Category: New stash!

Birthday Surprises and Ella Update
cross stitch · Elegant Ladies · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mirabilia · New stash! · Stitchy Gifts · Uncategorized · WIP

Birthday Surprises and Ella Update

My Time Stitching23 Comments

So last weekend was my birthday and hubby spoiled me with a weekend get-away and some fun shopping.  He also surprised me with a techy gift.  Did you notice my new blog address??  I’m a dot com now!  and I have my own email address attached to my blog so if you ever want to drop me a note, you can at ginny@mytimestitching.com

I received a couple of stitchy gifts for my birthday.  I received these from my VBSF (Very Best Stitchy Friend):

Stitchy birthday gift

Johanna knows I LOVE tea pots and tea cups.  It is so perfect.  If I had a needle, scissors and a hoop on my getaway, I would have already started this cute stitch. This will look lovely in my kitchen one day.  And the beautiful pendant she made from clay. This photo really doesn’t do this piece justice.  It is really gorgeous in person.   She is so talented.  Thank you so much, Johanna.

I received a surprise package all the way from Singapore from a dear blogging friend, Angela.

Stitchy gift from Angela

A beautiful stitch kit that will be perfect in my new craft room (coming this Spring).  It says DREAM, sorry I covered that up with the cute little scissors.  And a bag full of buttons and charms.  I can’t wait to use them in my crafting.  Thank you for thinking of me, Angela.

And now my update on Ella, the Frog Princess:

Ella update

I feel she is going so slow.  I have been working on her for about 4 weeks now and this is only the middle of the dress layers. I guess I have my wish to stitch on a lady with a big dress 😉  This is definitely a Big Yellow Dress.  I hope to have much more done the next time I update her.  In case you are viewing her for the first time, she is Ella, the Frog Princess by Mirabila.  I am stitching her on Pandora 16ct Aida from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie.

So, are you working on a project that just seems to be slowly getting done?

So Much Yellow!
cross stitch · Knitting · Mirabilia · New stash! · Uncategorized · yarn

So Much Yellow!

My Time Stitching16 Comments

Hello friends.  I hope that your New Year is going well.  I can’t believe that we are already over half way into January!  I have a funny feeling the rest of the year will fly by also.  So, here is to taking one day at a time and enjoying each day doing whatever makes us happy.

So…what have I been up to? Well, I am still stitching on Mirabilia’s  Ella, the Frog Princess  and trying not to let all the yellow get me down! Here she is as I left her last night:

Ella progress

As you can tell from the photo, I have a long way to go. I am trying not to let that sea of yellow get the best of me.  Thankfully I have some pretty flowers to give me a boost of color when I get too bored of the yellow.  I have been overly tired lately, so the progress has been slow.  But I am still enjoying her, so far.

A few weekends ago, I found a couple of knitting shops that I had never been to.  Here is what I added to my stash 😉

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Yarn and needles to knit a pretty little shoulder shawl from the book shown above.  Forgot to take a photo of the actual shawl.  But I will when I start it.  I also bought my first Addi needles.  I have heard they are nice, but have never tried them before.  I am not a fan of circular needles, but this pattern called for circulars, in a size I knew I didn’t have.  So I will let you know how I like them when I get to knitting on them.

And from the other shop that I visited, I found this:

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This shawl was actually done up in the store and I fell in love with it immediately.  The yarn it calls for is Saki, a hand dyed yarn by Prism.  The color I chose is Portofino and I can’t wait to see how it knits up.  I have actually started it and this is where I left off with this one:

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I started with 11 stitches and increased up to 161 stitches in just that little bit!  It is full of pattern and the last row that I did, I ended up with too many stitches, so had to knit it back 2 rows.  I have put the purl row back in, but was a little afraid to pick it back up for fear of making another mistake.  I have been too tired lately and I know better than to tackle a pattern when my brain is not up full speed.  I am loving how the colors are knitting up  already.

So, that is what I have been up to this month.  What are you working on?

Afghans · Craft projects · Crochet · cross stitch · knitted scarves · Mirabilia · New stash!

Crafty Stuff

My Time Stitching27 Comments

Yesterday I told you I would post my purchase from my weekend get-away.  So here goes:WIN_20151027_160803

These fun things ended up in my bag from Stitches N Things.  The newest Mirabilis pattern, Twin Mermaids and the bead pack.  No plans to start this right away, but just had to have it.  It’s 2 mermaids! And some threads and a horn book for an upcoming project.

