Done

Big news at last!!  After a mere 14 months of work, 5 skeins of silk, 4 needles 2 Super Bowls, the Winter Olympics and about a million hours of HGTV programming, Ann Grimshaw is.....

DONE!!!!!

 

The final stitches went in on her late Thursday night.

 

 

Mercifully, I made it through Ann's assignation with out too much trouble or angst.  Still though, there was a huge sigh of relief when that last tiny stitch went in.  My eyesight for itty-bitty letters just isn't what it used to be,

 

 

I did give myself a little bit of credit by adding my initials at the bottom left and the year on the bottom right.  That probably isn't the best protocol with a reproduction, but when all was said and done, it only seemed fair.  Hope Ann would agree with that.

 

 

Last night and this morning, I found myself in this sort of funky post-finish haze.   It really felt odd after so much work, to suddenly no longer have Ann to go to, no more rows and rows of alphabet letters in different sizes to keep turning out.... 

 

 

I gathered up my scroll rods, the dog-eared remains of the original pattern and the last little bit of the Finnegan's Fog and tucked them all back into their spots in the stitching closet.  It was like cleaning up after a parade....

 

 

But it didn't take long to move on.  Ann is now safely delivered to my framer's and will be back home in a few weeks. That feels great!

 

So what's up next?  Those of you who read my New Year's post know I swore to not start anything new until Ann, Francis Eden and Hannah Pepper are all wrapped up.  Well, 1 out of 3 is on the books now, so I suppose I should move briskly along to the ever-patient Frances Eden.  Ironically, Frances will be travelling with me to Tallahassee for a few nights this week, where I plan to restitch the exact same motifs I put in on her last year when I was there.  But I started thinking that if I want to remain active on the Scarlet Letter Years blog, I'd better have at least a little something from same-said SL in the works.  Which brings me to a choice...should it be Jane Atkinson, or the Knox Family Sampler?  Please advise!

 

Anyway, with Ann over and done with, I'm hoping to post on a more frequent basis. Thanks so much for hanging in there with me this past month while I labored away on Ann;s swan song  Let's just say that all's well that end's well!

The Days Are Numbered

Hi there everyone!  Once again, I'm excited to start a post by welcoming some new followers.  It make my day when I check in and see the number of folks interested in my stitching has gone up one by one.  So glad you're following along!

I don't know if this is really the right thing to start with or not, especially for those who are still shivering away in the frozen northern regions right now.  But I know spring really is on it's way, because it's arrived already this far south.  Here's proof.

We've had a bumper crop of tomatoes growing in our patio pots this season.  Winter days are numbered when it's time to ripen them on an open window sill.  So please hang in there, the warmer breezes really are making their way across the Florida-Georgia state line and will be there for you soon enough!

And speaking of counting the days, they're also getting numbered at long last for Miss Ann Grimshaw.  

 

 

I'm not quite to the final row of motifs, but every number that goes in gets me a little closer.  The lower motif in this picture is the last one on the right side!

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I do wish I had more time to work on her because the end is starting to feel like it's touchable now,  Even though these big numbers seemed simple enough, for some reason (bleary eyesight too late in the evening!) I had a hard time keeping them all lined up on the same linen thread.  This straight-forward looking # 4 had to be restitched 3 different times.  Ggrrrrr.....

Ann's name still needs to go in and that's over one, but I'll get frustrated over that when it's the right time for it.  I would love to think the next post you see from me is a finish for Miss Ann, but even just saying that out loud probably diminished the chances of it. So I'll just know that her days continue to dwindle, I'll keep things posted.

Hope your days are sunny and bright!

Stitching the Straight and Narrow

Happy Monday!  Who doesn't love a 3-day weekend? 

Let me start be saying I'm so happy to have several new followers lately, I can't tell you just how tickled I am about that . Welcome!! 

