TUSAL update

It's that time again! It's a TUSAL update. That's the Totally Useless StitchALong that I'm happily a part of this year. It's sponsored by Daffycat.

It has been a wonderful month, but there was only a bit of time for stitching, and that happened yesterday.  Here is the latest progress in my little ORT jar:

I'm still working on Paula Vaughan's Wedding Ring Bouquet, and in this piece there's a lot of ecru and white.
Here's a better look

 

I would post a progress picture of the piece, but I don't feel it's changed much since this picture was taken:

Finally, a few peeks of our cats, dog,  and the patio. I love summer evenings!  It's very hot here in the daytime, but in the evening it's quite nice in the backyard!




Thanks for stopping by today!

Stitching a Bit- WRB

I finally sat down and stitched a bit, working on  Paula Vaughan's Wedding Ring Bouquet. I started this one almost 8 years ago! That's incredible, I guess, although I do have WIPS that are even older than this one. It's done on 22 count hardanger fabric as that's what was handy at home here that one evening  I started it.  I know that the style is a bit 'dated' for most people, but I like the soft, muted colors of it.

Here it is, last time I took a photo:



I worked on the quilt, in the bottom right corner of the design and so you can barely tell, but here it is now:






I'll work on it again soon! I MUST have at least one finished piece of work this year, right?

Thanks for stopping by today.  What's your oldest WIP? Have you worked on  it lately?

Stitching Goals?

Christmas Eve


Last Year's Post-Christmas Mess


Tomorrow night we'll be celebrating the new year--hard to believe it, this one has flown by so quickly.

I have taken my Christmas decorations down, and they're all thrown in one corner waiting to be put away. I don't like to leave them up too long after Christmas. I guess to me I feel like, "It's over, time to move on." Do you take your decorations down right away, or do you wait until after the New Year's holiday?

I have never been one to set stitching goals. I really admire those who do it, but it's just not in my nature.

This year, however, I do vow to finish this piece:

Mirabilia's Summer Queen

There's only a bit of beading left to do, and few patches here and there of stitching. I also noticed that some of the beading needs to be redone. I'm just not happy with how those beads on her head are looking.

I also should finish this piece. I only have a bit left to do:


Oberlin's Minnesota Sampler

I've had these WIPS for far too long ,not to mention several others. I've had an afghan I haven't finished in years and years. It's ridiculous, I think I started it in 1990!!!!


Granny's Attic Afghan by Sue Hillis, with Sam Hawkin's patterns thrown into it

Not to mention Paula Vaughan's Wedding Ring Bouquet, which is pretty well underway:



And the beautiful Fruit Bellpull by Theresa Wentzler, which is barely started:


I'm kind of tired of seeing them unfinished, really, and I don't usually feel that way about any WIP...even if it's very old. Each Christmas I vow to make ornaments for the upcoming year, and I never seem to do it. Hopefully this year will be different, but I won't hold my breath. I'd also like to do a bit of surface embroidery this year, and must figure out a way to factor that into my stitching time. I have a huge pile of iron-on patterns that seems to grow and grow, without any progress in the actual embroidery done! Does that happen to you?

Do you set stitching goals? Do you find you reach them each year? What sort of goals do you set? I used to rotate my projects to try and get more done on them. Maybe I need to go back to that method. Please do share, I would love to know how you do it.

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy New Year to you and yours!

Wedding Ring Bouquet WIP

I've been working on a project I started about six years ago. I actually started it 'on a whim'. I had the 22 count hardanger in a drawer, and I'd bought Paula Vaughan's pattern at a close-out sale somewhere. It's her "Wedding Ring Bouquet".

 

It looks like I'm close to being done, but the work goes slowly since it's being done on 22 count fabric and in parts there are lots of color changes.

I apologize for the color quality of the fabric. It's an ecru color and not green as it appears in the photo.

Here it is with some small scissors, so you can see the size of the entire design:


A few more views:





I wish I had more time to work on this one, and get it done.

Thanks for stopping by today!

My New WIP ~ Summer Queen is resting...

I won't be blogging for several days as I'm going on a little trip with my mother and brother. We're visiting our other brother who lives in another state and I know we'll all have a great time together! My husband and son will hold down the fort and keep the animals happy while I'm gone.

Before I leave here I wanted to post an updated picture on my WIP "Wedding Ring Bouquet". It's stitched on 22 count hardanger fabric using one thread of DMC over one thread. I'm enjoying a switch from Summer Queen and I'm finding this one to be fun!

Here's a few more: