Happy Halloween

Witch, Witch, Where do you fly?
Under the clouds and over the sky.

Witch, Witch, What do you eat?
Little black apples from hurricane street.

Witch, Witch, What do you drink?
Vinegar and good red ink.

Witch, Witch, Where do you sleep?
Up in the clouds where the pillows are cheap.

- Anonymous -

Wishing you and yours a fun day tomorrow. HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Just a few pictures

Hope everyone is well and enjoying a beautiful autumn.

It is busy around here at the moment as we are in the final stages of preparing our on-line stores for Christmas. That means many hours at the computer each day - so when evening comes I grab for my stitching or a good book and put blogging on a back burner. I do promise to visit everyone again soon and in the meantime will treat you to a few pictures.

'Dutch Beast' was completed this past week after 1 year and 5 months. What a great project this was and I love the result. I did make a few changes - included the name of the city we presently live in and changed the Fresian initials to my own. Thanks Annemarie for lending me "Letterdoeken" by Jose Sterrenburg.

'Dutch Beast' by Tracy Horner of Ink Circles
stitched 2/2 and 1/1 on 32 ct platinum lugana with DMC floss

Although my Janome is still giving me problems I have managed to sit down, relax and slowly but surely mount and frame another finished project. 'Pumpkin Patch by PS is now gracing my kitchen island.


Last but not least a progress picture of 'My Lady'

Hope to drop by and see all of you again soon.

Where has the time gone?

I'm sure it was just yesterday that September was just starting and here we are - September 30. Hope you have all been keeping as pleasantly busy as I have. Here in the Netherlands September has been so lovely - little rain and plenty of sunshine.

DD and I felt we wanted a mother/daughter weekend so from the 18 - 20 we rented a cottage in a lovely wooded bungalow park on the Veluwe.

We left here Friday morning and upon arrival started our stay with a 9 km nature walk. About half way we stopped for lunch and then continued our walk/hike. Due to so much talking & laughter I think we took a few wrong turns somewhere along the way but finally wound up back where we had parked the car. I guess we have a better sense of direction than we thought. We were then able to check into our cottage and what a sweeheart it was - so cozy and comfy and so peaceful.

When we weren't out visiting places like Paleis Het Loo and Kroller-Muller Museum or biking in Park Hoge Veluwe we relaxed and enjoyed each others company, read, did some crossword puzzles, played a few board games including a new one for both of us (ever heard of Touche?), enjoyed good food and even watched 'Boer Zoekt Vrouw'. Who else here in Holland has a soft spot for Wietse?

It was Monday before we knew it and time to go home. We're already talking about where we will go next year.

My dear friend Lili knew I wanted to start a new stitching project to celebrate the weekend and that I wanted something with only one or two colors so she surprised me with 'My Lady's Quaker' by Jardin Prive. Thank you so much Lili - it was/is the perfect piece. I just loved the colors you picked for your's and am using the same - DMC 223 & 315. Hope you don't mind.

Jane's lighthouse is coming along nicely. When I first started it I was almost sorry I had offered to stitch it for her. The pattern is far from new and uses all kinds of weird look-alike symbols. I put it away for a while until we started talking about a visit there before the end of the year. The plans are not definite but I felt I'd better get at it and so far so good.

And now - 'Dutch Beast' - all completed except for the large Fresian initials. I didn't want to use the designer's grandmother's initials and have borrowed a book from Annemarie so I can put in my own. It will take a bit of planning and fiddling so I thought it best to leave this until the lighthouse is finished. 2009 has three more months and I'm still hoping to have both projects completed before the new year arrives.


Lastly a bit of framing. All those wonderful plans I had for mounting and framing one piece per week have not been working. It isn't because I haven't wanted to frame but my dear Janome is not co-operating. Perhaps I'm asking too much of him as a Sew Mini may not be strong enough for this type of stitching. My thread keeps on breaking when I'm zigzagging - and I NEED TO ZIGZAG!! The thing is that until three weeks ago I wasn't having any machine problems so of course I figured it had to be me, not Janome. I have done everything the instructions told me to do - new needles etc - but to no avail. Yesterday I just plugged away stitching by bits and pieces until it was done. It is very frustrating, especially since I'm afraid it is going to devour my fabric, but I'm pleased to be able to show you this result.

'Powell & Hyde St. Cable Car' San Francisco by Debbie Patrick
stitched in 2006 on 24 ct Aida with DMC floss

For those of you who have been following my blog from the very beginning - this is the very first cross-stitched piece I posted. Some day I must post pictures from pre-blog times.

Today autumn seems to have arrived - the sky is grey and it is drizzling on and off. Great weather for indoor activities. Perhaps more framing? Or maybe just some work on the lighthouse.

Happy Stitching!!

Working on dreams

Just a quick post to show you that I have been working on those dreams of mine.

