A Crochet Finish and A Cross Stitch Catch Up

October 3, 2022 My Time Stitching17 Comments

Happy October! The last 2 months have almost been a blur. I had company here until yesterday and spent time prepping for that visit. It was a wonderful visit with my Mother-in-law, but as always, way too short. I still spent a good amount of time knitting, crocheting and cross stitching. My MIL loves those things, too, so we made sure to have our crafty time together.

So where did I last leave off…Oh yeah. I was trying to finish up unfinished projects. After I finished my Windsor Mitts I pulled out my Nature’s Walk Blanket crochet blocks.

I started this blanket about 3 years ago. It is the Nature’s Walk Blanket by Sandra Paul. I had never crocheted blocks before and I remember how thrilled I was when I completed my first block. So I continued on and crocheted 48 blocks in 6 different designs. The instructions are very well written with very helpful images. After finishing the blocks, I think I was a bit intimidated by not knowing if I could actually stitch the blocks together or crochet the border. So I set it aside. I am sure some other projects were calling my name, too. After reading through the directions, I jumped right in.

I was actually crocheting the blocks together and it was quite easy. Again, the instructions were well written and very helpful.

After all of the blocks were crocheted together, I began the border. I was so nervous, but I pressed on. The first couple of rows went well. Then the pattern switched to creating a pattern in the border.

The pattern was creating open holes in the shape of hearts. And I was doing well. My holes were lining up the way they were supposed to, and I was elated!

My corners were looking pretty good. All the holes were lining up and I was nearing a finish!

I thought I had finished until I laid it out and noticed that I missed a peak near the top in the photo. I couldn’t have that, so I ripped out the last row and a half.

So I have a finish! I am so proud of myself for what I have done on this blanket and for finishing it. It really turned out so beautifully and I think Barb, the woman who taught me to crochet when I was 11 years old, would also be proud of me. I am even thinking about making another one of these blankets in the near future.

Now for my cross stitch update on the Fox & Rabbit 2022 MSAL. When I last posted about this one, it looked like this:

Since then, I have added the August section, September section and I finished both borders on September 30, the day before the October section was to come out.

And here is the October section completed, so now I am completely caught up with this one.

I will share what is on my knitting needles next time. What have you been working on? I’d love to hear about it.

Ginny

Crochet · cross stitch · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Uncategorized · yarn

Hello December

December 5, 2019December 5, 2019 My Time Stitching20 Comments

Can you believe December is here? This year has really flown by. Except for this last month. But only because I have had my Yarny Advent Calendar for about a month now and have been dying to dive into it!

This is my first time getting a yarny advent calendar. This year is actually the first time I have heard of these types of advent calendars and just had to try it out. I love AJHC Wools yarns, so of course I had to purchase her kit. I actually purchased this over the summer and it was delivered to my local yarn shop last month. It’s been a long month and I will not lie…I peeked at box#1 days before December 1. I didn’t actually open the box. My hubby did. But I did beg to peek at it. I couldn’t wait until December 1 to get started. The kit has 24 micro skeins, all new colors just for the advent. And finally December 1 came and I finally was able to get started around noon that day.

Oh my gosh!!! Just look at that skein of pastel goodness!! I enjoyed my self care time, knitting 19 rows of the shawl beginning. Aaaahhhh. But it went by so quick. Waiting until the next day to see the next skein and add more knitting is such a long wait! Here is my where I am at, after Day 5 this morning.

It’s so beautiful!! I am loving the colors of the yarns and seeing how they blend each day. How did I ever miss out on this wonderful idea? Have you purchased a yarny advent calendar before?

I have also been working on my granny squares for the Natures Walk Blanket. I have one more square to crochet up and 11 more to block.

I have enough of these very cool blocking pins from Knitters Pride to block 6 squares at a time. So I have been switching them out every night. I was very disappointed the first day I removed pins. My squares, that were stretched to 6 1/2″, shrunk back to the 6 1/4″ they started at. I could literally see the block shrink when I removed the pins. Ugh. All the work I have done, to be undone. I thought I was doing something wrong, but I am told by a friend that some yarns have yarn memory. She said to be sure that all of my blocks are the same size and to continue blocking them. All of my blocks are between 6 1/4″ and 6 1/2″. So I am hoping they will all line up ok once I start stitching them together. Which will be pretty soon!! I am so excited! Here are my squares so far:

The stack on the left has been blocked and lay so flat now. I can see how blocking helps the stitches lay flat even though they are not blocking to size. The mauve ones on top look wavy, but they have buds on them that have some dimension to them. They actually do lay flat except for the buds.

