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.

Busy, busy, busy!

I have been so busy trying to get my kitchen back to working order, we started installing the tile back-splash after attending a tiling class at a local tile shop. It was definitely a challenge deciding how to install the tiles without cutting too many little individual pieces. As you can see to avoid that we decided to insert a design element (my idea). It needs a little more cleaning up and this side of the kitchen is done.

 It took us a whole day to get this done, I think it turned out pretty good, but it's like taking two steps forward and one step back. As I was cleaning up and loading the dishwasher the latch broke right off in my hand. At first it was "OH NO! More Money" then we remembered "American Home Shield" we pay for this service why not let them take care of it. It took a few days but it is now finally repaired, but as we were about to start tiling the other half of the kitchen, hubby decided that we needed a new microwave so away we went to Home Depot to get one. That took another whole day to install, needless to say no tile yet on that side of the kitchen.
In the midst of all these kitchen adventures, hubby went in to the hospital for a routine procedure   and I had to be with him to drive him home, anyway we arrived at the stated time 7:30 and as usual there was a 3 hour wait. Everything proceeded smoothly from there until we returned to the car and found a nice little note from the lady who hit our car.  I don't know how she did this just parking but that amounted to another 2 hours in the hospital garage with their security trying to contact her and obtain her insurance information. Repairs will be done next week.Oh man,  I am getting tired all over again just remembering this last two weeks.
Well as you all know me I found a way to get in a few xxs here and there so in addition to my whining I have stitching to show. First up is my finish.

This is "Gentility" by Creative Concepts Unltd., she is stitched on 28 ct Jobelan fabric from Under The Sea Fabrics called Autumn with DMC floss. Her hair is black Homespun yarn from Lion Brand Yarns and yes those are real earrings from Hancock Fabrics. I love how this one turned out.
 My next picture is my progress on LHN "Needlework School. That's me in the middle (and I just notice the little girl on the left has no feet).

I have the top and bottom borders (and the little girls feet) to stitch and this will be another finish. The last thing I worked on is a cloudsfactory chart called "Game of Thrones - Houses Banners" this is what the finish will look like

and this is where I am so far.

I don't even watch Game of Thrones but my hubby and daughter do so, I thought why not. I'll let them decide who gets it. Well if you are still here reading, I thank you for taking the time. I hope the stitching made up for the whining and complaining above and I'll go now and make some more little xxs.

I am worn out...

This past week has worn me out! It all started on last Friday, we had contracted with Empire to replace the flooring in our kitchen, so we had to rearrange the dining room so that we could move the refrigerator there. Then we were stuck in the house all day Saturday while the old stuff was ripped out and the new stuff was installed.

We also found a local company to redo the counter-tops and this was scheduled for Monday, so after staying up late cleaning up from the delicious Mother's Day dinner provided by my DD and SIL, we cleared everything out of the kitchen. The workmen came early Monday morning (I'm talking 8:30 early) and tore out the old counters and sink, so no meals were being prepared here.

The new stuff wasn't to be installed until Tuesday so still no cooking, the drawers were in the bedroom, all of my other kitchen stuff was in the living room (which was a disaster area) and I was forced to make coffee in my craft room. Finally we got counter tops and sink but no plumbing.

I waited another couple of hours for the plumber to come and finish up. All we need now is the back-splashes and my new kitchen is done.

Of course while all of this was going on I wasn't sitting idle doing nothing. I decided that I was going to change the name of the Needlework School from Mrs. Ross' to Mrs. Gray's and instead of Philadelphia, PA it would be Alexandria, VA I left the date as 1776.

Suddenly I started hearing someone call to me and it was this lady "Gentility"  from Creative Concepts Unltd., Inc.

She is being stitched on 28ct Jobelan called Storm from Under the Sea Fabrics with DMC floss. This is as far as I have gotten with everything else going on.

Her hair is straight stitches of black- Homespun from Lion Brand Yarns. The top knot with the beads will be attached last along with her earrings.
Well off to make more of those little xxs.