Tag: Fox & Rabbit

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

Fox And Rabbit MSAL
cross stitch · Fox and Rabbit · Hand Dyed Fabrics · mystery sampler

Fox And Rabbit MSAL

My Time Stitching12 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! It is snowing where I am, so I have now had to accept that Winter is definitely here, even though the calendar says it is Fall. It is beautiful, looking out from my craft room window. And I am happy that I don’t have anywhere to go. I am also thankful not to be on the west side of my state or in Buffalo, New York right now. I think that is where they are getting blasted with a lot of snow and snow so hard that visibility is almost nil.

So I wanted to talk a little about the Fox & Rabbit Mystery Stitch A Long. First I have to say that this company is so awesome. They have been giving us FREE Mystery SAL’s for the last 6 years! The first one was in 2017 and that was my very first sampler that I ever stitched. I loved every minute of that stitch. It hangs in my craft room so I can see it whenever I am in my happy place 🙂

The Samplers from 2017-2021 are available for purchase on the Fox & Rabbit website. The current 2022 MSAL is available for FREE at least until the end of the year. So if you are interested in stitching the 2022 sampler, you can still download all of the sections through November for FREE and the December section will be available December 1. With these samplers, you choose the fabric and the threads you want to stitch with. It can be whatever you want it to be. I have stitched all but 2 of the samplers and they are well written and so beautiful. You can join their facebook group and see all of the beautiful fabrics and threads chosen by so many people from around the world. I can’t say enough how thankful I am for this company and their generosity with their beautiful designs.

As you know, I have been stitching on the 2022 MSAL even though I procrastinated when it first came out in January. I am so happy that I decided to add this project to my list this year and am over the moon happy that I was able to get it all caught up a couple of months ago. Which brings me to where I am now with the project.

This section was actually stitched sideways on my scroll frame and I was worried that my DMC variegated floss would not look nice, but I love the way it turned out. I did manipulate the colors where I wanted, like in the vase. I purposely made the vase and leaves darker, with the thought that I wanted the flower more red.

This is my finished piece so far. It is a very large piece, too. And I am so happy with how it has turned out. So now I wait to see what December will bring to finish off this gorgeous design. Many thanks again to Brendan at Fox & Rabbit for this beautiful and generous design. For the details; the fabric is 16ct Aida Winter Wishes from Fabrics By Stephanie. The floss is DMC 115 for most of the project with DMC 902 for backstitching the letters.

So that is what I have been up to. For now I will leave you with a picture of the view out my craft room window and wonder what are you stitching on?

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

I Knitted A Hat!
cross stitch · Fox and Rabbit · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted hat · Knitting · mystery sampler

I Knitted A Hat!

My Time Stitching10 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! Happy Veteran’s Day to all the Veteran’s out there and thank you so much for your service. I am grateful to all that served and to those that serve today.

So winter will be here soon. Probably much quicker than I want it to be. I have a lot of hat patterns in my Ravelry that I want to make and plenty of yarn, too. My stash is way out of control and I am starting to feel really guilty about it. So, I thought that making hats would be a great way to knock out some skeins. I purchased a kit from Speckled Finch Studios last year. Actually I bought several kits from her. I do love her yarns. Anyway, I pulled out a kit that contained a skein of Cozy Worsted in the color Sangria and The Dragon’s Gate Hat pattern by Gamer Babe Knits.

Casting this on was heavenly! The yarn is so soft, squishy and bouncy.

I can’t tell you the last time I knitted some ribbing. It was actually relaxing and rhythmic.

The chain link looking cable is so easy. I didn’t even have to use a cable. Just slipped the stitches off and let them hang out there. The yarn just stayed in place. You can’t really see much of the cable here, but it is there. Blocking will definitely help open those stitches.

Then it was time for the dreaded Double Pointed needles. I must say that I really didn’t mind them so much for this pattern. The thing that throws me off is when there is a pattern to knit and some stitches are on one needles and the rest of the pattern is on the next needle. But I am getting better at knitting with the Double Pointed Needles. I’m still not a fan of them, but they are needed sometimes. Like the crown of a hat.

And in just a few days of knitting off and on, I have a finished hat. Complete with a really cute tie in Pom that also came with the kit. I was confused as to which size hat to knit from this pattern and chose the size 4, which the designer also knit for the photo. I think my hat is a little smaller than I wanted. It is supposed to be an adult sized hat. I did have quite a bit of yarn left over, so next time I will go up a couple of sizes. My chain link cable stitches are not very noticeable, so I will block it a bit in order to open up those stitches. But all in all, it is a cute hat and I would definitely make it again. The pattern is really easy to knit and easy to remember as you knit along. It is available on Ravelry, too.

Now for my cross stitch followers…I promise you that I have been cross stitching, too. I was working on Rosamund for a little bit, then switched to the Fox & Rabbit MSAL 2022. I am so proud of myself for getting all caught up on this project after starting it so late. And those borders were so long! I just started working on the November section.

Sorry about the lighting on this one. I had trouble getting a good picture of it this morning. I am hoping to get this section finished before the December section comes out. I am assuming that there will be some kind of design around the border, and that will take some time. This piece is quite large, so adding stitching around the border will not be a quick section I am guessing. I am using DMC 115 with a darker solid color (DMC 902 I think) for outlining the lettering. The fabric is 16ct Aida Winter Wishes from Fabrics By Stephanie

That is what has been on my knitting needles and my sewing needle so far 😉 I have visions of starting new projects!! What is on your needles?

Happy Stitching!

Ginny