A new contractor has joined out ranks

I would everyone to welcome cucki from South Africa to our construction crews.

She has asked me what is the best way to get started.  I think reading through all of our earlier posts and if anyone here could give helpful hints that would be wonderful.

I still haven't taken the time to get rid of the broken links, I will get to it I promise.  Also if anyone has any new links that would be appropriate for our blog please share.

Again lets make her feel welcome.

Keli

Glad to see people are still visiting

Hi All,

Absentee owner here.  Sorry I've been away for over a year.

How embarrassing!!!

I'm glad to see others are around and still thinking or working on their projects.  I hit the huge disappointment when I found out that the Dept 56 charts were going to be too big for my project that I kind of lost interest for awhile.

But now I'm back on the hunt or a way to use them.

I notice I have some dead links and some missing pictures.  Over the next week I'll get the place cleaned up.

I love this idea and loved all the thoughts that people have put in.  Please read through the early posts.

Please post only if its to say hi.

Keli

???

Is there still somebody stitching on their neighborhoods????? nI sorted through my UFO boxes and found mine;-))

Gaby

Time to Stitch

I am thinking about pulling my RR out and working on it.  It has been so long...I wonder what it looks like...LOL.  I will post a pic when I get it out.  Is anyone else working on theirs??

Shannon in PA

Hi to all the contractors out there

Well, hopefully I've gotten my email placed where ever it needs to be.  If you have posted or need to get in touch with me, my email addy is on the sidebar.

We have openings for anyone who would like to join.  Just let me know.

Also to all the contractors out there.  Stop by and let us know what is going on.  You can be like me and have stalled or you could be completed like a lady over on blog 2.

I am sorry to say that blog 2 was deleted if you were part of that one or know someone who was let them know that we have space here.

Have a great day and weekend.

Keli

New Blog Owner

Hi everyone,

My name is Keli and I have taken over this wonderful blog and idea that was started by Vonna.  Over the next few days I will be deleting the spam comments that have showed up and getting things organized under my email etc.  So please be bear with me if you don't see everything right away.  I do work full time.

Even if you are not stitching on your neighborhood, please stop by and let us know how you are doing.

I, myself, had to shelf my project of the North Pole because of disappointment.  I had an unexpected move at the beginning of last year and had to wait til everything got unpacked.  So late in the year my Dept 56 patterns, fabric and graph paper went to my Parish House to use their large tables.  The Dept 56 patterns are too big and if I used them my neighborhood could be the size of a football field.

Very disappointed to say the least.  I am still doing my Northern Village but not sure how yet.

Keli

Bermuda Village

Hello from Bermuda, I have just joined this blog with a grand idea in my head for a Bermuda Village. Of course i don't have any pictures yet, because I haven't drawn a blueprint, or chosen fabric, etc. As soon as I make any kind of start I will let you all know. I have visions of tropical colors and am thinking of painting a sky on my material. Is this allowable? Any hints any of you can give me would be greatly appreciated. In stitches, Sue

Humble beginning

Good morning!
Just wanted to post a snapshot of my humble beginning of my RR I was able to start last week.  Not much to see, but it is my start.

Jackie

c'mon and join in!!

Here I am again. I'm having so much fun with my New England Prim Neighborhood - it would be great to see some other members post progress pictures, too!

I've added a barn and a horse and started another building. I'm planning to put a garden in front of the barn and I think I know what I'm adding to the remaining empty bits as well, though only time will tell if that's what I actually do. ;)

Originally, I'd plotted everything out, but the linen piece I finally chose was smaller than my original plan, so I've had a lot of fun just putting whatever strikes my fancy wherever it seems to fit. ;)

school's in session!

Here's the latest block of my New England Prim Neighborhood. It uses elements from School Days, by Brightneedle, and I'll add on to it using some stuff from Schooler Kids by Prairie Schooler (the next time I get to work on it). It's great to have this WIP out again after having mislaid it for several months!

New Neighbor

My name is Jackie and was recently given passage to join the neighborhood.  At this point I am just brainstorming on some ideas but nothing firm as yet. At best, I will post my progress here and on my blog
http://scatteredthreads-xsfriend.blogspot.com/

Jack...

Help Needed Please

When I started my village tablecloth I used something on the computer to make the verse I had into cross stitch. I am sure the link for that was on here but I cannot find it anywhere. I did have it in my favourites but as my computer has died (yet again) and my favourites have disappeared too.

