Tag: fabrics by steph

The Year Is Half Over!
cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted scarves · Knitting · Mirabilia · yarn

The Year Is Half Over!

My Time Stitching11 Comments

Hello Blogging friends! It has been a minute since my last post. The last couple of months have not been the best. In fact, this year has been not so great. Let’s just say that I am hoping that the second half of 2024 is much, much better than the first half. I’m still having trouble balancing everything and trying to fit all I want into a day, and I don’t like that my Blog has suffered. So, I am making time today to get in a post. Enough of that, let’s get on to what I have been up to.

Since it has been a while since my last post and the post before that, it’s hard to remember everything I have been working on. So, let’s start with what I have been currently working on and a couple of finishes.

This is where I am with the 2024 Fox & Rabbit MSAL as of last night. I am working on the June section and should have it finished tonight and then I will have the July section to catch up on before the August section comes out August 1. The fabric is 18ct White that I picked up at Michaels.

Another project I am working on is The Deadly Aquarium from Lola Crow Cross Stitch.

The Frame portion of this SAL came out in April, and we were given 6 weeks to complete it before the first exhibit.

I loved stitching the frame. The Sea Gulls are so cute. The fabric is 16ct Beanstalk (the called for fabric) from Fabric On A Whim and is actually more blue than the photo is showing.

The first exhibit arrived in my email box on May 24 and then weekly. I was working on another project when the exhibits started.

This is exhibit 1 and part of exhibit 2. Just look at that scary eel peeking out of that treasure chest!

Here I am all caught up with exhibits up to 5. That Killer Coral on the left was very tedious but looks so cool.

Last Friday exhibit 6 came out and I finished it in a couple of days.

I am enjoying this SAL and can’t wait to see what will be added to the Aquarium tomorrow.

I also have had a few finishes. I will show my latest cross stitch finish.

I finished Blossom by Mirabilia. She is so beautiful! I love everything about this piece. The fabric is 16ct Aida Busy Izzy from Fabrics By Stephanie. I used all of the called for floss and beads. Frame was picked out by my husband. I tend to gravitate to silver or gold or white frames and didn’t even see this frame until he picked it out. I decided to go with his choice and I am very happy I did. It’s perfect. Another WIP off of my list 🙂

I also have a knitting finish.

My Lace & Fade Boxy pullover from Joji Locatelli is finished. I still need to block it, but it is finished, and all of the ends are woven in. I love how it turned out. I made it one size smaller so it wouldn’t be so boxy, and I added 4 stripes to the bottom to make it longer. The sleeves are a little snug, but I think I can stretch them a little when blocking. I can’t wait to wear it this fall/winter. The yarns used are from Adelaide Fiber Co., The Wicked Knittah, Fiberspates, and Life in The Long Grass (LITLG).

The only project left on my knitting needles is the Alexander Airplane Scarf.

This is my travel project, but since I haven’t been doing much traveling and it has been on the needles for a long time, I have decided that I want to finish it by the end of August. The yarn is Aerial Color from Berroco Yarns. It is a lace weight yarn and I love knitting with it. Fingers crossed I can get it finished this summer. There are so many knitting projects I want to start but I am holding out for now.

Well, that is just a little of what I have been up to since we last chatted. I will share more in my next post. What have you been up to lately? Tell me your favorite project you are working on in the comments. I would love to hear about it.

Happy Stitching!

ginny

Happy Leap Year, No New Start
Bella Filipina Designs · cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Fox and Rabbit · Mermaids · Mystery Stitch A Long

Happy Leap Year, No New Start

My Time Stitching7 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! Happy Leap Year! We are finally to the end of February. People say that January is the longest month, but I think that January flew by so fast. February, on the other hand, has been so slow going. Maybe it’s because I injured myself and spent a lot of time inside and not doing much other than sitting and getting up to walk every hour. I am much better now, so we won’t dwell on the stupid thing I did to cause myself so much pain. I did get quite a bit of cross stitch and knitting done, so let me get into what I have been stitching.

First up, I finished the Pocohontas section on my Epic Storybook Princesses piece.

