about it until I was a little further along.  My honey says this looks like a butterfly or a slug with wings.  I kind of agree.  It's one strange looking bug if it's supposed to be a bee.  I guess we'll just have to use our imagination. 

"Z is for Zebra" almost done
Progress as of 6/9/14

 

Here we are today.  I'm hopeful I'll get this block completely done later today and then it's on to the final block!  Some of the local peeps have gotten a preview of what I've designed for my signature.  I can't wait to show you all too!  I'm just so very close now.  Yay!

 

Well folks, that's it for today.  I need to get back at it.  I hope you aren't sick of seeing this project.  I've got some smalls I need to start on really soon so you'll get a change of pace soon.  I do miss stitching my smalls.  Have a good week everyone!  Thanks for stopping by and for cheering me on.  You all are the best!

 

 

More next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

Hornbook Bestiary Progress

Well folks I'm speeding along like a herd of turtles!  I think I'm just anxious to see this one done.  I've made some more progress.  I've finished another block.

Progress as of 5/18/14

Progress as of 5/30/14

 

Now we have "W is for Whale" and one stitch into "Y is for Yellow Jacket."  I finished this one up Friday night while stitching with the peeps and immediately started the next block.  As of last night, I'm about half way done with the next block too.  I'm working on the fill.

 

 

I have to say this is the oddest looking whale I've ever seen.  We decided he looks like a young Mick Jagger.  I see the resemblance, don't you?!  So we've decided the whale's name is Mick.  We also decided there needs to be a new menu item at McDonalds too...McLips.  I can see it now, a little carton of deep friend fish lips.  Too funny!

 

Okay, enough of my silliness!  That's all I've got today.  I had to pop in for a quick update.  I hope everyone has a good week. 

 

 

More of my nuttiness later,

 

The Inspired Stitcher