Madison Area EGA

I'm really rather excited about the items we will have for the drawing at my EGA chapter's show in late October.  Many of our members donated their time to stitch up these beauties.  Since I'm a sucker for Halloween, we chose a Prairie Schooler pattern, When Witches Go Riding. Audrey, Mary Jo and Sandi worked on this piece.  I purchased a frame at Lynn's.

I worked on an old pattern "A Walk in the Woods" and finished it up recently.  Here it is completed, also with a frame from Lynn's.

Eek, I need to work on my photography skills!  The frame looks really boring in the picture, but honestly it's much nicer in person.  I actually hated stitching on this one since I had made so many mistakes when I first started this project many years ago, but by the time I was finished I was sorry that I was donating it.  Guess I'll just have to buy a lot of drawing tickets and hope I win it back.  It would look wonderful in the new half bath in the basement!

The drawing has two more cross stitch pieces.  My co-chair, Mary Jo, has made a beautiful four season sampler that she made into a bell pull.  I don't have a picture of that but it's wonderful.  Our chapter president, Sandi, has finished a Christmas cross stitch.  I will share a photo of it when I have it framed.

The other group project that is going into the drawing is a hardanger runner that the Hardanger Interest Group worked on........Gerry, Diane, Kathie and Jane.....many thanks ladies!  And, Sandi donated the kit!

Do you notice that the design on the end of the piece looks different than the middle of the runner?  I'll let you in on a secret.........I accidentally cut the wrong threads on the very last motif!  Yikes, was I upset.  Our hardanger interest group came up with a solution and I added more needleweaving to the outside of both of the end motifs.  I not going to admit to anyone that I totally messed up........oh, okay, guess I just did that, didn't I?

Have a great day everyone!

Summer Project

It's been a crazy summer in Wisconsin with all the heat that a majority of the country is suffering from.  We finally have pleasant weather that doesn't take your breath away, I've opened the windows and am enjoying the fresh air.  Hurray!

We've been having some construction going on in our home for almost three months.  Originally we were going to make a simple room in the basement so that I could have my projects, supplies and office space.  I'm not sure how we changed, but it is now a multi functional space that we'll use to entertain in as well.  Guess that means I'll have to keep things tidied up a bit!  Here's an early look at the space.

You might be able to see that we've opened up part of the stairway wall on the right.  This is a view towards the entertaining portion of our basement.  The room is shaped like an L, with my work space in the short end of the L.  Here's a view where it begins to take more shape.

We actually have a bit of drywall in this photo.  This area is opposite the space in the previous picture.  My work space is to the left, out of the picture.  We've come a long way since this photo.........paint, tile and most of the trim work is now completed.  If you've ever done any remodeling, you know how frustrating it can be.  We had several things which didn't come in on time or only partially came in; the plumbing company sent the wrong sink, etc.  You just expect this stuff to happen, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.

I'll share just one more photo today.  The paint is on the lower half of the wall and it's taking shape.

I'll post some stitching updates tomorrow.  I've been finishing up some items for our EGA chapter's show drawing in October.