Royal Wind by Carlene Harwick

"Royal Wind"

"Royal Wind", designed by Carlene Harwick, is an ANG Workshop by Mail. I believe it is available until June 2010.

I stitched this piece in January and February 2010. Color changes, small design changes, and all the mistakes are mine alone. ;) Stitched on congress cloth with DMC floss and spools and spools and spools of Kreinik Metallics.

Swim-A-Thon Sponsorship - Want an ornament?

We would really appreciate it you would consider sponsoring Victoria in her upcoming Swim-A-Thon. We have a couple months to collect sponsors - It will be held on Saturday, April 17th, 2010. The swim team needs to raise money to resurface their pool this August.

Last year Victoria swam 100 laps; the maximum they are allowed to swim is 200 laps. You can sponsor her on a per-lap basis (.10 a lap would be $10 if she swam 100 again, .25 a lap is $25, etc.), or you can make a flat donation to her sponsorship.

I would like to thank the folks who do sponsor my daughter, too. Everyone who sponsors her will get their name written on a slip of paper and I will put it in a bowl and have Victoria draw a name. That person gets to pick any ornament from the 2009 Just Cross-Stitch Ornament issue and I will stitch and finish it for you as my gift. See pictures of the ornaments at http://anitas-stitching-addiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/pictures-of-2009-just-cross-stitch.html Alternatively, I can stitch a whitework ornament for you of my own design. If you don’t want a stitched ornament from me, that’s ok, too, you can still sponsor her!

Donations are tax deductible as our swim team is a registered non-profit.

Please e-mail me at me@summerlouise.com or send me a message if you would like to sponsor her and I will send you the information.

Thank you! Summer

Do you know who designed these?

In my recent inventory of my stash (see this post) I came across a bunch of canvases with unknown designers. Some of them have numbers (which brought me nothing on google). Please leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you know who designed them!

January 2010 Stitching Update

I used to be really good about setting needlework goals... then I finished all of my projects and thought stuff was all under control. Well, now it seems I'm starting more projects then I'm finishing! So I am going to re-inventory my stitching drawers and see what has snuck in.

Stitching Review - Here are the ones I have in progress:

Amanda Lawford - Royal Santa (huge)
Carlene Harwick - "Royal Wind" charted canvaswork design (Workshop-by-mail)
La-D-Da - Eve cross-stitch
Melissa Shirley - Easter Egg painted canvas - bunny with boat
Melissa Shirley - Easter Egg painted canvas - bunny at house
Needlepoint of Back Bay - Fruit Rug (Square 2 of 12) painted canvas with wool threads
Painted Canvas - unknown designer - Craftsman design (working on this as I buy the wool for the rug)
Summer Truswell own design - Sunshine & Shadow charted canvaswork
Summer Truswell own design - 1st house line-drawn canvas embroidery picture
Summer Truswell - purple gift box


Kitted and ready to go:

David McCaskill - By The Sea Line Drawn canvas +threads
Mirabilia - Sleeping Beauty (needs fabric)
Red Owl Stash - Cupcake Ornament (charted canvas +threads, etc)
Shepherd's Bush - Winter Dreams Sampler
ST - Moss Circles - needs canvas (Only stitching if class proposal is accepted)
ST - Drunkards Path - (only stitching if class proposal is accepted)
Summer Truswell - Whitework Ornament
Teresa Wentzler - Noah's Ark
Santa with Bears Christmas picture (kit)

Painted Canvases to be stitched: (no threads)

A Collection of Designs - Snowmen decorating tree star ornament (6" tall)
Amanda Lawford - Nutcracker Santa (18")
Amanda Lawford - Floral with black pillow
Blue Dogwood Designs (Kay Fite) - Ferry Ornament
Blue Dogwood Designs (Kay Fite) - Pike Place Ornament
Chameleon Design - Round "Hunt" pillow - 16" across?
Chameleon Design - Heart with Key pillow - 12" across?
Elizabeth Turner - Christmas Photo Frame
Mary Engelbreit - Christmas Heart ornament
Madeline Lake - Snowman
Madeline Lake - Blackbird
Madeline Lake - Sailboat
Madeline Lake - Rooster
Needlepoint of Back Bay - City Frog frame weight (large)
Needlepoint of Back Bay - Monkey eating fruit
Needlepoint of Back Bay - Celtic Knot
Needlepoint of Back Bay - Iris Four-Way
KS Designs - Washington Miniature Stocking Ornament (with whale doll)
Unknown designer - botanical fruits rectangle (for bolster?)
Unknown designer - Hanging ornaments
Unknown designer - Woman with boy and spyglass
Unknown designer - Paisley pillow
Unknown designer - sports cumberbund (to make into an ornament)
Unknown designer - stained glass egg #1
Unknown designer - Floral motif repeat
Unknown designer - stained glass egg #2
Unknown designer - phoenix egg

Ok, I will note that most of these painted canvases were bought in two places. The first was the "yard sale" at the ANG Milwaukee 2009 seminar, where they were selling for between $2 and $10 a canvas. The next is that I bought two lots off ebay. One was the entire Needlepoint of Back Bay Rug, and the other was the other Needlepoint of Back Bay lot.

