What's New?

I know it has been a very long time but I think you will forgive me after you see what all I have to share. I had not mentioned this in any other post but sadly our little "Bud" was put to rest back in February. It is only now that we have decided to get another pet, so we adopted a kitten. His name is Smokey and I affectionately call him the "smoke monster" from the old TV series "LOST".  The smoke monster attacked quickly and silently, which is Smokey.

Okay, lets get to what you are really here for... STITCHING!
We will start with my current WIP report, I will show pictures of the wips I actually worked on. The first is Marquise by Jardin Prive'

I have added several of the small motifs to this one. I would have gotten farther but I ran out of the outline floss so of course I had to move on to something else. The next wip is Hot Chocolate by Alessandra Adelaide.

As you can see it no longer looks like an owl, there is steam from the hot chocolate and part of the cup rim. Stitching on this fabric ( Coffee Bean) is sometimes a little difficult to see, but I love the way it looks.  Next is Pretty Little Chicago by Satsuma Street.

Chicago is definitely living up to it's nickname "The Windy City" I can almost fill the chill. Next is my old friend the Sea Goddess by Joan Elliott.

All of her back stitching has been done and she is now on my scroll rods waiting to have her many, many, many beads to be added. I did get a start on my August-Snowflower Diaries SAL.

It was put aside so I could finish the back stitching on Sea Goddess and something came over me and I have not picked it back up. I have the chart all printed out for this next one Linen & Thread Mystery SAL, it's complete thru July

but I have been consumed but a couple of things. One is...

and the other is a NEW Start:

This is another Joan Elliott mermaid called Belle de Mer

I am absolutely loving stitching this one. It started as a Facebook SAL and I can't put is down even knowing my other two SALs will get behind. I also have a few other new starts, they are Four Freedoms by Little House Needleworks.

This was one of my starts for July which everyone on Facebook is calling patriotic month so I had to join in. The other one is called Seeds of Freedom by Silver Creek Samplers. Stitched on coffee and tea dyed fabric following Vonna Pfeiffer's bake and baste instructions.

I also drank the (koolaid) or should I say coffee and started the Coffee Quaker from Heartstring Samplery. Also on bake and basted fabric.

I think June was everything coffee month, this is one of my recent finishes, it's called This Is How We Brew It, part of the Cool Beans series from Hands On Design

I have the other charts for this 9 part series to be stitched at a later date. I also finished a small ornament for a Christmas in July SAL piece, it is 'Twas the Night from JBW /designs.

These are quick small designs and make great ornaments, I made three of them last year. I didn't forget to finish stitching the May, June and July pieces from Snowflower Diaries.

Last but not least is the finish of Frida Kahlo, one of Mexico's greatest artist.

It is a simple design but I think it is perfect. I will share when I have it in it's perfect frame. 

Well thank you all for staying and reading this whole post and for following my blog. I really do appreciate you all.  Until next time I will be making those wonderful little xxs.

Drawing Day!

As promised, today is drawing day!  There were 4 designs being given away in my last blog.  I received seven comments requesting to be included for the drawing and the winners are as follows:

"Holy, Holy" from Lone Elm Lane goes to Michelle-ozark Crafter

"Earthly Treasures" from Plum Street Samplers goes to Marilyn

"Giving Thanks"from Little House Needleworks goes to Vickie Niggmann

"Needlework School" from Little House Needleworks goes to Mii Stitch

CONGRATULATIONS!       CONGRATULATIONS!          CONGRATULATIONS!

To all of the winners please email me your addresses and I will get your winning chart in the mail right away.   Thank you all for participating and if I could I would give all seven a prize.
Oh wait!  I can!  To Calamity Jr, Bekah Bannister, LeShawn and Dru Pendlebury please email me your addresses I have something for you too!

No stitching pictures today, but they are coming xxs!

Wow! Long Time No See

I know that is what everyone is thinking. Sorry sometimes life gets in the way of everything, Anyway I have a bit to share, so here we go. If you are in any of the Facebook groups you probably heard that May 1st was the beginning of Stitch Maynia. I selected to work only on wips for my Maynia so I set up a list of smalls I could take with me on my cruise. To be totally honest the most stitching I did while on vacation was actually on the plane to and from Florida.  It was on a piece I had just recently started call "This Is How We Brew It" from Hand On Designs. It is part of a 9 piece series, so far I only have the first three. This is being stitched on 28ct Lugana called Iris from Under the Sea Fabrics.

After we returned from our cruise I was able to move on with my list of wips. The next one was day 7 on my list was also a recent start it is called "Hot Chocolate" from Alessandra Adelaide.  It's being stitched on 32ct Cashel linen in Coffee Bean.

Day 8 was Snowflower Diaries Joyful World SAL- May this is being stitch on 32ct Belfast in Platinum.

 Day 9 was "Marquise" from Jardin Prive' stitched on 32ct Jobelan from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie in Seafoam. I had only finished the lady before Maynia.

Day 10 was Connie Gee's 2015-16 SAL (that I am still working on), I stitched two more diamonds with DMC Coloris flosses.

Day 11 was "Pretty Little Chicago" from Satsuma Street on 14ct Aida Gold Dust in Silver.

Day 12 was a lady I named "Princess Odella" she is officially called "Bella Butterfly"" from Nora Corbett stitched on 28ct Lugana in Naiad from Under the Sea Fabrics.

Day 13 was MLK Memorial from The Posy Collection stitched on 18ct Aida in off white.

Day 14 was "Seafarer's Globe" from Maria Diaz/ Cross Stitch Collection Magazine. Stitched on 18ct off white Aida.

Last be not least is day 15 was "The Hogwarts Crest from Colleen Carrington, stitched on 18ct white Aida.

Stitching on a different wip each day was hard to do because I love all of my wips and once I picked one up and started stitching on it, it was really hard to bag it back up and work on something different the next day, but I really enjoyed my Stitch Maynia.  I wanted to answer the Wipocalypse question for April it  was, "What projects are in my UFO pile?" As I said I love all of my wips so there isn't a UFO pile, they will all be finished eventually.  The question for May is "Which designer's projects do you absolutely love, but are too intimidated to try?"  Well there isn't just one designer, it is the group of designers that work for Heaven and Earth designs. Some of the charts are gorgeous but they are all full coverage and I am not intimidated by them, I just know myself and full coverage pieces drive me crazy. It's like you stitch and stitch and you never see the end. Well, thank you so much if you have stayed and read this whole post. Thank you all for remaining followers of my blog, I really do appreciate you visiting and I love reading all of the wonderful comments that I receive. Having said that I have picked out four charts I am offering to you in appreciation. If you are a follower and are interested in one or all four of the charts below, leave me a comment and let me know which you would like or just say all. I will make a drawing on June 22, 2017. I will ship to anywhere. Good luck and I'm off to make some more wonderful little xxs.

Going ashore in Nassau, Bahamas.

March 2017 Wipocalypse

It seems we've survived another month and it's time for an update. I believe I said at the beginning of  the year that I was going to try and focus on finishing old wips. Well it hasn't worked out exactly that way, other things have kept me a little busy. Since my last post I have worked on FFOs:

Some were finally finished and  given away, but not before I got pictures.

I have updated a few Facebook group SALs:

This is from the Snowflower Diaries 2016 SAL (I guess you could also call it a finish).

This one is the Linen & Thread SAL. I'm getting close to finishing the March band so I can start April's on time.   I used a gift from a subscriber to my flosstube channel and stitched this piece, it is from the WOCS magazine design library by Durene Jones. (issue 252).

There wasn't a name for her, but I will call her "Iana".   I even have another new start

this is "Marquise" from Jadin Prive'. 

This month's question is "What stitchy blogs, groups or flosstube do you follow, and why?  Well as my fellow blogger Jo at Serendipitous Stitching said I follow quit a few blogs also.  I love reading about and seeing close-up pictures of beautiful stitching and having a little visit with other bloggers. It's like reading letters from friends.   I also belong to several Facebook stitching groups, I get a chance to actually interact with my favorite designers and other stitchers from all over the world. A lot of the stitchers have decided on to make flosstube (youtube) videos, including myself. With flosstube you can watch or just listen to (while you stitch ) wonderful stitchers talk about their progress updates, their lives and most fun of all their new stash.  I love having my friends stop by to keep me company while I stitch and I make my videos to return the favor.  You can watch my videos here . I'm off now to make some more wonderful little xxs. 

  

Wipocalypse February 2017

Here we meet again, it is time for my Wipocalypse Report for this balmy month of February. Yes, I say balmy because we have had no record-able snowfall this month and usually at least one week in February looks like this.

Instead this is what I see. Sunshine and blue sky, by no means am I complaining but I am so ready for SUMMER!

Okay, I know you all didn't come for a weather report so I'll get on with the stitchy-stuff.   This  month our Wipocalypse question is "What is your favorite stitch other than standard cross stitch?" Well I have two and they are Algerian Eye and Smyrna Stitch and for the bonus points here are some how-to diagrams

Algerian Eye Stitch

Smyrna Stitch

Now I will show you what I have worked on this month first I started on the March design for the Snowflower Diaries "Joyful World SAL" from 2016.  I was trying to get ahead of the designs this year, maybe I can get them finished.

Next I worked on the Cloudsfactory "Game of Thrones Houses & Banners", eventually it will be given to my daughter. I have only to finish the last section and then it's ready to be framed.

Last but not least, the project that has consumed me is the Linen & Threads "Mystery Sampler".

I started my version of this design after the actual SAL start date and have been trying to get caught up, I'm not sure if I'll make it before the March band comes out, I am still working on January. February's bands are shorter so once I get them started they should go quickly. Well that is the end of my report, going to make some wonderful little xxs. Thanks for stopping by!

Wipocalypse Jan 2017

As usual I am a date late but better late than never.  I know I should be working on all of my wips but two of the ones  I did work on became finishes.  This one is "Pretty Little Washington DC" and I loved stitching on it.

I loved the pastel colors, it is stitched on 14ct Aida from Charles Craft it is the Golden Stardust. The next wip I worked on that became a finish was "February" from  Snowflower Diaries SAL from last year.

After finishing January last year this SAL got put aside and I decided that I would start it again this year and I'm determined to finish it. I will be starting March very soon.  This is another of my SALs that put aside it is "2015-2016 Mystery SAL" from my friend Connie Gee.

So far I have completed the simple border and started filling in the gold motifs. This is a good chart to stitch while watching flosstube videos, once I start the motifs for inside the diamonds I'll really have to concentrate, they are all different. I've been selecting random DMC variegated threads.
Our topic for discussion this month is "What SALs are you participating in this year?" The two above are the only ones so far, there is another one I am thinking about starting. It is the 2017 Linen and Threads Mystery Sampler SAL.