We're almost there ...

Yikes! 2010 is almost over -- hard to believe.

I'm gearing up for the Crazy 2011 Challenge and as of last night still cannot find the Rosewood Manor pattern.  I guess there's still 2 weeks to find it.

Sheri is having a New Year's giveaway on her blog for a lovely piece of linen.  If you're interested, be sure to sign up for it.

Happy December 30th.

They made it!

Thank goodness!  The squares I sent to Australia finally arrived.  I thought for sure they must have fallen into the ocean.  Anyway, here they are:

It's the same snowman I made for my nephew and one of the ornies I plan to stitch for myself in the Crazy 2011 Challenge.

Happy New Year!

I'm so excited!  I received my first set of squares from the Fair and Square exchange today.  Karen  from Australia stitched Red Berries from Rosewood Manor.  Isn't it pretty?  And the card she sent is adorable.  I love all the little Aussie critters.

Unfortunately, she hasn't received the squares I mailed on Dec 8th -- I hope they didn't fall off the slow boat into the ocean.

Even though I had a cold over the Christmas holiday, it did not turn into broncitis or settle in my lungs this time -- hurray!  And even though I spent a lot of time sleeping because of said cold, I did get some stitching in on Mary Wigham -- hurray! again.

Soon, I'll have the outside motiffs finished.  I have until Jan. 1st to get more done on her before I have to set her aside for the 2011 Challange.  Hopefully, I can work on her every evening after work and be able to get lots more done.

I finished 2 ornaments as little pillows for my nephews this year.   I'm not that good at making pillow ornies but I thought these turned out okay.  The snowman's hanger is a little off center but that's not too bad.  I never made a pillow with hardanger before.  The third piece of fabric kind of threw me but I got 'er done.

I did better with the reindeer ornie, don't you think?

The eyes on this guy just kill me -- talk about a sugar high!?!

I hope everyone has a happy,

safe and healthy new year

with lots of stitching fun!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas now because I'm going to bed for a couple days with a rotten cold :-(

Even though I slept almost all evening and night, I did manage to stitch a little on Mary:

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

A plan

Since I am mostly caught up with Christmas stitching (just one more ornie to finish) and with SALs except one (Mary Wigham), I have picked MW back up and plan to work on her until Dec. 31st.  Hopefully, I can get lots done on her, especially since the dogs and I don't have agility classes until February.  Maybe I could actually finish her, not by the end of Dec, of course, but sometime in Feb .....  hope springs eternal ......

I stitched a little on MW Sunday evening.  Unfortunately,  a very little, since I'm seem to have a cursed cold now.  Here's were I left off with MW in June:

And the arrow marks the little bit I did on Sunday:

Not much, but it's a start .....

Anyway, back to the 'Plan'.  On Jan 1st I begin the 15 day challenge.  And on Jan 1st I plan to begin with The Great Pumpkin Conspiracy from The Cricket Collection.  Jan 2nd I will be at an agility trial so I'll start an ornament.  The easiest one is from Angel Stitchin' -- the reindeer peeking around the Christmas tree.  After that, I'll just start whatever hits me that day. 

I have decided what my last piece will be.   I already stitched it for a friend of mine and want to do one for myself.  It's a beagle puppy in a basket with eggs.  This was hand drawn onto some kind of fabric (unfortunately, not waste fabric) and then cross stitched by a client of my friend onto a jersey as a gift (kind of like paint by numbers).  My friend has a kennel (Echo Run) and raises beagles and, when younger, she used to have egg-laying chickens.  There's no pattern for this piece except the original on the jersey, which makes it difficult and why I haven't done it before now.  The picture is the reproduction I stitched for my friend.  I absolutely love the face on the beagle pup -- it's so sweet. 

Have a good day!

Ta da ....

Introducing Rose Wreath Santa,

aka, Santa 2010!

Isn't he just adorable?  I finished him this morning before work by adding the pom-pom.  I still need to sign and date him but he is essentially finished -- yippee!

It's snowing ......

Nothing to show on the stitching front, unfortunately.  Between shoveling the snow last week, hurting my leg (probably from the afore mentioned snow shoveling), a sick beagle and shoveling more snow this week, I haven't gotten much stitching done.  I did stitch on Rose Wreath Santa but no pictures to show.  I'll try to remember to get a pic tonight -- hopefully I won't have much shoveling to do tonight, at least on the driveway.  Having small dogs, I need to shovel paths in my backyard for the little critters to do their business.

But I digress .... I finished Santa's boots over the weekend.  Now I have to do his pompom, the wreath, and the background.  And I will have my 2010 Santa -- yippee.

Here's a pic of my very first Santa stitched in 1989 -- before I even knew I was going to begin a Santa collection.  It was a kit -- I think from Dimensions.  I don't have the pattern any more so cannot check on this.  I'm not a big kit fan but I really like Norman Rockwell and I just love this one.  Every time I look at all those busy little elves, I have to smile.  I love all the little details Rockwell put in his work.  The elf on Santa's knee pulling up the paint bucket is my favorite.  I giggle every time I look at him.  The 'supervisory' elf on Santa's shoulder is probably my second favorite.  I guess with the boss asleep, someone has to take over -- right??  hehehehe .... I'll close on that note and wish everyone a happy December 14th!