That piece was my birthday start in January and once I finished the Pocohontas section at the beginning of February, I put it away for now. It is so cute though and I will enjoy stitching on the next movie characters when I get back to it. The pattern is from Cloudsfactory and I am stitching on 16ct Aida Aeriel’s Grotts from Fabrics by Stephanie.

The next piece I picked up was the 2024 MSAL from Fox & Rabbit, Faith Hope Love. This is a FREE SAL so if you want to jump in you can. Once I figured out my color placements, I stitched this section up pretty quickly.

We have our first word and I am assuming Hope and Love will be added in future sections. The 2 motifs on the bottom right were also added. Fabric is 18ct Aida White. So far I am happy with this Quaker looking piece. I do believe it is my first Quaker piece. I do have 1 other Quaker piece that I want to stitch up and hopefully it will be my first finished Quaker piece. It has a mermaid in it 😉

Next up I pulled out the Mermaids of the Seasons Piece from Bella Filipina Designs. I had finished stitching the Spring and Summer mermaids previously. So I stitched on the Autumn Mermaid.

Then I stitched on the Winter Mermaid.

I finished all of the stitching and backstitching and then it was time to bead! Yay!

I loved working on these mermaids and they turned out so sparkly and beautiful. Again, the pattern is from Bella Filipina Designs. It was a SAL from September – December 2023. Not sure if it is available to purchase now or not. The fabric I stitched on is 16ct Aida Adventurous Alice from Those Missing Stitches on Etsy.

My current piece that I pulled out to add some stitches to is Rainbow Dice by Rack and Pinion on Etsy.

I am not a big fan of blocks of color, but I am pushing through, LOL. This piece was requested by my oldest son and when a child asks for a cross stitch, I will do it. I am pretty sure that I can get it finished in a month’s time. I think there are 27 more dice to do and if I stitch one every day, I can get it finished by the end of March. I started this March 21, 2023, so I would love for it to be finished in March of this year. I am stitching this one on 16ct Aida Everything Else from Mystic Fabrics.

So that is what I have been cross stitching. I have a new knitting project that I will talk about next time, but no new start for Leap Year. I thought about it. Some people on Flosstube are starting a Long Dog Sampler today and shooting to finish before the next Leap Year. I thought about doing a that. I also thought about starting my first Modern Folk Embroidery piece, “No Time Like the Present”. But my thread choices fell through and I just didn’t bother trying to come up with new colors. Then I thought about joining others in starting a new Mirabilia. I have so so many I want to do. But I already have 4 Mirabilia’s started. And I am still working on getting through all of my WIP’s, so I am ok with not having a new start today.

This weekend is the Nashville Needlework Market, so a lot of shops are closed and designers and dyers are either already there or are on their way. I have usually only preordered a couple of things over the years. Most of the designs are not my thing, though my tastes have changed a little and I have been looking more at samplers and Quakers and a tiny bit of the primitive designs. This year I preordered 4 things; 3 items are from Fox & Rabbit and 1 is from Autumn Lane Stitchery. Fingers crossed that my chosen shop is able to grab them for me this weekend. There are some other patterns that are on my wish list and I hope to be able to pick them up throughout the year. Did you preorder any items? Do you have a wish list? I’d love to hear what you are looking forward to getting from the Nashville Market and what you are currently stitching on.

Happy Stitching!

ginny

A Finish, New SAL and A Birthday Start
Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Fabric · Floss · Fox and Rabbit · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mystery Stitch A Long

A Finish, New SAL and A Birthday Start

My Time Stitching15 Comments

Hello blogging friends! I hope the new year is treating you well. It is hard to believe that today is the last day of January. It was a busy month for me and I am glad I have found some time to get one last post in before the month ends. 

So, what have I been up to? Well, I have a finish.

I finished the last of the shops on my Beach Boardwalk series. This piece was so fun to stitch and I am very happy that I stitched all of the shops together. They look so sweet all in a row. The patterns are from Country Cottage Needleworks and are available to purchase in stores and online. The fabric I used is 16ct Aida in Friendship Greene from Fabrics By Steph. Now I will be on the lookout for the perfect way to finish this piece.

Since I finished the 2022 Mystery Stitch A Long from Fox and Rabbit at the end of December, I knew I wanted to start the 2024 SAL. I had already decided I would use white fabric and a slightly variegated thread I had ordered online. Since it is possible that this may be the last SAL from Fox & Rabbit, I thought it would be fun to play with colors on this one, but I needed to see the first section on January 1. That first week of January I went through many color changes, stitching and frogging. 

The name of this SAL is Faith Hope Love and my main color thread is the blue thread from Forbidden Fiber Co. called Mermaid (of course 😉 ) I also knew I wanted pink and gray, but what shades? After a few days of playing with threads and colors, I finally landed on my pallette.

The blue thread has some light variegation and that will be my main color. This will be my first time using multiple colors of my own choosing. Fingers crossed they will play well together. My fabric is 18ct Aida White. Yes, that is correct. I am using 18ct aida. Mainly because my local Michaels store was out of 16ct in a large enough piece. And I was impatient. So, here is my start.

I am happy with the look of this January section. The February section came out today, and I think I will be spending a quite a bit of time trying to figure out my coloring. 

Last week was my birthday and it was a big one; 60! I can’t believe I am 60. My husband made my day special with lots of surprises. He even had the local bakery make me the beautiful cake that is in my header above. A big birthday deserves a big new start. I have been wanting to stitch the Epic Storybook Princesses from Cloudsfactory for several years now. So when the pattern went on sale last summer, I did not hesitate to purchase it and decided it would be my Birthday start in 2024.

This is such and amazing pattern! I just love it so much! Mine will be set up like the picture above. I am happy my favorite princess is at center bottom. I also purchased the Raya pattern for the empty space on the bottom left. I am not sure what I will be putting in the bottom right as of yet. I am thinking about Encanto. While the main character in that movie, Mirabel, is not a “princess”, she is the one that saves her family. But we will see. Another princess or 2 may come out in the next however many years it will take me to stitch this piece. 

Figuring out how to wrangle this very large piece of fabric has been a bit of an issue, but so far I have managed. My fabric is 16ct Aida Ariel’s Grotto from Fabrics By Steph. The size of my fabric is 50 x 36! Wow. Definitely the largest piece I have ever worked on. Here is my progress after a week of stitching on it.

I started in the center with the Pocohontas section. These little characters are so cute! So far I have made 2 changes. The blue swirls have been changed to a lighter blue as the called for blended into the fabric. I may have to use the substituted color throughout the piece as it is used a lot as in Cinderella’s dress, the Genie’s face and other places. I also took out the light green strands of the Willow tree because I just couldn’t see them. I decided to stitch them all in the daker green. I will probably finish out the Pocohontas section before putting it away to stitch on the 2024 SAL.

I also finished my Minka top, knitting those sleeve edges and blocked it. I can’t say that I am 100% happy with it. I wish I had made it longer. We’ll see how I like it this summer. I also blocked my Impulse Buy shawl and have worn it several times and love it! It is so soft and squishy and keeps me warm. 

So that is what I have been up to during the month of January, that is just about over already. I can’t wait to see what I get into during February. How did you spend your January? Did you start something new? Finish something? Leave me a comment and let me know. 

Happy Stitching,

ginny

Hello December
Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mirabilia · Pillows · yarn

Hello December

My Time Stitching14 Comments

Hello my blogging friends and Happy December. The days keep moving faster than I can keep up and here we are ; December 1. If I blink, it will probably be Christmas! As you may have noticed in my feature photo, I have finished my December pillow. As per most of the months, I pulled it out just a few days before the start of the month.

I can’t believe this is the final pillow!

This pillow went as fast as the others. I worked on it a little at a time over 2 days.

For some reason I decided to be a messy stitcher for this one. I didn’t bother taking the time to separate the threads ahead of time or put them on floss drops or anything. It was ok. Sometimes you just have to be a messy stitcher. And in a flash it was finished!

I am a little disappointed that the green fabric is upside down. But I think the bows kind of hide that imperfection. And there was a rip on the side where the fabric was supposed to be joined to the cross stitch fabric. I had to stitch that up before getting started. But it is finished and I am so happy !

