Stitchmaynia 2017....

I decided to participate again in Stitchmaynia,
where you have 15 new starts in the
first 15 days of May.  I decided
to tweak it to better suit my schedule

and have a new start every other day. 
I was able to get a really good start on my
projects and still have time for other stitching.

To make it even easier I decided to us the
club kits I have been accumulating the
last 3 years as my new starts.

All of the projects are small and this
will give a good variety to pick up
and go over the next year.

The clubs kits were included the
Colonial Gatherings Club, which I
have been a member of for 3 years. 
The designers are Plum Street Samplers and
Scarlett House so you know these will be good.

The third club is Silver Needle's
A Little Help from our Friends Stitching Circle. 
Each year has featured 5 different designers
so I have a good variety with this club.

I did have to swap out some of the fabrics
because of color or texture but I know I will
have some finishes I will treasure.

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Plum Street Samplers

Thistle Pocket

Cricket Collection

Autumn Blooms

Scarlett House

On Redware Road

Lizzie Kate

Stitch With Me

Plum Street Samplers

Fraktur Friends

Scarlett House

Nice to Meet Ewe

La D Da

My Friend

Shepherd's Bush

Heart of My Heart

Scarlett House

Strawberry House

Plum Street Samplers

Colonial Candle Pocket

The Drawn Thread

Threads That Bind

Scarlett House

Button Posies

Plum Street Sampler

Autumn Cottage

Scarlett House

On Stoneware Street

Blackbird Designs

Patchwork Pinkeep

Plum Street Samplers

Hurt Not the Earth

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I hope to finish many of these this year. 
Some of these were hard to put down
so I will definitely visiting with them this month.
It will be nice to have a basket of smalls to
sprinkle within my bigger projects

I hope you are finding time to put needle
and thread to fabric.
Thanks for visiting my little space
on the stitching universe!

Tis the season....

The Christmas season is upon us as we

begin the wave goodbye to fall.

I had a pretty good stitchy autumn since

last we spoke.

October's installment of the

Prairie Schooler Alphabet

was a mermaid.

Prairie Schooler "M is for Mermaid"

stitched on 40ct linen with DMC

Honestly I was not looking forward to

this block due to the large

chunks of color.  I was surprised to

find the blues and greens were a

nice change of pace from 3371. 

This is one of my favorites thus far.

Yes...November is over and I should

have the next installment, N is for Nest,

finished but I am can't find my

motivation to stitch finish it. 

Good thing about being an adult is

I can stitch a little bit at a time

until it is done.  My goal is to finish

N and O is for Owl by December's end.

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A favorite finish in the month of October

was Heartstring Samplery "Proverbs 8:11".

This is a three-part series and I stitched

the other two parts in 2015 and decided I

really wanted to finish this one this year also.

 

Heartstring Samplery "Proverbs 8:11"

stitched on PTP 40ct Legacy with recommended hand-dyed threads

I loved this series from the first time I saw

them not only for the messages but for

the softness and beauty of the designs.

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I decided to throw in two more Christmas ornaments too.

Summer House Stitche Workes "Barn Star Ornaments"

stitched on PTP 40ct Ale with Victorian Motto Red and WDW Bark

I love these little ornaments and hope

to finish as bowl fillers.

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Who doesn't love Lizzie Kate and I was

gobsmacked as soon as I saw her

"String" snippets.  Is this not the cutest?

Lizzie Kate "Merry String"

stitched on 28ct over one with DMC

I wanted to one to be small for an ornament

and I envisioned this one to be in a drum fashion. 

It turned out to be the size of a

Christmas tree ball which was perfect.

Oh my.... cuteness overload!

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As Thanksgiving neared I couldn't

resist these two cute designs any longer.

Homespun Elegance "Turkey Tyme"

stitched on 40ct mystery linen with recommended threads

Lizzie Kate "Sampling Thanksgiving"

stitched on WDW 30ct Straw with my own thread conversion

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

Holding on to fall a little longer, I stitched

this Blackbird Design from last year. 

 BBD "Bittersweet September"

stitched on 40ct mystery linen with Victorian Motto threads

I just love the burst of orange on this

design....the over one stitching

for the alphabet not so much.

My friend Charlene shared a tip to

use a #10 beading needle for the over

one and I will say it did go a lot quicker.

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

Thanks for visiting today and

happy stitches....

Stitchy Finishes and Finishing.....

Summer is moving right along and

I have had a good stitchy one thus far....

After the 4th holiday, I pulled out

CHS "Matter's Choice".

I love everything about this piece.

CHS "Matter's Choice" stitched on 40ct Meadow Rue

with Victorian Motto "1840 Cranberry Rainbow"

I did change it a little bit and added

my initials and the year at the bottom. 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

I reached into my big bag of WIPS and

this was the lucky draw.

As you can imagine, I couldn't help but

hum that favorite hymn as I stitched.

 Silver Creek Samplers "Blessings"

stitched on 40ct PTP Mello with Victorian Motto threads

I am blessed to be married to my

best friend so I added

mine and my hubby's initials.

The colors were so soothing to stitch

and I truly enjoyed this one.

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With the beginning of August I couldn't

resist spending some time with Miss Martha.

The colors in this one just pop and

the combination of the teal blue and

golden mustard work perfectly together.

