Weding Sampler Update

Most of my late afternoon and evening were spent sitting on the couch, watching TV, and stitching, but not totally by choice.  You see, I had a run in with the dog's long leash in the backyard, and was in pain.  Kelly decided that my attempt to retrieve her tennis ball from the yard after we played was another invitation to play, and she wrapped the leash around the back of my ankles while running as only a large dog can.  Ouch.  (That's an understatement.)  Hence the couch.  And the TV.  And the stitching.

These pictures were taken early in the afternoon, before my unfortunate incident.    I stitched a great deal of the motif in the lower left corner tonight.

"Let It Snow"

Last night I put the final stitches in Let It Snow.  This delightful design is by Country Cottage Needleworks, and was published in the 2008 issue of Just Cross Stitch Ornaments.

Alas, I have no more excuses for not working on the wedding sampler, so as soon as I hit the "publish" button, that's what I'll be doing.  Happy stitching!

"Let It Snow"

The wedding sampler is supposed to be my stitching focus, but when I'm sitting in my recliner at night, trying to unwind from the craziness that seems to envelop every day, it's easier to work on a project that I can hold in my hand.  (I have the sampler on a scroll frame that fits into my lap stand, and it's awkward to position in the recliner.)  So I picked up Country Cottage Needleworks' Let It Snow, from the 2008 JCS Ornament Issue.  I am stitching this 1/2 on 28 count Monaco in the Tea color using DMC floss.  I found the fabric to be so tightly woven that two strands of floss looked heavy. 

The fabric is more yellow than I was able to make it, even by tweaking it in my photo editing software.

I have been looking at charts recently, and realized I am naturally drawn to winter designs.  I cannot figure out why, especially since winter is my least favorite season.  Of the six charts I recently purchased from 1-2-3 Stitch, half were winter designs.  Anyone else have the same problem?

What to Do On a Very Cold Day

First Finish of 2010

Christmas Lace is finished! I've never stitched an Ink Circles design before, and while their designs are lovely, working with mirrored images was a bit more challenging than I want tackle right now. I am, however, pleased with this design, and think it will make a lovely addition to our Christmas tree once it's completed. At this point, there's a chance our tree will still be up when it's finished; I can't put the Christmas decorations away until I can move the bookcase that's in front of the storage shelves, and I can't move the bookcase until the exterior wall of Grace & Anthony's apartment is painted.

"Christmas Lace"

I have not been working on my cross stitch because I'm still painting doors and trim.  When I do squeeze in some stitching time, I've been working on Christmas Lace by Ink Circles.  This is from the December 2007 issue of The Gift of Stitching magazine.  The only DMC color I had was 3740, so I chose two others that seemed to match the colors in the picture.  These are 3727 and 3363.

 Perhaps by next Christmas, it will be finished.

Today Is . . .

 . . . cuddle up day.  Who knew?  It's cold and snowy here, and it doesn't look like that will change any time soon.  I'll be painting, again, but will try to find time to cuddle with my hubby.  Or maybe the cat.

What about you?

The Apartment

Even though it's just a bedroom, sitting room, and bathroom, we call the new basement space Grace & Anthony's apartment.  The workers finished up around 2:00 pm on New Year's Eve, and the two lovebirds raced downstairs to begin cleaning since Anthony was spending the night.  (We have a "pig out" every New Year's Eve, cooking more food than we can eat in a week, and watching movies.  Grace didn't want to take Anthony home in the wee hours of New Year's day, so he stayed here.)

The picture below shows the sitting area on the right, with the bathroom door in the corner.  The TV is located in the left corner.  On the left side is part of the bedroom.

This is the built-in DVD rack in the sitting area.  Our contractor had the idea to take a free-standing rack and insert it in the wall.  The nice thing is that it's flush with the 2 x 4s on the outside, and sticks out only a couple of inches into the room.

Here are the front door and the closet.  The door opens into the sitting area.

This is the opposite end of the bedroom.

I still have to touch up the dark colored paint and paint the doors and moulding around them.  Grace has put up the towel bars and toilet paper holder in the bathroom, and some DVDs, videos, and knick knacks are in the DVD rack.  We purchased a new couch for Grace and Anthony since the one they were going to use, we discovered, was full of dust and falling apart.  Anthony's TV is already set up as well.  Some curtains are needed, which we will make as soon as we can get out and find fabric, but those can wait since Grace put up the blind in the bedroom, and a temporary valence in the bathroom.  I guess as soon as I finish the painting, Grace will move down there, giving her sister sole use of the bathroom upstairs.  (Which she's been looking forward to!)

While I'm glad the construction is finished, it means Grace and Anthony will be down there on the evenings they are at the house more than they are upstairs with us, and we will miss their companionship.  Or at least I will.

Sympathy Card

I used various Spellbinders components to create the card.

Happy 2010

Comments and Graphics - New Year Layouts - Photobucket