It has been a Month of Sundays!

My fraternal grandmother, Mildred Montjoy "Dolly" Pickles Kelley, was always one to have the cutest of phrases!  Like, "That is fine as Frog Hair", "My hair is blown sixteen ways from Sunday" and one of my favorites, "It's been a month of Sundays since I've seen you!"....Well, it's been a month of Sundays since I have posted here!

I haven't been posting because I have been doing model stitching on a huge sampler...it will be a while before I finish, but I do have something to share with you today!

On Saturday, my guild, the Virginia Guild of Needlewomen, had a workshop with Susie Gay of Berry Hill Heirlooms.  She taught us a lovely beaded silk ribbon sewing roll up!  I was able to finish it Sunday morning and thought I would post a couple of pictures here:

It was a wonderful day of stitching and I really enjoyed myself!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

I'm Back...........................

Hello, Folks:

I am sorry to have been away for a bit!

Last Sunday, I came down with a summer cold and didn't feel quite up to stitching.  I didn't have much to show.  I still don't have much to show, but here she is:

I love the man's red stockings:) I'm stitching on the flower right now and have done a bit more since this picture was taken on my new IPad Mini I got as an early birthday present! This IPad has distracted me a bit......

I have been in a bit of a stitching block...I need to get back to it!  I should just snap out of it!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

I didn't get to work on my Manifesto this past Sunday.  I had company in town and we were way too busy having fun!  By the time the dust settled, I was too tired to work on Manifesto.

So, I share with you my stitched Down Virginia Way piece created by Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives!

The stitching is done, but how I am going to finish it is in question...I was thinking about making it into a mattress pincushion.  The sides would be the stitched alphabet, my initials and date.  What do you think?  I may also tuft it...should I? 

Happy Stitches Everyone,

-Holly

Mother's Day Manifesto Update

My wonderful family allowed me to stitch the entire day!  Wow, I got a lot accomplished.  I was able to complete the left hand side of the sampler!

O Happy Day!

-Holly

Progress Pic of my Manifesto 5/5/2013

Here are a couple of pictures of my progress on my Manifesto.  I was able to get a bit of filling in done during the Talladega NASCAR rain delay!

Maybe next Sunday, Mother's Day, I can finish up the filling in and turn the page to a new chart:)

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

No Manifesto Stitching Yesterday!

I didn't get a chance to stitch on my Manifesto yesterday!  There was just too much going on in the World of Holly to pick up a needle yesterday!

Instead of posting a picture of Manifesto, I thought I would share with you a picture of my recently framed Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden...I really enjoyed stitching this one up!  It's a looker!

I apologize for the glare from my camera phone flash!

Until next week......

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

I'm Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!

Here is a close up of my progress on The Manifesto!  I really didn't get much done yesterday!  I did some stitching....but it is slow going!

For what it is worth....Here she is;)

Happy Stitches,

-holly

Scissors!

The folks that know me, know that I love scissors! I love them all!

I just received my newest pair in today's mail from Jean at Attic Needlework.  They are those RED Bohin scissors!  Red is my favorite color!  Red and scissors are meant to be together!  Below is a picture of my new red scissors with my newly completed wool felt pincushion:

Below is a quick snapshot of some of my collection:

Happy Stitches, and Scissors,

-Holly

See has a Face Lift - Manifesto Progress 4/14/2013

I didn't have much of an opportunity to stitch on Manifesto yesterday, but I was able to give this woeful girl in a red dress a face lift.  I wasn't really happy with the pattern for her face.  She needed a nose job and an eyebrow tweeze!

So, I made her nose more diminutive and a made her eyebrows a bit smaller. Last but not least...I put a smile on her face!

What do you think?

I hope to have more time next Sunday, but we shall see....My husband and I are in the process of decluttering our house....it goes on the market in a few weeks!  Wish me luck!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

4/7/2013 Manifesto Progress Pic

Hello!

Several folks have asked me how I am stitching this....I have mounted my silk gauze to a frame like a needlepoint canvas; however I have put in way more tacks than a needlepoint canvas would have.  In my picture, I show you a picture of the tacks...

I'm coming along!  I didn't get as much done as I had hoped (what's new?), but still moving along.....

Love this piece!

