Two finishes...Heaven Above & an Ornament!

Dear friends I'm happy to report I've finally finished Heaven Above!  Yes, it's true.  I actually finished it Thanksgiving weekend.  I stitched on this all afternoon on Thanksgiving day and all the next two days to get it finished.  I was determined to get this one done before the end of November.  I was so pleased when I put that last stitch in it.  Let's have a look at it in all its glory!

Design: Heaven Above

Designer: Midsummer Night Designs

Fabric: 40ct. Sand

Floss: As charted

Started: 1/15/15

Finished: 11/25/16

To Be Framed...

Here's a close up picture of the top half.

Here's the bottom half.  There's supposed to be a butterfly in the lower right corner but I wanted to incorporate my initials and date there instead.  I actually added a small purple flower above the signature after this picture was taken.

I'm really pleased with this one.  It's super special to me because my dear friend, Susan gifted the chart to me after she finished stitching it last year.  I plan to keep the chart.  I'm thinking once I frame it I may put it in a pocket on the back along with a note telling its story.  It's just that special to me.  Thank you again, Susan!  You are so dear to me.

I had wanted to post about this sooner but I got really sick the Monday after Thanksgiving.  A trip to the ER diagnosed me with chest pains caused by pleurisy, which was scary enough, and then I came down with the Norovirus.  Yeah, chest pains with violent vomiting is nothing I want to repeat anytime soon.  Needless to say that took the rug out from under me for a week.  I was pretty worn out the whole next week too.  Thankfully, I'm absolutely fine now and feel back to my old self.  Whew, glad to be back in good health!

~*~*~*~

Design:  Letter Sleds A to Z "QCSG"

Designer:  Foxwood Crossings

Fabric:  32ct. Belfast White

Floss:  DMC 817 & 699

Started:  12/2/16

Finished:  12/3/16

Completed:  12/4/16

My second finish I want to share today is this ornament I made for the annual guild Christmas party.  I was gifted this chart by Robin in Virginia.  Robin is such a dear sweet friend.  She's been there for me a lot this year.  I really cherish our friendship.  Someday I hope to meet Robin in person!  Waves to Robin.

I changed the original design a wee bit, so this is my adaptation.  The original says "NOEL" and is in more of a tag shape.  I decided to make mine more rectangular and use our guilds initials.  I hope the recipient liked it.  I think she may have gotten my ornament last year too.  I think it's so festive with the holly and berries border.  I can foresee myself using this chart a lot in the coming years.  It's a really versatile set of designs.

~*~*~*~

I hope everyone is getting geared up for the big holiday weekend.  I'm as ready as I'm getting.  For some reason this year I've really been in the Christmas mood.  I feel like it's because of my illnesses at the beginning of the season.  I know that sounds odd but I feel like being sick was a reset button kind of thing for me.  It caused me to stop, slow down and really think about what's important in the grand scheme of things.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm full blast all the time, sometimes to my own detriment.  I'm always ten steps ahead of myself in my mind.  It feels good to step back and really be present and in the now.

~*~*~*~

I want to thank you all for your friendships, your comments, your emails and just being you!  You bring me joy and I hope I do that for you too.  I hope your holiday is merry and bright!

With much love and hugs,

The Inspired Stitcher

QCSG Party!

Our party this year was held at the Warren County Historical Society and Museum.  The part where our party was held used to be the town's post office!  It was a nice open space with lots of natural light.

When you first entered the room there were several tables set up next to the windows for the guild's anniversary sampler display.  I was impressed with the number of folks who worked on and completed this SAL.  As I mentioned before, I shamelessly did not...more than one big a$$ project a year is enough for me!

Check out the size of these and you see what I mean about a BAP!  I'm giving the wonder woman cape to all these girls.  You all rock!

Of course no guild get together would be complete without some show and tell!  I love this one.  I've got it in the stash.  It was gifted to me by my dear friend Toni several years ago.  I haven't forgotten about it!

Our guest lecturer even brought some show and tell of her own!  Love the strawberries in this sweet set!

She's designing this one for the Magnolia Sampler Guild.  How lucky these ladies are going to be to stitch this beauty.  And to think, it's not even finished yet!  Theresa told us she stitches all her own models and designs as she goes.  How interesting!

This was one of my favorites.  I love all the flowers and those chickens are really fun too!  She had  the chart for this one with her for sale but I didn't bring any money.  It was a bit pricey so it was just as well.

