WOW! That was fast!

I came home today to a wonderful surprise--an envelope from Gay Ann with all 5 of the patterns I ordered during e-Week!  I knew she had shipped 2 of them based on the tracking information, but it was a surprise to find the other 3 in the same package. Happy dance time for me!

I'm not sure, and why I ordered kits from the Annex!

As I continue working on the Florentine Ornament I'm not sure about the center Scotch stitch color.  It's not the color called for on the chart--7022--because the shop didn't have that color.  Plus, the other 70xx colors looked nothing like the photo on the chart.  Why would they?  I found out later that Caron has changed the numbering system on their Impressions thread and 7022 is now 8022.  I picked a color that looked close to the color in the photo, but now I'm wondering if it's just not really the right shade.  The shade is something in the 51xx range, a dark gray-green.   I think today I may run by my LNS and see if they have something in that 8022 range, just to satisfy myself.

I'm waiting for my eWeek charts and my Annex kits to arrive.  I like ordering the kits from the Annex after Gay Ann's sale.  At least I know that I have the correct supplies!  I would do all my shopping at my LNS but no one there ever seems to have time to help me and since the shop is quite a bit out of the way and has limited hours--well, it just makes shopping with Kate even more attractive!

Here's a photo of my Florentine ornament--as it looks right now.   Any opinions about the center color?

Where has the time gone?

Who knows?  And why waste even a moment worrying about it?  What matters now is that I'm back, and I don't plan on vanishing again.

Looking at all of the lovely offerings from Gay Ann for this year's E-Week sale awakened something deep inside, so yesterday I had to make a trip to my LNS to kit up one of the many GAR designs I have.

I pulled the chart for "First Florentine Ornament" out of my stash and kitted it up.  I got started as soon as I got home from work yesterday.  This was my attempt at Scotch stitch and I'm very happy with my results.  I finished the entire Scotch stitch center last night, and then early (way too early!) this morning I put in the Krenik braid overstitch.



Later this morning I started adding the navy Krenik border around the Scotch stitch.  I should be able to finish this border tonight.



I ordered a few things from E-Week.  I'm looking forward to adding Whitework Heart of the Raj, Chain of Hearts, Periwinkle and Pearls Heart, and Spirit of Christmas Heart to my stash.  Tomorrow I'll have to check out Kate's Annex to see what supply packets she'll be offering.

Hearts...beautiful, lovely, HEARTS!

It's here--Gay Ann's once-a-year heart sale! For one week only she's offering 7 different hearts for sale on her website.

They are all beautiful, but I'm partial to the HOME heart, and the set of 3 Pink Roses hearts.

Even if you're not planning on ordering anything right now, do go check them out. Her designs are always a joy to look at.

Bummer...

I finally get back to stitching after all of the Christmas hustle and bustle. There I was, settled down last night in my stitching place, ready to stitch and listen to the GOP debate. As I finish up one of the borders around the inside lozenge on my Blue Sparkle Angel I look back at the instructions so that I know what to do next and I see...SOIE D'ALGER...oh, no...I don't have any....

When I had my darling husband kit up the 4 angel ornaments for me way back in December of 2009 my LNS didn't have the Soie d'Alger I needed. So much time had passed between the time I had him kit her up and now that I had forgotten about the problem.

So now I'm on hold until I can get to the LNS next week to pick up a skein. Good thing I have so many other projects hanging around here needing to be stitched!

Emerald Angel kit arrived!

Once Gay Ann's E-Week ended, Kate opened up the Annex, selling supply kits for most of the designs offered during E-Week.

I ordered the supply kit for Emerald Angel, and the beading kit. They arrived last week:

I'm very happy with what I received. Kate did a lovely job packaging everything, both for presentation and for shipping. I'm glad that I made the decision to order the kits from her!

It was new-start week last week for me! Because Green Sparkle Angel is complete (except for the beading) it was time to prep a new piece of congress cloth, mount it on the stretcher bars, and start a new project!

I pulled Blue Sparkle Angel out of the Gay Ann chart box and started stitching. For most of the week I stuck to my 15-minutes-a-day plan, but once the weekend arrived (and I finished a cross stitch ornament) I devoted all my stitching time to my Angel.

So this photo shows quite a bit more progress than I would normally make in a week, and yet it doesn't reflect the progress I would have hoped to make given all the time I spent on it. For some reason the silver braid and I didn't get along well--I must have stitched-and-ripped, stitched-and-ripped, stitched-and-ripped each one of those sections a few times before getting the count correct. I don't know why I had so much trouble, but at least most of the sections are in now. The last two shouldn't be as much trouble since there's no counting to be done!

Here's a close-up of the border so that you can get a better idea of what it looks like:

I'll be back to the 15-minutes-a-day plan this week. But hopefully I'll have a good deal of progress to show when I return.

Could it be possible to finish this one before the end of the month--which is only 9 days away? I'm going to try!

Happy stitching, everyone. And a happy Thanksgiving, too.

the mail...the mail...the mail....

Today's mail brought a treat--the final envelopes I was expecting from Gay Ann's E-Week sale! In addition to the last of the charts that I purchased (Glittering Diamonds and both sets of the Perforated Paper Ornaments) I received this beautiful Carrickmacross Lace Doily from the Sunday morning sales:

Isn't it beautiful? No photo can do it justice--it's so delicate and elegant. I think I'm going to have it framed and have the frame turned into a tray to use on my dressing table. What an elegant place that would be to put my jewelry at the end of the day!

All stitched up!

Look what can happen in only 15 minutes a day! All stitched up except for the beading in the center which will wait until I get the beading kit that I ordered--or until I finish the other 3 angels. It might make more sense to do all the beading at once, just before they are sent out to the finisher.

