Hello December

December 1, 2023 My Time Stitching14 Comments

Hello my blogging friends and Happy December. The days keep moving faster than I can keep up and here we are ; December 1. If I blink, it will probably be Christmas! As you may have noticed in my feature photo, I have finished my December pillow. As per most of the months, I pulled it out just a few days before the start of the month.

I can’t believe this is the final pillow!

This pillow went as fast as the others. I worked on it a little at a time over 2 days.

For some reason I decided to be a messy stitcher for this one. I didn’t bother taking the time to separate the threads ahead of time or put them on floss drops or anything. It was ok. Sometimes you just have to be a messy stitcher. And in a flash it was finished!

I am a little disappointed that the green fabric is upside down. But I think the bows kind of hide that imperfection. And there was a rip on the side where the fabric was supposed to be joined to the cross stitch fabric. I had to stitch that up before getting started. But it is finished and I am so happy !

My monthly pillows are now all finished and I can pull them out each month knowing that I won’t have to stitch any of them up before displaying them. They have been in my stash for a lot of years and it feels great to get this project out of my WIP pile. The patterns are from Pine Mountain Designs and are no longer available. Though you may be able to find them on a secondary market.

So what else have I been up to? Well, I had put my Ocean Pearl piece in for framing to see how the framer would do with framing needlework. You know I have been on the hunt for a new framer or framing service.

It took me a while to decide on a frame for this one. I ended up picking a black frame with some swirls on it. And here it is all framed up.

She turned out beautifully. I am happy with it and have since put another piece in for framing.

Knitting. What is on my knitting needles?

I started the Impulse Buy shawl. The yarn is La Jolla from Baah yarns in color Sleigh Ride. When my Mother in Law was here in October, we visited a yarn shop and both picked up a skein of this beautiful yarn. The colors are so gorgeous and will go with so many tops in my wardrobe.

This pattern is super easy and very relaxing to knit. After the initial cast on and a few rows, it is just a 4 row repeat. I love stitching on this. The yarn is soft and squishy and the pattern is so lovely even though you can see it so well with all of the busy colors. The lace is just on the edges, so I am hoping it will show much more after I finish it and block it.

Now for what I have been stitching on. I added the 5th shop on my Beach Boardwalk series.

The Souvenir shop is the latest shop and it is so cute with the sand castle on top of the shop. I am really loving this series and will be sad when it ends. Just 2 more shops left. I received a shipping notice yesterday that my next shop is on the way. Can’t wait to get it and add it to my Boardwalk. Patterns are from Country Cottage Needleworks and I am stitching on 16ct Aida Friendship Greene from Fabrics by Steph.

I also pulled Rosamund out and gave her some love.

Oh how I have missed stitching on her. She is so beautiful!

I am loving every stitch on her.

And here is where I stopped with her. I put her away to stitch on the Boardwalk. I’m not sure if she will get worked on again this year, but I am definitely planning on finishing her next year. The pattern is Rosamund from Mirabilia. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Salem from Fiberlicious Yummy Fibers.

So that is some of what I have been up to. I had started making my Christmas Cards about a month ago and I need to get back to that and get them finished. I also want to decorate for Christmas this weekend. Busy, busy time of year. Trying to balance it all and keep up with everything has been an issue for me the last few months, but I am doing what I can, when I can. How about you? What have you been up to? I hope you are getting some stitching in and taking some time for you. Take care and Happy Stitching.

Stitchy Hugs,

ginny

Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Halloween · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Pillows

Well Hello November!

November 1, 2023 My Time Stitching12 Comments

I slowed down and it was the end of October and today is the first of November. The last time I posted was September 1, wow! This may be a long post, or I may have to break it up into pieces. Anyway, grab a drink and settle in. Here is what I have been up to.

Goodbye, October.

Hello November.

So, September was spent getting my house and spare bedroom ready for my Mother-in-law’s visit. She arrived the end of September and spent 3 weeks with us. We had a great time. Busy all the time, lots of shopping, some crafting and just visiting and hanging out. I even taught her to do counted cross stitch. She was just about finished her project by the time she left. We had fun and I was sad to see her go.

Now onto what I have been stitching…where to begin…The Beach Boardwalk. I think I was on the 2nd shop the last time I posted. Since then I have added the Bicycle shop and the Boardwalk Banner.

