Hollyhock House: Slowly building the house

I have been so involved with my stitching that I almost forgot to stop and take photo showing what I have done since the last post.

.

As you can see, I have stitched the mortar between the bricks on each side of the house, but before I actually started stitching the bricks themselves, I wanted to put some foundation to my house, which are the grey lines. I still have some more to do and then I want to put the roof and finish it off with the bricks. I have so many classes and stitch-alongs in which I am involved in that I need to focus on one assignment at a time and try to slide the finishing in-between these.

.

For those of you who have been wondering if I have started working on the finishing of my little bargello pillow, the answer is yes, but not much as Hollyhock House was screaming at me to work on her :-) I have only one side out of 4 stitched on the little pillow, so nothing to show you as all we can see are both backsides of the fabric, not very interesting I am afraid :-)

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Hollyhock House: Both vases and flowers stitched

I have finally stitched both sides of Hollyhock House and just in time too for my March assignment, which will be what I wanted to stitch all along, the bricks. We would think that I have been a bricklayer in a previous life for my wanting to do this part so badly (grinning).

.

I find myself with a big conflict this morning as I said that I would do the finishing of my little bargello pillow and I really want to do just that, but and a big but, at the same time I want to do some bricklaying so badly too. Life is just so hard, isn't it? Tough choices all the time :-(

.

Next post will tell you which one I have decided to work on first ..................

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Hollyhock House: Right side

We can't see much the details on this photo but that gives you a general idea where the second vase is located in relation to the first one I have previously stitched. You can see closer details on previous photos here The right side is just a repeat of the left side, so you are not missing anything really :-)

.

All that remains to do to complete this section are the three flowers. On March 1st we will be getting our next assignment, so better get cracking on this. It will be brick laying time, starting the foundation of Hollyhock House. The fun will really begin then, at least for me.

.

I have already gathered everything that I need to do the finishing of my little bargello pillow and will work on it as soon as the flowers on HHH are done.

.

Pierrette =^..^=

One finishing done, how many more to go?

Yesterday, I decided that it was high time for me to start working on doing some finishing so started with an end-of-term examination ornament that I made using the same threads that I had used for Gay Ann Rogers' Mystery in a corner.

.

For this one I decided to use the book called Sandy's Finishing Touches by Sandy Higgins and went for a hard ornament finish but with a single mat board method instead of double mat board method. You can find out all the information in her book on page 34. Then I made two different cordings, a small one to hang the ornament at the top and a bigger one for all around the ornament and finally made a knot at the bottom and that created the tassel, method I had learned on a cyberclass taken with Carole Lake.
.

I should probably now be good and continue to do a bit of stitching on Hollyhock House before tackling another finishing as I will soon be getting another monthly assignment.

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Miniature Georgian house: Gay Ann Rogers, designer

I see that my photo is a bit lopsided this morning. Oh well! :-(

.

I had purchased two miniature projects from Gay Ann Rogers during her last online weeklong sale, the miniature garden gate and the miniature Georgian house, so now because of having two not so good day, I ended up stitching them both, which is great in a sense as they were quick and fun to stitch. On the downside, I now have two more projects to do the finishing.

.

What a difference in size that will be when I go back to Hollyhock House with my 18" by 24" frame compared to the little 6" by 6" I have been using for those two projects. Not sure what I will do with myself for the rest of the day as I am not feeling that great. Will I do some finishing or will I work on HHH (Hollyhock House) or something else. No idea. Will put my leftover threads away and will give it some thought. If it was not so cold outside I would go out for a breath of fresh air. I am really getting tired of this cold weather and I am more than ready for spring. No sun outside and overcast, not a fun day.

.

Will be back soon with something, not sure what, but definitely something (grinning)

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Miniature garden gate: Gay Ann Rogers, designer

I woke up very early this morning, around 3 and could not fall back asleep, so got up a little before 4 and got busy with all kind of things and of course ended up rather tired so I decided to work on a little project, something that I could hold in my hands and that would work rather quickly, so thought of this little kit I had purchased from Gay Ann Rogers and "voilà un autre projet de complété" another project completed, quite easy, quick and fun to do.

.

I have another little miniature kit from Gay Ann, a little Georgian house. Will keep it for another day when I don't have enough energy to tackle a BIG project :-)

.

It is always a good feeling to have been able to complete a project and this one only took a few hours.

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Angelina back from the framer

I always feel bad when I take a photo and it just does not show the beauty of the frame and the mat, which has a very faint marble quality to it that makes it just perfect for this project. The frame is the same reddish shade used in Angelina's dress. That is usually the problem whenever we frame something with glass. It is so hard to take a good picture without having all the glare associated with it.
.
I should be able to do a much better job with "Hibiscus and the butterfly" as it won't have any glass over it as I believe that stumpwork looks so much better without glass over it.
.
Pierrette =^..^=

Hibiscus and the butterfly: A gift from my friend Terry

What a lovely surprise I got yesterday from my very good friend Terry who stitched this lovely stumpwork project called Hibiscus and the butterfly. The colors are just so gorgeous that I could almost eat them but I won't. I could not wait at all to have it framed so the framer has already it in her hands. Can't wait to see it. I have received so many beautiful stitched projects from Terry through the years we have known each other and I cherish each one of them.

.

I wanted to add this entry to my blog yesterday but after writing not one (bargello florentine all stitched), not two (projects that need finishing), not three (my knitting project) but four entries (Kitty, project stitched for Terry's birthday) yesterday I was totally exhausted (grinning). I have only been writing a blog entry here and there since the beginning of the new year so that was a big departure of what I normally do.

.

Angelina is back from the framer so will be adding a new photo as soon as I manage to take a good photograph of it, which is always a bit of a struggle when there is glass over it, which most of them have except a few stumpwork projects.

.

Have added a few lists on the right side of my blog, one about a list of projects that I am either working on or about to and another list of projects that are waiting to either be finished or framed. I have so many things to do that I thought it would help me to remember what I need to do next and help me get all my ducks in a row :-)

.

Pierrette =^..^=

Here Kitty: Cheryl Schaeffer , designer

Just before Christmas, I was reading Pat's blog where I saw this charming cat who seems to be playing peek-a-boo and I immediately thought of my best friend Terry who has always had at least one cat since childhood. I wondered if that was something that she might enjoy receiving it for a birthday gift.
.
Once I made that decision I then had to start hunting for the painted canvas. I don't recall who it was who mentioned something about where to find it. as it has been a long time, at least seems so to me. Anyway, I ended up on Cheryl's website and decided to write to her. She then suggested that I could possibly contact a shop where I could purchase it, that is if I had not a local needlepoint shop that I was doing business with, so I ended up at Old Town Needlework in Scottsdale, Arizona where Alice Borge helped me. Alice and I exchanged a few emails and when she was ready to mail me the painted canvas, you know what she said? She said that she had written me a nice little stitch guide (stitches and threads) and all that without me asking her for one.
.
I was almost jumping up and down as for me choosing threads and stitches is NOT fun. I know that some of you out there just love that part, but I do not, so what a relief that was and I will always be grateful to her for doing me that favor.
.
I could not post anything while I was stitching it as Terry would have seen it and I wanted it to be a surprise. Terry's birthday and mine follow each other closely so we had decided to wait until both of us had received each other's gift and then opening them simulatenously while being online, which we have just done.
.
I will soon write another post after I take a picture of what Terry made for me for my own birthday :-)
.
Pierrette =^..^=

Scrunchy, slouchy slipper socks: Lion Brand Yarn Co.

Knitting is something that I have not done since I was about 9 or 10 years old, at school, with my mother's help, as she was very good at it and obviously I was not. I have been thinking about doing a bit of that and also crochet for the longest time, but never stopped and took the time to do any.

.

These are the supplies for this lovely free pattern on the Lion Brand yarn website called "Scrunchy, slouchy slipper socks", something useful and fun as I love those things. I thought that it would be a nice way to slowly restart knitting.

.

I was chatting with my best friend Terry about it, who has done just about everything a person can imagine (legal that is) and she offered her assistance in guiding me with this project, long distance all the way from England. I jumped on her offer with both feet :-) Just learning the language used in knitting is a lot of work just by itself (grinning) and it has been so long since I have knitted anything, so that should be an interesting experience.

.

So, between stitching, finishing and knitting and who knows what else, I should be able to stay relatively out of trouble, at least that is my biggest ambition. They say variety is the spice of life so things are quite "spicy" at my place :-)

.

Pierrette =^..^=