Tag: new stash

Near To a Finish and Some New Stash!
cross stitch · Knitting · Mirabilia · New stash! · Uncategorized · yarn

Near To a Finish and Some New Stash!

My Time Stitching36 Comments

It’s been a busy couple of weeks.  And I have been working pretty hard on Aphrodite.  Her hair is amazing, but is taking me so long to finish!

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Just look at that gorgeous hair!  There are many gorgeous colors in that hair.  I’ve worked on it the last 2 nights and I am hoping to finish that hair tonight and get to the backstitching and hopefully to adding some beads!  She is going to be Fabulous!!

So this last weekend, hubby and I took a day trip to Port Huron in Michigan.  We went to a craft place that I have been wanting to visit for years!!!  Mary Maxim.  Have you ever received one of their catalogs in the mail?  I have, for so many years.  And finally, I went to see the store.  Love their sign out front.

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Isn’t that just the coolest sculpture to hold their sign?  Love it! I spent quite a bit of time in there.  Looking at yarn and afghan and baby blanket kits.  I couldn’t decide what to get! Lots of other craft items there, too.  But I was obsessed with all the yarn 😉

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Look at that long aisle of yarn!!  So many skeins to feel and squeeze and so many colors!  This is what I actually ended up getting:

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2 skeins of a scarf yarn (yes I am addicted to scarf yarn) that I have never tried before.  They will be fun to knit.  A skein of Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball and pattern.  Maybe I can actually knit this one up since I am still at a stand still with the other 2 shawls I started.  The Knit Pink book really caught my eye 😉  It is full of fabulous patterns (yes in pink) and I fell in love with a knitted  afghan that I want to make for my younger son and his girlfriend for X-mas.  I couldn’t find a tweed yarn at Mary Maxim, so I ordered some this morning from LoveKnitting.  I also LOVE the scarf on the cover, but can’t find the yarn called for…yet 🙂 I think it is an Italian yarn. But if I can’t find it,  it is a bamboo yarn, so I may find something else I like.

I also found some scrapbook paper and a small bobbin box for my cross stitch threads.  Can’t seem to find the little boxes at the craft stores anymore.

After leaving Mary Maxim, hubby took me to Fort Gratiot, where I saw my very first Lighthouse, Ft. Gratiot Light.  It is actually the oldest lighthouse in Michigan, built in 1829 and stands 86 feet tall.

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The light was automated in 1933 and still guides ships today on Lake Huron into the St. Clair River.

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Beautiful Lake Huron.  This was on Saturday, and the temperature was a muggy 98 degrees.  There were lots of boats on the lake and the beaches were packed.

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This is the St. Clair River.  The bluest, most beautiful water I have ever seen!  It actually took my breath away.  This river flows under the the bridge from Michigan to Canada, rightfully called the Bluewater Bridge.

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My sweet husband.  Posing in front of the beautiful blue waters and Bluewater Bridge.

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Just a stone’s throw away from our neighbors in Canada.  I love this photo.

So, if you are still with me, thank you for re-living my weekend to Port Huron.   I hope I haven’t bored you.  It was a wonderful day and I have some great memories and some fun new stash.  So now I am going to go work on Aphrodite and hopefully have a finish to show you next time.  What are stitching today?

So Much Yellow!
cross stitch · Knitting · Mirabilia · New stash! · Uncategorized · yarn

So Much Yellow!

My Time Stitching16 Comments

Hello friends.  I hope that your New Year is going well.  I can’t believe that we are already over half way into January!  I have a funny feeling the rest of the year will fly by also.  So, here is to taking one day at a time and enjoying each day doing whatever makes us happy.

So…what have I been up to? Well, I am still stitching on Mirabilia’s  Ella, the Frog Princess  and trying not to let all the yellow get me down! Here she is as I left her last night:

Ella progress

As you can tell from the photo, I have a long way to go. I am trying not to let that sea of yellow get the best of me.  Thankfully I have some pretty flowers to give me a boost of color when I get too bored of the yellow.  I have been overly tired lately, so the progress has been slow.  But I am still enjoying her, so far.

