My Stitching Corner, and Progress on WIP

Here is my Teresa Wentzler Wedding Sampler progress as of May 5, 2009. I got the entire upper left block completed. Lots of confetti stitching. I wanted to get it done so I could put in the satin stitches around it. I wanted to see if I could do them as well as I did the ones in the shell shapes at the top of the column. I think I did pretty darn good and I just love the effect.

This is a close-up of the upper left corner of the Wedding Sampler by Teresa Wentzler. I just love how the rayon floss looks in the satin stitch border and I am so very pleased with the result of the confetti stitching and the satin stitches. I am very proud of myself for doing it so well.

Ohhh I am such a happy happy stitcher now! My DH bought me a LaZboy recliner. He was hoping it would be more comfortable for me to sit in when watching TV or stitching. So he set it up in the living room. For now I am using the daylight table lamp off my computer desk, but will be ordering a daylight floor standing lamp to put behind the chair to the left (so I don't stitch into my own shadow). When we got it home I was hurting pretty good from all the getting up and down trying out different chairs as well as the laying on different beds to check out mattresses at the store. I tried a Tempurpedic mattress and found that it actually hurts my pelvis. I was thinking of waiting to try the chair until the next day when I wouldn't be hurting as much, then I realized we had bought it to help me with my pain, and I remember how quickly my body relaxed when I sat in it. So I went ahead and got my Blackwork Winter from Tam's Creations and sat down to stitch. IT WAS WONDERFUL! I managed to stitch for 4 hours and when I was done I couldn't believe I had sat that long. Better yet, when I got up, my pain had actually gone DOWN while I stitched in that chair. I am so very happy with it!

DH set it up in a corner of the living room, in front of the large windows we have. He also bought me a metal music stand because I wanted something to hold my charts that would be able to hold charts that are inside hard cover books (such as the Christmas books put out every year, as well as collection books of a specific designer). We set the music stand up next to the chair on the left and moved one of the end tables to the right of the chair. This made me my own stitching corner which can be seen in the picture above.

This is a picture of the music stand I am using. I love it because the magnets stick directly to it, which makes it easier for me to use 1 magnet as a needle minder. It also holds my heaviest stitching books without any problem. The little lip on it is great for holding my scissors, thread heaven, a high lighter and other small things I use while stitching. Because of my niece I have to find a better place to put my floss box as I found out today that she will not leave it alone if it is on the end table to the right of my chair. For now, I put a small cardboard box to the left of my chair (Beside the music stand) and put the floss box on it and that seems to work just fine.

I plan on emptying out the top two shelves of the large book shelf to the right of my chair. I will place my floss boxes on those shelves, as well as my WIPs and probably some of my chart books, or magazines.

I have long admired the stitching corners or rooms of other stitchers and crafters and have wanted one of my own. If I had known just how comfortable a recliner would make me and my stitching, I would have bought one years ago! No problem though as I have one now and it is a great help.

It is now 7:48PM central time and I paused in my stitching to post this blog. I've been stitching literally all day. I started at about 8AM this morning and just kept going. I wanted to complete the upper left hand block on the sampler, which I did. I am now working on Blackwork Winter which only has the lower right hand corner left (last page). I hope to finish it tonight. Anyway, if I were to sit in bed for that long and stitch, my back would be hurting like hell from the bending forward to read the chart. With this new stitching corner set up my back does NOT hurt from stitching! I am ecstatic about it! (Because the chair is a large one, I can easily shift positions every 20 minutes or so like I am supposed to.) This means I can stitch as often as I wish and for as long as I wish without hurting myself. This just feels marvelous!! *Happy cyber dance*

A little while ago we gave Bridgette, my 20 month old niece, a coloring book and washable markers. I of course had to take pictures of the first time she colored with markers! She really enjoyed it! Isn't she adorable?

Well I'll post again tomorrow when I will hopefully (*fingers, toes and all stitches crossed*) be doing a happy dance for completing the stitching on Blackwork Winter. Bridgette helped me with a few stitches on it, but the picture of us stitching together did not come out. I hope to get one tomorrow as she enjoyed it and so did I. The stitches came out a little crooked, but I refuse to remove them as they are the first stitches my niece has ever done! I hope when she gets older that she will be interested in learning to stitch so I can teach her how.