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.
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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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 :-)

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I will soon write another post after I take a picture of what Terry made for me for my own birthday :-)
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Projects waiting for finishing

Well, things could have been worst (grinning), I have 9 projects to finish in this grouping and of course I still have the 12 ornaments of the Dodecagon series for which I still need to decide on something, but first thing first as they say. The only one I don't have to do anything is Angelina who is at the framer right now.

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What kind of finishes do I have to do? One little pillow, two ornaments, one name tag, one patriotic heart, one xmas mini stocking, one heart in a covered box, not yet decided with She stoops to conquer and Santa Claus. I still have to finish stitching Mrs. Santa and then will decide on those two together as they are a pair.

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Still need to have a good discussion with my framer about the Dodecagon series and fully explore all my options on that one. If I end up finishing all 12 of them instead of framing, that will be a lot of additional work for me. The only time that I have no work is when they are framed as I won't do that myself.

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Now I need to go see if I have any fabric that might be appropriate for any of them. If not, that will go on my list of supplies to purchase, hopefully this weekend.

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During this weekend I also need to finish working on the second pot and flowers of Hollyhock House before I get my next assignment on March 1st.

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See you all later :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Florentine bargello: Brenda Day, designer

I finished stitching the last remaining few stitches this morning of this lovely florentine bargello design by Brenda Day. Just in case that some of you "might" be interested in stitching it (grinning) you can find it in her book called "Bargello: A Fresh Approach to Florentine Embroidery", which can be found at Amazon, eBay and needlepoint shops. This is not a difficult book to find at all and there are lovely projects inside. I will be doing more of Brenda's projets in the near future.
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I have always enjoyed myself tremendously each time that I have been working on bargello projects. You can see all of them here under my "bargello" listing.
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This weekend, I will take time to get out all my stitched projects that are ready for finishing and will take inventory of all the supplies I need to finish them all and go to JoAnn and see if I can find the fabric, etc. that I need and will get cracking. I am normally never that behind with my finishing and I hate it. If I stitch something, I want to be able to enjoy it and sitting in a drawer is not my idea of enjoying a finished project.
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I will post group photos of all the projects that I need to finish a bit later. Hope I won't get a fainting spell when I see them all in the open :-(
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Better get cracking as I have lots of work to do to get all this ready and much much more stitching to do. No dull moment for this girl :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Florentine bargello

I should have been working on something else, but bargello has always been just too difficult for me to resist.
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I feel that I need to blame someone for all this and it is Needlepoint Now magazine, more precisely the January/February 2009 issue. The magazine has just started a series of articles with Liz Morrow about bargello which will last most of the year.
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On Judy Harper's blog Possibilities she shows us some beautiful bargello pieces done by different designers and you can also see some gorgeous bargello pieces on Liz's site and I do mean gorgeous. When I look at them, I just can't decide which one I like the best as they are just all so beautiful in their own right. I wish Liz would sell some of her designs as I would love to buy some, but from what I have heard she does not, at least not now, maybe later :-) If someone hears of the contrary, please let me know :-)
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Anyway, that got me thinking about bargello and looking around for some beautiful designs and I saw this design which is called Florentine Pincushion though since it is a bit on the larger size, I want to make a little decorative pillow with it instead.
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This is a Brenda Day design and I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it. I just love the design itself and the colors chosen for it.
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This design is all done in either DMC floss threads or DMC #5 Perle, but uses lots of different colors and color shades. It could also be done with other threads, metallic, etc. in different colors. It could be made bigger too if one desires.
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I have just completed one side of my little pillow and will now do the other side, but in reverse, meaning the top of the left side will become the bottom on the right side and the bottom on the left side will in turn become the top on the right side making it real interesting. The finishing is also real cute.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Happy Valentine

I was looking at what I have done so far that could work for Valentine day and I realized that I have never done much, but did find that little Victorian pincushion. As they say, it is the thought that counts, so Happy Valentine to everyone visiting my blog :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Stitches for Effect: Notebooks

Stitches for Effect by Beth Robertson & suzanne Howren
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Lately I have been busy stitching on different projects, but I had nothing much to add to my blog as one of the project completed is a gift which of course I can't show you right now as she has still not seen it yet. I have also been working on these stitch notebooks: The Sky's the Limit, Quilting Bee and The Menagerie, stitching faithfully all my little samples, all 36 of them. Since I can't really show you all the samples for obvious reasons, here are a photo of the 3 big binders I have put together with all my class notes. I have also scanned 4 little samples out of the 36 to give you an idea, as if you did not already know how a little sample looks like. I told you that I did not have much to show you and I meant it :-(

(4 samples taken from the 3 stitch notebooks above)

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I have just signed up for the next cyberclass with Beth and Suzanne at Shining Needle Society. The upcoming notebook will be about Christmas stitches and I am really looking forward to that one. That class will start on April 1st and end on May 31st.

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I am also currently working on Hollyhock House. I thought that this month's assignment might be about laying some bricks for the house, but noooooooooo, we are doing the OTHER flower pot with flowers, the one on the other side of the house. Again, I have not much to show you as it would be exactly the same thing as my last photos. How exciting is that? I will however add a photo when both pots and flowers are completed. I bet you all can't wait for that one :-)

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The other day I have seen a lovely little bargello pillow and I instantly fell in love with it and of course I just had to do it. I have just received the supplies for it and will soon be working on it as there is no way that I can resist that project much longer. From the same designer I also saw some lovely coasters so I will also be doing those. I will talk more about all of those things when I start working on them.

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I am also starting a cyberclass with Judy Souliotis. The project is called Floral Rondel and is lovely. There are also lots more projects that I will soon be starting and will talk about them later on, so if you don't hear from me, that does not mean that I am not stitching, just that at that particular time I don't have anything ready to show you, but I will post photos of all those projects and give info as soon as I have something for you all.
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So now a bit of cleaning up is due before I start working on ............... something (grinning)

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Pierrette =^..^=

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 =^..^=