July's Small

I originally decided to take part in this Smalls SAL hosted at the Stitching Lotus this year so I could keep up with my Christmas ornament stitching.  Unfortunately, I'm not getting much Christmas stitching done.  But I am doing other smalls.  Which is good but I need to get going on Christmas.  After all, July is gone.

This month I worked on  (among others) a pretty little pattern from Blackbird Designs.  I love this pattern and one of these days I'm going to stitch it for myself.   I finished it as a card .... my first attempt at this.  Check my last post for the finished card.  No sense me re-posting it here.

Well, it's the dog days of summer now.  Here's Spider doing one of his favorite things ... snoozing the afternoon away.

Happy August everyone ... my least favorite month (too hot and humid).  And I promise next update will have a Christmas theme.

Two updates for the price of one

For June's Smalls SAL I finished a little bookmark for a friend.  It's part of a BBD sampler called My Quaker House.  I just love this subject .... a little house with a big flower towering over it .... and this one is pink to boot.   Makes me smile every time.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much stitching time in for IHSW. I only managed to make the little house from above into a bookmark.  And all that involved was ironing a piece of fabric to the back of the stitched piece and cutting it out with pinking shears.  Not a good stitchy weekend.  No, it was a weekend for the dogs.

And speaking of dogs ..... here's River and Willow napping on the back of my couch.  Check out the tongue.  I guess he doesn't want his pic taken  :o)

Have a good day!

May's Small

My small for May is Run Run Rudolph by Raise the Roof.  I think he's cute but hopefully not too cute for my 13 year old nephew.  I did remove the big pink cheeks from the pattern -- pink is so girlish, my nephews have informed me in the past. 

You can find it in the Just Cross Stitch 2009 Christmas issue.  And if you want to see other lovely smalls go here.

Have a good day, stitch something.

April Smalls SAL

I finished a couple more Hardanger angels for the Smalls SAL.  This little pattern is a fun, easy stitch.  Go to the Stitching Lotus site for more info about this SAL.

Happy stitching!

Why are these things so complicated???

You would think that all this computer stuff would get easier but it doesn't seem to be the case.  I bought a tablet (my first) with a camera that takes totally awful pictures.  And rather than post with craptastic pics, I've been trying to hook my camera up to this annoying tablet.  Without success so far.  However, I did manage (after hours of effort) to link up my tablet with my pc -- hooray!  yippee!  happy dance time!  what a tremendous waste of good stitching time!

And so without further ado, I finally have a stitching update.

First up is Acorn House from Jeannette Douglas.  This is my April ornament for the Halloween ornie SAL.  April's subject is owls.  I love this little house with it's spooky neighbors.  I did make an adjustment to the pattern by changing the border.

Next is The Way to Happiness sampler.  I hand stitched (because sewing machines hate me and the one I own is pathetic) a border around it.  This is only the second time I've tried this type of finish.  There are some problems / errors with it but I'm happy with the end result.  The directions call for quilting along the seams but I think I'll pass on that step.  I finished this last weekend but my fingers are still a bit tender.

I also joined the Stitching Smalls SAL over at Lotus's blog.  The small I chose for March is a cute little hardanger angel by Rita Tubbs.  The little lady on the left was my first attempt.  She's a bit off along the bottom ruffle but rather than ditch her, I made a little adjustment so it isn't quite so noticeable.  Of course, I didn't notice my mistake until the blanket stitch border was done.  The lady on the right is correct except for the little bodice.  That's a slight addition to her dress.

 

I'm afraid I'm late posting this picture for the Smalls SAL but hopefully there won't be a repeat for April now that I'm getting better with this tablet.  I just really wish they could make these things easier to use.  In hind sight, I wouldn't get one.  I think I'd go for a little lap top instead.

 

Take care and here's hoping Spring makes it to my backyard sometime before June.

Beyond time for an update ....

Wow, it's been almost a month and a half since my last post.  I'm going to blame it on computer problems and leave it at that.  These machines can be so frustrating at times.

Anyway, I finished an autumnal small for the Stitching Smalls SAL I joined this year.  It's Spooky Tree by Elizabeth's Designs.

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Another ornament I worked on is Not Forgotten from Plum Street Samplers.  This one is for the Halloween Ornament SAL.

And finally, a larger, different type project I've been working on is a class my EGA group had.  It's a doll skirt.  Here it is almost finished.  I had intended to take a picture of the whole thing flat when I finished  stitching but forgot.  Sigh .... oh well.

Here she is, all assembled and finished.  She's a little hippy, and if I were to do her again, I would leave a couple rows off her skirt to make her a little thinner and easier to assemble.  I had a hard time getting that skirt gathered around her tiny waist.  But I think she turned out okay.  Especially since this type of finish is a first for me.  

Time for a little pirouette, my lady ....

Have a good week and thanks for visiting.