I have a really hard time photographing this one. The individual photos don’t show the details and the colors look washed out. So this is the best photo I could get. I love how this one is turning out with all of the shops all in a row. They can be stitched individually, too. The patterns are from Country Cottage Needleworks and I am stitching them on 16t Aida Friendship Greene from Fabrics By Steph. This week I received the next shop, Souvenir Shop, so I will have to get back to it soon. Especially since today I saw the next shop is shipping to shops next week.

Next up is the Flying Lesson that I was stitching to put on a sign for a really cool Halloween display. So I finished the stitching in early September, but then it sat on a shelf.

The fear of cutting into my stitching was the reason I put it aside. I even finished a cute little witch on the other half of the fabric.

This pattern is from the Witchy Stitcher. I changed the purple colors from the called for green, mainly to match the colors I stitched the Flying Lesson with. So I waited until 4 days before Halloween to finally get going on finishing the sign. So I gathered all of my materials and was determined to get it done over the weekend.

This is such a cool looking sign for finishing a cross stitch on.

Gluing and staining. Not my favorite.

As you can see in the above photo, I did cut into the fabric, and I finished the stitched piece onto a sticky board with some batting. I had a bit of trouble with the corners but was finally able to get them to look like somewhat pointed corners. I couldn’t find a trim that I wanted in the craft stores, so I twisted a length of black crochet ribbon around a length of purple yarn and glued it around the edge of the piece. Then I glued it onto the sign. I couldn’t wait for it to dry to hang it onto the post.

Here it is, fully finished! It’s not perfect, but I love it! I am not a fan of gluing wood pieces together nor am I a fan of staining. I did learn that I need to be better at cleaning up the excess glue because the stain doesn’t adhere to the glue. But I think I did pretty good for my first time. And here is how I decorated it for Halloween.

I did not permanently attach any of the decorations to the signpost. My idea is to make more signs for different holidays. Maybe not this year, but in the future. The wooden sign is from Chantelle’s 141 and I have heard that she will be offering just the sign portion in the future. She has some awesome wood pieces for cross stitch finishing in her shop. Click on the link above to visit her online shop.

I did not get the witch piece finished for this year. It was also stitched on 16ct Aida Gina from Fabrics By Steph. I wanted to do some kind of flat fold, but just didn’t get to it. Cutting into 1 piece of finished cross stitch was enough for this year, I think 😉 The Flying Lesson pattern is from Silver Creek Samplers and is stitched on 16ct Aida Gina from Fabrics by Steph.

Well, I think I will end this post here. I have lots more to share, so come back to see what I have been up to. For now, I will leave you with what I woke up to this morning. Hello November.

Happy Stitching,

ginny

Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Green House of Oddities · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mystery Stitch A Long · Pillows · Stitch A Long

Hello August

August 1, 2023 My Time Stitching6 Comments

Hello blogging friends and Happy August! I do hope that August will stick around a lot longer than July did. The days just seem to go by faster and faster. I waited until the almost the last day to start my August pillow, Tropical August.

It is a good thing these pillows are pretty quick to stitch.

Everything is coming up PINK! I love it when my nails match my stitching. Nail strips are from Color Street in color Berry Bliss. They scream Summer!

Su cute and full of summer vibes and happy feelings. I will look at this pillow and smile, appreciate all of the days of summer and try to hold onto them just a little bit longer every day. This pillow kit is from Pine Mountain Designs from 2007. I don’t think it is available anymore, but you may be able to find them on the secondary market.

So in my last post I mentioned that I started stitching something new. Here it is.

This is the Greenhouse of Oddities from Lola Crow Cross stitch. I had been watching people on Instagram and flosstube stitching on this one since the start in April. I couldn’t resist any longer and finally purchased the pattern a couple of weeks ago.

I am loving every stitch of this one and wish I had started in on the SAL from the beginning. But that’s ok. I am enjoying it now. And there is nothing like a new highlighter. If you know, you know. And yes, I am a paper pattern girl but this pattern also comes with a Pattern Keeper option. I have not tried Pattern Keeper, so I have no idea how it works. I prefer paper and highlighter 😉

Here is where I am with this one.

