Knitting, Cross Stitch and Vampire Diaries

August 24, 2020 My Time Stitching12 Comments

Hi! How are you? Are you still hunkered down? Are you finding things to keep you busy? For me, the answer to both questions is Yes. I have submerged myself into crafting and watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix. I have been enjoying the series immensely and will be sad when I am finished. Which will be pretty soon, as I am on the last season. So I think I slowed down on the viewing, trying to drag it out as long as I possible can. So what have I been working on while I have been getting my Vampire fix?

Well, I finished stitching Lady Mirabilia. She turned out beautifully!

Just look at all of those sweet, sparkly beads!!

I love that the designer chose this design to commemorate her 25 years of designing Mirabilia designs.

I have pulled another WIP to work on, but haven’t stitched on it too much. I will post more about it in my next post.

I have done quite a bit of knitting. So much so, that my tennis elbow has flared up. So I have been wearing my brace and trying not to knit so much at one time. On July 28, I joined the Mermaids in the Waves shawl. It has mermaid in the title; I just had to 🙂

For this shawl, I decided on yarns from AJHC Wools. I chose colors Min and Blushing Bride (the variegated) both in Basic sock. I had it in my mind to do a Coral mermaid, and these colors are perfect.

I loved knitting this shawl so much. It took me 17 days, in between another knitting project. I will get to that one in a minute. It still needs blocking and I still have to figure out how to wear it, but I love it. I think I may need a shawl cuff. We’ll see. The pattern is by Softyarn Designs and is available on Ravelry.

So the other knitting project I started is the Sharon Show MKAL by Casapinka that started on August 7. I chose yarn from Miss Babs in some pretty pastel colors.

The yarn is Caroline, and I have mixed feelings about it so far. It has knitted up nicely, but so far 3 of the 4 balls have been a mess, coming out in hunks from the center. I have wound many, many cakes of yarn and this is the first time I have had this happen. That is why I am leaning towards it being the yarns fault 😉 This yarn creates some little fuzz balls that attach and tangle the yarn! How in the heck does that happen? And I have found some places where the double strand is broken 😦 So, I will see how this ends up. For now I will keep knitting.

I am now working on clue 3 and I will try to get a better picture when I am finished. I am really enjoying the knitting on this one and so far, I have been able to watch the Vampires while knitting without any trouble.

Did you notice the knitting bag in my photo above? I had Clevergirl Designs make it to match my June project bag. It is so cute and was just perfect for the mermaid KAL. And here is my July Project Bag. My special order knitting bag arrived with it.

July Project bag and Mermaid knitting bag

Another mermaid project bag! Squee!! I forgot to get a picture of the back of it. But it has lots of cute mermaids on it. I will have to get a picture for next time. I received my August project bag on Friday. A sweet Summer theme!

The back has the same fabric as the top. It is so cute and perfect for summer. I wonder what project I will put inside….

So this post has taken me many hours to do. WordPress has changed their format again, and I have no idea what I am doing. All these blocks keep popping up and boxes with a plus sign in them. I was just getting used to the old way. I really want the old way back. I do not like this block thing at all. But I got throughit with most of my now gray hair in tact. I had better hurry up and hit publish before I lose it all.

So that is what I have been up to. What have you been doing the last month and a half?

Bella Filipina Designs · cross stitch · Cross Stitch Patterns · Elegant Ladies · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mermaids · Project Bags · Storage · storage bags · WIP

Still At Home, Still Crafting

July 6, 2020July 6, 2020 My Time Stitching12 Comments

It’s been almost 4 months at home during this Pandemic. I am sad, frustrated, depressed, angry and lost. I am sad for all of those that have been sick with this virus and for those that have lost loved ones. I am frustrated and depressed because I can’t go out and do the things I used to do or go to the places I used to go. And I am angry because the numbers of cases are going up again and hospitals are reaching capacity in some states. I cry watching the news, wishing I could magically make everything ok. And I have periods where I just don’t want to do anything. My husband is going back to work tomorrow, and I am really sad about this. I will miss him being home and I worry about him being in a place where the risk goes up. So I turn to my crafting to take my mind off of things. So, what exactly have I been up to?

First, I want to talk about a product that I purchased on-line a month or so ago from a yarn shop. I saw this product last summer at a fiber fest, but chose to spend my money on yarn at the time. But it has been in the back of my mind as a great organizational piece. How do you store your circular needles? This is what I decided to use:

Sorry about the poor photo. It was the best I could get while it was empty. It is hand made by Wonderfully Made and I thought it was a great idea. So as soon as it arrived, I started pulling my needles out of their original packages and threading them onto the holder.

