Month: February 2014

Cross Stitch Patterns · Mermaids · Passione Ricamo SAL

A Journey Into the Deep-Progress

My Time Stitching17 Comments

In my last post I told you I pulled out my Passione Ricamo mermaid.  Here is my progress so far:

A journey into the deep progress 1

Sorry it’s not the best picture.  And now looking at it, it seems I haven’t made much progress even though I am on step  4.  I don’t think it will be done in a month, so I may have to purchase another large frame to put the new Mystery SAL on.  Here is how this mermaid will look when I am finished:

Sirenatessutosfumato.jpg (248092 byte)

Just beautiful, don’t you think?  This is available to purchase on the Passione Ricamo site. As you can see, I have a ways to go.

I also purchased 2 more of her designs:

Passione Ricamo patterns

They are so beautiful! I am happy to add them to my small PR collection.

So, what are you stitching on today?

Passione Ricamo SAL

There’s a New SAL Coming!

My Time Stitching6 Comments

I finished my last Round Robin last week.  I am taking a break from Round Robins for a while to do some personal stitching.  I can’t post it yet until the recipient receives it, but I will when that happens.

So I picked up my Ella to stitch on for a few nights…stitch and rip, stitch and rip.  Then I heard the news that Passione Ricamo was opening a new Stitch-A-Long.  It is open now to purchase and, YES, of course I am going to do it! I haven’t finished the last Mermaid SAL, but YES I want to do another one! So I signed up and received my list of materials.  We have no idea what it is, but it is to celebrate the designers 20 years designing.  I know it will be beautiful.  I already have my fabric and threads:

Floss toss for PR SAL

I had purchased this fabric from Stephanie for Lavender & Lace’s Angel of Spring.  It is Nantucket Sky in 16ct Aida. But when I was getting ready to start it, I was afraid the wings would not show up well.  Passione Ricamo’s Laura, suggested a few of Stephanie’s hand dyed fabrics for the SAL and Nantucket Sky was one of them.  And luckily I have a 26 x 36 piece as according to the stitch count, I will need a 25 x 33.5 piece.  I can’t wait to see how a PR design looks on Aida.  I am so excited about this SAL. If you are interested in joining, you have time.  The first section won’t be released until March 25th, so there is still time to go to the  Passione Ricamo site and sign up.

So I pulled out the Mermaid SAL last night and decided I need to get that going and hopefully finish as I will need the scroll frame it is on.  I will post a picture of my mermaid progress later this week.  You can see my original start on this one here. Have you ever done a Stitch A Long?

Storage

My Bead Storage

My Time Stitching6 Comments

Yesterday a friend asked me how I store my beads for my stitching.  Then I realized I never shared my bead storage.  So, this is how I store my beads for my cross stitch projects:

My bead storageI purchased these boxes at Joann’s.  Each box has 30 little jars inside.  I use circular labels from the office store to label each jar.

my bead storage 3 I currently have 3 boxes full,  with the 4th box just about full.  Here is how they look from the bottom:

My bead storage 2So if I want to add beads to a project by color instead of number,  I can turn the box over and see all the beautiful colors and size of the beads.  It used to be when I purchased a cross stitch pattern, I would buy the fabric, beads, and any specialty threads all at the same time.  A couple of years ago, I realized that I was buying the same color beads over and over.  So I de-kitted everything and started storing my beads like this.  And this is where I keep all of the duplicates:

bead duplicatesSo as you can see, kitting things was not a very good idea for me.  So now I look in my bead box and my duplicate bead box before purchasing any more beads.  Do you have a great storage tip?

Joan Elliott Round Robin · knitted scarves · Knitting

Two Completed Projects

My Time Stitching11 Comments

I feel like I am getting things accomplished.  Yesterday I finished another block on a Round Robin.

Spring Garden Fairy

This is Joan Elliott’s Spring Garden Fairy.  She is in the March 2014 issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine.  She was a fun, easy stitch.  I usually hate stitching the hair on JE’s fairies, but this one was super simple.  I love the way she turned out.  I stitched her on Johanna’s Round Robin.   She is going to love getting this one back.  Here it is in full:

Johannas JE Round RobinSuch a beautiful RR.  Everyone did a great job on this one.  So sweet and sparkly.  I will be putting in the mail to Johanna soon..well, maybe..yeah I will return it 🙂

I also finished this pidge scarf for a sweet stitchy friend.

Pink and Plum Pidge for KarenShe received it in the mail yesterday and loves it.  I knitted it using Deborah Norville’s Serenity Chunky weight yarn. When I first started knitting it, I thought it may be a bit too bulky.  But once finished, I think it turned out nice and will definitely be warm during this cold winter.  I need to knit myself one in reds to match my coat.  The buttons took me a bit to find, but once I saw these, I knew they would be perfect.

So, 2 more projects off of my list.  Now on to the next Round Robin piece.  What are you trying to  finish up?

Angels · Joan Elliott Round Robin

Spring, Spring and Spring?

My Time Stitching4 Comments

Weird title, huh?  Well, I have sort of a Spring theme going on.  First, I have been working on Spring Garden Fairy on Johanna‘s Round Robin.

Progress on Spring Garden FariyShe is Joan Elliott’s Spring Garden Fairy that is featured in the current issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework.  Johanna asked if I would like to stitch her on her Round Robin and I am so glad I am.  So far she has been a pretty easy stitch and she is so sweet.  Even the hair in this one has been no problem.  Can’t wait to finish her.

On Saturday, February 1, I started Lavender & Lace’s Angel of Spring:

Start on Angel of Spring

That is all the progress I made on this one.  I wanted to start this one with Tanya, a stitching friend , and I am so glad I was able to.  After many fabric changes and problems with scroll frames, this one finally came to life.  I will have to put her down and finish the RR, but I will pick her up again soon.

And for the final “Spring”, where is the real Spring?  Here in Michigan we broke a record for the most snowfall in any month this year.  Can I say that I am so sick of snow and winter? And we are expecting 2 more snow storms this week 😦  I have no idea where hubby and son are going to pile up more snow.  I think a lot of people are saying that this year.  So…where is Spring?  Is is just around the corner?

What are you stitching these days?