On the 16th Day I'm Resting.

Happy Sunday everyone!  Well, the 15 Project Challenge is over and I don't know if I'm sad or happy to get back to some regularly scheduled stitching.  Quite frankly, I breathed a sigh of relief yesterday knowing that now I can just get back to stitching one thing.  Well, at least stitch on one thing for a little while - I am known to be a project jumper!!  LOL  But in going through my stash, I found a bazillion other things that I would love to stitch, so in a rather sick way, I wanted to keep going - adding new projects with reckless abandon.  But I decided to just stop before I drove myself crazy.  I have come to the realization that I don't need to ever buy another thing EVER (yeah, like that's going to happen!!!!!).

Anyway, here are Projects 9 through 15.  And again, before you chuckle over my miserable progress on anything just remember I have had a husband trailing me around and Mr. Bailey went for his little operation this week and is sporting what is known as the Cone of Shame (pic to follow).

Last Sunday, Day 9, was a new start - Sarah Esch - I just had to get something that was a realistic size into this crazy mix.  You know, something that I'd was sure that I could finish before the New Year rolls around again:

Day 10 was back to a WIP and it was Hannah Lancaster day.  I was suppose to be stitching this with Sandra, but in my true slacker fashion, I took a different road and went sight-seeing by myself.  Sandra's been barreling along on hers, and me - well, I've been driving in the slow lane:

Before:

After:

Again, not a lot of progress, but now that I have a little bit more color in this piece, I'm really loving it.  It seemed rather drab on the cover, but is so much prettier in real life.

Say 11 was a new start day and I picked Miriam Chilvers:

Now, I'm really on the fence with this one.  I have seen this sampler done on this fabric - Vintage Meadowrue, I think - on another blog, but I'm not sure that I'm going to like it.  It actually photographed better than what it looks like to the naked eye.  I may have to revisit the fabric on this one.

Day 12 was back to an oldie - Frances Eden:

Before:

After:

Okay, no chuckling here - not too much accomplished!!!

Day 13 was a new piece - Sovine Palphreyman:

I like this one a lot.  The colors are funky!!!  And fun.  On 34 ct. Cafe au Lait linen.  I just realized as I was typing that, that three of my new pieces are single women - not the traditional A&E's.  Hannah, Sovine and Miriam are all women alone.  I think that I'd like a wall devoted to samplers with just women in them.

Day 14 - well, I was suppose to go back to a WIP and finish on Day 15 with a new piece, but I decided to reverse that because I wanted to spend some time on my last WIP in the challenge, so I went to another new piece - Stories to Live By - Eve.  Another smaller project that should work up fast.

I think that if I had this one and Sovine on scroll rods I would have made a lot more progress on both of them.  Working on a hoop or in hand really slows me down.

So now we come to Day 15 and I wanted to end it with a bang - with the piece that I really, really hope that I can get finished this year - Ann Medd.  When I last took a good picture of her, she looked like this - like a darned bedspread:

Then I worked on her some more here and there:

And on the fifteenth day, I got almost the entire verse done on the left:

Doing the verse is actually a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, there are twenty six verses in total (I think) divided between both sides of the sampler - the first verse starts with the letter "A" and each verse works it's way through the alphabet.  This is "I" and the next one will be "K"  The letter "J" is skipped as it wasn't used in older samplers for various reasons.  This is going to be my focus piece for a while.  Poor Ann was my New Year's start back in 2006 so I think that I really should give it the old college try here.

On the quilting front, I didn't do too much so don't have pictures.  Which is unfortunate because another Block in my Civil War Tribute showed up this week.  UGH - I can't sew fast enough!!!  I hope to spend some time today and tomorrow, while I have a dog sitters around, to put the pedal to the metal and get some sewing done.  But I did add another stash project into the pile (thanks Loraine!!!!).  Many years ago, I joined a BOM for the Dear Jane quilt and then right after that life just got too darned busy and I stopped quilting.  These little bundles have been waiting for me for over eight years.  With the encouragement of Loraine, who is working on this with her mother and SIL, I'm biting the bullet.  No time like the present, right?

You would think after working on the Farmer's Wife quilt I'd be tired of little blocks.  Well, not so, and these are even smaller - 4-1/2"!  I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.  But how fun this is going to be?

Well, with the aftermath of the past 15 days, this is what my stitching area looks like.  DH has raised his eyebrows a few time and DD asked numerous times what I'm pulling out now:

24 project envelopes full of Challenge projects, a couple new ones and few others that are WIPs (yes, Michelle, Provence is in there!!!):

And a huge mess around the stitching chair.

But now I'm breathing a sigh of relief!  But it's been a lot of fun and made me go through stash and, of course, I made a huge list of other things I'd like to stitch and quilt this year.  Although, truth be told, I'll be one happy camper if I can get through half the things that I've put into this challenge.  (Oh, and a note to my sister Cindy who I know stalks this blog - the Mermaid isn't part of the challenge even though I probably should have added it as one.  She's on her own and I haven't forgotten about her.   She is seeing some stitchy love too!!) 

On the home front - everyone will be out of my hair next Tuesday!  Ya Hoo.  Well, that is if we don't get a winter storm that they've been predicting for Monday.  Fingers crossed it misses us!  DH is doing well with his shoulder, DS is recuperated although still coughing to beat the band - he's had one vicious bug!!  The only caveat to this whole thing is Mr. Bailey.  He had his "little" surgery this week and is none too happy about it, but would you be happy if you had to wear this?

Yes, the Cone of Shame and it's driving him absolutely nuts.  This dog usually runs on high octane, but that cone has really hampered him.  But he'll be able to get it off on Wednesday.  I can only imagine how he's going to be when it's taken off.  He'll probably be bouncing off of walls!  LOL

I have to say that I've had a great time following everyone's challenges these past couple weeks and again, have only had time for a few hit or miss comments.  Hopefully, my life will return to normal this coming week.  But, it's been a lot of fun watching what things people have pulled out of their stash to do, and unfortunately, reminded me of things that I have in my stash! LOL  But that's a good thing!

I want to thank everyone for your wonderful comments to my post on first half of this challenge.  They truly mean a lot to me and do keep me going!!!  I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and can make great progress on their own Challenge pieces!

Some Framing, Some Stitching and Some Quilting - But Not a Lot!!

Don't you find that this time of year puts a real cramp on all things crafty?  It seems to for me - so much shopping, decorating, etc.  I usually love the holidays, but this year it's like trying to drag a cat to water to get me in the holiday spirit.  Perhaps I need a trip to the mall to see decorations or hear the music, but it's been so cold around here I hate even sticking my head out the door!!   Maybe part of it is that now that my kids are older, their Christmas lists are smaller (although not necessarily cheaper), and they don't hold Christmas in awe like they used to.  I honestly miss those days!!

Anyway, a while ago I picked up some framing and forgot to post it.  I don't know how that happened, but the past couple months have been rather crazy with family things and my trip, so without further ado:

The Yellow House Sampler

Sheepish Designs

I went with a very simple frame for this one and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, although I think that I would have liked the frame to come a little closer to the design.  Anyway, another step closer to the A&E wall.  I was going to try to take a picture of this outside for a real artsy fartsy shot, but like I said, it's cold out there and the wind is blowing like crazy!

I worked a little more on Frances Eden:

Not the best pictures because it's draped over the scroll rods and when I took the picture it was one of those cloudy days.  I was getting a little worried though and went a little further down along the house because as you can see, I'm getting dangerously close to the bottom edge.  There is still a few more stitches to go to the bottom of the house and then wording underneath it.  I think that I'm going to make it though with about 1-1/2 inches to spare.  Whew!!  I usually leave 3 inches.

But in my true fashion, Frances just wasn't holding my attention any longer so I jumped back to this:

Susanna Lane

The Scarlett Letter

I don't know why she's been calling to me so much, but I am loving working on this again.  

Have you been reading about the 15 Project Challenge - work on a new project each day for the first 15 days of January?  Oh my gosh, pure lunacy!  LOL  I've got at least 16 WIPs in the pile and I can't imagine adding 15 more!  But, I've kind of gotten myself caught up in the 15 Project Challenge.  I'm not going to do it in the normal way though - I picked 7 WIPs to work on during the year, and picked 8 newer projects (most smaller that the BAPs I work on) to hopefully complete or get near completion by the end of the year.  And the newer projects I can't buy things for - it's got to be in my stash - okay, maybe a thread or two if I run out, BUT, no kitting of new projects!  That in itself is a challenge for me - not to buy anything!  LOL  I'm still working my way through my list picking out my challenges for the year and I'll post it when I've got it figured out.

On the quilting front, I'm caught up once again with the Farmer's Wife blocks!  Yahoo!  These were so easy peasy that I almost cried in relief after the past few months of blocks:

Please excuse any sneaker threads that made their way into the pictures.  But I'm doing such a happy dance.  Only six more installments to go!!!!  I can't wait to get this baby together!!

From there I was going to start cutting out something new, but then common sense came over me (wow, that doesn't happen very often), and I decided to go back to one already in progress - actually two.

