April Is A Busy Month

birthdays, anniversaries and stitching.....   my birthday, one son's (Marty) birthday and Chip and my anniversary....  

here is a picture of an Indian Hawthorne Bonsai that Brian and Sue sent me for the big day:

here are some pictures of the stitch alongs that are growing.....

Sampler au Bouquets - 4 parts down -- 8 to go:

Autumn Forest Quaker -- about half way thru:

Tree of Stitches -- latest stitch was 'cushion stitch' :

a little more progress on Konstantinople Hamam -- trying to catch up on parts 4 and 5 before part 6 comes out in May.....     don't think I'll get there because this design is very involved -- maybe part 6 will be a little smaller and I'll have a chance:

my newest Chatelaine design -- Chinese Garden Mandala.....    got a little more done on this one......   I've done as much as I can with the threads I had on hand.....     now I'm waiting for the kit from European Crosstitch to finish part 1 -- it doesn't look like much, but it is a beautiful design.....

thanx for dropping by....   see you all next time.....   and happy stitching!!

Stitch Along Updates

this has been a week full of SALs.... they all seemed to converge in this one week.... I guess this will happen about once every 2 weeks..... here are some quick pictures of what I got done....

part 3 is finished for Sampler au Bouquets....    this section gave me a fit for some reason, but after a little frogging, I did get it done.....

page 12 of Autumn Forest Quaker is done.... those trees were quite a chore, but I really like them.... so lifelike.....

part 7 of Tree of Stitches was a fun stitch.... a variation of the rice stitches we did earlier.... it's called Jerusalem Stitch or upright rice stitch.....

and finally, I stitched 2 more states yesterday...... Illinois and Indiana..... love those quilts!!!

off now to stitch on Konstantinople Hamam for a while..... see you soon.....

Another Update....

back so soon???    *grin*     here are a few more things I've been up to since January.....    

first....   a big thank you to all who took your time to check out my blog and left messages.....    much appreiciated....

I joined 2 more Chatelaine classes...... the first is 'Konstantinople Hamam Mandala'....    the 'little lady' in the center is stitched one over one.....

I started about a month behind because it took me so long to decide I wanted to do this one.....    part 5 is out for April and I'm hoping to catch up by the end of the month.....

the other Chatelaine is 'Chinese Garden Mandala'..... I'll be catching up with this one too, because the kits aren't ready yet, but should be out before the end of April..... part 2 comes out in May and I'm hoping to catch up with this one too.... I did get a small start because I'm using some DMC flosses along with the speciality threads.....

   pitiful!!    LOL

see you again soon......

Finally An Update

it's been so long since I updated my blog I almost forget how..... I have joined several Stitch Alongs and here are my latest updates to them.....

America Land That We Love.... this is an old design by Jean Farish..... the last time I worked on this was 2005..... I'm hoping to finish this up by the end of the year..... we are stitching on this every Wednesday..... here is my progress so far.....

Sampler au Bouquets..... this is a new design from Jardin Prive..... it is on a French website, which is a challenge for me, but it's fun.... it is being done in 12 parts -- one every 10 days..... I am stitching this one over one on 28 count evenweave..... this update is of the first 2 parts....

Autumn Forest Quaker..... this is a design by Martina Dey..... one page comes out each Friday..... we just got page 12..... I'm really enjoying this one with all the little creatures..... I am stitching this one over one also..... running out of wall space..... here is my progress thru page 11......

Tree of Stitches..... this is a design by Abi Gurden..... it is all done in speciality stitches..... the parts come out every 2 weeks..... I am using DMC Variations #4215 and the 4 DMC solid flosses that make it up -- 155, 156, 209, and 322..... the trunk is done with DMC Vairastions #4145.... here's my progress so far:

thanx for your time here and I'll be updating these SALs as they come out.....

Update of Hummingbird Garden

I finished another rotation of Hummingbird Garden by Martina Weber Rosenburg.... this is for the 'Up For A Challenge' blog.....    this picture is after 148.5 hours.....     I especially liked doing the little 'over one' hummers in the border....

I will get back to you when I pick out another project.... the lace parts of this design are very labor intensive, but I'll get it done someday.....

take care and be well, Claire

Meet Rebecca

just finished my second challenge piece..... this is Rebecca by John Clayton and she took 59.5 hours to stitch.... I love this series of portraits..... really like seeing their faces come to life....

here is a link to some of Rebecca's friends that I've stitched in the past:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/559792080DdzNSg

now off to pick another project to finish for the 'Up for a Challenge' blog....

take care and be well, Claire

Decided On My Next Challenge

hello again.....

I finally decided which challenge from my list to work on next..... on Saturday I will be starting again on Rebecca by John Clayton..... here is how she looks now after 37.75 hours......

will post an update after my next 7 day rotation....

take care all and be well, Claire

First Challenge Finish

Good Morning.....

I have finished my first challenge project - Bayside Bungalows by Country Cottage Needleworks.....

I had some of it done before this challenge started, but it makes me feel good that something is done.... I'll be taking it to the framer next week and will post a picture of that when it gets back home....

not sure what the next project from my list will be, but will check back in when I decide.....

good luck to all the other challengers -- checked out all your work, and it is wonderful.... such beautiful stitching.....

happy stitching and be well, Claire

First Update to My 2011 Challenge

Hello all.....

yesterday I stitched on my first challenge project..... Bayside Bungalows by Country Cottage Needleworks.... I had been working on it off and on for a while and thot it would be a good one to finish up and get one project completed.... the picture could be better, but here's my progress so far:

I'm hoping this challenge will work so I can get some good finishes this year..... good luck to all.....

talk to you soon -- be well, Claire