My monthly pillows are now all finished and I can pull them out each month knowing that I won’t have to stitch any of them up before displaying them. They have been in my stash for a lot of years and it feels great to get this project out of my WIP pile. The patterns are from Pine Mountain Designs and are no longer available. Though you may be able to find them on a secondary market.

So what else have I been up to? Well, I had put my Ocean Pearl piece in for framing to see how the framer would do with framing needlework. You know I have been on the hunt for a new framer or framing service.

It took me a while to decide on a frame for this one. I ended up picking a black frame with some swirls on it. And here it is all framed up.

She turned out beautifully. I am happy with it and have since put another piece in for framing.

Knitting. What is on my knitting needles?

I started the Impulse Buy shawl. The yarn is La Jolla from Baah yarns in color Sleigh Ride. When my Mother in Law was here in October, we visited a yarn shop and both picked up a skein of this beautiful yarn. The colors are so gorgeous and will go with so many tops in my wardrobe.

This pattern is super easy and very relaxing to knit. After the initial cast on and a few rows, it is just a 4 row repeat. I love stitching on this. The yarn is soft and squishy and the pattern is so lovely even though you can see it so well with all of the busy colors. The lace is just on the edges, so I am hoping it will show much more after I finish it and block it.

Now for what I have been stitching on. I added the 5th shop on my Beach Boardwalk series.

The Souvenir shop is the latest shop and it is so cute with the sand castle on top of the shop. I am really loving this series and will be sad when it ends. Just 2 more shops left. I received a shipping notice yesterday that my next shop is on the way. Can’t wait to get it and add it to my Boardwalk. Patterns are from Country Cottage Needleworks and I am stitching on 16ct Aida Friendship Greene from Fabrics by Steph.

I also pulled Rosamund out and gave her some love.

Oh how I have missed stitching on her. She is so beautiful!

I am loving every stitch on her.

And here is where I stopped with her. I put her away to stitch on the Boardwalk. I’m not sure if she will get worked on again this year, but I am definitely planning on finishing her next year. The pattern is Rosamund from Mirabilia. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Salem from Fiberlicious Yummy Fibers.

So that is some of what I have been up to. I had started making my Christmas Cards about a month ago and I need to get back to that and get them finished. I also want to decorate for Christmas this weekend. Busy, busy time of year. Trying to balance it all and keep up with everything has been an issue for me the last few months, but I am doing what I can, when I can. How about you? What have you been up to? I hope you are getting some stitching in and taking some time for you. Take care and Happy Stitching.

Stitchy Hugs,

ginny

What I Have Been Stitching
Bella Filipina Designs · cross stitch · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mermaids · Mystery Stitch A Long · Stitch A Long

What I Have Been Stitching

My Time Stitching6 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! How are you doing? My mind has been heavy with thoughts and so I dive into stitching. So let’s get started on trying to catch up with what I have been stitching on.

A couple of months ago I started on a project for my Daughter In Law for her birthday in October.

She is a Taylor Swift fan and I knew she would love this. The pattern is from Frizzy Lizzie Stitches and it is so cute!

Can you name all of the songs mentioned in this stitch? Fabric is 16ct Aida Pixie Pink from Fabrics By Steph. I have not tried framing something on my own, so I decided to make it into a pillow.

It made a really cute pillow and my Daughter in Law loved it. I am hoping to make another one for myself someday.

Next I pulled out this WIP and gave it some love.

This one is Rainbow Dice from Rack and Pinion. Blocks of color are really not my thing so this one is a bit boring for me. I am making it for my son, so I will eventually get it finished.

Over the summer I found a seller that makes Floss Buddy Flips that I have fallen in love with.

They come in different sizes depending on how many floss bobbins will fit in them. Each Flip has a vinyl pocket on the back for holding a pattern or extra floss or whatever you want to put in there.

I usually use plastic bobbin boxes to hold the bobbins for each project or 2 projects in a box. I end up having a stack or bag full of little bobbin boxes for projects. Using the Flips I can put them right into the project bag with my pattern, beads, specialty threads and treasures. If you are a bobbin user, these are great. They hold my acrylic bobbins as well as the paper bobbins. They are well made and are sold on Etsy from Bagzplus.

The next project I worked on was the Mugshot Villains SAL from AbbieSue Designs.

I started on the blocks about a week before the SAL started and didn’t get very far.

I figured the first row was a good start for the first few villains. Snow White’s Evil Queen was the first Villian that came out on October 23.

This one took way longer than I thought it would. I am stitching on Aida, and there are so many fractionals! And from what I hear, there are lots of fractional stitches in all of them. So I will probably not be keeping up with this one. Especially since there have been 2 more releases since this one that I have not started on. A villain comes out every week for the most part. But it will be awesome when it is finished. I am stitching on 16ct Aida Masquerade from Picture This Plus.

Another SAL that I have started on is Mermaids of the Seasons from Bella Filipina Designs and Fiberlicious Yummy Fabrics. I mentioned this one in a previous post and was afraid that my fabric and embellishments would not arrive in time for the start on September 15. But they did arrive the day before the release date.

So, I was all ready to start on the 15th. The Spring Mermaid came out first and she is a beauty! I started stitching the border on the called for fabric shown above, but the gray was not showing up well. I wasn’t happy with it. So, I switched to one of my standby fabrics from Those Missing Stitches and that worked out so much better.

The colors really look lovely on this fabric.

Spring Mermaid was such a sweet stitch! I will save the beading for the end. Summer Mermaid came out on October 15 and she is also a beautiful one in pink.

And here they are together.

I can’t wait to see which mermaid comes out next week! The fabric is 16ct Aida Adventurous Alice from Those Missing Stitches.

Still trying to get caught up on my projects both here and in stitching them. I think I have made this post long enough. So come back to see what else I am stitching on and what is on my knitting needles. What are you stitching on these days?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

September Is For Stitching
Bella Filipina Designs · Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Halloween · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mermaids · Mystery Stitch A Long · Stitch A Long · WIP

September Is For Stitching

My Time Stitching5 Comments

Hello blogging friends! Well, another month has come and gone in the blink of an eye, it seems. The end of August marks the end of summer for some. As I look out my craft room window, several trees already have some red and orange and yellow leaves already. How can that be? I want more summer. And where I am I will be getting just that with temps in the 90’s this weekend and next week. I will be sure to enjoy those last few days of summer.

August was a very busy stitchy month for me and I am hoping that September will be also. So let’s get right into what I have been stitching on.

First, you probably noticed in my header photo, I stitched up my September pillow. I pulled it out just a few days ago.

With this pillow, I had to stitch quite a bit in hand because I just couldn’t get my hope close enough to the edge and get it taut.

I stitched the entire ruler in hand and I have to admit, I did enjoy getting those stitches done in half the time. Especially since I finished ruler and went to put in the 1/8″ marks and made each 1/2″ section 3 stitches wide instead of 4. I am blaming it on paying too much attention to flosstube 😉 I don’t think that I would stitch in hand on Aida since most Aida is a bit stiff. But since this Tula fabric was quite soft, I really did enjoy stitching in hand.

So happy to have another pillow finished. My October and November pillows have been finished in previous years, so only 1 more pillow to go and this series will be totally finished and out of the WIP pile. Right now the plan is not to wait until November 28 to work on the December pillow, but we will see. These pillows are from Pine Mountain Designs and the series is called All Tied Up. They are from around 2007, so I don’t think that they are still available, but you may be able to find them on the secondary market.

Next up is the Greenhouse of Oddities.

I could not put this project down. It was such a joy watching each item appear. In the left of side of the Greenhouse is George Washington Carver who helped so many farmers with how to manage their soil to get better crops. I also found out that he dabbled in Cross Stitch, so he was my choice to add to the Greenhouse. The other choice was Charles Darwin, who was also a great biologist, with his Theory of Evolution. I am stitching this one on 16ct Aida in color Rugged Rochester from Those Missing Stitches. I think the stitching looks perfect on this fabric.

This is where I was just after the 11th and final planting section was released. I am so proud of myself for almost getting this one caught up. Especially since I started this one with the 6th section. Like I said, I couldn’t put it down and stitched almost exclusively on it until it was finished.

