Monday 16 March 2009

We be stitching

The last of our visitors are gone and I am free to stitch again. Yippee!! And the needles have been smoking!

I think I will let the photos say it for me.

First up, my Easter Fair and Squares for Melissa.


The bunnies are from Marjolein Bastien's Four Season's Sampler on 32 count antique white Lugana. I have stitched these for another Fair and Square round but Melissa is a bunny lover and these are just the cutest ever.

I picked up my Fairies in the Garden, did some border, a couple of flowers and a pretty butterfly.

I stitched a heart on Donna's Friendship Sampler and sent it off in the mail.



I stitched on Noddy and now we have the head of a giraffe and the grey blob is the beginnings of an elephant.

I stitched up this little biscornu for Juls when I went to Las Vegas and shamelessly borrowed the photos from her site cause they were better than mine.

It was a freebie.

I finished stitching this little Halloween sampler from Heart in Hand on a piece of 32 count hand-dyed mystery fabric using WDW threads. The little pumpkin button I bought at Stitcher's Paradise in Las Vegas. The pattern then flew off to the Netherlands to hopefully help Annemarie cheer up.

I sewed my Sisterhood into this little pillow and it sits beside my stitching chair. When I look at it, I think of the joy that stitching gives me and all the other stitchers out there.


I started my HAED - 3 1/2 hours, 250 stitches and a tiny dark navy blob.

My design is Peacock Lagoon. But, hey, I'm happy - I started it!!!! I consider this one my 10 year project.

There are a couple of other things I would like to mention.

You may notice on some of your blogs that I have added my name as a follower and my photo shows as a farmhouse. That farmhouse is a photo that I took back in the 80's. It is of my paternal grandparent's house after being abandoned for many years. The property had been sold and resold several times and the house was allowed to fall to rack and ruin. Since that photo the house has collapsed completely. I just love that photo and decided to use it.
Our adopted, spare son took this photo and made it look like an oil painting. I had it enlarged and framed and it hangs in my parent's home. My dad just loves it.

And one other piece of happy news. Every second year, the quilt group that I belong to make and raffle a quilt to raise money for Precious Treasures here in Arizona. Precious Treasures is an organization that provides before and after day care for the migrant worker's children. They also provide a summer program. This year we raised over $500 and immediately sent them a cheque to help cover their summer program. And the best part, I WON THE QUILT!!!!

I was so excited. I have loved this quilt since the first time I saw the squares and the vibrant colors. The photos do not do it justice. It is so much brighter in color. The two squares that I made and contributed are Row 1 - #5 and Row 4 - #6.

P.S. The Sister is finished and Carol has posted to her blog that she will soon be ready to travel. Check it out if you are interested.

Till next time, keep those crosses crossed!

21 comments:

staci said...

My goodness girl! Your needles certainly have been smoking!!! Wonderful stitching, every single bit :)

mainely stitching said...

Oh, I love the retouched photo to make it look like an oil painting! I'm going to try scanning in an old photo of my mom in front of her childhood home and see if I can do something terribly creative like that!

Love all the stitching you've been busy with. WOW! And that quilt you won - holy smokes! Congratulations!

Ranae said...

I sure hope you didn't burn your fingers with that smokin' needle, lol
The biscornu is cute.
Everything looks great.
Wow! Congrats on winning that beautiful quilt, it sure is something to feast your eyes upon for hours

Annemarie said...

Whoo, that is a looong post, Kathy, and a very enjoyable one :o) Yes, the HiH design did cheer me up enormously, as you know. Thanks once again!
I love the picture of that house. What a special story, and what a shame the house is no more IRL.
Ah, I see you've fallen victim to the HAED craze as well... I think I'll stick to my own BAPs for now.
Love all of your other stitching too. There's just too much to comment on LOL!!

Jenny said...

Wow, you've been busy - it all looks great as always Kathy! :)

Kim B said...

You've been productive! DS loves Noddy!

Anonymous said...

Where do I start? Such fabulous projects, such a wonderful painting, such great stories, such fabulous luck in winning that gorgeous quilt!

Now I have just one question: Have you gotten any sleep this week??

P.S. Love your Sisterhood finish. Great (!!) blue! Thanks for spreading the word that she's traveling once again.

Shelleen said...

great progresses and I really like the Halloween Sampler.

Stitchingranny said...

LOL my you have been making up for lost time and there are some lovely things in hand. Love the bunnies and seeing fairies made me want to pull mine out quick. I have put my name down for the sisterhood, what a fun little project.

Anonymous said...

My goodness - you have been busy. Lots of lovely stitching, but who would expect anything less from you. We are going to miss you this weekend. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Wendy said...

I love that picture of the house!
Great work on your projects, the bunny one is so cute!

Congrats on winning the quilt too. I'm also making a patchwork, I still have to quilt it, but I'm a starter on it and it doesn't work very well for the moment.

Anonymous said...

Very productive, as always! Wonderful stitching!
The quilt is great! You're a lucky girl!

Carolyn NC said...

Wow Kathy - so much to comment on! What a great week of stitching and surprises...your stitching is all beautiful. That quilt is just gorgeous - congrats! Love the photo that your son fixed. I grew up in a really old home, too. We moved in the 60's and it also fell to ruin eventually. It was torn down later and to this day, I still hate that. The beams in that house were the size of timbers - unbelievable. We have the most wonderful memories there. I'm glad your family has a nice memento of it. Such character and charm in these places...I guess it reminds of eras long past! Take care.

Michele said...

you really are stitching!!! I love the pillow you made with your stitched Sisterhood .. that is adorable!

samplerlover said...

Hi Kathy, you certainly have been on a roll with your stitching. I love the first one with the rabbits and I always love Noddy. Reminds me of my childhood in the 50's.
All your other work is also beautiful. - Sandra.

Michele B. said...

What a bounty of beatiful stitching. And oh, that quilt! It must be especially nice to have it with your work as a part of it. The house picture reminds me of this little phrase I learned in a poetry class in college - "old houses were scaffolding once, and workmen whistling."

Cindy F. said...

Oh wow!! You've been crazy busy!!
Love them all:)

Brigitte said...

Kathy, so many great pictures. You were stitching a lot lately and finished things too. I love the bunnies you stitched for Melissa, they are gorgeous. The same for your nide biscornu, the HIH Halloween sampler and the sisterhood that you finished in such a nice little pillow. So many accomplishments, congratulations!

Wanda said...

Wow...lots and lots going on! I love the barn...it brings back memories of my own. Congrats on the win! That is so cool! And a great prize as well. OK...so I went to see what a HAED was...wow!!! I've never stitched anything like that before! What does the pattern look like? I just can't imagine because the piece looks like a painting and I can't figure out how you can stitch it!

Sonda said...

All that stitching is so lovely and wow!!! congrats on winning the quilt. It is stunning!

Carolien said...

Hi Kathy,

I really need to catch up with a lot of blogs (shame, shame) ... we had a very busy month! You made lots of lovely stitches, that's for sure! (I didn't make any except a card, aaarrrggggh!)
I love your bunnies, so cute!

Hugs & take care, Carolien