TS pieced bear

Today was the annual Needle Nicely luncheon.    Macy left last month for the summer and dog agility and field trial events, but she left a picture of herself on a piece of yardstick so she could be at the luncheon in spirit.  During lunch, we placed her in the candle holder in the center of the table. The summer is definitely here.  Marcia leaves for the Northern summer on Wednesday, and Lynn leaves on Wednesday for her regular May week apiece in London and Paris.  Helen and I will hold down the fort in Vero.  There's just one more Monday to be open and then the summer schedule of Tuesday through Friday begins for Needle Nicely.

I'm still experiencing my stitching slump, so my blog entry today is about a shop model we have had for years.  It's Kalvin the running bear from TS Designs.  There are two large canvas pieces that contain the pieces that form the bear.  We used various stitches and fibers in the stitching.
The toughest part was that no finishing instructions come with the canvases, so the finisher has a tough job.  This is one of the two pieces for the bear.

 Here is Kalvin in all his glory.  He really is delightful to hold, just like a regular teddy bear, but with details of stitches and patterns to admire.

 A rear view.

 This is Kalvin's best "side" for photographing!!

Clara Wells purse revisited, 1

I realized as I was stitching on the two pieces of the Clara Wells purse that the canvas was rippling on the frame.  This is a reminder to me (and you) that when you haven't worked on something in a while, the first thing you should do is restretch the canvas.  Loose canvases on frames produce wonky stitches that can't be straightened.  Sometimes humidity causes this or traveling.  So check the tautness of your canvas on a regular basis.  I don't know if you can see the ripple in this photograph, but believe me it was there to the right of the handle opening.

While it may seem that I haven't made much progress, you must remember that I am stitching two sides simultaneously.

Another star for the star garland, finished

I finished the blue star for the star garland.  The overall effect is quite attractive even though the Balger #16 seemed a little skimpy while I was stitching.

 The most pressing shop stitching involves three mini-stockings for a customer.  I want to finish these in May, because June is usually when grandmothers feel the pressure and bring in Christmas stockings for us to finish stitching.  These are 1/2 of Kathy Schenkel's first Christmas mini-stockings.  The Needle Nicely customer opted for only one stocking for each, rather than the pair Kathy designed.

And just in case you are wondering what might be causing your allergy symptoms, these palm tassels should be a clue.  To prolong the agony, they develop at different times--notice the palm in the middle doesn't have any yet.  Some people cut them off immediately--I leave them until the hulls turn brown because the birds feed on them.  At least that's what someone told me.

My stitching plans for the summer

I have lots of WIP (works in progress) that I am determined to finish this summer.  So my plan is to alternate stitching on these projects.  To keep my interest up, I'm allowed to add new projects, but only one at a time and it must be completed before another is added.

These are the projects I will be focusing on:

1.  Two-sided Clara Wells purse (2 pieces)

 As I stitch, I am trying to keep progress on both pieces about equal so that I can finish simultaneously and not have all of one side yet to stitch when the first is finished.

2.  Silent night

This is a perfect example of my old belief about myself--I will not finish the background if I do all the design first.  I don't know why I kept stitching on that border--I guess the  devil made me do it.  No matter, it definitely killed my interest in stitching the white interior.  Never fear, I plan to soldier on and stitch it this summer

3.  Christmas tree on red (2 pieces) by Susan Roberts

I stopped stitching on this piece of the Susan Roberts tree because I had run out of the neon rays.

I think this was collateral damage since I know I have always had the fiber for the circles.  Any excuse to start a new canvas, I suppose.

4.  MRC monogram with hound's tooth background by Associated Talents

This is a recent start that I started and that Macy then stitched on before she went North for the summer.  The magnet is a frog "Big Buddy" because Macy thinks the hound's tooth pattern looks like a frog.  And you'll notice that I had to "Lilly" up the colors!

5.  JP "brick" bag

This is my basted canvas.  I really had just started stitching this when something else caught my eye.

6.  The Studio purse, oldest WIP
I got busy today and didn't unearth this project for its photo opportunity.  I'll do that tomorrow and add it here.
EDIT:

This is a tri-fold purse; the "wings" on the left are the gusset.  Obviously I have a fixation on black and gold or silver for evening purses.

I've already started stitching again on the Clara Wells purse.  I just love the durability of wool.

Another star for the star garland II

 I finished the splendor rows of the Hungarian ground stitch.  Now the mindless process of filling in the holes with Balger #16.  I was a little surprised at how sparse the coverage was, but being the determined person that I am, I will finish stitching this this weekend (or else!).

Tree-top star in bargello

Several years ago I stitched a bargello tree-top star out of 2 shades of gold metallic ribbon floss.  It's such an easy stitch that I set up kits to sell.  Here is the finished star on the Needle Nicely "tree".

And this is a rather poor photograph of the drawn outline of the star on 18mesh bargello tan with the first two rows stitched to establish the pattern.

Even though the majority of my inventory consists of painted canvases, I am always trying to come up with economical, but attractive, alternatives.  I'm really pleased with how this one turned out.

The vacuum cleaner won!

This is what remained of the DSL cord after an encounter with our vacuum cleaner.  I thought it must be a heavy-duty special cord, but the young man at the computer store next door assured me it was just telephone line.  He offered me some for free.  I thanked him, but told him I had lots of it myself.  And I have added another piece of trivia to my vast stockpile.  I have also discovered that a needlepoint needle is great for sticking in the tiny reset hole on the modem.  I found that out because I never seem to be able to find a paper slip to bend and use.

 I decided to do all the the splendor before adding the metallic, which then should be a mindless experience.

Received the latest alligator in the Needle Nicely collection back from our new pillow finisher.  Love the way it turned out.  The canvas is from The Princess and Me.

It helps tremendously if "one" hits Publish and completes the blogging process.  Big Duh!!