Stitch Maynia 2019 or Stitch Nine Challenge

Social Media is buzzing with Stitch Maynia 2019.  There are so many great ideas and ways to participate in this event.  True confession, I have never participated in Stitch Maynia, the though of starting a new project every day for nineteen days or thirty-one days is enough to make my eye twitch, my head spin and send this "I have how many WIP's girl, running for the quiet and security of my stitch room.  Now, having shared some of my fears and phobia's, I will also say, reading and watching about everyone's plans is motivating and inspiring.  There are so many great ideas and ways to participate in Stitch Maynia and visiting one's stash and stroking linens and fibers is pure delight.

Faye (Carolina Stitcher) and Nicole (Nicole Needleworks) have an interesting approach to Maynia, they are calling it Make Do.  Over 70 years ago, Americans were encouraged to be frugal to help the war effort.  Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without was used as a rallying cry for frugality.  Lynette and her Frugal Yankee retreat would like this idea.  Faye and Nicole are selecting designs, linen, and fibers which they have in their stash instead of acquiring more.  Great idea girls, Grandmother Rebecca and Mother Dorothy highly approve.

To spread the excitement and enjoyment of Stitch Maynia 2019 or Stitch Nine Challenge, I decided to spread the love and include WIP's, quilting, hooking, punching, stitching and finishing.  Nicole is spreading her love by starting a new project every other day and working on a new start for two days.

My limited approach to Stitch Maynia 2019 or Stitch Nine Challenge

With a grateful heart I can say I have sufficiently recovered from the scourge of the dreaded poison ivy to continue needlework.  The Old Tattered Flag, Skinny Saltbox has been loaded onto my Nistock Farms punching frame and I "shopped" through my fibers and found a sufficient amount of fibers for this project.  In the spirit of Make Do, I also have the bread board to use for mounting the finished piece.

Am really enjoying "using up" the five inch charm squares, some of them have been in. my stash for years.  Am waiting on an order of shirting fabric to continue with the setting.  AppleJack and I have family which will be graduating high school and starting life on their own.  Nothing says love like the warmth and comfort of a quilt.  We older girls know there are going to be times in their life when they will need love and comfort.

Memorial Star is all ready to go.  Most of the wool came from my stash.  The design has been in my stash a few years.  Thanks to Liseanne and Ron Miller and the Beat the Heat and March Madness events, I found the needed background wool.

WIP's, FFO's and new stitching starts:

Finish the Adam and Eve motif from the Hands Across the Sea Sampler, Elizabeth Furniss.  Am so very close--maybe this weekend.

The stitching part of this project has been completed for more than a year, the assembly part is waiting for my needle and thread.  This is Rose Garden Sewing Basket from Stacy Nash,

When Brenda Gervais released O Tannenbaum, I was so excited!  Would be so nice to have this piece completed for Christmas 2019.

Saw the cutest idea for stringing these stockings across a headboard.  It would be easy to have visions of sugarplums dancing in your head with these strung along the headboard.  These stockings are from the Home for the Holidays book by Blackbird Designs,

Lori Markovic released this small at market.  Small enough for some instant gratification and motivation.

Last project is Good Intentions by Kathy Barrick.  If there is a phrase which I can relate to more than Use it up, it is Good Intentions. I myself am made entirely of flaws stitched together with good intentions.  Oh Kathy Barrick, you were thinking of me when you designed this piece weren't you?



Ssssshhhh, if I had the courage to start 19 new projects here is what they would be:

1. Shakespeare's Peddler (Theresa Vennette) Jenny Bean for the Parlor
2. Flag Folk by Notforgotten Farm (Lori Brechlin)
3. Spring Garden Needlework Trio by Blackberry Rabbit (Karen Kirk)
4. Summer in Baltimore With Thy Needle and Thread (Brenda Gervais)
5. Horse Country Holiday Artful Offerings (Karina McMillan Hittle)
6. Kringle & Woolard Plum Street Samplers (Paulette Stewart)
7. Coverlet Christmas Scarlet House (Tanya Brockmeyer)
8. Sarah's House sampler Blackbird Designs (Barb and Alma)
9. Anna Grater 1812 Scarlet House (Tanya Brockmeyer)
10. Sally Spencer Birds of a Feather
11. Sunday Social punch needle (Shawn Williams)
12. Ann Wright 1726 Pinkeep Drum Samplers Not Forgotten (Kimberly Nugget)
13. Garden Birds La D Da (Lori Markovic)
14. Sister Suffragette Summer House (Beth Seal)
15. Julia Fletcher 1847 Scarlet House (Tanya Brockmeyer)
16. Baby It's Cold Outside Heartstring Samplery (Beth Twist)
17. Pomegranate Pocket Hands on Design (Kathy Haberman)
18. Homestead Snapperville Bent Creek
19. My Home Needlework Press (Vickie LoPiccolo Jennett and Maegan Jennett)

It was a fun visit through my stash.  Whatever your plans are for Stitch Maynia 2019--enjoy, have fun.

