Autumn Comes Again

Yesterday I spent $5 at the local vegetable market to buy this little bevy of gourds. :)

This little green watermelon-y one with its over-long stem is my favorite.

Did I fool you with my laid out quilt block quarters? Only these three have now been sewn together--last time's "quilt" was just me deciding block placement by laying them out on top of my quilt-covered bed. My friend's mother let me use her Bernina--what an eye-opener that was. Want. 

I think I need to use a walking foot though, because of how varied and scrappy all these fabrics are. (They are getting quite "stretched by the process of being sewn together. Also, two were sewed together in the wrong placement. The foreground block is definitely coming apart. I need to decide which way to iron my seams. Heh.

I love wip pictures which elevate materials and textures. :) Last time's PS WIP with scissors Christina sent to me in an exchange. I've changed the fibers, most notably the ground below the Haunted House.

Please Advise: When I started, I thought of using just black for a pen-and-ink illustration look. I then decided to add browns, but am still not sure about adding in the orange. I've basically decided to orange the windows with an overdyed silk, but...should I do it anywhere else? If the keys aren't orange, should they be brown or black? Should the owl legs be brown or black? Should I just make the windows with their black backstitch only and no orange glow at all???

I AM disappointed that Marc is only afraid of the orange-eyed owls, but I do like the limited palette. I need elves to stitch this for me again as-charted, perhaps.

Didn't think I'd stitched much while away, but "found" this on "Aoutline"'s linen. I loved this motif I stitched for Faye a while back for an Autumn exchange, so here is one for me. But, what to put in the center? :) (I realize I did stitch, and quite a bit more than this...watch this space?)

I though Lovely Autumn'd just begun, I got the Christmas Stitch Itch. :) This is from a leaflet I bought because it had a Huntsman Santa with Fox. Do my threads drive you crazy? Me, too. 

But...

I loathe clipping them while/after stitching, but I ENJOY doing it at the beginning of a stitching session.  Thus, many "finished" pieces have little trail-y threads like this poking out of the front. Once or twice I've clipped them just for the purpose of shooting a blog photo for you (but not woven them in)--this is Not Allowed. :P

What else is on this "Linen No. 9"? Why, more PS! 

And Kindred Spirits by Prim Needle! Bad! How are things to keep clean with such an M.O.? I tell myself larger works (like a BAP Quaker) do, but my mind is not satisfied. 

I remember working hard to give this cat charming markings with the Belle Soie. Do you think I succeeded?

Another Away Stitch (with away waste knots, too!) This is a PS piece from the big Halloween book JCS put out last year, but I altered the colors and filled the background to match my favorite small (as seen in this post's first photo). So far, it is out all the time (though still unfinished!!) I need to stuff it (do I, though?) and finish the beaded edging. 

Thank you everyone, for your visits last time and kind comments. I am quite surprised and touched, and happy to be able to talk with you again. 

I am making a little extra time to integrate more visiting and commenting into my life, so I hope to see you at "your place" and talk with you again soon. 

Berit

A Few Photos No. 01

Hello, Everyone. Hoping all is well with you. Today, I have a few photos from here. (i.e. Let's see if I remember how to do this!)

Four quarters of a block from my 21st Century Bullseye Quilt--Deb inspired me to try this one--waiting to be sewn together.

I made this using a layer cake I won from BBD in "Garden Party". I'm wondering if I'd like it better if I omitted the reds.

I tried making Ina Garten's "Favorite Jam Thumbprint Cookies". (She really did say they were her favorite. How many Jam Thumbprint cookie recipes are in your repertoire?) The bottoms came out rather burnt looking, but did not taste burnt. I added some crushed cardamom seeds to the vanilla extract which I soaked overnight. Make this with Bonne Maman jams! :D

I started stitching Prairie Schooler Whoo's There? Halloween Card. It is 1/2 on supposed-to-be-36-but-actually-42 count Barn Owl by Linens by Design (formerly produced by BoaF). There were two of these Halloween cards released at the same time by PS (see other), and I love both. I reluctantly started with this one because Marc is afraid of the wide-eyed owls. I am rather farther along now, and one night I was burning the midnight oil to "just finish a little more. just finish the owl-outline." If you from a portmanteau of the words "owl" and "outline", it is REALLY fun to say. "Aaooutline" So, that is my new title for this piece.

I splurged on a new ticking stripe shower curtain. It is a linen/cotton combo, and I adore the french blue stripe with navy outline. (aoutline?) Until next time, my Best Wishes, Berit

Before-Christmas Catch-Up!

