Craft Room · cross stitch · Nora Corbett · Pixie · Storage · Uncategorized

It Was Only A Matter Of Time


Warning, this is a long post, so grab your favorite beverage and hang out for a bit 😉  I have put Ella down to make a new start.  As the title says, it was just a matter of time before some beautiful design captured my full attention, making me want to put Ella aside.  Here is my new start!

IMG_0656 (2)

This is Nora Corbett’s new design, Queen Anne’s Lace.  Right now it is a FREE PDF from Just Cross Stitch Magazine.  Gotta love that!  It will be in the April issue of the magazine but for now you can download it from JCS magazine site.  It will be the first piece to hang in my NEW craft room when she is finished.  More on the NEW craft room in a second 🙂 I am stitching little Miss Anne on 16ct Aida Carmel Macchiato from Stehphs Fabbys.  Can I say I am already tired of green and want to get to the Pink?  I am not a fan of green, but there is not as much as the yellow in Ella.  Here is how I left Ella yesterday:

IMG_0657 (2)

She is coming along, but not fast enough for me.  So Pixie Anne is the perfect distraction.

OK, so I mentioned a NEW craft room.  A few years ago, hubby was encouraging me to take one of our boys’ bedrooms for my new craft room.  Our oldest moved out 3 1/2 years ago, and while the thought of a new craft room sounded wonderful, I couldn’t take over my son’s room. So last year, my youngest said I should take over his room, he will move into our oldest’s room and I can have my craft room.  So I decided I would do it in the Spring of 2016.  The last few months hubby has been pushing the idea and I have been thinking about how I would like to decorate it.  I will be losing quite a bit when I leave my current room; like a desk, shelves above my head, cupboards to the right of me.  You see, my current craft room is a narrow space in my laundry room, which also contains the furnace and water heater.  Here is a glimpse into my current space:

IMG_0635 (2)

I have made great use of the space I have had for 17 or so years.  But I have really outgrown it.  And the floor is concrete and is very cold.  Here is the other end of my current room:

IMG_0636 (2)

So a couple of weeks ago, hubby and I were at the office store and I ran into some furniture that just blew me away!  I was originally thinking a new desk would be white, to match my current cube furniture.  But this furniture I fell in love with is glass!  And silver frame. So I thought about it for a few days, had taken measurements and went back to the store on the last day of the sale to take a final look.  I even gathered some things from the store to put on my desk to see how it would all feel.  LOVED it and ordered the furniture.  That was on Jan. 30.  That day, hubby also called a painter to come in and give us an estimate.  The painter said he could start on Wednesday and be done by Sunday!  What???  That only gave us 3 1/2 days to box up one room and move the other room in!  It was moving way too fast.  I thought I had until Spring to start on it.  So, hubby and I began the move on Sunday and the painter arrived on Wednesday evening to an empty room that needed some patching and a border removed and prep for painting.

IMG_0638 (2)

So I am SOOOO excited about my new room!  I want the walls Pink (of course) and the trim gray.  The carpet is a light gray, even though the photo looks like it is purple.  After many times changing my mind, I made my final decision on paint swatches last night:

IMG_0655 (2)

So many pinks and grays to choose from (there really are 50 shades of gray, or more! LOL) but I finally decided: Impatiens Petal pink and Software gray. Sorry for the blurriness on my color choices.  So by Sunday, I think the painter will be done and sometime next week we can start putting my furniture together, which were delivered this week.  I plan to have all of my stamping, scrapbooking, cross stitch and knitting and crocheting all in this one room instead of spread throughout the house.  The room is not really that big, but bigger than the space I have now so I am looking forward to decorating and organizing it.  My wonderful husband is totally responsible for this happening.  If it wasn’t for him, I still wouldn’t be getting a room.  Spring would come and I would still have reasons not to move the boys’ things. My  boys are perfectly fine with what I am doing and my youngest was even here earlier in the week going through his things, and helping me move stuff.  I am feeling better about the whole process and can’t wait to move in next week 🙂

If you are still here, thank you for listening to me go on and on about my craft room.  Do you have a special place where you like to do all of your crafting?

cross stitch · Mermaids · Mirabilia · Nora Corbett · Sunny Dyes Fabrics · Uncategorized

Mermaid Trio back from the Framer!


