Heather's RR and New Project

Hi! Well, I finished Heather's RR for the Neighborhood RR. Her theme was farms - I expanded that a little bit and stitched a grist mill and an apple orchard - I hope that will be okay. The top photo is the block I stitched and the second photo is the whole piece. I also copied Cindy's birds and stitched them in the border - I thought the corner needed a little something. I think this piece is really coming together - I like it so far. I will post it off to the next stitcher next week.

Then to reward myself for finishing my Neighborhood piece before the deadline - I started something new. This is the new freebie from Papillon Creations newsletter. I am using scrap linen and HDF premium silks - This picture is blurry for some reason - but I think you get the idea.

And then the really exciting news - Celebrations has updated their web site with info about the 2008 shows. They also have given their web site a face lift - I like the changes. It is frustrating that they don't have a lot of pictures yet, but reading the class descriptions is making me think I'd better plan to attend the KY show as well as the NH show. In case you didn't know, I'm a class junkie. I already bought my plane tickets - couldn't beat the fare from Baltimore to Manchester.

Also, I am drooling over all the previews of the Nashville releases - and it seems silly - I am overwhelmed by the stuff I have now - adding more will only add to the disorganization - but judging by the message boards and blogs I am not the only one - LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me comments, Happy stitching! Margaret

A Small Project for TIF Challenge

Hi, all, I decided to join in on the Take It Further Challenge. The basic idea is that each month you take a concept and work it through to a finished product. Each participant can choose to either work with an idea or a color scheme. Well, this month's color scheme was perfectly inline with my taste (thus minimizing the challenge) - so I decided to work with that. The objective is to use your creativity - and I did not exactly do that this month- but plan to work harder on the creativity piece of it next month.

I stitched the Indigo Rose freebie - Wildflower Hearts on a scrap piece of linen and used DMC colors 333, 340, 3362, 470, and 822. Once again, the picture is wonky - but you get the general idea. I think that working on my photography skills would cut into my stitching time (which is limited as it is) - so that will just have to wait.

I am off now to stitch on my Neighborhood RR - I have stitched the main building, but need to add some fill in landscaping and/0r critters. I think the next mailing date is Feb. 1 - so I shouldn't be pushed for time.

I am *seriously* considering starting a monochrome - but I am having trouble deciding on a pattern and color combination. I have recently started buying spools of HDF silk - and can't wait to use some of it. Right now, the Wiehenburg Quaker 2008 is the front runner - maybe in Old Maid of the Vineyard? Or maybe in Old Maid of the Forest? I have tons of choices for fabric, so I will have to just do some experimenting.- Decisions, decisions.

I also love the new Papillon Creations freebie from the newsletter. This is one of my favorite designers - I love the elegance of the projects; and love the fact that they don't require an eternity to complete!

Wow! this has been a long, rambling post - thanks for bearing with me!
Happy stitching, everybody, Margaret