Category: New stash!

Cross Stitch Patterns · Dragons · knitted scarves · Knitting · Mermaids · New stash! · Uncategorized

Lots of new stash, but no new finish

My Time Stitching9 Comments

I am working on Rachel’s RR and as soon as I get it finished I will post a picture. Now that I am about done with the hair, it may go quicker.  I have recently acquired so much new stash, I don’t know where to begin…Yes I do.  A stitchy gift from my BSF (Best Stitching Friend)

Gift from my bestieThis cute little packaged arrive so pretty! Johanna sent it to me as a thank you for stitching the Royal Holiday on her Queen RR.  Isn’t she a sweetie?  Here is what was inside:

gift 3Sorry about the blurry photo.  I’ve always wanted to do a sweetheart tree design, but never knew which one do do.  Now I have the perfect one.  Complete with a key charm inside. The colors are beautiful.  I am hoping that when I stitch this up, I can finish it just like the picture.  I may have to get some help with that.

Next is last month’s Fabric of the Month from Stephanie. It is called Bewitched.

Bewitched 16 ct AidaIt is 16ct Aida and it is BEAUTIFUL!!  I love the colors in it.  Can’t wait to find something special to stitch on this baby!

I received this pattern in the mail:

The Gift pattern

It is a gorgeous pattern I saw on Patricia’s facebook page.  There is a mermaid in it.  I just had to have it. And hubby likes Dragons, so it is the perfect combination in a cross stitch pattern 🙂  I picked up a piece of fabric on Silweaver’s auctions last week and I am hoping it will be perfect for this pattern.  If you are interested in this pattern, you can contact the designer Particia Aikin by email at particiaallisonarts@hotmail.com  I can’t wait to stitch this one up.

And last I have a knit project I picked up this last weekend:

beaded scarf projectHubby and I stopped at a local knit shop on our day out this weekend and I found a partially knittied beaded scarf sitting on a shelf at the shop.  It was pink, so you know I had to see what it was all about.  It wasn’t even half knitted, but it was so heavy with the beads.  I loved it!  And had to have one!  They didn’t sell the yarn used anymore, so I decided to go with a cream yarn.  That will go well with my red coat.  At Joann’s I found some clear beads with a copper looking center that I thought would look good with the cream yarn.  It’s done on a size 5 needle, so I’m sure it will take me a while to knit.  Someday I will start it and it will be beautiful and sparkly when it is finished.

So, that is all of my new stash as of late.  Still working on some pidge scarves as well as Rachel’s RR. It is due in the mail next Wednesday, so I had better get to stitching a little faster.  Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I have been up to.  What have you added to your stash lately?

Fairies · knitted scarves · Knitting · Mermaids · New stash! · Nora Corbett · Uncategorized

Share Day-Knitting, Mermaid, Fairies and Stash

My Time Stitching16 Comments

I’ve been pretty busy lately with all sorts of things.  Let me show you what I have been up to.

Pidge scarf out of bamboo yarn

Up first is a pidge scarf I finished for Sue.  I used Bamboo yarn for the first time and I have to say that I LOVE this yarn!  It is so soft and silky and I think this scarf will be really warm.  I had a little trouble keeping a consistent tension with the yarn being so slippery, but I think it turned out well.  And Sue loves it.

Next up is Emmy.  I picked her up from the framer yesterday and she is just so pretty and sparkly.

Emmy Framed

I had her framed just about identical to Mediterranean.  My plan is to hang them on each side of Enchanted mermaid.  I will be sure to post pictures when they are hung.

I also picked up my Fairy Round Robin from the framer.  In case you don’t know, I had it framed at a frame shop a couple of months ago and the framer did a horrible job.  I sent it back only to get it back just as bad if not worse.  So I took it in to Juanita, my awesome framer for the last 18 years or so, and she fixed it beautifully. No wrinkles, no wavy lines and my beads are not pressed against the glass.  It looks marvelous! You can see the bad frame job here.  Quite a difference between someone who basically used sticky tape and someone who knows what they are doing.  I will never stray from Juanita again.

Fairy RR Fame by Juanita

Thank you, thank you, Juanita.  You are amazing!  Now to find the perfect place to hang this beauty.  While at Stitches N Things picking up my framings yesterday, I had a “bag in the back”.  Things that I have ordered or were back-ordered and came in.  I always seem to have “a bag” there and it’s always fun to see what I have collected.  Here is what was in my bag today:

New stuff

The new note cards with Nora Corbett’s drawings.  The pack on the left is for Johanna.  Stitches N Things was giving away an autographed card with purchase.  I am so geeked to get one.  On the bottom left is the Cauldron fabric for my Halloween project and the button pack is below it. In the middle is Persephone with the last pack of beads that I need for her and one of the waterlilies.  I can’t wait to start her some day.  She is gorgeous!  And on the right is the next Santa’s village with JABCO button and specialty thread for it.  That is another project that I need to start one of these days.

As promised, here is a picture of the bottom portion of the Under The Sea Fabric from Sunny Dyes which I am stitching Siren and the Shipwreck on:

Under the Sea fabricIt’s hand painted and to me, looks like seaweed or plants on the bottom of the ocean floor.  When I first saw it, I knew that Siren just had to be stitched on it.  I will post a progress of Siren in my next post.  That is all of my stitchy news for now.  May your needles glide smoothly and be without frogs 🙂

Fairies · Joan Elliott Round Robin · Knitting · New stash! · Storage

A Finish, A Start and some this and that

My Time Stitching22 Comments

I finished Lavender Fairy on Karen’s RR last night and I think she turned out very pretty.

Lavender on Karens RRKarens full RRKaren’s RR is going to be so gorgeous when it gets finished.  She did an awesome job on her layout.  And just look at the sparkles in that fabric!  I still have to add my name,and then she will be ready to mail on in July.  I’m not sure I like Joan Elliott patterns.  Lots of fractionals.  But hubby does like this fairy and he did buy me a special purple hand dyed fabric to stitch her on.  So I suppose I will have to stitch her in full some day.

I also put my Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL on the LARGE scroll frame.  The masking tape hubby bought was really tacky and messy leaving a residue all over the roll when I pulled tape up and on my hands.  So I didn’t really want to put that on my fabric.  So I ended up hand basting it to the piece of fabric on the rods.  It was a chore, but I’m glad it’s done.

SAL on the scroll frameMy fabric didn’t seem to get tight, so I added the rubber bands and binder clips.  Do you see that tiny little spot where the yellow is on the left?  That is my start on this SAL. I hope to add some more this weekend.  I’ve already had a sneak peek at block #2 to be released on July 1, so I want to make sure I get block 1 done and keep up.  For those that were asking about the scroll frame,  it’s a K’s Creations.  You can click on the link to find out more.  Like I said in my last post, I haven’t used this frame in a really long time and not sure I will like it but I am going to give it another try.

Over the weekend, hubby was near a yarn shop and he stopped in.  This is what he picked up for me:

New knitting stuffA cute little case for my circular needles and some fun festy yarn.  There is enough to make 2 scarves.  The shop was out of the pattern, so I called to see how to use this yarn.  Cast on however many sts I want on to size 15 needles and knit in garter stitch for however long I want.  It’s double stranded and it will be interesting to see how this yarn knits up.  It’s called Fantasty Fest by The Sassy Skein and the color is Lobster.  The shop owner told me the yarn strands were put together by kids that were no longer in the Foster Care system.  I thought that was neat. So thank you Skeins On Main for helping hubby pick out some really nice things for me since I couldn’t be there.  I hope to get a scarf knitted up before fall rolls around.  And when I get to organizing my circular needles, I will post a pic of the inside of that cute little case.  That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to.

Joan Elliott Round Robin · New stash! · Uncategorized · WIP

Trip to my LNS

My Time Stitching14 Comments

Hello stitchy friends.  It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted and thought I would share what I have been up to.  The awesome designers out there keep coming up with awesome new patterns, so I have so many projects floating around in my head.  But let me show you what I have been working on:

LavenderYou get just a peek as I am not finished her yet.  She is Joan Elliott’s Lavender and I am stitching her on Karen’s Round Robin. I am currently doing the backstitching (hate it) and then on to the beautiful beads that will really complete it.  I will post a full pic when I finish-hopefully in the next couple of days.

