Chaos

Hello everyone & welcome new followers!
It's been crazy here for the past couple of weeks. I planned on posting, but life got in the way.

One day last week, our living room  TV died. DH bought this almost 30 years ago. Since it was a large (53") pull down front projection, that meant a lot of work to take it apart . We still had audio, but none of the 3 bulbs worked. Last time this happened it was a weld on the video switch... Just can't get anyone to travel to repair. So we moved furniture and set up a temporary solution - but now our other TV won't recognize our DVD player / recorder. It's an older TV and the setup menu still lists VCR as one of the choices.

The next day, we were contacted by our contractor who came in to look at our living room bay window as it has been giving us some problems. That meant moving furniture and Christmas decorations again so that he had full access. The seal on one of the 4 panes needs to be replaced, and the manufacturer will have to come out sometime after the holidays to look at them to see if they all need to be replaced.

Amidst all this chaos, I celebrated my birthday. I received the nicest Birthday present from my dear college friend "M". She made me this lovely felted Cardinals candle mat.









I haven't been stitching much lately, as my evenings were spent wrapping packages for family members that don't live near us, and re-arranging our living room. I did manage to almost finish this stocking. I just have to add the beads for hanging and hem the inside cuff. I'll try to get a better picture when it is finished.

Deer in the Meadow©2009 Blackbird Designs
One of the Three stockings in the Merry December booklet
Fabric: 28 ct Milk Chocolate
Threads: CC, GAST, WDW
Stitch Count: 46 x 74, 2 over 2

I have to get back to wrapping - now it's for my dear nieces who have birthdays in January... I started earlier today but somehow got sidetracked cleaning up my craft storage area instead.

Have a wonderful day!
Lisa

Playing with silks & A HAED update

Hello everyone,

After finishing the stitching for my upcoming patriotic exchange, I dug out a few of my newest hand dyed silks, a mystery piece of 28 ct evenweave (close to DMC 3072), and a freebie pattern called Mini Chocolate Truffle Collection by Kathryn Drummond of Gingerbread Girl Designs. This is what I came up with. It reminds me of a kaleidoscope image. I plan to finish as a pincushion. Colors used are Dragon Opal and Dragon Hoard. I stitched the corner motifs 1 over 1; and the center motif is 1 over 2. Stitch count for each motif is 21 x 21.

And here is an update on HAED SAL SK Forbidden Doorway  - now 5400 stitches completed !

Have a wonderful day.

Lisa

My feathered friends and a bit of patriotic stitching

Hello everyone! If April showers bring May flowers, what do May showers bring? June bugs... and lots of them! It's been a rainy few days here - so I've been stuck indoors. At least that gave me some motivation to do a bit of long overdue cleaning up in my craft area - I still have a bit more to do. After some stash diving, I finally decided what patriotic design I'm going to stitch for my partner in the next Stitched With Love Exchange - but it turns out that I needed a few supplies so I'm waiting for my online order to arrive (hopefully at the end of this week).
Meanwhile, I found this lovely freebie American the Beautiful  © 1999-2011 Tonia Pappen - Oakhaven Designs at CyberStitchers. I used a scrap of  32 ct lambswool and DMC threads. Stitch count 43W x 52H









Last week was filled with dental appointments, so while I was waiting I worked on this design from the Rosewood Manor booklet Something Old Something New - 10th Anniversary Book of Celebration - Designs by Karen Kluba. Land That I Love © 1999 Karen KLuba. I used a scrap of 32 ct vintage sand dune and DMC Threads. Stitch Count 38W x 46H

I hope to get these finished up soon.


 I have also been working on my HAED, but I am waiting for some sunshine to get a better picture. Maybe later this week. I just love how she is progressing.

We have been seeing quite a few woodpeckers at our feeders this week. The young ones are learning their way around.

 This young one prefers to perch on our deck railing and wait for mother to bring some pieces of suet.

Blogger has been difficult to use lately - it doesn't like my browser. I've made several attempts to post over the past few days - some of them never even showed up as drafts. I think the good side of all this is that I fixed the comments to make it easier.

Have a wonderful day!
Lisa