And whatever else I have been up to…
It’s been a while since I posted my nails. Here is my manicure from yesterday:
It’s Blue My Mind from OPI with Orly glitter on top. Don’t know the name of the glitter, but it looks gold in the bottle, but silver on the polish. It’s awesome. I didn’t think Blue would be a color for me, but I LOVE it. Thank you Nickie at La Bella Salon, for knowing my nails so well 🙂
I was reminded of this quilt by a stitchy friend last week:
I made this quilt back in 1996 when I was pregnant with my youngest son. I had found a few Disney cross stitch patterns, but not enough to make the quilt. So I turned to coloring books, magazine pictures and book covers to make my own patterns. I used a product called Graph X to overlay a grid onto my picture and copied it. Here is some of my workings out on paper.
It’s neat to look back and see what I did way back then, before all of the technology of today. I’m not sure I would put so much work into a project today, but I wanted a quilt to match the mint green pattern of a Disney bedroom set that was being phased out at the time. I think I was able to get everything except a quilt, so I made my own. I was reminded of this quilt last week when a sweet stitchy friend sent me a graphed out pattern of Agnes, from Despicable Me. I asked how she did it and she told me Pic 2 Pat. It is a website that will turn just about any picture into a cross stitch pattern, complete with color legend. AWESOME!!! I have been looking for Princess Tiana cross stitch kits and have been unsuccessful, so this is my next best thing. Now to find the perfect pictured of Princess Tiana to put into an afghan. Here are some close-ups of a couple of the patterns I designed from a coloring book picture, magazine picture, or book cover.
This was a very loved quilt by my youngest and has been patched in a few places and the fabric is wearing thin on the back. But it is a nice keepsake for him when he has his own children some day. If you have stitched a pattern from Pic 2 Pat, let me know how you liked it.
I finished section 2 of the Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL yesterday.
I am saving the beading until last and section 2 has lots of beads. So it doesn’t look like I have added much. But since I use a scroll frame and have to have it drum tight to stitch, I don’t want to roll over my beads over the next 4 or more months. There will be a lot of beads to add at the end, but it will be worth it.
See my lovely new scroll rod cover at the top? They were gifted to me by my sweet, stitchy friend, Karen. Very mermaidish in color and perfect for my really big table top scroll frame. Now I have a set of covers for all my different sized scroll frames. Thank you so much, Karen. I will think of you every time I stitch 🙂
As promised, I also have a progress photo of Siren. Here she is as of this morning.
She really is a nice relaxing stitch. On 16ct Aida, with no magnifier and the colors are lovely! I wish I could stitch on her 24/7 until she is finished. That is what I have been up to over the last few days. Thanks for visiting 🙂
I’ve been pretty busy lately with all sorts of things. Let me show you what I have been up to.
Up first is a pidge scarf I finished for Sue. I used Bamboo yarn for the first time and I have to say that I LOVE this yarn! It is so soft and silky and I think this scarf will be really warm. I had a little trouble keeping a consistent tension with the yarn being so slippery, but I think it turned out well. And Sue loves it.
Next up is Emmy. I picked her up from the framer yesterday and she is just so pretty and sparkly.
I had her framed just about identical to Mediterranean. My plan is to hang them on each side of Enchanted mermaid. I will be sure to post pictures when they are hung.
I also picked up my Fairy Round Robin from the framer. In case you don’t know, I had it framed at a frame shop a couple of months ago and the framer did a horrible job. I sent it back only to get it back just as bad if not worse. So I took it in to Juanita, my awesome framer for the last 18 years or so, and she fixed it beautifully. No wrinkles, no wavy lines and my beads are not pressed against the glass. It looks marvelous! You can see the bad frame job here. Quite a difference between someone who basically used sticky tape and someone who knows what they are doing. I will never stray from Juanita again.
Thank you, thank you, Juanita. You are amazing! Now to find the perfect place to hang this beauty. While at Stitches N Things picking up my framings yesterday, I had a “bag in the back”. Things that I have ordered or were back-ordered and came in. I always seem to have “a bag” there and it’s always fun to see what I have collected. Here is what was in my bag today:
The new note cards with Nora Corbett’s drawings. The pack on the left is for Johanna. Stitches N Things was giving away an autographed card with purchase. I am so geeked to get one. On the bottom left is the Cauldron fabric for my Halloween project and the button pack is below it. In the middle is Persephone with the last pack of beads that I need for her and one of the waterlilies. I can’t wait to start her some day. She is gorgeous! And on the right is the next Santa’s village with JABCO button and specialty thread for it. That is another project that I need to start one of these days.
As promised, here is a picture of the bottom portion of the Under The Sea Fabric from Sunny Dyes which I am stitching Siren and the Shipwreck on:
It’s hand painted and to me, looks like seaweed or plants on the bottom of the ocean floor. When I first saw it, I knew that Siren just had to be stitched on it. I will post a progress of Siren in my next post. That is all of my stitchy news for now. May your needles glide smoothly and be without frogs 🙂
I finished block 1 of the Passione Ricamo Mystery Stitch A Long.
One and a half fish and some hair. Section 2 is due out on July 1, so I am very happy that I am finished section 1. I’ve seen a sneak peek of section 2 and there is about as much stitching as section 1, so I should be able to keep up with no problem.
I also started Mirabilia’s Siren and the Shipwreck.
She is being stitched on Sunny Dyes Under the Sea in 16ct Aida. I will have to take a photo of the full piece of fabric. Or you can see it at Sunny Dyes website. The bottom is hand painted. Love it! When I saw it I knew it was for Siren. This scroll frame has my lovely covers that Karen made for me. Isn’t she a sweetie? Here is a closer shot of my progress and what she will look like in the end:
That is what I have been up to. Thank you for visiting.
I finished Lavender Fairy on Karen’s RR last night and I think she turned out very pretty.
Karen’s RR is going to be so gorgeous when it gets finished. She did an awesome job on her layout. And just look at the sparkles in that fabric! I still have to add my name,and then she will be ready to mail on in July. I’m not sure I like Joan Elliott patterns. Lots of fractionals. But hubby does like this fairy and he did buy me a special purple hand dyed fabric to stitch her on. So I suppose I will have to stitch her in full some day.
I also put my Passione Ricamo Mystery SAL on the LARGE scroll frame. The masking tape hubby bought was really tacky and messy leaving a residue all over the roll when I pulled tape up and on my hands. So I didn’t really want to put that on my fabric. So I ended up hand basting it to the piece of fabric on the rods. It was a chore, but I’m glad it’s done.
My fabric didn’t seem to get tight, so I added the rubber bands and binder clips. Do you see that tiny little spot where the yellow is on the left? That is my start on this SAL. I hope to add some more this weekend. I’ve already had a sneak peek at block #2 to be released on July 1, so I want to make sure I get block 1 done and keep up. For those that were asking about the scroll frame, it’s a K’s Creations. You can click on the link to find out more. Like I said in my last post, I haven’t used this frame in a really long time and not sure I will like it but I am going to give it another try.
Over the weekend, hubby was near a yarn shop and he stopped in. This is what he picked up for me:
A cute little case for my circular needles and some fun festy yarn. There is enough to make 2 scarves. The shop was out of the pattern, so I called to see how to use this yarn. Cast on however many sts I want on to size 15 needles and knit in garter stitch for however long I want. It’s double stranded and it will be interesting to see how this yarn knits up. It’s called Fantasty Fest by The Sassy Skein and the color is Lobster. The shop owner told me the yarn strands were put together by kids that were no longer in the Foster Care system. I thought that was neat. So thank you Skeins On Main for helping hubby pick out some really nice things for me since I couldn’t be there. I hope to get a scarf knitted up before fall rolls around. And when I get to organizing my circular needles, I will post a pic of the inside of that cute little case. That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to.
Hello stitchy friends. It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted and thought I would share what I have been up to. The awesome designers out there keep coming up with awesome new patterns, so I have so many projects floating around in my head. But let me show you what I have been working on:
You get just a peek as I am not finished her yet. She is Joan Elliott’s Lavender and I am stitching her on Karen’s Round Robin. I am currently doing the backstitching (hate it) and then on to the beautiful beads that will really complete it. I will post a full pic when I finish-hopefully in the next couple of days.
Last night I finally started Passione Ricamo’s Mystery Stitch A Long. The first block was released on Friday, but I didn’t get my email until late Sunday. So I sat down last night and measured and counted on my fabric for just the right placement for the start. Here is what I stitched:
I know it’s not a lot, but I wanted to get it started. I always start all of my stitchings in the center. With the SAL, the first block is in the upper left of the fabric. So it drove me crazy trying to decide if I wanted 3″ all the way around for framing or 4″. Or did I want to start in the center and count stitches over to the left side…NO! So I measured 4″ from the top, and counted stitches from the top center to the left. I hope I placed the start of my fish in the right spot. I needed to get some stitches on here so that I can put it on my scroll frame. My fabric is 26″ wide and I don’t have a split dowel scroll frame big enough to put it on. So out to the garage I went to dig out this:
My table top scroll frame. I haven’t used this frame in 19 years! And it’s huge! To give you an idea of how big it is, each of those white tiles are about 8″. The dowels on this frame have a piece of fabric attached that I am supposed to baste my cross stitch fabric to. That sounds too time consuming, so I am going to tape my fabric to the rods. I got the idea from Tracy’s blog. I hope to get it on the frame today and work on it this weekend. There is not much in the first block of the SAL, so it shouldn’t take me too long. I hear it’s a mermaid 🙂
And last but not least, I went to my local needlework shop and this is what I picked up:
Yep, all kinds of fun stitchy stuff! the Rainbow gallery threads and beads for my SAL, Just Nan’s Sirens of the Sea sampler, some threads for the Santa Village piece, a new Halloween project from Lizzie Kate that looks pretty cool. My friend that went with me wants me to stitch up the Wine piece on the Mushroom 14ct Aida and lastly, the latest issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine. See that tea pot in the corner?
My BSF (Best Stitchy Friend) stitched that for the magazine. She did a great job and I’m so happy she got the cover. You can see more of her beautiful stitchings and read more about this piece at Elegant Stitches. That tea pot is on my to do list. It’s a tea pot (love them) and it’s patriotic. Oh and you can also see my mermaid scissor fob. This is my first scissor fob and guess what? It doesn’t fit on my scissors 😦 I guess I will have to dig up another pair of scissors. Or better yet, LouAnn at Stitches N Things showed me a pair of Dovo scissors and OMG they feel like they will cut like buttta! I’ll have to save up for a pair of those. I guess they are way better than ginghers.
Wisher, over at Pretty Little Things in a Box, has nominated me for a couple of blog awards that I haven’t gotten around to passing along. She nominated me for the (online) next door neighbor award. Isn’t that sweet! You’ll have to pay her a visit and see what neat stuff she is up to. So, I nominate Wisher and everyone else who has visited my blog, with the on-line next door neighbor award. Bloggy friends are so wonderful!
Well, that’s what I have been up. Hubby bought me some stitchy stuff of a different kind this past weekend and I will post those next time as well as an update on my cross stitch progress. Happy stitching!
I feel like I am going in so many directions right now. First, some knitting:
I started on my next pidge for Sue. I’m using Bamboo needles for the first time and I am liking them with this yarn. Usually I love the way the yarn glides on my quicksilver needles, but with the Bamboo yarn, the needles hold my knitting in place. The Bamboo yarn is so soft and silky that the project would have probably slipped off of my quicksilvers several times by now. And since I am constantly moving the yarn back and forth to form the ribbing, the Bamboo needles are working great to hold my knitting on the needles. I really like working with the Bamboo yarn and I like how it is knitting up. Except for my right edge..on the prior row, the last stitched is slipped. So when I start the next row, there isn’t anything to pull or tighten, so my right edge looks really sloppy and loose.
I’m also stitching on Karen’s beautiful Round Robin. She wants any Joan Elliott pattern that has purple. Of course, Lavender came to mind right away, so that is what I am stitching. I will share a photo when I get her done.
I also went shopping at my LNS and this is what I picked up:
My next Santa’s cottage. I need to start that piece this summer. Nora Corbett’s Spring Fairie. I am hoping to start her companion piece, Winter Fairie sometime this year. And Stitches N Things (my LNS) was having a Birthday sale and would kit up any pattern purchased for 21% off. They kitted up Nora’s Siren’s Song mermaid. I was quite surprised at how small she is. The piece of Water Lilly 16ct Aida fabric is only 12 x 18 and that is including 3″ all the way around for framing. I probably won’t use that fabric for her, but the “kitted up part” included DMC floss, beads, kreinik, and fabric. I will probably use a hand dyed fabric from my stash to stitch her on. I will decide that when it’s time to work on her.
In my last post I told you I signed up for Passione Ricamo’s Mystery SAL. I received my fabric and purchased all of my flosses for this one. Here it is:
Everyone is saying it’s going to be a mermaid. This is what I envisioned her on. Silkweaver’s Pixie Dust in 28 ct Lugana. LOVE this fabric! This SAL starts next week and I can’t wait! Most of my Rainbow Gallery Petite braids are on backorder. Everyone is having a time getting them. Some beads are also on backorder. So I will be patient (who knew?) and will stitch around the PB if they are needed right away. If you want to get in on this one, there is still time. You have until June 14 to join up. Click on my Passione link above to get the details. This SAL will start on June 15 and will go until November or December. It’s going to be fun!
Well, that’s all of my stitchy news for now. Oh, I have also kitted up Mirabilia’s Siren and the Shipwreck so I will be starting that one once I finish the block on the Round Robin. I will be working on 2 mermaids at once! Well, not at the same exact time. I’m not that talented, hehe. I will post my starts on both of these projects once I get going on them. For now, happy stitching!
It’s been a while since I posted. So I have lots to share. First, some stitching.
I finally finished the chickadee and cherry blossoms on the right side of my Geisha Round Robin just in time for mailing last week. The title will have to wait until it returns home next year. Here is how the whole thing looked before mailing it off to Johanna:
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, except that the fabric is 28ct Jobelan. Too stretchy for me. Since I like my fabric taught when I stitch and I tend to stitch a little too tight, the piece seems to be a little out of shape now. Maybe it will go back into place after everyone does their stitching on it. I’ll deal with that once it comes back home. It’s going to be so bright and colorful when it’s finished. I know that the 7 gals that will be stitching on it will do a great job. And I am looking forward to stitching on theirs.
While we are on the subject of Round Robins, this is the Round Robin I did last year. I finally put it in to be framed a few weeks ago and picked it up today. I tried a new framer, and not sure if I am 100% happy with it yet or not. There seems to be some puckering at the bottom, but I will leave it for a few days to see if the hot, humid weather has anything to do with it.
Sorry about the poor photo. Seems I may have to enlist a friend with her awesome photo taking abilities to come and take blog photos for me. My camera is just not doing the trick these days. Anyway, I love all the fairies that were stitched for me on this piece. So beautiful and sparkly in person.
Now for some goodies. A few months back I won this from Pretty Little Things in a Box blog giveaway.
She made some really cute vintage rings and I won this adorable one. She folded the back down so it almost lays flat. I may use it that way. Not sure yet. If you want to make your own, you can visit her blog for directions on how she creates them.
Next up is a piece of fabric I won over at My Stitchy Ramblings blog.
OMG! I totally fell in love with this piece of fabric! It has nice light colors, it’s 16 ct Aida and it’s SPARKLY!! So, so beautiful. I love it, Karen. And she was so sweet and made me some awesome scroll covers for my scroll frames. Isn’t she just the sweetest? I will post a pic soon with the monkey ones on my scroll frame.
So, I think I am caught up now…I am currently stitching on Karen’s Round Robin, but don’t want to post until I am finished. I have some things on order, some things kitted up to start and just last week I signed up for Passione Ricamao’s Mystery SAL. This will be a first for me-SAL and Mystery SAL. The enablers out there seem to think it’s a mermaid (thanks Julie 🙂 ) And you all know that I can’t resist a mermaid. Hopefully I won’t be away for quite so long next time. I have missed you 🙂
Over the weekend I finished the little bird in the cherry blossoms on the left side of my Round Robin.
Isn’t he just the sweetest? I had a heck of a time trying to get a good photo. Even in today’s beautiful sunlight, so I apologize for the bad photo. I wasn’t going to stitch the right side as I have been dying to start Mirabilia’s Siren and the Shipwreck, but seeing a friend’s RR piece has inspired me to continue. So I have started on the little birdie on the right side and will post when I am finished. This piece has to be mailed out on the 22nd, so I hope to get it done. I want to add a title, but that may have to wait until its return.
I also have to share my last 2 fabric of the months from Stephanie. The first is April Showers, of course, April’s FOTM:
This is so beautiful in person. I just love the pinks and turquoise in this one. The one that I received on Saturday for May’s FOTM is Pollywog Princess:
This one is loaded with purples and greens. Very cool. Both fabrics are 16 ct Aida. One of these days I am actually going to stitch on one of these beauties. For now, I am collecting 🙂
I have also started my next pidge scarf using the bamboo yarn and I have to tell you I LOVE, LOVE knitting with that yarn! So soft and silky. I will post a pic as soon as I get a little more done. Thank you for visiting today to see what I have been up to.
The World of Crafting
Let's talk about books
Inspire, forgive and self care
Love | Travel | Fashion
Last Stop
Beccy's adventures in knitting, spinning and sewing
TLDR; my life in bits and bites
Where my Travels and my Blog merge together.
From here to everywhere and back again
Lover of Outdoor Adventures, Quality Silver Antiques, Handmade Gifts and a little bit of Vintage!!
Custom children clothing designs
This site is about the knowledge of different categories such as education, , health, mobiles, and tourism
1996 - 2026
Sewing, Crocheting, Knitting, Simple Living, Minimalism
A collection of my art and design tutorials. Delighted you've dropped by!
Su Mohr, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, and Independent Young Living Distributor
For the Love of All Things Stitched
free crochet patterns and crochet inspiration
. . . luv 'n stitches for our tired old world
Crafting and wellbeing
Short Fiction by Nicola Humphreys
Hand dyed gradient yarns
Building A Better World One Day At A Time
A blog about crafting in general, by a knit designer, indie yarn dyer.
Life and crafting adventures of a momma and her littles
Muffins, Coffee and this Blog
Sewing, crochet, crafts, accessories, baking, tutorials,
An Older Woman and Her Art
Creating beauty with a utility
Gardening Simplified
A Creative Spirit
A Cross Stitching Blog
My Time Stitching 