As for me, I've taken my 2 year, New Year's resolution and stuck to the plan.  That means focused concentration strictly on Ann Grimshaw, nearly to the point of obsession.  Why is it on these big girl projects that the closer you get to the ultimate finish, the slower the progress seems to be?  I could swear I've stitched a million miles and at least that many alphabets on her the past two weeks. But when I look at the picture on the chart and try to estimate how much more there still is to go, it feels like I'll be working on this behemoth for another hundred years.  Sort of like by the time she's done, this Ann will also will be an antique sampler?

I had the notion that this bottom alphabet would go quickly because it just wasn't very large.  What was I thinking?  Yes, there wasn't as much stitching in it, but for that very reason, it also didn't take up much real estate on the linen.  Turns out, eating up the space is what it's all about for me at this point.

See what I mean? That larger lower case alphabet that's now underway actually seems easier and less cramped to work on,.probably because it consumes more of the linen surface area.

Fortunately, these two little beauties were straightforward and quick,  More importantly they are the last two motifs on the left side.  A milestone of sorts!

 

So I hope you all will hang in there with me as I keep slogging away at Ann.  I would dearly love to have her finished by the end of February.  Maybe I'll do a giveaway as the grand finale approaches?

I forgot to mention a little something about this a few posts back.  I bought a little gifty for myself - Scarlet Letter's "The Knox Family Sampler".  Merry Christmas to me!

 
 
I've wanted to do a Scottish sampler for a long time now, and the houses and barns are enticing. Also, since I grew up an Knox County Illinois and graduated from Know College, the name itself has a strong connection for me.  So while I've sworn to stitch the straight and narrow path until all three of my endless big girls are completely on their own, having this one next in the queue seems like extra motivation for showing them the door. 

So I'll stop here and head back to more time on the endless Ann Grimshaw,  Will have to remember to come up for air from time to time.  Thanks for stopping by!

I Mean It This Time!

Happy New Year to you!  I think the moment I became an official southern girl was the first New Year's Day that Jim and I actually cooked up a batch of Hoppin' John and collard greens with corn bread.  Where we grew up in the frozen north, these dishes were unheard of, much less served on New Year's with as much tradition as turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.  Well, time changes all and now here I am to show you what was our good luck dinner on the first night of the new year..

What fun it's been to see all the "year in review" and "stitching plans for the new year" posts popping up this week!  All of you have done some very impressive stitching last year.  I was thinking I would do something of the same, but it seemed difficult to begin without looking back to last year's new year's post as a starting point  Imagine my horror to see that I started off 2013's stitching with the exact same goals I still have for this year; that is to

1. Finish Ann Grimshaw
2. Finish Frances Eden; and
3. Finish Hannah Pepper 

No new starts, no ambitious undertakings, or even major purchases mentioned, just to get 'er done on these three loiterers.  So how can it be that here it is a full year later and I've got the exact some agenda? Surely I got something accomplished?!

But then I remembered....I did have some side trips this past year.  Like to the Hemingway House in Key West:

...and that little excursion around the Gulf of Mexico on the Atoche.
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Oh yes,this little piece took a short jaunt to North Carolina for a visit with our friend Faye.

 

Shall I even bother to mention those lost weekends spent dallying with some fruits?

 

So strictly for the record, let me repeat that I only have 3 big stitching goals for 2014. and they are to:

1. Finish Ann Grimshaw.  I spent New Year's Eve with this wench. repeating the alphabet over and over again.

 

 

2 Finish Frances Eden.  This poor girl has waited long enough. It's time for her to earn some respect.

 

 



 

And last, but certainly not least is goal 3 - to finish Hannah Pepper.  This school girl has played hooky from my line up for far too long.  As soon as things got tough with those tiny little mid piece over one motifs, she skipped town and hasn't been seen since.  Well, she's going to get finished this year - I mean it!

 

So there you have my stitching goals for the upcoming year - short and sweet.  I swear on a stack of Bibles that they'll be finished by this time next year or I'll have died with a needle in my hand trying. No distractions, no Scarlet Letter challenges, no Praire Schooler Santas, certainly no spur of the moment wild hair ideas for new projects will steer me off course.  Please dear friends, hold me to this resolve, no matter how much ranting and whining you may hear from me!

