Category: Pillows

I Stitched May Away
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

My Time Stitching3 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

When It Rains, I Stitch
cross stitch · knitted cowl · Knitting · Mirabilia · Pillows · Tiny Modernist · yarn

When It Rains, I Stitch

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

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

Busy Crafting and Purging

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

My Spring FFO
Craft projects · cross stitch · Fabric · Pillows

My Spring FFO

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

Stitch Progress and Day 5 Blogaversary Celebration
cross stitch · Give-away · Pillows · yarn

Stitch Progress and Day 5 Blogaversary Celebration

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

Where Did April Go?
cross stitch · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Pillows

Where Did April Go?

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.

Waiting for spring shawl start

Waiting for Spring progress

Waiting for Spring shawl off the needles

shawl blocking

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

wating for spring shawl blocking

Love how the pattern looks all stretched out.

waiting for spring shawl 1

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

waiting for spring shawl 2

So pretty!

Waiting for spring shawl 3

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 😉

Sunflower Pillow progress

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

 

 

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:)

Hubby's stitching · Mermaids · Pillows · Uncategorized

Welcome 2013!

My Time Stitching6 Comments

I welcomed in 2013 by starting Emerald Mermaid at the stroke of midnight (after kissing hubby).  Unfortunately I haven’t added very many stitches since.  Here is my start:

Emerald Mermaid start

Not much of a start, but she is on my list to finish this year.  More about my list in a bit. My hubby did have a finish already this year!  He finished his 1st cross stitch project the other night and it turned out awesome!

Banders finished bookmark

He has already picked out the pattern for his next one.  I think he may be liking this??  He wants to make more bookmarks and give them to the elementary school. What a sweetie.

I have put my January pillow in my rocking chair.  Cute little snowmen  on this one:

January pillowI never did get to the December pillow.  I should add that to my list of things to stitch. But I think I am good for the next few months!  I know that I have February and March completed.

Now on to my list.  Here is a list of cross stitch projects that I would like to do this year.  I know that it may be a little outrageous and unobtainable.  But that’s ok.  These are the things that I “would like to stitch” this year.   Her is my list:

1.  Autumn Seasonal Snowman (need to finish)

2.  Angel of Grace (need to finish)

3.  Butterfly Table Topper (need to finish)

4. Mirabilia’s  Emerald Mermaid

5. Mirabilia’s  Roses of Provence

6.  Nora Corbett’s  letters J O Y

7.  Stoney Creek Seasons Banner:  Summer

8.  Heaven and Earth’s Gossamer Princess bookmark (need to finish)

9.  Pixie afghan

10.  Reindeer afghan

11.  Nora Corbett’s Winter Fairy

12.  Joan Elliott Round Robin

13.  Marbek Nativity

14.  A Joan Elliott Flower Fairy

15.  Pillows of the month (April, May, June, July, August, September and December)

So that is my list.  I hope to do some smaller projects in between these larger ones.  And if I see any new patterns during the year that I just have to have, I may add them to the list also.  Because you know that designers are always coming out with new things that I just can’t live without.  So, I will keep you posted on my progress during the year.  What is on your stitching list this year?

Pillows

November Pillow

My Time Stitching6 Comments

I stitched my November Pillow over the weekend.  It turned out pretty cute and was a pretty quick  stitch.

I am so proud of myself for stitching this up before picking up August Fairy again.  If I can get the December pillow stitched before December, I will really be doing great.  I already have Jan., Feb., and March stitched.  I will show those each month when I pull them out.   Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to.

Fairies · Pillows

October 2nd and not too late and a Fairy update

My Time Stitching14 Comments

Since my kids are not so little anymore, I kind of procrastinate when it comes to decorating or getting into the season.  Today is just October 2nd and I am on the ball!  I already have my fall wreath on the front door and yesterday I added this little stitched item to my living room:

I purchased all 12 of these cute “All Tied Up” pillow shams from Pine Mountain Designs back in 2007 and have only completed January, February, March, and October.  I would like to finish all of them this year so that I can put them out each month next year.  Then I think I will remember to put them out the first of every month instead of remembering mid-month.  The fabrics on these shams are so adorable.  Unlike any fabrics I see in Joannes.

I received my latest Round Robin piece in the mail last week and started on it over the weekend.  So August Fairy has been put aside for the time being, but here is my progress on her so far:

I am at the lower portion of her dress and she is coming along nicely.  I will pick her back up after I finish the block on Johanna’s RR which should not take too long as I have already stitched quite a bit this weekend.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to.  Happy Stitching!