Whew! It has been a while, so I will try to keep it to the photos! Just because it is my treasure, here is the birthday card Marc made for me in its perch with some of my other favorite treasures on my coffee table. Yes, That PS Halloween small is still out. :)






And here it is with the beautifully wrapped gift it accompanied. I adore this card because he drew it, and it uses the darling caricature of me which we developed a couple of years ago. (He rendered, I "art directed": "Okay, have a rabbit making tea. Yes, but the rabbit should be like an eggplant. LIke a waterskin. Yes, okay over here...") Additionally, it induces a neat bit of recursion in the form of a Droste effect when I hold the present. :D :D :D





The darling paper, which is a gift in itself. It is a long story, but the gift inside is not a surprise, and is somewhat "owed". This makes the love and care he put into the packaging the REAL gift, and I adore it. He went above and beyond to order this wrapping paper; it is a good produced using motifs from one of my favorite comics, Ochibisan, which I spoke about here.





Inside the box? Why, it's this mug! There is also a blue version, which I also recently acquired. :) The food shown here is a green tea latte and okonomi senbei.




I was also blessed with other kind gifts. Wonderful Christina not only remembered my day, but sent me a pattern I had admired her finishes of! And, scissor charms, too! Thank you, Christina!



Meanwhile, I decided at the beginning of my birthday week that I would make the "Ultimate Gift" for myself--I would stitch The Chart: PS Fox & Grapes. (Do you have a "The Chart"?) Well, it was "ambitious", shall we say...I wonder if I will finish in the new year. It does have a lot of leaves!

Myra must have really been on the same wavelength (Not that my Fox Mania isn't somewhat legendary)





She sent me this amazing fox project bag! :o She said she got the fox fabric panel from etsy, and this mystic fox has really grown on me! It even has a rabbit! I like the co-ordinating black print she used; though multicolored the confetti dots remind me of pinhole constellations in a magical sky.





Here's a "batman snap" showing the scale and lining of this beautiful bag! About a week later I realized it even has green grapes!!!

I caught quite a cold in November (Right before Thanksgiving; the guys had to make It All!), and I feel like I am still catching up even now!


Okay, On to Christmas! (Somewhat)





I promise to get some better tree shots, but I do like the light quality in this and seeing ornaments from my friends! Don't you just love The Tree? I adore tree pics on blogs. :)





The messy desk layout of all the ornaments I have stitched since the summer--there are 12! (Well, 2 were from last year). I am surprised and glad to have reached part of my goal--more on the goal as I get closer/organized on it.

Some of these are officially for Becky SC's Ornament Challenge, and here follow closer pics of the ones I have worked on since I last blogged:




fr. Prairie Schooler Bk. 151 "Santas and Snowmen"
worked in the recommended DMC



With thanks to Myra for the loan of this OoP Chart! This was the "stitchin'-est" ornament in memory! Does anyone else "forget" that white or light stitching umn, has to be stitched when they are sizing up how much of a BAP a chart is?




fr. Prairie Schooler Bk. 117 "Prairie Stars"
worked in the recommended DMC


I've been pining for this one since I saw Edgar stitch it a year or two ago.



Here is a Mary Garry Santa ornament which I previously stitched for an exchange; I need to get a few colors I am missing to finish up santa!

Now, here is this week's WiP:




Yup, I started PSS Yuletide! I think the overdyes really make this piece, and I am glad I bought the JCS this year! This is another one which has a goodly amount of stitching, but once you figure out how to "work" the townhouses they are a fun repeating motif. :D



Also, I decided I had to have a noro scarf (as seen on Nicole's Blog).

Here is my trial run (I cast on 29 stitches instead of 30-something), and only used 2 balls of yarn. Learning the rib stitch to make this was so irritating, but I was really satisfied when I did.

Okay, friends, this is already overlong! I hope to be back soon with a shorter, stitching update type post. Just in case,

Merry Christmas!!
Berit

Christmas Ornament Challenge!

I'm taking part in the 2011 followup to last year's Pumpkin Challenge, the Christmas Ornament Challenge! I thought it was a good opportunity to motivate myself to stitch an ornament I have been wanting on my tree for a few years, but never got around to stitching. More accurately, I stitched it for an exchange, but then it was LOST in the mail (Later UK Post reported it as Stolen, of all things) and I had to re-stitch. I can tell you, I stitched a different piece and I completely lost my mojo for stitching my own!

So, yesterday I started, and today I finished up the last third of the pedestal and did the long stitches--hooray!






I don't have any info on this chart; I was inspired by Anita's finish of this, and wanted to make my own (I used the same thread as her version; I only remember that it is by Threadworx. It is stitched 1/1 on a 28 ct. evenweave; I THINK the color was called Mushroom. I looked around a bit, and I see it listed about halfway down this page as a 2008-2009 free chart.

Anita is great to work with; just email her if you are interested and I bet she'll set you up!