On that note I'm off to disassemble my Christmas tree and buckle down to work.  Here's wishing all the very best in the bright new year!

Season's Greetings!

Well, let me be the next blogger to  start a post with "....sorry it's been so long since my last post, but...".  I'm sure there are so many of us right now we could form a line longer than the one for the Macy's Santa Claus.  It's December - 'nuff said!  So let me pick up where I left off sometime around Thanksgiving....

I was waiting patiently for the next supply of Finnegan's Fog to arrive so I could resume work on Ann Grimshaw.  After a lifetime of anguish three weeks, I did track some down at another source and it was in my hot little hands within a matter of days.  Yay!  Poor Frances Eden was once again chucked aside and work resumed on Ann.  Here's where I started back in with her.

And at the other end of the line is this.

Ann in all her up-to-date glory.

 

I'm not sure what to think of this latest dye lot of silk.  It's not nearly as bright in either the light or dark tones as the first 3 were, but is more grayish over all, with not so much contrast between the two.  My fear is that the alphabets and bottom row still to come will not work well with the shade variations on top, but that's the chance I took,  No doubt Ann herself would have carried on with the silk in hand and not have been terribly concerned about changes in shades.  How's that for a rationalization?

Remember in November when I spent some time working on those little Prairie Schooler fruits, all excited and ambitious about making them into this year's stitched ornaments for the holiday tree?  Well, I had a profound moment not long ago when I realized they just weren't going to happen.  I'm simply not a finisher.  There, I said it.  I got up one weekend morning, got all my stuff out to whip them into something wonderful......and just couldn't do it.  Didn't even try.  So one of my New Year's resolutions will be to stitch with the certainty that I am strictly a big picture kind of gal and to be completely OK with it.

Now, having said that, is it completely loony of me to need to show you some of my past ornament finishes?  A walk around my Christmas tree has some favorites....

This little guy is a tiny PS Santa, framed in a brass label holder.  My stitching group did these as a project one holiday season - what a hoot!  The sand dollar is from Clearwater Beach.  Like the beach, our tree is always littered with them.

 

This little pocket is probably my best finishing attempt.  The design was from an older JCS Christmas edition, worked when I still had the patience for that sort of thing.  Halley usually finds a Starbucks card in it come Christmas morning.

This woolfelt Santa was supposed to be a scissor keep.....

 

...but somehow earned a promotion to ornament status!

 And this sturdy fellow....

.... also hails from JCS, but  back when perforated paper was all the rage.  I keep him around because he still makes me jolly.

And last but not least are my Santa Bells, surrounding yet another PS Santa.

 

A friend of my mother's is a local folk artist in my home town.  For a number of years, Mom had a lot of fun collecting her annual Santa Bells.  My sisters and I were lucky enough to share in the Santa bounty!  Here they are creeping a little closer to PS Santa and  his reindeer.

So I'm hoping this lengthy post brings me up to date and time for stitching and blogging will be more plentiful in the new year.   That sounds like a lucky wish for all of us, so here's looking at you too.  God bless us, every one! 

Patience

Hi There!  So here it is, the first day of my Thanksgiving holiday and I'm loooonnngg overdue for a blog post.  It feels good to be settling in. Let me bring myself up to speed. 

When last I posted, I was still waiting patiently for the order of Finnegan's Fog so work could resume on Ann Grimshaw.  At least some of the order arrived promptly....

I now have a new supply of needles, a refill on the brown silks I need to finish Hannah Pepper and the few remaining silks necessary for an eventual start on Jane Atkinson.   But do you see Finnegan's Fog anywhere in the mix?  No!!  Once I started to think they must be waiting for the little silk worms to polish off their mulberry leaves and begin with the cocoon spinning, I abandoned hope and tracked down another source for it. Fortunately, Bobbie at Stitching Bits and Bobs  has come through with the 2 skeins I need and several more as back up if necessary.  With some good luck and a speedy delivery time, I'll have them in hand before the long Thankgiving holiday is over.  Now that's something to be thankful for!