Last night I finally started Passione Ricamo’s Mystery Stitch A Long.  The first block was released on Friday, but I didn’t get my email until late Sunday.  So I sat down last night and measured and counted on my fabric for just the right placement for the start.  Here is what I stitched:

Start of SAL

I know it’s not a lot, but I wanted to get it started.  I always start all of my stitchings in the center.  With the SAL, the first block is in the upper left of the fabric.  So it drove me crazy trying to decide if I wanted 3″ all the way around for framing or 4″.  Or did I want to start in the center and count stitches over to the left side…NO!  So I measured 4″  from the top, and counted stitches from the top center to the left.  I hope I placed the start of my fish in the right spot.  I needed to get some stitches on here so that I can put it on my scroll frame.  My fabric is 26″ wide and I don’t  have a split dowel scroll frame big enough to put it on.  So out to the garage I went to dig out this:

Table Top scroll frameMy table top scroll frame.  I haven’t used this frame in 19 years! And it’s huge!  To give you an idea of how big it is, each of those white tiles are about 8″. The dowels on this frame have a piece of fabric attached that I am supposed to baste my cross stitch fabric to.  That sounds too time consuming, so I am going to tape my fabric to the rods.  I got the idea from Tracy’s blog.      I hope to get it on the frame today and work on it this weekend.  There is not much in the first block of the SAL, so it shouldn’t take me too long.  I hear it’s a mermaid 🙂

And last but not least, I went to my local needlework shop and this is what I picked up:

shopping trip

Yep, all kinds of fun stitchy stuff!  the Rainbow gallery threads and beads for my SAL, Just Nan’s Sirens of the Sea sampler, some threads for the Santa Village piece, a new Halloween project from Lizzie Kate that looks pretty cool.  My friend that went with me wants me to stitch up the Wine piece on the Mushroom 14ct Aida and lastly, the latest issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.  See that tea pot in the corner?

close up of magazineMy BSF (Best Stitchy Friend) stitched that for the magazine.  She did a great job and I’m so happy she got the cover.  You can see more of her beautiful stitchings and read more about this piece at Elegant Stitches.    That tea pot is on my to do list.  It’s a tea pot (love them) and it’s patriotic.  Oh and you can also see my mermaid scissor fob.  This is my first scissor fob and guess what?  It doesn’t fit on my scissors 😦  I guess I will have to dig up another pair of scissors.  Or better yet, LouAnn at Stitches N Things   showed me a pair of Dovo scissors and OMG they feel like they will cut like buttta!  I’ll have to save up for a pair of those.  I guess they are way better than ginghers.

Wisher, over at Pretty Little Things in a Box, has nominated me for a couple of blog awards that I haven’t gotten around to passing along.  She nominated me for the (online) next door neighbor award.  Isn’t that sweet!  You’ll have to pay her a visit and see what neat stuff she is up to.  So,  I nominate Wisher and everyone else who has visited my blog,  with  the  on-line  next door neighbor award.  Bloggy friends are so wonderful!

wordpressfamilyaward

Well, that’s what I have been up.  Hubby bought me some stitchy stuff of  a different kind this past weekend and I will post those next time as well as an update on my cross stitch progress.  Happy stitching!

Fabric · Knitting · New stash!

What I am working on…

My Time Stitching8 Comments

I feel like I am going in so many directions right now.  First, some knitting:

pidge with bamboo

I started on my next pidge for Sue.  I’m using Bamboo needles for the first time and I am liking them with this yarn.  Usually I love the way the yarn glides on my quicksilver needles, but with the Bamboo yarn, the needles hold my knitting in place.  The Bamboo yarn is so soft and silky that the project would have probably slipped off of my quicksilvers  several times by now.  And since I am constantly moving the yarn back and forth to form the ribbing, the Bamboo needles are working great to hold my knitting on the needles.  I really like working with the Bamboo yarn and I like how it is knitting up.  Except for my right edge..on the prior row, the last stitched is slipped.  So when I start the next row, there isn’t anything to pull or tighten, so my right edge looks really sloppy and loose.