We got a sneak peek at a group project for next year.  Some of our guild members are designing smalls for us and we will have a finishing class later in the year.  How cute is this?  I like the idea.  I can see myself changing up the colors and fabric.  Fun!

Here's a peek at the ornament tree!  We had quite a few really pretty ornaments this year.  I always enjoy seeing the various ways folks choose to finish their ornaments.

As I've mentioned to some of you in the comments from last time, my ornament was a hit!  I'm so glad everyone liked it.  I had never met the lady that got it.  I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed coming up with the design and stitching it.

~*~*~*~

I hope you enjoyed the peek at the party.  It was fun to get together with everyone.  There were some folks I visited with that I hadn't seen since last year.  That's always so much fun.

Speaking of visiting with folks I haven't seen in a while, this weekend is the annual fall retreat with the "Russellville" girls at the Inn at Windmere.  I'm really looking forward to getting away.  Our agenda has us eating way too much, stitching a whole lot, shopping and all around relaxing.  Pretty close to heaven if you ask me!

Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post and for stopping by to visit today.


More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Guild Ornament - Finish!

This year our guild's Christmas party is super early for reasons I'm not totally clear on but I suspect it has to do with our guest speaker's schedule.  We will have Theresa from Heart's Ease Sampler Workes coming to lecture on designing our Guild's anniversary sampler.  No, I'm not stitching it.  It's a BAP and I'm limiting my self to one at a time.  I've learned my lesson.  LOL!

So anywho, tomorrow is the party.  Typically we have it in the first half of December. I am not ready to even think about the holidays yet but I did manage to stitch an ornament for the annual exchange.  Want to see what I came up with?  You know you do!

Here's the chart I used.  This chart has so many possibilities!

Here 'tis with the stitching finished...all but the initials and date on it.

Design: Christmas Alphabet Book #64

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Fabric: 40ct. mystery scrap

Floss:  Called for DMC

Started: 10/18/15

Finished: 11/2/15

Completed: 11/4/15

I chose to use the initials of the Guild in this configuration so it would end up square.  I chose the 40ct so it would be relatively small or at least an appropriate ornament size.  The fabric in the background is what I used on the back.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  So if you are a guild member reading this, you could be the lucky one to get this cutie.

I'm planning to take a bunch of pictures tomorrow.  I have a feeling the show and tell is going to be fantastic and I'm hoping there will be lots of ornaments on the ornament tree too.  Stay tuned!

~*~*~*~

Thanks so much for visiting today and listening to my rambles.  I hope your weekend is good and you get to put a needle into something.  I know you all can barely stand it that I've actually posted twice this week.  You just never know about me.  I'm a wild one like that.  LOL!

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Saturday Stitch-in and Quaker Faith progress

Saturday was an outstanding day at the QCSG all day stitch-in.  We had a guest lecturer who brought all kinds of neat needlework necessities, tools and toys for us to all drool over. It was absolutely fascinating!  Most of them were from the 1700's and 1800's.  I took a ton of pictures so I'll let them speak for themselves and chime in where I can.

The bonnet girls had hand drawn faces and the box in the lower left was a child's needlework box.

The two shell shaped pieces were referred to as etuis and held small tools.  The box in the back had secret compartments.

I absolutely fell in love with this chatelaine!  In addition to the watch there is a scissor holder, needle case, thimble holder and pad of paper!

I love these turned wood pieces.  The box in the lower left was made by a sailor from shells collected during his travels.  The basket in the back was a family piece.

I loved all these tiny things especially the needle cases.

 Who would ever look at a walnut shell and think tool holder?  Apparently someone did!

 



 I love the spool holder on the right.  You pull the pins up and load the spools onto them.  The pincushion on the top is worked in bead embroidery!

 These were all made of either bone or ivory.  The carving was amazing!

These were called "third hand" tools.  They were used to hold fabric and clamped to a table top.

All of these were metal and came from England.  I love the chick and the bunny. They were tape measures.

The inlay woodwork was stunning on this box.  You lift out the tray and stow your project underneath!  Wouldn't that be a fun way to travel with your needlework project.

This was my absolute favorite of all.  It's French and was made by more than one crafts person.  Just look at that exquisite embroidery and those breath taking tools.  Swoon!

 

Edited:  Rae over at Reconstructed Fabulousness helped me remember what this particular box was called.  It's a Palais Royal (click here for more info).  The tiny pansy hallmark is a dead giveaway!  I'm adding some additional pictures for your viewing pleasure below!

 

This is the pansy hallmark to look for that identifies them as Palais Royal.  The word pansy in French means remembrance.

 

I was so amazed by the craftsmanship in all these tiny treasures when thinking about the technology back when they were made.  Everything done by hand and with such attention to detail.  There are simply no words.  Wow!

 

~*~*~*~

I didn't get very good pictures of the show and tell table but we were able to lay out the three Snooty's and get a group picture!  On the left is Ellen's finished piece.  She had her framer bring it so we could take the picture.  In the middle is J's piece almost done and then you all have seen mine recently.  It was fun to see them all together.

 

I chose to work on my Quaker Faith for the day.  I hadn't touched it since at least April.  I decided it was high time to do something on it.  I managed to finish the church and a wee start on a motif in the lower right corner (that brown squiggle).  I really don't have that much to go on it and should just buckle down and get on with it already. LOL!

 

~*~*~*~

 

 

Ever had your car just pull into a place like an invisible force field is sucking it in?  Yep, that's what happened to me.  On my way home I got sucked into stopping at the Half-Price Books store.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Something just told me to pop in and see what was there.  Boy, am I glad I did!  I've been watching the top book for ages on the bay of evil.  The second one just looked interesting.  The other cool thing was I paid even less than the sticker price because have a discount card.  One of the perks of my job! 

So yep, it was an outstanding day all around...cool lecture, fun show and tell, progress made and new books!  I hope you enjoyed seeing all the juicy things we saw on Saturday.  I just love days like that!

Well folks, I hope you all have a good week and get to make some progress too.  I need to get packing for my trip later this week.  I've got my stitch bag almost packed and need to do the usual other stuff you do to get ready to leave.  I'm so excited!  I promise I'll come back with a full report!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Saturday Stitch-in

Saturday our guild had an all day stitch-in.  It was a really nice day to get together and stitch.  We had a "themed" show and tell.  This month it was patriotic.  Here are some of the wonderful things that were shared.

I love the banner in the upper right corner.  So true!

I love the ornament with the verse on it.  One of our members took a passage from the Declaration of Independence and charted it for the back of her Prairie Schooler "July" ornament.  Love that!

The two on the right are Blackbird Designs pieces and were stitched by my buddy Patti.  The two unfinished pieces were made by my friend Nancy (waves to her, I know she reads the blog).

 This one was made by my buddy, Linda.  This sampler has logged some road miles.  She brought it with her when we went to West Virginia!

The these were made by my friend, Christie.  She's a really big fan of patriotic designs.  Aren't they all so cool?!

I just had to show you a close up of this one.  Christie worked this one silk gauze!  It's stunning in person.  I really need to find this chart and stitch it for myself.  Sadly, I doubt it will be on gauze.  LOL!

 

I didn't catch who made these two but I really like them.  I need to check the stash, I think I might have the top one.  Hmm....

 

The three on the left are mine and if you've poked around in the archives you've seen them already.  The three on the left are my friend, Paula's.  Very pretty!

 

These two were made by my friend, Pam.  I'm sure they will be framed/finished the next time we see them.  She's really good about getting things completed.

This one was made by one of our newer members, Tiffany.  She's not been stitching on linen very long and she said she completed this on the holiday!  I like the floss she chose to use.  Very appropriate for the holiday.

 

I just had to share this picture.  The top one is mine and the bottom one is Diane's.  We used different fabric counts.  I love how the size difference is really noticeable when they are side by side.

 

~*~*~*~

Here are six of the nine "Foster brothers" that were present at the meeting.  It was so fun to see them all together.  Especially since we are so far along on the project now. 

Done by LK.

Done by PW.

Done by CM.

 Mine

 

Done by MK.

Done by PF.

 

It's really been fun to work with a group of people on this sampler.  I loved seeing the different thread counts and color choices!  Our group even inspired the guild to possibly do a guild stitch-a-long next year.  I hope we do it will be so fun!

 

Next time I'll show you the kit I picked up from the guild's "free to a good home" table.  I started it when I got home from the stitch-in and finished it up the next day.  It was fun to do a quickie project after working on my perpetual projects for so long.  Stay tuned!

 

Hope your weekend was good too!

 

More next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher