I'm Getting Ready for Halloween

This is my most favorite time of year, even better than Christmas as far as cross stitch goes. This you will see in this post.  I have only worked on one of my older wips since my last post and it is "Needlework School" from Little House Needleworks.

As you recall I made a few small changes, it's my needlework school and it's not in Philadelphia, PA. I like to say it's a complimentary piece to the Embroidery Guild, which was a finish earlier this year.

I also had another finish, it's from a booklet called "Shortnin' Bread" by Alma Lynne. I started a SAL in a stitching group on Facebook and "Susie" as she is called was my choice to stitch. Because of the SAL I was able to stitch her start to finish in 12 days.

As the title says I've been getting ready for Halloween, first with two, that's right, two FFOs.

This one is "Wicked Witch" from LA-D-DA and just love it. It is the words from a song in the Wizard of Oz but it says witch so to me it qualifies as Halloween decor. I especially love the hat, shoes and broom at the bottom. My second FFO is called :The Skeleton Key" by Lee Fisher of Stitchy Fish Design from the 2016 Halloween Just Cross Stitch magazine.

My pillow is slightly different from the magazine model but I love it.

My unfinished finishes are first BOO by Elizabeth Foster of Elizabeth Needlework Designs from 2015 Halloween Just Cross Stitch magazine.

This one I just call Happy Halloween Bookmark, it is originally called Accessorize by Frony Ritter of Frony Ritter Designs also from the 2016 Halloween JCS magazine. I started it to be a new name tag for the upcoming retreat in Harrisburg, PA but it was too big for my ID holder.

These next two don't have anything to do with Halloween but they called to me to be stitched.

HELLO is designed by Diane Williams at LHN as a cover for a smart phone.

Finally, last but not least is my Smiling Pile of Poo.

This one made me laugh the whole time I stitched it. It is a freebie from Plutonium Muffins. And on that note I say thank you for visiting and I need to go back to making some wonderful little xxs.

It's been a while...

And I bet you've been wondering what I've been up too! Well since my last post I've had a few finishes, some project progress and even a couple of new starts. I also went on a trip to Atlanta, GA for a wedding and celebrated my 40th wedding anniversary. Well let me share some pictures with you, first my finishes:

You all remember this one, I think I only had a little back stitching left and I added the words above. I just love my "Dollar Bill" it's from Designs by Gloria & Pat (freebie), stitched on 22 ct hardanger fabric in a mint green. My next finish is "Witch Boot" from Sullivans USA and it's stitched on 28ct white even weave with a combination of Sullivans flosses and DMC.

The colors on this one are faboolous! The next finish is "Wicked Witch" from LA-D-DA. This one almost made me crazier, I only needed about an arms length of DMC #844 to finish the border and then couldn't find it anywhere. Finally found it at Wally World the last place I expected. It is stitched on 28 ct tea dyed even weave.

  I know you all will be hearing this song in your head forever, but I love the Wizard of Oz. Up next is a little design called "Spells", this one is by Teresa Murgida and it's from the Halloween 2015 Just Cross Stitch magazine.

This is stitched on a 28 ct linen and I forgot the color name. My last finish is "The Skeleton Key" by Lee Fisher of StitchyFish Designs and it is from the Halloween 2016 Just Cross Stitch magazine.

It must be getting close to Halloween :-) .   I joined a one-day SAL on Facebook and it was called "Catch the Hogwarts Express" you were to stitch on something from Harry Potter being that 1 Sept. was the first day of school at Hogwarts, I worked on my Hogwarts Crest.

I was in Atlanta, GA  with hubby at the time and he was "Best Man" for his step brother, so while he was at the rehearsal I got to stitch and got a lot done. I can't show you any wedding picture other than one of myself.

The wedding was beautiful and hubby looked so handsome in a tux. Finally I have a couple of new starts, one is "Leilani the Hula Dancer" it is a freebie from Mirabilia and being stitched on 28ct linen called Willow Wisp from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. 

I exchanged the called for Caron Waterlilies silk for DMC coloris flosses. Last but not least I joined another SAL on Facebook and we all started "Shortnin' Bread" on the 8th of Sept. She is being stitched on 28 ct antique white even weave.

I am loving stitching this chart, I just think she is beautiful.

Well now you know what's been gong on here. I can't show you what I got for my anniversary right now but I will, when it comes back from being sized.  Now I'm going back to making some wonderful little xxs. See you next time and thanks for stopping by.

Somethings old and somethings new

I have been stitching and stitching and I have two new starts and an old wip to share. I also have a couple of new to me ideas. First I want to share an old wip this is just about finished. It is my "Dollar Bill" it's a freebie from Gloria & Pat, Inc., there is about six inches of back stitching left and it will be a done deal.

I think this is so cute I may add at the bottom "First Dollar I Ever Made" and put it in a frame.
The next piece I want to show is "Wicked Witch" by La-D-Da, stitched on tea-dyed even weave.

I wanted to finish this one instead of it becoming a wip but I ran out of  #844(which is the border) and Michaels didn't have it on Saturday. So I had to put it away, but luckily I have found #844 at Wal-mart (go figure) they usually don't have much. When I feel like going back to it, it will be a done deal too. Up next is "Witch Boot" a little freebie from SullivansUSA (Sullivans Embroidery floss).

I just love the bright Halloween colors in this one, I'm stitching this one with a combination of Sullivans flosses and DMC. You can google a conversion chart for the DMC flosses. The piece I am currently working on is "Frankie the Thinker" from Glendon Place and I am stitching him on 28ct PTP called Hauned.

Remember back a few post I told you about finding out about these perfect grime guards (steering wheel cover from the dollar store) for the 8 inch q-snap for only $1.

Well I found the perfect grime guard for the 6 inch q-snap.

These are headbands from Michaels for $1.50 each. I do love a bargain. One last thing, I have joined the needle-minder craze, there are definitely some beautiful ones out there but way too expensive for my taste. So I bought myself a tube of E6000 industrial strength adhesive and it was on. Here are the ones not in use that I'm storing on my metal chart board.

Well it's time for me to get back to making some wonderful little xxs. Thanks for visiting!

WOW!

I must have announce my give-away while no one was home! In my last post I told of a couple of beautiful charts I was giving away and nobody asked to be part of the drawing.

 So there was no need to announce a winner yesterday. 

It's About Time

Yes it's about time that I share some WIPs and Finishes! To me it doesn't seem like I've gotten a lot done since my last post but I'll let you all be the judge of that, first I'll show you my wips. I am currently working on finishing up a few of Brooke Books "Advent Animals" especially since she has released the last one in this series. Brooke said on her Facebook page that she will eventually release more animals similar to these but this group is available now. I now have finished only 9 of the current 25 and at this rate it may be Christmas of 2017 before I'm done, but here is where I am now.

This next chart can be called a wip and a new start, because it was just started on Monday while I waited in the court house jury assembly room. Yes I was called for jury duty and I took this little chart along to work on while waiting.  Sadly, I wasn't selected for the two trials they had for that day, so I actually got a pretty good bit of this done. This is called "BOO" and it is from the 2015 Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue.

I'm stitching this on a scrap of linen from my stash with Classic Colors, Gentle Arts and DMC. Since my last post I did have three finishes, the first is another chart I found in the 2015 Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue, it's called "A Bump in the Night", I think I showed it as a wip in my last post.

The next one is "I Can Drive A Stick"  I love that little witch and I also can drive a stick (mine is a red Ford model).

My last finish is an old wip that has been with me for a couple of years and I decided to give it a little attention and once I started stitching on it I couldn't put it down. It's called "Thine is the Trick and the Treat".

I just love the lime green fabric this is on. It kind of reminds me of a traditional sampler but it is definitely not traditional. Speaking of samplers I have two that I got at the last lock-in at my LNS in a grab bag I purchased.  Real traditional samplers are just not my style and I've decided that instead of  keeping them in my stash I should find good homes for them so I will hold two drawings for # 1. "Selina Chown" (A Reproduction Sampler) from Lila's Studio.

 and #2. "A Pomegranate Study" by Needle Work Press. To be considered you must leave a comment letting me know which (or both) you are interested in and you must be a follower of my blog. It's that easy. On July 31st I will announce the winner/ winners.  Good luck to you all!

Okay, now that all of that is over with, I have been trying to remember to share a picture of these faces I picked up from a street vendor when we took a cruise to the Bahamas earlier this year. I had never seen anything like them before, they are made of leather. They were formed and the features were carved in the faces and then they were allowed to dry this way. I just love these.

Well I will let you all return to your normal lives now while I go back to making those wonderful little xxs. Good luck and thanks for visiting.

Just a Little Update

I first want to say Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone in the USA, I hope everyone stays safe and enjoys the holiday. Since I was here last I've had a birthday which was great, my husband and I met up with his sister and her husband and my mother-in-law out in Las Vegas or as my nephew says Lost Vegas because that is what I did. I lost all of my gambling money, I could have just sent them a check but I had a terrific time. My vertigo was kicking in so I had that drunk feeling without the actual drinking, which saved me from the hangovers.  Once I returned I published my second Youtube video, showing the stitched and finished pieces on my craftroom walls. This thing took me about three days to record, edit and voice over the pictures but I think it came out pretty good.  Also while going and coming back from Vegas I got a little stitching in, I even have a finish to show.

This is called of course 4th of JULY from Little House Needleworks and stitched on a 28 ct linen (Peared Barley) and I just noticed that I left off the little liberty bell, it should be right under the th in 4th.  Up next is my little progress I made on the Hogwarts Crest

There is now a whole lion. I also got a chance to do two more of my diamonds on Conniegee's SAL

Lastly I put in a few more xxs on my cross eyed cat from Not Forgotten Farms.

That's about it for now got to go make some more of those wonderful little xxs, and don't forget to go check out my new video and become a subscriber.

Did You Miss Me Much??

Sorry for being gone for so long but here I am and I have some things to share. I have been so swept up by the videos on flosstube (Youtube) I haven't watched TV or even been on Facebook like I usually am.  The videos make you feel like someone else is there stitching with you even though they aren't stitching but sharing their wips, finishes and stash haul. I have taken the plunge myself and now have a video out there, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0YdvGLKKs4   Since I made this first video I have done some research and watched a very good tutorial on making videos so I promise my next one will be much better. Ok on with some finds and pictures.

 You are probably wondering "What's so special about these grime guards?" Well they are actually steering wheel covers from the dollar store, they fit a 10" hoop and up to an 11" x 11" q-snap. I got these and another one that I'm using for $1 each. What a great Facebook find. Ok wips are next, here is where I am on my chart "The Walking Dead"

Here is where I left off with "The Game of Thones"

I have a few new starts and the first one is The Hogwarts Crest, stitched on 18ct white Aida,

Note the grime guard

the next one is "A Bump in the Night" from the 2015 Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine and is being stitched on 32 ct Belfast linen- Limestone.

 The last new start I have is "Cross Eyed Cat" from Not Forgotten Farms stitched on 14ct DMC Marbled Aida

That's all I have to share today, so I will go now and make some more wonderful little xxs, so I'll have more to share next time. Thanks for stopping by.

First Update for June

I titled this post that because I really couldn't think of another title, but it is true there will be more post this month. I am so happy that summer has finally arrived here in VA and I mean it came in with a bang! We have had about four or five days in the 80s, but I'm not complaining it took forever to get warm. I have a couple of pictures of a piece I saw on Facebook that is just fa-nominal!

This is stitched by a young lady from Belgium by the name of Andrea De Wael. She doesn't state in the post about the size of the fabric other than it may be 14 or 16 threads so I'm guessing this is Aida fabric. I don't know how many designs are on this one piece of fabric but they are all Little House Needleworks Designs and she stitched the ones she liked. I thought this was amazing and just had to share it. Okay now for my updates.  I have still been working on my cloudsfactory "Game of Thrones Banner & Houses" and this is my progress.

Once I finish the last castle in this section I may put this one aside for a little and work on something different. I saw another set of designs also on Facebook and I had to have them, they are The Hogwarts Crest and the crest of each of the four schools.

 I got the charts for these from The World In Stitches and they are designed by Colleen Carrington. You just scroll down until you see the crest  on the blog. After finding these wonderful charts for my husband's and daughter's favorite show and movie I wanted something that I liked too so I looked up "The Walking Dead" and found this one from Pixelsinstitches. I just love these characters there is Rick, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Beth & Judith, Daryl, Carol, Hershel and of course Michonne.

And they actually look like people with legs and bodies. So cute!  Last but not least I finally received my set of new coloris flosses from Stitchy Box  these are by DMC.

It's 24 skeins in the set and I'm excited to try some of them out. That being said I'm going to make some beautiful little xxs. See you next time and thanks for visiting.