2010 finishes and 2011 new beginnings

I finished 2 of the Sticklounge projects over the weekend.  Yippee!!  The first is See the Star and the second is Baumchen  (I added the bunnies to represent my beagles).

Here's what I plan to stitch in the Crazy January 2011 challenge. Missing from the photo is a  piece from Rosewood Manor called Tulip Quilt Sampler.  I bought the pattern but I can't put my fingers on it right now.  I did find the fabric for it so the pattern can't be too far away.  Most of the patterns are smaller ones that I just never get around to starting, so I am taking this opportunity to do them.   Only 13 patterns are shown because I'm not sure what the 15th will be just yet.

I may be overly optismitic but I think this is do-able.  Wish me luck ....

O U C H !

My fingers are killing me!  Stitching with the full 6 strands of DMC on 18 ct canvas is hard work but Santa is almost done.  After finishing his boots tonight, I plan to set him aside for the weekend and do some easy-on-the-fingers cross stitching.  Here he is in all his glory ... and don't you just love that 'stashe??

Have a good weekend.  It's supposed to be cold here and since I have no plans, the dogs and I are going to stay indoors stitching, napping and doing the laundry.  Should be a good time.

Holiday stitching

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  Over the holiday, I finished a couple ornaments.  Both are freebies.  The crow & black cat (from Plum Pudding)  I changed a bit by adding the pumpkin with flowers and the top label, Autumn.  The hot legs are from My Nifty Needle (the link is no longer active for this one) and is called 'If the shoe fits'.   I'm thinking I may add some beads or something around the witchy legs to dress it up a bit.

My Little Tree is almost done!  Just one more part to stitch.  Since this is a weekend stitchy project, it will have to wait until then.

For the next couple days, I plan to stitch on Rose Wreath Santa by Libby Sturdy.  I'm not really happy with his bargello coat per the stitch instructions.  I did it in the dark and medium pinks and actully finished the bottom of the coat before tearing it all out.  Two reasons I didn't like it:

  1) The bargello let too much white show through, making the coat look too flimsy and cold.  Now it's okay for Santa to wear a pink coat (he is, after all, very comfortable with his masculinity), but it must be a warm coat.

  2) The bargello pattern was too busy for my taste. 

I also tried a diagonally striped coat using long stitches.  The coat looked warmer but it was still too busy.  Rats!

Rip-rip-rip. 

And last, but not least, I tried a simple scotch stitch with dark and medium pink threads blended together.  I like it!  This coat looks cozy and warm -- it'll keep Santa toasty on those cold winter days.

See the Star is almost finished - yippee!  Two more sections to go and it'll be done.  I love this piece.  The colors are so warm and autumn-ish.  This is the piece that introduced me to the Sticklounge yahoo group.  I saw it on someone's blog, fell in love with it, then hunted it down so I could stitch it.

Happy December 1st!  It's snowing here!


Call me crazy  ....  but count me in.  Check out the  2011 Stitching Challenge - I can think of 10 things I've never got around to stitching ....  5 more should be easy enough to find.  Wish me luck!

Getting ready for Christmas

My Baumchen piece from the Sticklounge is coming along.  I changed out the white in the corners for the overdyed floss and stitched over the white flowers with satin stitches.  I'm holding off on the lower left corner until I get the tree trunk in -- this way I won't make a mistake lining everything up ..... hopefully.  I really like this piece -- the pattern is so pretty.

Well, I finally realized Thanksgiving is approaching -- which means Christmas will be here soon.  Yikes!  I need to get some holiday stitching done!  I have finished 3 ornaments and still need to do at least 2 more.  Don't you love the reindeer -- he's been eating way too much sugar.  I used polyester thread for his eyes -- so they have that glazed, shiny look of a sugar high.  He's going to a nephew.  The reindeer is from the 2010 Christmas ornament edition of Just Cross Stitch and the snow men are from the German magazine Hardanger.  I love them both and want to stitch one each for myself also.

Each year I stitch a Santa for my collection.  Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to stitch my Santa for 2010 yet.  Soooo, the marathon stitch is on!  This year's Santa is Rose Wreath Santa by Libby Sturdy.  I bought him last year at the EGA Nationals in Pittsburgh, PA.  He has eyes, a nose and some skin as of yesterday .....

Here's hoping I can get him finished before Christmas.

I hope everyone has a peaceful Thanksgiving.  In my family, we have a lot to be thankful for this year.  My stepmother was in a bad car accident and has recovered beautifully!  Take care and enjoy!

Quickie stitchie update

Golden Cat has part of his torso ....

Toccata has some beads and the beginning of my initials ...

And I just realized Christmas will be here in no time ..... so I need to get my nephews' ornaments stitched.  I picked something different.  It's a little hardanger snowman from the German magazine "Hardanger".  It's so cute .... though it's hard to tell it's a snowman yet.

Have a super weekend!

Sad news for the sampler world

If you love old samplers, please read the following articles:

Stolen sampler and other sad news
Antiques and Hearts article

White flower fix



Revised flower with satin stitches



Original cross stitch flower



I stitched over the far left flower with 2 strands of floss.  I picked the flower that was the hardest to see and I'm happy with the results -- 1 down, 8 to go . . . .

Slowy Stitching

I don't have much stitching to show for the last couple weeks.  The dogs and I have been busy with classes and an agility trial this past Sunday.  Willow and I had a totally awesome jumpers run.  After 7 years, I think she and I are finally becoming a team.  Beagles are such independent creatures.  It seems to take them longer to get the concept of  "team".  My first beagle, Daisy, didn't get it until she was 10, so I'm thrilled that Willow is a quick learner.

Ok, on to stitching ......

My Little Tree is up to date.  I need to do something about the white flowers -- they don't show up well on this fabric.  I'm thinking I will add satin stitches over the white cross stitches of the flowers to see if that will make the white pop out more.  And on the white in the borders, maybe pink (or the red from the overdyed thread??) french knots.

The Golden Cat is starting to actually look like a kitty.  This thread is such fun to stitch.  I love watching the way the colors unfold.  It may be one of my all time favorites.  Unfortunately, the picture isn't accurate.  I haven't given him eyes yet.  I want them to stand out and plan on using a solid green for them -- perhaps something with a little glitter to it.

And last but not least, I spent time on Toccata while watching John Wayne movies and doing the laundry on Saturday.   It was a fun time!

It was a stitching weekend!

 I got lots of stitching time in over the weekend - hurray!  My Sticklounge SAL's are up to date:

I restarted When Stars Collide on black congress cloth.  It seems easier on my eyes than the original (black 28 evenweave) -- I hope I can get caught up with this SAL.

 My original attempt.   It's beautiful but too tough on my eyes.

I also started a new pattern, Golden Cat by Patricia Emlet of Cross Stitch Art .  I bought this a few years ago and am finally getting to it.  My original plan was to put the golden kitty on 28 ct Victorian Christmas evenweave over 2.  But after using the dark Threadworx  #1070  on Something Wicked, I thought it might look nice on the red fabric.  And though you can't tell from the picture, it really does.  Plus, I'm stitching over 1 (I love my magnifying glass!)  So instead of a golden kitty, mine will be a black kitty, in honor of my black cat, Matthew, who died several years ago.

And last but not least, I finished the Halloween ornaments for my nephews.  Both are from Just Cross Stitch, the Halloween editions -- the skull is from 2010 and Frankie is from 2009.

Happy Halloween!

Finished ......

.... except for the date.  I need to find out if the house is to be completed this year or next. 

Have a good weekend!

Two do-overs

I picked up Toccata 3 a couple weekends ago and decided I did NOT LIKE it.  Furthermore, by the time I went to bed, I decided I was NOT going to finish the d**n thing.  If I wasn't having fun stitching it, I was DONE with it.  (In fact, I so disliked the original version that the next day I ripped it apart, washed and ironed the fabric, and set the linen aside for another project.)  After a night's rest, I thought I would just start it over again with stuff from my stash.   After all, it's a lovely pattern and I really wanted to stitch it.  However, I have now fallen so far behind, I will never catch up with the other ladies from my EGA group.  Sooo, I decided to change the pattern a little by just making a sampler of squares and border lines from the original pattern.

Here's my original start.  It's on linen (which shredded the thread for the pulled areas).  The big square in the middle houses an alphabet which is surrounded by the different  blocks and borders.

Here's my do-over.  It's on grey evenweave with an overdyed Needle Necessities thread for the non-pulled sections and a polyester Sulky thread for the pulled areas.  Already I like it better.  The plan is to stitch the blocks and rows from Toccata 3.  Nothing fancy -- just make everything fit.

The above pic is what I did last week.  It looks nicer than the picture and I'm much happier with it.


Another problem piece is When Stars Collide. 

I decided to do it on black evenweave using sparkly threads and beads.  It looks lovely -- I love it but ...... and it's a big BUT ..... it is killing my eyes.  Whatever posessed me to stitch on black material again?  After stitching The Castle by Teresa Wentzler on black aida about 20 years ago, I vowed to never ever ever stitch on black again.  But after seeing so many beautiful things stitched on black, I thought I would give it a go.  Bad idea!

So the plan is to abandon my original plan and restitch When Stars Collide on black canvas and instead of backstitching each star, I plan to lay the sparkly threads.  Hopefully, the larger holes and changing the stitch-type will make it easier on my eyes.  Since I haven't started this yet, I don't know if this will work or not .... will keep you posted.


I also spent part of the weekend stitching  part 2 of the lovely little SAL 'Baumchen' from the Stick Lounge group ...... no problems here :) .....

and the sampler I'm making for a Habitat for Humanity soon-to-be new homeowner.

The letters are from an old pattern (below) in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts magazine (I think that's the name) and the border is Wessex Embroidery.  So except for the letters, it's kind of an original design.

Good Stitching!

Framed!

 Back from the framer :)

Here's the little quaker pillow.  I changed it by adding my dad and stepmom's initials.  It's to be an anniversary present.

Good stitching!