Progress on Christmas Village

Lesson one is finished and now onto lesson two. Such a fun canvas to stitch. Ruth Schmuff has done an awesome stitch guide for this canvas by Melissa Shirley.


An overview of the canvas. Lesson one included the night sky and walkway.
Lesson two is the house on the left.



Close up of the puffs of smoke. This is a Melissa Shirley canvas with Mystery Class with a Twist by Ruth Schmuff.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

Linda

Merry Christmas

Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas. I have a few minutes before everyone arrives so I wanted to wish you all very Merry Christmas.

All of Santa's presents are under the tree waiting for Jake's arrival. Jake was a very good little boy so Santa was very good to him.


Cannot wait to see his face.


Jake riding a mechanical polar bear


One of my presents - I will be taking this class at Enriched Stitch in Wilton, CT taught by Susan Portra. So excited! I love this piece. Class is April 27 and 28.

Linda

Snow Day

We are having about three to four inches of snow today. All the schools are closed, so
I am spending my day stitching. I am working on Melissa Shirley's Christmas Village. Ruth Schmuff is doing this as a Mystery Class With A Twist. I am having such fun stitching this piece.


The blue of the sky is almost done.

Here are some pictures of my Christmas decorations.


My Christmas tree - this year a lot of needlepoint ornaments have been added.


The mantel with my Kelly Clark Nativity with stitch guide by Amy Bunger.






Some pictures of Jake with Santa. Nothing like seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child.

Linda

What Has Linda Been Doing?

I am so sorry that I have not posted in awhile. Time just seems to go by so quickly lately.

Karen and I went to Memphis in the beginning of November to visit with Amy and Jill but to also do Rent Amy Days. What a fabulous time we had. We had never done Rent Amy Days before and did not know what to expect. We were both blown away by what we learned and came home with. We went with canvases we knew we wanted help with.

I wanted help with a stitch for the lace on my Nutcracker by Sandra Gilmore.


Amy graphed out the perfect stitch for the lace.

I also brought with me Kelly Clark's "HO HO HO" canvas and asked Amy for stitch suggestions.


Amy drew out the areas with stitch and thread suggestions. Graphs for the stitches were printed out and threads pulled.


I have stitched the bottom border and started the background.

Amy also did a "guide" for the Pink Topiary by Kelly Clark.


I have not started this one yet.

Amy told us that she was ours for the weekend and we were to tell her what we needed and she would accommodate us. It was a wonderful fun, relaxed learning experience. Amy did demonstrations of different techniques, explained when to pad with felt, cotton or bead and shared her knowledge on so many different techniques. We learned so much. I highly recommend doing a Rent Amy Day - we are already booked for next year.

Linda

Latest Finish

Just finished the Engine for The Boo Express. I had a lot of fun stitching this canvas.
The stitch guide done by Needle Orts and they did an absolutely fabulous guide.



Canvas is by Raymond Crawford.

I am putting the second car on stretcher bars and cannot wait to get started.

Linda

Latest Project

I have been working on the wonderful canvas by Raymond Crawford for the past two weeks. I am thoroughly enjoying stitching it. I ordered the stitch guide and threads and accessories from Needle Orts in Altamonte Springs, Florida. They did an absolutely fantastic stitch guides for all three of the trains.


Here is the Engine of The Boo Express. I have to stitch the background which will have Ghost Tracks for under the Wheels and a wonderful darning pattern for the rest of the background. I also have to put in the spider's eyes and mouth and a fabulous ribbon accessory in the yellow area.

Here is some finishing that came in last week.


Three Kathy Schenkel star ornaments and Kelly Clark pear ornament.


The back of the ornaments.

Stay tuned for the big finish of the Engine.

Linda

Christmas is Coming

Ok, so my first (& only) Christmas finishing is back--my door hanging.

I was so pleased that this came back as quickly as it did; it's such a pretty piece, & Tony did such a good job on the stitch guide, that I wanted to really enjoy looking at it. It is hanging on the door to the basement in my family room, so it is just opposite where I usually sit when I am stitching, so I'll get to see it for a couple of months.