A few weekends ago, I found a couple of knitting shops that I had never been to.  Here is what I added to my stash 😉

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Yarn and needles to knit a pretty little shoulder shawl from the book shown above.  Forgot to take a photo of the actual shawl.  But I will when I start it.  I also bought my first Addi needles.  I have heard they are nice, but have never tried them before.  I am not a fan of circular needles, but this pattern called for circulars, in a size I knew I didn’t have.  So I will let you know how I like them when I get to knitting on them.

And from the other shop that I visited, I found this:

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This shawl was actually done up in the store and I fell in love with it immediately.  The yarn it calls for is Saki, a hand dyed yarn by Prism.  The color I chose is Portofino and I can’t wait to see how it knits up.  I have actually started it and this is where I left off with this one:

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I started with 11 stitches and increased up to 161 stitches in just that little bit!  It is full of pattern and the last row that I did, I ended up with too many stitches, so had to knit it back 2 rows.  I have put the purl row back in, but was a little afraid to pick it back up for fear of making another mistake.  I have been too tired lately and I know better than to tackle a pattern when my brain is not up full speed.  I am loving how the colors are knitting up  already.

So, that is what I have been up to this month.  What are you working on?

Afghans · Craft projects · Crochet · cross stitch · knitted scarves · Mirabilia · New stash!

Crafty Stuff

My Time Stitching27 Comments

Yesterday I told you I would post my purchase from my weekend get-away.  So here goes:WIN_20151027_160803

These fun things ended up in my bag from Stitches N Things.  The newest Mirabilis pattern, Twin Mermaids and the bead pack.  No plans to start this right away, but just had to have it.  It’s 2 mermaids! And some threads and a horn book for an upcoming project.

This past weekend hubby and I spent the weekend in Frankenmuth, MI for our anniversary and he spoiled me wonderfully.  We stopped at one of my favorite shops there.  Rapunzel’s Yarn and Boutique, where I picked up this:

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I didn’t get a picture of the yarn hank before I tore it all apart.  I forgot to have them wind it for me, so ended up spending the whole trip home trying to detangle it.  But as you can see, I started knitting a scarf already.  The yarn is so awesome; lots of fun fibers and textures all in one skein!  The yarn is Alp Premier from Feza.   It was quite an expensive hank, but like I said, hubby spoiled me.  So I can’t let this yarn just sit around.  I will work on it in between everything else.  And if you click on the picture, you will see those cool looking knitting needles I picked up.  I had planned on starting this on the car ride home, and needed a pair of needles.  These are from Knit Picks.  Very pretty, made of wood, with very sharp points.  They are actually very nice to knit with.  I am glad I picked them up.

I am also still crocheting on my Spice of Life blanket.  I have 4 more rows to go before I start the border.

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This blanket has been keeping me warm the last couple of days while I crochet on it.  I am really liking it and am hoping the border will not give me any problems so I can get it finished.

We stopped at a bead shop while in Frankenmuth.  Boy was I overwhelmed!  I haven’t taken up beading yet.  Not sure I ever will, but I like looking at all the beautiful beads and charms.  Bead Haven was the largest bead shop I had ever been in and if I were going to shop that day for a project, I wouldn’t have known where to begin.  Hubby found a rack in a corner of the store that had some hand made knitted items and he purchased this beautiful hat for me.

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I love it!  It’s a pinky mauve color and fits me perfectly!  I can’t wait for a little bit cooler weather so I can wear it.  Someone did a wonderful job knitting it and lining and adding beads and fibers to the sweet knitted flower.

Dear husband bought me this awesome bag to carry around while shopping for the weekend.

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It is a very nice bag and held all the little things we picked up over the weekend.  Right now it is holding my scarf project and it’s perfect.

And for my most favorite purchase of the weekend… Hubby bought me this as an anniversary present from a wonderful shop called The Enchanted Garden.

