Clark

Our Clark died April 1st. He was only 7. All Cavalier King Charles Spaniels develop heart problems and I guess Clark's was worse than we thought. He died too soon. We will miss our snuggle bunny. Our hearts are broken.

Marsha

Happy Easter!

I thought I should show some Easter decorating before Easter is over! I made this Mama bunny a long time ago. She's so cute with her baby bunnies in her pockets. She sits on top of a jar so she doesn't have a real body. I found the table runner in a thrift store. It has huck weaving on both ends and cost about a $1. What a find.

I used to paint wood and took quite a few classes. This was one of my first projects.

I have a shelf in my kitchen that has a drawer on the bottom with 3 handles. During the year I hang a small pillow on each handle. On the left is the previous month, in the middle is a house (that stays up year round) and on the right is the current month. I love these little hangings and stitched them years ago. I've been thinking of stitching a new set to hang two pillows of the same month but didn't see anything I really liked until Little House Needleworks came out with their new series. So, I set the pre-order in motion and instead of starting with January I started with March. I might have it done in a couple of days. This picture is behind since I've stitched the word March, the small flowers on top and the first inside border. I used the same fabric, Davosa in 18ct, in a similar color to the first set. Stitched over one. The kits come with Crescent Colors Threads and they are a joy to work with. It hardly ever knots. Oh, and Linda, at our guild's last stitch-in gave me a needle to try. Bohin brand from France. The eye is a little smaller but what a joy to stitch with. They slide right through those threads on the back. I very heartily recommend them. You can find them here Crewel Jewels along with other cool things. (I already put a birthday order in to my DH)

Here is March from the first set I stitched by Prairie Schooler. They hung in a local shop for years on a peg tree and then I begged for them back when the shop closed. Someone had stolen the Santa Claus for December (can you believe people?) and I restitched him.

In keeping with my Easter theme, here is a piece stitched by a newcomer to our Queen City Sampler Guild . She had lots of other stitchy pieces to show and they were all beautiful. I hope she will join our guild.

Look what my secret stitcher sent to me! I don't have time to stitch it this year but, hopefully I can get to it for next year. I love the hazy blue linen and look how the thread is almost corded, it has such a cool look.

Have a Happy Easter and/or a wonderful spring fling!

Marsha

So, I finally found the camera box that contained the program disc for my camera. That only took two days of searching the entire house! I need to continue spring cleaning that's for sure. After deleting the broken program and then reloading it, I was able to download my pictures. So, this is what I've been sewing and stitching.

I had made a Christmas apron for a friend at work in December. When I brought it in for her, another co-worker decided she would really like an apron too. I took her to a quilt shop and let her pick the fabric she wanted. She supplied buttons from her grandmother and here is her completed apron. A very easy McCalls pattern. When I made it for my daughter, it had a flounce on the bottom. It was cute but we decided that would be too fussy and left it off. Which made it that much easier and faster to sew up. Doesn't look so hot on top of a camo scrub top, but you get the idea.

This will be my next sewing project. I bought this last year in Pittsburgh at the The Quilt Company. A great quilt store. I promised my Mom I would make it for her but she couldn't ask me when it was going to be done. At that time, I had a list of projects to do by the end of the year. Her fabric choices are the two on the right, mine are the two on the left. So Eastery and springy. We'll see if I can get them both done in four hours. That would be wonderful.

Towards the end of my soap-making business, I started sewing again and sold Wonder Wallets. They didn't sell well but I had already bought a bunch of fat quarters and cut them out. A BUNCH. This winter I decided I should start sewing them up. I've sewn about half of them and here they are. Each fat quarter makes two. The rest will wait for next winter or so when I get the urge again. They sew up fairly quickly.

Here is the outside of a Wonder Wallet. I like to finish them with old buttons. I have quite a collection of buttons given to me by my grandmother, mother-in-law, a friend from work - her grandma, and some from antique shows. I love buttons. My grandson likes to take button showers by dumping them over his head.

Here is the inside of the Wonder Wallet. The top inside pocket is sewn in from each side to make a coin pocket where I slide in a shiny penny for good luck.

On another topic: My secret stitcher has sent me some wonderful things already. She knows I just love BBD patterns. I like the little mitten pattern with WDW Lancaster Red thread - a gorgeous color.

I completed Love Letters last week. I love the colors in this one. It was a very easy stitch. I will have it framed in time for our 34th anniversary on May 1st.

That's what I've been up to, how about you?

Marsha

Computer Issues

I have pictures to show and no way to show them. Grrrrrr. Seems my camera's program has decided not to open anymore. I ripped the house apart last night and today looking for the camera's cd to reinstall. No luck. I called the camera company and they happily resent the camera program, downloaded it and still can't open it. I called the computer wiz kids and they said if your computer freezes viral programs can inactivate parts of programs so they can't open. (not their exact words but I can't spit back the techy terms verbatim). I DID NOT KNOW THAT! How nice of Norton and Windows to do that for me. Something I use all the time, is now not operable. So, I will try to delete the camera's program, then reinstall it and see if it works. If not, the computer is off the repair shop. What a pain. Wish me luck so you can see my completed stitching.

Marsha

Last weekend, the Queen City Sampler Guild hosted Jeannette Douglas of Jeannette Douglas Designs and Pam Reed of Olde Colonial Designs. Jeannette designed a scroll piece for our guild. The design is 2.25 " wide by 21.75 " long. It is filled with wonderful stitches and designs. It is stitched on Zweigart 32 count Light Mocha. It uses Rainbow Gallery Splendor, Needlepoint Silk, Gloriana Thread, Soie d'Alger and Bijoux silks. Once completed, it can be framed or backed with silk duponi and turned into a scroll which is where Pam Reed came in. She designed a box for the scroll to fit in. Her class gave us everything to complete the scroll, the mattress pin cushion, the design and items for the box opening and the box itself. It was a fun two days and even better was meeting Pam and Jeannette who is a delightful lady and an awesome teacher. I love these pieces. I bought a few of her other designs because her instructions are so clear and large and just beautiful.

This is my progress so far. It is a really fun stitch. Every row is a different stitch or stitches and they are short so you don't get tired of doing a stitch.

Here is my box so far. The pin cushion isn't tufted as much as I would like but, I pulled as hard as could to get the bead's thread through the mat board. The cushion is silk duponi. I started the needlework for the other side of pin cushion which will show on top but I'm rethinking the design. The box is gorgeous. Look for these classes at Celebration of Needlework.

I bought this chart at the stitcher's retreat I went to. Barb had a trunk show of The Primitive Needle. It was great to see most everything stitched. As you know, things look better stitched up in person than by seeing just the photo. I fell in love with this chart and will have it stitched in time for our Anniversary, May 1st. Hopefully it will be framed too.

I am a little further along than this picture shows. I have the flower and vase completed on the right hand side and the line under the lady's feet. I've started the man's face and will travel down to be sure I have the correct number of crosses under their feet (even though I counted them twice). It's a fun quick stitch.

Next time, I will show you the other kind of sewing I've been doing.

Marsha