This past weekend hubby and I spent the weekend in Frankenmuth, MI for our anniversary and he spoiled me wonderfully.  We stopped at one of my favorite shops there.  Rapunzel’s Yarn and Boutique, where I picked up this:

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I didn’t get a picture of the yarn hank before I tore it all apart.  I forgot to have them wind it for me, so ended up spending the whole trip home trying to detangle it.  But as you can see, I started knitting a scarf already.  The yarn is so awesome; lots of fun fibers and textures all in one skein!  The yarn is Alp Premier from Feza.   It was quite an expensive hank, but like I said, hubby spoiled me.  So I can’t let this yarn just sit around.  I will work on it in between everything else.  And if you click on the picture, you will see those cool looking knitting needles I picked up.  I had planned on starting this on the car ride home, and needed a pair of needles.  These are from Knit Picks.  Very pretty, made of wood, with very sharp points.  They are actually very nice to knit with.  I am glad I picked them up.

I am also still crocheting on my Spice of Life blanket.  I have 4 more rows to go before I start the border.

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This blanket has been keeping me warm the last couple of days while I crochet on it.  I am really liking it and am hoping the border will not give me any problems so I can get it finished.

We stopped at a bead shop while in Frankenmuth.  Boy was I overwhelmed!  I haven’t taken up beading yet.  Not sure I ever will, but I like looking at all the beautiful beads and charms.  Bead Haven was the largest bead shop I had ever been in and if I were going to shop that day for a project, I wouldn’t have known where to begin.  Hubby found a rack in a corner of the store that had some hand made knitted items and he purchased this beautiful hat for me.

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I love it!  It’s a pinky mauve color and fits me perfectly!  I can’t wait for a little bit cooler weather so I can wear it.  Someone did a wonderful job knitting it and lining and adding beads and fibers to the sweet knitted flower.

Dear husband bought me this awesome bag to carry around while shopping for the weekend.

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It is a very nice bag and held all the little things we picked up over the weekend.  Right now it is holding my scarf project and it’s perfect.

And for my most favorite purchase of the weekend… Hubby bought me this as an anniversary present from a wonderful shop called The Enchanted Garden.

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She is a beauty and I love her!  She is 26″ tall and gorgeous!  So I had a wonderful weekend and was spoiled to the max.  So now I am off to crochet a bit and see if I can get those last few rows finished.

What are you crafting on today?

Fabric · New stash!

Birthday Mail!

My Time Stitching11 Comments

Birthday mailSome items that I ordered from Stitches N Things during my birthday shopping spree arrived this week.  And when Lou Anne called to let me know, I just had to add the 2 new Nora Corbett designs and their bead packs to the stash. The top one is Coral Charms and the pixie is Wisteria.  The white fabric is for Mirabilia‘s Christmas in London and the magazine and threads are for the Snowman Afghan from Stoney Creek.  I can’t wait to start both of these projects.

100_9860I received these beauties from my BSF (Best Stitchy Friend) Johanna.  She made the heart on the frame and the Dragon’s Eye on the table, from clay.  She is so talented!  I’ll have to take a better picture of the Dragon’s eye.  It really is amazing! The mermaid box is so sweet!  She knows me so well.  I can’t wait to find something special to put inside.  The frame is for holding all of my needle minders.  She added a magnet to the frog making him a great needle minder.  Now to find my 3 or 4 others to put on here and know where they are at all times 🙂

Fathom's Below fabricAnd lastly, this isn’t Birthday mail, but I did receive it on my birthday 🙂  It is my Fabric Of the Month from Stephanie. It is Fathom’s Below,  16ct Aida.  It is perfect for a mermaid. I wonder which one I will stitch on it…

I also received a Gift Certificate for 123 Stitch from my good stitchy friend Annie.  I see more stitchy stuff in my future!

So, what are you stitching on today?

Afghans · Cross Stitch Patterns · Mirabilia · New stash! · Passione Ricamo SAL · snowmen · WIP

I Am Making Stitchy Progress, and Adding More!

My Time Stitching21 Comments

I can’t believe it is already half way through January 2015!  But so far I am doing well with my stitchy goals to work on finishing projects and keeping up with another.  I just finished section 7 of the Passione Ricamo SAL #4.

