Not Myself

Do you ever have a day (or several days all in a row) where you don't quite feel like yourself? I've been out of sorts for two days now. I'm not sure how to describe it. I just feel . . . uncomfortable in my own skin. Just plain wonky. Of course my monthly visit (tmi?) is due any day now so I suppose its to be expected. I did nothing today but muck around with my blog. BTW, what do you think? The picture in the header is of a work in progress, a Quaker Motif I'll offer as a freebie as soon as I finish stitching it. Of course instead of actually working on it today I took pictures of it in it's sad unfinished state. Keeping Joy is also waiting to be finished. Usually when I'm so close to finishing a design I stitch like mad to get it done. Again, I just don't feel like "me" right now.

*Sigh*

On a good note, however, I've decided I have the best husband in the world. For two days now he's helped with the kids and done virtually all the cleaning in the house. Yesterday he even came home from the store with cheesecake for me. The day before that he came home with more tulips. I love my husband. Really what more could I ask for than a man who loves me even when I'm bonkers.

I haven't decided if tonight I'll stitch or simply curl up on the sofa with the rest of my cheesecake. I promise to have Keeping Joy finished sometime next week and the next free pattern should be up by then too. Hopefully I'll be feeling more like myself by then.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

The Country House

I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with The Country House. They have an online store as well as a physical location that I happen to be fortunate enough to live within fifteen minutes of. They boast being the largest country store in the east and there are two seperate buildings each the size of a small warehouse. One building is comprised of a bunch of smaller rooms each decorated in a different primitive or country style. There are bedrooms, keeping rooms, dining rooms, etc and everything on display is for sale. It's wonderful to walk through: you feel as though you're taking a tour of a colonial home.

Their stuff can be a little pricey, but beautiful. Even if I have no intention of buying anything the store is absolutely lovely and simply spending an hour of so there can be such a source of inspiration. I can literally do several "laps" through both buildings and still not have explored every nook and cranny. Of course whatever my intention I rarely make it out of the store without buying something.

Today, however, I had a specific purpose in mind. Most all of my needlework, finished or in progress, lays about the house. It's either hung here, or draped there . . . I enjoy looking at it and if it's unfinished keeping it in sight increases the likelihood I'll get around to finishing it. In an attempt to curb our heating bill we've had quite a few fires this winter. I adore them, personally, but I've noticed most of my needlework is starting to smell slightly of woodsmoke. It's the one downside of having a fire going virtually every day and I can't abide it. Of course the moment I realized it I had to do something about it. I took a quick trip to The Country House (meaning I stayed less than two hours) and picked up some prim fixins, spiced cake scented. I tossed it in a mesh bag and now have it "steeping" in a small box with some of my needlework. Winter isn't over yet and I don't want to forego those cozy fires in the evenings so I'm hoping this helps.

Anyone else have any suggestions? I'm open to any and all ideas and of course if it requires another trip to The Country House I wouldn't mind.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

https://www.thecountryhouse.com/Default.asp

St. Valentine's Day Free Pattern

I promise you I had every intention of stitching this by now . . .

What's that expression? Man plans and God laughs . . . after this past week I have no problem believing that.

It's a tiny pattern, only 1.5 inches by 2 inches when done over two on 40 count. With any luck I'll have it done by St. Valentine's Day but I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of you had it done before me.

If you'd like to download the pattern simply click on the Free Patterns link on my sidebar. Maybe pictures of some of your finishes will compel me to get started on it.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Journey's End

Let thy love my spirit cheer as my guard, my guide, my friend, lead me to my journey's end.

Now I have to admit this one gave me some trouble. (See earlier post regarding the trials and tribulations of hand dyed threads). Now with my husband being so busy the framing is going to take longer than I anticipated. So I decided to put up a picture of it unframed. I was just waiting for a nice sunny day since I was having a lot of trouble getting the white to show up. It shows up quite nicely against the dark linen but my photography skills are somewhat lacking. Then again I'm a stitcher, not a photographer, so maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

Let me know what you think of the finished piece; feedback is always welcome. I was going to wait until it had been framed to put the pattern up for sale, but if you're interested simply click on the Patterns to Purchase link on my sidebar or e-mail me.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Fabric and Framing

Journey's End is finished . . . well almost. The stitching is complete, I'm simply waiting on my husband to make me a frame for it. In the meantime I'm picking a fabric to go around it. I like using fabric as a mat inside the frame. Really I try to use something from my fabric stash anytime I can; what's the point of having it sit in a box? I also have to decide how to finish the frame. Currently I have no ideas about that whatsoever. Whenever in doubt, though, white is always a safe bet.

Next up is Keeping Joy. It's very similar to Journey's End. As a matter of fact it uses a lot of components of Journey's End that just didn't end up working in the final design. That happens to me quite often. I think I'm going in a particular direction with a design and then suddenly it takes a sharp turn. Some pieces stay, and some go, and some I hate to see go. But if I'm particularly enamored with a certain piece of the design that just doesn't work I simply work it into another design. This time however I think I'm going to use pink rather than blue and gold. I adore pink; at this moment I'm typing on a pink laptop. I find myself gravitating towards pink quite often in my designing so I make a conscious effort to use other colors. I've been so successful that I don't have any designs in pink. I think it's time so stay tuned for that. I've already picked out the colors. I love having a finished piece but the idea of not having anything ready to stitch panics me, so I got together the supplies for Keeping Joy days ago. It's a quick stitch so I should have it up in a week or so provided the children don't get anymore snow days.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Sneak Peak of Journey's End

Here is just a little peak at my next pattern and I haven't got much more than this stitched. I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem, but hand dyed threads present me with unique challenges. They are beautiful and I love stitching with them. I had a skein (well some of a skein) of WDW Gold Leaf left over from another project. Now I must have bought that skein a year ago if not longer. I was using it in this design, ran out of it and needed to buy another skein. The new skein had so much more brown in it than yellow it looked like a completely different color. It was still a lovely color but it looked so different than the one I was already stitching with I had to take out all the old stitches and redo them with the new thread. This was the only part of the design I've had time to restitch. I despise taking out stitches but I suppose lesson learned. Always check my threads and when necessary stitch with a new skein, preferably before I start any stitching at all.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Bluebird

I got a comment and a couple of e-mails asking about my Bluebird. It hadn't actually occurred to me but it is one of my patterns. It's from years ago and I designed it for that beautiful blue toile which is the backing of the bird. It's funny where inspiration can come from.

The pattern is a somewhat randomly arranged alphabet of both upper and lower case letters. It's stitched over two on 40ct R & R Park City Blend using GA Barn Grey because it matched the blue in the fabric. It was finished into the bird and hung with tea stained silk ribbon. It spends most of its' time in my craftroom but recently moved to my diningroom because the blues so nicely reflected the icy winter weather we've been having.

Thank you for your kind words about it and if you're interested in the pattern let me know. The pattern would include the alphabet and a sewing pattern for the bird itself when stitched over two on 40ct. If stitched on another size linen the pattern would have to be resized which I typically do using the copier function on my printer. A printed pattern is $6.50 including shipping charges and an e-pattern is $5.00. If you're interested simply e-mail me at appleseedprim@yahoo.com or use the link on my sidebar.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn