A Finish and a Little Start

Gentle friends, I worked out my camera problems... so I have some snaps today of the piece I've been working on for the past few months.... and here is the last Block or double-block from AotH...

...  for this Block, I needed to shifted most everything around to fit in the little poem I found.  Although what was charted was nice it really didn't say what I wanted to say with this piece so I went looking online and found this short poem.  I did stick with the floss group for the Block....... 

and here's the entire completed piece.....

Black Bird Designs - "Anniversaries of the Heart"

March 19 - Septemeber 16, 2017

36ct Linen - using GAST and WDW

It was a really great piece to work on and I would highly recommend this to anyone thinking about stitching it!

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After wrapping up AotH I already had a piece picked out to begin. I had the linen and the silk ready to go.... here's the little bit of a start I made yesterday...

Prairie Moon "Thine is the Trick or Treat"

Silkweaver 36ct Days Gone By

CC Belle Soie "Old Crow"

Although this is a monochromatic piece as charted... I think I will introduce some color here and there as I go along.

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by dos top again!!

Take care,

edgar

A little Stitchin' and a-lotta Hot!!

Gentle Friends, well, summer has finally hit us full force here by the Bay.  Last Friday we hit a record high of 106 in the City, then Saturday another record high at 102.... Sunday the temps dropped about 30 degrees and have held in the low 70's through the night and are hovering at about 71 right now.  Typically we shouldn't get any heat until October since that is our warm month.... so who knows whats a-coming weather wise for us......

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With all the heat and absolutely no air conditioning in our house, we had the fans going full blast - so very little stitching for a few days, but here's a snap of the little bit I've gotten done...

... and here's how the piece looked at that point...  as you can see I've gone back and personalized all the Blocks with family members. For each month I tried to find a family member or ancestor who was married in that month - usually.... I think the Block that gave me the most trouble was the Block for March.  I waffled back and forth with a few ancestors and finally settled on a Revolutionary ancestor who was a 1st Luietent in a regiment of Minute-Men from Dutchess County New York.

... and here is an overall shot of the piece... since this snap, I've frogged and removed some of the stitching from Block 12 and made some changes to the final double block.  I have an idea that I'm running with at the moment to tie the piece together - so fingers crossed!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again.

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I finished up the "December" Block over the weekend.... here's a snap...

... this Block seemed to stitch up quickly - I made very few changes... one major change was to use GAST "Forest Glade" for the tree, I did change up the colour of the birds and added the extra hearts.  This block references my 3rd Great Grand parents marriage - they were from New York state...

... and here's how it stands .....  coming along nicely!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by, do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Friday Stitchin'

Gentle friends,  I thought I'd catch you up a bit on where I am on AotH...

.. so far I'm sticking closely to the recommended floss.....  this is Block 12, once this is finished then all I'll have left is to personalize some of the blocks and to stitch up the last double sized block.....
the end is nigh.

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Have a super weekend, do stop back next week!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin' - with an update bit of info....

Gentle friends, well, here's a snaperoo of the latest finished "block" of AotH...

 ... it is probably my least favorite Block so far for color, I think it works well overall visually ... but... as with many of the suggested flosses that are found in BBD charts... the tones of the colors are so similar that they look like there is no change... so much so that I backstitched around the windows just to delineate them from the house walls... A little family info...this block I stitched for my paternal grandparents - now both gone - my Granny was named after her grandmother... so her name reaches back to 1860 and my Great-great -grandmother in Tennessee.  

Don't get me wrong I really love BBD for design and have lots of their charts. The only real change I made was with the trees they were supposed to be stitched with CC Camouflage and I used GAST Forest Glade - they look much more pine trees than would have had I used Camouflage....

.... and here's the piece with what I finished so far...

please do excuse any stray who hound hair in the photos.

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends,  still working away on AotH and here's a snaperoo..

... I'm actually a bit further along than this picture shows, but this is the snap I had and here's what's going on with me and this damn "vine." 

When I pulled the floss for this block I really didn't like the idea of the vine being chamomile along with the box border on the bottom.  So, I stitched the whole vine in "better" shades of green.... I started off with one shade of green - endive -  then got about half way through and changed to another "green" - finished the vine - at that point I was going to make the decision about which green I liked best.....  I really didn't like either green so I pulled it all out and went back and stitched the entire vine in the called for chamomile... I feel very indecisive with this block and the color palette -  which is not like me at all!!...... so I think I'm stitching with the suggested colors for the time being.   I'll probably have the block finished up by the end of the week so there may be another snap later on!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by and listening to my grousing!!  

