I'm still here...

...and still stitching! However, I've also been getting Tanner ready to go back to school, so I haven't been getting as much stitching done as I usually would. He goes back after Labor Day, and I can't believe the summer has pretty much gone already!

I'm still working on the model for Karen, and have also started stitching on a piece for Judy Odell. Some of you may remember my previous post about a fantastic workstation that Judy finished for me after I stitched it for her to use as a model in her photos:

 

 

Well, now she has asked me to complete a piece called "Shelley's Jewelry Box", which she is currently offering free of charge on her board: Just a Thought. She stitched part of it, but ran out of steam, so I'm going to finish the stitching for her so she can get to the finishing part. Here is a picture of the side panel that she had already finished:

And a close-up, to show all the pretty beads!

If you think you'd like to stitch this, you should check out Judy's board; she's offering it for free right now, but it may have to be bought at a later time.

I am very excited, because in return for stitching this for Judy, she has offered to do the finishing on a box that I stitch for myself after this one is done! She also sent these gorgeous needlework accessories as a "thank you":

All this "work" to do, and then my LNS informed me that part 3 of the L*K Mystery is at the store--ack! I need more hours in the day!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

 

Passione Ricamo SAL, part 2

I just put the last stitches in part 2 of the PR SAL, so I now have a sparkly crescent moon and what looks like the edge of a shimmering fairy wing:

Now I have a week or two until the last part of the Lizzie*Kate mystery sampler is released, followed by part 3 of this SAL. And yesterday I received my next model assignment from Karen; I won't be able to share this one, as it has yet to be published, but I will say that it is going to be really pretty!

The year is almost 3/4 done, and so far I've only managed to slay five of the 20 WIPs on my list. Let's do the math: 3/4 of a year, 1/4 of my list -- it's not looking good! Oh well, there's always next year!!

Lizzie*Kate Very Scary, part 2, w/spoiler pic

I just put the last stitches in part 2 of the Lizzie*Kate mystery sampler; only one more part to go! This is a really fun stitch, but then, it's hard to go wrong with a Halloween design. ;)

To avoid a spoiler in my blog's thumbnail, here is the official cover for this part of the design:

And here is my sampler to date:

I'm really looking forward to part 3, but for now I'm going to pull out part 2 of the Passione Ricamo SAL and try to get that caught up. Then hopefully I'll get back to Silver Moon Tea...if I only had more hands to stitch with!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

ETA: Ack!! I just looked at the picture and realized that I'm missing some stitches that go around the blocks on the bottom; back later!

Okay, now it's done:

Phew! Now I can relax and watch the final episode of "The Closer". ;)

Seven Days of BS

Yep, you heard me, seven whole days of backstitching! Why, what did you think I meant? ;) But as any good stitcher knows, sometimes the BS just brings the whole piece to life. So here is the completed Halloween Quilts Sampler, by Rosewood Manor (minus a charm on the cobweb that Karen will need to attach):

For a quick comparison, here is the last pic I took, which just had a bit of the BS done:

So now it is time to stitch up part 2 of Lizzie*Kate's Very Scary; I should have a picture to post by the end of the week. Until then, happy stitching!

Halloween Quilt Sampler update

I was able to finish all of the cross stitching during our trip to Iowa, and have made a start on the backstitching. The black backstitching requires two skeins of floss, so I'm thinking I should have done some of it along the way; too late now! But the backstitching is really going to make the motifs pop:

We had a good trip to Iowa, and my son was able to meet (and re-meet) a lot of our relatives on my side of the family. My cousin's granddaughter, Taylor, was especially taken with Tanner, following him around and declaring that she loved him:

And here's a cute pic I took of a sleeping Tanner from the back seat on our way home:

Trips to see family are fun, but pretty tiring, and it's always good to get back home!