AUTUMN HOUSE

I've been visiting an old friend lately. NEEDLEPOINT - I learned to do NP before I learned to knit as a young child of about 8 or 10. I did a huge amount of NP in the 90's and early 2000's - that was before I became enchanted with samplers. There were several reasons needlepoint got pushed aside in my preferences. One of which was samplers but then came the new addiction - traditional wool rug hooking. I've been hooking for almost 12 years now and in the beginning years of hooking - I was still buying a lot of NP and taking a lot of classes. Well something had to go and with the loss of two shopowners who were dear friends and were such great mentors for me with NP - I just let it slip farther and farther from my sight. Not to say that I don't have enough painted canvases and class kits to last the rest of my life and also not to say that I did not continue to buy canvases - I do and I did ! However I would see them, love them, purchase them and roll them up and put them away. I have a tremendous stock pile of lovely things which have never even been started. All this came to light when I moved 2 years ago and started digging into my vast stash of needlework related items.

Anyway - I have been a member of a local ANG chapter for a number of years - that group is 95% canvas workers - I have become less active in that group since moving 2 years ago because it is farther away from my new home and because NP was not my main focus these days. So - I decided I would join the EGA chapter which does meet very close to my house and guess what - they are about 95 % canvas workers as well - So - every month I would drag out my little flavor of the month/in progress/basketweave project and go and stitch with them. Most of them are working on a lovely group project called Crazy Dreams which has lots of stitches and colors and fibers - all are different and all beautiful. So one day - I thought to myself - Hey - that looks like fun - I have hundreds of dollars of NP stitch books on my shelf - I know what I'm doing - I know what I like - I know color - I have a vast stash of threads on hand - Why don't I find a canvas I really like and get busy. Here is what I found:

This is a canvas I purchased out of a trunk show that DF Jill from the Azalea House had a couple of years ago. I purchased a bunch of Gloriana Lorikeet wools for it and had all those stored with the canvas.

So - I have been obsessed with this canvas ever since I decided I could do it - I could do it !

Here is a close up of the house and the growing trees and fields surrounding it.

I am really pleased with the stitches I have chosen for the things I have stitched so far.  I've never done a scene like this and previously - I did not do much stitch planning on painted canvases - But I must admit - I am having a great deal of fun searching for just the right thread and stitch for a particular spot on the canvas - one of the real challenges is that all these spaces are very small - the canvas is only 10 X 10 on 18ct which does help a little with doing finite details.  How long this obession will last - one never knows but I'm having a hard time wrapping it up at night to get in the bed. Last night was 12:30 and I just had to finish that smoke billowing from the chimney - I found a thread I just simply had to try.  I'm having so much fun perusing long stashed threads and rummaging thru other kitted projects long left idle looking for threads that might be good on this canvas.  I'm sure once Halloween is over - the allure of this Autumn House will be over but who knows - fall scenes and pumpkins are good for a while and guess what - I have a great Turkey canvas I got on a rug hooking trip to Fredericksburg TX about 5 years ago.  He might be my next conquest !

I had a new shawl project to show you but the photo part of blogger is acting up and I just don't have the patience to do this all over again for the 3rd time today. 

So I will bid farewell - wish you all a good week and hope I get back here again soon .  Thanks for all your comments -

AWAITING AUTUMN

My Halloween things are put out - the calendar says October 4th but the thermometer in my car said 89 when I went to the bank a little bit ago - WHEW - Come on Mom Nature - give us a break !  I'm so ready for fall - how about you?

I wanted to show you a darling pin pillow I got in the mail last week.  It was stitched by DF Henri for me last year but I didn't have time to get the finishing done for the fall season.  Nancy (lovelyinchocolate) did the beautiful finishing on this sweet little piece.  It was in one of the JCS Halloween ornament issues - 2009 I'm pretty positive.  It was stitched on the called for Havana WDW linen with the called for threads.  Henri did a lovely job on the stitching and I used fabric I purchased last fall at the Olde Green Cupboard - our beloved quilt shop that closed in the spring.  Fabric and other purchases always jog my memory of fun times there at the cupboard with dear friends - stitching, hooking and just laughing and having a good ole time.

Look at the cute rusty pins with buttons and beads Nancy put for special touches.  So creative!

Here is the little display of my veggie gourds in a Longaberger basket with the little pillow propped up on the side

I think I've shown this rug before but it was my very first hooked rug that I finished some years ago - I still love the primitive look and it is special because it was my first !  Also in the photo is a cute Halloween guy that my mom bought for me recently.

This will be a short post but I also wanted to show my progress on Garden Glade by CHS - It is a chart I've had in my stash since it was brand new back in 2005 but Jean at the Attic had it as her SOM for September and I succumbed to the lovely Bluegrass linen by Lakeside she was using in her rendition.  I did not realize this was an adaptation of a sampler in the American Folk Art Museum.  Makes me love it all the more.  I received Jean's Belle Soie conversion but I wanted to use a red that was more like what Kathy selected with her NPI choice.  I came up with Gloriana Schoolhouse Red from my stash of silks.  I also changed the color of the big giant leaves to Gloriana Olive Grove - Can't believe I'm actually making color changes - WHEEEE - amazing - I always feel compelled to stick to the colors the designer selected when doing a repro - I know everyone has their own opinion about how to stitch repro's but that is my personal preference - so anyway - I am enjoying this immensely as you can see from my progress in one week.  For me this is amazing and last week - I hardly knit at all.  GG had all my attention.  Some of you would laugh at this amount of progress but remember I work full time and such as last week when I worked a full day on Sunday and till 8pm on Monday.  the most I ever get to stitch on a work night is 2 hrs.

Sad this photo is so crummy - it is actually so beautiful - the colors I mean.

So friends - until we meet again - I'll be awaiting autumn !