Do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, well, I finished up "October" and here's a shot....

... October in my family is just chock-a-block full of "anniversaries" and "dates of import"...I settled on my Sister and BIL's wedding date...I really enjoyed this block and love all the various orange flosses used.  I changed some of the bits and pieces and added an extra leaf and piece of vine.

Here is my list of changes ... 

GAST Apple Cider to GAST Kale (Special Edition Color)

The Large pumpkin lower right I used Gast Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Patch

The House is CC Pumpkin Harvest

The Pumpkin Flower I restitched in GAST Bittersweet

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... and here is the entire piece as it stands at the moment...

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There you go sports fans thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Freinds, I am stitching away on "October; and had to frog out quite a bit when what I had stitched didn't really work for me..... so although I had stitched quite a bit more here's where I am at the moment....

... I went back and pulled out the light colored pumpkin that goes in the lower right corner... then  I pulled out all that is now the green part of the vine border.  It started off a sort of tan/brown and blended far too closely with the golden part of the vine.... as with the last block once this is finished I'll list all the changes I made.

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There you go sports fans, thanks, for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Fall Color

Gentle friends, I didn't want the week to go by with out another post... so it'll be another sort of stitching post.... I'm stitching away on "October" and have shifted out some of the colors already and then thought I wanted to increase the orange flosses...... 

... so I went back through my floss stash and pulled all the orange shaded flosses I could find..... I was really surprised at how many I had and how slight some of the variations were.....  BTW I am loving this block immensely!!!

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Have a super weekend sports fans see you next week!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I finished up the last Block on the second row... "Septemeber"....  here's a snap.

... this square is all about education, I was the third in my family to graduate from East Carolina University...  so I put the years my Grandmother, my parents and when I graduated...  I shifted lots of the floss to Purple and Gold - they are the school colors, the tree looks kind of like a long needle pine tree, which is all over Eastern NC so I left it alone, I changed up the house to a "Carolina Blue" color, which is a reference to UNC where I did Graduate work... so it's sort of an ode to North Carolina and Higher Education!  Here are the specific changes I made:

 I stitched the Quaker motifs on the left and the Algerian Eyes in CC Cappucino 

The Butterfly is stitched using GAST Ye Olde Gold, Old Purple Paint, and Butternut Squash

The Heart on the right is stitched using GAST Berry Cobbler and CC Queen Bee

The House is CC Rain Shower

The Bricks on the house are GAST Pomegranate

CC Tufted Yellow I changed to GAST Shaker White

The numbers and letters are all GAST Ole Purple Paint

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Here's a snap of the entire piece as it stands....

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitching

Gentle Friends, well, here I am at the end of the second row and 10th Block.... here you go with a snap of where it stands at the moment....

... sorry about how wonky it looks.  I've changed up the border floss and there will be more changes as I go along.......  but you'll have to wait and see those as they come!

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Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle friends, I've finished up block eight on AotH .... here's a snperoo..

 ... I stitched my paternal great grandparent's initials and marriage year into this square - and now that I look at it I think I will go back and stitch the date also -  this was his second marriage.  He was named after his father (my Great-great grandfather) and my dad was named after him and I was named after my father so I am the fourth to carry the name - not too confusing.

Here's a snap of the entire piece as it stands at the moment..... sorry about the wrinkles....

I made quite a few floss changes.  This piece as with most BBD calls for overdyed flosses - I felt that the skeins called for that I had were really much to light or I just didn't like them...whatever...so I converted them to darker shades or colors I like better.  

Here is the list with the suggested floss first and my change if any:

CC Avocado no change

CC Gingersnap to GAST Butternut Squash

CC Little Brown House no change

CC Olive Branch no change

CC Onion Skin to GAST Hazelnut

CC Peanut Brittle to CC Pumpkin Harvest

CC Stepping Stones no change

CC Sunkissed to GAST Brandy

CC Tiny Vine to GAST Endive

GAST Lexington Green no change

I think after I finish up the next block I'll go back nd fill in all the dates, initials and other familial information.

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Once again it was a lovely cool and breezy weekend here by the Bay.  All around us, to the North, South and East Bay the temps were hovering in the low 90's and into the100's, while we were in the low 70's on Saturday and then the temps moved back into the cool upper 60's on Sunday..... thank goodness for the Pacific Marine breeze and fog!!!