This is the finish. The last section, the Exploding Tree, was a beast! So much confetti stitching, but the end result is beautiful. This entire piece took me 6 weeks to stitch. That is how good it is. I will note: To the right of the exploding tree there is a space where I had forgotten to stitch one of the seed pods before taking this photo. I did go back and add it, and forgot to take an updated picture. But it is still beautiful and I am so happy with this amazing piece. The pattern is from Lola Crow Cross Stitch.

I also started the Halloween project that I mentioned in my last post.

This is a SAL with Nichol Sophr on her flosstube channel. She has chosen the pattern Flying Lesson by Silver Creek Samplers. She will do a weekly live SAL on her youtube channel. She has broken the pattern down into 4 sections, 1 section per week. Then on the 5th week she will have a finishing video. We are currently on week 3 and this is how far I have gotten after week 2.

I am doing a conversion of this pattern that Nichol had shown on her Facebook page. I am using DMC floss and a gold Krenik. The fabric is 16ct Aida in the color Gina from Fabrics by Steph. This is a cute little stitch and I have plans to finish the same way Nichol will, using a Chantelle 141 wooden sign, which I still need to order. I also have a plans to add an additional stitched piece to this display. Hopefully I can get it all finished before Halloween rolls around.

And the last project that I stitched on is the Beach Boardwalk Surf Shop from Country Cottage Needleworks.

I love working on this piece. I am doing all of the shops as one long piece-it is a Boardwalk after all 😉

And here is where I left it this morning.

I am so excited to see my second shop next to my first shop! So cute! I already have the third shop in my possession and I hope to start adding it as soon as I finish up the Surf Shop. The fabric I am stitching on is 16ct Aida in color Friendship Greene from Fabrics by Steph.

Now to a project that I am planning on starting in September. It is the Bella Filipina/Fiberlicious Yummy Fabrics collaberation SAL. This is the sneak peek picture that was put out by them.

Mermaids of the Seasons! 4 mermaids on one piece of fabric dyed by Fiberlicious Yummy Fabrics. I have ordered everything and fingers crossed all will arrive before the September 15th start.

Here are all of the flosses that are used in the project! All of those beautiful colors! I can’t wait to see what the first mermaid is. I ordered the called for fabric from Fiberlicious Yummy fabrics, but I have some back-ups just in case it doesn’t arrive in time or it’s not quite right for me.

A couple of beautiful blue fabrics that could be perfect for any mermaid 😉 These fabrics are from Those Missing Stitches. She is a new fabric dyer and her fabrics are beautiful and her turn around is pretty quick, too. You can check out her Etsy shop here.

So, that is what I have been up to in August. Lots of stitching and I hope to get a lot of stitching done in September also. What are your plans for September?

Happy Stitching!

ginny

Back To Blossom
cross stitch · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Mirabilia · Tiny Modernist · Uncategorized

Back To Blossom

My Time Stitching4 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! I finished part 1 of the Ocean Pearl SAL from the Tiny Modernist.

I can’t wait for part 2 to come out. This is such a fun stitch. I am using all of the suggested overdyed flosses for this one and I like how it is stitching up. The DMC equivalents are also provided. The fabric is 16ct aida Cascade (retired color) from Fabrics by Steph.

After finishing Ocean Pearl, I knew I had to pull Blossom out. I have been wanting to get back to her the last few months. She is from Mirabilia and she is just the sweetest!

I haven’t stitched on her in almost a year and was so excited to pull her out. I have been looking forward to stitching all of her beautiful colors. I actually stitched on this for a couple of nights before taking this photo, so I don’t have picture of where I was when I put her down almost a year ago.

My photos really do not do her any justice at all. Her colors are so beautiful, bright and cheery. Perfect for getting into the Spring mood even when the weather outside is not saying Spring.

Just look at those colors! So pretty.

So that is where I am with her as of last night. I am stitching her on 16ct aida Busy Izzy from Fabrics By Steph. This fabric has many of the same colors as in Blossom, but much paler, so she really pops on this fabric. I think I made the perfect fabric choice for this one.

I am in desperate need of some new scroll frames. If you use a scroll frame that you love, I would love to hear about it. Let me know in the comments. I would also love to know what you are working on this week.

Happy Stitching!

ginny