SAL #4 section 7 completed

I am really itching to see the mermaid appear on this one.  The next section is due out on January 26, so I have some time to stitch on another project I have been working on:

Autumn Snowman updateAutumn Snowman!  As you can see, I am getting really close to a finish here.  I will pick him up tonight and work on him until he is finished.  Hopefully soon.

Last weekend I visited my favorite Needlework Shop, Stitches N Things.  I belong to the stitchy club there and get to have a 25% off shopping spree once during my birthday month.  And since January is my birthday month, I just had to go shop.  And boy did I shop.  Here is what I actually brought home:

Birthday shopping spreeLots of awesome goodies: Nora Corbett’s Fairie Winter Dream ,even though I have it in magazine version.   The magazine pattern is a color pattern, which I am not fond of.  I also picked up 2 more of the little witches, Ana and Mari. And the main reason for visiting the shop and using my birthday discount was for Mirabilia’s Christmas In London and the bead pack.  This is a gorgeous, gorgeous pattern and I can’t wait to stitch it.  I ordered a piece of 16ct White Aida to stitch her on.  The latest edition of Stoney Creek magazine called to me because of a particular pattern that caught my eye while flipping through it.

Snow Friends afghan project

The Snow Friends Collectors’ Series Afghan.  I am a sucker for snowmen and I have been thinking about doing an afghan.  I love working on an afghan during the winter months.  Keeps me warm while I stitch away. So after I checked out at the LNS, and after ordering a bunch more stitchy stuffs (with birthday discout 🙂 ) I headed over to Michael’s to pick up the floss.  And to my surprise, found the required afghan there also.  It was about 1/2 of the cost of what the magazine wanted and I had a $5 off coupon so that made it even better. It looks like a nice, warm afghan, too.   I thought that the first 2 blocks started with this issue, but when looking at the back of the magazine, I saw it actually started with the Summer issue, so I called my LNS and had them order it for me and it will be added to the bag that will be filled with goodies when all of the things they are ordering for me come in.  It will be like Christmas again!  I’m sure I will be starting this afghan soon, but not until I get a finish 😉

So that is my stitchy updates for now.  I will be back soon with a Snowy finish, I’m sure.  What new project are you itching to start on?

New stash! · Nora Corbett

Small Business Saturday Shopping

My Time Stitching9 Comments

My oldest son and his girlfriend came to visit last weekend, so we decided to spend Saturday in a little downtown area of Farmington Hills, MI.  We visited lots of shops and contributed to each for Small Business Saturday.  Of course I had to stop at the Rocking Horse Needlework shop and give a little love there, too 😉  Just love going to that shop and seeing all the beautiful stitchings on the wall, from floor to ceiling.  I picked up a few things while I was ogling gorgeous finished pieces:

Small business stash

Nora Corbett’s 2 newest patterns, Geranium and Mermaid Verde and their bead packs.  Hubby and I also found the little Fairy Dust piece finished and hanging on the wall and thought it was quite cute.  So I picked it up to stitch for him.  I have been wanting to stitch a Nimue pattern. It should be a cute, quick stitch and maybe I can get it done for him for Christmas.  Now to dig into my fabric stash and find the perfect fabric for her.  What are you stitching on today?

Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Halloween · Joan Elliott Round Robin · Mermaids · New stash! · Nora Corbett · patterns · Uncategorized

My Next Project and More Stash!

My Time Stitching7 Comments

I promise you, I am still stitching away.  I can’t share the project, but I am seeing a finish in the near future!  In the mean time, I have still been adding to my stash collection and have even picked out the next project I will start once I finish the model stitch.

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That gorgeous mermaid is Nora’s newest release, Mermaid Undine by Mirabilia.  I fell in love with her immediately and ordered her right away. Her colors are magnificent and I just love her tail.   I will be stitching her on 16ct Aida Gina by Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephaine.  It will be perfect for her.  I am still missing 2 of the Waterlilies threads, in this photo, but they are at my LNS and I will get them before I start her.  I know that I have other projects that I want to work on and finish, but I am really itching for a new start and Undine will be it when I finish my current project.

I have not slowed down in adding new beautiful things to my ever growing stash either.  When I picked up Undine and her supplies at Stitches N Things, a few other things fell into my bag 😉

cross stitch stash

Let’s see, we have the 1st and 3rd editions to the Snowglobe Mantle by Bent Creek.  Love this piece, but I will definitely be changing out the fabric on this one.  Do not like the brown linen it came with.  I’m sure I have something in my stash that will work out wonderfully.  Noel by T. A. Smith Designs, Trick or Treat by Needle Bling Designs, Summer Laguna Mermaid by Nora Corbett, some petite braids for the PR SAL, a tea pot needle minder (I love tea pots) and Santa Claus Weeks Dye Threads that I want to try on a project.

