Little House Sheep Virtues: Joyfulness...finished!

Good morning, cafe friends! I'm serving up piping hot creations today because "Baby, it's cold outside!" Negative eleven this morning, with a wind chill of negative twenty five. Brrr! And yes, we still had school this morning. Who needs buses when you have moms like me to drive the neighborhood kids to school?

We just got home from a weekend trip to Michigan to celebrate Christmas with our families. Great food, lots of laughs, card games, movies, and children running everywhere. What a joy!

I finished the Little House Sheep Virtues "Joyfulness", just in time to give to my mom  this weekend!

Today will be a good day for more indoor activities! I need to get my Christmas cards finished and mailed out. I've also started a new needle art project from Lizzie Kate. And I have a wool felt applique project that's been brewing in my head this weekend.

Time to put on a pot of Winter Blend coffee and get to work.

Stay warm, cafe friends!

Little House Sheep Virtues

I'm making some progress on my latest pattern, and should be finished with the stitching this weekend. This is from the series by Little House Needleworks called Little Sheep Virtues. There is a pattern for every month of the calendar, and each one is sweeter than the next.

My local needle art shop had a slow "going out of business" sale at the end of this season, as the owner is retiring. Designer's Desk in Geneva, I will miss you! I bought so many wonderful patterns there for fifty percent off and more! I'll be very busy this winter!

The pattern called for a 30 count Weeks Cocoa linen, but I decided to use what I have on hand, which is 28 count Summer Khaki. Anything over 30 count is getting increasingly harder on these old eyes, even with good lighting and cheater glasses! It might make the finished pattern a little bit larger, but that's fine by me.

Joyfulness. What a wonderful virtue for the Christmas season!

Wishing you joy, cafe friends!

Holiday Door Knob Hanger

I started working on this Lizzie Kate Tiny Tidings pattern last week, but oh the pain! I only got two rows in before my joints were killing me!

I texted my friend Beth and asked for her advice. She recommended a therapy glove. So I went to Walgreens and picked this one up, and it has made such a difference! I think the compression and the Velcro cuff at the wrist really helped stabilize my hand while I stitch.

And here it is! This one is going in the 24 presents of Advent box!

I added a little row of lace, but decided it still needed a little something. That's when I had the great idea to use PTI dies, felt, and buttons to make these little holly corners.

Here's the blue fabric. It covers the back and peeks out the sides of the front.

This project was also the first time I finally learned how to use my Janome Sew Mini sewing machine! I think I'm in love!

Blessings on your Thanksgiving holiday, cafe friends!

Halloween Door Hanger

Remember all of those UFOs that were flying around my house?

UnFinished Objects.

I'm happy to report that I safely landed another project onto the finished category!

This stitch pillow kit is from Pine Mountain Designs. I purchased it from Always in Stitches in Noblesville, Indiana. So it's been a while since I began this one...two states and a few years ago. :)

I added the orange and black gingham ribbon to the back, turning this one into a door hanger. My mother-in-law lives in a senior community where everyone decorates their doors for the holidays. I'm putting this one in the mail for her today. Hope she likes it!

Monday Blessings, cafe friends!

Rainy Days Project

It has been a grey and rainy week here in the Chicago 'burbs. I've been finishing up some of those UFOs that had been bothering me...unfinished needle art projects just waiting to be completed. This punch needle project was from a Teresa Kogut pattern that I began last year, and then quickly set aside sometime around Christmas.

After working on three or four successive cross stitch patterns, I just needed a break. Punch needle can be so much fun, and it really does go quickly once you develop a rhythm.

I think I had originally been trying to do this project on a hoop, but I've found that I really prefer to use the frame. For me, it holds the fabric much tighter, providing the drum-tight grip that a punch needle project needs.

I'm working from behind, and this is how the piece is shaping up on the right side.

Giving thanks for comfy chairs, cozy rooms, and warm cups of coffee.

Blessings, cafe friends!

F.O.: Finished Object!

Hallelujah! I finished my stitching project this weekend! It is an UnFinished Object no longer!

This was a pretty tricky project. For starters, counting on a long, narrow project can be really tough. But the hardest part? The Nun stitch at the end. I'm thinking it was aptly named...probably a stitch the Nuns required when they got tired of rapping students on the knuckles with rulers.

"Go to the principals office and give me one hundred Nun stitches!"

It wouldn't have been so bad if the Cordonnet thread didn't tangle and knot for every other stitch, sending me stark raving mad at times. I had to go verrrrry sloooow. But I did it!

Now I have this sweet ruler holder that I can keep handy near my stitching chair.

Happy Day!

On to the autumn projects now.

Blessings, cafe friends!

U.F.O.s

I've been working on an organizing project with my needle art this week, trying to clean out a storage closet and make it a little bit neater. As I sorted patterns and threads and linens, I came across a LOT of projects that I'd stitched, but never completed to the finished project stage.

U.F.O.s, or Unfinished Objects in the language of artisans.

I don't like examining these items too closely because I'm afraid they'll reveal more about me than I want to know. Questions like "How many Octobers have passed since these projects were tossed in the 'To Be Finished' pile?"

Other questions like "Why am I so good at starting things, but not nearly as successful at finishing things?"

Questions like "Why can't I finish this first novel when I have three other novels rattling around in my brain just waiting to be written?"

Enough with the UFOs!

This week, I will finish a project, even if it frustrates me to no end!

This pattern that I've been working on for weeks? Prime example.

I've had to FROG this one a few times. FROG, as in "Rip it! Rip it!", as in " take out stitches and start over again". I'm no fan of frogging, but there were a few times that it had to be done.

The end is in sight! I just need to finish this time consuming Nun stitch around the border, attach a few embellishments, fold the thing over and sew it up the sides. And I need to finish this quickly because today is the first day of fall and I have a LOT of Autumn projects in the queue.

Tell me, do you have a lot of UFOs floating around your house too?

My Outdoor Craft Studio

This is it. My outdoor craft studio. In the nice weather, this is where I often find myself, with a good book and a stitching project in hand. In the evenings, I love to sit here and stitch while I listen to the hum of the cicadas and the chirping of the hummingbirds that come to my feeder at the end of the porch.

I'm just finishing up my project from Shepherd's Bush. I am laying a Nun stitch around the whole project, and then it will get folded over to make a pocket to hold a ruler. I love patterns that incorporate different stitches. It makes the project interesting and stretches my creative muscle a bit.

My front yard landscaping is filling in quite nicely. Everything is so lush and green.

My mother refers to me as the Johnny Appleseed of gardens. It seems wherever we have moved in the past eleven years (with the exception of my Pittsburgh home), I have created gardens from practically nothing. I make them pretty and lush, and then I hand them over to the next owner. Sigh!

This garden is beginning to remind me of one I planted at our house in Wildwood, Missouri. I told myself at the time that the front yard garden would be simple, and the backyard is where I really wanted it to be dramatic. And what happened? The front yard garden grew amazing, and was more beautiful than the back.

Perhaps I should stick with subtle, simple plantings. I seem to like them more.

The coleus make such a big impact this time of year. When the weather cools, I plan on adding some white and purple mums and perhaps a few sedum to this mix.

In all our years of gardening, we have never planted a tree until this house. This pagoda dogwood is growing slowly, but we really like the changes it brings to each season. We saw a full specimen at a local Japanese garden, and when this one grows to its mature height it will be a showstopper.

The Pink Diamond hydrangea are slowly changing colors, from white to green to a pinkish hue.

What can you say about the Incrediball hydrangea that hasn't already been said? So easy to grow, with such impressive blooms!

This year, for some reason, I never got around to purchasing hanging baskets for the front porch. I was too busy concentrating on the plantings in the garden below to actually look up. I think I was worried that hanging baskets might make it look cluttered and detract from the landscaping beds. Of course, I've never been one to embrace the philosophy that less is more. More is always more in my humble opinion. :)

Still waiting for the Morning Glories to bloom, any day now.

I'm still amazed at how much we've managed to do to this house in a short amount of time. Looking back over the past year, I can see where the Fixer Upper has taken most of my creative energy. It was not the sort of turnkey house where you move in, unpack, and just live. This was the house where you move in, get to work, and don't stop. It's been a great learning experience for my husband and me, and no doubt in the future we will use this house as our guide.

Perhaps our story will be a cautionary tale. Ha ha! Only the future can tell if it will be a story of what could be done or what should not be done going forward.

Sit Down and Stitch

For reasons unknown, I'm having a super-productive week. Maybe it's the Senseo coffee that I dearly love. Or perhaps it's my new system for my Simple Stories planner. Whatever it is, it's helping me get a long list of stuff done.

Closets are getting cleaned. Bookshelves are being lightened. A dozen odd school related jobs are getting crossed off the list before Sam goes back next week.

And then yesterday afternoon, crash. I was too tired to get much accomplished. That's when I decided to have a seat and do some stitching.

I'm still working on this pattern from Sherpherd's Bush. It's a unique pattern for me because you are working two sides on the same cloth. Eventually, the cloth will get folded in the center (between the two green hills) and stitched together down the sides to form a pocket for a ruler. One side is nearly complete, and now I'm working on the opposite sides. It's tiny, delicate work, but oh so sweet.

Sometimes just sitting and stitching and meditating is productive work all on its own. If you are in the busy season too, then I hope you find time to pause and refresh yourself. It's good for the soul.

Blessings, cafe friends!

What I'm Working On This Week

I've been working on a new stitching project from Shepherd's Fold called Reach. 

I picked up this kit at Designer's Desk in Geneva. It holds a stitching ruler, with a pattern that folds over and is worked on both sides of the linen. 32 count linen. That's some small work for these old eyes, my friends! Notice the cheaters in the previous photo. Very necessary!

I loved the beautiful colors used in this project. Overdyed floss is so pretty. I'm stitching this pattern according to directions...one strand of floss over two linen threads. Normally, I'd use two strands of floss for something more substantial. But the one strand gives this project a fine and delicate look, similar to a period piece. I suppose that one strand of floss probably helps the linen from getting pulled too tightly as well.

Just before I started this pattern, my Mom called and told me to read this book. Max Lucado's "Safe in the Shepherd's Arms" is a small devotional that highlights passages from many of his books into a cohesive study of the twenty-third Psalm. The photos in this book are just beautiful. I confess to having a weakness for sheep. That's one of the reasons I picked up the pattern to stitch!

It was so nice to read from the book and then stitch this project while I meditated on the words.

When you spend a lifetime in the Word, some passages become so familiar that you can recite them without much thought. That's true for many people when it comes to this psalm. But every now and then, you can read something that gives a new insight and allows the word to fall fresh on you in a way it may not have done before. Like this:

"David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. It's as if he's saying, 'What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life.' "

Wow. Those are powerful words.

This summer, our Pastor is doing a sermon series on the Psalms, and we are reading through them together as a congregation. And this coming Sunday's sermon is...you guessed it. Psalm 23.

Everything's coming up sheep this week.

Perhaps God is telling me something. And maybe these words from Max Lucado are what He's trying to tell me:

"The psalmist rejoiced to say 'The Lord is my Shepherd,' and in so doing he proudly implied 'I am his sheep.' "

Blessings, cafe friends!

Lizzie Kate Stitch Kit

I finished my Lizzie Kate stitch kit yesterday! This was a limited edition kit called Birdz and Bugz that I picked up in the bargain basement at Designer's Desk. It was a little tricky to stitch when I first began because the stitching panels are attached at both sides, leaving only the top and bottom open to work the needle and thread.

This is the first time I've ever used beading on a needle art project, and it was much simpler than I imagined. (That's probably why I've been avoiding all of the Mill Hill patterns for so many years!) I think it adds a sweet effect on this project.

When you open the kit, there is another stitched panel, along with places to store needles, thread, and scissors. It's a sweet little stitching kit to take on the go.

And when I'd finished, I was happy to discover that my kit also matches my "on the go" planners! Such happy colors!

Happy Friday, cafe friends!