Fabulous Gift and Romantique update

A wonderfully generous friend on the Bits and Bobs2 Yahoo Group sent me all this cotton!! Isn't is great! And there is so much of it! I had made the off hand comment on one of my messages that I was starting to use other kinds of yarn for my fishes because I had run out of the bits and leftovers of my cotton. She contacted me and sent me hers! There is so much here!

Look at all that cotton - isn't it wonderful. And the best part....as I knit each and every fish with this yarn, I will be thinking of this wonderful and generous friend. Thank you so much, Peggy.

My newest update for the Romantique Sampler.

Part 11

Close up of the detail - it just changes the whole look.

Part 10 - love, love, love those roses!!

Another close up of the details. I can't wait for the next installment!

weaving

Been doing a fair amount of weaving. About 20 minutes per day. It's relaxing and I like the rhythm.

This is meant to be a sampler - so there are tons of different stitches.
basketweave

twill - you can see that my tension is way off and it looks a little "stretched"

pointed twil - what you cannot see here are the edges - they are very uneven

herringbone

weft faced twill

warp faced twill - I have a huge written list of question for my teacher. She has her studio about an hour away so I will not visit her until I am finished with the sampler. Hopefully she has some tips for me because this sampler is very "wonky". I only have a few more patterns to complete and then I will make my next appointment.

Christmas Cross Stitch Stocking

I have made a bit of progress on my oldest daughter's Christmas stocking and it feels good. I came across the "Weekend Stitch-A-Thon" blog where you stitch on a WIP/UFO on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and then post your progress on the blog. I decided that this would keep me honest and working on this stocking. I am still having a lot of start-itis and am still like a little monkey in that each new project or design is new a shiny and must be started RIGHT AWAY!! I am hoping that having to post about this same project will keep it at the front of the stack - at least on the weekends :o) The toe before....
The after - a little more on the dog and the food bowl

The before on the heel...

The after - a little more on the pillow, hair of the girl, and the bear

A picture of the whole thing right now. I am having trouble with this because there are so many color changes and little bits where the stitches need to go before I have to change again. Hopefully, with consistent work it will be done soon! Don't get me wrong, I am still enjoying stitching on this, but it just takes longer and more concentration than some of the other projects I am working on right now.

Romantique Sampler

This is as close as you can cut it - Parts 7 & 8 were due today in order to receive the next two parts. I finished part 7 this morning before I got the kids off to school. WHEW!! What a relief! Can you imagine getting this far and then missing the due date???
I really and truly enjoyed these two parts. Especially part 7 with the lighter shade of pink. It's just so pretty :o)

I wanted to show a closeup of this part for the backstitching. It just adds so much to the design.

The Romantique in all it's glory so far.

K with cutie pie. I actually think the cutie pie is K ;o)

Romantique Sampler update & more fishes

This sampler, when finished, will be beautiful. I simply cannot fathom how the designer came up with this. She must have an exquisite mind.
At the top, with the flowers is part 8. I did part 8 before part 7 for two reasons. The first reason is that part 8 has much more stitching to it and I thought if I did it first, part 7 would seem much more doable before the deadline! The second reason is that part 7 had a color of floss that I didn't have at the time. Of course this "problem" has been rectified.

A close up - this part was very fun to stitch and went relatively quickly.

9 more fish-WITH the ends all woven in.

Total fish to date = 105

Can you see the one with fun fur......

TUSAL, fishes, gardening

Here is my April TUSAL! Just look at all those threads! There is lots of DMC from cross stitching, there is the plastic lanyard from lanyard making on our vacation, and lots and lots of cotton from weaving in the ends of fishes. I think I'll need a bigger jar for my TUSAL soon :o)

What you see here are 4 stacks of fish that equal 96 fishes. Why am I showing you all the same fishes yet again??? Well.....these fish have all their ends woven in! You betcha! I sat down and wove in all the ends one right after another - now, I am weaving the ends just as soon as I finish a fish. I absolutely do not want to have to go on another end weaving binge again, EVER.

I was also busy planting. I love spring so much! We planted strawberries...

radishes, tomatoes and eggplant (there are now three different kinds of lettuce in this bed now as well)...

crookneck squash and zucchini (there are also 2 artichoke plants here now). Boy did we have fun!! Mostly the 6year old and myself, but everyone did a little bit. You can bet they are all going to want to eat our harvest :o) I also want to plant some sunflower seeds, some gourds and a few pumpkins from our pumpkins last year. Why are there only 24 hours in every day???

Random Finishes

I found this little hand loom that I had purchased ages ago when I cleaned out one of the closets. I got it on clearance somewhere to use a some later date. Now the 9yo is enjoying weaving just like her mom :o)

This is just the start. We take turns - her request - so we can work together on it. How cute is that?!

I made another earring holder for another birthday :o)

This is a laptop bag for my mother-in-law's birthday. I got pictures of all the grandkids and transfered them onto fabric that can go through the printer. After they were printed out and ironed on, I hand sewed around the edges just to make sure they would stay put.

Good thing there are only 8 grandchildren so far!

A little St. Patrick's Day pot made with decoupage. Kind of cute, huh?