And lastly, I have been keeping up with the 2019 Mystery Sampler from Linen and Threads. I am on the last border and it is fabulous!!

I am hoping to finish this by the end of December. I’d show you the whole piece now, but the frame that it is on has become a bit wonky and a piece of it broke, so I don’t want to unroll it until I have to. I don’t remember the name of this frame type. The rods at the top and bottom are split and have little nails all the way across that you put your fabric into. I can say I am not a fan of this style and this one will have to go in the garbage when I am done with it. It did serve it’s purpose this year, I suppose.

So that is what I have been up to for now. I don’t remember what else I have worked on, but I think I have shared my main projects. What have you been crafting on lately?

For now I will leave you with one of my favorite fall photos I took on October 28, and then 2 weeks later, our first snow fall of 9″.

I love the beautiful reflection of the trees in the pool.

Crochet · cross stitch · mystery sampler · yarn

I Am Now A Crocheter!

October 23, 2019 My Time Stitching21 Comments

It is a beautiful fall day outside. I am sitting in my craft room with my New laptop, looking at all the beautiful colors and watching the leaves blow off the trees. The last couple of months have been busy with so many things; weekend trips, yarn shop hopping, a wonderful visit from my mother in law (it was way too short) unpacking boxes and finding places for things, internet issues and my Surface tablet decided to stop working 😦 But I still found time to create 🙂 So I am doing my first blog post on my laptop, so please excuse any typo’s. The keyboard is pretty flat and I am not used to that at all, especially with long nails. I’m not very techy, so I am still learning how to use this thing. Hubby has already received several “help desk” calls from me this morning. So onto the fun stuff.

I can confidently say that I am now a crocheter. I have crocheted off and on since I was 11, but I am not very good at it. While I have made some crochet items, they had issues. Especially in keeping my sides straight. And I have never been able to crochet a granny square. Until now!! It all started with this pumpkin.

A few weeks ago I took a class to make this pumpkin. It’s not very big. As you can see in the photo, it is sitting on top of a candle stick. I thought I would get it done in class, but no. I had gotten the tiny circle that is the bottom and one strip up the side. I was very frustrated in class and had no idea what I was doing. A couple of days later, I whipped this thing up like I had been crocheting all my life! I can’t explain it, other than the one who tried teaching me when I was 11 was working through me. I can’t tell you how excited I was to have done this. So then I had to pull out the new CAL patterns from Cherry Heart, ( I have such a weakness for her patterns) Nature’s Walk Blanket.

I fell in love with the look of this blanket the first time I saw it over the summer. I had printed out the first few patterns and ordered some yarn through my local yarn shop. I thought since I crocheted a pumpkin, maybe I can crochet a granny square. So last week I pulled out the patterns, read through the intro and pulled out my yarn and hook and began crocheting the gauge block. With some tips from the sweet gals in the Black Sheep Wool group, I was able to crochet my very first ever, granny square!!!

It’s not perfect, and I know where I made some mistakes. I was so geeked and proud of myself for making a square I didn’t even realize it had hearts in it until someone pointed it out to me. Duh! I may just use this pattern for some of my squares. It is so cute! My gauge was close enough and I was confident that I could get started on the first part. And boy did I!

I stitched up all 8 of the Gates squares and the first Berries square in a week. I am over the moon!! They still need blocking. Hubby made me this nice box to put my squares on to block them. He doesn’t usually do things like this, so it is even more special that he did this for me ❤

Last night I started crocheting a square from the most current pattern, the Star.

I’m not going to lie. This one was a bit difficult. One of my points is a little off, but I do know what I did wrong. I will finish this one out and then get back to the berries and make 7 more of those. I am loving this CAL and am looking forward to having a beautiful blanket of granny squares out of these colors:

I’m using Berroco’s Comfort DK. I was able to get 5 of the gates squares out of a skein. This CAL is free from Sandra of Cherry Heart along with Black Sheep Wools. I believe you can still get in on it if you are interested. You can get more information at the Cherry Heart Blog

I also finished cross stitching the Sunflower Pillow I was working on. It turned out beautifully and the recipient was quite happy with it.