Now, to think about upcoming goals. Usually I think things through the year, and then break it down into month, then week. This time I don't have anything that is truly pressing, so I will go ahead and set yearly goals, and then weekly goals.

I am also going to add something called "First Friday Finishing". The first Friday of every month I will devote entirely to finishing, by which I mean actually sewing up the pillow or ornament or whatever. It can be for my customers (no, I'm not accepting new customers, sorry), or for myself. This is brought upon by the fact that I have several dozen pieces that are stitched and unfinished. (Shhhhhh)

I also want to get back to stitching an ornament a month - these can be painted canvases or charted, whatever. Just as long as I get that wee happy dance in!

2010 Goals: Keep up with the MTP program. Finish Melissa Shirley egg works-in-progress. Make progress on all other works-in-progress. Finish Eve UFO.

February Goals: Finish Royal Wind.

March Goals: Finish both Melissa Shirley Easter egg work-in-progress canvases.

2011 Goals: Finish MTP Program, receive Journeyman and Fellow levels. Finish large Royal Santa.
2012 Goals: Teach final class at MTP, receive Master level.

There! I feel more organized already!

New Book: "The Stitch Starts Here"

I’m happy to announce the release of my latest book, “The Stitch Starts Here”
"The Stitch Starts Here" is a collection of Summer's favorite stitches for canvaswork, samplers, heirloom sewing, and embroidery.
The book includes over 130 of my favorite stitches, along with tips and techniques to make your stitching better, faster.



"The Stitch Starts Here” is available in three different formats:

Kindle Reader Format is available at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Stitch-Starts-Here-ebook/dp/B0035LCBYO/
File size 7330 KB, greyscale images, clickable index and table of contents.

Printed Book is available at Lulu.
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-stitch-starts-here/6296023?
279 pages, 7.5" square, B&W, coil bound to lay flat when open.

Download is available at Lulu.
http://www.lulu.com/product/download/the-stitch-starts-here/6296024
Same format as printed book in lulu download (not for Kindles).

I'm on http://www.facebook.com/summertruswell

Still stitching...

I just finished a beautiful project this weekend while we were visiting Wenatchee. It is for my ANG Master Teacher project so, of course, I can't show a picture. :) It's called "Arabesque"...

I've been writing instructions, working on stuff around the house, and just doing a bit of traveling.

Victoria had a swim meet a couple of weekends ago in Pasco and did great. She's still about 10 seconds away from having a Bronze standard swimming time but she's trying! She finishes every race and does great in her relays. She's thrilled that this week is her last week of ballet for the year.

Today Madeline and I went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Director's Choice today. It was ok... I have mixed feelings about it. I loved the Balanchine / Stravinsky piece, Symphony in C I believe. Just smooth and so well done. The other pieces were just ok for me though. Also we were sitting next to an awful woman in the audience. She never learned her manners about how to behave in a crowd! I haven't resubscribed for this upcoming year but we will go see Coppelia for sure.

Travis is doing great - other moms will understand how thrilled I am that he weaned this last month *and* potty trained! Hurrah! I've been pregnant, nursing, or changing diapers for the last nine years and five months so I finally feel that my children are getting easier! Yippee skippy! :)

I'm headed to the Doctor later this week to get my neck and shoulder checked out again. It doesn't hurt as bad as when I first tore the rotator cuff in fall 2007 but it hurts. I keep thinking it will get better and it's just not.

Anyway, back to working on the MTP stuff. I have one more art class to take this year and just have to get instructions written. :)

Just FYI...

Now, I'm not going to give up on blogging entirely. But I am completely enamoured of this whole facebook... albums and the ability to keep in touch with hundreds of friends and family in only a few minutes a day? Wow. Once you learn to click the "Ignore this application" button to cut down on the scores of junk, it's quite amazing.

So, I'll still have this blog and will absolutely keep updating my stitching and quilting albums. But for quick updates? I'm moving to facebook.

So, since in my mind this blog has always been for family and friends, please add me to facebook (or join facebook and then add me) so you can see what I'm up to and I can do the same.

Summer Truswell's Profile