My Cozy Nook

Well, I've found another fun place to stitch in my house. This time it's in the kitchen nook. I have my breakfast here, with the golden morning light shining in from all the windows. It's a perfect place to sit and read while I have breakfast and Katie curls up on the rug underneath the table.

Then the other morning I thought, "Gee, this would be a good place to stitch, too." And I went and got one of my floor stands and a little project I'm working on for the kitchen, and VOILA!.... A new Stitching Station is born!

So I've been spending some of my mornings stitching away in the bright morning light. I even put my laptop on the table so I can listen to audiobooks while I stitch -- my idea of HEAVEN!

And here's the little project I'm working on:


It's a project I bought at a local ANG "auction" a few years ago that had not only the canvas, but ALL the threads needed as well. When I pulled it out recently I realized the hotel is the same color as the walls of my kitchen. So I HAD to get stitching on it so I could see it framed on the wall.

It's been fun stitching with threads picked out by someone else. I chose to stitch the hotel in clapboards instead of basketweaving the whole thing - thought it would go faster (done with Flax 'n Colors "Pumpkin Mousse"). And the shutters are all done in Pebbly Perle. I started tent stitching the shutters - both the black and white areas and GAD, was it HARD. The Pebbly Perle was too thick and tough to work in solid tent stitches, so I ripped out the white rows and left the black shadow rows, and then just laid long horizontal white stitches along the slat lines - it was MUCH easier to deal with, although my shutters are a little wonky! (But, hey, this is an old French building and it's okay for the shutters to be a little ancient looking, n'est pas?. Grin.....)


Currently, I'm stitching the windows with a very fine silver Kreinik Cord. You can see it in the photo, but I'm just tent stitching - tedious, but it does glint like glass windows. And I substituted my own hand-dyed thread for the walkway, instead of the greyish Gentle Arts thread that came with the canvas. I just saw the street paved in used bricks - so that's how I stitched it.

All that's left now are the leaves on the flower boxes. I'm using two different variegated greens and just placing lazy daisy stitches haphazardly all over. The really fun part will be putting all the flowers on top. The original owner of the canvas chose red silks for the geraniums. I'm planning to use two pink Ribbon Floss colors, just to maintain the pink "kick", just as the canvas designer originally painted. Oh, yeah, and I think the red door needs a doornob - maybe some gold beads??

I'll share the finished piece with you after I have everything stitched, but now I had better get back to it. I'm soooo close to finishing this piece and I'm nearly there.....