So now...which angel should I stitch next? Blue, lavender, or red? (OK, it won't be the red angel. I'm considering changing her color so that she blends in better with the other angels.) I wonder if I can finish another one before the end of the year?

I hope you're all having fun stitching your Gay Ann stash. I know I am!

In just 15 minutes...

Just look at what you can do!

15 minutes a day...

WOW--this 15 minute a day thing is really working! Here's what my ornament looked like when I first started on this plan:

And a close-up of the center so that you get a better idea of where I really was:

And this is what it looks like after 11 days of working that plan (2 hours 45 minutes of stitching time):

Here's a closer view of the lower-right-hand corner--see the filling starting to appear?

See you next Sunday with another progress report! I wonder how many sections I'll have filled in by then?

And I wonder how many finishes I'll have next year if I only stick to this program?

Gay Ann mail!

Yippee! My first Gay Ann mail arrived today! Margaret Rose has landed, and she brought along the book on Bullion Roses.

I spent a very happy hour looking at them before putting them both safely away in the portable file box that I have dedicated to Gay Ann's charts. I'm sure I'll be pulling them out again to look at them while I wait for my next shipment.

It's so much fun to study new charts!

Oh, and I've been faithfully stitching for 15 minutes a day on Green Sparkle Angel. You're going to be amazed when you see the progress I've made! Look for the 'reveal' on Sunday!

Weekend update

Here's the result of stitching for 15 minutes a day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sadly, when taking the photo this evening I noticed that I've got an error on the starting point for the bottom right hand gold diagonal that I stitched today. So tomorrow's 15 minutes will be spent picking it out and re-stitching. Oh, well. That's the way it goes sometimes. But I'm still happy with the amount of progress I can make in only 15 minutes!

E-Week is over, time to get stitching!

Well, it's finally, officially over. E-Week 2011 has come to a close...here's the final tally of what I ordered and added to my Gay Ann stash:

Emerald Angel

Glittering Diamonds

Perforated Ornaments set 1

Perforated Ornaments set 2

Margaret Rose

Lace Doily

Now that E-Week is over it's time for me to get back to putting in some time with the Green Sparkle Angel ornament (from last year's purchases) so that I'll have at least one Gay Ann stash finish this year! I'm planning on spending at least 15 minutes a day working on this until it's finished, and then I'll start another Gay Ann project.

Here's what my poor, neglected Green Sparkle Angel looked like when I last put her away:

I wonder how long it will take me to finish her?

If you haven't been to Gay Ann's website today, please make time to visit and watch the video "Stitching Elizabeth". It's a wonderful exhibit of some of the Elizabeth's--both in-progress and finished--that were stitched when Elizabeth made her debut at Callaway last year.

Emerald Angel

One more item--I just couldn't resist her any longer. I think I can use her for a box top and store my most precious stitching item inside--my mother's stork scissors.

I still love Mystery in a Corner, but I think one geometric will have to be enough--for now!

And Cyn--I was seriously tempted by New Orleans, too. But I resisted! I hope I don't regret that decision...

Well, I caved...

With the best of intentions I placed my order with Gay Ann yesterday--Margaret Rose, the book about bullion roses, and a lace doily that was the first of the Sunday morning specials. I was so proud of myself--I had really limited my purchases!

This morning diaster struck. It seems that Gay Ann (kindly, I guess...) decided to make the Saturday and Sunday sales available throughout the day today so that those members of her Yahoo SNS group who missed the weekend sales (there seems to have been some confusion about exactly where the sale was taking place) would have the opportunity to purchase some of those designs.

Well, there went all of my resolve. Suddenly I'm looking at MIAC, Glittering Diamond, New Orleans, and the perforated paper ornaments...

Before I know it, I've sent Gay Ann an email ordering Glittering Diamonds as well as both of the perforated paper ornament sets!

Oh, well. I'll enjoy stitching them over the next year. And who knows--maybe next year I'll have a bit more willpower!

Where has the year gone?

Here it is, EWeek again, and I've finished NOT ONE SINGLE PIECE of my Gay Ann stash! How shameful...as soon as I finish Celtic's hallowe'en ornament I've got to get back to stitching Green Sparkle Angel. I'd like to finish stitching her this year, even if I don't get her 'finished' and on the tree until Christmas 2012!

There are some beautiful designs being offered as part of EWeek this year--and lucky for me, only one that I consider a 'must have'. Gay Ann is selling "Margaret Rose," a design I've wanted since the day she showed it to us, so I'll be ordering her (but not the sewing case, I'm not really a sewing case kind of girl...) before the sale ends.

I'm looking forward to the early-morning sales on Saturday and Sunday, too, to see what might pop up. Who knows...there just might be something I 'need' behind one of those windows!

date night progress

Oh my gosh! I had forgotten how painstaking it is to stitch with the white pearl on the white canvas! I must have stitched partial rows and then ripped them out a half a dozen times. I cannot believe I once thought that I was going to get all four of these stitched this year!

So here's a photo of my progress from last night. I finished up the gold border around the center green lozenge and then started on the white border that runs outside of that gold border. As you can see, I'm half-way finished with that white border. Next week I should be able to get it finished up on date night--I'm not sure that this is a suitable project for '12 stitches a day' work. It's too easy to lose your place on this one!

See you next weekend with a new update.

Christmas in July!

Merry Christmas Heart is back from the finisher!

Another week of progress

This week I faithfully put in my 12 stitches a day on Green Sparkle Angel, and then I spent Date Night with her last night. I've finished those three blasted rows of white tent stitch (man, do I need practice with that!) and I'm half-way through the first row of the interior borders. I'm so happy with this project--good thing, since I've got three more of these to stitch (other colors) this year!

This week I plan to follow the same stitching plan: 12 stitches a day, plus a few hours on Date Night (Saturday night).

So here's what she looks like now: