Near the end

Please forgive me for not blogging lately. As you can see by my progess, my focus has been on stitching my lighthouse. I have a small amount of cloud left to do and then on to the back stitching. I made wonderful progress until I got to the clouds. For some reason, I have been visited by the "rip it frog" and that has consumed lots of time. I am hoping to finish with this soon and get on to some of the other projects I have waiting in the wings. I did mail off three round robins this week - Sweetheart Tree, Instant Gratification and Ornament - so I am progressing.

Zoo, Family and lighthouse

We had the best trip to the zoo. The children and grandchildren were delightful. It was wonderful to do something with the entire family. DH and I are so very proud of our handsome sons, their beautiful wives and our, oh so handsome and beautiful, grandchildren. Here is a photo of the entire clan. Aren't we a fine bunch. The families returned to their own homes yesterday and DH and I had a very restful day. DH switched between baseball, golfing and NASCAR. I was able to stitch away on my lighthouse. Don't seem to see a lot of progress. The grass and rocks are a challenge - changing stitches often.

Sweetheart Tree Finish

Here is the finished Sweetheart Tree "Pumpkin Time Heart". Some of the stitches gave me a little trouble and my friend Ann chipped in with the herringbone stitch. I really like the overdyed floss - Needle Necessities Marigold. Won't get much blogging or stitching done for the next few days. The grandchildren are coming to visit and the 6 adults and 3 grandchildren are off to the zoo.

A lighthouse and a change of pace

I have worked pretty steadily on my lighthouse. I would like to have it finished and a piece of the border done before I mail it out. You can see the lighthouse keeper's house is starting to emerge and the lighthouse is done except for the back stitching. I am one who tends to leave the back stitching to the end. For a change of pace, I have picked up a Sweetheart Tree piece that is part of a round robin I have been participating in. I am doing Pumpkin Time Heart. Well, I have learned a valuable lesson. Don't try to stitch the heart when you have 5 other stitchers sitting around your table and there is much laughter and silliness going on. We had a great time together, but I should know to work on something that requires very little counting and concentration. I had to rip the heart out three times. After everyone left, I sat down and it was done in no time. When I got to the meeting point, IT MATCHED!!! Judie, in particular, had quite the laugh over my unsuccessful attempts at doing the heart. This from a woman, who has been working on cows and grass for "How many months now?" LOL. If you ask her opinion of her cow piece, she has a few wonderful and varied comments. I will have to ask her the name of the piece. It is really quite nice but, boy, is there a lot of stitches in this project.

A lighthouse emerges

We have a lighthouse. Been trying to stitch away pretty steadily the last few days and make some real progress on the lighthouse. I am now working on the lighthouse keeper's cottage - the roof is starting to emerge. Not much other stitching of note, since I am trying to get this one ready to travel on July 15th. Hope you like it. I have a blank space that I am trying to fill. I have thought of putting a mariner's compass in the square. Dani suggested at TW compass. I am not ready to tackle another TW right now and suggested that perhaps she would like to stitch it.

My neighborhood

Finally, I have something to share from my neighborhood. I have never done this type of round robin before so I am totally new at it. I am amazed at the amount of pre-planning that goes into one of these. First I had to decide what I wanted my neighborhood to look like, then deciding on fabric, ordering it and looking at patterns. It tooks hours, with much help from Dani and Ann, to get it all laid out in some kind of pattern. I can't count the number of days it took me to grid it all out. Next job was to find the alphabet I wanted to use and grid out all the writing. All of this, probably consumed the better part of 2 weeks before I was able to put a stitch in the fabric. Success at last. I have a very preliminary photo to share. I have chosen lighthouses as my theme and I found some really pretty patterns from Stoney Creek 1997 magazines. I remember the lighthouses as a child living on the east coast of Nova Scotia. We lived right on the ocean and some of my family were commercial fisherman and the lighthouses were so important to them. We woke up many a morning to fog and the horns from the lighthouses. My DH and I travelled full time in an RV for two years. In our 85,000 km. travels, we toured 30 or more lighthouses. Where we presently live, I can look out my window and see a lighthouse every day. They seem to call to me. So, without further fuss, here are the preliminary photos.

Handsome Duo

This afternoon I finished my ornament RR piece. It is "Shimmering Snowflake" from Cross Stitch Christmas 2002 on navy. For some reason, the camera fades the color of the fabric. It was a nice easy stitch. Yesterday, we took our two grandsons to Bearbrook Farm to look at the animals. Jackson loved the mini horses and the little deer. We had a very nice family day. Here is a photo of the two handsomest grandsons ever - and I'm not in the least prejudiced. Oh, yeah I have included a photo of my ornament from the RR.

Next, is my neighborhood. Finally, the first stitches. LOL

Knot Another Round Robin

After much grinching and complaining the celtic knots are finished on Dani's RR. This is a piece of the border from TW's The Storyteller. I must say I am happy with the final result. I am now working on the ornament from my ornament RR. I have finished gridding my Neighborhood RR and am looking forward to putting the first stitches in the fabric. Stitching time is at a premium these few days. We are visiting with our little grandsons and they consume a great deal of the time. They are such a joy and I delight in all their antics.

Round Robins and Hercules.

Been stitching happily (not) away on my TW Celtic Knots for Dani's RR piece. I should have a progress photo by the end of the weekend. Cannot photo now because the batteries in my camera have decided they are time expired and quit working. Will have to pick up new ones. I am being told to buy lithium ion because the NIMH ones don't hold their charge for long. I have had them for a little over a year and they are finished. I received my ornament RR in the mail yesterday. It looks like a fun stitch and hopefully will get it started this weekend. Customs decided they did not like the wording on the package and I was charged duty. That is the first time that has happened. I spent Thursday evening gridding my Neighborhood RR. I was so wrapped up in what I was doing that I went to bed far too late. Well, I gridded all night long in my sleep. When I awoke, I ran to check my fabric and it wasn't completely gridded. I was hoping! We are off to visit our two sweet little (2 and 10 months) grandsons for a few days. The trip goes very quickly for me as I stitch my way along. I love it because there are no interruptions and I can stitch almost the entire time. I decided to include an older stitch today. I finished this one in January for my DH. He was a loadmaster on the C-130 Hercules. He has never shown much interest in my stitching in over 25 years until he saw this one. So, I had to do it for him. It hangs in our living room. Enjoy

Granddaughter and quarter stitches

Here is a photo of my beautiful granddaughter Drew with her new fortune teller. She is over the moon with it. We had company for dinner last night and Drew had to play it with all our guests. Been stitching away on the TW piece for my Gratification RR and I am being quarter-stitched to death. I must think of some way to avenge myself on the owner of the piece. I am also working on a piece for my parents but there is not much to show - just a blob of flowers and pink ribbon. Stopped off at Knowledge and Needles and picked up the fabric for my Neighborhood RR. Now to grid it all out. Floss is on sale at Michael's so Beatrice and I were off to the store and filled our basket with floss. It is amazing the other things you see that you can't live without that end up in your basket - floss cards, Fray Chek, needles and, oh yeah, a red t-shirt. We had a good time. It is wonderful to be back to spending time together without worry, just enjoying being together. We have been the best of friends for almost 30 years and share many of the same likes and dislikes.

TWRR and another wedding

Managed to get a little stitching done in the car this weekend. DH has a large family and lots of cousins. Most of them are in their 20's and 30's and are either marrying or having babies. So, we were off to a family wedding on the weekend. The wedding was beautiful and the bride (related) was gorgeous. Her colors were lilac and her flowers were lilacs and tulips. Just stunning. They were the recipients of the swedish weaving blanket from an earlier post. I was delighted to have Dani ask me to do a square on her around the world TWRR. Here is my addition from English Cottage Sampler and her entire RR piece. She only has two more squares to fill. I am just starting work on another RR - Knot Just Another Round Robin and doing a TW Celtic Knot. Lots of quarter stitches. Hope to have a progress photo soon.

Mystery solved

Here is the finished mystery. It is a fortune teller. Do you remember playing with these as a child? I sure do. I have made this for my granddaughter so she can share with her friends.It was an interesting stitch and quite easy to put together. The folding directions, in particular, are excellent. The design is by Lynne Nicoletti and I bought it at my friend Ann's needlwork shop. Ann tells me that Ms. Nicoletti is putting out another fortune teller that will have a fairy tale theme. Needless to say, I have my name down to purchase one. Yesterday was a great day for stitching. As you saw by last week's post a group of us stitch on Thursday afternoon. I then got an invitation to stitch last evening. Did I turn it down? No way.