TUSAL - January

It's TUSAL Day!

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

I missed the very first TUSAL of the year on January 1st so this one is going to be a bit of a catch up of sorts.  The ole ORT pile is going to look a bit bigger than it really should be.  I'll be back on track next month.

Here's the over sized ORT pile and the ORT report follows below.  Let's have a look at the contributors to this big o'wad of string.


These are the ones that should have been reported on January 1st:

"Mary's Sampler Mystery SAL" freebie by Plum Street Samplers (Done!)

"O Night Divine" by The Sampler Girl (Done!)

"Happy Skater" by Little House Needleworks (Done!)

"Sew Advent SAL" by iStitch Designs (In progress)

"Joy Reindeer Floss Tag" by marijke-steekjeskruisjes.blogspot.com (Done!)

"N is for Nightingale" on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done!)

 
 

These are the ones from the month of January:

 

"Frosty Snowflake" by Needle Bling Designs (In Progress)

"Box Row #4" on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done!)

"Parrot" freebie by Barbara Anna (Done needs finished)

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

"Welcome to Downton" by The Sampler Girl (Done!)

"O is for Owl" on the Hornbook Bestiary (Done!)

"P is for Parrot" on the Hornbook Bestiary (In Progress)

"Snooty Parrots" by Barbara Ana Designs ( In Progress)

 
 

I really do enjoy taking stock of my progress on TUSAL day.  It looks like I need to do a post about a few of these I missed sharing.  I'm going to save the Hornbook progress for it's own post as has been my tradition since starting that project.  I'm getting ever closer on that one!

 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you all have made great progress on your WIPs this month as well.  Have a great day!

 

Until next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

A Finish and A New Start

I'm back today to share a recent finish and a new start.  This little cutie is something I stitched for a special birthday girl who celebrated a big "0" birthday at the retreat.  We surprised her with a party.  Just imagine 95 women singing Happy Birthday!  It was so fun and she was genuinely surprised too.

This special friend is the one responsible for hooking me on Downton Abbey!  I couldn't resist stitching this for her when I saw this chart on Pinterest.  I customized the colors just for her.  She loves red!

Design: Welcome to Downton freebie

Designer: The Sampler Girl

Fabric:  32 ct. cream

Floss:  DMC

Started:  1/11/14

Finished:  1/12/14

Completed:  1/13/14

This is also my first finish in 2014!  The fabric in the background is what I used on the back.  I may have to stitch this one again for myself in honor of the new Downtown Abbey season.  I just love that show!  Anybody else hooked?

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Design: Snooty Parrots

Designer: Barbara Ana Designs

Fabric: 40 ct. Light Mocha

Floss:  Called for over-dyes

Started:  1/26/14

This is my newest start.  I swore I was not going to do another BAP (Big A$$ Project) or another SAL until I finished the Hornbook.  Um...yeah!  Well, my friends Ellen and Terri sucked me into this one.  This is my progress on the January installment.  I like how the green looks in the vine!

I have to admit I had a terrible time finding fabric for this one.  I checked our LNS with no luck.  I tried the Silver Needle's New Year's Eve day sale with no luck.  I finally tried Needle in a Haystack since I've visited their store and know they have a nice selection of fabric.  Score!

Actually, the called for fabric was sold out there too but thankfully one of the lovely ladies called me to see if she could sub something for me.  I just love personal attention to details like that.  Between the two of us, we came up with the light mocha seen here.  It's just beautiful and I think it will work nicely with some of the lighter colors in the design too.  All's well that ends well!

So you'll be seeing this one fairly regularly this year.  I'm thinking a rotation may be in order to keep me on track.  Wish me luck!

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Well folks, there you have it.  I'm hoping to make some more progress on this new BAP and the Hornbook this week.  We'll see how that shakes out!  I hope you are having a good week so far.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Stitchaway Wrap-up

I'm glad you all enjoyed the retreat recap posts.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with the peeps and see such awesome stitching.  I always get so inspired after being at a retreat!

 

Our last morning at Stitchaway we always do some sort of "make it and take it" project together in the lodge lobby. This is the kit we got.

 

This is how it turned out.  It's a needlebook stitched on monocanvas with a Rhodes square spool!  I think I'll make some more of these as gifts.  I've got all the stuff.

 

Here's the group busily stitching up their needlebooks by the fireplace!  It was a fun way to end the weekend.

