Pre-holiday Photo Parade

Needlebook gift I stitched/created
 for a dear friend. Stitched over-one.
Design is Bent Creek - "Red Winged
Blackbird" (heavily modified and
the word "needles" added).

Happy holidays everyone! Wow - where has the time gone??...I have neglected my blog for far too long...ugh...I will definitely try to visit with you more in the coming year. I hope you have been enjoying the season, keeping warm and cozy, and finding a little bit of time to do the things you enjoy! Having a puppy in the house and the holiday rush have monopolized my time for the last couple months, but all is well. I have been stitching, sewing, quilting, and needlework finishing - happily creating almost every single day! In fact, I have so many photos to share, it will take a few posts over the next several days to get all caught up. It seems much easier to keep up with my Instagram feed - so stop by, if you are ever wondering what I am up to!

...and yes, Garin (our German Shepherd puppy) is doing quite well...growing every day! He was almost 40 pounds at his 16-week vet check-up...and he has had all his big boy shots. Today, Miss Schatzi and Garin had a long play session in the snow-covered backyard (if you follow me on Snapchat, you can see it!) - they have quickly become best friends. 😊

Here is a brief photo journey of (just some of) the customer sewing I have been doing lately...and a few pieces of customer needlework finishing. I will share quite a bit more cross stitch over the next couple days (you are in for a real treat - there are some gorgeous needlework pieces). As you can see, zippered bags continue to keep me busy - most of these were created with (beautiful) customer supplied fabrics - I work on three main sizes (large project bags, small project bags, and tool bags)...plus I have a couple other sizes I have been auditioning to add to my brand (see the last photo)...

For now, I am off to my stitching nest - I am working on a couple Christmas ornaments for Just CrossStitch magazine - yes, I'm already stitching for the 2018 holiday season!! I'll be back soon with some beautiful needlework images to share with you...

Time Limits and Tail Waggers

It is a cool, quiet morning and while Garin is having a much needed timeout in his kennel, I thought I would clear my head. Whew! - what a crazy few weeks it has been...I'm actually a little speechless. Garin is a smart, fun, and lovable addition to our family - but WOW - he sure keeps me on my toes - you can't leave him alone...not even for one minute. So, of course (Murphy's law), my husband was informed he has to be out of town for work until Christmas...perfect timing, NOT...did you just hear my deep (VERY deep) sigh...yeah, I'm not thrilled. Trying to balance my workload and daily life chores/events with a very active puppy is quite challenging - I have to work in spurts when he is in the kennel, which for me is not ideal...so there is not a lot of sleep happening here...and let's face it, there is asbolutely no time for me....and preparing for the holidays is basically non-existent. So, last week, I made a simple decision - I'm cancelling Christmas this year - yep, it's not happening - on my calendar, Christmas 2017 doesn't exist. I like to make 95% of my gifts, and well, there just aren't enough hours in the day. Friends and family, you are reading correctly - if I happen to be on your holiday list, your list just got shorter - please take me off...see, I'm helping you out too - your shopping/creating list just got shorter! If you are a good friend or longtime reader of my blog, then you know, I have terrible "gift guilt" - I am not good at receiving gifts if I can't reciprocate - seriously, I am the worst. Right now, I just really want/need to focus on my clients and make sure each and every one is happy and taken care of...and to be honest, even that is a challenge - but it WILL happen! So, in an effort to make my life less stressful, I'm lightening my load - bye, bye Christmas - see you in 2018....and you know what - it feels great to put that out in the universe and cross it off my list.

Now that my load is slightly lighter, let me share what has been happening in the studio when I am not on puppy duty. Last week and this week, I have been on a project bag frenzy - you heard me right - it has been zippers, zippers, and more zippers in the studio....more orders were shipped out today and the piles are starting to almost look manageable - if I have received fabrics from you, your bags are in progress!  I will be busy cutting and preparing the next several bag orders this afternoon during Garin's afternoon kennel session...I am working in the order received...last count, I had seventeen project bag orders left to complete (each with multiple bags)...and my goal is to get as many done this week as absolutely possible. I have also been sneaking in more Stitch Starter Ruler Sleeve Sets for my Etsy shop when time allows (extra special thanks to those who have shared my rulers and sleeves on Flosstube - you helped me sell out quickly and I am busy restocking)...I have a huge pile of ruler sleeves cut and ready to sew, and each time I change thread colors to sew bags, if the color matches any of the sleeves, I sew a few up. Next week is reserved for needlework finishing - I have quite a bit to get done before the holidays - so that will be my focus. Again, thank you to everyone for being patient with my turnaround time during this busy holiday season!