There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little More Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, the weekend was long, cool, windy and wonderfully foggy!! and I loved every minute of it!!  Most of the time the temps hovered in the low 60's - so it was perfect for this old buzzard to stay in sweatshirts for four days!!  

I've been stitching a bit on AotH and here's where I left off last night...

... I've switched out most of the called for flosses for what I think are better choices - but I've tried to stay within the colour groups as the piece was charted....

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There you go sports fans just catching up this morning at work  - since I've been gone things have piled up quite a bit!!  Thanks for stopping by... do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, two stitching posts in one week.... what is the world coming to.  I finished up "Swan Lake" and thought I'd wrap the week up on a couple of snaps of where I'm at before the long weekend.....

Here's a snap of the "Swan Lake" Block...

.... I've dedicated it to my Brother and SIL, they were married in July so I thought that would be appropriate... I added a heart - as I will throughout the piece - the only other small changes I made were to shift around the vines at the top to fit the "M" in, I also cross-stitched the "M" and didn't long stitch it - I didn't like the way the long stitch looked.  The only floss change I made was to use CC "Toasted Marshmallow" instead of "Magnolia" - I already had the "TM" so figured I didn't need another white skein of floss.

Here's how the piece stands with this Block...

... as you can see it's coming along nicely, and I am still really happy with the changes I've made.

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That's about it for the week sports fans.  I took off Monday, we're off Tuesday so the next Post will probably be Wednesday.  Have a super weekend and a safe 4th!!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, here's an updated snaparoo of where I am on "Anniversairies" ...

... here's "Swan Lake"... I'm almost finished with this block and will soon be on to August - 

or as it is called "Clara Ellen." 

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It was a lovely low-key weekend here by the Bay at my house.  Out in the world, specifically downtown SF the annual Pride Parade and Festival were in full swing... which is something we've avoided and not been to in donkey's years.... in fact nobody I know was going and most were steering a clear berth of anything to do with downtown, Civic Center or the Castro.  We heard there were more than a million people attending the various functions..... what we've heard about past years and this year's events, that the majority of the crowds attending are made up of out of town and tourist folks.... here's a snap I lifted from the internet of this year's crowds...

... that's just too many folks for me to deal with... to drink a warm beer and sweat in the sun!!

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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, we had our first really warm weekend.... in the low to mid 70's on Saturday and then a sweltering 83 on Sunday....  at my MIL's house down in the Valley it reached a whopping 108.....  I guess Summer is upon us at last....  even though it reached 83 by early afternoon... by nightfall, the breeze had picked up and the temps plummeted back into the upper 60's and low 70's.... so this morning we are back in the weather comfort zone!!  That's one of the lovely things about living here by the Bay, that the weather, even though it may get on the warm side usually breaks quickly and gets back to being cool.  Even with the heat getting turned up we still got some running about thrifting on Saturday and got some stitching done.... here's a snap...

...  although this is a pretty terrible snaperoo of the project you get the idea of where I've gotten to.... I've swapped out a couple of floss colours on this block and will mention them as I get along...I really am enjoying this piece quite a bit!!  I do enjoy BBD designs and even though I'm only at about the halfway point with this piece I'm already planning what the next project will be...pretty silly I know!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, still stitching away on AotH, and here's where I left off last night...

... this block I'm stitching for my maternal grandparents.  I restitched the initials and dates all over this block - trying them here and there ..... the letters, as charted, really don't fit well and the square is a bit on the small side - so - I'm not sure what I'll put there, yet.

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That's about it for today sports fans.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, a quick update on AotH.... I finished up the sixth block and have moved on to number 7.... here's a snap...

 ... the piece as it stands...

... and Block number 6... this I stitched for my parents... the year they were married and I stitched in 5 hearts representing the five of us in our family.  I also had to shift up the birds on that side to make the "hearts" fit.

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle Friends, I forgot my camera cord yesterday so I couldn;t upload any snaps.... and what's a Post without a snap or two...  the long weekend was not nearly long enough, but it was relaxing and there were some high points.  Today I'm talking about AotH that I'm still stitching along on...

... as with most things I stitch I been switching up some of the floss colours....  the green I used here was not the called for Avocado (far too yellow) but a better choice I think, Grape Leaf.  I've almost decided on most of the personalizations and will start adding that as I go along....

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Stitchin'

Gentle friends, just a quick update on AotH...

... I've completed the main stitching for the first row... but none of the personalization yet... 

still working that out.

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That's it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!

Take care,

edgar