What's in Your Stitching Basket?

I recently had to relocate my stitching basket so the husband could set up the magnifying light during my recent vision impairment. My vision is still impaired, but it's back to "normal" and I can see to stitch again without the magnifier! Hooray! So, since I had to lug the thing to its new location, I got to thinking, "Why is this thing so stinkin' heavy?!?" That got me taking an inventory of what's in the basket.

This is what I found:

My current SNS project, LHN Seasonal Saltboxes

Caroline, my current ornie, which is close to being finished if I can bring myself to liking the way it looks after I fill in the snowflakes which cause my stitches to look all wonky. I hate that! I also need to finish the garland, too.

The now left side frogged "Evergreen" which is my Sunday project when I feel like stitching on Sundays. Thank goodness football season will soon be here!

This is the September Flip-It from Lizzie*Kate's first series of Flip Its. It was my "traveling project" way back in the day, maybe 2003 or 2004 or something??? Who knows? It's a cute little piece and easy to stitch. Why can't I bring myself to work on it?

Then there's this piece:

Another great little piece that I really like, but can't bring myself to A.) remember that I have it, and/or B.) remember that it is so close to finished I could do it in less than a week. *sigh*

I also discovered this Trilogy or BC project, Snapperville, started many, many moons ago. It was supposed to be a SAL piece with a friend, *cough* *cough* but she never got around to starting it and I've had no motivation to work on it. Again, I love the design, love stitching on it, but just can't bring myself to pick it up because my ADHD stitching brain forgets about it. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!)

I also found this pretty piece, which I truly love, but again, find myself having difficulty picking it up. You know, gotta find the q-snaps, then put the thing on the q-snaps and all that stuff. I'm really beginning to think I need an intervention!

This one I need to finish simply so I can say, "Yeah, I've stitched a Paula Vaughan." I need that to bring credibility to my stitching and so people will think I'm one of those elite stitchers because, after all, only "accomplished" stitchers would ever dare to stitch a color chart full of quarter, half, three-quarter, and popcorn stitches that included an INSANE amount of backstitching and color changes. Right?

Ahhhh....Blessed are Those by Blue Ribbon Designs. This is truly my final WIP, which is really a UFO. Beautiful, beautiful design, but a HORRIBLE chart! I think that's what discourages me from stitching on the thing. I have to use a magnifying glass just to read the darn chart! Why do designers do this to middle-aged women whose eyesight is fluctating?!? Does this chart come in a large print version? LOL



I found these two FINISHES in my basket, which aren't really finished. This one needs to have the charms attached and I need to decide if I want to stitch the border on it after all. I've seen it done both ways, and I just can't make up my mind.


And then there's this Jeremiah Junction project that was a round robin with a bunch of wonderful stitchers from the OOE board. It's beautiful, isn't it? Did you notice, though, that there's backstitching missing on the 2 corners at the bottom? Yeah, those were the ones I stitched and I haven't added the backstitching on them yet. Should I be embarrassed to admit that I stitched this in 2005?!? Yes, it's been languishing in my stitching basket that whole time. Five years worth of whole time.



Lest you think that was it in the stitching basket, I'm hate to disappoint you. There's more! I also found a couple of calendar pages I was recording my time on from when I actually stitched enough to record my time (*cough*), a semi mutilated 2009 JCS ornie edition magazine (still in usable condition, though), a couple of charts that I was going to stitch at some point in time, two (2) gardening newsletters from a nursery in San Antonio that my wonderful Dad sends to me each month after he's read them, written funny comments throughout the articles, and used for scratch paper (I could subscribe to the online version, but that would take away his fun.), a skein (new) of yellow yarn from some long-ago plan to crochet something useful, and yet another skein of yarn, this one a pukey seafoam green that I practiced with. It must've been on sale when I bought it because I'd have never purchased something that ugly if it wasn't and if I was in my right mind! Lastly, there's a framed print in there that belongs to my husband. I think I gave it to him for our anniversary or Christmas or maybe even for a birthday gift MANY years ago. I could probably wrap it up and give it to him again and he'd never known I'd regifted it!

On that note, I think I'll leave you with a challenge to tell what's in your stitching basket (or bag or whatever you store your projects in) if you're feeling brave. I'm off to find some kind of support group for my affliction!

A New Start & Other Mindless Wanderings

Seeing as how August's almost over, I thought I should start stitching on my August ornie. Don't want to fall further behind on my ornie endeavor! LOL I decided to stitch the complimentary ornie "Emmanuel" by Plum Street Samplers. It's stitched on 28 ct. Myrtle fabric using DMC fibers. I worked on this last night while watching the Dallas Cowboys whoop up on the Tennessee Titans. (Go Cowboys!!)

The design is available on Paulette's blog, http://plumstreetsamplers.typepad.com/plum_street_samplers/freebie/page/2/ . Just scroll down a little bit and you'll find it. Click on the download Emmanuel link and it'll take you to the .pdf file to either print out or save or save and then print it out. Whatever floats your boat!

In other news, it's still hot in Texas, but a "cool" front blew through yesterday and dropped 3/4" of rain on us and dropped the temps to 95º (big whoop!). The dear husband has started expanding our garden for the fall and future spring gardening. Our pumpkins are being overrun by cucumber beetles, but we'll be spraying them tonight in hopes of eradicating them from our garden. I told the husband yesterday that at this point in the game, I was ready to use chemicals. Considering I'm a die-hard organic grower, this is major! LOL


Looks like a freshly dug grave, doesn't it? First we had veggie coffins, now we have graves! LOL A bit morbid, don't you think?



The pumpkins have started blooming, male flowers only, just about 6 weeks after planting. As with all my other veggies that have produced male & female flowers, the males are over anxious and have arrived to the party early to strut their stuff.

The cucumber beetles were all over this flower this morning. :(

Some of my late-blooming flowers are starting to pop out. This is exciting as most of these were just planted this spring! I've been waiting ever so patiently for them all summer.

Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)


Cowpen Daisy (Figure out how this plant got its name!)

Some of the Blanket Flowers that I winter sowed (were winter sown?) have gone to seed and already produced babies! We found these when out inspecting the flower bed this morning.


The Turk's Cap that I rooted from a cutting taken from my dad's neighbors in San Antonio is very happy in its new home in the back flower bed. It's starting to fill out and produce flowers almost daily.


Here are our backyard neighbors' dogs, Winston and Sophie. They're actually littermates and are about 18 months old now. Winston, the bigger one, is on the left and Sophie, the smaller one is on the right. Winston has to be the center of attention and Sophie usually hangs out in the background, carefully watching everything. They greet us when we're out in the yard and will bark like crazy until they're acknowledged.

More Progress on LHN's Heart of America

Here's the latest progress scan of my Heart of America piece. I'm really enjoying it! I only have 1 square on the far right to stitch and the long banner at the bottom that runs the width of the project.



The "Old Glory" square has been my favorite square to stitch so far. Here's a close-up of it.


I will be relegating HOA to my Saturday Night Stitch project, so it'll be slow going to a finish, but a finish will come! I will now move on to this project that I started MANY years ago, like 8 or so!! It's been languishing in my stash closet. I don't think I've touched it in about 2 years. This is Paula Vaughan's "Summer Welcome". I've got roughly 175 hours stitching in this project.


Here's the back of the project at 155 hours.

Something New!

I finished my Love is in the Air exchange piece last night, so I started on my ornament for January. It's a little freebie from Midnight Stitching entitled, "Snowman's Quaker Christmas". I changed the color of the Quaker motif to CC's Cool Azul. It's just a little start, but it's a start!



It's stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Blush linen using DMC, GAST, and Crescent Colours.

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