Of Stitching and Crocheting

The stitching around here has been slow but steady. I can stitch for hours and not have a lot to show for that time other than the memory of a pleasant few hours.

There are those that think sitting around the house stitching on a perfectly beautiful day is a waste of a perfectly beautiful day. I disagree with that philosophy. I think any day is the perfect day to sit on the couch and stitch and since recently introducing Netflix streaming through the Wii to our home, well I don't care if I ever leave the house. It's this wonderful, magical thing, this Netflix streaming through my Wii.

I've just started Isabella Johnstone from SANQ, I think last summer's issue. I'm using DMC and 32ct linen that I aged myself. I've also been working a bit on SL Emma Lerch:

(yes, that's the Wii controller, my new BFF)

The picture below is the bit that was able to catch a streak of sunlight, the only sun that I could capture this afternoon:

Emma and Isabella are great companions while I watch episode after episode of Wire in the Blood and 30 Rock. Another project getting a bit of attention is my Ocean Waves afghan. It's from Crochet Today's Quick & Easy Gifts special issue. I'm crocheting it using the recommended yarn because I had it all in the stash. Good old Red Heart. I would say that I wish I was crocheting this using the finest wool but the fact is my family is the type of family that if a drink gets knocked over they reach for the closest thing to sop it up which would be this afghan, not to mention the dogs and our pride of cats, the frequent handwashing of a wool blanket would be a pain in the butt.

All I know is that I need to stitch and crochet much faster. I have a long, long list of projects and even with not leaving the house any more than I have to, I can't get near as much done every day as I'd like. I thought for sure I'd have Emma completed by the end of this month. No way that will happen. I keep trying to tell myself it's all about the process, the finish is just a wonderful perk but I want to move on to the next project. The serial starter in me is itching to start several new projects. It's a constant battle not to put that first little X into a piece of virgin linen. I must control myself or I will spiral out of control and be sucked into the vortex to Fantasy Island or rather the land of "You'll Never Finish All These Projects".

That Emma, She's a Screamer

Since finishing Rachael Holmes my stitching time has been devoted to sweet EMMA LERCH. She seems to be yelling the loudest and considering her loud color palette, she's hard to ignore.

Emma Lerch

Scarlet Letter

32ct cream linen

DMC

started in 2010

The last couple of days have been spent on stitching the house outline and I will admit that while this is a reproduction sampler I am not stitching it the same as Emma. Her house was apparently outlined with over 1 Xs and I can't see where all that over 1 enhances the beauty of the piece so Emma is a better woman than I. I'm stitching the house outline over 2 just like the rest of the sampler. Call me a baby, I can take it. I tried a couple of over 1 stitches and truthfully, they were not making me happy so I made the executive decision to make my sampler a wee bit different from Emma's and no one would know unless I told them and whoops, I just did!

Since finishing the outline of the house I've gone back to working on the border. It's actually going pretty fast and this is from the single slowest stitcher in the history of the world.

Has anyone else stitched this sampler? Did you outline the house with over 1 Xs?

Happy New Year!

Here ye! Here ye! On this the second day of January in the year two thousand and eleven, a sampler has been completed by she who nevers finishes anything. Rachael Holmes

Heartstring Samplery

32ct linen, aged by moi

assorted threads from the stash

(click to make bigger)

New Year's Eve was spent trying to right some wrongs such as the septic tank, the broken front blinds thanks to a neurotic dog and cats who believe they are their personal monkey bars, some cleaning and a bit of stitching. Unfortunately most of the above took away from the time I could spend stitching and Rachael Holmes ended up being carried over to the new year. Since I'm more of a lemonade girl than lemons I decided a finish on the first day of the year could be just as a positive as a finish on the last day of the year and maybe set my stitching pace for the year ahead. January 1st was spent with an NCIS marathon and stitching and stitching and stitching, OMFG, no matter how much I stitched, there was more. No matter how close to finished I thought I was there was more! I gave up around tenish and decided Rachael won and she'd get one more day out of me. At six a.m. this morning I picked Rachael back up, I made X after X after little X and finally after two episodes of Law & Order she was completed.

I love this Sampler so much. I used Beth's colors as a guideline and pulled threads from my stash.

These are the threads I used-the chart colors on the left, my substitution on the right:

WDW Honeysuckle- GAST Ohio Lemon Pie

WDW Dove- GAST Banker's Gray

WDW Guacamole CC Eves Leaves

WDW Pecan DMC 420

WDW Havana DMC 830

WDW Mocha CC Olive Branch and DMC 640

WDW Bark DMC 3021

WDW Red Pear DMC 223

WDW Raspberry CC Manor Red(this was touch too red but it works well I think)

WDW Deep Sea CC Wavy Navy

WDW Bullfrog GAST Forest Glade

WDW Curry CC Finley Gold

My conversion isn't perfect but I'm very happy with the finished result and am working hard not to be so anal about using the exact threads a chart calls for and I'm trying to build my confidence swapping out colors. I've found the investment in a DMC color card is worth every penny. Once a thread can be matched a color of DMC matching a thread from the stash is so much easier.

May 2011 be a year of stitching heaven for all of us.

May there be no knots in your floss

No frogs in your needle

And may the little X continue to bring you comfort and joy!

Thank you to everyone who takes time to read this blog and share the love of the little X with me.

Happy New Year!!!!