A finish finish!

Well...here it is ...my version of Jeannette Douglas' "My Stitching Album"
I am very proud of it!
This has been an ongoing project since September of 2008 and while each page gave me immense satisfaction, you cannot imagine how great it feels to see the whole thing right there before my eyes and knowing that I stitched the whole thing.

I was very uncertain as to how I would finish it. My good friend Sharon was here at Friday stitching last week and brought along some pages she was attaching together in an accordian for the guild. That was it, I knew that was what I wanted to do as well. She had tried to describe the technique to me but until I actually saw it I couldn't visualize my book done that way. But once I saw it on Friday, I got myself in gear...finished my last page, went for backing fabric and timtex , and then spent 2 1/2 hours Tuesday with Sharon and all day Wednesday and voila the book is complete. (Well I am omitting the last "wrought by..." page since my name is inside on the final stitching page)So thank you Sharon for taking so much time to teach me that lacy stitch between the pages and showing me how to attach the backing and make the pages stand up...and thank you to the guild for teaching Sharon the technique in the first place!
And Jeannette...what an undertaking...thanks for designing such a great project...even if I strayed a bit from your suggested colours and book design.

And if I wasn't pleased enough on Thursday and Friday to show off my newly completed masterpiece to the stitchers, look at what Fran made for me to wear when I go to Nashville...you can be sure I won't be waiting that long to get into it. Aren't I just the luckiest person to have so many generous, thoughtful friends??

There are more pictures of me in the sweatshirt on Fran's blog,

as well as some of the Friday stitchers.

I have one last question ... Dani, Beth, others??? How many new starts does my finish finished Stitching Album qualify me for?

Also...next blog...I'll tell you a true story about a local teacher and a project she and her students have tackled and if you are interested in helping out I know she will appreciate it.

Halloween Treat

I finished this Lizzie Kate Merry Christmas banner a few days ago. Around the same time a customer and friend Janice came to the shop to show me her banner...finish finished. Mine of course was just stitched ... but look at how Janice finish finished it for me!!! I know if I waited to get moving and either (a) do it myself ... yeah right! or (b) get someone else to do it...it would be next Christmas before it saw the light of day. As it turned out Janice took it on Wednesday and brought it back in all its lovely finishedness today! On Wednesday when Janice came by she brought me this little Halloween tree. It is a gift from Trish ,who I have not met in person...but who is obviously a lovely and generous person! She sent the tree to Janice to give to me. So first thing this morning I headed over to Belleville to G & G and bought a couple of packages of Halloween buttons which I threaded up and installed on the tree. Isn't it great. The purple sparkles!!! Thank you so much Trish!!! and Janice the messenger!

I managed to finish page 7 of Jeannette Douglas's My Stitching album and I think this one, Rhodes Rhapsody...is my favourite so far. I got a little more adventurous with my colour choices and what a shame that I waited till the second last page to get colourful! Bright colours are fun!

Some finishes

I have finished stitching my angels out of The Cross Stitcher magazine. They are done on Flax linen with Weeks Dye Works thread. When finish finished they will be stand up dolls.Aren't they cute? This is Chapter 6 of Jeannette Douglas' "My Stitching Album" I got a little behind with this installment because Chapter 7 is already here and I have just barely completed this one!