A few more items from the recap

Lady Under the Arch that I completed somewhere around 2000 or 2001:

An Oz picture that Emily and I stitched after I created the pattern from an old book cover:

A wedding gift for Cate and Casey Donohue (I don't have a photo of the actual one, but Emily and I completed this one and added their last name and wedding date):

Gift for Jen and Rob

I finished Jen and Rob's sampler and promptly forgot to take a picture of it! It looks just like this one (a bit different gold frame), but it says "jen and rob november 10" in the section where the alphabet is shown.

A Baby Gift

I finally finished my first Christmas stocking - a gift for Isaac Ciravolo (Tara's little one). I really like the way it turned out, and hopefully it becomes a treasure for the Ciravolos for years to come!

Post script: Tara sent out Christmas cards with Zac and the stocking! He is such a cutie!!!
I love his little bare feet in the second photo (Christmas in Houston!)

Here is the front (Dimensions kit):

Here is the back (navy blue corduroy with white stars embroidered):

A New Set of Projects

So I have three projects going on concurrently right now (and no, this doesn't count all of the unfinished ones sitting around).

I am making a sampler for my friend Jen's wedding:

This is the needlepoint pillow that I'm trying my hand at (so far, it's OK):
And this is the divine Drawn Thread sampler that I am going to make for Emily and Steve. I might have to make this one twice ... I want it, too!:

I'll put up my finished photos when I'm done with these! Since I am just sitting at home in the evenings waiting on our place to sell, I'll probably get them done pretty soon :).

Wish List

Since our house is stagnating on the market, I will relieve my frustration by working on my wish list for when we move in. There are so many fun things that I am wishing to do and to buy! Where do I begin ... I can't wait to get my sewing machine out of storage and try it out, I want to try out all of these new cookbooks I got, all of my new sewing gadgets are wasting away ... sigh.

I can't wait to pick a place and then pick some colors and get to "nesting"! I am still thinking about a gold kitchen (but of course, that depends on the countertops and cabinets). For the dining room, I am thinking either a dark gold or medium green ...

My new wish list item, however, is tons of trim! I want crown molding, cased windows, chair rail, "fake" wainscoating (trimmed out rectangles beneath the chair rail), and more! Tons and tons of white trim with traditional, bold paint colors ...

My inspiration house is eluding me currently. It is a home I saw on "My house is worth what?" on HGTV. I am going to try to get Dad to record it for me when it next comes on.

Bye, bye Miss Farley ... hello Mrs. Wetzel!!!

It's official!!! I'm a married woman ...

The wedding weekend was truly wonderful. Seeing all of our friends and family, sharing all of the moments (big and small!), and starting the next phase of our life with a great party ... I won't soon forget it!

All the months of planning came to fruition. We had about 150 people at the wedding and everything went really smoothly. The weekend was really full of so many fun things ... Friday morning manicures and pedicures with Emily, Catie, Beth, Julie and Sue ... Friday lunch at Jim and Linda's place with great barbecue! ... Rehearsal and decorating the church! ... Rehearsal dinner at Birraporetti's ... Spending Friday night with Mom ... Saturday breakfast brought over by Anne and Frank (breakfast tacos, mimosa's and more!) ... Andi (The Perfect Face) and Danny showing up at the same time and beginning the "Paparazzi!"... meeting the girls to get ready at the Magnolia ... heading to the church and hanging out in the preschool rooms ... lots of photographs!!! ... watching all of the guests arrive ... getting more and more nervous as the actual ceremony approached ... walking down the aisle ... trying not to cry and failing ... the quick meet and greet line ... heading to the wonderful party at the Majestic Metro!!!!

I've included the photos from Danny's amazing photography of the event. We are so excited to get our photo album back! It's like our own work of art.

Another one for the craft room

I love this little guy! He is "Played Out" by Mac.

A nod to photography

Thought I may as well mention the few photos that I have done that I am proud of. Here is a group of flower photographs that hang on the wall at Mom's house:

Here is a panorama of our backyard at Hot Springs before we moved.

Another Craft Idea ...

They just keep on comin' ...

Here's something that might be fun to do (or it might turn out really awful, but at least I can check it off the list):

I'll keep in among the list of the hundred or so projects that I hope to complete in my life.

More Wishes ...

I'll start off with another fun wish list project ...

(these are from www.needlepointfun.com)

I am making progress on achieving some wishes and adding others to the list (isn't that always the way it goes?).

I purchased the book with "The Inconsolable" in it, and I think it will look great on my craft room wall in the house we will hopefully be buying this year! Is it wrong to decorate a room in my head before we even shop for the house?

I am so excited about the idea of having my own space to be creative, be organized, and decorate however I want! I have started brainstorming some ideas for my "dream craft room". Some of my favorites are: blue or yellow walls with black storage shelves, one open storage unit as a room divider/display, a dining room type table for spreading out (I need decide how high of a table I want and maybe explore some yard sales or resale shops), perhaps the Van Gogh blossoming tree on the wall, my new sewing machine (hopefully a wedding gift!), fresh flowers, task lighting, a chaise, a beautiful rug in the corner under the chair ... I could go on and on! It's so fun to dream ...

Here are some inspiration photos for me:

I can't wait! Perhaps I will include my decorating ideas in my list of creative accomplishments.

