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

It begins

This is the first blog of my life ... quite a set up for what will very likely be an intensely boring post. However, I wanted to preface my blog with my statement of purpose ... I would like to catalog all of my activities that I feel define my leisure time. I sometimes feel as though these hours between work and sleep are wasted, but if I were to somehow capture the moments on paper (or digitally, as it were), they might have more significance.

So, here I go ... I suppose I will start with today and move forwards - a quite natural progression. Perhaps, in passing, I will mention past projects as they appear naturally.

I wish me luck.