Hollyhock House: A Gay Ann Rogers' design

I love Gay Ann Rogers' designs and I have purchased quite a few from her and when it was decided that we could do Hollyhock House as a SAL (stitch along) I thought this was a wonderful idea and decided to participate as well. Ann, who is our leader/moderator for this SAL has given us 3 monthly assignments so far: November, December & January. Since I was heavily involved with other stuff in November & December, I had a bit of catching up this past week, but have managed to do all the stitching assigned and I am now ready for our February assignment.
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Here is what we have done so far.

• November: We worked pages 2 & 3 (we have 145 pages total + 5 oversized graphs)
• December: We worked dividing bands and grass (page 4)
• January: The pot of flowers on the left side of the house (pages 3 - 27)

This is a photo of the top 2 flowers:

This photo shows the bottom flower with the vase

Finally, this photo shows the whole vase with flowers and a few rows of grass underneath.

This is a really big piece. I am using some 11" by 17" stretcher bars as we were told that it was not recommended to use scroll bars for this project. I can say that working with such a big frame is not the easiest thing to do, but it is manageable. I may need some arm extension before the completion of this project (grinning).

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Next assignment will probably be about stitching some bricks, which will make a nice change after working the left vase and flowers before we have to work on another vase for the right side of the house.

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What is interesting with this SAL is that after the assignment is completed for the month, we have time to work on other projects as well, so will go back to them now. I am working on another project at this time but can't blog it right now as it is a gift and I don't want that person to see it before the proper time :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina: An Ilse Altherr design

I am doing a little "happy dance" here today as I have just finished stitching Angelina. Some of you have asked me who the designer is for this lovely blackwork project and it is Ilse Altherr. I love her blackwork designs. I have a few others in my stash that one of these days I will have the time to stitch, at least I hope so (grinning).

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I now have a long long list of projects to work on, but I think that I will start working on Hollyhock House stitch-along. We have had a few lessons so far and I have not yet started working on it, not even put the fabric on stretcher bars :-(

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I also need to take one of my stitched project and work on doing a bit of finishing. Angelina is going to the framer so at least she is not adding to my finishing pile. When I think of the times when I was completely up-to-date with my finishing. Times do change, don't they?

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Now need to clean up a bit around myself, put my supplies away and take out what I need for the next project.

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It is a nice day today, so will now go out and take a bit of sunshine. That will do me a world of good.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina has now some hair & head-scarf

This is really taking me longer than expected but have not had much time to stitch on her these last few days.

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Well, now at least she has hair on her head with a lovely head-scarf. Will now work on her face and neck and after that I need to draw her hand and stitch, so not much longer now :-)

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When I go to the framer with Angelina, I will bring all 12 Dodecagon ornaments with me and will discuss the different options for framing them and then will make a decision as to how I will display them. I am shooting for tomorrow Friday if Angelina is completed by then.

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Pierrette =^..^=

I did a little finishing with "Party Girl"

This is how I finished my little "Party Girl" (a Jean Walter design), something between an ATC (artistic trading card) and a postcard as it is a little bigger in size than your regular ATC (which is the size of a playing card as a rule).
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I stitched a little border around the picture, put some padding and a rigid piece of stiffener (can't recall the name of it). It is rather rigid and can be used to make fabric bowls, and then stitched the back with the front.
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A while back now, my best friend Terry who lives in England, had her bag stolen while doing grocery shopping and she lost some embroidered pieces that I had made for her which she was carrying in her handbag and having fun showing them around. Her bag was never found by the police and I knew that she was very sad about it, so I made up my mind that I would slowly restart making more fun little pieces again and sending them her way as little surprises, rebuilding her little collection with some new pieces. They will all be sizes that she can easily carry around with her. They say lightning rarely strike twice at the same place, so hopefully they won't get stolen this time around.
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I recall those pieces that I had made for her which were stolen: Gardian Angel, Halloween ID card, Fabric envelope so that she could carry them in it. I thought there was something else too, but can't recall.
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I can now post this blog entry as Terry has just received her little surprise this morning and can't stop laughing. Her husband is there looking at her and wondering what is the matter with her. She has not told him yet, keeping him in suspense a bit longer before she shows it to him :-)
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Yesterday I ended up not stitching at all, so Angelina is still headless and armless, but should resume my stitching today.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina's dress stitched ....... but still headless :-(

Angelina has now a nice looking dress. I almost wish that I had that exact same dress in my wardrobe as I find it rather cute, don't you?

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Moving up now to her head-scarf, so see you all in a bit :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina: 4 patterns done on her dress

Angelina is progressing nicely. Stitched the last pattern on her dress today. Tomorrow I will do the outline and it should look much nicer, have a more finished look to it. Then, will work on her hat, face, neck and hair. After that her hand, needle and thread. I like it when I am getting close to the competion of a project, mostly when I have tons of other work that needs my attention :-)

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Will be back tomorrow with a bit more done.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina: a little more done

I don't know about any of you, but I am now ready to put the Christmas season behind me and move to some other projects, so I have taken out my Angelina blackwork project and done a little bit more on it this morning.
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This photo shows the top section of her dress/jumper. When I was looking for the photo that came with the project, I was surprised to see that it went back to August of last year. I guess I have a hard time realizing how quickly time goes by. Anyway for those of you who can't just quite remember what this project will look like when completed, here is the link to my first post about her. If you wish to see the successive posts about her, just go to section called "Blackwork" on the right side of my posts and you will find them all :-)

This second photo here is to show what I have completed so far.

I will be doing the outline of Angelina's dress when all sections have been stitched. That will really make her dress stand out :-)

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I will now go work on the bottom section. Forgot to mention that for her dress I am using the same DMC cotton floss, but it has a different feel to it depending on the stitches used in each little section.

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My husband really likes this project so I will try to finish it as fast as I possibly can so that we can have it framed.

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See you all soon!

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Pierrette =^..^=