The one that started it all

Well, it's been three weeks since I had anything I could share, but I am happy to say that the Rosewood Manor piece has been safely delivered to Karen (and another one already received!), and I have made good progress on the first of the two Nora Corbett models that are due in July. I was starting to get concerned that I might not make the deadline, but feel much better about it now--phew!

Last week I went through my Bin of Finishes to pull out some pieces to take to my framer. I decided on Mirabilia's Andromeda, Chatelaine's Mini Mandala Circle 2 and Nora's Alphabet; I also took Rosewood Manor's Bucklebury Sampler, which Karen had already framed, to have glass put in. I am very excited to get these back in two to three weeks!

Since I have no new stitching of my own that I can share, I thought I would take a few pictures of pieces from the past, including the one that started my obsession with this wonderful craft. Here is the pile on my crafting table:

I started stitching when I was at University of Illinois back in the late '80s; my mom had come down for Mom's Day Weekend and we were walking along Green Street shopping when we came across a cross stitch shop. Inside I found a kit of Chief Illiniwek, and fell in love! So my mom bought it for me, as well as a kit with two little unicorn ornaments that I could practice on before I started Chief, and my love of stitching was born.

I wish I could find the unicorns; I do remember the back of the first one had all these carried threads, and then the second one was better as I learned what worked and what didn't. But I still have Chief:

Later I found a leaflet from Puckerbrush that also contained the U of I logo and the Alma Mater:

I also have charts for Foellinger Auditorium, Altgeld Hall and Illini Union, which I still want to stitch someday...

I had to laugh at some of the old finishes I have; if I hadn't discovered Mirabilia Designs in the '90s, I'm not even sure I would still be stitching today!

I have a lot of finished Halloween pieces, though most of them were done after I started my blog; I did find this older Waxing Moon design (I think it's called Halloween Stack), which even has all of the buttons attached:

And what might have been my first Lizzie*Kate design, Pumpkin Fever:

For those in the US, I wish you a Happy Memorial Day spent with family and friends; and to everyone a great stitchy week!

The Beautiful Sea

Last Thursday we received the final installment in this Ship's Manor SAL, so this fun piece is now finished!

I really enjoyed playing with colors in this one, and also adding some beads because I thought a design about the sea needed some sparkle:

I'm now in the home stretch on the Rosewood Manor model, hoping to finish this week, and then I need to get the two Nora Corbett models done, so I probably won't have anything to share for the next few weeks. Although my sweet husband did give me another gift certificate to my framer for our anniversary, so now I really do need to take some pieces over to get them framed...

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!