I still have a long way to go to get caught up with this one. The next section or “planting” as the designer calls them, is due out this Friday. There are 3 more plantings left and I am hoping to get it all caught up shortly after the last planting. I am stitching this one on 16ct Aida Rugged Rochester from a new dyer, Those Missing Stitches. Beautiful fabrics! Check out her Etsy shop here.

There are so many projects on my radar right now! Yesterday I received the next shop in the Beach Boardwalk series so I will have to get back to that one. A new Halloween SAL with Nicol Sophr is starting mid August on her flosstube channel and I am hoping to participate in that one. There are a few small Christmas charts I would like to work on and today I signed up for a new Mermaid SAL from Bella Filipina Designs and Yummy Fiberlicious Fabrics that is starting in September. I want to stitch all of the things!! And that is why my 11 WIP’s are not getting finished this year. So many things and so little time!

What are you creating with your needle today?

Happy Stitching,

ginny

cross stitch · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mermaids · Mystery Stitch A Long · Pillows · Stitch A Long · Tiny Modernist

Happy Independence Day

July 4, 2023 My Time Stitching5 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! And Happy 4th of July! Have fun, relax and most of all, be safe.

So, it has been a month since I last posted. I have been dealing with a health issue for the past couple of weeks, so I haven’t been wanting to do much except stitch. And stitch I have. I even have a few finishes.

First, I finished the Ocean Pearl SAL by Tiny Modernist.

This was such a sweet stitch. I did make a few changes on this one. The biggest one being that I replaced the Pirate that was supposed to be on the right side with a little mermaid sister with red hair. I also changed the color of the green mermaid because her original color blended in with the fabric. I also added some gold blending filament in the outlines in the tails to give the mermaid tails a little sparkle.

I am not sure how I will fully finish this one. I thought about trying to frame it myself, but that seems like quite the process that I am not ready for. So, I will think on it for a while. Like I said, it is the Ocean Pearl SAL by Tiny Modernist. All of the sections are available now on her Etsy as well as some other online shops. I stitched it on 16ct Aida Cascade from Fabrics By Stephanie and I used all of the called for fancy flosses in addition to the one I substituted in the green mermaid. I can’t recall what I used, but if you want to know, drop me a comment and I will find it out for you.

I also pulled out my July Pillow a few days before the start of July. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Luckily this was a really quick stitch and I finished it the next day.

This is the Celebrate July pillow from Pine Mountain Designs from many years ago. Just 3 more to go and I will be finished this series and can happily display them every month for years to come. The next one I will have to stitch is the August pillow and then September and December.

I also finished my first Patriotic stitch that I mentioned getting ready for in my last post. I participated in Nichol Spohr’s Flossaversary SAL and started the Stars and Stripes Forever from Cherry Hill Stitchery.

I used my new Nurge hoop and I have to say I really love it! Of course I had to make a grime guard for it 🙂

I stitched this on 16ct Aida Everything Else from Mystic Fabrics. Loved how this turned out and it was a pretty quick stitch. Then came the finishing part. I decided to make it into a pillow. It took me part of a day to finally cut into the fabric. Iwasn’t sure how big to make it and after finishing it I wish I had cut closer to the stitching, making it a smaller pillow. But it is finished. My first Patriotic finish.

Not too bad. Live and learn, right? So I think this is a good place to end this post. I have more to share, but that will have to wait until my next post. Hopefully another month will not go by before that happens. I want summer to slow down so we can get out and do some things. With bad weather, being sick, health issues, bad air quality days and lots of much needed rain lately, we haven’t had a chance to do anything. At least I have my stitching, right? What have you been up to lately?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Floss · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted cowl · Knitting · Mermaids · Mystery Stitch A Long · Pillows · Stitch A Long · Tiny Modernist

I Stitched May Away

June 1, 2023 My Time Stitching8 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! Happy June! Let’s hope it doesn’t go by as quickly as May did. Sadly, I only had one post in May. I was sick for about 2 weeks shortly after my last post. And then getting back to normal took a bit. Nothing serious, but it was my first time getting sick in 5 years and I guess my immune system was sluggish. Hubby was sick first with a sinus infection, and maybe shared with me? We had also made the decision to go without masks, so maybe we picked up something while out and about one day. Anyway, I am feeling much better now and thought I would hop on to the blog and share what I have stitched on during the month of May.

