cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Nora Corbett · Pixie · Uncategorized

Pixie Anne All Framed Up


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I picked this sweet thing up from the framer this last weekend. I was really surprised at how small she is.  I think it is the smallest thing I have ever had framed!   I think the frame is awesome!  A little different than what I have chosen in the past, but I think it really sets Pixie Anne off beautifully.  I can’t wait for hubby to hang her in my craft room tonight.  I am having a problem picking exactly where I want to hang her. I have so much empty wall space to choose from 😉

In case this is your first time seeing her, she is Queen Anne’s Lace by Nora Corbett.  This pattern was in the April issue of Just Cross Stitching Magazine.  I stitched her on 16ct Aida Carmel Macchiato from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie.

Believe it or not, Queen Anne’s Lace was my very first Nora Corbett Pixie that I have stitched.  I don’t know why.  I have just about all of her Pixie patterns, but haven’t stitched any until now.  At one point I was going to stitch 9 of the flower pixies on an afghan.  I have since abandoned that idea since the beads would not be a good idea on a blanket and I just couldn’t stitch a pixie without all the beautiful beads and metallic threads.  I wonder which Nora Corbett Pixie I will stitch next???

Who is your favorite cross stitch designer or what is your favorite subject to stitch?  If you are a knitter or crocheter, what do you most like to stitch?

cross stitch · Mirabilia · Nora Corbett · WIP

My Mira Mystery Start


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So this is my Mira Mystery start.  Not much, but still a start.  I have mixed feelings about this one.  I am stitching this on 16ct Aida Pink Impatiens by Silkweaver.  The color is actually a little darker than my photo, but the stitching colors are pretty accurate.  I am using the called for Specialty threads (Weeks Dye Works and Classic Colorworks)  I am thinking that they may be thinner than DMC because I am not getting good fabric coverage. Any thoughts on this?  Since I have so much $$ invested in this one, I will keep going with it.

So, what are you stitching on today?

cross stitch · Elegant Ladies · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Nora Corbett · Pixie · Romanitc · Uncategorized

She is Pink and She is Finished!


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Isn’t she a beauty!  I finished her last night and couldn’t be more happier with her.  She is Queen Anne’s Lace by Nora Corbett.  She is featured in the current issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine and is a FREE download on their site.  I stitched her on 16ct Aida Carmel Macchiato from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie.  And while the stitching above is more true to the colors, the fabric is a bit washed out.  Below is a better picture of the fabric.

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This picture was taken last night after I finished her.  The first photo I took this morning in natural light.  What a difference.  But I am so excited to have her finished and can’t wait to get her in to be framed.  I am thinking something silver, to match my new craft room (which I love, by the way).  So I stitched a little bit more on Ella last night after finishing Pixie Anne, and here is where I am with her:

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She is coming along, but I am afraid that something else has caught my eye (as if we didn’t think that would happen, sheesh!)

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I was going to wait until this Stitch Along was finished before investing in all the materials and the patterns, but I saw someone on the Wherefore Art Thou Facebook Group stitching it in pink, and that was all she wrote!  The colors looked so lovely on her fabric.  And I knew I had some kind of pink fabric in my stash.  So while out last weekend, I just happen to run into the patterns and couldn’t resist!  And I am going to stitch it in all the specialty hand dyed threads instead of DMC.  As you can see, I picked up sections 1 and 2.  Section 3 will be released on March 31, in Italy, where Nora Corbett will be attending the Casa Cenina shop.  They are probably having a big party to celebrate the beauty who will come to life when the stitching is finished.  Can you guess who it will be?  Once I returned home with pattern and threads, I began the search for the perfect pink fabric.  I had only one that I thought would compliment the lovely floss colors.  Here is my floss toss.  What do you think?

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The fabric is 16ct Aida Pink Impatiens by Silkweaver.  The recommended fabrics are Chocolate Milk and a Gray linen.  With all the rich dark colors, I think it needs a lighter, prettier color fabric.  I am so excited.  I think I may be starting it this weekend if not tonight.  I will be sure to post photos of my start.  What new project are you looking forward to starting or what project are you enjoying at the moment?

Craft Room · cross stitch · Nora Corbett · Pixie · Uncategorized

My New Craft Room, Injured Back and Pixie Anne


So my new Craft Room is pretty much finished.  I still have things to move in and some organizing to do, but I have a new room!  Here is a before picture of my sons room before we had it painted:

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And here it is after the walls were prepped and patched and painted:

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My husband worked very hard putting all of my furniture together and set up.  My first desk went in on move in day on Feb 7.  And then the rest of the furniture arrived and started going in.  My space kept getting smaller and smaller and I realized that everything I wanted to put in this room was not going to fit.  But that’s ok.  It’s going to be wonderful.