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She is a beauty and I love her!  She is 26″ tall and gorgeous!  So I had a wonderful weekend and was spoiled to the max.  So now I am off to crochet a bit and see if I can get those last few rows finished.

What are you crafting on today?

Afghans · Cross Stitch Patterns · Mirabilia · New stash! · Passione Ricamo SAL · snowmen · WIP

I Am Making Stitchy Progress, and Adding More!

My Time Stitching21 Comments

I can’t believe it is already half way through January 2015!  But so far I am doing well with my stitchy goals to work on finishing projects and keeping up with another.  I just finished section 7 of the Passione Ricamo SAL #4.

SAL #4 section 7 completed

I am really itching to see the mermaid appear on this one.  The next section is due out on January 26, so I have some time to stitch on another project I have been working on:

Autumn Snowman updateAutumn Snowman!  As you can see, I am getting really close to a finish here.  I will pick him up tonight and work on him until he is finished.  Hopefully soon.

Last weekend I visited my favorite Needlework Shop, Stitches N Things.  I belong to the stitchy club there and get to have a 25% off shopping spree once during my birthday month.  And since January is my birthday month, I just had to go shop.  And boy did I shop.  Here is what I actually brought home:

Birthday shopping spreeLots of awesome goodies: Nora Corbett’s Fairie Winter Dream ,even though I have it in magazine version.   The magazine pattern is a color pattern, which I am not fond of.  I also picked up 2 more of the little witches, Ana and Mari. And the main reason for visiting the shop and using my birthday discount was for Mirabilia’s Christmas In London and the bead pack.  This is a gorgeous, gorgeous pattern and I can’t wait to stitch it.  I ordered a piece of 16ct White Aida to stitch her on.  The latest edition of Stoney Creek magazine called to me because of a particular pattern that caught my eye while flipping through it.

Snow Friends afghan project

The Snow Friends Collectors’ Series Afghan.  I am a sucker for snowmen and I have been thinking about doing an afghan.  I love working on an afghan during the winter months.  Keeps me warm while I stitch away. So after I checked out at the LNS, and after ordering a bunch more stitchy stuffs (with birthday discout 🙂 ) I headed over to Michael’s to pick up the floss.  And to my surprise, found the required afghan there also.  It was about 1/2 of the cost of what the magazine wanted and I had a $5 off coupon so that made it even better. It looks like a nice, warm afghan, too.   I thought that the first 2 blocks started with this issue, but when looking at the back of the magazine, I saw it actually started with the Summer issue, so I called my LNS and had them order it for me and it will be added to the bag that will be filled with goodies when all of the things they are ordering for me come in.  It will be like Christmas again!  I’m sure I will be starting this afghan soon, but not until I get a finish 😉

So that is my stitchy updates for now.  I will be back soon with a Snowy finish, I’m sure.  What new project are you itching to start on?

New stash! · Passione Ricamo SAL · Uncategorized

I’m Here! I’m Here!

My Time Stitching21 Comments

I see it’s been a while, but  I am still here and stitching.  Some things happened in my life that caused me to be off-track.  I am trying to get back into things again.  Some good things that happened-My youngest son graduated high school and will be attending college in the fall.  I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but we finally found the perfect college and he is excited about starting.

I have been stitching on a model stitch, so I can’t share that one.  I will say that it is quite involved and is coming out beautifully.  I have been able to add a few stitches to the Passione Ricamo Stitch A Long and here is where I am with that one:

Progress on PR SALThis piece is such a joy to stitch on.  It will end up looking very similar to a Round Robin.  You can see it here on Passione Ricamo’s website. It is going to be beautiful when I finish it someday.

I also have some new stash to share.  I visited my LNS yesterday and a few things fell into my bag that was already on hold.  A couple of these I picked up on my last trip, too.

