Sunday, March 31, 2013

Welcoming spring...

 
Spring is starting to make an appearance
here in South Carolina evidenced by the fine
yellow haze outside.  The tell-tale signs, though,
are the sneezing, stuffiness, and puffy eyes
.....oh how I strongly dislike spring!
 
But I do love spring stitching and was happy
to find this in my mailbox from Dawn 
for the Spring Seasonal Exchange.

 
The sweet little design is just perfect and
I love  the "happy" fabric Dawn used. 
It is now taking up residence where my
snow people formerly resided and I am
glad to enjoy for a few months!
 
 
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I have been stitching on two of my large
projects the past few weeks but I did take
some time this week to stitch up
a gift for a retiring coworker.
 
Homespun Elegance "Friendship & Blossoms"
stitched on 40ct. coffee dyed linen w/ overdyed threads
 
I just love this design and it turned out so cute
stitched on the smaller count.  I really
enjoyed working with Sharon these
past few years and hope this will make
a nice reminder of our friendship
while she relaxes the day away !
 

 Great use of my Spellbinder scallop heart die!

I have started keeping my scraps of linen
"just in case" I can think of a use for them
and decided to make a little heart tag
 for the back.   After stitched, I used one
of my dies to cut out the scalloped heart.   I
love how it turned out and will now be
hoarding all of those scraps!
 
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I do hope everyone had a great Easter weekend
with family and friends.   As always,
thanks for visiting and happy stitching!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Stitching o' the green....

 
St. Patrick's Day has always been my
hubby's favorite holiday.
In our youth we would venture to
Savannah's big celebration and enjoy the
day's festivities to the fullest.
 
 circa 1990...Enjoying a Pat O'Briens Hurricane

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I was able to embrace my "Irishness" this
week with a few quick stitches to start the
celebration.  Hubby was a little under the
weather so I made the most of it and
spent the day with my sewing machine.
 
Trilogy "Happy Jig Jig Day"
Stitched on 40ct linen w/WDW & ST
HIH "St. Patrick Bird"
Stitched on 32ct. evenweave w/WDW & ST
 
I just love this little leprechaun doing
his jiggity jig!  The bird just makes me
laugh since it looks like he is pooping
shamrocks.   I still love him though.  
 
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I was doing a jiggity jig too Friday
night when I saw that Nan from
had posted a freebie. 
 
Lickety split I was in my chair stitching!
 
Threadwork Primitives "Lucky Shamrocks"
stitched on 40ct. linen w/recommended DMC
 
I just love this little gem. 
 

I was also lucky enough to have a piece of ricrac 
that matched DMC 730 perfectly. 

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I had some linen scraps I just couldn't part
with so I decided to stitch some family
namesakes from our Irish roots.
 
 

40ct. coffee dyed linen with Victorian Motto
 
I wasn't sure how to finish them and
decided to use my scallop dies to
make these little bowl fillers. 

 
I love the way they turned out and am happy
to have a great use of those little linen scraps.
 
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Thanks for visiting and I hope you have
a great St. Patrick's Day too!
Slainte
 
Guinness Storehouse ~ Oct. 2010


Saturday, March 9, 2013

Worthy Brown....

is finished....
 
CHS "Worthy Brown"
stitched on 36ct. linen w/DMC
 
I am so happy to have him done. 
This is lingering from my 2012 Crazy January
Challenge and I have to admit it was a chore
to stitch it.  I do love the design and the
finished piece ....that bird is another story.

I guess he was just so big and kind of boring
to stitch though I do love him once he is
done.  Once that bird was finished, it
was easy going from then on out. 
 
Don't you hate it when you love a design
but don't enjoy the stitch?

 
Fortunately there were some great little motifs
that made it enjoyable in the end. 
 
Once done, he enjoyed a nice "spa day"
soaking in a warm coffee/tea bath
and then saunaing in the oven for a
while for the perfect finish.

 
I am off to sneak in some St. Patrick's Day
stitching and hopefully some finishing
before it actually gets here.
 
I do hope you are having a great
stitching weekend!   Thanks for visiting.