More Stitching!

I finished Small Rustic Composition yesterday.  It was a kit from DMC and a gift.  The kit came with lovely minty green aida but there was a permanent crease in the middle of it so I switched to something I had in my stash.

I also finished a few more squares for the Sampler Life SAL. 

And then when I dug out my iron to press the Small Rustic Composition, I came across 3 other smalls that I finished earlier this year but totally forgot ... duh.

I can't find the pattern for this one, so cannot remember the
designer,  but I think it's from one of the JCS Christmas
magazines.  Sorry ... I'm too lazy to go look it up right now.

I love this little guy.  I stitched him for an exhange a
few years ago and always wanted one for me.

Christmas in July

I finished this pretty little lady a few days ago.  Because I inadvertently made her 2 columns thinner (who would complain about that?) and 2 rows shorter (bummer!) I adjusted the border a bit.

There is a new Christmas ornie SAL starting in August which I've joined.  Since I am already stitching some Christmas ornies this year, it seemed the perfect SAL to join.  The subject for August is Santa and happily, Santa was on my list for next month ... doubly perfect.

It has finally stopped raining in Pennsylvania (hooray!) and the beags took time to catch some well deserved rays.

 

 

 

Summer has finally arrived!

 

 

 

 



IHSW in March

I'm a little late with my IHSW post but I did get some stitching done over the weekend.  I started and finished Just a Little Flaky from Val's Stuff.

 

Snowmen always make me smile and this little guy is no exception.  Except for the white thread, I totally disregarded the designer's thread colors/fabric and chose what was handy.


I finished another ornament before IHSW for the Halloween ornie SAL.  The subject for March is owls/crows.  I picked a pattern from the 2013 JCS Halloween issue that caught my eye the very first time I saw it.  But because it's on black fabric, I hesitated to stitch it.  However, I reasoned that since it's small I would try stitching it anyway ... Owl-O-Ween from Blackberry Lane Designs.

 

He's on a 28 ct black even weave using mostly DMC threads.  I was originally going to stitch him 2 over 2 but was having problems seeing so switched to 1 over 1 with better success.  I'm not sure why this works but I'm learning that 1 over 1 with my magnifier often works better for me.  I prefer a long stitch on the back so the threads don't disappear on the front.

 

Amazing ... that's 2 projects on black fabric now.  I guess it's not so bad after all.

 

  

 

 

 

February's IHSW

It was a good weekend for International Hermit Stitching Weekend.  Cold, snowy and definitely a stay-at-home-and-stitch weekend.  I worked on one small project and finished it ... hooray!  Before the weekend I had the top brown and word done only.  From Carriage House Samplings:

I didn't use any of the designers threads (oops, and I see that I'm not actually finished, part of the wood on the bottom, right is missing, will fix that after I'm done here).  The pattern called for a grey beard but I like Santa with a white one so I changed it.  And because the white didn't show up well against the fabric, I darkened the sign with a half stitch.  I also made his eyes brown and smaller.  They were a little creepy ... big, dark and hollow ...  kind of skull-like.  His eyes are supposed to be green but I didn't like them green and/or was too lazy to find a good green thread.

This guy is destined to be a gift for either my nephew or my stepmom .... I haven't decided yet.

WooHoo! Christmas stitching is DONE!

Thank goodness!  Here are my finished ornaments for this year.  All I have to say is ... it's a good thing I stitched all those hardanger angels earlier in the year.  And you'll notice that the last one doesn't look very Christmas-y because I still don't feel very Christmas-y.  It was the only one I just stitched (finished it last week) and I'm still feeling like Autumn.  Luckily the friend I made it for is an Autumn kind of gal.

 And my favorite one this post .... 

sums up my Christmas spirit.  I love this little gingerbread-style house under attack from the spiders.  Cracks me up!  It's for the Halloween Ornie SAL.  Our subject for November ... BUGS!  Can you tell?  I'm still in a Halloween-kind of mood  ;-)

I love the Bad Neighborhood series from Ink Circles.  They make me giggle.  I need to stitch the Upstairs Downstairs one for my brother ... he's a drummer.  I probably should make one for my dad, too.  My brother loved to practice when he was growing up.  Hmmm, maybe I should make one  for each of our old neighbors.