Stash purchasI picked up that last 3 Mira’s released.  And today 2 more witches and a mermaid were released.  I will have to pick them up next time.  I found the Snowglobe mantel piece by Bent Creek.  I picked up the 2nd piece as the shop was out of the 1st and 3rd pieces.  What a cute piece that will be.  And my cute froggy bag.  Love the fabric, was bummed that the bag is flat.  I’m sure I will find some things to put inside, though. Two adorable Christmas patterns by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I have seen both of these in progress on a couple of blogs and I just love the colors! Pink and blue and pink and green, marvelous! And last, Chocolate Monday by Kit & Bixby.  Before I gave up chocolate in February, I was a chocoholic.  This pattern just called out to me.  I love the pink and brown and the font is way cool.

So that is my update for now.  I am off to stitch for a bit.  What new things have you added to your stitching stash?

Angels · Cross Stitch Patterns · Mirabilia · New stash!

I See An Angelic Finish Coming

My Time Stitching11 Comments

After my first finish for 2014, I picked up a WIP that has been around way too long.  At least a few years.  You may remember her; Angel of Grace? Well here is how she looks now:

progress on Angel of GraceI’m getting really close to a finish.  She certainly is a challenge on that fabric.  It is 28 ct Salmon and Gold Linen Banding.  It is the most uneven fabric I have ever worked on.  The pattern is Angel of Grace by Lorri Birmingham Designs.  I am hoping to finish this by the end of the weekend.  I just have her ruffle to finish and some gold stitching on the right of the dress,  then outlining and some charms, buttons and beads.  I am so happy this one is actually coming to a finish.  It is a gift for someone special and I will by happy to finally have it crossed off of my WIP list.

And because I don’t have enough Mira stash, this is what I purchased on Saturday from Stitches N Things:

Biancabella stashThis month is my birthday, so I went on a birthday month shopping spree.  Shown here is the lovely Biancabella and her bead pack and one of two Waterlilies needed.  The other is on backorder.  I love the colors in Biancabella.  I am thinking of adding a snowflake in her hand instead of the apple.  She is my favorite winter colors, so I think a snowflake will be perfect.  Some day I will get to work on her.    I also ordered a couple of patterns that were not in the shop yet.

So now, back to stitching on Angel of Grace.  What WIP have you had in your stash for a very long time?

Fairies · knitted scarves · Knitting · Mermaids · New stash! · Nora Corbett · Uncategorized

Share Day-Knitting, Mermaid, Fairies and Stash

My Time Stitching16 Comments

I’ve been pretty busy lately with all sorts of things.  Let me show you what I have been up to.

Pidge scarf out of bamboo yarn

Up first is a pidge scarf I finished for Sue.  I used Bamboo yarn for the first time and I have to say that I LOVE this yarn!  It is so soft and silky and I think this scarf will be really warm.  I had a little trouble keeping a consistent tension with the yarn being so slippery, but I think it turned out well.  And Sue loves it.

Next up is Emmy.  I picked her up from the framer yesterday and she is just so pretty and sparkly.

Emmy Framed

I had her framed just about identical to Mediterranean.  My plan is to hang them on each side of Enchanted mermaid.  I will be sure to post pictures when they are hung.

I also picked up my Fairy Round Robin from the framer.  In case you don’t know, I had it framed at a frame shop a couple of months ago and the framer did a horrible job.  I sent it back only to get it back just as bad if not worse.  So I took it in to Juanita, my awesome framer for the last 18 years or so, and she fixed it beautifully. No wrinkles, no wavy lines and my beads are not pressed against the glass.  It looks marvelous! You can see the bad frame job here.  Quite a difference between someone who basically used sticky tape and someone who knows what they are doing.  I will never stray from Juanita again.