These beauties I received from my good friend, Annie.  She is such a sweetie.  I love all the gifties she sent:

Gifties from Annie

 

 

Last week I received these beauties from Stephanie’s 4th of July sale along with my August Fabric of the Month.  All are 16ct Aida and are gorgeous!

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From top left, clockwise, we have Soaring Dragonfly, Pretty in Pink, Oberon, Storm, Silvermist, and Hexing.  I can’t wait to stitch on them all some day.

And my most recent additions are a magazine that hubby picked up for me.  He works near a Barnes and Noble and new I was waiting for this issue to hit the stands.

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Joan Elliott’s Belle de Mer is exquisite! Can’t wait to stitch this one someday, too and I already have the perfect fabric for her.  And the Halloween pattern I received in the mail yesterday is an Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks pattern and I LOVE it!  I have been wanting to stitch one of her designs.  She had a rough time on her face book group from a not so nice individual and I wanted to show my support of her work.  There are several other designs by her that I want to stitch, too, but I settled for this one for now.

So, there you have it.  All of my new stash.  Lots of things for me to dream about stitching one day.  For now I will keep plugging away at the model stitch.  I’d love to know what you have added to your stash lately??

 

 

New stash! · Passione Ricamo SAL · Uncategorized

I’m Here! I’m Here!

My Time Stitching21 Comments

I see it’s been a while, but  I am still here and stitching.  Some things happened in my life that caused me to be off-track.  I am trying to get back into things again.  Some good things that happened-My youngest son graduated high school and will be attending college in the fall.  I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but we finally found the perfect college and he is excited about starting.

I have been stitching on a model stitch, so I can’t share that one.  I will say that it is quite involved and is coming out beautifully.  I have been able to add a few stitches to the Passione Ricamo Stitch A Long and here is where I am with that one:

Progress on PR SALThis piece is such a joy to stitch on.  It will end up looking very similar to a Round Robin.  You can see it here on Passione Ricamo’s website. It is going to be beautiful when I finish it someday.

I also have some new stash to share.  I visited my LNS yesterday and a few things fell into my bag that was already on hold.  A couple of these I picked up on my last trip, too.

Stash purchasI picked up that last 3 Mira’s released.  And today 2 more witches and a mermaid were released.  I will have to pick them up next time.  I found the Snowglobe mantel piece by Bent Creek.  I picked up the 2nd piece as the shop was out of the 1st and 3rd pieces.  What a cute piece that will be.  And my cute froggy bag.  Love the fabric, was bummed that the bag is flat.  I’m sure I will find some things to put inside, though. Two adorable Christmas patterns by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I have seen both of these in progress on a couple of blogs and I just love the colors! Pink and blue and pink and green, marvelous! And last, Chocolate Monday by Kit & Bixby.  Before I gave up chocolate in February, I was a chocoholic.  This pattern just called out to me.  I love the pink and brown and the font is way cool.

So that is my update for now.  I am off to stitch for a bit.  What new things have you added to your stitching stash?

Angels · Frogs · Mermaids · New stash! · Nora Corbett · snowmen · Stitchy Gifts · Uncategorized

A Birthday Finish

My Time Stitching14 Comments

I celebrated my 50th birthday on Friday, and this weekend.  And the birthday present to myself was I finished Angel of Grace!  Woo Hoo!  Yep, finished her just before midnight on Friday for a great birthday finish. Here she is:

Finished Angel of GraceShe is Angel of Grace by Lorrie Birmingham Designs.  She is stitched on 28 ct Salmon and Gold Linen Banding, which was not fun to stitch on.  She is pretty much stitched as the pattern is charted, but rather than outline all the little squares that were left open on the dress, I decided to add gold beads.

Close up of basket on Angel of Grace

A basket charm, Austrian Crystals and 14kt butterfly charms were included in the pattern.  She really turned out beautiful, but there were many obstacles along the way on this one.  I truly wondered if I would ever finish her.  She will eventually be turned into a bell pull and given to my Mom for her birthday this summer.  I am just so happy to have her finished, and on my birthday 😉

So speaking of my birthday, here is how I celebrated all weekend:  I had a Stamping workshop at my house on Thursday night and the hostess brought me this:

birthday cakeYummy!  White cake, my favorite.  And I love that she had 29 put on it rather than 50.  She also brought me these:

HyacinthsBeautiful, pink, fragrant hyacinths.  My personal Spring!  Every time I look at them, and smell them, I know I am edging towards that much awaited day when the weather breaks and green starts poking though.  It’s a good thing I am in the basement right now as I don’t want to look out the window at this moment.  And a cute little frog key chain that lights up and croaks.

I spent most of my actual birthday on Friday, stitching.  My hubby and youngest took me out to Chinese for birthday dinner and then it was back to stitching until I finished the Angel-almost midnight, but I did finish her on my birthday.  Hubby bought me this:

New selphy printerMy own little personal printer and it’s wireless!  I had the earlier model, but the printer cartridge got stuck inside and it would have cost almost as much as a new one to fix it.  So now I have a new one and it’s wireless!  I love having my own personal printing for my scrapbooking.  And now I can print from the computer, too.  Awesome!

I also received a Gift certificate for 1-2-3-Stitch from a my sweet stitching friend, Annie.  I am waiting to see if they get the new Ophelia’s Pearl mermaid in so I can get that and her bead pack and threads.  That will be a super project to have in my stash.

On Saturday, my Friend, Carol, came over and we spent the day scrapbooking.  We did take a break for presents!

Carol scrapbookingShe gave me pink tiger ribbon (great for all of those zoo pictures I still have to scrapbook), Lindor Limited Edition chocolates (My favorite and in a pink bag :),  2 boxes of adhesive, (we scrapbookers go through a lot of that) and a set of Vampire Academy books.  I had not heard of them, but Carol knows I love vampires.  Can’t wait to read them.  And all my gifts were in a very nice re-usable shopping bag.  I love taking them to the grocery store instead of getting tons of plastic bags.  We also went out to Chinese for lunch and then back home to scrapbook.  While scrapbooking and having fun, this is what came in the mail:

shopping spree stashThe items from my Birthday shopping Spree at Stitches N Things. The thread is my missing thread for Biancabella.  The Snowmen Trio by Country Cottage Needleworks was too cute not to add to my stash. And the newest Mermaid Letters from Nora Corbett.  The “G”  is for Ginny of course, and the “I” is beautiful.  It almost doesn’t look like a letter.

And this was in the other package I received in the mail:

Frog pincushionMy Best Stitchy Friend, Johanna, sent me this adorable pin cushion.  It’s not small either.  It’s about 6″ tall and 7″ wide. The most adorable thing I have ever seen!  I love collecting decorative pins, so now I have a beautiful pin cushion to put them in.  I have to get a better picture of the froggy pin in the back:

Frog pinIsn’t it just the cutest?  And he is even wearing a birthday hat 🙂  I love it!

Blowing out the candle

So I had a wonderful birthday weekend and it wasn’t so bad turning 50.  And I finished the Angel!!!  Do you have a project that has been hanging over your head for a long time?

Angels · Cross Stitch Patterns · Mirabilia · New stash!

I See An Angelic Finish Coming

My Time Stitching11 Comments

After my first finish for 2014, I picked up a WIP that has been around way too long.  At least a few years.  You may remember her; Angel of Grace? Well here is how she looks now:

progress on Angel of GraceI’m getting really close to a finish.  She certainly is a challenge on that fabric.  It is 28 ct Salmon and Gold Linen Banding.  It is the most uneven fabric I have ever worked on.  The pattern is Angel of Grace by Lorri Birmingham Designs.  I am hoping to finish this by the end of the weekend.  I just have her ruffle to finish and some gold stitching on the right of the dress,  then outlining and some charms, buttons and beads.  I am so happy this one is actually coming to a finish.  It is a gift for someone special and I will by happy to finally have it crossed off of my WIP list.

And because I don’t have enough Mira stash, this is what I purchased on Saturday from Stitches N Things:

Biancabella stashThis month is my birthday, so I went on a birthday month shopping spree.  Shown here is the lovely Biancabella and her bead pack and one of two Waterlilies needed.  The other is on backorder.  I love the colors in Biancabella.  I am thinking of adding a snowflake in her hand instead of the apple.  She is my favorite winter colors, so I think a snowflake will be perfect.  Some day I will get to work on her.    I also ordered a couple of patterns that were not in the shop yet.

So now, back to stitching on Angel of Grace.  What WIP have you had in your stash for a very long time?