The finishers did a great job, keeping the front simple so as to not distract from the great ideas Tony utilized. And I love the back, as they used a cute, fun, sparkly fabric. The tassel with the bell was Linda's excellent suggestion.

I am working on the small piece I did in the class with Tony a few weeks ago; I should be done with it in a few weeks. I have been quite busy with work as well as extracurricular activities, so stitching has been sidelined a bit by late night meetings. I've actually been knitting some as a break from stitching.

Take care,

Denise

Halloween and Christmas Finishing

Just picked up some finishing this afternoon.


My coffee table with my Halloween Mask and Spider.


A close-up of the mask and spider.


Jake's ornament for 2013


The back of the ornament

I still have a few Halloween and Christmas ornaments to come in and also my Easter eggs.

Linda

Latest Finish

Now that Nana DayCare is open, Nana has a lot less time to stitch. This wonderful little canvas from Labors of Love should have been a quick stitch but it took me two weeks.


Frankie is waiting for his bride. Hope to start her soon.

Linda

Just Back From The Finisher

This morning before I picked Jake up from Nursery School, I went to my LNS, Stitch by Stitch, to pick up my Heartstrings Santa. Christmas finishing is starting to come in. Cannot wait to get my ornaments.


Linda

I Love Pearls

Just finished ornament number nine of the All That Glitters Club form The Needle House. The canvas is by A Collection of Designs.

I love this ornament. The pearls being such a elegance to this piece. It will not go in for finishing until after the holidays are over. The finishing deadline has passed so I will just hold onto it and put it in for finishing in 2014.


Have the tenth ornament on bars and am going to start it now.

Linda

Another Finish and Halloween Arts and Crafts

Last week I finished the 8th ornament in the All That Glitters Club by The Needle House, stitch guide by Nancy Laux and canvas is by A Collection of Designs.



I dropped this off last Saturday so I made it before the Christmas deadline for finishing.

On Friday, Jake, Nana and Pops went to Home Depot to buy a new faucet for the bathroom sink. While we were there Jake and I found the cutest Mr. Potatoe Head kit.


Jake and his Pumpkin Pirate Head. We had a great time doing this simple fun project.

Presently working on ornament number nine in the All That Glitters Club.

Linda

Finally Finished After Three Years

Jen started this project when she found out she was pregnant with Jake. It took her three years and she finally brought over the finished canvases to me to take in for finishing.





The head and feet of the owl.


The wings


The front


The back


What it will look like when finished.

Have to get it to my LNS first thing tomorrow morning so we can hopefully get it back by Christmas.
Linda

Continuing with Berkshire

Last years's seminar piece continues for me. The door & side windows are done. I am loving watching the canvas take shape.

Injured On Job

Yesterday was the first day of Nana Day Care after a wonderful summer off.
Jake was very happy to be back and we had a great day playing with cars, Legos
and doing arts and crafts. Jake decided he wanted to do Ring round the Rosie and that is when the accident happened. I did not fall down, just had my head bent looking down at Jake, when he jumped up and the top of his head hit me just above my eye. He was so upset that he hurt Nana. We immediately put ice on it since I now had a big bump just below my eyebrow. Jake had to get the ice and hold it on my head. Last night it was just slightly black and blue but when I woke up this morning, the whole eye was a beautiful shade of dark purple. Guess I will not be going out in public for awhile.


It really looks 100 times worse in person. Never had a black eye before and I hope I never have one again.

Day two of Nana Day Care - hope we have no accidents.

Linda

Berkshire Revisited

Here's my current piece! Loving it!!

Denise

Some More Halloween Decorations

This is what I spent the day doing yesterday.