Fairy RR Fame by Juanita

Thank you, thank you, Juanita.  You are amazing!  Now to find the perfect place to hang this beauty.  While at Stitches N Things picking up my framings yesterday, I had a “bag in the back”.  Things that I have ordered or were back-ordered and came in.  I always seem to have “a bag” there and it’s always fun to see what I have collected.  Here is what was in my bag today:

New stuff

The new note cards with Nora Corbett’s drawings.  The pack on the left is for Johanna.  Stitches N Things was giving away an autographed card with purchase.  I am so geeked to get one.  On the bottom left is the Cauldron fabric for my Halloween project and the button pack is below it. In the middle is Persephone with the last pack of beads that I need for her and one of the waterlilies.  I can’t wait to start her some day.  She is gorgeous!  And on the right is the next Santa’s village with JABCO button and specialty thread for it.  That is another project that I need to start one of these days.

As promised, here is a picture of the bottom portion of the Under The Sea Fabric from Sunny Dyes which I am stitching Siren and the Shipwreck on:

Under the Sea fabricIt’s hand painted and to me, looks like seaweed or plants on the bottom of the ocean floor.  When I first saw it, I knew that Siren just had to be stitched on it.  I will post a progress of Siren in my next post.  That is all of my stitchy news for now.  May your needles glide smoothly and be without frogs 🙂

Joan Elliott Round Robin · New stash! · Uncategorized · WIP

Trip to my LNS

My Time Stitching14 Comments

Hello stitchy friends.  It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted and thought I would share what I have been up to.  The awesome designers out there keep coming up with awesome new patterns, so I have so many projects floating around in my head.  But let me show you what I have been working on:

LavenderYou get just a peek as I am not finished her yet.  She is Joan Elliott’s Lavender and I am stitching her on Karen’s Round Robin. I am currently doing the backstitching (hate it) and then on to the beautiful beads that will really complete it.  I will post a full pic when I finish-hopefully in the next couple of days.

Last night I finally started Passione Ricamo’s Mystery Stitch A Long.  The first block was released on Friday, but I didn’t get my email until late Sunday.  So I sat down last night and measured and counted on my fabric for just the right placement for the start.  Here is what I stitched:

Start of SAL

I know it’s not a lot, but I wanted to get it started.  I always start all of my stitchings in the center.  With the SAL, the first block is in the upper left of the fabric.  So it drove me crazy trying to decide if I wanted 3″ all the way around for framing or 4″.  Or did I want to start in the center and count stitches over to the left side…NO!  So I measured 4″  from the top, and counted stitches from the top center to the left.  I hope I placed the start of my fish in the right spot.  I needed to get some stitches on here so that I can put it on my scroll frame.  My fabric is 26″ wide and I don’t  have a split dowel scroll frame big enough to put it on.  So out to the garage I went to dig out this:

Table Top scroll frameMy table top scroll frame.  I haven’t used this frame in 19 years! And it’s huge!  To give you an idea of how big it is, each of those white tiles are about 8″. The dowels on this frame have a piece of fabric attached that I am supposed to baste my cross stitch fabric to.  That sounds too time consuming, so I am going to tape my fabric to the rods.  I got the idea from Tracy’s blog.      I hope to get it on the frame today and work on it this weekend.  There is not much in the first block of the SAL, so it shouldn’t take me too long.  I hear it’s a mermaid 🙂

And last but not least, I went to my local needlework shop and this is what I picked up:

shopping trip

Yep, all kinds of fun stitchy stuff!  the Rainbow gallery threads and beads for my SAL, Just Nan’s Sirens of the Sea sampler, some threads for the Santa Village piece, a new Halloween project from Lizzie Kate that looks pretty cool.  My friend that went with me wants me to stitch up the Wine piece on the Mushroom 14ct Aida and lastly, the latest issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine.  See that tea pot in the corner?

close up of magazineMy BSF (Best Stitchy Friend) stitched that for the magazine.  She did a great job and I’m so happy she got the cover.  You can see more of her beautiful stitchings and read more about this piece at Elegant Stitches.    That tea pot is on my to do list.  It’s a tea pot (love them) and it’s patriotic.  Oh and you can also see my mermaid scissor fob.  This is my first scissor fob and guess what?  It doesn’t fit on my scissors 😦  I guess I will have to dig up another pair of scissors.  Or better yet, LouAnn at Stitches N Things   showed me a pair of Dovo scissors and OMG they feel like they will cut like buttta!  I’ll have to save up for a pair of those.  I guess they are way better than ginghers.