'Romantic Reflections II' was a Christmas 2008 gift from my friend Berta. Although she couldn't know that I love stitching mandalas and adore the wine country of California (particularly Sonoma County) she picked the perfect gift for me - what a fun stitch. I picked up a frame at Zenos that already had a mat. Since both frame and mat were a stark white I decided to paint the mat and after layering three different colors felt it was perfect. Thank you again for this lovely kit Berta.

Romantic Reflections II

For those of you who know me well the frame chosen for 'Birds and Hearts' will come as quite a surprise. Although the picture may not show it properly - the frame is DISTRESSED. Now this is not the type of frame I would normally choose but while walking past our local Marskramer I discovered this frame on sale for 2 euros (down from 14.95) and just couldn't resist the good deal. I figured I would just paint it and it would be ideal for something in my 'to be framed' pile. Once I got home and went through the stitched pieces I discovered that the frame in its distressed state would be perfect for 'Birds and Hearts'.

'Birds and Hearts'

Last but not least an update picture of 'Dutch Beast'. It is coming right along and I am enjoying every stitch.

'Dutch Beast'

Hope everyone is enjoying a good week. Happy stitching.

I have a dream

Actually I have several stitching dreams.

Dream 1
To mount and frame all the finished stitching which is currently patiently awaiting attention on a table in my home office. They have been placed there so that I will see them every day and feel guilty if I don't do something about them. There are 18 pieces left to be framed and I have bought 6 of the required frames. My plan is to frame one piece per week until they are all done.

Last week I still had 20 finished pieces but managed to frame two. These were both stitched in 2007.

'Mooning' Silly Snobs Designs from Imaginating, Inc.

'Easter Parade' Blackbird Designs

Dream 2
To finishing stitching my two WIPs by the end of 2009. These two designs are great to stitch side by side as when I get sick of all changing colors on the lighthouse I can pick up DB and relax.

Since the lighthouse is for my SIL and she will frame it herself I may be starting 2010 with only one piece to frame.

''Dutch Beast' Ink Circles
picture taken in June and have made some progress since

'Eagle Bluff Lighthouse' Brigitte Kozma

Dream 3
Along with Heidi continue with HarmAn projects. Although it is a good feeling to be able to start a project just for the sake of a new start I'm afraid that thus far Heidi and I are having a problem with not finishing each project ASAP.

My first HarmAn was started on August 1 and completed on August 12.

'Gingerbread House' Country Cottage Needleworks

My second HarmAn was going to be 'Second Story' but since I came up with these stitching dreams I decided that I'd better stick to something smaller.

'All Hearts Come Home' Hillside Samplings

Dream 4
From now on finish-finish each piece as soon as it has been stitched so that a new pile does not appear on my table.

Am I only dreaming?

Pictures of Gifts

For my 6oth birthday last year my dear friend Lili sent me a gift certificate from Stitching Bits and Bobs. Lili knows how very happy I was with this wonderful gift but due to the move last summer I never got around to showing it to the world. I was just like a kid in a candy store and had such fun picking out patterns which are going to have a very special place on my Halloween & Christmas walls. You know I love them Lili - Thank you!!

From left to right:
- 'Grimm, Glum and Gloom on Halloween' Glendon Place
- 'Skeleton Crew' The Cricket Collection
- 'The Second Story' The Cricket Collection
- 'Santa's Workshop' Jim Shore

'The Second Story' is all set to be started on 28 ct Bluebell Jobelan. Rather than stitch the two parts separately I will stitch them on one piece of fabric and then decide whether to make it into a bell-pull or framed piece. Since the next HarmAn Day (a day when you are allowed to start a new project without feeling guilty about all your other WIPs) is this coming Friday I am planning to put the first few stitches on this piece then.

And now pictures of a few stitchy gifts I have made lately.

The first is a Halloween pillow for our pumpkin/kitty friend Annemarie which I made as a hostess gift for her for our recent Sip 'n Stitch. As always, this get-together was such fun and yes we truly did get around to stitching as well as doting on little Pantoef, gabbing, eating and laughing.

You may or may not remember that after I made my first pinkeep last December I had a draw for three pinkeeps to be made by me in 2009. They were mailed last week so I can now show them to the world. I know two have arrived at their destination and I hope the third arrives shortly too.

For Lil' Swee' P

Last night I finished stitching 'By the Sea' for sweet little P. With all the quarter stitches required this project took a bit longer than I had originally planned (worked on it on and off for 16 months).

'By the Sea' part of the Collector's Series

from the February 2003 edition of Cross Stitch

stitched 2/2 on 28 ct ecru lugana with DMC floss

Oh my goodness - now I only have two WIPs. Is this truly possible? Decisions! Decisions! Do I keep it at two and try and get SIL's lighthouse finished by Christmas or do I start a new piece during our Sip 'n Stitch at Annemarie's this coming Tuesday? That would mean I could start a Christmas piece for myself. Must give this some thought.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.