 

I always like to take a quick browse through the Lodge's gift shop before we start "Make it and take it."  I'd seen one of the girls wearing these lovely earrings and she told me she bought them in the gift shop.  I was so thrilled when I found they still had a pair!  I love the gold and silver together.

I received a couple belated gifts while at the retreat too.  This sweet birdy was a bleated birthday gift from my peep, Linda.  I love the card.  She knows I avoid the Facebook as much as possible.  I've tried very hard not to get sucked into it.  She's so funny!

 

 

This sweet fob was a belated Christmas present from my buddy, Meem.  I love snowmen.  The snow man face is actually an upcycled Scrabble game piece!  Too stinkin' cute!  You can never have too many fobs.  Especially seasonal ones like this little guy.

 

I'm sure you were all wondering just what temptation found its way into my shopping bag in the retreat store.  The La-D-Da chart is one I got to mark off my wish list.  Yay!  Of course I couldn't resist the Blackbird Designs charts in the 50% off trunk.  Score!  The flosses are short skeins.  I think it will make good water or a mermaid's tail at some point.  Yep, I'm thinking summer already!  I also couldn't resist one of the Milady's Needle lockets.  I've got an idea for that!  All this goodness was courtesy of the gift certificate DH gave me for Christmas.  Yep, he's a keeper!

 

Here's a close up of the wooden pieces that jumped into my bag.  Can you see why I just couldn't live without them?!  Everything I love...Eiffel Tower, Bees, Crowns, Fleur de Lis!  Oh yeah!

 

Last but not least, I couldn't resist a small hunk of Leslie's juicy fabric.  The chart and floss were freebies we were given at the retreat.  I'm thinking I'll make a pouch of some sort out of this.  We'll see!

 

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Thanks for popping in for a visit today.  It's always fun to share my adventures with you all.  I hope you are staying warm today.  I woke up to -12 degree temps today.  It's not even above zero yet right now!  Brr!!!!  You folks that this is normal weather have my utmost respect.  You are some hardy people!

 

 

More next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher

Stitchaway Retreat part 2

*** "Heads up" this is a picture heavy post.  Woo Hoo!!! ***

I'm back!  It's time to share all the stitchy goodness that was Show and Tell!   It never ceases to amaze me how much talent fills the room at Stitchaway.  Wow!  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and chime in when I can.  Let's get right to the good stuff!

This was the stitcher's first linen piece!  Pretty awesome.

This one was done by my friend, Susan.  I've admired it from the first time I saw it.  I'm so proud of her for finishing this up so quickly.  It was stitched in honor of a friend who died of cancer.  Susan generously gifted me with her used chart after Show and Tell.  I am so touched by your gift, dear friend!  Thank you again.

This was done by one of the girls from our table for her son's wedding sampler.  The happy couple lives in Alaska.

I'm sure you recognize these two Foster brothers (mine and Marsha's).  Laying on the table is Marsha's finished Mary's Sampler.  Love the frame she chose!  The local LNS is going to display all the Foster brothers together in the shop soon.  It's going to be awesome!

Sorry for the funky glare!

These were stitched by a group of friends!  I love how they all look so different.

This one was done by my guild friend, Sue B.  She had one of the Stitchaway attendees translate the words into Spanish for her last year.  It was one of our guild's class projects.

Some of these were done by one of our youngest Stitchaway attendee!  I didn't catch her age but I'm guessing she was probably still in elementary school.  Love to see a young one stitching!  You go girl!

This piece was done at the LNS anniversary getaway in Cape Cod last year.  It's a Jeannette Douglas piece.  Love everything about this one!

This one was done by the stitcher our LNS owner affectionately calls "Turbo."

 

Another Turbo piece.

And the final piece, another Turbo.  I love this one!  My mom would too.

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To continue the stitchy goodness, here's my progress on the projects I brought to stitch.  A couple of them I know you've not seen yet!

 

I was able to get all the next row's boxes done and started "O is for Owl!"  I just love those eyes.  I've actually gotten a bit farther on this one since last weekend.  I'll show that in it's own post soon!

This was going to be an ornament but I didn't get very far with it.  It's from the 2013 JCS Christmas Ornaments issue.  It's called "Frosty Flake" by Needle Bling Designs.  I'm using the called for DMC and a piece of 25 ct. Lugana stitched one over one.

 

This is my New Year's Day start.  Our guild is doing a Quaker challenge this year and this is my piece.  It's called "Quaker Faith" by Little by Little Designs.  I actually won this two years ago from Melissa at Words and Blooms' blog!  Thank you again, Melissa.  I'm really enjoying this stitch.  I've actually made more progress on this one too since last weekend.  It's become my lunch time stitch.

