Crafty Stuff

October 28, 2015 My Time Stitching27 Comments

Yesterday I told you I would post my purchase from my weekend get-away. So here goes:

These fun things ended up in my bag from Stitches N Things. The newest Mirabilis pattern, Twin Mermaids and the bead pack. No plans to start this right away, but just had to have it. It’s 2 mermaids! And some threads and a horn book for an upcoming project.

This past weekend hubby and I spent the weekend in Frankenmuth, MI for our anniversary and he spoiled me wonderfully. We stopped at one of my favorite shops there. Rapunzel’s Yarn and Boutique, where I picked up this:

I didn’t get a picture of the yarn hank before I tore it all apart. I forgot to have them wind it for me, so ended up spending the whole trip home trying to detangle it. But as you can see, I started knitting a scarf already. The yarn is so awesome; lots of fun fibers and textures all in one skein! The yarn is Alp Premier from Feza. It was quite an expensive hank, but like I said, hubby spoiled me. So I can’t let this yarn just sit around. I will work on it in between everything else. And if you click on the picture, you will see those cool looking knitting needles I picked up. I had planned on starting this on the car ride home, and needed a pair of needles. These are from Knit Picks. Very pretty, made of wood, with very sharp points. They are actually very nice to knit with. I am glad I picked them up.

I am also still crocheting on my Spice of Life blanket. I have 4 more rows to go before I start the border.

This blanket has been keeping me warm the last couple of days while I crochet on it. I am really liking it and am hoping the border will not give me any problems so I can get it finished.

We stopped at a bead shop while in Frankenmuth. Boy was I overwhelmed! I haven’t taken up beading yet. Not sure I ever will, but I like looking at all the beautiful beads and charms. Bead Haven was the largest bead shop I had ever been in and if I were going to shop that day for a project, I wouldn’t have known where to begin. Hubby found a rack in a corner of the store that had some hand made knitted items and he purchased this beautiful hat for me.

I love it! It’s a pinky mauve color and fits me perfectly! I can’t wait for a little bit cooler weather so I can wear it. Someone did a wonderful job knitting it and lining and adding beads and fibers to the sweet knitted flower.

Dear husband bought me this awesome bag to carry around while shopping for the weekend.

It is a very nice bag and held all the little things we picked up over the weekend. Right now it is holding my scarf project and it’s perfect.

And for my most favorite purchase of the weekend… Hubby bought me this as an anniversary present from a wonderful shop called The Enchanted Garden.

She is a beauty and I love her! She is 26″ tall and gorgeous! So I had a wonderful weekend and was spoiled to the max. So now I am off to crochet a bit and see if I can get those last few rows finished.

What are you crafting on today?

cross stitch · Mermaids · Nora Corbett

Mermaid Azure and the Mermaid Trio

October 27, 2015 My Time Stitching20 Comments

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

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

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

October 22, 2015October 22, 2015 My Time Stitching25 Comments

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!

Afghans · Crochet · cross stitch · Mermaids

Stitching My Little Heart Out

October 21, 2015October 21, 2015 My Time Stitching25 Comments

Yes, I have been stitching and stitching on my crocheted blanket and my Mermaid Trio and I am making great progress. First, here is my Spice of Life blanket:

It’s getting quite long and keeps me nice and warm while I am crocheting on it. I have about 20 rows to complete on section 5 and then I can start the border which was released yesterday. So I am not too far behind.

I have learned so much stitching on this blanket and have felt so close to my Step Mom who taught me to crochet when I was 12 years old. She taught me to do the basic stitches and the ripple afghan. I never really learned how to read a pattern or do complicated stitches. So I am doing this in honor of her. She passed away 4 years ago and I miss her dearly. The Spice of Life blanket reminds me of the “scrapghans” she would make from her left over yarns. If you would like to create this beautiful blanket, you can get the pattern at Sandra’s Cherry Heart Blog here. Sandra did a wonderful job.

I have also been stitching on Mermaid Trio. Hubby says if I get it finished by Friday, we can take it in to be framed on our way out of town on Saturday. I finished beading Mermaid Verde last week and she turned out so sweet!

I love how she turned out. Now I am working on beading Coral Charms and she has so many beads! I am hoping to finish her today so that I can get started on the last mermaid and get her finished by Friday night. I will keep you posted on my progress. For those that are not familiar with the patterns, they are La Petite Mermaids by Nora Corbett. I am stitching them on 16ct Aida Summer Showers by Sunny Dyes fabrics.

That is my update for today. What is on your needles today?

Afghans · cross stitch · Mermaids

Crocheting Again

September 27, 2015September 27, 2015 My Time Stitching12 Comments

In my last post I mentioned working on the baby blanket that wasn’t going so well. You’ll be happy to hear that I finished it!

I am actually pretty pleased at how it turned out, even with all the mistakes. The picot stitches were new to me. I really like the way they made the border lacey. Before finishing this blanket, I decided to participate in a Crochet A Long that I found on Cherry Heart’s blog. It is called the Spice of Life blanket and I immediately fell in love with the vintage look of it and all the different stitches that I will be learning 😉

If you want more information on this amazing blanket, you can click the button above. The first pattern section was just released this past Tuesday (September 22, 2015) so there is still time to catch up. I didn’t order my yarn until Sunday, and so far I have only received a partial shipment. I am using Stylecraft Special DK yarn that I ordered from Love Knitting. A lot of people are using this yarn, hence the backorder. But the rest of the yarn did ship the day after my original shipment, so hopefully it will be in this week so that I can continue. Yes, I did start already! Here are the colors I have received so far:

I made my swatch.

Not perfect, but will be ok for a blanket. Had to go down a hook size. And here is my start:

A lot of the gals were posting their starts rolled up like this, so I thought I would, too :). I am very pleased with my start. So far my edges are straight and I have the correct amount of stitches after 6 rows. I learned about those neat little holders (you can see a little of them in my picture, the greenish things poking out of the top) and they really helped me out a lot. I placed one at every 25 stitches on my chain and into the end stitch. I did that every row and I didn’t make any mistakes! So proud of myself. My next color is supposed to be a turquoise, which I don’t have yet. So while I wait, I will be working on cross stitching Mermaid Azure. Here is how she looks after last night:

She is taking me longer than Coral, but I had a vacation and all this crocheting. But I am loving stitching on here. She will be done in no time, I am sure.

So what are you spending your time on these days?

Crochet · cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mermaids · Mirabilia

Life is Changing…Everyday

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 My Time Stitching29 Comments

Hi! I know, it’s been a while. As my title says, Life is changing. I am changing and just doing things differently. Nothing major, but there just comes a time, or times, when I just have to change it up a bit. I won’t bore you with details, but all is good. And I have been stitching. Always stitching. That is one wonderful constant in my life. I can’t imagine my life without stitching. So here is what I have been working on. First up, The Raven Queen, by Mirabilia.

This is where I left her a few weeks ago. From the middle down is finished and now I am working my way up to her sweet face. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Twixt N Tween from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. Love the Queen on this fabric. I have put her away, for another new project; yes, another project. I can’t help it! I saw someone stitching 3 little mermaids on one piece of fabric and I just loved it! So here is my first mermaid:

It is Nora Corbett’s Coral Charms. I stitched her in 12 days. Just finished her last night, minus the beads which I will add when I finish stitching the other 2 mermaids. Mermaid Azure will be stitched on the left and Mermaid Verde will be on the right. I am stitching them on 16ct Aida Summer Showers from Sunny Dyes. Teri, over at Sunny Dyes, switched my fabric up a bit from her normal Summer Showers. She made it more blue for water and since 16ct Aida doesn’t come in opal, she added glitter and big glitter rain drops (or water bubbles in my case) and it shimmers and sparkles just perfectly! Sorry I couldn’t capture the sparkle in my photo, but trust me, it is sparkly! I love the idea of the mermaid trio and the Summer Showers fabric so much, that I ordered another piece so that I can do the other 3 La Petite mermaids to match this piece.

The last project I have to share is a crochet project I have been working on and I must say, it is a mess 😦

I only have 5 more rows to go on this Citrus Stripe Blanket. I will finish it, but I am not pleased with it. It seems that I still have an issue with turning and starting in the correct stitch. The first row of each color is a stitch that leaves big holes. I am still not sure I like them. I keep having visions of a baby getting their little toes stuck in them. Anyway, when I started, there were 25 of those holes across. After the first yellow stripe, somehow I did something wrong and only have 24 holes. Where I have stopped, I only have 22 or 23. So clearly, my crochet skills are not getting any better. And if I were to do another one of these (not saying I will, but I have lots of yarn left) I would not use the Taupe yarn again. The pattern called for Bernat Baby sport 300 grams and I barely used any! And the yarn is quite scratchy compared to all the other Knit Picks yarns that I used. They are so soft. I would definitely get another color in that yarn to replace the Taupe. I also have the border to do. We shall see how that goes.

So, that is what I have been spending my time stitching on. What are you stitching lately?

Crochet · cross stitch · Mermaids · Mirabilia · Passione Ricamo SAL · Uncategorized

Still Here and Still Stitching

August 9, 2015August 9, 2015 My Time Stitching18 Comments

So in between getting ready for and having a garage sale, going on vacation with my wonderful hubby and getting back to the real world, I have been stitching. In fact, I had a finish!

Yep, I finished her. This picture really doesn’t do her justice. She is beautiful and she sparkles when the light hits her just right. I absolutely love her and I am very proud of myself for keeping up with this one until the very end. I stitched her on 16ct Aida Nederland Sea from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. The pattern is “Under the Moonlight” SAL. If you would like to stitch this beauty up, you can purchase it at www.passionericamo.eu

I have also made some progress on my crochet baby blanket. Not sure I am liking how the pattern connects the rows. The holes seem a bit large. I keep imagining a baby’s foot pushing right through, LOL. I will continue on, though. Here it is so far.

It is nice to work on while in the car or when I have a few minutes here and there. And it is getting me reacquainted with crocheting.

I have also made great progress on Mirabilia’s Raven Queen.

She really is a wonderful stitch. I am enjoying every stitch of her. So relaxing. But I can’t wait to see her sweet face appear.

So that is what I have been spending my time stitching on. What have you been working on lately?

Crochet · cross stitch · Mermaids · Mirabilia · Queen

Cross Stitching, Beading and Crocheting, Oh My!

July 1, 2015July 1, 2015 My Time Stitching33 Comments

I have forced myself to put down Mirabilia‘s Raven Queen to get back to beading on mermaid. This is how she looked last night after 10 evenings of stitching:

I know it’s not much, but it is a pretty good start. I have enjoyed stitching on her and will get back to her real soon. Right now I am getting to the beading on PR Under the Moonlight. Here is what I did last night:

There are going to be a lot of beads on this project! I managed to make them fit along the top border by omitting a few and and then taking my needle through the entire length to try to get them as straight as I could. The corners were easy and look very cool.

I hope to get a lot of beads stitched on tonight. Over the weekend I started another project. I know, like I really need another project. But it’s not a cross stitch project. It’s a crochet project 🙂

I have been wanting to do a crochet project for quite some time now. After seeing the Citrus Stripe Blanket on Not Your Average Crochet, I knew it was time to get started. My Step-Mom taught me to crochet when I was 12. And I was pretty good at making ripple afghans and over the years, a lot of Bed dolls. But I wanted to get that hook out and do something current and have a “quick, go-to project, that can go anywhere”. The only problem is, I can’t remember a lot of how to connect rows and turning is the biggest problem for me. So, I started with the peach stripe, and decided to sign up for a crochet class. I go next week at a local yarn shop. By then the other colors of yarn that I ordered should be in and I can continue on with this baby blanket.

So, that is all of my stitchings for this week. What are you stitching on?

Hand Dyed Fabrics

Updated Fabric Stash

June 24, 2015June 24, 2015 My Time Stitching25 Comments

I promised someone that I would do an updated post of my hand dyed fabric stash. So Diya, this is especially for you 🙂

Here are all of my beauties from Hand Dyed Fabrics By Stephanie. She is my favorite dyer and I love collecting her FOTM every month. Several of her fabrics are on scroll frames being stitched on. They are all so beautiful.

This is a smaller pile of prettiest. There are fabrics here from Polstitches, Picture This Plus, Sunny Dyes Fabrics and Under The Sea Fabrics. All are also very pretty.

Seeing the fabrics standing was a much better way of organizing them, rather than having them stacked, which is how I had them before I pulled them out to do this post. So I have put them back into my trunk so that I can see them all at a glance. How pretty! And now it will be much easier to see what I have when looking for a fabric for a design 🙂

This is my biggest stash bin. These are all from Silkweaver fabrics. Some are smaller pieces, but it is nice to have a piece in Aida so I can see how it takes the dye. Most dyers don’t show their dyed fabrics on Aida, which is what I like to use.

So there you have it. I guess you could say that I have a bit of a fabric hoarding problem 😉 Oh well. I could do worse things. Fabric and color make me happy. What is in your favorite stash?

Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Mermaids · Mirabilia

So Much Stitching in My Head!

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015 My Time Stitching27 Comments

I know, weird title. But it’s true. I have so many projects I want to do and in my head I can see myself stitching on all of them. But in reality I can only stitch on one project at a time. So, what have I been stitching on? Well, I finished the last section of Under The Moonlight SAL by Passione RicamoRicamo and have started the beading.

It is a very small bead start as there are a lot of beads on this project. I love beading and couldn’t wait to get to this point, but then I was distracted! By this:

Yep! Miss Nora did again. Another gorgeous design! This one is The Raven Queen by Mirabilia and was released on June 15. I ordered her and all her pretties right away from Stitches N Things and picked her up on Saturday! I played in the Viewer on Monday and Tuesday, so I already had my fabric picked out from my stash. I decided on Twixt N Tween 16ct Aida from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanhie Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. Here is my layover:

I LOVE it! I think she will look fabulous! Here is my floss toss:

I was so excited to get her and all her goodies, that I started her on Saturday night. Here is my progress after last night:

Not much, but a start. I will stitch on her for a few days and then force myself to put her down and work on beading the mermaid. I also picked up this sweet pattern by Hinzeit; She Sells Sea Shells.

It came with a little package of real seashells and a little blue star fish, but somehow the bag was open and the embellishment package fell out at the cross stitch store. LouAnn knew it must have been mine, so she called to let me know she has it for me and I will pick it up when I go back to pick up the little Nimue fairy framing, which has to be sent back. There was a little piece of plastic behind the glass at the bottom of the framing. It looks like it might be a broken piece of a spacer. So I will show pictures of her when I pick her up next time.

So… what projects are calling your name these days?

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