These are the Christmas ornaments now on sale. Finished, with a lot of lessons learned. No more linen. Thicker hanging loops. Shop for cording early in season, or pick up enough floss to make them on 3/$1 days. I'm selling them for $6 each. They each took about 3 hours to make. Far too little money for that amount of work. However, all I am after is to pay back cost of supplies. If it does that, I'm happy. I'll start earlier this next year.


And the first pair of mittens for the church Mitten Tree this year. I want to knit up a mess of these to have some ready for when the snow flies next fall. The Mitten Tree is too late for a lot of people. It is a Christmas thing. Unfortunately it gets cold here long before then!

Here are the cross-stitch Christmas ornaments so far. If people knew how much work these were, they'd realize why they sell for the prices they do. Each one of these hummers represents 3 hours of work at least, plus supplies. Now I just have to make cording, turn them into stuffed ornaments with trim and finish them off...before the end of the week.



Here is my Antique Posies rug from Deanne Fitzpatrick's rug hooking studio. It's coming along fine. I just have to find time to work on it.

I thought I'd take some time to show you what I've been doing recently. Here's the hollyhock rug I've been angsting over. I think I've found the solution...adding texture. So I'm adding a bunch of novelty yarns I picked up at the dollar store before it closed. It seems to be helping those background hills.


Here is a Deanne Fitzpatrick pattern I am hooking. It is not drawn straight on the linen backing, so I am having to adjust things as I go. However, I love the colours I am working with...the deep rich tones. That background is actually a navy and purple plaid with a gold stripe in it!


And the Christmas ornaments are progressing nicely. I just want to do a few more angels and I'll be done. I'm just working on this one piece of cloth this year.


Here is an original design I dreamed up as a result of reading a back issue of "Quilting Arts" (Summer 2005 Issue 18). They had an article on the running stitch. I read it while on the bus going to stitch-in. It's amazing where the mind will take you when you have absolutely nothing else to do. I designed a couple of pieces on the spot. I highly recommend the bus for forcing you to stay focused on creative thinking!LOL This will eventually be a Christmas ornament with beads, etc.


And here's proof I actually finish things!


I must admit, I'm not wild about this framing job, and will not use that framer again. Still, it was a reasonable price because they made a mistake and didn't charge me for the frame. I was going to take my business elsewhere, and should have, in my opinion. Oh well, it could have been worse.

Here's another cross-stitch Christmas ornament I finished Tuesday. And now I'm working on a tree ornament. I'm hoping to do two ornaments a week at least, between now and the end of November, when they go on sale.


Now I have to make time to finish them.

I spent the weekend at a stitching retreat everyone.  Let me tell you, this was a real treat!    Twenty-one women, two nights, all accommodation and meals provided, peace and quiet (well, except Saturday night when we practiced belly dancing), no interruptions.  Yep.  Heaven on earth!  We were well fed.  So well fed I figured my only defense was three walks a day, one after each main meal. 

Projects worked on?  I finished my "Leaves" project...except to find a hanger for it.


I finished stitching a second Christmas ornament.  I have a few more to do before the end of October.


I finished stitching a Kissing Pillow for the Canadian military in Afghanistan.  This link is for an American kissing pillow.  The only difference between the Canadian and American ones is Canadians add some maple leafs instead of the stars.  The pattern for a kissing pillow was featured in "Embroidery Canada" in the October issue.  This magazine is available to members of the Embroidery Association of Canada only.  I stitched this on a friend's cloth, so do not have a photo of it. 

I worked more on my "Friends" cross-stitch.  But will have to rip out the grass under the skirts, as I did it wrong.  However, I was happy just to have those skirts done!


The next project to work on, aside from "Friends" and Christmas ornaments, is the guild sampler from three years ago that I haven't finished!


All this stitching has motivated me to finish off some projects.  Having concentrated time to work on a project really helps.  I think I may try setting aside large blocks of time at home to work on projects.  I've been avoiding it for a variety of reasons.  Time to get to work!

This piece was also a pattern stamped on linen, and came back with me from Britain when I was fifteen. There were actually a series of these. I embroidered them and gave them away to different people. This is the one I kept.

This is a pattern stamped on linen and given to me by Mom. This was done in my late teen years.

The above sampler led me into cross-stitch proper. Not stamped patterns, but counted cross-stitch. Here is a sample from that period. The flash kind of ruins the photo, but you have an idea of what it is like. There were several patterns in the booklet, which I eventually gave to someone else. I found these patterns difficult and, after someone's tea spilled on the second one of the vireos, I was discouraged. It took me a long time to finish. Counted cross-stitch has always been a struggle for me.

I left cross-stitch after this for some time. It wasn't until my children were older that I picked it up again. This time I made birth samplers for both my children. I also made some small pieces.

Then I foolishly started some complicated patterns that I have yet to finish (and some, to start!). And I made this for myself.

When I joined the Stitchery Guild years later, I worked on the following bellpull and Christmas ornaments. Using dark fabric is difficult. Using metallic thread is difficult. Combining the two was a nightmare on 18 count aida cloth. The 14 count cloth wasn't bad though. These patterns come from “Beautiful Cross-stitch from Classic Quilt Designs” by Brenda Day.

To be continued...

I took up surface embroidery in elementary school. These are some samples I have from my school years...

This first sampler was a pattern stamped on linen. It was started by my younger sister, who was much better at handiwork than I, and finished by me. I was in grade six when I finished this I think. It was too big a project for my little sister, who was two years younger than me.

As a child I was always struggling to be able to express myself artistically. My mother supported me as much as she could, but my father firmly believed the only way to success in life was through the sciences and university. I didn't mind the idea of university, but I wanted a more arts oriented approach to things.

Gram taught me technique. Mom ended up in arguments with Dad over space, materials and supplies for me. I remember overhearing one about some fine linen she bought for me to embroider napkins on when I was 13 or 14 years old. I was determined to do my best so Dad would see it was a justifiable expense. I used a Vogart pattern. Now the resulting napkins look very poorly done to me. Here are some of them.

Still, once I had worked on that linen, I knew I was hooked on fibre for life. Fabric, yarn, thread -- I salivated at the thought!

I have always been attracted to fibre. My hand instantly went to touch anything made with it. I must have driven my parents crazy! When I was little I always heard “Don't touch that!” when we went visiting. But the curtains were so beautiful, I just had to feel them! That linen sealed my fate.

Mom saw her relatives in me. Dad saw a dismal future career for me. I took Home Economics in grade seven and wasn't allowed back in grade eight. That sealed my fate as far as Dad was concerned. But not me. I hated Home Economics. I wanted to stitch and design my own clothing – not follow someone else's patterns and instructions. That was boring! Where was the challenge in that? Where was the fun?

Later, in high school, I tried to get into grade 10 art and was refused as I was “too academic”. That was the first time it occurred to me that being smart could interfere with what a person really wanted to do in life. Mom tried to talk to the school administration on my behalf, but there was no hope. I believe I lost my faith in the public school system that year. I certainly didn't bother to put out much effort in high school, or university for that matter. At that point I resigned myself to wasting the next six years doing what my father wanted.

Mom compensated by sending me to private art classes. It was a group of cold older women whom I really felt uncomfortable with as a teenager. The instructor was less than helpful. All I remember is painting a pear...the entire eight weeks. There was very little instruction for me in that class and I came away discouraged.

Mom helped me set up a plywood table to paint at in the basement, in the darkest corner. She bought me a desk lamp, totally inadequate for the job, but you make do with what you have! I painted my way through high school in my basement dungeon, while friends put off stink bombs in their basement chemistry labs. I was afraid to stitch – it was expensive, and I believed I wasn't as good as my younger sister, so why try? My older sisters were always telling me I wasn't good at anything. BUT, after awhile of people telling you that, you know, you really don't listen to them anymore. Because there is no way you're going to get better unless you get out there and try!

And then Mom kept giving me these stitching kits for my birthday and Christmas...

To be continued...