Wintertide is finished but . . .

I am not at all pleased with it!

I am not sure what went wrong, but there is a fatal error in there somewhere! I even frogged it, started over again, and I still got it wrong!

It somehow came out smaller than it should have. The threads are all very fat in a very small area. The holes do not show up at all. You have to look very closely to see that there are holes at all! It should be much crisper looking. Ughfh!

I think I may try this again next year maybe, but I will use different threads. I was not pleased with the Kreinik Serica.

Grrr! Frustrating!

It is supposed to look like this:

Not my best work to be sure! Oh well!

I am slowly getting ready for Christmas, although I am waaaaay behind! This year seemed to be much more hassled than last year!

Last week we went up to a tree farm in Ulster County to cut down our tree. I really love that part of Christmas! Also, the tree is always so fresh that I feel guilty putting it out by the road at the end of the holidays because the needles haven't even started falling yet!

I will walk by row after row of perfectly manicured trees to find my perfect oddly shaped, scraggly tree!

I love Charlie Brown trees!

Here is a picture of Keith cutting down our tree.

He always makes it look so easy!

Well, I am getting further and further behind as I sit here (still haven't finished trimming the tree)!

I am very disappointed with my ornaments this year. Next year will be better!

Slow progress

I am still working on Wintertide here. I have stitched more complicated things than this, so it should not be a problem, but for some reason, I seemed to have trouble with this one. I found the silk Serica to be a little difficult to work with and wound up doing some frogging. Of course I ran out of the white and had to re-order. Kreinik products are not always easy to find. It took several days to get it, but I finally finished the blanket stitching around the outside.

This is what I have so far:

(click to enlarge)

I still have to finish all the flowers, do the leaves and vines, create the boxes, and do the cutting.

I have neglected to post a picture of my TUSAL! I know the end of the year is near when my jar starts to push out the top! Here it is:


Seems like most of it is pink from Country Garden.


Speaking of TUSAL, if you would like to join this little group, see Sharon's (It's Daffycat) blog http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2010/12/totally-useless-stitch-long.html.

Should be fun!

I know! It's been ages!

Every time I thought about blogging, something seemed to get in the way.

I was hoping to post some more pictures of Loara Standish, but I have put that one aside for now. I really think there had to be something wrong with that girl! Anyone who would stitch like that must have had a twisted mind! I made a mistake, (or I thought I did, - then turned out, I really didn't make a mistake after I frogged everything), and took 2 full evenings frogging. The stitching pattern is very odd to make it reversible, so the frogging becomes really impossible because you cannot tell where the stitch is coming from. (Those of you who have tried reversible stitching will know what I am talking about). Anyway, I found the whole thing sooooo annoying, that I decided to put it aside for a while.

I have been making progress on my Country Garden quilt, but I do not have any pictures yet.

I had a busy summer and fall. This was our second year keeping bees, and we finally got some honey!

I made a sign. (Keith cut it out and I painted it and did the lettering).

People are getting to know that we are here, and we have been selling several bottles a week. We have put a lot into it, money and time. Keith figured out that if we sold the honey for what it cost us, we would have to charge about $67 a bottle! LOL! We are selling the bears for $6 each. Gradually as we sell them, that cost goes down. If we have a good year next year, we will break even.

No one gets rich selling honey! It does give you a good feeling though. It has been a very positive experience, and people do seem to appreciate it. We have one customer who has been here 4 times, and says we have the best honey she has ever tasted! That makes you feel good!

One thing I tried was the honor system which I am happy to say has worked very well. We have a little table that we put out when we are not there.

I spent last weekend bottling up the honey from the 4th hive, the last harvest of the season.
This is what I got. My little army of bears!The bees need what is left so they can make it through the winter. We will not be harvesting again until next spring.

Now, back to stitching . . .

For my holiday stitching, I decided on Patricia Andrle's Wintertide.

This is a handanger ornament. It is a freebie, and is available here.

I am stitching it as designed on 28 ct white linen, using silk threads, although I think this one could be done very nicely with Perle cotton as well.

I have just started it, but you can see the Kloster blocks here done with the silk serica.

Well that's it for now. I promise it will not be so long til next time!

Hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!