Still Here_Still Stitching

It's been a while since I last posted here. I've been so busy getting Mom's new home arranged and handling her financial arrangements that I didn't realize how long it's been since I shared with you all.

After our snow and cold, the past 2 days have been sunnier and warmer. I got some lovely sunset cloud colors on my camera this evening from the parking lot of the Hastings book and media store in Canon City where I had been picking up books for grandchildren. The moon is even visible in some of them; the color was more in the south and east since there were no clouds on the mountain skyline to the west.

I haven't had time or energy to do any quiltmaking but have gone back to my long time sanity saver, needlepoint. I can do this in the evenings while watching TV with Joe. Christmas time always gets me into stitching more ornaments. I'm finishing some pieces that I started last year; I finished the green stitching on a tree and filled in the empty bars with gold yarn. There is also a photo of a Christmas tree that I stitched and beaded last year; the colored bugle beads make good tree ornaments. I'm also putting the background stitches around an angel, which is shown in the photo with another angel that I stitched last year. I finish these with a felt backing that covers a layer of thin batting.





When we moved to Florence from Deer Trail 20 years ago I managed to lose my large collection of needlepoint beaded ornaments that I had made, so each year I try to add a few ornaments to my recreated collection. I've also made ornaments for the kids through the years. The one piece I was sorriest to lose was a tree top angel that a male friend made for me when I lived in Boulder. Jack was fascinated when I began to needlepoint in the early 70s and had to figure out how to do it backwards, since he was lefthanded. Later, he actually found a book on needlepointing for lefties.





I love to make quilts, but I do not find it relaxing, and I wear out quickly. The rhythmic hand stitching of needlepoint has always been a very relaxing activity for me in a way that nothing else is. I am so thankful that I can still hold and manipulate the tapestry needles, which are larger than the quilting needles that I am no longer able to use.

WIP Wednesday

I haven't gotten much quilting done this week due to feeling crummy and visiting the kids in Byers over the weekend, but I did get some stitching done on my current needlepoint project while visiting. This has been my favorite prayer for many years; it is from Elizabeth Goudge's book, "The Scent of Water." A couple of years ago I decided to stitch it in needlepoint so I could hang it on my bedroom wall. Since this photo was taken I've stitched the background as far as the H in "have". I don't stitch as much as I did before I started making quilts.

I have quite a few pieces that I've stitched during the last 30 years that I never made into anything. I didn't stitch to have a finished product, I stitched to be stitching. It has always been so soothing to me, especially when waiting in doctor's offices or hospital rooms with my Mom or Dad, or my previous husband, Lou, who died of cancer after a two year fight. At that time it saved my sanity. (Needlepoint and walking) I've designed quite a few of my needlepoint pieces and I prefer to stitch onto a blank canvas, from a chart; it always seemed more magical to me than stitching on a painted canvas.

I decided that I should let my kids choose which one they wanted and if they wanted it made into a pillow or a wall hanging (these I stretch on canvas stretchers.) I took a stack to Byers with me and the girls chose one apiece.

DIL Lori chose the flowered heart and it will be a pillow. DIL Jennie wanted the log cabin pattern as a wall hanging. (Even before I started making quilts, I loved them.) My daughter Kat grabbed the octagon; it will be made into a pillow since I can't find octagon stretchers. Now my other DIL Robyn, and daughters, Michal Ann and Shay will get their choice when I see them.

As you can see the stitching tends to warp the canvas so they now have to be blocked to get them back in shape and sewn or stretched so they can get out of the drawer and be enjoyed.

Now to get back to stitching the Strippy Fourpatch for the 40 Quilts Service Project of Quilt Studio webring. I'm really getting the quilt itch since a few days without working on one.

WIP Wednesday

Here is what I am working on today. I've got all but the last two borders on this Bargello for my oldest daughter. I guess I'm going to try to machine quilt it myself. I am fairly inexperienced with machine quilting and not very good but the only way I'll improve is by doing it. Darn! I admire good quilting so much that I wish I could do it better and enjoy doing it instead of feeling like I'm going to have a root canal.

I chose these fabric colors to resemble one of Monet's waterlily paintings since Michal is very fond of them. I enjoyed sewing the strips together even though it was slow and required precision; it seems almost like magic to me the way all the seams snuggle up to each other when pinned and sewn. It's so satisfying after pressing the seams to see how all the corners match and make the design. The narrowest strips are only one quarter inch wide when sewn.

I've always enjoyed doing needlepoint bargello also. It's a pattern I like. I once considered stitching bargello upholstery for a wing back chair but luckily my sanity came back before I attempted it. A homemaker with cats should not put so much effort into her upholstery.

I'm also doing a lot of ruminating on what I want to put together for the November Journal Quilt. I'd like to figure out an attractive way to use some bits and pieces I like but wasn't able to use in previous JQs.

I'm also incubating the idea for a series of four quilts, based on the seasons, using the nature photos I've been taking printed on cotton, similar to the September JQ, Granny's Flower Garden,
only larger. This will take over a year to complete because I want to use seasonal photographs, many of which I have yet to take. I have a good size collection of Autumn photos and it is all I can do to forget everything else and jump into this, but I have promises to keep.

I'm taking a class on making a floral embellishment tomorrow at the Creative Cloth Closet in Canon City. I hope I'll have a nice creation to share when I get finished. The sample in the shop really caught my eye.