Overdue update

Again it took ages to update my blog. Time seems to fly away all the time.

Shortly ago I wrote in an email to someone that I had finished page 4 of "Manhattan Wonderland". To my utter despair   astonishment I realized that that wasn't the case when I grabbed it to work on it. There wasn't a page 4 finished. Sigh. I REALLY thought I had that page finished. Must have been in one of my dreams...lol. With that said...page 4 partially finished:

I also stitched 2 more Prairie Schooler ornaments. The first one is from the Gift of Stitching magazine, and I did that one already once - and gave it away as a gift. For the very first time I regretted giving something away. So I stitched it again.
The other ornament is one of the 3 ornaments to stitch that belong to "Christmas Eve". I didn't finish them off yet, because I want to stitch the other ones under it and then ornamentify them in one go.

Then there is an update on Alla Turca as well.

I did some sewing too, my very first time doing applique. Better said this is my (almost finished) second go at it. First time I had it completely finished, and then realized in one glance (it was quite obvious....lol) that I cut the base fabric wrong. It missed 1/2" in width. On the bright side, exercise is the key to learning isn't it?

I need to stitch a word on the dark blue fabric, but had troubles to get the lines on it with the light method because it didn't shine through. Ordered now water soluable paper and wax free tracing paper, if there are more options, I have an open ear.

The block is the first part of "Snowbound" which is a free design by Bunny Hill Designs.

First finish and some sewing,

My first finish for 2010 is a Prairie Schooler design, and I finished it as flat fold. I love flat folds. They look so neat, don't need a frame, and I can just display them. Love it!!!

Christmas Eve by The Prairie Schooler

stitched on 28ct Cashel (solo from Silkweaver)

The fabrics in front and background are the fabrics used for the flat fold finish

See the little angel in the picture? Anna sent it to me for Christmas. And I'm totally in love with it. It is SO cute. Such a little beauty.

Here is my progress on Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. While stitching the second blog I became aware that in January started a  SAL for it, and that stopped me in the tracks. I joined in the fun and will finish blog 2 in February. Here is where I was at when I stopped:

And look what we found in our backyard:

Hero as I am, I called Mike to grab it. But I was brave enough to take a picture...lol. So there!!! I'm not a total chicken. Besides...these things bite. Plus Mike is better in catching whatever then I am. Did I ever tell you we had a mouse in the house? 3 cats (yes you are reading that correctly THREE cats) were watching with interest how Mike was catching the mouse.  He caught another mouse (this time with a trap) in the garage....and we left the cats in the garage to get them interested in it. They didn't even look at it...nor sniff. EUWWWW....a dead mouse!!!! That's our cats...sigh.

I also did some sewing. We have some very comfy chairs in front of our garden doors...however they look totally terrible. The white cushions became partially black...and rather spotty. With that said, I found a great tutorial for covers from Amy. I love especially how she finished off the corners. So simple and easy, but it makes a world of difference.

This is how our chairs looked before .....

Me and the girls hard at work in the craft room .......

The finished product!!! And no ...it was not intended that a doggy moved IMMEDIATELY on it. I told Lucy off and told her to get her bum off the pillow. She was very impressed...look at that tail.

My loud protests helped. Mike and Ashely came immediately to my aide...errm...sort of.  Anyway...that was it...I threw them all off the pillow and brought both pillows outside and put them on the chair. Then went inside to get the camera....came back outside....

I threw them off the seats!!!! Minutes later.... 

I gave up at that point. I got the hints: one of the next things to sew will be new dog beds. I'm such a person of authority....lol.