Now I am not so sure. Now I will have to put the needles in a needle gauge to find the size I want (which was included with this holder) and will have to measure to see how long they are. And I always forget if I am supposed to measure from tip to tip or just the cable. I think it was easier to flip through the packages in my accordion needle holder to find what I wanted. It looks nice and I love the concept. Maybe in time I will forget all of the packages. What do you think?

In my last post, I forgot to post my May project bag. It took 19 days to get to me by mail and from a driving distance of about 20 minutes. It really took the scenic route.

This is the front. I love the pink and yellow watercolor top of this one. And the striped border looks awesome with the Spring colors.

Here is the back. Just look at all of those pink boots! So fun and totally a surprise. And since then, I have received the June bag. It arrived in record time, getting to me in a day.

I was over the moon when I received this one. It is now my favorite 😉

And here is the back. SO SWEET! Kristine knows me well. And she does an awesome job with all of her project bags. Different shapes and styles for everything you want to store. She is Clevergirl Designs and you can find her on intsagram. Oh, and this bag is already filled with a project gifted to me from a very sweet friend.

I can’t wait to start stitching this beauty. I still need to find a fabric. So for now, I am still stitching on Lady Mirabilia and here is how she looks this morning.

She is getting there. She has been a joy to stitch and I find myself relaxing while stitching on her. Unlike my knitting project…

I pulled out the Wingspan yesterday and knitted 3 rows and was so done. This pattern is not hard, just requires my complete attention and I feel like I hold my breath and really tense up during every row. Ugh! But it is my only knitting project on needles right now and I really would love to get it finished. A few rows every day 😉 So far, I am very proud of myself that I have not started anything new. Still trying to get WIP’s finished.

I spent last weekend getting some of this and that done. And I crossed 2 bigger projects off of my to do list. I finally redid all of my cross stitch files. They were still mostly in boxes from when we remodeled the basement. They all wouldn’t fit in the 2 filing drawers I had planned, so they went into the old file cabinet and with a few more files added.

It took 2 1/2 drawers, but they are like I want them. And all patterns are filed. Woo Hoo!

I also reorganized most of my yarn. I put a lot of it in the 2 file drawers that would not hold all of my cross stitch files. the top drawer is all AJHC Wools yarn. Just love her yarn. The 2nd drawer is mostly 2 skein project yarns. It will be fun to rummage through the drawers when I want to start a new project.

My ottoman is also home to some pretty yarn, Mostly one skeiners.

So that is what I have been up to. Trying to keep myself a little busy and away from the tv, except to watch Vampire Diaries. How are you spending your time these days?

cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted cowl · Knitted Shawl · Mirabilia · scrapbooking · yarn

Getting Things Done

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 My Time Stitching9 Comments

Hello blogging friends. It has been a little bit since I last was on WordPress. Today is day 98 of our stay at home. The days have all been running together and here it is mid June. So much has been happening in the world, and we are all in it together so I think that makes it more relatable. There are days that I don’t do much except watch the news and cry. Some days I wander from this thing to that thing and feel like I haven’t accomplished anything. And some days I immerse myself into my crafting. So, what have I been crafting? Grab your favorite beverage and get comfy. This may be a long post 😉

I have a couple of finishes. First up is the Wilma Cowl. I finished it. I can’t say I am thrilled about it, but it is finished.

It is soft and I assume it will be warm. It may be a gift. We’ll just have to wait and see 😉

Next up is a knitting project I started back in September 2019. The Birds of a Feather Shawl by Andrea Mowry.

I finished it last week. I love how it turned out. So soft and warm and the colors look like candy!

I love the fan lacework in some of the rows. So pretty.

My attempt at modeling it, LOL

The yarn used is AJHC Wools in color Unicorn Magic in both Basic Sock and Nephelai Veil.

I still need to weave in the ends and block it. I hope to do that this weekend. And then it will truly be done.

I have done a lot of scrapbooking and completed a coffee table album of my younger Son’s wedding. It came out really beautiful and I am planning to make another for my new daughter’s parents.

I have also scrapbooked 16 pages so far this month. That means that I have eliminated 8 kits from my kit stash. Yay! That makes 66 pages for the year so far. I am working on conquering all of those kits in my stash. I am making progress!

I have also made a little puppy book for my older son and his girlfriend. They just bought 2 little Havanese puppies and I can’t wait to meet them when we can travel again. I won’t show the book, as I haven’t sent it to them yet, but here are my new grandpuppies!

Butter and Pepper. Are they not just adorable!! I can’t wait to meet them.

I have also made more masks for family and friends that have requested them. I have made about 100 of them and I still have not tired of making them. knowing that they will be making my loved ones feel a little safer about going out. And remember, I wear a mask for you, you wear a mask for me 🙂

That brings me to my current project. A cross stitch project that I started in 2018. I am still working on conquering all of my WIP’s and have been so proud of myself that I have not started a new project yet. This is Lady Mirabilia from Mirabilia. I started her in July of 2018 and had put her away, probably to start a new project. Here is what she looked like when I picked her up last week.

Here is what she looks like as of last night.

I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Banshee Brown, a one of a kind from Fabrics by Stephanie. Today I get to move the scrolls! Woo Hoo. So, that is what I have been up to. Hubby and I also worked in the garage for 3 weekends in a row and finally went through the last of the boxes from when we had to redo the basement last year. We gave away a lot, threw away a lot, and donated even more. We have so much more room out there now. We still have 2 corners to go through and clean up, but we have made great progress. What have you been doing to keep busy these last few months? I’d love to hear about it 🙂

cross stitch · knitted cowl · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mermaids · Mirabilia · Sampler · Shannon Christine designs

Lot’s of Stitching Going On

August 1, 2018August 2, 2018 My Time Stitching16 Comments

Hello my friends! Can you believe that today is the first day of August? Where did June and July go? Oh yeah, I was recovering from knee surgery. Still am, but it is getting better. Today it is 10 weeks since my surgery. Doc says full recovery in 3 months. So in just a few more weeks, we will see where I am. In the meantime, I have been stitching…alot. So grab your favorite beverage, this may be a long one.

First up is the Linen and Threads Mystery Sampler. I finished the June/July section in June and I must say that I am pretty pleased with it.

My fabric is more peach than the photo shows. Just can’t seem to get the color to show. Anyway, the August section came out yesterday and I started it last night. I will update when I get it finished. Next up is the mermaid SAL.

I have finished the June mermaid and the July mermaid as well as all the gold outlines for the future mermaids. This is the Treasures of the Deep SAL by Shannon Christine and can be purchased through Fiberlicious. All of the mermaids and all of the gold sections are minus the beads, which will make them so beautiful and sparkly. I will add them all when I am finished the stitching, probably in January after the last mermaid-my birthday mermaid 😉

Next up is lots of yummy knitting! First we have the Funny Rainbow Cowl that I have been working on since April. It is my car travel project since it is straight knitting with an increase at the end and beginning on the one side.

This cowl is so beautiful and the yarn is so soft. I hope to do more with this yarn in the future. The ball is getting smaller, so hopefully soon I will have a finish. I started this with 3 stitches (I think) and am now over 215. I definitely recommend this yarn if you haven’t tried it. Beware, it does split, but worth the work 😉

Next up is a beautiful shawl-my first. My local yarn shop decided to do a Make A Long and meet once a week through the summer. I have only attended the first week, but am hoping to make it tonight.

The pattern is Sea Grass Shawl by Woolenberry. I am just past the first section of lace pattern, so I can breathe a bit while I do some straight knitting with a some increases. I am enjoying this one and can see more Woolenberry patterns in my future 😉

And the last knitting project is an heirloom baby blanket:

I am taking a class at my local yarn shop for this one that started last week. Not that I need a class, but that was the only way to get the pattern that was created by the teacher. It is beautiful! The yarn I chose is nice to work with, but a bit pricey. This will be an expensive blanket. I will tuck it away for a future granddaughter??? Or keep it as a lapghan for myself 🙂 After all, it is pink and matches my craft room 😉

I have one more project to show…I started another cross stitch. Come on, did you really think I could resist starting another project? Well, I couldn’t, LOL

Sorry about the crooked picture, but I was trying to capture the sparkle of the silver DMC E168 thread. So pretty. She is Mirabilia’s 25th anniversary piece and I just couldn’t resist starting her as soon as I received her. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Custom piece from Hand Dyed by Stephanie. I received this fabric a few years ago and Stephanie called it Banshee Brown. I thought it perfect for Lady Mirabilia.

That is all of my stitching for now. Last weekend hubby and I took a trip to Indiana to the Ft. Wayne Museum of Art to see my favorite photographer’s work. We took a trip to Wisconsin last year to see her show and when I found out it was even closer, I just had to go back.

The photographer is Kirsty Mitchell and her Wonderland series is amazing. If you get the chance to see her work, do it. She also has 5 of her amazing photos on display in Italy. Too far for me to go, but I am so geeked to have gotten to see her show again in Indiana.

So, that is what I have been up to. What are you up to these days? I will leave you with a beautiful sunset hubby and I saw at the beach this last weekend.

Tag: Lady Mirabilia

Knitting, Cross Stitch and Vampire Diaries

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Still At Home, Still Crafting

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Getting Things Done

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Lot’s of Stitching Going On

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