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Well folks, once again I've become windy.  I'll save the rest for the next time.  As you can tell, the getaway was full of eye candy and there was even some stitching accomplished!  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek.  I hope your day is good and you get to put a needle to linen today.


More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Stitchaway Retreat

Hello stitchy people!  Last weekend was our annual LNS Stitchaway retreat out at the local state park lodge.  It was a very much needed getaway.  I'll tell you more about that later.  This year it snowed and snowed and snowed!  Check out this awesomeness that greeted me.

 

Isn't that just beautiful?!  I do love snow.  I have to admit though, since my Jeep died we haven't had much of a winter until now.  I love my little car but I miss that Jeep!  Oh yes I do!

This is the "mobile" shop Barbara set up in one of the conference rooms!  Check out all those happy shoppers.  This year there were eight trunk shows!  Let's have a look.

This is Under the Sea Fabrics!  Just look at those juicy fabrics.  Swoon!  These are hand-dyed by one of our newest guild members, Leslie.  I wish you could see these in person.  They are lovely!

These are a few from Jeannette Douglas Designs.  I really love Jeannette's stuff and she is such a hoot to hang out with.  If you ever get the chance to meet her or take one of her classes you'll have a blast!

This is Praiseworthy Stitches. I actually have the strawberry pincushion in the middle and the roll-up behind it.  Seeing it in person was really fun!  Now I really want to stitch them.

 

This is Milady's Needle.  Just look at all those wonderful smalls.  You all know how much I love my smalls.  I actually have several of these charts already.  However, I added several more to the wish list.  I loved the new lockets.  I forgot to get a picture.  Someday I really want to get them!  Can you see all the snow piled up on the window in the background?!

Here's La D Da!  I couldn't resist this one.  I got to check off one from my wish list.  La D Da is a favorite of mine.

These are from Elizabeth's Needlework Designs with Val's Stitchin' Stuff next to them.  Lots of fun stuff here.

Check out all this awesomeness from Images Stitchery Design.  Oh. My. Goodness!  I am a confessed gadget girl and I kinda lost my mind when I saw all these.  Yep, several of these just happened to jump into my bag.  I'm sure you've experienced jumping gadgets too.  Right?!  LOL!

 

Here are the peeps busily stitching away to their heart's content.  Our group has gotten so big that we had to push several tables together to accommodate us all this year!  It was nonstop giggles and craziness.  I love these people!

 

Since this post has gotten a bit lengthy, I think I stop for now.  Next time I'll show you all the show and tell goodness as well as some other fun stuff! 

 

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So earlier I hinted at an explanation, I don't normally share a lot of personal stuff here because who really wants to read it anyway.  Right?  However, I have so many things I want to tell you but seriously no time right now to sit down and do it.  That's buggin' me!

My work life has suddenly become really nutty and it's consuming all my time and energy right now.  It's all good, just busy.  I'm still finding time to stitch but my posts may be a little sporadic until things settle down.  I miss you guys and felt like I should tell you what's up.  Maybe you wondered, maybe not...but there it is.

I'm going to try to at least get all the Stitchaway goodness shared.  Seriously, you've just got to see all the good stuff!  So hang with me and I'll be back as soon as I can to share more.  Have an awesome day!

More soon,

The Inspired Stitcher

2013 Reflections

Now that we've gotten a full week of 2014 behind us, I thought I'd reflect a little on some highlights of 2013.  My friend, Carol over at Stitching Dreams posed a question to her readers a while back and it inspired me to write this post.

She asked "what was one moment in 2013 that stood out in your mind?"  I've been ruminating on this since I read her post and I can't really narrow it down to just one. So I thought I'd share a few of my favorite highlights both stitchy and not.

 

I would have to say this was my favorite finish!  This one really captured your attention too.  I received more comments and emails about this one.  What an honor to think you enjoyed my work that much.  Thank you all, again!  It was a fun stitch.

This would be one of my non-stitchy highlights!  I've always wanted to ride in a motorcycle's sidecar.  I was able to do that last fall and it was a blast.  If you ever have the opportunity, take it!

 

If I had to name my second favorite finish, it would definitely be John Foster!  It was a lot of fun to stitch this one with the local peeps and be able to compare our progress each time we got together.

