Tag: The Frog Princess

Good Bye 2024, Happy 2025!
Bella Filipina Designs · cross stitch · Fabric · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted scarves · Shannon Christine · yarn

Good Bye 2024, Happy 2025!

My Time Stitching5 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! How have you been? I have missed you so much! It’s been a while and 2024 is over! I can’t say that it was all bad, but I am happy to welcome in 2025. My biggest highs of 2024 came near the end. In October my husband and I celebrated our 40th anniversary. We chose to spend it at the zoo with our kids. It was there that our youngest son and his wife told us that they were expecting their first child. We are going to be first time Grandparents in June 2025. We are over the moon. We had a wonderful day, being all together at the zoo. And about a week before Christmas, we found out the baby is a girl! We can’t wait to meet our Granddaughter this summer ❤ And just a fair warning, there will be even more pink things to come 😉

So how were your holidays? What have you been crafting on? Did you finish all of the projects that you wanted to in 2024? I am happy with what I finished in 2024 except for 1 project. I will talk about that in the knitting part of my post. Even though I haven’t been posting, I have been crafting and I plan on sharing the things I have worked on in future posts.

I do have a new word for 2025 and that is PATIENCE. I definitely need to have more patience in my life with what I am crafting on, what I need to get to, with healing, learning new things, and with myself. Something I am definitely going to work on this year.

So let’s get to what you are really here for…My Stitching. What am I stitching on?

I have pulled out the Black Water Sirens SAL from Bella Filipina Designs. This SAL started on October 31, right in the middle of the fabric with a Treasure Chest.

I am stitching this on 16ct Aida Epically Evil Fairy Godmother from Those Missing Stitches. It only took me a few days to get this Treasure Chest stitched up, minus the beads which I will add at the end of the SAL. After finishing this first part, I stitched on other projects and couldn’t wait to get back to this one. On Christmas day I pulled it out again to get stitching on part 2. And this is where it is as of last night.

Part 4 came out on December 30, so I have some catching up to do. But I am so happy to be stitching on this one again. It is going to be amazing. My fabric is actually green and not yellow like in the photo above.

Yesterday I picked up a couple of pieces that I had put in for framing. This one I put in for framing in early December. When I brought it home, it began puckering more and more.

The frame I originally chose was not deep enough for the spacers and the beads and the ribbon on the headband were pressed up against the glass. I took it back and had to pick a different frame. Picking a frame takes me so long. And this time was even more difficult because I thought I had already chosen the perfect frame.

The first frame I chose is a frame that I often go right to. I love this frame and didn’t know if I could find another one that I really loved. But I did find one that I thought would be a good fit and when I picked her up yesterday, I knew it was the right one.

I love how it looks; like a shadow box with the deeper frame space and the extra spacers. I love it! The pattern is The Frog Princess from Brooke’s Books Publishing. The fabric is 16ct Aida Friendship Greene from Fabrics by Steph. Eventually I want to stitch all of the Princess dresses from Brooke’s Books Publishing and maybe this frame will be perfect for all of them.

The second piece I had put in for framing is Winter Snowfall.

I finished stitching this piece back in February of 2022 and was so happy to finally put it in for framing. I did have a difficult choice though. Picking the perfect frame is so hard! But I did make a decision and this is what I chose.

It is really is so beautiful. The frame really picks up the gold beads in person. So immediately after taking this photo, the Christmas picture was pulled down from the wall and this one put up in my dining room. It is the space that I am always changing out my framed pieces. Right now my dining room is decorated in a pink and white winter theme, so this piece is perfect!

Again, the pattern is Winter Snowfall by Shannon Christine Designs. It is stitched on 16ct Aida Valyrian Steel from Fabrics by Steph. There is a companion piece to this that I would love to stitch some day.

The last stitch I have to show you today is a knitted piece.

This is the Lothian Scarf I finished for my husband. I had hoped to get it finished before Christmas, but that didn’t happen. I finished it a few days after. It still needs blocking and I will take a better picture of the pattern in it then. The pattern is a free pattern on Ravelry by Home of Cords. I couldn’t get the edge stitches to be tight so I changed them to garter stitch. The pattern is charted on a graph and was very easy to follow. It was a really relaxing knit. The yarn is from Passions Yarns. It is their Baby Weight Fingering in the color Go Your Own Way. It is 70% Bably Alpaca and 30% Silk so it is really soft and was easy to knit with. Hubby picked this yarn out when we went to a Fiber Fest in October.

So that is all I have to share with you today. I hope that your holidays were wonderful and that your 2025 will be filled with Love, good health, happiness and of course, lots of stitching. Tell me in the comments what you have been crafting on. I want to hear all about it.

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

So Many Projects!
Crochet · cross stitch · Fabric · storage bags · Uncategorized

So Many Projects!

My Time Stitching34 Comments

Hello my blogging friends.  Happy March!  Can you believe February passed us by so quickly?  Spring has to be just around the corner for my neck of the woods, though we had a bit of Spring last week with one day reaching 70 degrees!  In February!  Usually a month when we are covered in snow that doesn’t start to melt until that first week of nice spring weather.  So what have I been up to?

ella-progress-2

I have been slowly stitching on Ella.  But that gap at the bottom of the dress is getting close to finishing!  So excited about that.  Then I can move my scrolls up.  I was working on Ella while waiting for my Sullivan thread order to come into my LNS.  Thanks to a wonderful stitching friend, I will be able to continue on my Mystery Sampler possibly tonight 🙂

mystery-sampler-threads

Yep, a wonderful stitcher in the Mystery Sampler SAL group offered to send me 3 skeins of London Fog so that I can continue stitching.  I am hoping to pick it up tonight, if not tonight, then on Sunday.  Thank you so much, Heather.  You are a sweetie!

And did you happen to notice the cute scroll covers on my scroll frame?  Yep, I had to buy a new bag and covers to fit this project.  Let me show you a better picture.

new-deanna-bag

My new Deanna bag and grime guards.  They have little birds and Eiffel Towers on them.  And the lining is a beautiful pink!  Love them!!  If you are interested in Frame covers or bags for your scrolls or Q-snaps, check her out at Deanna’s Frame Covers and Storage.  She is awesome.

temperature-blanket

I have also re-started my Temperature blanket and it is going much better.  I switched to all half double crochet, since that is easier for me to keep track of the stitches.  Though I have already lost 4 stitches somewhere.  Probably in the ends, but I am not going to worry about it.  Carole gave me a tip:   put a marker in my last stitch, so I know where to put my hook when I turn.  It has helped tremendously.  Thank you, Carole.  I am on row 25 so far.  I am not too fond of the colors, but it is winter.  I can’t wait to get to some happy colors.

temperature-blanket-yarn

Just look at all those yummy colors I will be getting to someday 🙂  All Stylecraft DK yarn.  Love working with this yarn. So soft and doesn’t split when I crochet or knit. I still have a lot of catching up to do.  Row 25 means that is the 25th of January.  I should see some nice color changes when I get through February.  As I said in the beginning of my post, we have had some nice, spring like temps.

And lastly, let me show you some pretty fabrics I received last week:

more-fdf-fabrics

Sorry about the sideways photo.  But they are beautiful any way you look at them. All are from Fantasy Dyed Fabrics.  So pretty!  I had plans to use the one on the right for Mirabilia’s Snow Queen, but it is a bit too small.  I didn’t have anything in mind for any of them when I bought them.  I am sure I will find something wonderful to put on all of them some day.  If you would like to see more of Fantasy Dyed Fabrics, check out her facebook page and Etsy shop.  She posts new fabrics at least once a week, but I will warn you, they sell out almost immediately.

At the end of this month, my little old blog will be 5 years old!  I can’t believe I have kept up with it for 5 years!  Not as much as I would like, but as much as I can.  And it has been so much fun and I have met so many wonderful people. So watch out for my next post.  I will be posting a give-away to celebrate my 5 wonderful years 🙂

Well, that is about all I have to share today.  I am also getting ready for a scrapbook fundraiser that I give a make n take class at, twice a year.  As you can see, I have just a little going on, and can you believe that I want to add a few more projects to my ever growing list?  But not until at least next week 😉  So how many projects are you juggling these days and are they all the same hobby or all different hobbies?  I’d love to hear all about them.

Knit, Frog, Knit, Frog…
cross stitch · Elegant Ladies · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mirabilia · Uncategorized

Knit, Frog, Knit, Frog…

My Time Stitching24 Comments

So, over the last couple of weeks, I have started this shawl about 12 times now and knitted back I don’t know how many rows.  I am at the end of my last nerve with this pattern.  Here is what I have knitted back on the needles and have completed row 17.

IMG_0756 (2)

It is such a cute shawl, featured in the Creative Knitting magazine Wraps, Capelets & Cowls.  Looking at my knitting and the pattern, I don’t think I am doing it right, but can’t for the life of me, figure out what I am doing wrong.  It is just a bunch of yarn overs and K2tog and Make 1 stitches.  And I am afraid to go any further for fear of not coming up with the correct number of stitches at the end of the row…again.  The pattern is Roman Stripe, which I have never done before, but doesn’t seem to be difficult.  In fact, the pattern says it is for “A Confident Beginner” giving it a ease 2 rating out of 6.  I have been knitting for about 30 years, so I think I am beyond a confident beginner, but just can’t figure this one out. If anyone knows this pattern and can tell what I am doing wrong, I would greatly appreciate it.  On a side note…I LOVE the Addi Turbo needles!!  They glide so nicely and may just be my new favorite needles.  I give them an A+ rating.

In between knitting on this and waiting for threads and beads for Pixie Anne, I have picked Ella up again.  Here is where I left off last night:

IMG_0759 (2)

She still has a lot of yellow, but it is so much more relaxing than knitting on that shawl!  I am also still working on my craft room; adding things and organizing my supplies.  Having fun 🙂

So, have you ever just scrapped a project because it wasn’t coming out like you wanted or had been working on it too long and decided enough was enough?  I have done it once, and am seriously thinking about doing it again with this knitting project.