Stitching along slowly!! While the kitties play

I Have been so busy with my shop, and getting ready for some travel I haven't done much on the "Stitch A Long" at all.  But I am promising my self I will be able to do it as we travel.  We shall see.  I am WAY behind.  I am enjoying doing the ribbon embroidery but I imagine I will change to something else soon. That might speed me up again.

You can see my cats have been "busy" too. They like to help when I do the laundry.  In the first two pics you can see Spooky in the front and Tuffy in the back sitting on laundry that is on top of washer waiting to be done.   And in the final picture Spooky is resting on the warm, freshly dried clothes.  Now where is that cat hair remover brush. 

Still Stitching Along

I only managed to get one square done yesterday.  I have to catch up here so "maybe" I will get more than one done today.  I have discovered that finding something to put in the square is harder than actually doing it.

As you can see I decided to continue something from the square above it.

Our weather is continuing to be great here.  We are being tempted with a possible 60 degrees today.  Will have to break out the shorts  (hehehe), well maybe not but plan to enjoy it.  My daffodils are getting taller with yellow buds, if this warmth continues I imagine they will open soon.

Today we are returning to the scene of the "crime".....  well, the scene of Bill's accident.   I have a doctor's appt.  at the same doctor I was visiting when Bill was hit by that snowplow.  I imagine it will not be easy for Bill.  But we have other errands in the vicinity so he will go along too.


I will be spending a lot of my day working finishing up books for my shop, to get ready for my tax lady appt. later this week.   Sound like fun...........  NOT.
Hope to get some stitching sneaked in somewhere.

I mentioned some of the silk ribbon embroidery books by Judith Baker Montano because I personally like them the best BUT there are lots more available.  You can check them out at Amazon.

My stitch a long continues

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Temps up into the 50s and sun high in the sky melting away the snow. Today promises to be more of the same. I noticed my daffodils are not far from blooming.
Because of the nice weather my antique shop overflowed with customers. That is why I never got these pics posted yesterday.
All you folks that live in areas where you don't have a real winter will never know the wonder of a day like that, the promise of more and just the general well being you feel. I know, it it sort of like hitting your head against the wall cause it feels so good when you stop. But seriously I personally love the four seasons. And I enjoy as each changes to the next.

At last I have some more stitches to show. I am only 2 days behind now. If you click on the picture you can see the picture large and perhaps get more detail.

I am continuing with my silk ribbon embroidery. All are flowers because that is what Silk Ribbon embroidery seems to be about. I hope to get a few more done today.

Once I run out of ideas for this part I will probably switch over to more standard embroidery using floss of which I have a lot of different types. We shall see as time goes on though.

I am using some of my Judith Baker Montano books on Silk Ribbon Embroidery. They are excellent books if you decide you want to try some of this type of embroidery.

I hope when I say I will be back tomorrow with more I mean it but you never know.

The computer crashes, only one square done.

My brand new computer "crashed" a couple of days ago and I just spent the better part of the last two days, when I didn't have customers in my antique shop, starting all over again. I am thankful that I keep all my files on an external hard drive so the only thing I really lost was all the basic programs so I have been doing a LOT of reinstalling.
But here I am again. I am WAY BEHIND on my Stitch A Long though I did manage to get the linen piece out, marked and the first square done. I am "hopeful" I can get back at it today, though I have a shop to tend and some other things to do.

I always have enjoyed doing ribbon embroidery so decided I would do some of that on this piece. The first one is a flower. And I am couching gold ribbon around the outside edge. So here is a picture of the first square


To do this I used what is called the ribbon stitch. And put a little pearl in the middle. I may add a few more beads between the petals when I find the right kind of beads. My beading supplies aren't very organized but I know I must have something. Later on today I hope to start the interior outlining of the squares but haven't decided on the color or type of floss yet. I also have selected two more patterns to put in the next two squares but obviously have to find a LOT more.

Back to stitching.

If you know me fairly well you know that I tend to jump from one hobby to the next. I go back to each every so often. As a result I am certainly never bored. I have been doing a lot of mini making and creating art projects lately so decided to go back to stitchery for awhile. I need to make an ornament for needlework group gift exchange...... it usually takes me many months to finish that one.
But in the mean time I have joined with an on line group called Stitch A Long that will encourage me to dig out my linen, floss, needles, embroidery hoop, buttons, beads and lace. Tonight I will start stitching. Each day from now until April 8th we are doing a 1 inch square, embroidered with a flower or some such thing. I am a few days behind so I hope tomorrow I will have 4 squares done to catch up. I may not always use straight embroidery. I might cross stitch or embellish with buttons and beads or lace, or what ever strikes me.
Here is where you can learn all about it..... 39 Stitches you just need to check back a few days for the first page of info.

So wish me luck..... I want to do this and I want to finish it. Some may be done as we travel and there fore may not be published every day. But I will play catch up when I get to a computer. We won't be traveling for a couple of weeks so don't worry about it now.

Bill's Update

Bill is improving from his accident but now has developed a very bad cold. I really think it is because he has been laid low with all his aches and pains from the accident and was just ripe for catching germs. So now we have to get him over his cold AND get him back moving without the limp and pain.

Happy Valentines Day to you all

Hope you all have a great day. Bill is doing better today which continues to be a relief. He is still limping though and the bruises are now quite colorful. We continue to be thankful it wasn't any worse. But he says he keeps reliving the accident in his mind.

Our plans for this Valentines Day are perhaps a bit different than normal. We are going to a Daytona 500 Race party. We go to this party every year. This is the first time it has fallen on Valentines Day though. But it is a fun day and since we follow Nascar we are happy to have the season start. I will be driving to the party even though it isn't far away. He can't walk that far easily.