A New Start

Hello my fellow stitcher's.  Here it is Sunday afternoon and we are enjoying a peaceful afternoon after a chaotic morning.  Today we celebrated Little John's second birthday....a few days early.  Here are 2 pictures of our big boy blowing out his candle on his dinosaur cupcake.  He was really quite proud of himself.

It was a houseful over at Peyton's and John's and we had a lot of fun helping him celebrate.  He's becoming such a big boy it's funny calling him "Little John".

I made a Halloween display for him over at our house of my fall and Halloween creations.  He loves looking at it when he comes over.  Halloween is such a fun time of year.

I started two new projects.  One is a shawl for myself out of the softest yarn I have ever worked with.  It's alpaca, cashmere and silk and it is yummy.  The color is a beautiful silver that will go with anything.  I have 4 skeins of this beautiful yarn and I plan on using it all on this shawl.  I want it big so I can snuggle in it.   That's 1,740 yards so I know I'll be working on this for a while but it will be worth it.  As you can see, Vallie agrees with me about how soft the yarn is.  If I put it down, she's on it immediately.

The other start is a SAL by Lizzie Kate called "Spirit of Christmas".  I'm chugging right along on it and so far so good.  Since it's a mystery sal, I don't want to give away what the finish project looks like but I think it's okay to show you what I have done so far.  I was going to change the colors (Weeks Dye Works) to more primitive colors, but now I'm glad I didn't.  Loving them!

Well that's what I've been up to this week.  I hope yours has been just as enjoyable.  You all have a great week.

Blessings, Barbara

Updates

It's been awhile Ladies since I gave update and I hope everything is going well for you all.  

Well we made it thru Irma but she remains to be seen.  You look around your neighborhood and you see piles of brush, stacks of wood chopped up and debris everywhere.  I have no idea when the county is going to get around to picking this up but it's really getting annoying to look at.  

Then if that wasn't bad enough, the day after we got power I came down with bronchitis.  For 8 days I could barely move, talk, cough or sneeze without pain somewhere.  I think I'm going to call it "Irma's Revenge" from now on.  I didn't go to the doctor because I already knew what he was going to say...."drink plenty of fluids and take tylenol".  Right?  Why make him richer when I might need that money towards our new roof.

I did start 2 new projects while trying to live thru all this.  First is a design called "Queen Bee" and it's by Little House Needleworks.  I've had in my stash a piece of fabric that's a very pale green and it has printed on it a design that looks like a honey comb.  Well I thought that would be perfect and here's what I have finished so far.

I'm stitching it with Au Ver A Soie 100/3 silks and Belle Soie and I'm loving it.  I hope you can make out the print on the fabric....it's pretty pale.  The fabric off to the side is the pack of 5 inch charm squares I'm going to use to make a project bag out of it.  It's slow going but I'll "git r dun".

Then I started a new shawl using a very unusual fiber...at least for me....sugar cane.     It's by Araucania  and it's called Ruca Multy.  It's very much like bamboo and will have a wonderful drape to it.  It's a dk weight so the shawl should be a little larger than the pattern says which is fine by me.

It has an unusual color combination....camel, toast brown, light blue and mauve but I like how it's turning out so far.  I'm using a pattern that I've used before and  by the way it's made, it should lay on the shoulders very nicely.

Well that's about it.  I hope everyone has a pleasant week and you get lots of time to do something you love.

Blessings, Barbara

Some finishes

 Well I finally finished my shawl I was working on.  It was knitted with 3 different brands of yarn....Berrocco, Bernat and Katia Ribbon.  I love the weight of it which is a little heavy and will keep me nice and warm down here this coming winter.  I hate wearing coats and I find shawls are a great addition to my wardrobe.  It's most knitted but the ruffle at the bottom is crocheted.  I made a shawl like this for a friend's mother and I loved how it turned out so I thought I'd finish this one that way.

Then when I had my crochet hooks out, I thought I'd make some washcloths to sell in my store.  This set was made using a cotton/acrylic yarn that has been recycled so you might want to say these are "green".  There are three washcloths that finished out about 8 inches square and a round scrubby which I love to use to remove makeup.  They are all tied up with a red and white ribbon with my "Blessings".  You will find this set for sale in my store.

I came across some unusual jars the other day and I'm working on coming up with something involving them.  They are a great size for holding pins and such and would look beautiful sitting on your sewing table.  I hope to have these finished sometime next week so stay tuned for that.

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend with absolutely nothing to do but stitch....

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Something to keep her warm

One of my friends works with a lady who is going thru a rough time right now and she asked me to make a shawl for her. I decided to make her a prayer shawl. I picked a cream yarn that is fully washable to make it out of and I hope she likes it. This is the prayer that goes along with it:

"Dear God, Bless the shawl that my hands are about to create and make it a comfort and a blessing to the person who receives it. May she find peace during life's trials, setbacks, disappointments and hardships as she wraps herself in Your love and in this shawl. May it be a sign of Your loving presence and a reminder that she is surrounded by prayers asking You to give her wings to fly above her troubles. Amen

Please check in on October 1st because I will be having a new giveaway for Breast Cancer Awareness. Now that is a clue: the giveaway gift will be pink.

I wish all of you the best,
As always, Barbara

A Spoonful of Sugar........

.....makes the medicine go down.....and this little pillow from Just Another Button Co is just as sweet. It was so much fun to stitch and I can't wait to see and stitch some more of these monthly teaspoons. I took a green and white checked ribbon and ruched that around the outside and added a bow with pink, green and pale yellow ribbons. You will find this in my "store" for sale.

I received so many emails about the soxs my daughter designed that I thought I would share another of her knits. She did this shawl last year and if you look up close, you will see that the yarn is a kettle dyed with varying shades of yellow and that there are thousands of white beads knitted right in to the pattern. This shawl is as light as a spider web to wear and the reason I have it is to store it. Four boys under the age of 11 are bound to get into trouble now and then and she would rather have this shawl out of hands reach. Can't say I blame her....there are hundreds of hours of work involved here.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday and has plenty of time to sit and stitch in this hot weather in the nice cool air conditioning.
As always, Barbara

Some Treasures to Share

You all have heard me talk about my daughter, Jenn so I thought I would share with you ladies some of the treasures she has made for me.

First up is a quilt that she designed, pieced and hand quilted. It's all done out of whites, creams and tans and it is just remarkable. The picture does not do this justice at all and I wish I was a good photographer so you could get a real feeling for this.
The above picture is a close up of the hand quilting. She has remarkable small stitches compared to my big ones....I never could learn the hand rock method and do mine totally different. Her and I are alike in that we love the hand quilting part. I hate piecing and would much rather applique a quilt.

The above picture is a hand knitted shawl she did for me this past fall. It was knitted on very tiny needles in a full circle so it lays on your shoulders very nicely. I've always wanted a beautiful shawl to throw over my shoulders on a cool evening and she did herself proud on this one.

Above is my bear, Otto. She knows how much I love bears and this one was added to my collection. My collection has grown smaller since the 5 grand babies were born....for some reason, they like to take my bears home with them.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my treasures done for me by my daughter. I take great pride in the fact that she loves needlework as much as I do. It's a tradition started with my grandmother, Anna Grace, who I think of often when I pick up a needle.

As always, Barbara