This would have to be my next favorite non-stitchy highlight!  It had been a really long time since I'd seen the ocean.  I'm so glad I talked hubby into spending an afternoon playing on the shore.  It really refreshed me!

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This time of the year I also like to look back to see how much stitching I accomplished in the previous year.  So in the spirit of last year's count here are the numbers for 2013.

New Starts: 41

Finishes:  27

UFOs (unfinished objects):  8

WIPs (works in progress):  15

 

It was interesting to see that I had nine less new starts but 18 more finishes.  I really made an effort to finish most of the new things I'd started and even finished some from the previous years.  I decreased my UFOs by eight but I finished the year four more WIPs than last year.  I'll soon be able to finish some of the smaller WIPs so that will be good!  Five of those WIPs are class pieces too.

 

Exchanges:  7

Gifts: 7

SALs:  4

Classes: 5

 

This group of number I think of as the fun stuff.  I've found that I really enjoy doing exchanges.  I participated in two more than last year.  I also enjoy giving stitched gifts and made four more than last year.  I started keeping track of my SALs this year and it was fun to see I had done four.  I was also lucky enough to participate in five classes, most of them with the Kindred Spirits Sampler Guild.

Speaking of, I really feel fortunate to have become acquainted with the Kindred Spirits Guild.  What a wonderful group of super talented women!  I only wish I lived closer to them.  I truly enjoyed my time spent in their company this year.  Hugs to you all, you know who you are!

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So there you are folks, a little reminiscing and a fun look back at some numbers.  I hope you all had a memorable productive year too.  So tell me, do you have a memory you care to share that was a highlight for you last year?  It doesn't have to be just one!  Have a wonderful day.


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Remembering Christmas Kindness

Since I started my blog I like to do a post to remember special holiday/birthday gifts I received.  You may not be all that interested and I do understand.  I promise I'll have a stitchy post next time.  But since I got behind in my posting I still wanted to do this post.  Here goes.

 

This is what I received from my Secret Stitcher at the Guild's Christmas party.  Each year we stitch something for our person and we do a big reveal at the party.  Turns out the person I sent to was also the person sending to me.  It was Christie over at Indigo Rain.

Here are the other goodies she gave me for my Secret Stitcher Christmas present!  I love the Milady's Needle kit.  It even has the frame to put the stitching into when you are done.  Of course I love the mini Shelby dog, the picture, the stitching accessories, the cooking things...it's all wonderful.

Thank you again, Christie for your thoughtfulness this past year.  Having you for a Secret Stitcher was fun.  I hope you enjoyed the things I sent to you as well.

This was from one of my stitching peeps.  We like to get each other little special things for Christmas and some of us actually get stitching done for each other too.  Check out the poinsettia needle minder magnet!  Of course, I love the scissors and the beaded fob.  I wish you could smell that candle too. Yum!  Thank you sweet friend.

This was another stitched gift from one of my peeps.  This is so cute.  I'd love to make a few of these next year.  Want to see what it came stuffed with?

Check out all this wonderful goodness!  I love the bee's wax candle.  It smells divine and the little bee pick is just so cute.  Of course I'll put to good use the hot chocolate spoon and the gum just makes me laugh.  There's a reel in the red net to keep your scissors corralled. I can seriously see myself using that in that car for road trip stitching!  Thank you, dear friend.  You spoiled me and I appreciate it!

 

Check out this exquisitely stitched and finished ornament. Yes, I have a very talented group of peeps!  It is so me and look the greeting is in French!  Love, love, love!

This same peep also gifted me with these.  She said the ornament just had to go on my tree this year.  It reminded her of my Shelby.  I have to agree!  Love the travel tin too!  She knows how much I love to travel and we've traveled together on several occasions.  Thank you, girlie!

 

Last but certainly not least, is this wonderful corn bag.  Marsha made one of these for all of us.  You pop it in the microwave to get it warm.  It's an all natural heating pad!  Believe me, this is going to come in handy this winter.  Especially if we have more frigid days like we've had this week.  Thank you, dear friend!  You know I'm always cold.  LOL!

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I always enjoy looking back to these posts.  They give me ideas for my own gift giving in future years. Most of all, it reminds me that I have some really caring and special friends.  I treasure each of you and our continuing friendships.  Here's to another year of fun and memories yet to be made!  You girls mean the world to me!

 

Thanks for stopping by and indulging me in this post.  I still have plenty more to share.  I hope wherever you are you find time to put needle to linen today.  Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

More next time,

 

The Inspired Stitcher