I also stitched the July thru October sections on the 2019 Mystery Sampler, so I am all caught up on that and can’t wait to see what the last 2 border sections look like. This is also free through Linen and Threads.

And I started stitching on a little Baby Princess Tiana from Les Petites Croix De Lucie.

She is so adorable!!! My favorite princess, too 😉 But she is a lot of work! Lots of crazy backstitching. She was the first of 9 little Princess Babies. I believe the 6th one just came out.

So that is what I have been up to the last few months. What new project are you working on or what project have you finished?

Bella Filipina Designs · Crochet · cross stitch · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mermaids

I’m Sad Summer Is Ending

August 29, 2019 My Time Stitching26 Comments

Hello blogging friends. I have just enough time to squeeze in a post for August before it is over. My blogging days have been few and far in between. I will do better 🙂 My summer has been a little busy. Lots of little day trips-mostly yarny trips. I went to a Wine and Wool Fest and I participated in the I-75 Yarn Crawl. I visited 10 shops during the yarn crawl and purchased something at each shop. And then last week I visited a new shop that I didn’t get to hit on the Yarn Crawl. It was a lot of fun, but expensive, as I couldn’t resist yarn where ever I went 😉 I have been stitching, too.

First, I finished the Mermaid’s Garden Shawl. It turned out beautiful! Here it is being blocked.

This was such an enjoyable KAL. The pattern is the Mermaid’s Garden Shawl by Lena Mathisson and is available on Ravelry. I will be making this one again for sure.

I recently joined other knitters at my local yarn shop and we are making the Veronika cardigan. Here is my start on this one:

That is not a shadow at the top of the cardigan. It appears that my yarn doesn’t quite match. Ugh. I will continue on. I am using Malabrigo Rios in Tranquilo. I’m not into switching skeins every other row, so I will leave it for now. I am using a size 9 needle as I couldn’t get gauge with an 8. And after using fingering weight yarn for so long, this worsted weight yarn and large needle has really done a number on my right hand. It is aching quite a bit today, so this piece is in time out for now. But I am loving the color. And see that cute bag in the back? It was a special order to CleverGirl Designs Co. It matches my tool bag.

Kristine does a great job making these bags. The smaller one has lots of pockets and holds a lot! You can find her on Instagram @clevergirldesignsco

I started a new cross stitch. I know, don’t say it, LOL. I couldn’t resist Bella Filapina’s “Pearl of the Orient Seas”. She is a beauty!

I am stitching her on 16ct aida, a OOAK from Fantasy Dyed Fabrics. While I love her, I have found out I am not a fan of stitching with red, orange and yellow. Hopefully I will be able to get through it as she is really stunning. I have become a big fan of Bella Filipina designs. He is so talented.

I am still stitching on the Pillow for a friend. It is coming along and my goal is to get it done by the end of summer. Which, as the title of my post says, is coming to an end. I better up my game now. I can’t show all of my progress because I want it to be a surprise for the recipient. But here is a peek: (Don’t look at the back of it!)

I am getting near the bottom! Woo Hoo!

And remember this crochet project?

Well, I finished it!!! A little less than 2 years and not perfect, but it is finished and I just love it!

This blanket will keep me warm while hanging out in the finished basement with hubby. Yep, the basement is all finished and put together. We still have lots of boxes and bins to go through for the storage room. We are hoping to get those unpacked within the next month. So that is what I have been up to these last few weeks of summer. What have you been up to? Did you recently finish a project you are happy to finally finish?

Crochet · Crocheted Wrap · cross stitch · Diamond Painting · Knitting · mystery sampler · Sampler · yarn

And Just Like That It Is June

June 3, 2019 My Time Stitching31 Comments

Hello, friends! I can’t believe it is the start of Summer, unofficially. Though today doesn’t feel like it as it is only 59 degrees. But that’s ok. So what have I been up to?

Well, I started this Willowy Wrap crochet pattern back on March 4. I know, crochet??!! The pattern is by JL Creations, the crochet expert at my LYS. It was released on March 3 at the shop in conjunction with AJHC Wools. I saw it at the shop that day and it was so beautiful and soft that I just had to try it. So here is how my progress went:

Just about finished!! So excited!