First, I did finish the Anchored Waves Cowl by Stephanie Shiman using a beautiful Wonderland Yarn Blossom cake.

Just look at that fade!!! Wonderland Yarns really do have the most awesome yarns that fade so perfect. It really turned out beautifully.

I look forward to wearing this one in the fall and winter. I don’t have anything else on my needles except for my Airplane scarf, which is my travel project. I didn’t get a picture of it for this post. I have been wanting to make some summer tops for myself. I picked a crochet top from Berroco. So cute. But you know how my crocheting goes. If I don’t have pictures and specific instructions, it’s pretty much not going to happen. I couldn’t get gauge and my sides were not straight on my swatch. So, I decided to purchase a book with some summer tops from Berroco, using the yarn I had bought called Isola. The one I wanted to make does not have written instructions. Maybe they all only have charts, so I nixed that one, too. So for now, no knitting. On to cross stitch.

I stitched on the Ocean Pearl SAL from Tiny Modernist Cross Stitching.

The reason I decided to do this SAL is the Mermaid, of course. She is so cute. And on the right side of the treasure chest, the pattern has a pirate there. I wasn’t sure if he would be an important part of the rest of the design, but I decided not to stitch him. Instead, I added another mermaid 🙂

So cute!! I really enjoyed stitching on this one while I was not feeling well. I am using all of the called for Fancy Flosses and stitching her on 16ct Aida Cascade from Fabrics by Stephanie. I received part 3 and started stitching on it last night. This is how far I have gotten.

The snow globe is full of ocean life and I know I will love stitching on it over the next few weeks.

I also stitched on Blossom and I am still loving all of her beautiful colors.

Even with all of the color changes, it has been a wonderful piece to stitch.

I just started stitching the next page, from the middle towards the top. So I guess I am about half way finished. I had to take her outside to see if I could capture her brilliant colors. For the details on this one: She is Blossom from Mirabilia. Fabric is 16ct Aida Busy Izzy from Fabrics by Stephanie. I have put her aside to stitch on the Ocean Pearl piece and a few smaller pieces. I look forward to getting back to her later this month.

A few days ago I pulled out my June pillow kit.

The threads in these kits just come rolled up as shown in the picture above. Since there is only a few colors, I decided to make my own Floss Drops to put the flosses on.

I die cut the tags. Pulled out some stamps and stamped a few summer images. I used some different sized circle punches to hang the flosses on and to add them to a floss ring. It gave me a chance to use my beautiful floss ring I purchased from @themermaidsdaughter6 on Instagram. I love the look of Floss Drops. I love seeing all of the flosses hanging all together. But I will admit, I am not a fan. Seems like a lot of work to me. It’s not to say that I will never use them again for a small project. But I am happy being a bobbin girl. Anyway, I finished the pillow yesterday, in perfect time for displaying in June. Kit is from Pine Mountain Designs. These pillows are from 2007, so I don’t think they are available anymore.

I am so happy to have another monthly pillow off of my project to do list. Only 4 more to go!

So that is all of my stitching for May. I am hoping for a couple of finishes in June, but we shall see how it goes. I have been spending my stitching time watching Flosstubes. I have a few favorites that I love to watch and one of them is Nichol Sophr LLC. She is a quilter, cross stitcher and card maker and I don’t know what else she does, but everything she creates is beautiful. I don’t necessarily stitch what she does, but I love watching her and seeing her projects. I am not a quilter, but I want to buy all the fabrics and make project bags (I probably won’t, but I really want to, LOL) She has wonderful tutorials on her channel and her card making videos are wonderful. Yesterday she started a Patriotic SAL and I decided I need some Patriotic pieces to decorate my house. You can find all of the details on her Facebook page group. If you want to participate and be in her drawings each week, you have to stitch on a Cherry Hill Stitchery Patriotic piece. Or you can stitch on whatever you want and hang out each Wednesday on her Flosstube Live. I haven’t had time to gather things for it in time for the start yesterday, but I did purchase a PDF from Cherry Hill Stitchery last night and pulled some fabric and floss from my stash this morning.