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My other desk went in but when we opened the carton with the corner piece, it was shattered, so we had to wait for a replacement.  And it came rather quickly and the decorating began!

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I just love it!  I have even created in it already.  It is not finished.  I am still waiting on some organizational shelving and I still have drawers and cubby’s to fill.  But last week I injured my back-first last Monday night and then again Tuesday, bringing in boxes of furniture the UPS guy delivered. It was the worst back pain I have ever had and I have had a few.  It’s still not 100%, but getting better a little bit everyday.  I am hoping to get back in my new room tomorrow and fill up a few drawers 😉

I couldn’t even stitch last week, but in the last few nights I have put a few stitches into Nora Corbett’s Queen Anne’s Lace.  She is so sweet and will be the first thing I hang in my new craft room when I get her finished and framed. I am stitching her on 16ct Aida Carmel Macchiato, a hand dyed fabric by Stephanie.  Here is my progress on her:

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Once I get the metallic pink portion of the right wings finished, I will have to put her down until the rest of the supplies I have ordered for her come in.  I have had the silk thread and the rest of the beads on order for 2 weeks or so.  She must be a very popular design.  She is so sweet and I cannot wait to get her finished.

I worked on some knitting while my back was hurting, but I guess I couldn’t concentrate as I had to rip out many times and re-work.  I hope to work on it a bit more this week and then I will post a picture.

So, while I was moving into a new craft room and nursing a hurt back, what have you been up to?

Craft Room · cross stitch · Nora Corbett · Pixie · Storage · Uncategorized

It Was Only A Matter Of Time


Warning, this is a long post, so grab your favorite beverage and hang out for a bit 😉  I have put Ella down to make a new start.  As the title says, it was just a matter of time before some beautiful design captured my full attention, making me want to put Ella aside.  Here is my new start!

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This is Nora Corbett’s new design, Queen Anne’s Lace.  Right now it is a FREE PDF from Just Cross Stitch Magazine.  Gotta love that!  It will be in the April issue of the magazine but for now you can download it from JCS magazine site.  It will be the first piece to hang in my NEW craft room when she is finished.  More on the NEW craft room in a second 🙂 I am stitching little Miss Anne on 16ct Aida Carmel Macchiato from Stehphs Fabbys.  Can I say I am already tired of green and want to get to the Pink?  I am not a fan of green, but there is not as much as the yellow in Ella.  Here is how I left Ella yesterday:

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She is coming along, but not fast enough for me.  So Pixie Anne is the perfect distraction.

OK, so I mentioned a NEW craft room.  A few years ago, hubby was encouraging me to take one of our boys’ bedrooms for my new craft room.  Our oldest moved out 3 1/2 years ago, and while the thought of a new craft room sounded wonderful, I couldn’t take over my son’s room. So last year, my youngest said I should take over his room, he will move into our oldest’s room and I can have my craft room.  So I decided I would do it in the Spring of 2016.  The last few months hubby has been pushing the idea and I have been thinking about how I would like to decorate it.  I will be losing quite a bit when I leave my current room; like a desk, shelves above my head, cupboards to the right of me.  You see, my current craft room is a narrow space in my laundry room, which also contains the furnace and water heater.  Here is a glimpse into my current space:

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I have made great use of the space I have had for 17 or so years.  But I have really outgrown it.  And the floor is concrete and is very cold.  Here is the other end of my current room:

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So a couple of weeks ago, hubby and I were at the office store and I ran into some furniture that just blew me away!  I was originally thinking a new desk would be white, to match my current cube furniture.  But this furniture I fell in love with is glass!  And silver frame. So I thought about it for a few days, had taken measurements and went back to the store on the last day of the sale to take a final look.  I even gathered some things from the store to put on my desk to see how it would all feel.  LOVED it and ordered the furniture.  That was on Jan. 30.  That day, hubby also called a painter to come in and give us an estimate.  The painter said he could start on Wednesday and be done by Sunday!  What???  That only gave us 3 1/2 days to box up one room and move the other room in!  It was moving way too fast.  I thought I had until Spring to start on it.  So, hubby and I began the move on Sunday and the painter arrived on Wednesday evening to an empty room that needed some patching and a border removed and prep for painting.