Finished, just needs blocking.

Just look at all of those luscious colors soaking in the water.

I am so geeked at how straight my sides are! This is the first project where my sides are not all wonky. And look how straight that blocking is! So proud of myself 🙂

And here it is all finished! I am so excited to get this one finished. It’s not perfect, but it looks pretty good to me. The pattern is Willowy Wrap by JL Creations and the yarns are by AJHC Wools.

I was also able to get my Peacock Garden Mystery Sampler from Linen and Threads all caught up and started the June section. This is a FREE Mystery SAL and you can get the patterns on their website for this sampler and the previous 2 samplers.

I am stitching this on 16ct Graceful Gray from Wichelt. Threads are Gloriana Silk in Rain Forest and DMC 3810. I’m not loving this one as much as the previous 2 samplers put out by Linen and Threads, but I like it. I am anxious to see what is going to be in the other blocks.

My basement is coming along. Painting was done last week. Carpet has been ordered. Then we can begin putting it all back together again and get our house back in order. Between the front door and the path to the basement, all furniture has been moved to another room or shoved over and all of my pictures have been removed from the walls. My diamond painting has been moved all over trying to keep it from being ruined. So I thought it was time to get it framed.

This diamond painting was a gift from my best stitchy friend a couple of years ago. The picture was taken from a photo I had taken in my front yard and had posted on Facebook. She had it made onto the canvas. It is now hanging in my dining room, which is just inside my front door. It really brightens the room and I will treasure it always.

And I have started a new project. Did you really think I wouldn’t have? But it is not cross stitch. It is a knitting project. It is the famous Wingspan Shawl by Kyle Vey and is available on Ravelry.

I fell in love with this one as soon as I saw it. I even ordered yarn from Blue Brick Yarns right away. The dyer, I am sure, has been overwhelmed with orders, so it will be a bit before my yarn arrives. In the meantime, I am knitting this one for someone else. The yarn is Mirasol Qulla in Moonlight colorway. It is more like a denim blue, and not the dark blue in the photo. This one took me 2 days to finally get the first row done. The pattern calls for “make1 left and make1 right throughout the first row, after the cast on! I didn’t even know it was possible to “Make1” on the cast on row. But a gal at my LYS pointed out that there is actually 2 threads in between stitches on my longtail cast on. Boy do I need new glasses! So home I went, trying to cast on loose stitches, but not too loose that my stitches sag. And struggling to get those Make1’s in and have the correct stitch count at the end. My mind tends to wander after so many repeats, LOL. After several attempts yesterday, I finally had my first row done to my satisfaction! I even held my breath and did row 2! Just skimming through the 17 pages of pattern is very intimidating and I have been a knitter for about 33 years. So, fingers crossed, wish me luck and send good vibes that I can get through this pattern. And that I can get through it a 2nd time once my yarn arrives 😉

So that is what has been going on with me. What fun things have you been up to lately? I’d love to hear about them 🙂

Crochet · cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Passione Ricamo

Pink Makes Me Happy

November 21, 2018 My Time Stitching19 Comments

I’m not in the best of moods, but seeing my pink stitching makes me smile. So I finally got around to blocking that knitted baby blanket I finished a little while back.

I’m not sure if I stretched it a bit too much, but it looked so beautiful all stretched out. And then I found a mistake. Can you see it? Well, there isn’t anything I can do about it now, so I have accepted that it is part of its charm.

My hearts are a bit wonky, but I think it turned out rather lovely. It looks so sweet hanging over the couch. Maybe someday it will wrap around a sweet little one.

For now I will put it away for a special someone.

I have been working on the Pink Princess, and here is how she looks today.

She is coming along beautifully and she really makes me smile when I look at her. All of those beautiful shades of pink! And her black hair is stunning with the pink. I won’t be stitching the wings, so I am getting close to finishing the stitching. Then I will be on to the back stitching and beading. I purchased a butterfly bead 3 years ago when I first started stitching this one, but I can’t seem to find it. So I had better get to looking today so that I can decide if I will stitch the butterfly in her hand or not. For those seeing her for the first time, she is Dawn, the Fairy Spirit of Grace by Passione Ricamo. I am stitching her on 16ct Tintagel from Fabrics by Stephanie. Love this fabric! It is so perfect for my Pink Princess, having just the right amount of pink scattered here and there.

