Sarah's Cigar Box

After a rushed week back at work, Jim and I decided to pass on a trip to the beach yesterday.  I knew as soon as we changed our plans that it was my chance to finish my Sarah Seifer cigar box project.  What a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Even if I do say so myself, I couldn't be more pleased with the final result.  Everything from the colors of the floss and linen to the pattern in the fabric and the tone of the box wood seemed to work together. 

Mounting Sarah to fit inside the box lid was a little tricky.  Besides the usual considerations for making sure she was centered and stretched over the mounting board, I also had to allow enough space between the stitching and the side of the lid for the lip on the box bottom to fit inside.

After that, I lined the sides of the box bottom and mounted the padded fabric bottom.  It did take some fiddling to make sure everything was stretched and glued without gaps, but I do think it worked out well.

I'm thinking now of stitching some matching smalls - maybe a scissors fob or case and a needle pillow - to go inside.  And the perfect place to display it is on top of my cherry wood floss cabinet in the hallway.  Anyway, it feels good to have another finish under my belt.  I do have a few more cigar boxes on hand, so maybe I'll do another one as a blog give away....hint, hint!

Hope all of you have found some time for stitching on this brilliant October Sunday.  Thanks for stopping by for a look!  

Sailing Along

Hello everyone!  At long last, we're finally getting a glimmer of cooler weather to come here in the Sunshine State.  Ruby and Molly have been enjoying it thoroughly.

As you can see, Aussies have a very thick, shaggy coat, a lot like Collies do.  It makes playing in the back yard on summer days hot. buggy and messy for all involved.  Needless to say, when the first breath of cooler, dryer air blows in during October, these girls are overjoyed and more than a little rambunctious!

October has also brought a lot of employment changes for me as well.   Thank goodness, I'm now back at work full time.  Income issues aside though, my biggest fear in returning to a real job was that I would lose all my quality time for stitching.  So far, I've managed to keep my priorities in order!.  Let me show you what I mean.  Here's progress as of this morning on Atocha....

I've loved every stitch of this so far, even those that I've pulled out more than once. 



This little ship is my favorite motif to date.  I had my doubts the sails would have enough contrast on the linen. along with reservations the reddish brown tone I chose for the ships was going to work with all the blues and greens of the sea life.  But now that the first ship is launched, I'm tickled to pieces with it.

Then there are the sea creatures ...

And this little dude was a joy!  He looks exactly like the crabs we find at the Canaveral National Shore.

Last off , there's the manatee.  How Florida is he?



You're probably wondering what those two skeins of gray floss are doing beside him.  Well, I've never been quite satisfied with that orangish brown shade I worked him in. When you spot manatee  floating along in the Gulf Stream, they're just not the shade of sweet potatoes!  So he's coming out and will be reborn in the darker, more natural gray.  There's going to be a big whale at the center bottom so I'm guessing this color change will pull it all together in the long run.


A finish on Sarah Seifer - or what will probably be all I'm willing to put in - has also been reached!  Here she is...

Sarah may still end up  inside the lid of one of my cool wooden cigar boxes, but when Jim mentioned getting her framed, I had to reconsider.  If we do this, I probably would want to finish her all the way with the border from the original design  So my dilemma is "Do I turn her into a really cool cigar box?"  or "Do I put in the time and expense of turning her into a real piece of art?"  What would you do?

Anyway, I'm in a very good place these days - things seem to be sailing along smoothly on all fronts.  Hope this finds you in calm seas too!  Thanks for stopping by...I love your comments...