I will be stitching Stars and Stripes. The fabric I chose is 16ct Aida Everything Else from Mystic Fabrics and all of the flosses are DMC. So, yeah, another new start, LOL It’s ok. It’s a small 😉

So that is what I have been up to. How did your May go?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

cross stitch · knitted cowl · Knitting · Mirabilia · Pillows · Tiny Modernist · yarn

When It Rains, I Stitch

May 1, 2023 My Time Stitching6 Comments

Hello my Blogging friends! We’ve had a lot of rain where I am, so what to do when it rains? Stay in and stitch! On Saturday I pulled out my May Pillow kit from Pine Mountain Designs. These pillows are no longer available, but there are other cute pillow designs from Pine Mountain Designs that are so cute.

It didn’t look like it would take me too long to stitch. Could I get it done before May 1st?

So I pulled out all of my supplies and got busy. I stitched on it for quite a bit on Saturday. And then on Sunday I stitched on it some more. And then I ran into some trouble. I was one stitch off-after stitching the flowers and swirls on top and the letters M A and then the Y was going to run into a flower. I could have left it….but I didn’t. I ripped out all that I had put in on Sunday. Now I was doubting if I would get it finished before midnight. But I did! With about 40 minutes to spare.

So cute! I couldn’t wait to pull the pillow out of the April case and put the May inside.

So Happy May!! These pillows look like they would be pretty quick to stitch up, but they do take a bit of time. Both the April and May took me 2 days to stitch up. I have no idea what the fabric count is, but I used 3 strands of the included floss over one. Another pillow off the to do list and 5 more to go!

I also started a knitting project after not having a project on my needles since finishing my 22 Little Clouds shawlette.

This is the March Garden Society Ocean kit. I love everything about this kit. The colors are gorgeous and I really like the Cowl pattern so that is what I will knit with this Blossoms skein of Mary Ann fingering yarn in color Actiniae.

The yarn is so soft. I already can’t wait to get to the next color! And look at that cute but dangerous fish progress marker. So cool.

Finally! Some lighter green is starting to emerge. So exciting! Makes me want to knit more and faster.

I really love how these Blossoms very gradually change colors. It may take a bit to get to the next color, but it is so worth it.

So pretty!!

This is where I left it this morning. Just getting into the peachy/orangy color. So beautiful! I usually knit in the morning with my coffee. You can see my new coffee cup in the last picture. I purchased it from the Heidi Swap Shop. Stop the Blur is the name of her memory planning process. Days, Events, and vacations go by so quickly. Like a blur. Getting those moments documented is important to me. I am so far behind in my memory planning. Almost 8 months. I am hoping to get back to it soon.

Anyway, I also stitched on Blossom. When I posted about her last, I was here:

I stitched and stitched.

She is such an enjoyable stitch. Her colors are so bright and cheerful. Here is where I left her on Friday night.

I just love her! She is from Mirabilia and I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Busy Izzy from Fabrics by Steph. I will have to put her aside for a bit. Last night part 2 of the Ocean Pearl SAL from Tiny Modernist came out, so I will probably stitch on that one for the next couple of weeks. So that is what I have been stitching on. I did get a little bit of haul this week.

I watched a flosstube on Youtube (I do believe it was Sanctum Stitching) where someone was stitching on those cute Halloween pieces from Hands On Designs. I thought they were so cute and I just had to order them. Probably won’t get to them this year, but now they are in my stash. The little heart hoops are so cute. I also ordered some Hexagons and I do have some small round one’s from Stampin’ Up! in my stash. These will be so cute to put a tiny stitch into. I saw them made up on Nichol Sophr’s flosstube. I am not sure what I will be stitching for them, but I will find something. The book I ordered on Amazon. It is full of cross stitch patterns from the Tiny Modernist. Lots of cute things in there. And the thread is for a Halloween project that I was thinking of stitching later this year. It was the only thread I was missing.

So, that is what I have been up to the last few weeks. What are you up to?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Durene Jones · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · organization · Pillows · Tiny Modernist

Busy Crafting and Purging

April 8, 2023 My Time Stitching7 Comments

Hello blogging friends! How are you doing? The sun is shining here today. Still a little nippy outside, but warmer temperatures are coming next week.