IMG_0218 (2)

I picked up my Mermaid Trio from Stitches N Things today.  I think it turned out really well.  It is quite wide; measuring 30 1/2″ so I haven’t yet found a place to hang it.  I may have to start rotating my projects around.  I am happy I put all 3 of these sweet mermaids onto one piece of fabric.  Just in case you are not familiar with the designs, they are all separate mermaids by Nora Corbet; the same designer that does the Mirabilia patterns. I love all of her designs.  On the left is Mermaid Azure, Coral Charms is in the middle and Mermaid Verde is on the right.  They are stitched on 16ct Aida Summer Showers by Sunny Dyes Fabrics.

Who is your favorite designer to stitch?

 

 

 

cross stitch · Mermaids · Nora Corbett

Mermaid Azure and the Mermaid Trio


I finished Mermaid Azure last Thursday, thus completing my Mermaid Trio.  I was so excited to get it finished.

WIN_20151022_225818

She was another sweet stitch and it only took me a day to bead her.  So here is how the entire piece looks.

WIN_20151022_225910

I stitched this piece on 16ct Aida Summer Showers by Sunny Dyes fabrics.  The 3 mermaids are all individual patterns by Nora Corbett.  They are Mermaid Azure, Coral Charms and Mermaid Verde. I  started this piece on August 28, 2015 and finished it on October 22, 2015. So it took me 8 weeks to stitch. And since I finished before my trip out of town over the weekend, hubby said we could stop by Stitches N Things and drop it off for framing.  I chose a frame that is very similar to the frame used on Siren and the Shipwreck.  I can’t wait to see it all framed up. A few fun things ended up on the counter while at the cross stitch store.  More on that tomorrow.

What are you working on finishing up these days?

cross stitch · Mermaids · Nora Corbett

Mermaid Coral Charms is All Beaded


WIN_20151021_212205

WIN_20151021_212205 (2)

WIN_20151021_211647 (2)

WIN_20151021_212040

I finished her last night.  Nora Corbett’s Coral Charms.  She is a little beauty and she sure has a lot of beads.  I am now working on mermaid #3 of my trio and hope to finish beading her tonight.  Then I can reveal the entire mermaid trio.  I am so excited about this piece!

New stash! · Nora Corbett

Small Business Saturday Shopping


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!


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.

10623848_10204427649196632_801462939567002087_o

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!

10603966_10204453742768955_4261315250913218908_o

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.

100_9075

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??

 

 

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

A Birthday Finish


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?

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

Share Day-Knitting, Mermaid, Fairies and Stash


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 🙂

Fabric · Nora Corbett · patterns

I Love Getting Mail!


Look what arrived in my mailbox yesterday:

Sailor's Delight fabric by StephanieThis luscious,  hand dyed fabric from Hand  Dyed Fabrics  by Stephanie. It’s called Sailor’s Delight and it is 16 ct Aida.  I LOVE the colors!  I joined her Fabric of the Month Club and this is January piece.  She is currently dying a piece of Sky & Grass that I will be using to stitch Roses of Provence on and can’t wait to get it next week.  Her fabrics are so beautiful and my wish list from her is getting longer and longer every time I see something stitched on one.  And I love it that she is located in Michigan as I am.  Click on the link and check out her lovely hand dyes.  From there you can check out her facebook page and see what people are stitching on her fabulous fabbies!

I also received this:

2010 Keepsake Calendar

I purchased this on ebay after trying to find it in stores and couldn’t.  It contains a pattern by Nora Corbett that I have seen many times over the last few months and when I first saw it, I fell in love with it.

Snow QueenSnow Queen.  Me being a snowman lover, I just had to have it.  She is just beautiful and the pattern will be added to my “stash of things to do”.  Of course I have to find the perfect fabric for her and it just might be a hand dyed by Stephanie! I already have something in mind…