Fairies · snowmen

My First Finish For 2015!


I did it!  I finally finished Autumn Snowman on January 19.  Here he is:

Autumn Snowman finishI still have to turn him into a bellpull, but for now, the stitching is finished and I am one happy camper!  The other night I picked up this which I had started in December for hubby.  I had only put a couple of stitches in until this week:

Nimue FairyIt is Fairy Dust by Nimue and hubby loved it when he saw it in a Local needlework shop.  I am stitching it on a Silkweaver Solo fabric, in 16ct Aida.  It shouldn’t take me too long to stitch, but I am still keeping up with the PR SAL and section 8 arrived in my email box yesterday.  I will show progress on that when I am finished stitching.  Come back tomorrow to see all of my Birthday mail that arrived in the last few days.  Lots of fun things!

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

I Am Making Stitchy Progress, and Adding More!


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

SAL #4 section 7 completed

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

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

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

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

Snow Friends afghan project

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

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

Mirabilia · snowmen

New Year Stitching


Happy New Year!  I hope your New Year is off to a great start.  This year I decided not to do a new project start on New Years Day, but rather focus on getting some finishes in.  So, I worked on Mirabilia’s Siren and the Shipwreck up until December 31, 2014 and here is how I left her:

Siren progress 2

She has a body and skin and  I couldn’t resist doing a little stitching on the chandelier.  I will get back to her soon, as she is such a sweet stitch! On January 1st, I picked up Autumn Snowman.  I can’t remember if I started him in 2010 or 2011.  He is a pattern in the September 2010 Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine.  He is the third in a series and I am hoping some day to add the Winter snowman, too. I am stitching him on 14 ct white Aida and he is going so slow!

Autumn Snowman progressWhen I picked him up and started stitching, I noticed that the white thread doesn’t match.  I had pulled all of his threads for other projects, so I had to start with new threads and the white doesn’t match the previous white.  I have not had that happen before.  Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but the bottom of him is more white than the rest of him.  And it is going to have to stay that way as I am not ripping it out.  The white is the most boring part of this guy!  It doesn’t look like it in the picture, but he is about 14″ long, so there is a lot of white that would have to be pulled out.  I have decided to live with it 🙂 It will be good to get this guy done and off of my WIP list.

So what project are you trying to get off your WIP list?

snowmen · Stitched Ornaments

Snow Love, So Sweet!


First finished ornament

If you read my post yesterday, you saw that I was working on creating my first ornament (other than a pillow ornament).  Well this is the finished product.  I am very pleased with how it turned out and after all the stressing I did about cutting up the stitched piece, it wasn’t so bad after all.  The pattern is “Snow Love” by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I stitched it on 16ct Dirty Aida and hand painted the snow with acrylic paint.  I used The Twisted Stitcher tutorial for making a flat ornament and the instructions were quite easy to follow.  I did have a bit of a problem creating the hanger as the cord I purchased was a little too thick to tie into a knot.  That is the reason for my ribbon bow on the top of the hanger. So next time I will try to create a cord from DMC floss.  Have never done that before.  But I am very happy with my first ornament and  I can definitely see me making more in the future.  And this ornament can hang out all winter and into Valentine’s Day 🙂  It’s such a sweet pattern.

I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the day with your family and friends as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Love and hugs to all!

Cross Stitch Patterns · Mermaids · snowmen

Stitchy Progress, Ornament Attempt And A Real Finish!


Whew!  Lots of stitching going on!  First, my attempt at an ornament.  I stitched Country Cottage Needleworks “Snow Love” about a month ago, but have been putting off turning it into an ornament.  I was so afraid I was totally going to ruin it.  And while it is not done yet, it is going ok so far.  Here are some photos:

Snow LoveSo here is the finished stitching.  And today I began the process of turning it into an ornament.  If all goes as planned, I will make more for next year.

Snow love ornamentI think it is turning out pretty well!  Right now the front is being glued to the back and is sitting under a stack of encyclopedia’s.  The pattern called for 32ct Petit Point Linen in Raw/white.  That fabric already has the snow dots on it.  But since I am not a fan of 32ct, I stitched mine on 16ct Dirty Aida and then painted with snow with acrylic paint.  Turned out pretty sweet if I must say so myself 😉  Once the pieces are dry, I will add some cording to finish it off.  I will post another photo of the finished product when it is completely done, hopefully later today or tomorrow.

Now onto my stitchy progress on Siren and the Shipwreck:

Siren progressThis mermaid has been a joy to stitch.  I love the colors and I am hoping for a finish this year???  Probably a lot of wishful thinking, but it’s a goal.

And lastly, my final finish on Angel of Grace:

Angel of Grace finished

I finished stitching this back in January, and didn’t get it fully finished to give to my Mother for her birthday this summer.  So I finished it this week, sewing the rod pocket, finishing the bottom into a point and adding the tassel.  I think my Mom is going to love it as she loves Angels.

So that’s it for me today.  Do you have a finish or are close to a finish for this year?

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?

snowmen

Autumn Time Snowman


Good morning.  I am getting ready to go to the Great Lakes Mega Meet Scrapbook Convention and wanted to share my latest stitching project.

This one has been in my rotation for over a year now and I had to give him some love last night.  He is Autumn Time Snowman and was featured in the September 2010 issue of Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine.  This is for a friend who loves snowmen and I hope to get it done for Christmas this year since I missed it last year.  I would also like to stitch the other 3 seasons in this series as they are so cute.  I am about 1/2 done with this one.  Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to.  Have a great day!