Too bad she doesn't sell Finishing Mojo; I think I can eek some out of The Challenge, however. ;)
Speaking of setting up, I want to thank everyone who responded to let me know about that PS Chart I asked after last time! I was pleased to learn that the chart, Bk. 63 "Christmas Traditions", also contains the other PS Christmas pattern my heart so pines for--even more than the one I asked about! It contains the verse "O Christmas Tree" and is loaded with rabbits. :D

I am also happy (shocked, but happy) that Sadie was even willing to lend me her copy! :o So, thanks everybody and especially Sadie!

...

Considering this stuffed squash for dinner; Chef John's recipes are on the whole easy and awesome; but I am still thinking, "Oh, if only this would make itself!"

"November" finished already?!

I just put the last three letters into this piece!





But, is it done? I put this one off because I was not sure about the word "nights". I don't think I like the "n", and the "g" looks like a digital display numeral"9". Also, I was pondering how to sign it. Now, I am pondering "if".




fr. Prairie Schooler Bk No. 149 "November"
Fabric: 28ct. Purely Primitive linen by Silkweavers
Fibers: Mostly cotton overdye picked by me; some recommended DMC.


Moving on, "Have You Seen Me?":





Saw this in my wanderings the other day, the stitcher said nothing more than that it was an old PS, and a favorite of the family, and that she stitched it in 1997. I only know that it is amazing, and probably OOP, and that I am perishing to know the title if nothing else! Any stitchers out there with any info? :D


Finally, because I am perishing for want of them, I share with you some Macarons from a City trip several weeks ago:





Feast your eyes upon (from foreground L snaking around to foreground R): Rhubarb (filling too wet and smooshy), Cassis (my favorite!), Early Grey (Too Strong--I know, blasphemy), Pistachio, Lemon, Mocha, Apricot, and Lemon (Marc chose 4, and I chose 4; hence the Luscious Lemon Repetition.).

Yes, these are from the same place from whence came the cast iron teapot of a recent post.

Happy Mid-Week!

Berit

A Hallowe'en Finish

Happy Halloween!





Prairie Schooler Bk. 174 "Cats, Bats, & Witches" (Selected Elements)
Fabric: 32 ct. Ivory linen by Wichelt (Walnut-ink stained by me after stitching)
Fibers: DMC as charted excepting bright orange silk overdye.





Falling Cat yowls, "Happy Yowl-o-We'eeeeen!"

A Merrie Hallowe'en~

It's Snowing!

These were taken about an hour ago, when it had just stared coming down.





Beginning to accrue on the roof after only 5-10 minutes!




I had Marc rush out to get these pics so that you can see our autumn color on the trees through the snow. Insane! It is still falling thick and fast an hour later. It is pretty warm, however, and I hope it melts off fast w/o stripping the trees. We are still at only 40-60% "gone" for our yearly turn-and-fall leaf show, and I don't want to endure extra weeks of barren trees this autumn! :(

I may update later with pics of the snow-blanketed landscape if there is interest.

A wonderful package arrived--a generous loan from Myra of an OOP PS that I really wanted to make an ornament (Or two!) from. She included a pretty scallop-edged fashion plate card AND best of all a fox-themed fabric bookmark which she made herself! She said it was just a little experiment, I say, "WoW!"



A (clearer) view of the other side. Myra said that she printed this design onto special fabric and then made up the bkmark!





Stacy Nash began selling walnut ink crystals, so I decided to take advantage because I have been wanting some for such a long time! Of course, I also had to get the sweetheart tree roll. something in this calls to me, though I don't know I will be making it into a roll!




This is part of the Primitive Betty's pillow I have been working on; I love the whole design, but it was working up too big on that 28 count Antique Tan! So, I grabbed an element from here and there, and added a little pumpkin! It was fun doing the ink dye, I went dark on it because it is a a Halloween piece, and small enough to not be a big risk if I botched it. I also tried dyeing some of the trim I received last time (It is pretty blue for this piece), but I think it still needs another round! :)






To keep us (me) warm in our travels, here is a pic of the tea I had at Macaron Café this week while in the city waiting for my medicine to be prepared. I was amazed when a $3 to-stay order of tea (Wedding Impérial by Mariage Frères) yielded a 2.5-3 cup cast iron pot's serving!

If it looks small, blame the barge of a cup the gave me to consume it from! Now, I really want a cast iron pot. (I want THIS cast iron pot.) lol. MF is my favorite tea house HANDS DOWN. This blend, however, is not. It is okay, but their standard French Breakfast Tea fills my desire for this type of taste better.

They were out of their divine Cassis Macarons, but I was able to make do with a Rose and Litchee. :) After the Niçoise salad I ate, it actually didn't matter (Shocking, I know!)

Well, I am off; Marc has planned a surprise for me this afternoon (Before you get jealous, let me tell you this is a First--and apology-related--but I am still so excited!) Wish me luck!

With Spooky, Snowy Wishes to you,
Berit