This week was a busy week for me. I spent a lot of time going through my crafting stash and doing a bit of reorganizing and getting rid of what I no longer want. I went through all of my Mirabilia and Nora Corbett patterns and made sure what was kitted was put into my Xstitch app as kitted. Even if it was just a bead pack or fabric. I was pretty much caught up on that. But there were a lot of patterns that I needed to add. Serendipitous Jo reminded me of the Inventory part of the app. There were some items already in the inventory section, so I have used it in the past. I think the reason I didn’t continue using it was because you can’t put a photo of the pattern in that section. But I guess when I go to stitch that pattern, I can move it to kitted and then add a photo. Almost none of my Nora Corbett patterns were in the app unless they were kitted. I added all of the Nora’s and a few Miras; there are a lot. I have been collecting them since the mid 90’s. They have their own storage trunk!

I still have a whole filing cabinet of patterns to go through maybe this week. I also went through a closet that had 2 bins of yarn in it. I will probably never use that yarn, so I donated all of it to a local senior center. The Activities Director was quite pleased as she said that a lot of the women don’t get to get out and shop for yarn. I am happy that it will bring joy to the women there. I am really trying hard to let go of the things that I know I will not use or no longer want. I guess this is my Spring-cleaning phase. Anyway, enough of that. Now on to the crafting.

I pulled out the April pillow to get it started. Good thing, too, because it is more of an Easter themed pillow.

I had forgotten how large the holes in the canvas are. Three strands don’t really give enough coverage, but that’s ok. It is what the kit came with so that is what I am going with.

It only took me about 2 1/2 days to get the stitching done on this one. When I finished, I noticed this:

I tucked the threads in and did a little stitching on the back by hand. Hopefully it holds up. I didn’t see this when I started the pillow, so maybe I pulled the piece too tight in the hoop. I do love a tight as a drum fabric. So, note to self; do not pull the next pillow to tightly in the hoop.

I think it turned out pretty cute and it is finished in time for Easter too. This is an old kit from Pine Mountain Designs. Another pillow finished, and 6 more to go.

I also stitched a bit on the Ocean Pearl SAL from Tiny Modernist.

I really like working on this piece. Very relaxing. I am stitching on 16ct Aida Cascade from Fabrics By Stephanie. And I thought this one was going to be my last new start for a while. You know, I had planned on getting back to my WIP’s. But just look at what I saw while browsing social media the other day!!!

Oh my gosh you guys! I saw this posted in the Durene Jones Cross Stitch group by Heather Hopkins. I hope that she does not mind me posting this picture here. But I think this is the cutest pattern and the best finish ever! I absolutely fell in love with this pattern and this finish! It is not usually my style of pattern, but I just gushed at the sight of this. So much so that I immediately went to Durene Jones’ Etsy shop and purchased the pattern.

It is the Haberdashery Shop, and it is so adorable. I just want to start it right now! I want to stitch this on a soft aida. I don’t know why. It just came into my mind that it should be stitched on soft aida. So, I will look through my stash and see what I can find. It is a full coverage piece, so the color really shouldn’t matter. Probably something light though. I will let you know what I find and if I caved and started it 😉

Well, that is what I have been up to. For now, it’s time to do a little cleaning up in my craft room. What have you been up to lately?

Happy Stitching,

ginny

Craft projects · cross stitch · Fabric · Pillows

My Spring FFO

April 4, 2023 My Time Stitching12 Comments

Hello blogging friends! It is a dreary day here today. The perfect day to be inside making a blog post.

So when I last posted about my Spring Basket piece, I was almost finished stitching it. I just had about half of the border left. Well, I did finish all the stitching and it turned out so cute.

Please excuse the wrinkles. I just love the colors in this piece. The pinks and corals are so pretty and the white really does pop on the Dirty Aida. So now that it is finished, my plan was to turn it into a pillow.

I had so much anxiety about cutting into this fabric. I pressed it and ironed on some interfacing and walked away. And walked away many times. But then I did it! I cut it out! Great! On to the sewing.

I was so nervous throughout this whole process. I didn’t get any pictures of the sewn piece and turning it outside right and using a chopstick to gently push out the corners. I was so afraid of poking a hole through my aida that my corners on the finished pillow are not pointy at all. And then I stuffed the pillow. I have stuffed things before, so I know how to pull apart the polyfil and push it into the object. I had no idea how much I needed to stuff it! I second guessed every step of this process including stuffing! I stuffed and unstuffed until I thought it was right. Then I stuffed in some more and thought that was too much. So I pulled some out. And then I pulled even more out. Then I Added a little more back in. I Pushed polyfil into each of the corners and added more polyfil. Then it seemed like the gap in the opening wouldn’t close nicley, so I pulled out some of the stuffing. Finally decided it was perfect and I sewed the opening closed. And it was finished.

My first pillow finish. It is not perfect. As I said, my corners could have pushed out a bit more and it definitely needs more polyfil, but it is what it is and I am happy with it. I definitely want to give a shoutout to @clevergirldesignsco. In a panic before I could cut into the fabric, I messaged her for advice and she was so helpful and encouraging. And very patient with me with all of my questions. So now that I have my first cross stitch pillow done, it should be easier the next time, right? At least I should feel a little more comfortable cutting the fabric? We’ll see. Here is how I have my cute little pillow displayed in plenty of time for Easter.

The details: Spring Basket by Crocette a gogo’. Stitched on 16ct Dirty Aida and fully finished by me, Ginny 😉

So that is what I have been up to. Did you make a special project for Easter or Spring?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

cross stitch · Give-away · Pillows · yarn

Stitch Progress and Day 5 Blogaversary Celebration

March 28, 2023March 28, 2023 My Time Stitching11 Comments

Hello blogging friends. This post will be pretty short as I am pressed for time. But I did want to hop on with my Day #5 giveaway. First a peek at my Spring Basket progress.

Oh this is looking so sweet! I am almost finished with the rabbit on the right and then I will start the border. I just love this little stitch! Do you recognize the pillow in the background? I purchased all of the month’s pillows from the Pine Mountain series back in 2007 I believe. I talked about finishing the rest of the pillows in an old blog post. Well, they all were somehow tucked away in a bag that I recently found. I still have 6 or 7 pillows to finish. So now that I have found them again, I will have to work on getting them all finished. Of course April-August for sure have not been stitched. Fingers crossed I can get the April one finished for display sometime in April.

Now onto the giveaway. You know I love hand dyed yarn. This yarn is from a local to me dyer. She makes the most amazing self striping sock yarns! I have no idea how to knit socks, but it may be on my bucket list 😉 I thought this skein would make a very cool pair of socks. Or anything else you would want to make with it. It is “400 yards of self striping Goodness”. Put the code Sock Yarn in your comment if you would like a chance to win this. I will draw winners on March 31, 2023 along with the drawings for the last 4 days of giveaways.

That is all I have for today! I hope you are doing something fun like stitching.

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

cross stitch · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Pillows

Where Did April Go?

May 10, 2019 My Time Stitching29 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! April really got away from me. I didn’t post anything! And here it is almost mid May. I don’t have much to show in the way of crafting. April kept us busy with the basement issue. I am happy to say that the construction part is done, aside from a couple of minor issues. Painting is scheduled for near the end of the month and hopefully carpet will follow. While the actual process wasn’t too bad (we’ll be cleaning concrete dust from everything for months to come) the work we had to do before was the worst. Packing and moving everything out. And we will have to unpack it all and move it back soon. We thought about painting and recarpeting the whole house, but that is going to have to be another time. We live in a quad level house and there isn’t much space for moving furniture out of rooms, so I am not ready to do all that again.

So, what have I been up to? A lot of scrapbooking while the workers were here. Evenings were spent knitting or cross stitching. Last week I finished the “Waiting For Spring” shawl from Woolenberry, that I started in February. And today I took it off of the blocking mats.

Shawl on the blocking mats. It is quite the process trying to get it all evened out and as close to dimensions as possible.

Love how the pattern looks all stretched out.

I think it came out so beautiful! Love the way this yarn drapes and it is so soft.

So pretty!

It will probably have to wait until Fall to be worn. Or maybe some chilly evening. I do love how it turned out. Again, the pattern is Waiting for Spring by Woolenberry and is available on Ravelry in her 2019 Shawl Club. Next week the Summer Shawl will come out, and I am thrilled to have the Spring one finished before the Summer one comes out. The yarn I used is AJHC Wools Basic Sock in Silenus colorway.

I have also been working on the Sun Flower pillow. It is slow going, with lots of confetti stitching, but I am determined to get it done this year 😉

So that is what I have been spending my time doing. What are you up to these days?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: