Here is an update to Winter Queen that I posted last week.  This is a collage I made of the Before and the After.  Not too bad for a few days stitching considering the time was interrupted by other doings.  I'm going to work on it some more today as it appears we may be getting rain today and I won't be able to do outside things.

I haven't posted much of anything over the last year, but I'm trying to get back to it.  Here are the most recent pics of my current WIP in rotation.  I'm focusing on 'Quaker Sampler' by The Workbasket and 'Winter Queen' by Mirabilia.  Some of you may remember that I had a good bit of the queens head, shoulders and some torso done and then realized that I'd started too far to the left and had to rip it all out and start over.  This is a picture of my progress to date and as you can see, I'm nearly done with my quaker.  However, after 4 weeks of steadily working on it, I was getting tired of the same colors, so have now switched back to queen.

It's been a long time - WIP update

It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm finally getting back into my stitching after DH's heart attack last November.  I've been working on Papillon "Castles in the Air", Mirabilia "Winter Queen" and The Workbasket "Quaker Sampler".  I've mostly worked on Quaker Sampler and am 3/4 of the way done with it I believe.

Here are some pictures of where they are now.

Castles in the Air

Winter Queen

Quaker Sampler

Oh, and almost forgot this one that I'm working on.  LHN "Trustworthy & True" - I bought this one to make and give to my daughter & son in law for their 2 year anniversary this year and I also bought the "Strong & Beautiful" and "Soft & Sweet" from the Little Women Virtue series to give to my daughter and grand-daughter respectively.

Trustworthy & True

Speaking of my grand-daughter, Emma has grown like a weed and changed so much over the last few months.  She is now 2 1/2 and definitely becoming her own little person.  My son in law with his parents have a farm where they raise alpacas, Dexter cattle/beef, and Jacob sheep, in addition to his Dad running a recycling business.  Emma loves to help feed the animals (including their own egg chickens), and work in their "shop" with mommy and daddy helping them sort the metal.  Here's a few peeks at our precious girl.

Mommy & Emma 2nd birthday

Emma Easter 2012

"winking" while goofing with Uncle Devan

On our way to church

Thanks for visiting!

Winter Queen progress

So, here's my most recent picture of Winter Queen. I'm sure some of you will remember that I posted about having to ripit ripit out all that I had previously done of her head and shoulders. I've not done a lot of stitching this summer as we had a lot of activities going on with our boys AND I spent a lot of time out in my yard working in the flower gardens. Now that school is starting next week, I'll actually have a little more time to work on it. I've really got to get the nose to the grindstone as I've only got 3 1/2 months to finish this and get it framed. My DD's 21st birthday is December 18th and I plan to have it done so I can give it to her at her family birthday party.

Winter Queen Frustration & Disappointment!

ARRRRRRRGH!           I am so frustrated with myself!  I was working on Winter Queen Tuesday night and was just looking at my progress and looking at the photo that came with her and as I was looking at them together, I realized something just wasn't right.  I STARTED IN THE WRONG PLACE!!!!!


I must have miscounted when I drew/counted out the middle line. So I started cutting and picking every stinking stitch I've put in since I started.  I've almost got it all out and will probably finish getting it out tonight.  When I get it all out, I'll give the fabric a quick rinse in cold water, just to help the holes close up a bit and then when it's dry I'll start all over again. 

I just am so disappointed about this.  At least I don't have to have her completed until the beginning of December.  Therese's 21st birthday is December 18th, so I want to have her done by the 1st in order to have her framed and back to me on time.

Now to add a smile, here's a recent picture of my beautiful imp of a granddaughter, Emma Ann - this was taken a couple of weeks ago in Grandpa's arms.  She will be 17 months on May 1.

Tusal update and WIP update

Happy February!  It's been a windy and wild February for us in the Midwest.  Wednesday we got socked with quite the winter snowstorm - lots of snow and high winds made for getting out of work early, having the next day off AND being paid for it.  Yippee!  Thursday morning we woke up to a foot drift in front of our back door and 4 foot drifts at the bottom of our driveway.  Fortunately, my wonderful brother in law brought his snowblower over after he finished his own clearing and then cleared our driveway and our sidewalks.  He spent over an hour on our place AFTER spending an hour doing his own.  He looked like the abominable snowman when he was done, complete with icicles in his beard.  I really should have taken a picture, but I didn't.

I worked for two weeks on my daughters birthday present, Winter Queen and here is where she was as of Sunday this week.

Next, we have Quaker Sampler from The Workbasket.  I just started working on this again after a 3 week hiatus and here's where I ended last night after Glee was over.

And last, but not least, is my Tusal for the new moon.  I did change the container as I found a little bit bigger one.  It doesn't look like much, but it's about a quarter full.

Well, that's it for now.  I'm going to be working on Quaker Sampler for the next week and then I'll switch off to my Papillon Castles in the Air.  I decided to rotate each piece and work on each for a week so that each one gets a solid week of stitching.  In between, I'll work on any smalls I want to do.  I've just about finished up my piece for the Yahoo ILCS froggy exchange in honor of our moderator Rene who passed away in January after a very sudden cancer diagnosis.  After the recipient has received it, I'll post pictures.

As Porky Pig would say....That's all folks!

Winter Queen WIP

Here she is!  I made a tiny start Friday evening and then worked on her both Saturday and Sunday in between household stuff and doing things with my boys and dh.  I had to force myself to put her down last night in order to go to bed shortly after 11pm.  If I hadn't I probably would have stitched on her all night.  I kept saying "I'll just do this little bit over here" LOL!

I believe it to be a respectable start. 

Thanks for looking and comments are always appreciated.  Have a great week!

Mirabilia "Winter Queen" floss toss!

My daughter fell in love with this piece and so I am stitching it for her 21st birthday in December.  The fabric is a 28ct hand dyed Jobelan called "SummerSky" that I bought at a LNS.  I've converted the DMC floss to HDF from Vikki Clayton.  Don't they look just yummy?

Here's the fabric and floss along with the picture of the finished piece.

And here's just a picture of the fabric by itself.  I just love this fabric and will stitch it so that the piece will be top to bottom as it's shown in this picture.

I'm planning to start her this weekend.  I need to dig out my scroll frame and see if the one I have is wide enough for this piece.  If it's not, I'll go ahead and start it with my Q-snaps and then order a longer rods.

Again, thanks for visiting!