Stitching interrupts

My stitching has been interrupted!  It is not from a lack of mojo or of projects.  The villain is a nasty, itchy, case of poison ivy!  Ugh!  The first Friday in April is work day at AppleJack's family cemetery.  Snakes, chiggers, ticks and poison ivy awake in early spring and the family chooses an early date hoping these creatures have not awaken.  Yes, I wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves, and a hat hoping I have enough protective covering.  The culprit was a nasty poison ivy vine which had wrapped itself around a dogwood tree.  My stitching hand and forearm are covered in a nasty rash which could last up to three weeks!

I am hopping on my medical soap box for a moment.  For those of you who work in the medical field, I thank you for your hard work, long hours and dedication to helping others.  My annual physical with my primary care physician was Tuesday.  The visit is routine and always begins the same:  How are you?  Do you have any complaints?  "Yes, I am well and I have a nasty rash from poison ivy."  The doctors response:  "I thought it was to early in the season for poison ivy, I can refer you to a dermatologist."  Excuse me, you are my primary care physician and instead of treating me for poison ivy the best you can do is refer me to a specialist?  Perhaps it is time for an evaluation.  My apologies to the medical professionals and off my soap box.

Heat makes the rash and itching worse so sitting under a stitch light is not working for me at this time.  While coping (or being a grumpy,  miserable patient) with poison ivy, I have been reading.  Nashville has a wonderful bookstore called Parnassus.  Parnassus has several book clubs and I am expanding my reading selection.  Am currently reading Zane Grey's classic novel called Riders of the Purple Sage.  My father loved Zane Grey novels and would be surprised to see me reading a classic western novel.  

Delia Owens came to Parnassus for a reading and book signing.  If you haven't read her book, Where the Crawdads Sing, I found it to be an enjoyable page turner read.

While blog reading one day I found this quilt at A Sentimental Quilter  and thought it would be a great way to use my charm packs.

Oven the years, I have accumulated quite an assortment of charm packs.  Charm packs offer an assortment of color ways and designs.  Am very confident there are enough for a full size/queen size quilt.

French General fabrics--I love them!  I found these fabrics in my stash while looking for the charm packs and thought these fabrics would work nicely for a project bag or Bitsy Bob.

Digging in my fiber stash I found Weeks Dye Works Deep Sea which I think will work for my saltbox house.  (Apologies for the poor photo)

So, while I suffer in not so silence with this miserable poison ivy rash, reading and digging in stash will have to help me pass the time until I can return to stitching, punching, hooking, and quilting.

Prize Pumpkin

Prize Pumpkin

Threads that Bind

Shawn Williams

Copyright 2008

One of my many goals is to learn punch needle.  I keep asking myself why I choose such large projects while I am learning.  Each new project brings learning opportunities and one of the things I learned on this project is learning to punch within the lines.  How many of us were taught to color within the lines?  There is a good reason to punch within the lines--if you don't, the design is enlarged, distorting the design.

Another thing I am learning is over punching.  Thank goodness for a powerful steam iron which takes the curl out of the punched piece and returns it to a flatten shape.

This is a hooked rug called Sunday Social also designed by Shawn Williams.  I saw this rug at the March Madness event held at Montgomery Bell State Park hosted by Liseanne and Ron Miller.  Yes, I have the punch needle version in stash and since sheep pieces seem to call my name, this is a contender for my next punched piece.

The Old Mercantile stocks bread boards and I thought this piece might look good mounted on one of their bread boards.  There is no lack of projects to select from.

When I punch I like using all six strands of fiber--I want my punched pieces to look like miniature rugs.  Punch needle eats up fiber like candy!  This is a good thing because instead of purchasing more fibers I am selecting fibers from my stash.  Judy, one of my stitch sisters keeps an ort jar--I'm keeping the thread labels to mark my progress.

Now that I have a couple of pieces under my belt, I am punching with more confidence.  For me, punch needle is very relaxing (no counting required) and there is something very soothing about the sound of the needle punching into the fabric.