Happy Stitches and until next week,

-Holly

Easter Day Progress on The Manifesto

I was able to do a little stitching on The Manifesto on Easter Sunday!  I have decided to go all the way down on the left side instead of moving to the right of the upper left hand corner.  When I reach the bottom, I will move to the right.  Everyone is stitching the top portion. So, I thought I would progress from the bottom.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Weekend!  Mine was wonderful!  All the kids came home...this is a rarity and I was thrilled!

Until next week,

-Holly

Sunday Manifesto Progress Picture...

Well, I stitched most of the day Sunday, but I was distracted by the end of that NASCAR Race in California!  Wow, that was exciting!  I hope Denny Hamlin is doing okay!

I have a bit more to do on the background before I can finish up my second page!  Only working on Sunday, I don't progress as quickly as I like, but I am steadily moving along!

Here is my progress, to date:

Also, the NCAA Tournament is a bit of a distraction, as well!  You gotta love March Madness!

Until next week......

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Wool Felt Embroidered Pincushion

My guild, The Virginia Guild of Needlewomen, had a wonderful program this past Thursday afternoon.  Shelley Anderson instructed us on making an embroidered wool felt pincushion.  We had a choice of background felt; pink or blue. I choose blue!

We stitched on the fused circular quilt design. Then we were off to embellishing our panel with spider web roses!

Here is a picture of my top:

Now, I am to make a 4 inch muslin bag and fill it with crushed walnut shells.  When that is complete, we insert it into the pincushion and blanket stitch it closed!

It was fun, fun, fun:)

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Sunday Manifesto Update!

Sunday is my Manifesto Day!  I did do some filling in today.  I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped, but it is coming along. It is going to take me about 4 to 5 weeks to complete each page. I promised myself I would not skip ahead without completing each page! As tempting as that is, I am sticking to the plan, for now!

Here is a progress shot:

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

As promised.....

....from my previous post...

Here is an update of my progress on Ann Bowers Sampler:

I am slowly moving on the over one cross stitch portion of words.  I like that each word is a different color:)

My progress may be slowed on this...I promised a designer to do some model stitching on a very large sampler.  I'm really excited about it!

Until, tomorrow...I will post my Manifesto progress picture at the end of the day.

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

A Sunday WIP Picture of The Manifesto

Well, Sunday arrived and it was a sunny day!  Great for stitching on silk gauze....nice and bright!  Just the way I like it.  I was able to get a bunch done today to my surprise!

I am happy to be working on the flower part.  There are a few discrepancies between the photograph and the chart. I just stitched those parts the way I thought they looked the best.

Here goes:

I will post a progress picture of Ann Bowers later in the week....

Happy stitches,

-Holly

The Manifesto - Sunday #4

Well, I am finally getting around to posting my progress picture of Sunday #4's "The Manifesto Sampler".  I am about to finish page #1 one!  Yeesch, this is very slow going.  I am loving the effect, but it is going to be a year of Sundays before I finish this bad boy!

After I completely finish page #1, I am going to start the page immediately below it.  The third page I will do is the page to the right of page #1.  BUT, I am getting ahead of myself!

That's all for now....I really need to get Emma out again!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Manifesto Sunday #3 & Ann Bowers Sampler Progress

Good Morning, Everyone!

Two weeks to Daylight Savings Time....Hurry Up!

I spent yesterday (Sunday) on The Manifesto! I thought I would just breeze through all the background work!  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  I will have another Sunday of background work!  I refuse to go to the next page chart until it is all done!  I know if I start skipping ahead, I will only want to stitch the objects and not want to do the background....if I do that, I will never finish this sampler!

Below is my progress from yesterday:

I also worked on my Ann Bowers Sampler during last week.  I am making progress and I just love this sampler.  Here ya go:

Well, that is all for now, I will touch base next Monday!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

The Manifesto - Sunday #2

I stitched most of Sunday away on "The Manifesto".  Sunday is the only day I will be stitching on this one.

It takes a toll on my stitching hand....so, one day it is!

I am enjoying this.  I am not enjoying how my DMC thread likes to knot!  I think I may have to crack open my Thread Heaven!

Stitching on silk gauze is much like doing needlepoint on a very small scale.