I’m also stitching on Karen’s beautiful Round Robin.  She wants any Joan Elliott pattern that has purple.  Of course, Lavender came to mind right away, so that is what I am stitching.  I will share a photo when I get her done.

I also went shopping at my LNS and this is what I picked up:

More stitchy stuff

My next Santa’s cottage.  I need to start that piece this summer.  Nora Corbett’s Spring Fairie.  I am hoping to start her companion piece, Winter Fairie sometime this year.  And Stitches N Things (my LNS) was having a Birthday sale and would kit up any pattern purchased for 21% off.  They kitted up Nora’s Siren’s Song mermaid.  I was quite surprised at how small she is.  The piece of Water Lilly 16ct Aida fabric is only 12 x 18 and that is including 3″ all the way around for framing.  I probably won’t use that fabric for her, but the “kitted up part” included DMC floss, beads, kreinik, and fabric.    I will probably use a hand dyed fabric from my stash to stitch her on.  I will decide that when it’s time to work on her.

In my last post I told you I signed up for Passione Ricamo’s Mystery SAL.  I received my fabric and purchased all of my flosses for this one.  Here it is:

Pixie Dust for mystery SALEveryone is saying it’s going to be a mermaid.  This is what  I envisioned her on. Silkweaver’s Pixie Dust in 28 ct Lugana. LOVE this fabric!   This SAL starts next week and I can’t wait!  Most of my Rainbow Gallery Petite braids are on backorder.  Everyone is having a time getting them.  Some beads are also on backorder.  So I will be patient (who knew?) and will stitch around the PB if they are needed right away. If you want to get in on this one, there is still time.  You have until June 14 to join up.  Click on my Passione link above to get the details.  This SAL will start on June 15 and will go until November or December.  It’s going to be fun!

Well, that’s all of my stitchy news for now.  Oh, I have also kitted up Mirabilia’s Siren and the Shipwreck so I will be starting that one once I finish the block on the Round Robin.  I will be working on 2 mermaids at once!  Well, not at the same exact time.  I’m not that talented, hehe.  I will post my starts on both of these projects once I get going on them.  For now, happy stitching!

Fabric · New stash! · Pillows · Uncategorized

Some Pillows and some new stash

My Time Stitching5 Comments

Today I realized that I never posted my February Pillow.  In fact, I never put it out 😦  So in putting January pillow away and getting out the March pillow, I took some pictures.

February pillow

The February pillow case, no pillow in it.

March Pillow

The March Pillow.  I love all the blues and greens.  Makes me thing Spring!  Is it here yet?  Kind of felt like it today.  Sunny and in the low 40’s.  Beautiful! Now onto some new stash I received this week.  First some goodies from a very sweet friend:

Goodies from Johanna

The latest Just Cross Stitch magazine and some of the limited edition DMC floss.  I love all the shades of blue in this floss.  The magazine has a cute teapot design in it.  Johanna knows I love tea pots.  Here is the tea pot.

teapot in magazine

Very cute and springy.  I love the colors in this one.  It will be added to my long list of projects to do 🙂  Thank you Johanna.  You are so sweet to think of me.

Next I have some more of Stephanie’s fabrics.  This first batch I received on Tuesday:

Stephys fabbies

The top left is Bliss, next to that is Twixt N Tween, under Bliss is Orange/tan, next to that is Turquoise, and on the bottom is Banshee.  All are 16 ct Aida except for the Orange/tan-that is 28ct Lugana.  They are all just beautiful.  And on Thursday, I received these:

More Stephanie fabrics

Regular Banshee on top and Banshee Brown on the bottom.  They are both beautiful and Banshee Brown is awesome!  It is what I want for my Asian JE Round Robin!  Both of these are 16ct Aida.  Stephanie is in the process of making me the Banshee Brown in 28ct Lugana for my RR.  I can’t wait to get the fabric and get started on my layout.

So it’s been a good week with lots of fun stitchy stuffs to add to my stash.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to:)

Fabric · New stash!

