Noel Letters are Finished! Welcome Gus!

Today I finished beading the letters in Noel. It took two full tubes of beads and just a few from a third tube to complete the letters. I spent a week of dedicated beading on the letters. The beading lends so much texture and dimension to the canvas - well worth a week's work.

Ruth has lots of fun planned for the bottom red border and I'll get started on that tonight or tomorrow depending on how interesting I find the Chick-Fil-A Bowl tonight.  Would love to see South Carolina win - apologies to fans of FSU! I hate to see SEC college football come to an end for the year.

This morning I dealt with the not-so-fun part of Christmas - the dismantling of the Christmas decorations. Andrew was home for a short 24 hours earlier this week and he helped me put away the decorations that had to go to the attic. What's left to do now is find a place downstairs for all of this:

Basically I end up finding places here and there to store these things until next year and hope that I remember where I put them when Christmas rolls around again.

My new friend, Sarcoph A Gus, arrived late yesterday afternoon via the big brown truck. He will be magnificent - the majority of the outer sarcophagus is beaded! I thought three tubes of beads for the Noel canvas was a lot but Gus has it beat. There are 12 colors of beads for this canvas.

As you can see Sarcoph A Gus is on the stretchers and the stitch guide is ready for the notebook. I gathered all the required threads together last night from the previous characters' kits. I haven't quite decided where to start - bottom border or the mummy himself. Amy and Kelly have worked their magic again with this canvas.

Have you see the January newsletter from Amy's? It's always so fun to read and there is so much great information inside. I loved the "article" on our next character, Dev L Mann. Did you know he'll be wearing an asbestos pant suit? Too funny! I enjoyed seeing Caron's 4 finished Halloweenies. She finished hers as easel-back stand-ups. Good job, Caron! Jill gave us a great "how to" tutorial on finishing
a personalized tote bag. Amy has added another Melissa Shirley banner to her Home Study series for next year. Another decision to make - stitch the Thanksgiving banner or the Christmas banner, or stitch both?

Not too many hours left until we say goodbye to 2010. Stitch-wise, I don't think I have ever finished so many projects as I have this year. The Halloweenies have been challenging and lots of fun and just the right size project for me. These characters pretty much pushed all other projects to the sidelines. While I hate to see the Halloweenies come to an end, it will be nice to pick up some stitching that has been put aside for the last year.

I have a standing rib roast in the oven tonight for my New Year's Eve dinner - it smells so good! My plans for the evening include football, more football, and lots of stitching. I hope whatever you have planned is festive and safe.

Thank you for supporting my blogging these last six months! I look forward to more blogging this coming year and would love to think that maybe I will actually get to meet some of you in person this year!

See you in 2011!

Construction Update

I feel like I accomplished a lot on the Haunted House this week. I finished up the ironwork on the rooftop and was pleased with the effect. I think I am getting more accomplished on this project now that I have both Kit 2 and Kit 3 to work with or maybe I just had too much going on in May to devote time to the House.

The work around the front door was started and finished while I watched The Gladiator last night. At least I watched one good movie this weekend. I made the mistake of ordering Valentine's Day and The Bounty Hunter on Pay per View. Both are extremely forgettable but did serve to pass the time while I stitched. As a result, the brick foundation on the left is completed and this afternoon I added the dirt and the iron fence posts.

While I wait for Dr. Acula to arrive, I may finish the brick foundation and fence posts on the right side of the house.

I'm enjoying the little glimpses of the Dr. Acula canvas that Peggy has been posting on Needlepoint Study Hall. I think he's going to be a fun challenge. I won't be sorry to go back to working on a smaller canvas. The Haunted House has done a number on my neck so I'm off to the chiropractor in the morning to get everything back in alignment.

Hope your stitching goes well this week!

Slow - Construction Zone

I sat down last night and took stock of where I am with the Haunted House - the ongoing project in the Halloweenie series.  Here's a photo of the house as Phase 3 begins:

Phase 3 may be starting but I am still in middle of Phase 2. There's lots to be done - lots of raised stem stitch, bricks, bats, windows. I think I will begin with the bricks. I read over the stitch guide for them last night and also went back to Study Hall and read through the posts from May when we were all working on the house.               

Since the last time I worked on the house, I have, in the meantime, purchased a copy of Amy's DVD Spiders and More, Volume 8 in the How'd You Do That? series. There is a section on the DVD in which she discusses the Raised Stem Stitch - it's very helpful to actually watch someone demonstrate this stitch this in front of you. This stitch will be used on the balustrade and the arches over the windows. There's a lot of balustrade to be stitched and quite a few arched windows.

Time to get the hard hat and my tool bag out -

The Groom is in the House

Mr. Zomm B. Grum'e arrived yesterday afternoon right before a torrential downpour. I would have hated to see his fancy duds get soaked. I'm glad I was home when he arrived. He has a nice selection of new threads but will be borrowing heavily from his fellow Halloweenies who have arrived before him.

His coat has seen better days but he is wearing a beautiful vest that will be stitched in shades of gray in Ribbon Floss and Baroque Silk. Very handsome!

I don't know if you would say he has a "Crest smile" but he does have a smile that won't quit. His teeth will be stitched in Neon Rays so you know they will gleem!

Mr. Grum'e will be placed on the Evertites today. I don't have Evertites for Bridezilla and I have really missed them. I am easily spoiled. If you haven't had the chance to use this particular type of stretcher bar, here is a link to Jane at Chilly Hollow's review of them. They are expensive but well worth it.

I almost finished the double ring background on the bride last night. It shouldn't be too difficult to finish those up today and maybe get to her arm and leg bones or the veil.

Keep stitching....

Welcome to My Blog!

Hi - thanks for joining me! Hope you will enjoy following my needlepoint projects, keeping up with what I'm reading, and all of the other things that go to making a "good life". I always have several needlepoint projects going at once and am always reading several books at once. Eventually they all get finished.

My current needlepoint project is Amy Bunger's Halloweenies Home Study. You can follow the group's progress at Needlepoint Study Hall. At the moment, I am stitching Zombie Bride Zilla - the third character in the series. She would be an interesting addition to "Say Yes to the Dress" although I don't know if the ladies at Kleinfeld's could do much to help her. What do you think?

My first two characters were Stirha Cal-Dron and Frank N. Stein. The designs in this series are by Kelly Clark and the stitch guides are by Amy Bunger at Amy's Golden Strand. I haven't quite decided how to finish them. A stand-up, perhaps? I think for a series of characters that would probably work the best. There are 8 characters all together. Below are my two finished pieces. I'm pleased with the way my characters have turned out so far. I love the faces on Stirha and Frank - they are very expressive. Amy did a great job with the fine details.

There is another component to the Halloweenies and it's a major one - the Haunted House. Again, the design is by Kelly Clark and the stitch guide by Amy Bunger. I'll post some photos of it another time. It is a large canvas and we receive updated stitch guides and threads every couple of months. The Halloweenies project started in February and runs throughout the year. The characters are not too difficult to finish within the month that they arrive. I probably shouldn't say that because I still have a good bit of work to do on Bride Zilla to finish her before her groom arrives at the beginning of July. I'm getting ready to start working on her bouquet now that her headband and belt are finished. Her bouquet is made up of cup stitches which I'm not familiar with. I have learned so much by stitching this series and I highly recommend it as a great way to learn new techniques and stitches, not to mention all the new threads we get to work with.

The kitchen is calling my name right now. I have been brining some chicken breasts this afternoon in preparation for grilling them in a little while. I'm cooking some grilled lemon chicken this evening from a recipe in Cook's Illustrated this month - love that magazine. Earlier this afternoon I made a potato and green bean herb salad from one of last year's issues. 

Thanks for stopping by!