And I picked up my crocheting yesterday to see how my elbows would do.

My elbows did ok, but I could feel them getting achy just after a few rows, so I stopped. I had a bit of a problem with the popcorn row. The popcorn puffs were quite easy. I was only supposed to have 23 and I ended up with 24 😦 So much for my lesson. I pulled it out a couple of times and recounted stitches in the row before. I seemed to have the correct amount and just couldn’t figure it out, so I left the 24 popcorns and moved on. I was so frustrated, I was ready to toss it in the garbage. Instead, I threw it into a heap on my basket. The right elbow is still sore today, so not sure when I will pick it up again. I may have to wait until next week and make another trip to see the crochet expert.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am having mixed emotions about the day, hence my moodiness. If you are celebrating this holiday tomorrow, I wish you a wonderful day with family and friends. If you are not celebrating, I wish you a wonderful day 🙂

Afghans · Craft Room · Crochet · cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mermaids · Mirabilia · Nora Corbett · Passione Ricamo · Pixie · Shannon Christine · Shannon Christine designs

So I Visited The Crochet Expert

October 26, 2018 My Time Stitching19 Comments

Wow! Another post so soon from me? I’m on a roll, LOL.

So on Wednesday, I went to my Local Yarn Shop for a session with the Crochet Expert, Jen. She was amazing. I feel like I learned so much. Not just for my blanket, but for crochet in general. So here is my blanket how I left it Wednesday night:

Not a whole lot added since my last post, because I now have tendonitis in both of my elbows. Ugh. Too much knitting and crocheting the last few weeks. So I am wearing a brace on my right arm, which is the worst. I could barely dry my hair yesterday 😦 But, I do have the correct number of stitches and I am using stitch markers to mark the first stitch of every row. It appears that I have left some stitches unstitched on my ends. And Jen is going to help me with my border when I am ready so that it looks evened out since I opted to just continue on rather than rip it all out. So I am more confident going forward from here…when my elbows stop hurting.

This week I stitched the October mermaid on the SAL and even started beading 🙂

This piece is going to have so many beads!! I was so excited to start beading, being that I am on the bottom row, that I forgot that I still have January to do since this SAL started in February. So I didn’t put the rest of the bigger beads on October since I am using a scroll frame. The biggest bead, at the top of October, gave me such a tough time. I just couldn’t get it to lay properly. It took me about 40 minutes to finally get it the way I wanted after putting the other white bead on, so I am not taking them out. I will put some felt or batting on top of the beads before I roll it up when I do January. So for now, I will skip the beading. It was fun putting all those gold beads in. I love beading.

So last night I pulled out my Pink Princess.

It is really called Dawn, the Fairy Spirit of Grace, by Passione Ricamo. But I am going to stitch her without the wings, so I call her my Pink Princess. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Tintagel from Fabrics by Stephanie. And when I pulled this out, I saw in my notes that I started her in March of 2015!!! What? It just could not have been that long! Where does the time go. There is no way I should have these things as WIP’s for this long. I will stitch on her until the next section of the Mystery Sampler comes out on Oct. 31. Hopefully she won’t be put away for too long.

A couple of weeks ago, I hung some stitchings in my craft room. I was reminded by a blogging friend that I hadn’t shared photos.

Ella, the Frog Princess. I love seeing her when I am crafting in my room. Which obviously isn’t enough as my plant is dying. No worries. I did water it after taking my photos. It should be all perked up tonight.

I added the White Angel Trumpet pixie to the other pixies I have stitched. They all look so cute hanging together. I don’t have much wall left though. I can fit one more to the left of Iris. I’ll have to figure out which one that will be.

And lastly, I hung the Mystery Sampler 2017 right beside my desk.

While I am working at my desk, I can look up and see this one. This was my very first Sampler and I am happy that it is hanging when I can see it when I am at my desk. Oh, I was in my craft room this week. I put together an 8 x 8 travel scrapbook which is where I am planning on putting my pictures from my trip up north last weekend. So I guess I can say that I am in there at about once a week. I love seeing my stitchings on the wall when I craft 🙂

So what are you up to this week? Any stitchy plans for the weekend?

Crochet · cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Knitted Shawl · vacation · yarn

Getting Caught Up and Yarn Organizing

October 22, 2018 My Time Stitching31 Comments

Hello Blogging Friends. I am still trying to get caught up on my blogging; posting as well as reading your blogs. I have a cross stitch project that I finished over the summer but couldn’t post, as it was a wedding gift.

It is called My Love by Madame Chantilly. I stitched it on 16ct Aida Jamie’s Kilt from Fabrics by Stephanie. I stitched it as charted, except for adding beads in some of the flowers and in the heart. I also added the names and date. The frames was supposed to be a white washed frame, but it came back looking like cream. This was a gift for my son and his now wife. They were married last month.

It was a nice outside wedding and I think they are happy with how it all turned out after a year of planning.

My Seagrass Shawl that I was blocking during my last post, turned out lovely.

I wasn’t quite sure how to show it. I hope you can see all of its awesomeness! It blocked really well and I am so pleased with it. It is the Seagrass shawl from Woolenberry. The yarns are listed on my previous post if you are interested. I can’t wait to stitch up another shawl from Woolenberry.

Before vacation, I picked up this crochet project:

When I picked it up, it was only about half the size that it is now. And while I do enjoy crocheting, my crochet skills are still not very good. I can just about figure out how to do all the different stitches,. But when it comes to my ends and beginnings, I really need more lessons. So my sides are going in and out and it is not from crocheting too loose or too tight. It is because I don’t have the correct number of stitches. So, on Wednesday I will be going to my local yarn shop to see the crochet expert and hope that she can set me straight. I would like to finish this blanket without the frustrations. I don’t know that I will rip any of this out. Maybe continue on the right track and hope that the border will hide my imperfections. I will have to wait to see what the expert suggests.

This last weekend, hubby and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. We drove up north and stayed in a hotel on the beach. It was cold, windy and rainy the first day that we arrived. But we went out and walked around town and to the beach anyway. We saw the Mackinac Bridge and had to go back later when it was dark so we could see it all lit up. Beautiful. But I am still not ready to cross it. The next morning, we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise on the lake. I am so glad we were able to catch it as it was cloudy the next day. I already want to go back to my hotel room on the beach.

Next year we will go back in the summer and I will see if I can get my courage up to take the ferry over to the island. But we had a fun weekend of sightseeing. I even started a new travel shawl.

I am knitting the Funny Rainbow shawl again, but with a different yarn. I am using Knit One Crochet Too’s Kettle Tweed in Winter Blossom. I couldn’t find a project in my stash that didn’t have an intricate pattern. So I opted to do the Funny Rainbow pattern again because it is pretty much all garter stitch with adding stitches to one side. So we will see how it comes out. While looking for this project, I found out that I have so many yarn projects waiting to be done. So many beautiful yarns and projects I had forgotten about, too. I am sure it is over 30!! I have written them all down and organized them in the little cubbies on my shelf and have put myself on the no more buying yarn list until I get quite a few of the projects done. I should probably do that for cross stitch, too, as I have way more cross stitch kits than yarn kits, but let’s not go too far, ok?

So how much yarn do you have in your stash?

AAN Chandelier · Crochet · cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted scarves · Sampler · vacation

Getting Caught Up

October 30, 2017 My Time Stitching20 Comments

Hello friends! It’s been a little bit. So much has happened in the last 2 months. I can’t even seem to recall it all at this minute, so I will write about my stitchy stuff 🙂 First, I am now caught up with the Chandelier SAL from AA Needleworks.

I am stitching this one 16ct Aida Winter Solstice from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. While the holographic thread doesn’t show up well on the fabric, I decided to go ahead and stitch with it, hoping that it will give some added shimmer to the beads. I believe that the last section is to be released on November 1, 2017, but not much has been posted in the group. I am also supposed to be receiving a bead pack from the designer, but haven’t received that either. I guess there are only 7 people that signed up for this one, but it really hasn’t been covered or updated well in the facebook group. I LOVE chandeliers, so I knew I just had to do this one.

Next up is the Mystery Sampler from Linen and Threads. I finished the October section yesterday.

I am stitching this one 16ct Aida Castleview from Silkweaver. I am using Sullivan threads “London Fog” and DMC 3888. This is an amazing sampler. I have loved every stitch of this one. You can still get in on this one, for FREE! All 11 sections (November was released a couple of days ago) are on the Linen and Threads website. And I hear the designer is working on one for 2018!!! And it will also be FREE! How generous and awesome is that?

Remember the Temperature blanket I was working on? Well, I have abandoned that project. It seems I still don’t have the hang of ending and beginning my rows without a pattern. So rather than tear it all out, I ended it and will figure out something to do with it. I really didn’t like the colors anyway, so no sweat on ditching that one. I have started “The Spicier Life Blanket” from Sandra at Cherry Heart Blog. I have the first section done.

I’m not sure I like the bottom colors, but hoping it will look better as a whole. Sections 2, 3 and 4 have been released, but I haven’t been confident enough to pick it back up as of yet. I hear there are some difficult rows in those sections and I don’t want to get frustrated right now.

I have also worked on the cowl I started with the Lion Brand “Shawl in a Ball. It is getting quite long.

This project has been deemed my “travel project”. So I pretty much have only worked on it in the car. I am nearing the end of the skein, so I may pick it up a bit more to get it finished. It has knitted up soft and I just love the colors. I can’t wait to finish it so I can wear it this winter, which is coming soon I hear. But, fall is still here and I will leave you with a couple of photos I took last week while hubby and I visited Northern Michigan to see the beautiful colors. The first day we were there was beautiful and sunny. After we had driven through the tunnel of trees for about 1/2 hour, it started raining. I didn’t get as many nice pictures as I had wanted. Instead, I chose to breathe in the beauty not behind the camera. And it was hard to get good pictures through the windshield of the car anyway.

This was the view from our hotel room. I wish it had been a sunny day, as the view of the bay was beautiful the day before. But here you can see the beautiful colors of the changing trees.

So what have you been up to lately?

Afghans · Crochet · cross stitch · Fairies · Hand Stamped Cards · Passione Ricamo SAL · temperature blanket

Crazy Busy, But I’m Still Stitching

July 5, 2017 My Time Stitching30 Comments

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post! And where did June go? I swear just the other day it was June 1 and now here we are in July! Summer please slow down 🙂 So even though I have been going at full speed almost every day the last few weeks, I have managed to get my regular stitching in 🙂 So here is what I have been up to:

Here is where I am with Moon, Sweet Moon, Mystery SAL by Passione Ricamo. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida OOAK from Fantasy Dyed Fabrics. It is actually a gray color with hints of purple. Bad photo, sorry. It is really beautiful in person. Unfortunately, this is no longer a SAL. Someone has passed the first few sections onto the internet, illegally, so Laura ended the SAL. So sad for someone to do this. She has released the full pattern to each person that signed up, with watermarked pattern in their name. This is how it will look when finished:

It is so beautiful and I am so sad to see it end as a SAL. It is now available for purchase on Laura’s website if you are wanting to stitch this beauty. You can find it here. I am waiting on threads for the moon, so I have put her aside and picked up this one:

This is the Linen and Threads Mystery Sampler. I can’t begin to tell you how I much I LOVE stitching on this piece. I have just started stitching the April section, so I am a bit behind. But it is such a relaxing stitch. I am using Sullivan’s variegated thread London Fog and DMC 3888. The fabric is 16ct Aida Castleview by Silkweaver. I am hoping to get this caught up before getting back to something else or starting something else. If you would like to stitch this piece, it is a FREE SAL put out by Linen and Threads and the January through July sections are on their website. Here is another view:

I have also been adding a row or two, now and then on my Temperature blanket. I am somewhere at the beginning of April and here is how it is looking so far:

I’ve added another row of yellow and a row of light purple. Hoping there will be more of these colors as I am really getting bored of the darker ones. This is nice to work on when I have a few minutes here and there. It is getting too big to carry around, so I will keep adding to it now and then and hope to also get caught up with it, too.

In my last post I told you briefly about a new stamp obsession of mine. Here are some cards using products from Heartfelt Creations:

Here is a close-up of those beautiful 3-d flowers!

And this one is my favorite:

I am having such fun making 3-d flowers with glitter, and frosting and beaded centers. I need to play more 🙂 I have also added these 3-d flowers to my scrapbook pages. I will have to get photos of those for next time. Right now it’s time to go play 🙂

What are you busy playing with these days?

Tag: Crochet

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