Winter in the Sewing Room

Hello, y'all! It's been quiet here on the ol' blog but I've been busy-busy stitching and stalking the Nashville Market previews for new must-have stash. I usually don't post pics of stash until I have it in my mitts but I am so. excited. about this gorgeous new sampler. I'm not a big sampler gal, but this one stole my heart. This is Huckleberry Farm by Blue Flower. I am a huge fan of huckleberries, and this sampler takes me back to where I first experienced them, in Sequoia National Park in California (bears and all!). Huckleberry tea is my absolute favorite. I just love this sampler. The colors, the composition, all the critters (see the chipmunks and hummingbirds?).  Lovely.

I was so wild about it that I already ordered and received my fabric! This is the suggested fabric, PTP Shale. I think I did a pretty good job of capturing the color (it helps to give the camera a little white to look at). It's a very unusual, very pretty purplish grey. 

I've been putting in a few hours of work a week on Russian Hunt. I'm also working on this. Hmmm... what could this be? Stay tuned for updates on both of these projects.

I'm getting lots of support from the Stitchy Supervisor. I don't know how she snoozes with my stitching light in her face, but she does.

Winter dollhouse is up. You can check out my other seasonal dollhouses by clicking on the label at the end of this post.

I am having a fit to get some finishing done. I have a stack, y'all. A stack. I'm trying to get to a certain point on that mysterious piece I showed above, and when I do, I plan to take a break from stitching and plunge into the finishing pile. Hope to have a lot of new lovelies to share over the next few weeks.

I guess most stitchers have their favorite sites for Market previews, but in case you don't, here are a few good ones. These usually start posting in mid-January, and gradually fill up as designers release preview photos. You'll see a lot of overlap, but there are a few things that might be shown on one site that aren't on others. They're updated regularly, so keep checking back to see if there's anything you can't live without. Market is 6-8 March.

Stitches 'n Things

Reflections Framing & Stitching

The Black Cat Stitchery

Enjoy window shopping and Happy Stitching!

Snowflakes & Scissors

I've had this pretty little freebie in my stash for some time and finally got it stitched. I think it turned out so pretty. It's from the old Patrick's Woods blog. I wanted to share it here so I hunted high and low for it on the interwebs and finally found it here. I stitched it on 28 ct. Natural Brown Undyed linen (a favorite neutral) using DMC B5200, Weeks Pelican Gray, and CC Wild Berries. I also added a few micro mini buttons to the scissors.

Also, I have cake.

I usually bake from scratch but I am not a food snob. A box of cake mix is a good thing to have tucked away in the pantry for cake emergencies. Since there are only two of us to eat cake, I divide the mix in half and bake a small cake in an 8" square pan. Depending on the brand of cake mix you use, you may need to adjust the amounts of water, oil, and eggs, but here's the math for halving a cake mix:

Half of a 15.25 oz. Cake Mix

1 1/4 c. + 3 Tablespoons + 1 tsp. cake mix
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. oil
2 eggs

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. 
*Do use an entire container of frosting on your wee cake. You're welcome.
*Do use sprinkles. It's very important.
*Seal up the remainder of the mix nice and tight and write the date you opened it on the box. 

Back to stitching! Thanks so much for all the kind words and encouragement about Russian Hunt. It's coming along nicely. I'm also about to start another longish project that I'll work on throughout the year, but it's not nearly as large or involved as Russian Hunt. More about that soon.

Happy Stitching!

It Has Begun

Behold! I have finally started Russian Hunt! I promised myself I'd start it in January, and with a few hours of the month remaining, I put in the first stitches. I can't believe I have actually started this massive project. Since it's fully stitched, I chose Aida. I wanted the fabric to have a lot of stiffness and body for such a large piece. Besides the subject matter, one of the things I love about this design is that unlike many large projects, it's not heavily pixelated; it's made up of smooth swaths of color, like brushstrokes, and there are very few confetti stitches. I'm already enjoying stitching it.

I circled the area I'm working on. 

So, I'm off. Not exactly off and running... more of a casual stroll. No deadline. A fellow-stitcher once described this type of project as a "7-11 project: not always doing business, but always open." I thought that was brilliant. For a control enthusiast like myself, there is something a bit daunting but also a bit therapeutic about taking on such an open-ended, who-knows-when, type of project. Getting lost in--and enjoying--the process takes precedence over the finish, which is years away (Lord willing). I have lots of deep thoughts about this but they're best summed up in the Chinese proverb:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

The journey has begun...