hello march... where did february go???

Well I managed to drop the ball didn't I last month!  Where on earth did the time go? Where did the month disappear to??

I can't believe it is the first day of March already!

Anyways, astonishment aside... I have been busy... stitching... I just sort of forgot to come and post over here!

Let's just jump right in and start...  first of all tusal... the new moon was on the 27th so here is my Feb ort jar - all nice and full, as well as the year to date...

 

I've also been working on my Sunday SAL with Edith... and have been making some nice progress each week.  Here is Veronica with progress as of Feb 26

Being good, I haven't started any new projects just yet, though I will admit I do have several new starts planned... however, not just yet...  One I will start working on this month, but that is a commission work, so that I have to.  Here are my wips that I worked on through the month of February... 

Summer Bouquet by Lanarte, I made a little more progress on it since the picture in my last post...

Then Mirabilia's Madonna of the Garden

and finally I worked on Long Dog's Death by Cross Stitch... I do have a little more done since this picture was taken, but not enough to warrant a new photo.

I also managed to finish off a crocheted blanket... stroller size... not quite sure who will get it, but I made it... I actually finished the blanket itself in January, but ran out of the purple yarn for the border... it just took me forever to get more! But I finally did, and here it is...

That's all I've got... I'm hoping that this month will be much better than February... it was a total bust for me in other aspects as well, not just blogging... the only thing that kept me sane was my stitching... and as you can see, I did lots of that!

Till next time.... happy stitching!

hello february

I didn't post last Monday, as I didn't have anything new to show.

I didn't get anything done on our Sunday SAL as my husband took me out on a surprise date - dinner and the theatre so zero stitching.

This week, is different... I continued to work on Autumn Quakers a bit, and here is where I stand with that one...

I've reached the top of the pattern, and added the date.  As you can see I am planning on finishing it this year!  Hopefully sooner rather than later in the year too.

Then I pulled out another wip to give it some love for a couple of days as well.... this time Sunflower Bouquet by Lanarte.

Again, I made some progress, and am getting close to a finish on this one as well.

And last but definitely not least, our Sunday SAL... Portrait of Veronica... I didn't get much time to work on her yesterday but I did put some stitches in... and here is where I got...

Not sure what is on the stitching agenda this week... but until next time happy stitching!

orts, orts and orts

Just a quick post... yesterday was the new moon, and that means it is time for the TUSAL ort report...

Here is this month's jar filled to the brim, as I managed to get lots of stitching in since the last new moon at the end of 2016.

That's all for now... till next time happy stitching

and we continue dancing...

Since I had my dancing shoes already warmed up with my Reflections of Canada piece, I thought I would keep dancing as I finished off my Cornwall Cottage Sampler last week.

So let's not dawdle, let's dance... here it is in all its glory!

I finished it just before midnight on January 17... literally 2 years after we started this as a Sunday SAL with Barb and Linda.  As you can see I did make some changes, in that I centred the bottom row of the alphabet (even though my centering is more than likely somewhat off) instead of stitching the "stitched by" portion of the pattern. Other than that, I stitched it as is, with the called for GAST/Weeks threads.  Even though we totally fell off the Sunday SAL wagon, it was a pleasure to stitch, and I loved watching it come to life.

I've joined in on the stitch from stash wagon this year, including joining the FB group of the same name, to try and not spend so much money on stash...as I have a fairly large stash, and with that I am also making 2017 my year of wips... while I will still start new projects, I am trying to finish up as many of my wips that I already have going.  So far so good... 2 down, 7 active wips to go!  Though I do also have a couple of inactive wips that most people would consider ufo's that may also see the light of day this year... we will see what happens!

The next wip I decided to pull out of the pile to give some love was my Autumn Quaker by Rosewood Manor... now this poor thing hasn't seen any love since May of last year... I know I made an error on it somewhere so something is off, but I have no clue where... so I am sort of "working around" the problem.  This is where I left off last May

I started working on it this week, with the big round motif that is just started at the top of the above picture... I finished that motif off, and will continue along with this project for the rest of this week.

I have one more wip to show you... Sunday was our Sunday SAL for Portrait of Veronica by Mirabilia, and here is where I left off with her...

She is fun to work on, and it is difficult to say the least to put her away every Sunday night when I'm done stitching for the day.

Till next time... happy stitching!

dancing for my weekly update

Happy Monday everyone!

Let's just jump right into things and start off with a quick little happy dance!

I managed to finish off Reflections of Canada by Ink Circles this past week.  I used DMC 815 on a mystery white fabric I managed to find in my stash.

In addition to working on Reflections of Canada, I continued to work on one of my other wips that is getting close to a finish and worked on that one..

I worked on Cornwall Cottage Sampler, by Rosewood Manor...   Originally we started this as a Sunday SAL with Barb and Linda in January of 2015.  However, things didn't quite turn out that way, as life really got in the way, and both Barb and I managed to ditch poor Linda.

After a long break of not working on this, I pulled it out this month and have been working on it off and on.  I just love the colours in this, and it is so enjoyable to work on.