Tell me what you think:)

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

WTNT Valentine Boxes

Here is just a quick post to show my Valentine Boxes. The chart is by With Thy Needle and Thread (Brenda Gervais).

I haven't done the finishing on the other pieces yet.

Happy Valentine's Day,

-Holly

The Manifesto - Started it Today

With all of the talk about Scarlet Letter's Manifesto, I figured I would jump into fray!

Since the whole piece is stitched, I thought it would be the right opportunity to do a "big" silk gauze piece! So, I purchased the chart, a large piece of 40 count silk gauze (14 inches by 19 inches) and mounted it on stretcher bars. I locked it in my Lowery Stand and I was cooking with gas today!

I used over 120 tacks to get this puppy mounted! I will be stitching this piece only on Sundays! I have several other Sampler SAL's I am committed to...

Here is a close-up of what I have done so far.  I put my needle minder next to it so you could get an idea of the size of the sun!

It is going to take a very, very long time to complete it piece, but I will try to make slow and steady progress one Sunday at a time!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Detour - WTNT's Valentine Sampler

I took a short detour from stitching samplers...I received my chart and threads for WTNT's Valentine Sampler last week. So, I searched my stash for the 40 ct. R & R Expresso linen.  I had a small piece.  Just enough to do the scissor fob, pincushion and small thimble box. When I completed those, I found some 40 ct. WDW linen to stitch the large sewing box and sewing roll.

I searched for the Glidden Paint testers that Brenda talked about at my local Walmart.  They didn't have the colors she suggested...So, I picked up some others.  You can see in the picture the colors I have painted them.

I'm not too concerned about having two different color linens.  I will be "aging" them with Walnut Ink Crystals when I am done.

This week I need to get back to Ann Bowers Sampler!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Has this happened to you?

I was just stitching along on the over one part of my Emma Miles Sampler when I realized I used the wrong color for my Adam and Eve!  I checked my Floss-a-way bags and sure enough...2611 was in 2612 bag and 2612 was in 2611 bag!  YIKES!

If there is one thing a strongly dislike it is frogging over one! Plus, I had already stitched other areas of the sampler with the wrong AVAS thread color.  At least that part is over two and I will clean that up later!

So, I picked the over one wrong color out and put in the correct color!  So, here is a picture of the area I was wrestling with:

At least it's over for now;)

Back to Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Who knew? PicMonkey is Great!

I just found out about PicMonkey!  It is a website where you import your photo and it allows you to "jazz" it up!

Here is a picture of my Scarlet Letter Jane Rees Sampler in progress:

I put a border around it, I sharpened the picture and inserted Jane's name in the photo...and voila!

You should try it out.  Here is the website:

http://www.picmonkey.com/

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

-Holly

Emma Miles 1848 - 1/20/2013 Progress Pic

Good Morning, Everyone!

I thought I would post a progress picture on Emma Miles 1848.  I worked on her a bit this week.  I took a little side detour with the Wynter Peacocks Sewing Pocket Project.  However, I was able to make some good progress.

I think I will work on Emma for another week and then I will switch back to Ann Bowers.  I am a bit ahead in the SAL and I think I want to continue on with Emma for a bit more....I will reach the over one part this week....so, it will be slow going!

Please forgive the unpressed nature of my piece. I didn't have time this morning to press her....but you can get a decent idea how I have progressed!

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Wynter Peacocks Sewing Pocket - "Finished-Finished"

On Thursday when we had all the snow, I stitched up the Ladies Prim Society's Wynter Peacock Sewing Pocket.  Today, I broke out my Singer Featherweight and "finished-finished" the sewing pocket.

All my stitching buddies know of my phobia about using a sewing machine!  Well, this morning I broke out my 1982 Singer and it didn't work! Yeesch! Now, I will be forced to figure out how to use that Featherweight that has been sitting my sewing room for years! I had it cleaned and oiled a while back, but never tried it out! Well, this morning I did!  Wow, I loved it!  I think my phobia is subsiding!

Now, back to Emma Miles:)

Happy Stitches,

-Holly

Ladies Prim Society - Wynter Peacocks

A few weeks ago I found out the ladies at Dyeing to Stitch were creating a Ladies Primitive Society. Five primitive kits would be sent out in a year.  The designers are Threadwork Primitives (Nan Lewis) and Blackbird Designs...How could I pass...I signed up.

