Red, White, and Blue Fun {Needlepoint Finish Projects}

"Done is better than perfect"

When I was reorganizing my studio at the beginning of the month, I found three needlework projects completed, but not finished. Long ago, I was making pillows with them, but they never were as big as I wanted or practical. 

The first two seemed pretty easy decisions. 

A rustic white frame for my kitchen display area and a small red frame for our family room end table.

The lighthouse needlepoint wasn't exactly "patriotic", but it had a vibe to it that could work, but knew that a frame wasn't going to be the finish I wanted. 

I searched around for ideas and settled on using some yarn I had for Christmas Stockings to make a binding edge. I wasn't sure about it at first....

...but it really turned out better than I thought. I used some blue heavy home dec fabric I had in my stash and stuffed and closed it.

It's tucked up in this cute basket filled with quilts and my Mount Vernon Shell Cushion Seat Kit I finished. 

 

I am REALLY energized this summer to get things done, both projects and blogging. It's kinda like finding "me" all over again......

WIP: Charity Stitching

This week has been all about wrapping up some of my "unselfish" sewing.

Finishes:

 NEEDLEPOINT

Two needlepoint ornaments for my son's school auction.

The swan was finished just last night!

WEATHERVANE BLOCK

December's do.good stitches bee blocks were VERY late.  I just have been trying to gather myself after some unexpected news and trips.

Definitely gave me some trouble picking fabrics for some reason.  When I see "pink" in a stack, iI want to run in the opposite direction because my stash is sadly lacking.

They are a Weathervane block from  Don't Call Me Betsy.

 

SQUARE IN A SQUARE

Yes, it seems simple now, but I know that Toni has some tricks up her sleeves for January's do.good stitches quilt block.

She plans on slicing and dicing.  Can't wait to see the results with her gorgeous color pallette.

In Progress:

STARSTRIP QUILT

I finally recieved one of the stragglers for November's do.good stitches quilt.....the holidays were tough in our bee group this past season. Big moves.  Babies.  You name it!

I finally came to a conclusion for a border.  Rainbow colors, here we come.

But first, I need to stitch my Starstrip blocks together.  Can't get too ahead of myself!

 When I get this top pieced, I think I will get back to work on little Button's quilt.  He is patiently waiting, bless his little heart!

Move Over Quilts

This needed to be finished today!

I was asked to help with some needlepoint crosses for my son's high school auction this fall.  

 I actually had it almost completed before Christmas, but I ran out of some of the background blue.  I also did not get the white edge twisted silk in my kit!  I stopped by yesterday at the beautiful shop that our school had made arrangements. If I wasn't as in love with quilting as I am, I think I would have found my chapel to worship in (just kidding).  

The background filled quickly as I sat at my doctor's waiting room as I waited my alloted 20 min after my allergy shot. 

Last night, I started the t-stitch edge.   

By bedtime, the timer turned the lamp off over my head and I couldn't keep my eyes open! 

Luckily, Button was feeling a little off this morning and I finished it up while watching Mickey Mouse with him.

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I really wanted to finish my Giant Star today.  It is really shaping up!

But Button really wanted to take a spin on his new birthday toy.  

I couldn't say no!

There is always another day!

Linking up with Lee, last minute!

 

Discipline Notice

I have to say that I felt like I was cheating or playing hookie by missing two link-ups in a row. I am waiting to be called to the principal's office for not reporting my WIPs on Wednesday!

Finishes

This is where I feel like I am really cheating! I haven't touched my machine since November 16th.  Yes.  I know the exact date.  Scary, no?  But I am going to stick to the WIP Wednesday format.

THE Mickey Mouse quilt

I finished the quilt on my birthday, November 16th.  Hubby gave me some time to quilt and prep it for binding while he packed the car (usually he "needs" me to direct him").

I actually finished the binding in the car on our Magical way to Disney World.  The gift of time was the BEST present ever.   I, seriously, will never forget this birthday ever!!

My Mickey Mouse Pants Bag

I was a little nutso and had to have a tote for Disney!

It transformed into a cute sling bag for myself.  Details coming soon.  I don't have the links for the pattern I used readily available!

In Progress:

Needlepoint Christmas Ornament

There was a shout out from my oldest son's school for needlepointers.  They needed us to make a few Christmas ornaments for the school auction fundraiser.

I started it on during our Road Trip and have been tinkering with it for the past few days while I have my feet up.  It doesn't require too much arm motion!

I have to admit.  I am not in love with the darn metallic thread.  It is just not my favorite medium.  But I am close to finishing!  There was a tentative due date for the 15th of December.  I might actually be early?

Imagine Quilt

My do.Good stitches bee quilt has been haunting me...so I am going to spend today stay stitching the piano key border.

I know...shamelessly showing this picture again...but, I can't help myself...the cuteness!!!

When I decided to do a piano key border, I researched the different techniques quilters use match up their corners.  An interesting tip kept being mentioned in the different forums I was landing in.  Many of the veteran quilters encouraged the newer quilters to do a 1/4 inch stay stitch around the entire border.  Apparently, the keys tend to stretch during quilting...especially on a longarm quilting machine.  I never knew!!!

Today, I have been feeling a bit better than I have the past week and a half, so I thought I would see if I could do a simple straight stitch later today!

And maybe cut my backing and piece it so it can be ready for Ole Betsy when my arm is able to do the stretching motion. It is going to be the first quilt I finish after this recovery.  I promised myself!

New Projects:

I have a ton.  Sitting around and looking at my magazines, books, and the internet have added more things to my already Ridiculously Long List.   Not to mention all the Black Friday sales? I had a bunch of birthday money from family burning a hole in my pocket. 

I now have fabric that I have ZERO plans for.  ZERO! I am a bit disgusted with myself actually!  There is much more and I need a better picture than this Instagram picture, so keep your eye out for a completely different post!!

Linking up with Lee, as always at

I am praying she just sends me to detention instead of a full suspension for failing to visit her!  And I am hoping I am off the hook too because Elizabeth at Occasional Piecing is guest hosting today!  Muaahahahaha!

  In all honesty, there is NEVER any pressure to link up on her blog, but I have found the WIP Wednesday link up to be one of two helpful link-ups to keep me focused on my goals!!

Hope you all have a lovely day!  I have to see if I can tackle the laundry and maybe work on the bee quilt during Button's nap.  If not? I am not going to stress about it!  I promise!!!

Road Trips

1000 miles in a day in a half to Disney World yielded

One Mickey Mouse quilt bound with tiny dotted black fabric
(more pictures to come of the Mickey quilt in the near future)

One EPP hoop project completed

And a new needlepoint project started.

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1000 miles back home in 16 hours in one day yielded

A lot of progress one the needlepoint project!

One of quite a few Christmas ornaments for my son's highschool auction.
Thankfully, I am only responsible for ONE!


I have determined that I need to go on more road trips to get my handwork done.
 If only I didn't have to do my fair share of driving...I could have done so much more!

Handmade Parade

 Are you a hand stitcher?

I love to sit down and do an embroidery stitch or two!

If you like to Katey is having a new link up party on Fridays!

She is hosting a linky party every Friday at her blog There and Back.  Go there and show off your stuff okay?

All I have going right now is my various needlepoint projects.

A yarn needlepoint. 

 I am making some progress, but it is slow.  I have no love for stamped projects.  I hate trying to "guess" which color, even with the chart. It feels like added work because they never seem to match.

I also have this going on my stand.

It is a aida cloth throw.  It is nice and soft, but not the easiest thing to work with.  The hoop is one of my very large ones, but isn't really compatible with my stand that I have.  But I am making it work.  I have to admit...this is counted cross-stitch, but my problem is since I don't work on it very often, I really lose my spot...I really need to start marking my chart!

And I finally broke open this kit!

I realize that I am rapidly running out of time to get this done for Button by Christmas.  

I sorted my floss two weeks ago.

And I started the first stitches this week!

Other than that, I have some hand stitching planned for the Twin's Quilts...so I will have something different to share later!

Otherwise, I probably won't be able to join in all the time (especially if all this needlepoint/crosstitch doesn't qualify)

Are you working on any handwork right now?

WIP: Not all sewing!

I have started feeling like one of "those" bloggers.  At least 3 posts a week?  So I apologize to those that are like "Give it a rest, Heidi!"  My excuse?  I have too many things I need to get out of my head!!  It physically throbs and aches if I don't get it out.  

And I just adore Lee's  WIP Wednesdays!   It feels like it is my very own personal assistant letting me know what tasks I have left to do!  I am actually adding my "to do"s this week so I can have a visual reminder of what is on my agenda.

So just consider this blog and especially this post for my personal health, okay?

Quilting Projects

Christmas Quilt!  

If you recall HERE, I saw a tutorial about a week before Christmas.  I took the dare. I mean, seriously, someone TRIPLE dog dared me!!  Of course, reality set in that it would be quite rude to hide away in my Studio when my in-laws arrived for the holiday, so I started working on it right after the New Year!  I have successfully cut 95% (I have the appliques still to do) and pieced almost all of it. I just have one more step..sewing my pieced "snow and sky" to the squares below!

Three baby quilts 

One baby is already here, one is on it's way in March, and the third? It was supposed to be for Ana White's "Make Two".  I haven't really started on all three other than fabric choices. So sad, right?

Thank you quilt

When Baby Button arrived, I had to take maternity leave from my most favorite job as the school nurse.  One of the mom's at our school that is also an RN, was willing to substitute.  Right before his birth, I decided that I was not going to return after my maternity leave for the sanity of our family.  She agreed to finish out the full 4 months left.  Sweet, right?  I found this kit on clearance (even cheaper than the price tag mark) when my Joann's was moving to their new location.  I hope she likes it even though he is turning one next month!

Needlepoint Projects

I bought Button's Christmas Stocking Crosstitch Kit last month, but I need to finish at least one of the two following projects first. I don't like to have more than two going at a time!

Elsa Williams Vintage Cherries

  

I love small needlepoint projects for "on the go" or what I more commonly call my "Bus Driver" projects.  You know, the times you are sitting and waiting for your vehicle to be loaded up at carpool or waiting for the tennis lesson, baseball practice, or saxophone lesson to finish?  This one is great, but I started it sometime last year and have made no progress other than the portion you see.  MUST GET IT DONE!

Butterfly Throw

I bought this kit YEARS ago and it collected dust in my needlepoint basket.  When I was pregnant with Button, I was organizing my needlepoint/crosstitching stash and noticed that it was flowers and butterflies.  Of course, since Jamie Lynn is our "Butterfly", I just had to start it right there and then!  It was perfect for hanging out in my Master Room chair watching Tinkerbell with Bunny (shh...don't tell anyone that he likes Tinkerbell....we watch it because we like to think Jamie would love it ;)!)  I have it set up in the room, I cheekily call the "Library".  Really it is a formal living room and study combined.  I like to call it the Library and even put the family computer in there so that it is more welcoming to the boys than a "pretty room"!

ORGANIZATION

I cannot function if my house is not organized.  My left brain forces me...even though my right brain fights like the dickens!  My left brain reminds me that our house is happy and whole if everything has a place.  I have quite a few areas on my to do list, but I am only going to focus on these three this week...I don't want to push myself (tee hee!)

DVD Movies

It is time to get all of our new movies organized and the stack of movies my sons cannot manage to put back in their binders.  In order to make it happen, I stuck it all in my Studio.  My right brain will prod me to get it done faster I can get to work on all the other FUN things above.  Good strategy, no?

Scrapbooking

I am off on another retreat in about a week and a half.  I have part of my scrapbooking items organized.

 I want to start sorting my power layouts and getting all of my photos printed by the end of this week.  Usually I am picking them up at Walgreen's on my way to the retreat (oops).

Magazines/Catalogs

Look at this collection.  All from the end of November through December!  I like to cut out ideas and inspiration for my idea binder.  

I think Button is willing to help me.  However, if it just gets too overwhelming...it is getting TOSSED!

Now I just hope I get some of it done.  I don't want to be embarrassed next week!   Usually, however, when I go to WIP Wednesday.

I always get inspired to get going!!!