I'm getting closer to getting this one done too.... there is lots of confetti stitching in the basket from the flowers, but it is looking so pretty!

And of course since it is Monday, we had our Sunday SAL with Edith for Portrait of Veronica by Mirabilia.

Here is my progress on her... not sure if you can tell, but I finally did add a little colour other than black last night, though I will admit it is a blended colour with black... hopefully next Sunday, I will have more colour to show.  Considering how much black I stitched with Darth Vader in December, and said I didn't want to see black again for a while, I have actually been enjoying working on Veronica.

And that is it for me!  I have no clue what I will work on this week, if I will continue with Cornwall Cottage until it is done or if I pull a different wip.

But until next week, happy stitching!

Weekly update

I'm going to try getting back to blogging more regularly...  Since Edith and I are doing a new Sunday SAL, what better time to update what I've done during the week than every Monday after we finish our Sunday stitching for the SAL.

So here goes... my first of hopefully many regular updates!

Sunday SAL - Portrait of Veronica by Mirabilia

I'm stitching mine on 32ct mottle sage jobelan by Crafty Kitten, a very lovely fabric to work on. We started our SAL on Sunday Jan 1, and since Monday the 2 was also a holiday, we stitched both days, so here is my progress on Veronica for Jan 1-2

Then yesterday was Sunday the 8th, so she got pulled out again... here is my progress from yesterday...

You would think after spending roughly a month stitching Darth Vader with nothing but black thread, I would be sick of it, but I have to say, this once a week thing is okay. I actually look forward to seeing how far I can get working on her!  Hopefully soon enough though I will have other colours to show.

Then what else did I work on last week... I pulled out two of my wips to work on... first off Reflections of Canada by Ink Circles...

I managed to finish off the 3rd corner... one to go... and then I decided to work on Cornwall Cottage by Rosewood Manor...

 

Again, not too much left to do before finishing!

 

That's it for my update!  I'm not sure what I'll work on this week... another wip or work on one of these two to finish them up... but until next time... as always, happy stitching!

2016 re-cap and catch up

I will admit, this has been the worst year for me blogging since I started this blog way back when in 2005.  I just didn't have it in me to bother with it this year...

I'm not going to make any promises or new year's resolutions that I'll try to be a better blogger but I will admit, I am not ready to give up my blog just yet. So to those of you who are still around, thank you!

I would like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas as well as a very happy new year!

Now onto stitchy stuff!  Let's do a quick recap of 2016 first, and then I will show the newest additions in the catch up part.  This will be a longer post, and definitely filled with lots of pictures!

Here are my finishes for 2016:

from left to right - 1. kitty stitchable key chain, 2. Tea Break by Jardin Prive
3. Home Sweet Home by Les Grilles du Maryse, 4. Pushing up the Daisies by Raise the Roof
5. Bluebird Alphabet  by Just Nan, 6. Geranium by Nora Corbett
7. Blue Village by Satsuma Street, 8. Stitch by Cherry Wood Designs
9. Love Cube by AAN

10. Disney Villains by Cloudsfactory, 11. Mother's Honour Due by Blackbird Designs
12. Remember Me by Sheepish Designs, 13. Darth Vader by Natalineedlework
14. Yoda by Natalineedlework

I forgot to add in pictures of my two small crochet finishes for this year...

And my wips for 2016... I must say that though I've never been a one at a time stitcher, this is the most wips I have had in a very long time!

1. Mini Twist 1-6 by Northern Expressions, 2. Madonna of the Garden by Mirabilia
3. Autumn Quaker by Rosewood Manor, 4. Feather and Friends - Butternut Road

5. Cornwall Cottage - Rosewood Manor, 6. Reflections of Canada by Ink Circles
7. Summer Bouquet by Lanarte, 8. Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog Samplers

 

 

I received a very lovey stitched gift from one of my best friends, Time to Stitch by Needlework Press. She did such a beautiful job, both on the stitching and the sewing! I just love it!

 

 

 

Also for Christmas I received a stitchable key chain, and on Christmas Eve, I stitched it right up. I love how it turned out!

 

 

 

Now onto the new additions, since my last blog post... for the months of November and most of December (up to the 23rd) I was actually a one project at a time stitcher... something I am normally not... but I got it into my head that I wanted to stitch something for my two great-nephews as gifts... so off I went!

 

First one I did, in November was Yoda by Natalineedlwork on etsy.

 

 

I stitched it on 32ct Jack's Rum jobelan by Stephanie, using the called for colours except Yoda's skin... the pattern calls for dmc 935 and I found that to be too dark, so I switched it to dmc 3363. The words making up Yoda, in case you can't read it, say "Do or do not, there is no try"  I love how it turned out, and my husband did a fantastic job at stretching and framing it!

 

Next up is Darth Vader, also by Natalineedlework on etsy.