Miscellaneous Wishes

This guy is just one of my favorites ever .. he is titled "The Inconsolable", and he is one of many wonderful dog sketches by artist Diana Thorne (this is from her 1935 illustrations of Real Tales of Real Dogs by Albert Payson Terhune):


Two of my favorite Wyeth paintings (they both hung in Grandmom's house .. the sure reason why they are my favorites!):

Here are some of my favorite Van Gogh paintings (I just love his work!):

Just thought I'd post some pictures of some things that I would like to make from The Drawn Thread collection:

A new talent

I am now officially a knitter. I taught myself how this past weekend (thank you Lion Brand!). I have probably ripped out as much as I have knitted, but I'm making progress on my first project! Not quite sure what it is going to be, but I am working with 10 1/2 gauge needles and some fun color change yarn. I cast on 26 stitches and practiced making some smooth cloth (alternating knitting and purling). I have moved on to ribbing now, so we'll see how it goes!

My biggest problem seems to be adding stitches. I think I've figured out how it happens, and I am really quite proficient at undoing knitting now :).

As soon as I have something worth taking a picture of, I'll add it!

A brief recap

I may have misled a bit when I said that I wouldn't venture into past projects ... I would hate to lose all of that work, so I will have a brief recap of my stitchery projects to date.

The earliest works are lost or sold (some paper punch Christmas cards, a trio of cats centered around my childhood friend, Nicola's, Burmese, Cassie, an aquarium scene). I do not have any of them anymore, but I will still count these amongst my lifetime projects.

I completed this Leo in one afternoon while sitting on the peach couch upstairs at Dad's house in 1994

Mom's favorite story is that when we went to Idle Hands to get the fish framed some guy offered to buy it from me for $500 for his fish themed bathroom!

I stitched these little herbs for Grandmom's kitchen after she got it redone ...


I then completed a sampler projects for Sus in 1995 (she picked it out) ... it was my first experience with beads and blending filament ...

After mom got a new oriental rug for the living room for the house on Hot Springs, I made her a Christmas gift by designing a cross stitch off of two of the patterns in the rug.

For Grandmom and Grandpa for Christmas in 1996

For Sus for Christmas in 1996

The Angel of Love (worked on this all during my time in Argentina! Mom and Dad both sent my supplies to help me complete it .. many times they were "lost" in the international mail!) .. finally completed in 2000 ...

A blackwork Iris that I made and grandmom had framed for me! It hangs in Mom's house now.

An otter for mom ...
A stained glass iris window for Sus - it hangs in her half bath...

A world map (adapted to remove all of the cheesy titles, etc.) completed around 2001

A floral Welcome completed in 2002 ... I later did just the L for my friend Laura West (now Doan) to thank her for a summer of free rent during my first summer internship and I completed the E with pansies for Evan's first Christmas ...

A cutwork box completed sometime around 2002

Parts of an incomplete (not stuffed or backed and missing a few members) nativity scene that I worked a lot on while on our 2 week cruise around South America in 2002 - I just sat in a comfy chair by the window and watched the glaciers go by and worked on my stitching! Heaven!!! I completed these in 2002 and 2003. The tassels are all tied down to keep them from frazzling ...

A miniature Three Wise Men (worked on 40 count material) for Emily for 2005 Christmas .. this is a version of the regular sized work that I completed for Mom a few years earlier ..

These are probably my favorite things I've ever made .. mini needlwork pillows adapted from a rug design on micro-stitchery.com of tapestry excerpts from a 15th century Cluny ... I completed these around 2005

Probably my second favorite project to date .. a miniature Jacobean panel that I made the pattern for by counting and copying off of an online gallery ... so cute!!! ... it is about three inches by two inches.

Here is a detailed view of the sampler - this is minature needlework.

These are partially finished Christmas ornaments that I worked on in 2005 - I gave one completed ornament to my wonderful hair dresser, Veronica

Some assorted towels that I worked on around 2005 (I gave a pair of towels to the Donohues as a housewarming, and there is also a Christmas towel around somewhere. Emily and I also completed a pair of vegetable and fruit towels a long time ago for Mom and Grandmom! I also stitched two monogrammed "F" towels for Dad and Linda one Christmas, but they went with the house. And Sus and I stitched a pair of blue on cream towels for mom ...)

The project that has taken me the most time to complete (to date), is my Teresa Wentzler Peacock Tapestry. More than five years from start to finish! Here it is in all its glory ...

My latest finished project is Jeremy and Mindy's wedding present (completed in a record 8 months!) .. I adapted this pattern a bit - I took out the cheesy latin words at the top and replaced with something a bit more romantic. I also left off all of the labels and added their monogram and wedding date .. completed December 2006

Still to post photos of ... three kings for mom, two needlework squares, wizard of oz (with emily), ladybug bookmark, lady with arch, christmas house, cat on lid of jar (?), star on lid of jar (?), sampler for Cate's wedding, sheep quartet (mention .. no photo), dollar bill (mention .. no photo), bargello seat cover for miniature chair, Melissa's wedding sampler

... started - embroidery panel, stocking for matt, fruit quartet, blue and black butterfly, teresa wentzler wedding arch

... future projects - stockings for children, flower quartet, teresa wentzler paisley corner, wentzler pillow top (blue and yellow and white), blackwork sampler, miniature works of art (van gogh sunflowers, etc.), bargello cover for miniature stool