Kathy Barrick "Miss Martha's Potting Shed"

stitched on 40ct. PTP Tycho

with Victorian Motto threads.

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

I needed a quick gift for a friend and

decided the bonus chart from

Lizzie Kate's Things Unseen Mystery Sampler

would be perfect. 

LK "Things Unseen" bonus chart

stitched on 40ct PTP Sand with

Victorian Motto threads

The original design was charted to be

rectangular but it was easy to alter

into a square shape for the perfect no-sew finish.

The base for this finish is a little wooden

plaque from Hobby Lobby, and with a

little paint and Briwax, finishing

couldn't have been easier.

While at Hobby Lobby, I spotted a

galvanized plaque that I thought would

be perfect for another recent finish I had.

A little more paint and I have the perfect 

backdrop for this cute design.

Oh....I still am in love with that fabric...

WDW Red Pear...got to find some more.

LK Selfie Sampler kit

I loved this design the first time I saw it and

I am happy to have it in my office so that

I can be reminded often to have a great day.

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

Well I hope you are staying cool and

crossing many stitches.

Thanks as always for visiting my

small corner of the stitching universe

and happy stitching.....

Seven brides....

for seven brothers.   Well....six really.   That is

all I could think about while finishing my

Snow Belles since I knew they would soon be

introduced to my Fat Men.

 

Here they are all dressed up and ready to go.

I did have some issues with the finishing.   I

decided to use another Aleene's Fabric Fusion

fabric glue to attach the ric rac and that did not

go well.   I stopped in the middle of the first

pillow and promptly made a trip to Joann's

to buy some trusty Fabric-Tac.  

Lesson learned... I will not stray again.

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

Welcome to the Fat Farm....

The above basket was tight quarters for the

whole "fat" bunch so we moved up to

slightly larger accommodations.  I know Lizzie

Kate did not want to refer to the ladies as "fat"

but I just love my fat little friends and I

don't think they mind a bit.

 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

 

I had a good finishing weekend.   I finished up

a Winter exchange and it turned out so cute.  

Wish I could show you but I will just have t

o wait until it makes it to its new home.    I

am off now to attempt my first mattress

pincushion finish.   I have everything stitched 

and hope to get it put together tonight.   Please

keep your fingers crossed for me that I

don't mess this one up.

 

Thanks for visiting and happy stitching....

12-12-12=20

 

December 12, 2012...

 

our 20th wedding anniversary....

 

 

We decided to take a trip to Texas and explore the

Hill Country.  It wouldn't be a "vacation" for us if

there wasn't a park, forest or desert involved. 

Here we are at the Enchanted Canyon right

outside of Fredericksburg.   The stars at

night are said to be beautiful but it was a tad

too cold for us to find out.   We did have a good

time and enjoyed our time together!

 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

 

Anytime we travel, I always start a new Lizzie

Kate project since they are so easy to stitch.  

I recently acquired the Snow Belles

(thanks to a visit to the Spring Robin earlier this fall)

and decided to start the first one.  

Lizzie Kate "All Dressed Up"

Stitched on 28ct khaki evenweave

w/ DMC

That snowman was so much fun to stitch I

decided to stitch him twice!   I had my fabric

oriented incorrectly so it soon became obvious

that I was running out of fabric.  Not a good idea

to start something new at 6:00 in the morning!  

Luckily...it doesn't take as long to rip it out as

it does to stitch it.  I plan to make these into

small pillows to keep my fat men company. 

One down....five to go!

 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

 

We had some free time in San Antonio so I was

 able to visit Stitches from the Heart.   They had a

lot of great stitched models to drool over.  The

best part was the "Texas" section with a variety

of  designs about Texas from Texas.

 

I picked up these two ornaments from Redbird

Designs.  If memory serves me correct, you can

only find her stuff in Texas.   I know I purchased

another Texas ornament years ago at another

shop in San Antonio.   I thought these were

just too cute to pass up and hope to stitch

for next year as a reminder of our trip.

 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

 

Well...Christmas is almost here and I hope

you are ready!  We start our celebrations

tomorrow so I am ready for some good food

and fellowship with our families.   I wish you

a very Merry Christmas and hope you

find time for a little stitching too!



August Ornament exchange....

Comedy of errors.....that about sums up this month's exchange!

 

LK "Christmas Treats"

stitched over 1 25 ct. white evenweave

with DMC and overdyed

I have always loved this design
(click here to see orignal) 
and thought I might change it up a bit! 
Nothing says Christmas to me like red and
white and I do like the way it turned out.  
I had this great backing fabric too that
I wanted to use.  Despite my issues from
thread bleeding to finishing, I am at
least happy to say they are done.  

And this month's lucky exchange partner is....

Nicole

Something for Cole

(who became a grandmother this morning...
she had a really good day!)

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

P.S.   Not a good idea to do the finishing
after a bad day at work.....

Don't you love that fabric?

Can you guess which one Nicole
will be receiving?????

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

On a side note, I made a quick trip to the
Carolina Stamper while in  Beaufort this
weekend and was excited to see this....

Works great for both paper and fabric!  
Upon closer inspection, I notice something is
amiss. Seems there is a little chunk of land
missing between Beaufort & Charleston
.... beach erosion maybe???  
I guess I can live with it.
  

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As always...thanks for visiting!
Now back to stitching!