Tag: faith hope love

Catching Up On What I Have Been Stitching
cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Fabric · Fox and Rabbit · Hand Dyed Fabrics

Catching Up On What I Have Been Stitching

My Time Stitching7 Comments

Hello Blogging Friends! So I feel like I am getting a handle on things and thought I would catch you up on what I have been stitching the last few months. Back in March, I made a very small preorder from the long list of wonderful things that came out at the Nashville Market.

Yep, that is all I ordered and it arrived pretty quickly. And I started one of the projects right away!

I was so anxious to start this project even on 30ct linen! I was also on the hunt for the box that she was finished in. The pattern stated it was purchased at Hobby Lobby, but my local Hobby Lobby had never seen it before. I did end up finding someone on Poshmark that was selling it. I was so excited to have found it and it arrived in perfect condition.

It only took me a week to stitch this and stitching on 30ct linen wasn’t too bad. I wouldn’t do it all the time, but for a smaller project like this I would do it again. The pattern is Keeper of Secrets and the fabric is Underwater 30ct linen; both by The Primitive Hare. The Underwater design is printed on the fabric and I believe it was made for this pattern. I really enjoyed stitching this.

I used all of the called for threads and stitched 2 over 2.

I wish I had stitched her more to the left instead of in the middle of the fabric so more of the fabric background would show in the finished piece.

The framer did a very nice job and I am really happy with how it turned out. I don’t have anything in the box yet, but one day it will be filled with some “special secrets”.

I then pulled out the Rainbow Dice piece and stitched on it as much as I could, trying to get it finished.

I was able to get it finished in time for my son’s birthday.

He loves it and is going to try to find a frame he likes and I will get it framed for him. The pattern is from Rack & Pinion on Etsy and the fabric is 16ct Aida Everything Else from Mystic Fabrics.

This next project has been in my stash for a very long, long time. I am talking like 20 years maybe. I purchased it to make for a long time friend, and somehow it got buried in a bin. Her birthday was coming up, so I decided to get it done in time to send it for her birthday.

It was a pretty quick, tiny stitch. I stitched it on 28ct Lugana white 1 over 1. Then I had to fully finish it. That took me about a week so sit down and get to fully finishing it. It is so hard for me to cut into a finished cross stitch. I am always afraid I am going to ruin it. Anyone else feel like that? Anyway, I had put the project on hold for long enough. I needed to get it finished and in the mail to the recipient, so I was finally on a mission.

I think the top of the that wooden box was about 2″ square. So tiny! I finished the stitched piece the best that I could and glued it on top of the box. I have not done very many finishes myself. But I think it turned out pretty good.

I tucked in a pair of earrings in her favorite color.

It has been sent and was received in time for her birthday and she was happy ❤

For my current stitching, I am all caught up with the Fox & Rabbit Mystery SAL, Faith Hope Love.

I can’t believe that this one is over half finished. Just a few more months left to this one. I am stitching it on 18ct Aida white. The blue floss is Mermaid from Forbidden Fiber Co. and the other colors are DMC. I can’t recall the numbers, but if you want to know what they are you can leave a comment or look back at a previous post.

And the last project I will leave you with today is The Deadly Aquarium by Lola Crow Cross Stitch.

I finished Exhibit 10 this week and exhibit 11 comes out today. I am looking forward to seeing what that is and stitching it up. Just 2 more exhibits left after today. I cannot believe this one will be over in just a couple more weeks. The time sure did fly by. I am stitching this one on 16ct Beanstalk from Fiber on a Whim. The fabric is actually a beautiful darker blue, but I have not been able to photograph the true color at all.

So, that is a good chunk of what I have been up to this summer. I do have a few knitting projects to share and a few more cross stitch projects as well as a storage update. They will have to wait for my next post. This one is already a bit long. So, what have you been up to? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear what project you are working on.

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