NEW MERMAID STASH!

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I have to share some new stitchy stuff I received in the mail today:

Mermaid stash and fabric

Stitches N Things called me yesterday to say that all of beads, treasures, pattern and fabric were in.  They mailed and I received today!  They are so good to me 🙂  The pattern is Siren and the Shipwreck by Mirabilia and I will tell you that I just want to get started on her right now!  But I can’t.  I have to finish Emerald and then I have to get my next Round Robin going.  More about that in a minute.  The fabric above is Sea Lily in 16ct Aida.  Since I have not been having a lot of luck with the hand dyed fabrics, I have decided to stick with the solid Aida for Siren.  I may change my mind by the time I get ready to start stitching her, but for now that is the plan .  There are some other pretty beads that the pattern calls for, but they are already in my stash.

Here is what I received in the mail onMonday:

New fabric from Stephanie

Four hand dyed fabrics from Stephanie. Top left is Iris, next to that is Bliss.  On the bottom left is Brigid, and next to that is Twixt N Tween.  All are 16 ct Aida except the Twixt N Tween which is 28ct Lugana.  I am torn with this shipment.  Iris and Brigid dyed pretty close to what her website shows.  But Bliss is pretty much a pink fabric with very little other coloring.  I thought it would be more on the blue side with a little pink.  The most disappointing however, is the Twixt N Tween.  I purchased this in 28ct Lugana, and 26 x 36  for an upcoming Joan Elliott Round Robin that I will be participating in.  My theme is Asian and I chose Twixt N Tween because on the website it is more orangy/brownish in color.  I even viewed a few of the Geisha’s that  I want  stitched,  in the fabric viewer and they look awesome with the orangy fabric.  Perfect for Asian.  And the Black lettering and outlining of my boxes would look awesome on it.  But I don’t know if you can tell from the photo above, the fabric is mainly pink and gray.  Totally not what I wanted for my Round Robin.  So I haven’t decided what I am going to do at this point.  It is a pretty fabric, but not what I was expecting.  So…I have some decisions to make.  In the mean time, I have to finish Emerald.  I am getting close to finishing the stitching.  Come back tomorrow for a progress photo.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to.

New stash! · Uncategorized

Some New Goodies!

My Time Stitching6 Comments

I received a call from my LNS that some things I ordered were in.  So off I went and here is what I picked up:

Image

The new Mirabilia, Roses of Provence, her bead pack and White Chocolate 16ct Aida.  Since ordering this I have decided to stitch her on Stephanie’s Sky & Grass which she is currently dying for me.  Can’t wait to get it and start this. I also decided to do Country Cottage Needleworks Santa’s Village.  I am going to do them all on one piece and had to order the fabric.  I will be stitching it up on 16 ct Aida Lambswool. I also had to have Winter Snow, also by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I just love the colors in this and the Santa Village series.  After looking on their website, there is a lot on there I like.  Who would have thought, as I am not a country person.  But I think a lot of their things look vintage and I do like that.   There is also some peppermint striped fabric for some ornaments that I want to stitch and a snowflake bell pull for a future snowman project.  I had to pick up 2 new bookmarks for hubby as he is on his 2nd one and I think maybe he is liking this stitching stuff.  I also ordered the last 2 Mirabilia Reindeer I need for my afghan-Prancer and Rudolph.  I hope to start this one some time this year.  So that was my fun shopping trip today.  I will share my progress on Emerald Mermaid this week.  I had to do a bit of frogging last night and was not happy as I don’t have a lot done and don’t need to be frogging so early on! So now I hope that the frogs have hopped on and I can continue without any trouble.

Hubby's stitching · New stash!

Teaching Hubby to cross stitch

My Time Stitching4 Comments

Good morning on this last day of 2012.  Hubby and I went to Joanne’s yesterday so that I could pick up some floss for some new project starts.  Here is what I bought:

My new stuffLots of floss for Emerald Mermaid and my Pixie afghan.  A new scroll frame because all of mine are so stripped they won’t get tight for me anymore.  And I did not expect to see the new issue of Cross Stitch Collection in but was so excited to see it I grabbed it right up.  Now I have all 6 of Joan Elliott’s Flower fairies.  Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. So hubby bought me lots of nice stitchy stuff.  And…get this….He decided that he wants to learn to cross stitch.  Yep!  All of a sudden, out of the blue.  So here is his new stash:

Banders stashHe decided to start with a bookmark and he found a cute little dragon that he wanted to stitch.  I promised him a Heaven and Earth designed bookmark a few months ago.  I wanted to try a HAED and a good stitching friend suggested I try a bookmark to see if I like stitching over one.  So Hubby picked out a pattern and I have started it.  About 12 stitches.  Hehe.  It is on my list of things to finish for 2013.  Anyway, I think he is tired of waiting and decided to do one himself.  So, he wound all of his floss, I set him up with a box, needle, highlighter, pattern and got him started.  So here he is working on his second cross stitch-I say second because I did teach him years ago and he didn’t like it.

Bander cross stitching

He is doing really good.  He says he can’t watch tv and stitch.  I’m sure he will get the hang of that if he continues on.  Here is his progress so far:

Bandes progress

I think he is doing great.  I can see us…sitting in our side by side recliners, stitching the nights away.  Ahhhh, peaceful.

Since this is my last post of 2012, I want to thank you for visiting me this year to see what I have been up to.  May the New Year bring you Health, Happiness and Love.

Ginny

Mermaids · New stash! · Uncategorized

Mediterannean Mermaid back from the Framer

My Time Stitching15 Comments

Good afternoon friends.  I went to my LNS this morning and picked up Mediterranean Mermaid, all framed and looking lovely.  Here she is:

I love how she turned out.  Not too much frame, no mat, all the focus on her and all of her sparkly beauty.  I’m not sure where I am going to hang her as I think I have run out of wall space.  But I will find the perfect place for her soon. The framing was done by Juanita at Way Cool Mats as is most of my framings.  She always does an awesome job.

While at my LNS, Stitches N Things  I picked up a few things that I had ordered as well as a few new things from the shop.  First, look at this wonderful holder I found:

Isn’t it just lovely?  Remember this pattern I picked up in Stoney Creek Magazine?

Well, it will look great on this holder.  And what’s cool about it is that I can have the Summer Banner put on Mat board (some day, when I get it sttiched) and the holder can be used as an easel.  That way I don’t have to stitch it onto the frame and I can re-use.  It can also hold a project in progress like this:

It will work well with Q-snaps also.  And do you know what else is cool about this holder??  You can change out the top!  Yep!  The company that makes it has many different toppers.  The shop also had a Halloween one that was cool.  Now if I can just get this project started.  Unfortunately,  20ct white Lugana is on back order and has been since I first picked up the Stoney Creek magazine with the Summer Banner in it.  After picking up the June issue of Stoney Creek today (it has the Fall Banner in it and had to get it) there is a new Christmas afghan series in that is going to run for like 2 years.  It also uses 20ct White Lugana and I think that many, many people are going to do this project.  It uses almost 2 yards of fabric, so I am sure it will be a while before I get my 4 measley pieces of white 20ct Lugana.  Oh well, you know I wasn’t going to finish the Summer Banner for this summer anyway.

Here is the rest of my purchases from this visit and my last visit to the LNS:

A candle screen from Sudberry House.  I am not a country person, but this really appealed to me.  The Monogram chart for the candle screen and The Lovely Alphabet both from The Sunflower Seed.  I am not sure what the difference in the 2 alphabets are..but the sample that I saw said that it used the Lovely Alphabet and I thought it was different than the monograms, but I don’t think it is.  I also purchased Nora Corbett’s Cherry Blossom and bead pack the last time I was there.  I am saving her to stitch on Johanna’s RR when I get it.  And I actually found 2 pieces of 16ct Aida hand dyed fabrics the last time I was at the Lady Bug Shoppe.  One is called Truffle and the other is Glory.  Not sure what I will use them for, but they are lovely and I am sure I will find something to stitch on them some day.

Well my friends,  thank you for visiting today and sticking with my very long post today.  Makes up for my lack of posting recently.  Happy Stitching!