Yesterday, I received my first kit, Wynter Peacocks by Threadwork Primities.  I cracked the kit open this afternoon and finished the stitching portion!  I need to get it together for the finishing part!

Below is a picture of my stitched piece:

A quick and fun stitch!  Thanks, Nan Lewis!

-Holly

My Scrimshaw

I will be teaching a class on Scrimshaw in April to an EGA Group in Charlottesville, VA!  I am really looking forward to it!  What's not to like about Charlottesville!  Home of the Virginia WaHoos!

After taking a scrimshaw class with Marcy Pumphret at Christmas in Williamsburg several years ago, I started doing my own scrimshaw.  It is loads of fun!

Unfortunately, I can't do too much of it because my hands won't let me and it interferes with my stitching time;)

Anywho......Here's a sampling....

We have snow in the forecast for this evening!  I'm thrilled...we haven't had any this winter!

-Holly

Ann Bowers Progress - 1/13/2013

I have been stitching away on Ann Bowers!  I stitched this past week and weekend on her...all the way through all four football games!

She is a pleasure to stitch on!  The large floral band is a beauty!

I will have to put Ann away this week, because I will be stitching on Emma Miles for Nicola's SL SAL! So, next Sunday, I will show you an update on Emma;)

Until next time....Happy Stitches!

-Holly

I cannot post pictures from my computer to Blogger!

I don't know if Google has changed how you can upload pictures to Blogger.  I used to upload my pictures from my pc.  I was given a button to browse to where my picture was on my pc.  Well, as of yesterday it is NOT giving me that option.  It appears they are trying to force me to create a Picasa Web Account and store my pictures there before I can upload a picture.

Has anyone noticed this or am I an anomally?

Any help would be appreciated!

Frustrated,

-Holly

UPDATE: I checked the Google "issues" area of Blogger and found out there was an issue for those folks who use Internet Explorer!  When I downloaded Chrome and used that browser, I got the ability back to post pictures from my pc!  Go Figure!

Let the Stitching Begin - Emma Miles 1848

Well, well, well...my 36 count cream Edinburgh linen arrived on Friday! Oh, happy day!  Saturday morning I cut my linen to the proper size and ironed it flat! 

I was finally ready to put in my first stitches! I like to figure out how I am going to "attack" the piece!  For Emma, the game plan is to "rough" in the border outline so that everything lines up okay.  Then fill in the first corner of the border so that I can get a feel of what is all involved with it.

When roughing in the border, I had to pay particular attention to the stitch count. With the young stitchers, consistancy was not their strong suit.  You would think there would be a rythymn to the the undulating border, but "no" it is not the case.  I was anxious to make sure the border met up correctly in the end.  It did! I love it when it comes together.

I will be alternating between Emma Miles and Ann Bowers this year!  2013 is going to be a good one!

I am having troubles with posting my picture of Emma.  When I click on the "insert picture" icon within Blogger, it is not giving me the capability to browse to where my picture is on my hard drive....that is weird.  I will bang away for a bit and see if I can figure this out.

Picture to come....stay tuned...

Thanks for stopping by,

-Holly

Emma Miles 1848 - A Delayed Start

Happy 2013! Wow, 2012 was gone in a flash!

Well, the plan was to start Emma Miles 1848 Sampler today for Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year SAL.  I have the chart and I have the silks.  My only thing left was to pick my linen from my vast stash.....Well, my stash wasn't as vast as I hoped!  I love sitiching on 36 count fabric and I had hope the "right" linen would be in there....I have tons of Lakeside Linen from Theresa's Linen of the month club from years back.  The only problem was all I have is fat quarters and I need a fat half to do Emma on 36 count. 

Plan B, was to find some 40 count that might work.  I could possibley use a fat quarter on 40 count.  Alas, I just didn't have the right color linen I was hoping for.

In the picture below, I have put a light cream color 32 cout linen...I am going to buy a large piece of 36 count light cream colored linen.  I like how that looks. So, I will be shopping for a fat half of Edinborough.

The best laid plans!  I hope this is nto an indication on how my 2013 is going to be;)

Anyways, Happy New Year!  May all your stitches be happy ones!

-Holly