Wisher, over at Pretty Little Things in a Box, has nominated me for a couple of blog awards that I haven’t gotten around to passing along.  She nominated me for the (online) next door neighbor award.  Isn’t that sweet!  You’ll have to pay her a visit and see what neat stuff she is up to.  So,  I nominate Wisher and everyone else who has visited my blog,  with  the  on-line  next door neighbor award.  Bloggy friends are so wonderful!

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Well, that’s what I have been up.  Hubby bought me some stitchy stuff of  a different kind this past weekend and I will post those next time as well as an update on my cross stitch progress.  Happy stitching!

Hubby's stitching · New stash!

Teaching Hubby to cross stitch

My Time Stitching4 Comments

Good morning on this last day of 2012.  Hubby and I went to Joanne’s yesterday so that I could pick up some floss for some new project starts.  Here is what I bought:

My new stuffLots of floss for Emerald Mermaid and my Pixie afghan.  A new scroll frame because all of mine are so stripped they won’t get tight for me anymore.  And I did not expect to see the new issue of Cross Stitch Collection in but was so excited to see it I grabbed it right up.  Now I have all 6 of Joan Elliott’s Flower fairies.  Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. So hubby bought me lots of nice stitchy stuff.  And…get this….He decided that he wants to learn to cross stitch.  Yep!  All of a sudden, out of the blue.  So here is his new stash:

Banders stashHe decided to start with a bookmark and he found a cute little dragon that he wanted to stitch.  I promised him a Heaven and Earth designed bookmark a few months ago.  I wanted to try a HAED and a good stitching friend suggested I try a bookmark to see if I like stitching over one.  So Hubby picked out a pattern and I have started it.  About 12 stitches.  Hehe.  It is on my list of things to finish for 2013.  Anyway, I think he is tired of waiting and decided to do one himself.  So, he wound all of his floss, I set him up with a box, needle, highlighter, pattern and got him started.  So here he is working on his second cross stitch-I say second because I did teach him years ago and he didn’t like it.

Bander cross stitching

He is doing really good.  He says he can’t watch tv and stitch.  I’m sure he will get the hang of that if he continues on.  Here is his progress so far:

Bandes progress

I think he is doing great.  I can see us…sitting in our side by side recliners, stitching the nights away.  Ahhhh, peaceful.

Since this is my last post of 2012, I want to thank you for visiting me this year to see what I have been up to.  May the New Year bring you Health, Happiness and Love.

Ginny

New stash!

What do you think?

My Time Stitching5 Comments

So I went to my LNS this past weekend for some retail therapy.  I had wanted to pick up a few patterns for some up-coming round robins and a couple of other patterns I have been wanting.  The 2 new fairies from Nora Corbett were not in and neither was the new Santa.   So here is what I did pick up:

Donner, to add to my Reindeer collection-I think I have 5 now.  Lady Alexandra and 16 count “Dirty Aida” to do her on.  I also picked up the fabric for Spring Angel.  I already had the pattern in my collection and was inspired to get her going by Catherine.  You can see her Spring start here. So I went to work on deciding on a fabric.  I really wanted a hand dyed since I see them all over the blog world and they are gorgeous.  But there were only 2 in 16 ct. aida that would be a possibility, but no-go.  So I finally decided on  Sea Spray 16 ct. aida which is actually  little brighter blue than how it looks in the photo  above.  But when I left the store, I started second guessing myself and thought I should have gone with what the pattern called for, Twilight Blue, which is what I did my Summer Angel in. So what do you think?  Sea Spray or Twilight Blue?  Decisions, decisions…I have time as I probably won’t start her right away.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you would choose.  Also, is there anyone else out there that uses 16 ct. aida??