December Wrap up

It may be a little early in the month for a wrap up but I checking my to-do list and crossing off things to do.  

I hope everyone else is doing the same as we are getting ready for a joyous and happy holiday season and a healthy and plentiful new year.   Winter season is upon us with its blustery snow and whipping winds.   It only makes spring that much sweeter and something to anticipate.   And that gives me the lead in to something I forgot to share.   I planted 100 bulbs in October.  It was kind of like when you order a kit or floss that is out of stock. When your order shows up and you are left wondering what project was this for?    I ordered the bulbs from Breck’s last April and they arrived when I was away in October.    This is why I have started making a note of what was ordered and why.  

Planting bulbs in the fall is one of my favorite garden activities.   I enjoy the anticipation of spring when the earth will re-awaken and the bulbs poke their little blooms up through the warming soil.  Not only had I forgot about he order, I had no idea what my thought process was when I placed the order but I found places for them and I will be happily looking forward to see them come to life next April.  

Ta-da!

I managed to fully finish - finally - my 100 Block-a-Day day quilt at the end of  November.   I kept up with the block a day quilt until about day 93 and then I had the epic fail.  Last spring I finished up the last 7 blocks.  I had it long-armed this past summer.  I finally stopped putting off and took the time to add the binding. My fabric choice was almost entirely from stash using Aunt Grace and similar fabrics.   I did have to purchase about half dozen fat quarters of fabric and the backing fabric.    Reduction of stash and another WIP off the quilting list.    

Don’t you just love how it all crinkles when you wash and machine dry it?  

It was also 95% sewn on a 1947 Featherweight machine.   No fancy sewing machines necessary.  

 

I finished an EGA Christmas in July project - Snowman Quadrille. It was a WIPGO project so that is a win.  The instructions were very easy to follow and made the assembly a cinch.  The last seam and the bottom was a bit fiddlely but it is done and on the tree.

Both December WIP’s were finished out of order and none of my remaining WIPs were calling me so I started a new project.  This is  Busy Bee Skep from Janis Note of Noteworthy Needle.   It is a stacking Bee Skep.   A friend and I both bought the pattern this past summer.  I will be at Diane’s for a week in February and we will work on fully finishing it together.  So it was a must stitch. Justification in full force!!   I working on # 5 of the 8 motifs with plans to have all 8 done by the end of December. 

My tally for the year on WIPGO is 17 WIPs finished leaving 7 WIPs left.  One WIP was moved to a SAL since that is what it really is.  I took one off the list because I scrapped what I had done and will be starting it over on different linen with different floss.     I had 4 new starts for the year and two class pieces.  I started and finished the Blessings Sampler - 1889 Alphabet from Needlework Press.   I started and finished Bitter Sweet from Summer House.  I started and plan to finish Busy Bee Skep from Noteworthy Needle before New Year’s Day.   I started and have not finished, Jeweled Baubles from Shannon Christine Designs.   

Jeweled Baubles was a ‘reward’ I gave myself August 1st for crossing so many off my WIP’s list and is on the list to finished in 2025.   But this is not a project I can take to needlework night to stitch on as there is a lot of counting and color changes.  Once I get the Bee Skep done, I plan to spend the rest of the month on Jeweled Baubles.

   

All in all, it was another successful year with WIPGO for me.  I may have stretched my word of the year a bit (Monogamous) but I did stay the course and stick to projects until they were completed so much more so than I have in the past.  I used it broadly and tried to apply it to new purchases as well.   I did buy, of course, but I tried to curate that cart before my final checkout.    So again, I stretched monogamous to focus on what I have in stash and not add to stash.

I had various little pin pillows, name tags, needle-books that I stitched as well.  My grand tally is 40 finishes.    Wow, that sounds like a tremendous number but some were very small.   Take this cardinal - stitched and finished in under two hours.  I made 5 of them.   Mounted on a box of matches, they each landed in a different Advent bag.   So technically 5 finishes but I am almost embarrassed to include them since they were so EZ PZ.  Best part, more things stitched from stash.  

I have 15 days and the rest of the tree trunk until I am finished. It will make 41 finishes in 2024!!!!  I have enjoyed this piece and think it will be fun to compare with others.   I plan to take it to my friend Diane’s in February and compare my “Jersey” tree with her “Tennessee” tree.

All this this thinking about finishes put me in the mood for plans for 2025.  My WIPGO board is ready and I am mixing it up again this year.  Remember, your board, your rules.  If you are not familiar with WIPGO here is the skinny.   You make a 5 by 5 bingo board and number it 1 to 25.   Each block gets a WIP (work in progress) project and your goal on that project.   It could be to finish one pattern page, it could be spend 5 hours on that project, to do work on a border, etc. On the 25th of each month, the numbers are pulled for the following month,   Numbers are announced on both Instagram and Facebook.   The project called becomes your focus piece to stitch on for the month.   It took me a couple of years to find the right assortment of projects and goals.  All in all, WIPGO  has helped me eliminate the number of WIP’s that were weighing me down.   For 2025, I do have my remaining WIP’s listed and plan that 6 of the 7 WIPs  WILL be finished in 2025.  But alas, I fear/I know I may find other WIP’s tucked away in a project bag somewhere.  

 For 2024, I finished all but three squares.   Two of which were 14 hours on the same WIP.   I never picked the piece up; a total fail on my part.   It does reappear on the 2025 board.  The third was one project that came up in a particularly busy month.

I plan to start doing smaller samplers and work on class pieces in 2025.  I have Mabel Tukes to the board twice.  I have added a small sampler class piece from Jackie DuPlessis to finish.   Jeannette Douglas is the Designer of the Year for my guild so I have added three of her pieces as new starts with maybe two of them finished in 2025.    My mindset - as of today - is that I cannot start something new and anything I work on I have to plan to see it through to a finish in the immediate future.  I cannot stray from my appointed path, but here is the caveat, I know I have no will power when a SAL comes along.    The WIPGO board always looks to simple on paper but I am well aware ‘stuff’ happens, plans change, and some months, stitching time can be limited.    

 If anything gets completed before it is called, I plan to substitute Cornwall Cottage so I can have it completed in 2025.   Good to have goals to look forward to.   I just wish I could do the same commitment for a workout routine.

 

 I selected Sally Spencer for my January Blessings Sampler.  You are supposed to have a year full of ‘blessings’ if you start and finish a sampler in January.  Regardless of what is called for WIPGO, Sally Spencer is a small sampler and I feel good about being able to complete it in January.   

For some other ‘maintenance’ stitching,  I stitched up some labels to add to the back of Christmas ornaments I have stitched.  

As I settle down with all the shopping, decorating, and wrapping done, I like to take time to look back and appreciate the past year.   I had a great year filled with family, friends, fun and travel.  I am grateful for the blessings I have.   If I ever feel down, I lay in bed when I wake up and start to count my blessings - I have a cozy bed, I have heat (or AC if that applies), I have a kitchen full of food, I have wonderful hugs waiting for me from my grand babies,  I have a vehicle and the ability and means to go places, I have friends, I can pay my bills, I have family, I days filled with things to do, I have reasonably good health - just the aches and pains of aging.    I  try to stay focused on what I have and not dwell on what I don’t.  Before I know it, my frown is turned upside down and I am grateful all day long.  In these days it is so easy to get wrapped up in the ‘appearance’ of what others have based on their social media posts.  Don’t believe everything you see on FB. So much is staged and filtered.   Of course I do have a regret or two, but they cannot be my focus.   Positivity is the key to a happy life.   Someone has told me more than once that I live like an ostrich with my head in the sand, I say to each his own.  To me, as well as being free, kindness does matter.  I don’t want to sound silly listing food and a cozy bed, but food insecurity and homelessness are real concerns for many and yes, I am grateful that myself, my family and my friends don’t have to deal such issues.   

OK, I am off my gratitude soap box.

I am wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season, a new year filled with blessings and good things, much good health and happiness, much laughter,  much successful stitching and an appreciation of the small things that mean so much. 

As always, thank you for sharing the joy of needlework with me.   Thanks you for stopping by and leaving your comments that I enjoy and appreciate.  Thanks for visiting and keep on stitching.

Happy Holidays

 

November

Wishing everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving a good one with family, friends and good food.   I am not cooking for the first time in nearly 40 years!   OMGosh that sounds unbelievable but I did the math.   We will be heading to my son’s for a  great meal and day.  My D-in-L is a fabulous cook and she will not disappoint.  I am taking the green bean casserole and Pecan Pie Bars - first time I tried the recipe and maybe we will like  better than plain old Pecan Pie.    

Thanksgiving done will mean, like everyone else, I will be pulling out all those holiday decorations.  It will be a couple or three days of fixing and fussing. I have a friend spending the weekend in the beginning of December so that is incentive to get it done. 

Eleven months down and one to go for WIPGO.  I accept I will not be crossing off everything on my WIPGO list for this year.   But I do not despair, it is still a win my book.    Maybe I will be able to cross off one more square before the end of December.  

Part of my stitching success has been sticking to my word of the year - monogamous.   Only a couple of new starts but I will get into that and my tally at the end of December.  For now,  I am doing better with staying with a project until it is completed rather than being enticed to start something new.  Oh, I  have wanted to start several things but that little good angel on my shoulder pulls me back with a whisper to ‘stay the course’.

My stitching since my last post includes Bitter Sweet from Summer House Stitche Workes.  My plan is to finish it as a drum.   I actually think I need to add “drum finishing” as a WIPGO assignment since I think I now have three in the queue. This was a new start and a finish as well and was justified because I needed something small to stitch on.

I finished Harvest Time from Lila’s Studio.  Another piece that I was gung-ho to start and then left it to move onto something else.  I have a lot of Halloween decorations but not so many fall.   I really just fell in love with her plaid skirt.  No plans right now on how I will fully finish it.   It really is aggravating when I pickup a WIP and it really doesn’t take that long to actually finish the stitching.  I then think why couldn’t I just have had the patience to stick with it and not turn it into a WIP……Anyway, I changed her hair color; it was supposed to be the color of the leaf in the upper right corner.   Stitched it, frogged it, restitched it in a soft brown.  

Another finish is the class piece from my Jeannette Douglas Cruise.  This is her “East Coast Sampler”.   Either I am becoming a faster/better stitcher or this was quick and easy.   I vote for the later.   I did change the wording in the center from “East Coast Sampler” to “New England/Canada 2024”.   Not my idea.  A classmate did it and many of us copied her recharted version.  This will eventually be framed.

I caught up on my Temperature Tree.   I fell two months behind with being occupied otherwise - AKA being on the road!   But all caught up now and in the home stretch for sure.   This has been enjoyable to work on and it will be fun to compare with my friends as to what theirs look like.  I am debating on how to finish it.  I have a couple of ideas but I know myself.   Often what is in my head, doesn't come out as planned.    First where I was

And where I am now.   A few November leaves, then the December branch and leaves!

I have busied myself with Christmas exchange pieces - which I cannot share -  as well as a Retreat exchange piece, which I can share.   I usually don’t like to participate in Retreat exchanges because I don’t think my work is the quality of others, or their ideas are cuter than what I think of and because all these extra little projects take stitching time.   But I caved this time.   Really, a day to stitch and an evening to finish.   Alison, from Canada, pulled my package and was thrilled.    The strawberry really wasn’t as wrinkled as it looks in the photo.  The smaller one says “Shaker Retreat, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, November 2024”.

I received this adorable little wool appliqué pillow.   Such a sweet memory of the retreat.  Just the perfect backing fabric too.  

I put in time on Cornwall Cottage from Rosewood Manor; enough to almost satisfy two different WIPGO assignments.  I probably started this in 2016 or 17  and put it away because something shinier came along.   I am stitching it on the called for 32 count.   I saw a version a friend was doing on 40 count and I loved it.  Unfortunately,  it had me loose interest in my version.   WIPGO kicked my butt into working on it again.   I am determined to get this finished in 2025.   

I stitched three little Jeannette Douglas pin pillows which I turned into scissor fobs for my traveling in companions on my cruise.     

I have been trying to get all my fussy little EGA projects done.   We did a pin keep in September.   We also made a wool cardinal.   And I have two more ornaments from Christmas in July.   I need to make a pledge that I do not need to sign up for each monthly project.   The ladies running our EGA do such a fine job.    I think I felt obligated to sign up when our group was small.    Our numbers have doubled in the last couple of years so maybe I will back off on some of these meeting projects.    Right, like that is really going to happen.

I spent a day in Washington DC last week.  We hopped on the Metro in North Carolton, Maryland, and rode the rest of the way in unemcumbered style!   For real.   The train was quick, clean and a great way to avoid the traffic and parking and only $5 for a round trip.   We visited the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, “DAR”.   Surprisingly enough, the museum is not about DAR.   It used to be the national headquarters for DAR.  Now, DAR groups from different states sponsor a ‘room’ which they design and fund to represent their state.   Each room represents a different era.  I think there are 39 states represented.  

We were drawn to visit because of the Sewn in America exhibition.  The needlework on display did not disappoint.

Look at this quilt

And here is a close up.  Each square is less than 1-inch.  Not a bit of fabric was allowed to go to waste.  Scraps were saved and quilts were made.

Period dress

Close up of stitching

This is a Wheeler and Wilson sewing machine from 1871.

A different sort of treadle machine.   I love the foot straps.   Like on bike pedals.

This is darning sampler.  I have seen the Rachel Canby piece in person at Westtown School, West Chester Co, PA.  It is my unicorn chart.  Unfortunately it is out of print.

Don’t get confused and think you are looking at a road map.   This is sewing pattern from Harper’s Bazaar Magazine.  Each pattern has a specific kind of line:  one with dashes, one with dots, etc.   You follow the lines that corresponds to the pattern you want and either trace or cut the pattern.  

 

Clothing showing the markings made by the daughters of the home.   Textiles were some of the more valuable items in a home and why girls practiced stitching alphabets.  

Oops!  I cut off the last two initials on the pantaloons on the right. All the clothes were marked with the owner’s initials. 

Frock coat in pieces on the left.  Circa 1790’s

Mantle scarf

Perforated paper work

Marian Anderson.   In 1939, the DAR refused to let Marian Anderson perform at their site because of her race.   Their refusal had Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady at the time, resign her membership in protest.   The DAR faced criticism.  Marian Anderson, instead, held that famous performance at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.   Eleanor had to get permission from the President to use the location.   Luckily she had an in with the President.  I am sure Franklin had a hard time saying no to Eleanor.   Years later, Marian was invited to perform before a mixed race audience at the DAR’s Constitution Hall.  Eleanor was formidable woman - great read - The First Ladies by Marie Benedict.  It tells the story of Eleanor and civil rights activist, Mary Macleod Buthone.

This is a dress and shoes from Marian Anderson.  

We took a guided tour of some of the rooms.  The architecture of the building is amazing.  

I was fascinated by the floors.   One inch marble tiles throughout.  

The Library was stunning.   When it was an active DAR headquarters, this was a theatre.  

These chairs sit in the room sponsored by the Tennessee DAR.  The chairs are from the White House.  After the White House burned down during the War of 1812, President Monroe ordered gold covered chairs  from France.   Congress was horrified at the expense and that he wasn’t buying American made furniture.   A law was passed that American goods should be purchased whenever possible.   A local cabinet maker made these to replace the fancy gold ones Monroe had ordered.  Hmm, even in the 1800’s buying foreign was an issue.  

