Finished!

Barnabee’s Quest
Just Nan
DMC on 28ct White Cashel Zweigart
Blue Iris Beads, Ant. Gold Barnabee Bead, Hand-Painted Gold Rooster Charm, and Painted Gold Dragonfly
Begun 2/1/07 and Finished 7/29/08

Well, I finally finished it!!! I am so pleased! I can’t believe it took me as long as it did (shameful, really). As you can see, I began in on February 1, 2007 and finished it last night. This piece began as a SAL with Carol, Jenna, MichelleNikki and Andrea. Although I was the person who organized the SAL, I was (sadly) the last to finish. Too many other things going on, I suppose. I really did love stitching on this piece, even though I seemed to put it down for months at a time. I tended to put it down when I hit one of those over one bands. Even though, when it is all said and done, those bands were my favorites when they were all finished.

I have to give a big thank you to Chris for inspiring me to pick this back up and start working on it for Just Nan Sundays. What a huge help that was!

Part I
Part II
Part III

Over the weekend I did finish up the stitching on Part III, and then I started on the beading. I finished putting on all the beads in the border Sunday night, and then last night I added the beads in parts 2 and 3 as well as the bee, rooster and dragonfly charms. The beading really adds a lot to the border though, I loved doing that. I had so many extra beads though!! They packaged up the blue iris beads with the charm needed for each section. I only used one little package of the beads. So the other two are just a bonus! I just love the finished piece!

I will be finishing this as a bellpull whenever I get around to it. I did order the hanger for the piece, but never did find the beeskep tassel topper. So, my piece will just have a plain tassel at the bottom. But, the hanger was the more important of the two pieces in my opinion. Here’s what it looks like.

I also had another finish yesterday…I finally finished the book I was reading for book club. We read Emile Zola’s The Masterpiece. It broke me of my book a week record. It took me approximately three weeks to finish this one. His descriptions of Paris and of the Salon de Refuses were really amazing, but overall I could have done without about 200 pages of this. It just ambled along. Anyway…I am looking forward to my next read, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. I can’t wait.

Even though I didn’t officially annouce my July goals, I thought I’d review anyway…

Stitch and mail Cathy’s RR by the 15th done!

Stitch Red Thread block for SAL finished Maypole, need to stitch June, July & August

Continue with Barnabee’s Quest for Just Nan Sundays made my focus project and finished!

Binding on $5 Quilt nope

I am dreadfully behind on my Red Thread SAL, so that is going to be the next thing I focus on. I need to stitch June, July and now August. Once I get caught back up on it I am going to pull out my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler to work on. I unfortunately found an error in this piece the last time I worked on it, and it is going to require ripping out three or four motifs to correct it. So, needless to say, I put it away and attempted to ignore it. So, I want to get it back out and fix the problem so that I can continue on with it. It’s such a lovely piece, I’d love to have some progress on it.

So, for August I thought I would post some goals.

Caught up on Red Thread (June, July, August blocks finished)

Correct error on Mystery Sampler

Binding on $5 Block

I think that’s enough. I don’t want to overwhelm myself, especially when I’m feeling so much accomplishment. But, finishing Barnabee now brings me down to 17 WIPs (including the Neighborhood RR and my 12 Days of Christmas ornaments that are one a year). I would really love to whittle this down to under 10 by the end of the year. That would be a huge accomplishment. Of course, that is going to mean no new starts! We’ll see how it goes. I’ve modified my sidebar to only show my focus pieces. It was getting pretty cluttered over there.

So that’s what’s up in our neck of the woods. It’s 105 degrees here, so you can imagine we are trying to mostly just stay inside, in the dark, and think cool thoughts. I’m scheduled to take my vendor certification exam for Excel tonight, so then I will be done with that too. I am moving on to PowerPoint.

See you all soon, and thanks again for always stopping by and leaving sweet comments!

I am grateful for a finish!

78 thoughts on “Finished!”

  1. Congratulations Michelle, it’s absolutely gorgeous!

    Good luck with your exam today and good luck with your WIP goals too! 🙂

  2. Congratulations Michelle, it’s absolutely gorgeous!

    Good luck with your exam today and good luck with your WIP goals too! 🙂

  3. Anna van Schurman

    Great job! You know, I think someone once gave me the beeskep tassel topper. I might have given it away when we moved, but I will double check this weekend.

  4. Anna van Schurman

    Great job! You know, I think someone once gave me the beeskep tassel topper. I might have given it away when we moved, but I will double check this weekend.

  5. Big congrats on your beautiful finish Michelle! You think you’re slow but I only wish I could get as much done as you do – I’ve got some pretty old UFO’s! I too am on a mission to get down to 10 or less UFO’s by yearend. It’s hard to stay focused on them with so much great stash calling me.

  6. Big congrats on your beautiful finish Michelle! You think you’re slow but I only wish I could get as much done as you do – I’ve got some pretty old UFO’s! I too am on a mission to get down to 10 or less UFO’s by yearend. It’s hard to stay focused on them with so much great stash calling me.