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So I am SOOOO excited about my new room!  I want the walls Pink (of course) and the trim gray.  The carpet is a light gray, even though the photo looks like it is purple.  After many times changing my mind, I made my final decision on paint swatches last night:

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So many pinks and grays to choose from (there really are 50 shades of gray, or more! LOL) but I finally decided: Impatiens Petal pink and Software gray. Sorry for the blurriness on my color choices.  So by Sunday, I think the painter will be done and sometime next week we can start putting my furniture together, which were delivered this week.  I plan to have all of my stamping, scrapbooking, cross stitch and knitting and crocheting all in this one room instead of spread throughout the house.  The room is not really that big, but bigger than the space I have now so I am looking forward to decorating and organizing it.  My wonderful husband is totally responsible for this happening.  If it wasn’t for him, I still wouldn’t be getting a room.  Spring would come and I would still have reasons not to move the boys’ things. My  boys are perfectly fine with what I am doing and my youngest was even here earlier in the week going through his things, and helping me move stuff.  I am feeling better about the whole process and can’t wait to move in next week 🙂

If you are still here, thank you for listening to me go on and on about my craft room.  Do you have a special place where you like to do all of your crafting?

cross stitch · Mermaids · Nora Corbett

Mermaid Azure and the Mermaid Trio


I finished Mermaid Azure last Thursday, thus completing my Mermaid Trio.  I was so excited to get it finished.

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She was another sweet stitch and it only took me a day to bead her.  So here is how the entire piece looks.

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I stitched this piece on 16ct Aida Summer Showers by Sunny Dyes fabrics.  The 3 mermaids are all individual patterns by Nora Corbett.  They are Mermaid Azure, Coral Charms and Mermaid Verde. I  started this piece on August 28, 2015 and finished it on October 22, 2015. So it took me 8 weeks to stitch. And since I finished before my trip out of town over the weekend, hubby said we could stop by Stitches N Things and drop it off for framing.  I chose a frame that is very similar to the frame used on Siren and the Shipwreck.  I can’t wait to see it all framed up. A few fun things ended up on the counter while at the cross stitch store.  More on that tomorrow.

What are you working on finishing up these days?

cross stitch · Mermaids · Nora Corbett

Mermaid Coral Charms is All Beaded


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I finished her last night.  Nora Corbett’s Coral Charms.  She is a little beauty and she sure has a lot of beads.  I am now working on mermaid #3 of my trio and hope to finish beading her tonight.  Then I can reveal the entire mermaid trio.  I am so excited about this piece!

Fabric · New stash!

Birthday Mail!


Birthday mailSome items that I ordered from Stitches N Things during my birthday shopping spree arrived this week.  And when Lou Anne called to let me know, I just had to add the 2 new Nora Corbett designs and their bead packs to the stash. The top one is Coral Charms and the pixie is Wisteria.  The white fabric is for Mirabilia‘s Christmas in London and the magazine and threads are for the Snowman Afghan from Stoney Creek.  I can’t wait to start both of these projects.

100_9860I received these beauties from my BSF (Best Stitchy Friend) Johanna.  She made the heart on the frame and the Dragon’s Eye on the table, from clay.  She is so talented!  I’ll have to take a better picture of the Dragon’s eye.  It really is amazing! The mermaid box is so sweet!  She knows me so well.  I can’t wait to find something special to put inside.  The frame is for holding all of my needle minders.  She added a magnet to the frog making him a great needle minder.  Now to find my 3 or 4 others to put on here and know where they are at all times 🙂

Fathom's Below fabricAnd lastly, this isn’t Birthday mail, but I did receive it on my birthday 🙂  It is my Fabric Of the Month from Stephanie. It is Fathom’s Below,  16ct Aida.  It is perfect for a mermaid. I wonder which one I will stitch on it…

I also received a Gift Certificate for 123 Stitch from my good stitchy friend Annie.  I see more stitchy stuff in my future!

So, what are you stitching on today?

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

I Am Making Stitchy Progress, and Adding More!


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.

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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! · Nora Corbett

Small Business Saturday Shopping


My oldest son and his girlfriend came to visit last weekend, so we decided to spend Saturday in a little downtown area of Farmington Hills, MI.  We visited lots of shops and contributed to each for Small Business Saturday.  Of course I had to stop at the Rocking Horse Needlework shop and give a little love there, too 😉  Just love going to that shop and seeing all the beautiful stitchings on the wall, from floor to ceiling.  I picked up a few things while I was ogling gorgeous finished pieces:

Small business stash

Nora Corbett’s 2 newest patterns, Geranium and Mermaid Verde and their bead packs.  Hubby and I also found the little Fairy Dust piece finished and hanging on the wall and thought it was quite cute.  So I picked it up to stitch for him.  I have been wanting to stitch a Nimue pattern. It should be a cute, quick stitch and maybe I can get it done for him for Christmas.  Now to dig into my fabric stash and find the perfect fabric for her.  What are you stitching on today?