In the Maryland room, is a glass harmonica.  Literally the glasses are ‘played’

I don’t remember what era the Maryland room represents but I don’t think the furniture looks very comfortable.  

The New Jersey sponsored room is paneled in the wood recovered from a ship that ran aground, caught fire and partially sank during the American Revolution.   The British warship, Augusta, sank in the Delaware River in 1777 during the Battle of Red Bank.   The wood was reclaimed and the room was paneled with it.

The California sponsored room pays tribute to Chinese New Year

This is the Pennsylvania Room.   It is still used for meetings.   If some of the rooms and hallways look familiar they have been the setting for movies and TV shows, as an example,  The West Wing and House of Cards.  

This quilt is made up of squares submitted by each state as well as ones from France, Mexico and overseas.    Current members of the DAR live outside of the country and are represented by France, Mexico and the overseas panels at the lower right.

We then walked to the Renwick Display at one of the Smithsonian sites.

Some items were beautiful

Some were clever - this is Mexican Gothic

From the beautiful to the…….

To this necklace made from Barbie Doll arms………why?

This room was so peaceful and we were actually encouraged to lay on the floor and watch the color changes. 

The backyard of the White House was right behind me as I took this photo.   There was fencing and scaffolding and the road was barricaded for construction.   Nothing to see but a hot mess of scaffolds and jersey barriers and an unrecognizable white building behind the mess and trees.

Blair House - where foreign dignitaries stay.

Executive Offices

Headquarters of the American Red Cross

We finally got rain.   It has been three months since we have had any rain.  I feel so bad for the people that have been threatened and in fear of the wildfires.   We only had about an inch over night last week and I welcomed the sounded of the rain on the roof.   I just hope Mother Nature is not saving all the moisture for winter snow.   I do like a couple of good snowfalls especially if I have no where to go.  Time will tell.

I gave my husband my list of trips for 2025 and he looked looked at me.   He said, really, November, you have something for November 2025 on the list?    Well yes,   I explained you need to sign up for these things when first made available or you get edged out.   So nice to look forward to events.   I feel like I am moving towards not so much interest in retreats with classes as I am in just plain old stitching retreats.  It is so nice to see fellow stitchers in person; to put a face with the name on Zoom.  We stitchers are lucky to have such a community to share our passion with.   

A friend at my Tuesday night group showed us how she was labeling Christmas ornaments for her grand children.   I started making the labels to attach to my stitched ornaments once I get the decorations out.    I’ve got quite a few more to do but  I have made a start.

I am already thinking about WIPGO for next year and have drafted of my board.   It is going to be a mix of WIP’s and a couple of small samplers I want to start.    As of right now anyway.  I recognize my thoughts on stitching change like the wind blows  I have learned over the years of doing WIPGO to not set the task at an insurmountable level.   I might move things around if the month is busy.   I am not sure if I will set some kind of goal that I need to finish so many WIP’s before starting anything new.    That worked for last year.  Like many of you there are so many things I want to start but I am finding a new Zen with focusing on finishing my starts/not increasing my WIPs.   It does feel good to have to have fewer WIPS.   An unconscious weight off my shoulders.   I will give you all a tally next month.    

I haven’t touched my French Alphabet Sampler since August.   I hope after the first of the year I can dedicate one week a month to it.  Sounds good on paper.  I need to get some of these SAL’s and challenges off my plate.   My Round Robin should be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2025.  My temperature tree will be done December 31st.  And the French Alphabet is a 4-year Leap Year SAL.   2025 will be time to put the pedal to the metal and make progress.  

Bless you if you have managed not to be put to sleep.   This post just kept getting longer and longer.  So that is a stitching wrap for me.   I need to send out the biggest thanks you for all the wonderful comments I receive from you guys.   I love them.  I promise to get better on replying. 

Thanks for stopping by and keep on stitching.