First is my coffee table. The pumpkins and witch hat on the large pumpkin were purchased from Michael's. I am waiting to get my Associated Talent Halloween Mini Mask back from the finisher to put on the small pumpkin. The pedestals for the pumpkins are from Pier 1. The black and white pumpkins in the metal spider webs were also purchased from Pier 1. The two spider tea light holders were purchased from Sur la table.


My fireplace is the focal part of my family room. On the right is mummy boy, Jake loves him and even takes him to play cars with. I love the mantel with my spooky tree, the haunted house, skeleton candles and the best are my Halloweenies.


I am amazed every Halloween when I unpack them that I actually stitched them.
Amy did such a wonderful job on this series. Her creativity just boggles my mind.
She introduces you to new techniques that push you to the next level of stitching.
Frank's hands were worked with wire for his fingers.


Stirha was the first in the series and one of my favorites.



One of the new techniques used in Dracular was peyote beading. Amy's directions and diagrams made it easy to follow along and master this technique.

My plan was to have them all finished by the time the last lesson arrived but sometimes life gets in your way. Jake came along and all my great stitching plans vanished. I hope to get the bride and groom done for next Halloween.

Linda

What I Did on Vacation

Well, what I did in addition to shopping, resting, sitting on the beach, taking the sun, & generally relaxing & recharging.

I crocheted this bag!





A few months ago, Ashley wanted to get involved in a knitting/crochet circle to learn how to crochet. The first few weeks I brought along a needlepoint project, but then my hands wanted to touch the yarns & needles again. My friend Nancy designed this lovely bag & offered me the pattern; I couldn't resist.

So now I find myself interspersing my needlepoint with knitting; currently, I am working on a shawl for myself in the yarn I bought in Falmouth.

As for my needlepoint, I was inspired to go back to my project from last year's ANG seminar, Debbie Stiehler's Berkshire Revisited. I am loving working on it.

Hope everyone enjoys the last moments of summer as we head into Labor Day.

Best, Denise

Guess What I Did Today

The tradition in our home is to decorate for Halloween on Labor Day Weekend.
I so look forward to seeing all my Halloween needlepoint that is carefully packed away in acid-free tissue paper and boxes. I spent the whole day decorating my family room.


I displayed my Kelly Clark apples, stitch guides by Amy Bunger and Kelly Clark Halloween candy, stitch guides by Ruth Schmuff, on a spider web cake stand.
I purchased this spider web stand from Sur la table. It has spiders hanging down from the top. I hope to stitch some Halloween cupcakes for next year.

Jake came over to see all my Halloween decorations. He was so excited. First thing he did was hug mummy boy. Next Jake had to say hi to Stirha, Frank and Dracula. When Jake was a baby, I would take him over to the mantel to say hi to all my decorations. We would do this everyday and the tradition continues.
We also do the same thing at Christmas with the Nativity and Easter with the bunnies.

I will post more pictures of my decorating tomorrow.

Linda

Jake The Baker

Jen took Jake to a pie making class at Chef Central for 3 to 5 year olds.


Jake hard at work rolling out his pie crust


Posing for the camera


At home enjoying the blueberry pie he made.

Linda

Christmas Finishing

The UPS man delivered the most wonderful box. I am totally in awe of the finishing that Ruth Schmuff did for me.




Here is the front of Santa. This canvas is from Barbara's Needlepoint and is an exclusive done by Ann for them.




The back of the finishing. Ruth fulfilled every dream I had of how to finish it and more.




This is a Kelly Clark canvas from the Heritage II series being done as a club from A Stitch In Time.




Back of ornament.




Second finished ornament in the series.




Back of ornament.




The sides of the ornaments. Oh, how this adds to beauty of the finishing. Ruth did such a fabulous job finishing these ornaments. Cannot wait to see them on my Christmas.
Now for some pictures of my little man.




Jake with his gold metal for reading 100 books at the library challenge.




Love this picture. He is just so cute. Sorry for bragging but I cannot help it.
He just lights up life. Everyday when he runs in and give me a big hug and kiss and says, "Love you Nana" he makes my day special.
Linda