 

 

I stitched him on 32ct Loki jobelan by Stephanie, using the called for dmc black, but I did change the red of the light saber to dmc 815... I much prefer the darker reds to the more christmasy red it called for. Here the words say "You don't know the power of the dark side"... and again my husband did the stretching and framing.

 

My newest wip, is Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog samplers...

 

 

 

I'm stitching it on 28ct Queen Anne's Lace jobelan by wichelt, over two... so yes it will be huge... I ordered a full yard of the fabric...and the design itself will be 26x32 inches big... add the min of 3 inches per side for framing and you have one huge piece of fabric!  I am using dmc 3799 and I bought a 100g cone of floss for it, which is roughly 450 yards of floss... hopefully it will be enough.

 

I do have a bit more stitched on this since taking the picture but I'll save that for my next update.

 

Edith and I will be starting a new Sunday SAL on January 1st, and the pattern we picked is Portrait of Veronica by Mirabilia.  She has everything all ready to go, I'm still deciding on fabric, but hopefully I will have that all picked and ready to go later on today.  As you can see my side bar (and blog) is all updated for January!

 

And last but not least... my tusal updates... I am behind with November, and December's new moon was yesterday, so I'm actually on time with that one!

 

This is from November, as well as the year to date

This is December as well as the year to date

 

I decided to jump on the bandwagon this year and make an ornament from my orts.. however, I saw on one of my stitching facebook groups something that someone did that I liked even better... it took making the ort ornament one step further... They made three, one with the dmc lables, one with the dmc number labels and one with the actual orts...  Sooo off I went to Michael's and got myself some clear fillable ornaments and this is the final result.

 

 

 

I choose the smallest size they had, and for that reason, I had to cut down the number labels so they would fit better.  I really like how they turned out, and now I just need to find some pretty ribbon so I can put them on the tree!

 

thank you if you read this far!  That is it for me for now... and until next time, happy new year and happy stitching!

new starts and wips....

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been busy stitching away....

I have a couple of new starts, with a few more planned in the future...

Here is what I started...

It's been a while since I've done a big Mirabilia project, so I decided it was time... and I pulled out Madonna of the Garden... started her on September 25, and this is my progress so far.

I am stitching her on 28ct lugana (I believe)Snowy Skies by Sparklies hand dyed fabrics using the called for threads.

Next up is Feathers & Friends by Butternut Road, one that has been in my to do pile for a very long time.... I started her on Oct 5 and this is my progress up to today... I've been working on her apron...

 

I am stitching her on 28ct bayleaf jobelan with the called for DMC.

As for my other wips, I made some progress on only a couple of them... I worked on my Summer Bouquet as well as my Reflections of Canada... I tried to work on Autumn Quaker by Rosewood Manor, but I made a mistake somewhere and I just couldn't find it to fix it, so I gave up... and made no new progress on that one...

Here are my before and after pictures of both Summer Bouquet by Lanarte and Reflections of Canada by Ink Circles

 

And that is it!  till next time... happy stitching!

time flies....

Wow, where has the time gone??? I can't believe it is almost the end of October and the that the last time I posted to my poor blog was back in July!

Time to dust off the ole' keyboard and get to work! I wanted to update my side bar with my monthly blinkies, but it seems that photobucket isn't working well today, so that will have to wait.

I have been busy stitching away, just as usual not posting... I have a bunch to show off, but I'll break it up into a couple of posts...

First of all I'm behind in posting my tusal's to my blog... I have been posting them on instagram, just as you may have noticed, not here... so here we go!

 

this is August's jar as well as the year to date in the bigger one

 

 

next up is September's jar and the year to date... as you can see lots of stitching going on.... and of course finally this is for October...

 

 

 

I've been working on all sorts of things, my various wips as well as starting new things, but those will come later... for now I'll share a couple of little happy dances...

 

One of my wips is the mini twist series by Northern Expressions, which is a 6 part series of different specialty stitches... I've done the first two... I am doing them all in the same colour combination and all on one piece of fabric.

 

Part one was Symrnas and Eyelets and part two was Rhodes and Rice stitches...  here they are together

 

 

I am using 32ct chocolate milk jobelan by Hand Dyed by Stephanie, DMC 930 and blue bunny thread by Nina as my colour combo.

 

I also started and finished off Remember Me by Sheepish Designs... I first saw this framed up at LNS and fell in love, and even though it is an OOP design, I began my search!  Finally after a couple of years I managed to track it down and here it is! 

 

 

 

It looks a bit crooked in the picture, but that is just due to my photography skills... it really is a nice rectangle....  It is stitched on 32ct ivory jobelan using the called for DMC, except I did change 2 of the colours - the pinks as the original ones were more brown and I didn't want brown flowers... and the original picture on the chart showed something similar to what I chose.

 

Wips and new starts up next... but that will have to wait until my next post...

 

Until then....happy stitching!



a little dance

I have a little happy dance to share... I managed to finish off Mother's Honour Due by Blackbird Designs...

It is stitched on 32ct ivory jobelan using Nina's threads - Amber, Hunter Crescent Colours - Wild Berries, Peapod and GAST - Claret.