And it's not like I've been sitting on my hands in the meantime with nothing to stitch.  I've made the most of the break from Miss Ann to show a little love to the ever-patient Frances Eden.

 

Thinking about it now, I remember I was working on those flying babies just east of Adam and Eve's apple tree right about a year ago.  So you can see there really hasn't been a whole lot of progress on poor Frances over the past year.  She's been a very agreeable traveling companion, allowing me to do most  of the existing verse while spending time in Little Rock over the summer.  And since she's been the stand in for the more high strung Ann Grimshaw, I've managed to produce Adam, Eve and their apple tree.

 

 Companionable as Frances has been, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that as soon as the Finnegan's Fog does turn up in the mail, she's going to be unceremoniously dumped for Ann Grimshaw once again. I know for certain I'll come back to her eventually and she seems to be forgiving of my neglect in the meanwhile.  Let's just hope that in another year I'm not still sitting here looking at the naked babies that need to go on the other side of the tree.and feeling a little regretful that I wasn't more attentive....

And in other news...you just never know what's going to turn up when you change the furniture around!  After years and years of piling camera gear, equipment boxes and newspaper outtakes on the spare bed in the man cave, Jim  up and decided it was time for the whole heap to go, box springs and all.  I was thrilled beyond words - that bed has prevented easy access to my stitching closet for as long as I can remember!  But best of all, when the mountain was finally moved, I found the long lost cover to my little craft basket.  It had been missing for so long I'd given up  hope of ever seeing it again.  A quick run through the laundry and here it is, just like it was on Christmas 1984, which was when my mom made it for me.

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Now I've got this wild hair of an idea that I might be able to get Mom to make an updated version of the same thing.  Her applique skills have improved quite a bit since then, as you might remember from this post...



We'll see what she comes up with, once I plant the hint....

Anyway, that's how things are for me on the Monday before Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping the next time you see a post, my turkey will be roasted, my tree will be decorated, my ornaments will be finished successfully and my Ann Grimshaw will be back in production.  If all that happens, I really will be  grateful.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Fruits of the Season

Good morning everyone - happy Monday! 

I've been patiently checking my mailbox (both the real one out front and the one on my computer) for signs of the long awaited Finnegan's Fog order, but nothing yet....sigh.   Until it turns up, Ann Grimshaw is in limbo.  I would have loved to have her finished by New Year's, which is when I started her last January. Unless the silk turns up today and my needle sprouts a pair of wings, that not likely to happen.

But I have managed to keep myself distracted with these fun Prairie Schooler mini-fruits!.  How about an apple...

A pear...

 

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A pineapple....

 

 

 

and a nice bunch of grapes. 

 

I worked these little goodies up on a bit of R&R Irish Creme from my linen box and whatever DMC and miscellaneous overdyes I could scrounge up.  Stitching them was the easy part, finishing remains to be seen.  Any ideas for me?  I originally thought they'd be Christmas ornaments, but now I'm not so sure. With Thanksgiving and some days off approaching, guess I'll decide soon enough.

And speaking of Thanksgiving, one of my favorite things to do on November 1 is to get these little guys out - my Publix Pilgrims!

 

Several years ago, Publix had a Thanksgiving promotion with them starring in their own holiday ad.  The ad itself has become a sentimental favorite this time of year, even though the sales of little shakers  has run its course.  I love this!

One other bit of the season is this shot of ripe sea oats, taken yesterday on the beach at Ft. de Soto Park.   A cold front came through on Saturday that cleared all the humidity and gray funk out by Sunday morning.  The sky really was this brilliant!

So I'll spend this week looking ahead to the upcoming holidays and counting the days until the long-gone silks arrive for a return to Ann Grimshaw.  Have a great one!