Twisting the Hands to Crank out Progress

The colors are gorgeous!

This is Downton Abbey: the Family sampler I'm designing and stitching the model.

A little progress made yesterday.

The girls' names started.

The border is going to be very pretty in Deep Sea blue.

 

 

And in the knitting department:

 

 

Working on another dishcloth as I can. This is looser and is not 100% cotton but a blend. The yarn lady said it makes a nice dishcloth too. This was a bit more expensive and I really like the Peaches and cream for 1.99/ skein better.

But this is Italian blend and is really going to be a good cloth.

I'm thinking I will make this one larger.

 

 

It really stiches up easy and faster which is good because I found out my MRI showed a partial to full tear in a tendon in the top of my hand that controls the extensor of my fingers.

I have it wrapped tightly until I can see an Ortho doc.

I think keeping it still or splinting it for 6 weeks will be NOT a good thing for me as this is my right hand.

 

 

All of this from trying to open a really locked spaghetti sauce jar!

 

As long as I'm not lifting anything more than a salad plate I'm no in too much pain.

I have no grip to hold a dinner plate or pot.

 

Weirdly cross stitching doesn't hurt as bad as the knitting, so I limit my time.

 

We'll see what the Ortho says.

 

Till later no twisting the hands,

Jennifer

Friday Flashback~the first snow at the homestead and progress

Today I thought it would interesting to show you some pics of what the homestead looked like BEFORE painting and removing the front screen and also in a deep snow here on Fox mountain.

What a flashback!  My daughter had never seen so much snow at one time at her early age of 13.

Winter 2002

 The backyard

This is before I paid to put a red tin roof on with new sub wood layer because it was leaking upstairs. The color of the house was a blue stain on the wood. I had it painted of course after the roof went on .

And before that the screen was torn down to reveal a nice front porch. Alot of work done on and in this homestead over the 11 years.

Woke up this morning with frozen ground after a nice sheen of water. Still have more sleet/frozen rain to go today with temps below freezing. Tomorrow this should clear up. 

It's cloudy and almost looks like snow clouds instead and that's one thing in the North Ga. mountains, you just never really know how much ice and when. 

Abbie is curled up beside me. Our Buck wood stove has been going now 48 hours straight. Woke up to some good hot coals yesterday morning and this morning and I've been keeping it going which is saving tremendously on gas and electric bills. It's been a consistent 76 degrees in here when it's below freezing outside. Can't beat that!

Last night I picked up a few stitches on a scarf I'm making, still in garter stitch in a grassy green. Then,  watching the weather on TV, PBS said Downton Abbey was coming on at 9pm, so I saddled up my sampler and worked on it a bit more watching the repeat episode. I can't wait for the new one on Sunday night!!! Mr. Darcy and me both, LOVE this series.

I hope where you are is keeping you warm and especially your hearts so that love can freely flow.

a sneak peak

Manor Red, Antique Rose and Milady's Teal, and Gold Leaf so far........

the knitted project with my Kindle is here.

I will be hand stitching in this pocket I sewed on the machine.

and when I hand stitch the lining in , THEN I have to make a flower from this fabbie and put where you see the rolled up extra.

My kindle cozy will be all ready for some kind of closure on it

I''m still loving my glass needles. XXX my fingers they last a leeeeetle bit longer.

This is a nice grassy green that could easily be a scarf into Spring, I'm thinking with pinks.

So this is what is going on at the spot of the map called Sautee, GA.

My stitching, knitting, lap-hugging, and writing buddy is here for me. She drags her blanket to me to wrap her at night.

I would say she is spoiled but I think it's beyond that now. 

She pulls out her stained potty paper in her pee pan when it's full, and looks at me to replace it.

I guess this is a bed n breakfast for her now. She is quite enjoying the stay.

Dinner last night here:

Chili

skillet oven-baked corn bread

dessert--- chocolate cream pie

Tonight?

pizza!

This sampler will be for sale AFTER I finish stitching the model........yes, I will hurry.

I feel like I birthed a baby by the time I got through with this, but it was well worth it.

Till later stay warm and cozy,

Jennifer

Model stitching Downton Abbey: the Family sampler

As I passed the color crayons and paint in a tray yesterday at a store, I remembered the days of color and painting~~ coloring anything I could as a child.

 

My mind then reverted to a big sigh and change of colors for Downton Abbey sampler I designed recently. The core family is honored in it. Mr. Darcy and I LOVE the story and are big fans of the majestic, British series. Finally, in the midst of moving stitching supplies from one room to a new sewing room, I fell in love with new colors I forgot I had which led to possible color changes once again, for the sampler.

 

I knew the general colors I wanted for each of the spot motif parts of this sampler but tweaking it using sampler threads instead of non-varigated threads, made my heart skip quite a leap.

 

 

Yesterday, on a road trip to visit family, I was able to stitch only a small portion on this 32 count Oyster linen. There is just something about riding in a car on bumpy roads and trying to stab with a number 26 needle, the right linen thread count. Honestly, I realize then, some bumps in the road I didn't know existed. But even though all the bumps in the road almost threw me off track, I managed to start a beautiful sampler. Life is that way sometimes. Just roll the bumps of the road and remember the focus is one stitch day at a time.

 

So today as it's raining and cloudy, gloomy outside really, I came to final decisions in the dining room (not the sewing room---sigh) with a cup of tea. Of course a cup of tea solves many issues.

I could imagine having a cup of tea with Lady Mary or Edith would be quite interesting for a brief moment of reprieval from the gray day. I then opened  my eyes back to designing and here are the final selections.

 

It's really fun and exciting, almost as much as birthing a baby (well, ok, skip the pain part) to put together the colors of something I designed. To see it through to the finish is an exciting time.

I'm in this part right now and its hard not to put all other things aside and stitch, stitch, stitch until it is completed.

 

Mr. Darcy himself will be framing this piece with his handsome, creative hands! This is also exciting to work on something together and see it through, both of us. I hope you will bear with me through the process of birthing this sampler! I also have a few irons in the fire for some smaller designs inspired by Downton.

 

This week's episode was quite the shock that Edith was left at the alter. Sometimes, though, we just dont know when initially traumatic events are really directing us to a better path and I think this will be so for Edith. She was so hurt, as anyone would be in front of a crowd of people to be left. I so wished that he was honest with her at least the night before but some people don't do honesty and those that do in the perimeter can't even fathom dishonest hearts. I hope better things are in store for Edith though. She seems to be a good-hearted soul.

Here's a peak of today:

the dining room soon to be normal again but until then.....................

lots of rich roses, reds, pinks, green, golds and majestic blues

 

Can I just linger here a month or two until I get this done? I love colors. I love sampler thread colors.

 

If there was a Sampler Thread Anonymous Group (STAG), I probably would qualify to attend. But this will be a process of time with intermissions. 

 

  With my assistant, Abbie (no pun intended), who is warming my spot at the computer, and closing her eyes with a mantra of "heat my treat".

 

Yup. the girl loves her homemade dog treats but not cold from the frig. She will not eat it.

 

BUT, if I microwave it until it's just a tad bit warm, she eats it.

 

There's much to be said about spoiling a certain dog. In fact, she is probably thinking the name Abbey is really Abbie for her. Honestly, the girl is a character.

 

Ok, back to basics, like what's for dinner?

 

Tonight?       

 

 barbequed chicken wings

potato salad

green beans

honey biscuits

 

I best get busy.

 

Here's hoping you have a great Tuesday evening,

Jennifer