Remember this:

Well, I decided that I should finish this one up, along with my Women's Voices Civil War Quilt to get a couple quilt WIPs out of the way too (and yes, I do have a Challenge List for those also for next year).  But anyway, this is as far as I got:

The first borders fussy cut out and not a rotary cutter in sight for the next blocks to go around the quilt.  Sheesh!  I was also going to cut out the remainder of these:

Never got there.  But both these are on the top of my 2011 quilting hit list (along with three BOM's that I signed up that are starting next year - but we won't talk about those!).  :o)

So besides a little stitching and quilting and trying to get ready for the holidays, that's been about it.  I did find a couple little somethings at one of my favorite haunts - Home Goods.  I was suppose to be shopping at the mall across the street, but like quilt shops, antique stores and cross stitch stores, my car has a mind of it's own and I end up going where I'm not suppose to.  But I found a couple cute things:

A cute birdcage inspired rack for hanging miscellaneous things from with clothespins.  I had seen one of these in Utah when Jolene and I were wandering around and I wanted it, but it wasn't for sale.  This one is a little smaller, but it will do the trick.

This mannequin.  I thought it was different from the usual ones I see so I snatched it up.  I think that I'm going to put a coat of white paint on it and then rough it up a little to make it look more vintage.

So that's it for me this time around.  I'm off to check blogs now.  I was doing so, so well for a few days, and then life got in the way and I've fallen way far behind again.  But I hate missing out on anything.  I see so many wonderful things that everyone is working on.  That's probably why I'm having a hard time coming up with my challenge list.  Each and every day I see something, like Cari's recently framed June Morning - it's gorgeous!!! - (check it out along with the rest of the framing she recently had done) - and I know that I have to add it to the list.

Until next time, take care and I hope that everyone has a wonderful week!

Where Has This Month Gone?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are not chastising themselves for eating too much! Hard not to do, isn't it?  Then you get to face the leftovers the next day.  Ymmm!  But I hit the treadmill full speed running today.  Between Thanksgiving and my trip to New York and all the food I ate there, I feel like a whale!

I realized today that I've only made one post this month, but there has been so much going on!!  And none of it really stitchy.  This time of year is always busy.  I went on my annual trip to New York:

No, I didn't see the Statue of Liberty this year, but if you can believe this - I didn't take one picture!!!  I think that I was just running around too much with my sister and then running all over the city, that I didn't take a single picture!  Oh, maybe one of my sister's cat, but I'll spare you that one.  The doll was sent to me by my mother - another Barbie to add to the collection!

Sis and I had a wonderful time.  The weather was wonderful while I was there - in the 60's.  I only had two days with her, but we combed the North and South Forks of Long Island for antique treasures.  Treasures are not the same there as in Michigan, but I did come up with a couple things:

Another flower frog to add to my collection.  This one is quite large, made in England and perfect for all the little things I have around my sewing machine and keep misplacing while I'm sewing - like being knocked down on the floor or hidden under what I'm sewing.  Now they have a home.

I also found the wooden spools, cheap I might add, for putting lace on, a half doll to make a pincushion out of, and the angel plate.  Not huge scores, but antique shops aren't quite the same in LI as they are here in Michigan, and these came from the North Fork (the less affluent side of LI).  But we had a wonderful time driving around, eating calamari and seeing the sights.  I always hate leaving, but look forward to the next year.

After that I spent a couple days in the City and those are always wonderful times too.  The weather again was perfect - 65 and you didn't really need a coat!  I can never get enough being there and all of the great sites to see, and the things to do.  If you have some money you'll never starve or have a hard time finding things to buy in New York.  But I never go into stores and shop - I just love wandering the city and seeing the sites - like the window displays, all the billboards and the people.  I did go into St. Patrick's Cathedral - beautiful - and a few other places, but mainly just walked around.  I can't wait to go again.

A few weeks before I left, I made a trip to my not so local LNS and on the way home stopped in the town of Holly for a quick run through in one of the shops and walked out with these:

These were all from one store and ridiculously cheap!  I always love a good find.

Because of all the activity over the past few weeks, I haven't made much progress on Frances Eden:

Pretty pathetic!  I'm starting to get used to the colors of this though, but as always happens when I've been away from stitching for a week or so, my mind starts to wander around for something else to work on.  I'm trying to be good, but I have this bad desire to dig through stash and see what else I can come up with.

And of course, like a pesky relative, my Farmer's Wife blocks showed up for this month!!!

I guess I have my work cut out for me, although reading through the directions, there doesn't seem to be any template cutting, so maybe I can make short work of these.

So that's it - a rather boring post!  Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things now that I've recuperated from my trip.  I always come home exhausted, over fed, but smiling!!

I haven't even looked in my Blog reader to see how far I'm behind on reading - I think that I have a lot of catching up to do!  Thank you so much for your comments on my last post and for the congratulations to my son for his college acceptances.  We're still waiting on the coveted U of M letter, but I think that we have another week or so before we hear anything.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!  And thank you to all my new followers!  I came back from my trip and saw that I now have 407!!!!  Wow!  I'm shocked, but also humbled that you stop by to see what I've been up to.  Thank you all so much!!  I hope that the rest of your holiday weekend is great!!!