Time in the Car with Frank

Last weekend, we took a trip 2 1/2 hours down the road for a family event which gave me an opportunity to spend some time with Frank in the back seat... For those of you who have not been following my blog, Frank is my Frank Lloyd Wright inspired counted cross stitch picture of his Tree of Life window which he designed for the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, New York.  I am working on the top 1/3 of the window at the moment.

I did some more cross stitching and lots more backstitching as well.  Back in the day when I did lots of cross stitch projects, I always did all of the cross stitching first and then did all of the backstitching.  With Frank, I have to do the backstitching as I go along so I can keep everything lined up properly. 

Here is how the picture looked the last time I did a post two weeks ago:

And this is how it looks today:

Slow and steady progress...that's how I roll these days.  I will be linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching so go take a look at what everyone is working on this week.

Frank and the Squirrel

I managed to find a bit of time this week to do some more stitching on my Frank Lloyd Wright "Tree of Life" counted cross stitch project. The top part of this picture involves a lot more counting and checking to make sure I am in the right spot than the bottom part did!

 

My plan for the rest of the top section is to do some cross stitching and then some outlining as I work across the picture so that I can keep everything lined up as I go along. 

 

Here is a picture of Frank from two weeks ago:

 



 

 

And here is Frank today:

 



 

 

Maybe, just maybe, I will have some time to put a few more stitches in sometime this weekend.

 

Earlier this week, my husband took this picture of our backyard squirrel, eating a walnut while sitting on the shed. He thinks he is the king of the backyard, overlooking his kingdom!  I think he has been eating a lot of walnuts as he is quite fat!

 



 

Happy Slow Sunday Stitching Day!

A Gift From Hawaii

If you are one of my regular readers, you would know that my husband and I were dog sitting Skye the border collie for my husband's sister's family while they were on vacation.  What I did not tell you...they were in Hawaii!  (side note:  We bought these locally made Apple Pie Chamomile dog biscuits for Skye at our local farmer's market while he was visiting.  He loved them!)

Knowing my love for all things quilty, my sister-in-law picked out this pillow cover for me while they were away.

It is hand appliqued and hand quilted.

I purchased the pillow form for it this past weekend which made it ready for a photo op today!

It was hand made in Hawaii!

I really like it!  Many moons ago, I made a Hawaiian quilt block...it never did get quilted. I remember it took nearly forever to do the applique.  I made this block as part of a sampler class before I got married. My husband and I celebrate 26 years of wedded bliss next week, so this sampler quilt is my oldest UFO.  I am not sure I will ever finish it...the colours are a bit outdated now.

Sewing in the Car

Christine came over for a hand stitching night this week.  She started a new wool project and I continued to work on my counted cross stitch project, "Tree of Life" based on a stained glass window by Frank Lloyd Wright.  I did lots of backstitching this week and completed the centre section of the window.  Near the end of the week, my husband and I took a long car trip and I brought Frank along for the ride.  I stitched in the car for several hours and made great progress, until I dropped the needle. My husband pulled off the road at the next exit and we both looked for the needle, but to no avail.  I had to put Frank away for the rest of the trip...

You can see that I have started the cross stitching at the top of the window. (I took the picture in the car so sorry for the bad lighting!)

Today, I was able to find some more needles so I am good to go for some more stitching tomorrow. (They are called tapestry needles...they should do the job for my cross stitching.)

I took these pictures in my garden this week.  This grass is in a planter on my patio.

Same grass, different views...

 

 

These pink flowers are in bloom on my clethra bush:

 

Happy Slow Sunday Stitching! 

Frank Lloyd Wright Pin and Cross Stitch

When my husband and I visited the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo a couple of years ago, I bought myself a pin based on part of the Tree of Life stained glass windows in the house.

Until I started this cross stitch project, I always wore it with the three beads on the bottom...I guess I will have to wear it with them on the top now!

Last week, my Tree of Life cross stitch looked like this:

I did quite a bit of back stitching this week and will soon have to move the hoop up to work on the upper part of the window.



Besides this project, I am not doing any sewing these days.  Life is busy and stressful. I am thankful for a few moments of cross stitching to help keep me sane.  Some days this is working better than others. I hope to do some more back stitching tomorrow in the gazebo.  I am linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday stitching.

Stained Glass Window

 

Last weekend, my husband and I took a long car trip to visit my daughter. I often fall asleep in the car on these long car rides so I brought Frank along to keep me awake! As you can see, I have finished almost all of the cross stitching at the bottom of the "window" and have started to do some of the backstitching.  It is starting to look like a stained glass window rather than just a bunch of squares.

 

There is a lot of backstitching on this counted cross stitch picture.  I love the way it is starting to make the squares look like they belong together.


 

Here is a photo of the original Tree of Life Window from the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, New York.  You can see that this will be a long term project...

(This picture was taken at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, where this window is on display.)

Today, we are hosting a graduation BBQ for our daughter who recently graduated from University. It is unlikely that I will be doing any slow Sunday stitching today but hopefully, there will be some time for stitching this week. I am linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching link-up. It is always fun to see what everyone else is up to!

Sewing with Hank and Frank

This is Hank:

 

Hank has been visiting our house for the last 10 days with his friend, Skye.

Skye likes to chew on Hank and make him squeak, which is especially popular before 6am. This week, Skye shook Hank so hard that two of his squeakers came out and his head and body just about parted ways.  It was time to perform surgery to put Hank back together again.

I am happy to report that Hank is feeling much more "put together" now and is as squeaky as ever. This made Skye very happy!

Skye's family returns home from their vacation today so he will be going home to have some quality time with them.

In the meantime, while not throwing a ball, or walking the dog, I have done a little stitching on Frank:

Last week:

This week:

Progress is being made!  I must say that Skye would rather I play ball with him than work on Frank...

Flowers in my garden this week--

Happy stitching to you!  I hope for a little more stitching time next week...