The spider is from one of the Halloween issues of JCS.  And in case you didn't notice, there's a sleeping beauty on the back of the couch totally oblivious to my photo taking session.  This is my old lady beagle Willow.  She's 12 now and does lots of sleeping.  Her hearing isn't what it used to be so she sleeps through almost everything now.  Unless it smells like food.  That generally gets her attention.

I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving on Thursday and safe travels for those going home for the holiday.

Assorted Stitchy Stuff

A couple weeks ago I went to Antiques in the Woods in Columbiana, Ohio with a friend of mine.  I found these lovely tea towels.  I'm not sure what technique this is but it's gorgeous and definitely hand stitched.  They probably aren't antiques because one has a Made in Japan tag on it but that's okay.  They were incredibly cheap so I snarfed them up. They're too pretty to wipe my hands on so I won't be using them as towels.  Instead, they will serve as doilies hanging over the ends of my shelves.

That same weekend my EGA group held our President's Luncheon.  We always have some kind of stitchy class after we eat and this year it involved beading.  This is how the finished ornament will look:

And this is where I am in the process:

I added another square to my inch sampler .... a cupcake with cherry icing and chocolate sprinkles.  Yum!

And finally, I finished and stitched Yeow from Prairie Schooler for the Halloween SAL blog.  Our subject for September was black cats.  

I also finished Halloween Manor into an ornament.  The Manor is mine.  Yeow is a gift.  Both are hanging for my enjoyment until I mail Yeow off next week.

Happy stitching everyone!

IHSW for August

It's that time of the month again.  And I made the most of IHSW this past weekend.  Unfortunately, I can't show you most of my stitching because it's for exchanges.  However, I can show you one finish from the weekend.  El Muro is complete.  This was a fun little village to stitch.  I'm not sure what I will do with it now.  Maybe make a little pillow out of it??

Another project started and completed (though before the weekend) is a cute little freebie called Let It Snow by designer Helga Mandl.   I added a little glitter to the snowflakes and large, loopy french knots as the tassel.  This guy cracks me up with his big nose and skinny neck.  I may have to restitch him for myself since he's slated to go to my nephew for Christmas. 

It's so hard to get the glitter to show up ....

I'm way behind with my Christmas ornament stitching this year but at least I got the 2 done for my nephews.  That should make them happy.  At least I hope so.  The boys are getting into those teenage years now, so we shall see what happens this year.  I'll know in a couple months when I give them their Halloween ornies.

Wish me luck ;)

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.

More Christmas stitching

Last Saturday was my EGA chapter's Christmas party so now I can show some more of my Christmas stitching and show off some of the lovelies I received.  Let's see .... where should I begin??

I think I'll start with the things I received.  This first ornament is from our Guild ornament exchange and was stitched by Becky.  Isn't that the cutest finish?  And she rusted the jingle bells herself.  I'm definitely going to give that a try.

We have a secret sister exchange also (don't you just love exchanges??)  This jolly old elf was stitched by my secret sister (Becky, of the rusted jingle bell ornie above).  When you pull the bottom string, his arms and legs move.  How cool is that!?!  I, myself, will probably never, ever, ever attempt this finish.  I hung him on my frig so I can pull his string often and giggle at his jig.  I hope I don't wear him out.

The lovely Mistress Jessie made everyone in the guild one of these wool trees.  Don't you just love the little button ornaments?  I certainly do.

Here's another of Jessie's handiwork.  I love Blackbird Designs and pink.  Needless to say, I love this needle book.

Now on to what I stitched for the big event.  My secret sister was Jessie, a big fan of everything French, pink and Blackbird Design.  Sooo, I stitched her a small pillow that covered them all.
 

 And then I stitched this for my friend Becky

 And this for the ornament exchange

And now I want to tell you the saga of the scissor keeps.  For last year's secret sister I stitched this ornament:

I loved this little stitching lady so much that I decided I would stitch scissor keeps for the officers of my guild for next year's Christmas party. 

And here the saga begins!  I started them immediately in January and finished stitching them in January -- all 4 of them.  I set them aside and forgot about them for a few months.  Fast forward to June or July and I remembered I needed to assemble them into scissor keeps.  Hmmmm, where did I put them?  I searched high and wide in my house but never found the little buggers.  Come October, I thought I better get going and stitch them again since they obviously have disappeared, not to be found again (at least until I restitch them -- you know how that goes).  So I buckled down and restitched 3 of them, assembled them into fobs, bought cute scissors and little Christmas tins to put them in.  Have you noticed a problem with the numbers here?  I couldn't for the life of me remember why I stitched 4 the first time -- after all, I only needed 1 for each officer -- VP, Treasurer and Secretary (I was the President so I didn't need to make one there).

Sigh -- the best laid plans of mice and men . . . I forgot our region rep.  Duh!  Honestly, if my head wasn't attached, I would probably either lose it somewhere or forget to put it back on when it fell off.  What do you think the chances are that the original 4 will turn up now??  I'm guessing zip.  So I need to stitch another one.  Hmmm, I can probably stitch her from memory at this point since it'll be the 9th time.

What did I learn from this -- don't stitch things too far in advance.  Heaven forbid I should just get organized!

Have a good week.

Some finishing touches

Firstly, thanks for all the nice comments on my last post!  It was very kind of you to take a moment out of your busy day to say 'hi and job well done'.  Thank you.

And now for the final finishing touches to my little ornaments.  Though some just got a bow or a tassle, others got a button or two.  Since it's technically still Autumn (though it's snowing at a goodly rate right now), I'll start with the Halloween ornies.  I had wanted to get them all done for Halloween this year but that (obviously) didn't happen.  Well, at least they're ready for next year.

DONE

DONE

AND DONE  -- I love the spider on a button here

And next up the Christmas ornies.  These are all gifts.  I like to make Christmas ornaments as gifts and right now I'm in good shape for the holiday.  I think I only have 3 or 4 more to finish (they're already stitched just waiting to be ornamentified).  This is definitely the best shape I've ever been in since I started gifting ornaments.

I love the red trim but am still trying to decide about that yellow.

I never thought the green-package-with-an-orange-bow button would ever find a home.

My brown Santa got a little loving also.  All that remains is the beading and his beard.  The beard will be next while the beads are last.  I probably won't do anything more on him until all the gifts are finished.

If you believe the weather forecasters, we're supposed to get some serious snow the next couple days in my neck of the woods.  If you're traveling in the northeast on your way home for Thanksgiving, drive carefully and have a wonderful visit with family and friends.

YUM!  My favorite.

WIPocalypse & IHSW for November

I'm sorry it's been awhile since I posted last.  Blame it on my shoulder (which is loads better -- not completely, but it's getting there).  Unfortunately typing and stitching (among other things) have been on the back burners.  Typing has been confined to work-related stuff  and not to fun stuff like blog hopping or posting.   And stitching has been kept at a minimum.  I've been working on my Santa and though he's a recent start, I'm including him in my WIPocalpyse report.  I'm almost done with his coat and have just his beard and all the beads to add.  I'm sure he'll be done by year's end.

 

I also got a little stitching related fun in over the weekend for IHSW.   It was basically a finishing kind of weekend.  I made the cording for a bunch of ornaments (however, I didn't get them all attached) and assembled 2 little pillows.

The pillows still need the cording made for them. The smaller one is getting red cording around it and the larger one will probably get blue or maybe white (I haven't decided yet). Once all the cording is attached, I'll add some buttons, bows or other baubles to each of the ornies. 

And last but not least, I do have one finish to show you.  It's a little Christmas bird all ready for the tree:

Happy stitching!!

Another busy week!

I got lots done over the weekend, most of it finishing work.  First up is the blingy ornament from Threedles Needleart Design.  I am pleased with my first attempt at this type of project.

More Chirstmas ornaments finalized:

And a few more in the process of being finished:

Now for a couple Halloween finishes:

And a few in the process:

Being on a roll, I decided to finish a couple Fair and Square ornaments:

And a couple flea market finds that I just couldn't throw away after scavenging the frames:

And lastly, a scissor fob that I finished a couple months ago and never showed off.  Another first for me, silk ribbon:

Whew!  Have a good week!