  7. Congratulations, Michelle! It may have been slow in coming, but what a great finish!!!

    One hundred and five degrees? Good heavens, don’t humans melt at that temperature? 😉

  8. Congratulations, Michelle! It may have been slow in coming, but what a great finish!!!

    One hundred and five degrees? Good heavens, don’t humans melt at that temperature? 😉

  9. Gorgeous! Congratulations on the finish. Can’t wait to see Barnabee made into a bellpull. I’m itching to start on this but so many things on my to do list… ^.^ Good luck with your August goals.

  10. Gorgeous! Congratulations on the finish. Can’t wait to see Barnabee made into a bellpull. I’m itching to start on this but so many things on my to do list… ^.^ Good luck with your August goals.

  11. Congratulations on the finish!

    I’m looking forward to the last Twilight book too. My Satuday is going to the moives to see the Mummy 3 then picking up the book. Then reading the rest of the weekend. 🙂

  12. Congratulations on the finish!

    I’m looking forward to the last Twilight book too. My Satuday is going to the moives to see the Mummy 3 then picking up the book. Then reading the rest of the weekend. 🙂

  13. Wonderful finish ~ its so nice to see close-ups of the stitching. What hot weather, it really sounds like you should stay inside with your new book 😉

  14. Wonderful finish ~ its so nice to see close-ups of the stitching. What hot weather, it really sounds like you should stay inside with your new book 😉

  15. Love your finish! I have this one done and hanging on my wall :-). I think I am going to set some goals this month too :-).

  16. Love your finish! I have this one done and hanging on my wall :-). I think I am going to set some goals this month too :-).

  17. Beautiful finish! I love this one more and more every time I see it! Great job! I’m dreadfully behind on my Red Thread also (even though I’m not in the SAL)…I just finished March!

  18. Beautiful finish! I love this one more and more every time I see it! Great job! I’m dreadfully behind on my Red Thread also (even though I’m not in the SAL)…I just finished March!

  19. Hi Michelle,

    Well, congratulations!! And good
    for you! Barnabee looks amazing!
    To me it looks like such a lot of
    work, with very fine, delicate
    stitching. But the details make
    it the very special piece that it
    is. I admire your tenacity and
    patience in getting this done at
    all. It will look so wonderful
    finished off into a bell pull.

    Don’t know if I could ever
    read an Emile Zola book, but I
    have read the first three of
    Stephenie Meyer’s books and am
    waiting not too patiently for
    the fourth book to go on sale
    this weekend. Will Bella end
    up with Edward, or with Joseph?
    Hmmmm. Hope you enjoy the
    series too.

    There’s a movie
    coming out in November too,
    but I have serious doubts that
    it’ll be any good. Hope I’m
    wrong but….

    Did you experience anything of
    that hurricane a few weeks ago?

    Can’t say that I envy you that
    really hot weather. We haven’t
    had much in the way of hot,
    muggy weather this summer, at
    least not yet. Which is fine
    by me.

    Take care.

  20. Hi Michelle,

    Well, congratulations!! And good
    for you! Barnabee looks amazing!
    To me it looks like such a lot of
    work, with very fine, delicate
    stitching. But the details make
    it the very special piece that it
    is. I admire your tenacity and
    patience in getting this done at
    all. It will look so wonderful
    finished off into a bell pull.

    Don’t know if I could ever
    read an Emile Zola book, but I
    have read the first three of
    Stephenie Meyer’s books and am
    waiting not too patiently for
    the fourth book to go on sale
    this weekend. Will Bella end
    up with Edward, or with Joseph?
    Hmmmm. Hope you enjoy the
    series too.

    There’s a movie
    coming out in November too,
    but I have serious doubts that
    it’ll be any good. Hope I’m
    wrong but….

    Did you experience anything of
    that hurricane a few weeks ago?

    Can’t say that I envy you that
    really hot weather. We haven’t
    had much in the way of hot,
    muggy weather this summer, at
    least not yet. Which is fine
    by me.

    Take care.

  21. Congratulations!!

    You have been nominated for the Brillante Weblog Award:) Please see my blog! (Stitch and Serve)

  22. Congratulations!!

    You have been nominated for the Brillante Weblog Award:) Please see my blog! (Stitch and Serve)

  23. Hooray, Michelle! This is a momentous occasion, truly, as this was a big piece to finish (at least, it was for me). It looks fantastic and I’m so excited for you to have finished it. I’m sorry that you couldn’t find the tassel topper in gold, but they are most definitely sold out of it. I had to get it in pewter and then the bellpull in pewter, as well. Not what I would have preferred, but sometimes you have to deal with what life gives you. 🙂 I guess I need to get moving and finish mine up so I can get you those finishing instructions! Added incentive for me, so thanks! Oooooh, I’m just so excited for your happy dance! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

  24. Hooray, Michelle! This is a momentous occasion, truly, as this was a big piece to finish (at least, it was for me). It looks fantastic and I’m so excited for you to have finished it. I’m sorry that you couldn’t find the tassel topper in gold, but they are most definitely sold out of it. I had to get it in pewter and then the bellpull in pewter, as well. Not what I would have preferred, but sometimes you have to deal with what life gives you. 🙂 I guess I need to get moving and finish mine up so I can get you those finishing instructions! Added incentive for me, so thanks! Oooooh, I’m just so excited for your happy dance! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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