I cannot remember what it was called but you just typed in the words, chose the style you wanted and pressed "make a chart" and hey ho you were there. I have found it so useful since and I am so cross that I cannot find it and that my senile head cannot remember what it was called.

Any help would be much appreciated.

North Pole Village

I am sad to say that development on the village got waylaid. In real life an unexpected move caused all stash to be packed, which was a blessing in disguise.

I had a hard time deciding on what type of castle complex I wanted and with the delay in construction I was able to obtain from eBayUK three castles, Disney Past Present Forever, Cinderella Castle and The Happiest Celebration on Earth for far less than what I had been able to find here even with international shipping. The reason, they are kits, partially done, damage to the fabric and some floss missing. The good news is the charts are great not even highlighted. A little trouble where they have been folded and stored, but nothing I can't handle.

On my next days off I'm finding my floss stash to start pulling them together to start stitching. My castle complex is the center of the village. I'm using the castle from Past Present Forever. Not sure yet how I want the rest of the village to come together. I'm leaning towards a very structured sampler type. Will need to wait and see.

Another blessing is this blog. I'm so glad I shared my notes here since I'm not sure in which box my North Village journal is in.

I have to say I've enjoyed looking at everyone work on this blog and blog 2. I can't wait till I can start stitching and sharing.

Keli

Beach Row

I thought I'd update everyone on my Beach Row. This is what it looks like right now. I'm going slower than I thought I would.

Hometown Neighborhood

I just wanted to show the progress on my Hometown Neighborhood Schoolhouse. As you can see it is coming along nicely. I had to stop working on it for a bit. I didn't like the fiber they chose for the schoolbell/flag pole. I have had to order a different thread. Hopefully, I can finish it up soon!!

Another Cottage added.

Here is the latest addition to my village. This cottage is for Kathy and I am glad to report that she is very pleased with it. I wish I could say the same for the landscaper who is obviously not a wild life fan as he is going about grumpling about squirrels digging holes and rabbits eating the grass. Neither is he a fan of the duck who he states is ruining the lawn with to put it politely "its droppings" lol. However the owner of the cottage and of the Village are both thrilled that the wild life has moved in and seem to be settled quite happily. On a recent inspection I can also inform you that we have frogspawn in the edge of the pond so more little critters maybe appearing at some time.

I put this picture on my blog and a few people asked to see how the village as a whole is now. Well still very small but for anyone who is interested this is the village as it looks at the moment

nativity

My neighborhood is already remodeling!

Here's the first house completed in Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice Neighborhood. It's the home of the Bennett sisters - "Longbourn". You can see the "before" and "after" from the remodeling. Oh what a time was had getting it finished! The house was built according to the approved blueprints but when finished the owner started having second thoughts about the windows. Something just wasn't RIGHT - the windows were too small and didn't look as she imagined they would! She was disappointed and nothing would do but to discuss it with the builder.

She showed the builder a picture of what she thought it would look like (also posted here) and asked him if he could fix the windows. Well! You can imagine that the builder was not one bit happy about that seeing as he had built the house to the specifications and now he had costly rework to do. First the old windows were removed and then some of the brick wall had to be chipped out to make room for larger windows. New, larger windows were ordered and installed. The brickmason had to be called back to the jobsite with more brick to repair the walls around the windows and do some tuckpointing to make sure all was tidy. This was no small feat considering the workers had to maneuver carefully around some of the new landscaping that had been planted! I think there was a lot of mumbling and even some cursing from the construction crew about the rework, but it's a woman's perogative to change her mind, right?

The neighborhood owner promises to be more attentive to the building process from now on. Next up is finishing the stitching of the 5 Bennett sisters (2 more to go), adding some more landscaping around their home, and some more border work. More pictures soon I hope!

Before remodel

After remodel Some views of 'Longbourn' from the A&E mini-series

Fairy Tale Towne, 3/18/2009

The construction crews finished the first house!! Huzzah!

And as you might - or might not! - be able to tell, the king has decreed that his castle be next. I suggested to the crew that they start with the foundation this time, but no one ever listens to me....

(The castle roof uses blending filament, and since my fabric is 32-ct., I went with one strand of DMC and one of filament. I'm hoping this doesn't leave my roof looking "thin" on the one side...since the other side of the roof is DMC only, and I typically use 2 strands....hmm. Any thoughts?)

Hometown RR

I finally was able to put some stitches in my Hometown RR. I am stitching the Stoney Creek Hometown Afghan series. This is the little red School house, which is the first of 15 designs. It is a small start but a start.