Fourteen Fabulous Finishes

Hello creative friends - Garin is on a short time-out in his kennel (hopefully taking an afternoon nap), while I catch up on some pressing work/chores. I just finished packing up a few orders and answering some correspondence, so I thought I would quickly stop by and share some needlework finishing with you. These pieces were all stitched by the same incredible needleworker and I just did the finishing. I will put designer names/titles in the photo captions, just in case you are interested. This great group of items was quite fun to work on and several pieces definitely challenged me...some were limited edition kits that included finishing materials...and others, I chose the supplies, doing my best to make the pieces resemble the model images. I am really happy with how each and every piece turned out...and I think the stitcher was quite pleased too. I put them all in a large box when complete and it was like Christmas day watching my friend and customer unpack each one! I still have well over fifty needlework pieces to finish for clients, so I will have more fun photos to show you soon. For now, enjoy these images...and I hope you will be inspired to pull out your most recent cross stitch piece and do a little needlework finishing yourself...

Threadwork Primitives - Vintage Mini Pinwheel (2)
Threadwork Primitives Stitcher's Mat
Threadwork Primitives My Work

Threadwork Primitives - Stitcher's Mat

Threadwork Primitives - My Work

Scattered Seeds Samplers - Happy Hearts Rejoice (round)
Scattered Seeds Samplers - Harvest Waiting (left)
Blackbird Designs - Sewing Bird Pocket (right)

Scattered Seeds Samplers - Happy Hearts Rejoice (round)
Scattered Seeds Samplers - Harvest Waiting (left)
Blackbird Designs - Sewing Bird Pocket (right)

Blackbird Designs - Sewing Bird Pocket

Little House Needleworks - Friendship (left)

Little House Needleworks - A Stitcher's Heart (right)

Little House Needleworks - Friendship (left)

Little House Needleworks - A Stitcher's Heart (right)

Little House Needleworks - Friendship (left)

Little House Needleworks - A Stitcher's Heart (right)

Lizzie Kate - Be Silly (top left)
Shepherd's Bush - Bless Ewe (top right)
Shepherd's Bush - Poor Robin's Pincushion (center)
Elegant Stitch/Blackbird Designs - Buttons and Bloom for a Cure (bottom left)
Shepherd's Bush - Ewe are my Sunshine (bottom right)

Lizzie Kate - Be Silly (top left)
Shepherd's Bush - Bless Ewe (top right)
Shepherd's Bush - Poor Robin's Pincushion (center)
Elegant Stitch/Blackbird Designs - Buttons and Bloom for a Cure (bottom left)
Shepherd's Bush - Ewe are my Sunshine (bottom right)

Shepherd's Bush - Bless Ewe

Shepherd's Bush - Ewe are my Sunshine

Elegant Stitch/Blackbird Designs - Buttons and Bloom for a Cure

Shepherd's Bush - Poor Robin's Pincushion

Lizzie Kate - Be Silly

Canines and Creativity

Garin - 10-weeks old - 16 pounds

Where did the last month go?? I usually don't miss an entire month of blogging...but I was preparing for puppy...it's not an excuse, it's just reality. I was trying to accomplish as much of my workload as possible before Garin joined our family. I was doing all sorts of needlework finishing, project bag creating, custom designing, and quilting/sewing...knowing that as soon as this fluffy little GSD joined our household, work time would be limited for a week or two (or twenty!).

My holiday finishing/sewing/quilting deadline passed on October 15th...and I am blessed (and a little overwhelmed) to have tables of work to complete before Christmas. Thank you to all my fabulous, loyal customers! Right now, there are 53 holiday needlework finishing items, over 100 project bags, and a pile of custom sewing/quilting pieces...plus a couple design projects lined up on my studio counter...and all those are the "I need these back before the holiday projects" - there are countless others (a HUGE note of gratitude to my patient clients!), all logged in and dated and needing my attention...yes, I will be keeping busy.

This week has pretty much been a lost cause - my husband is out of town again, so I am on solo puppy duty (I forgot how needy/insane Schatzi was as a puppy!)...plus I have been fighting the annual fall head cold and losing the battle. I get small amounts of time to myself when Garin is in his kennel (as he is right now)...and we are outside every 30-45 minutes for house training. So far, he is learning pretty quickly - but I definitely have my hands full. He is teething and everything (I mean everything) on his level is fair game...I need a new set of eyes in the back of my head - if he is alone for even one minute, he can do some major damage (don't let that cute face fool you!). At night, I set an alarm for four hours after he is in the kennel and I am in bed, so we can venture outside - and so far no messes in the kennel - although, I am definitely not sleeping well. He is getting used to his kennel and the whining/crying is subsiding - thank goodness, as it breaks my heart. Schatzi is being a GREAT big sister - she is playing well and sharing all her "stuff" with the puppy...and Garin is copying everything she does and following her around all day long. Yep - it's all the normal stuff that one can expect when they add a puppy to the household. Luckily, my husband will be home Monday morning and will start dog duties, so I can get in a few solid days of work before his next business trip...and hopefully the head cold will be subsiding by then!

For today's creative eye candy, here are a few images of (just a few) sewing/quilting projects I completed in the last month in my attempt to have a handle on things before Garin arrived...I will share some beautifully stitched needlework finishes in my next post...

I'll be back when I can get another moment of quiet time...I have some really fun cross stitch pieces to share (not my stitching, just my finishing work). Thank you for visiting today and I will "see" you again soon....