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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Sewing update

Aside from stitching, I've been busy making bags and wallets and I absolutely love it!  This first pic is a bag designed by Chris W. Designs and the wallets on the right are her designs as well.  The purple and teal wallet is by Emmaline Bags and the one with the buttons is by Karla's Creations.


The second picture is a totebag designed by myself.  It is fully lined with a recessed zipper closure and zip pockets inside and out.  The wallet is the Pick-a-Pocket wallet by Chris W. Designs as well.  Love this design! It's a slim functional wallet that holds a cell phone.  I made this set back in the summer, with the intentions of giving it as a Christmas gift.


Next, are the insides of a couple of the wallets.


The next two pictures are of some of the accordian wallets that I've made. I love making these little wallets and as you can see they are perfect for putting a little cross stitch design on the front flap.  I've made quite a few of these as Christmas gifts for this year, 



 Finally, another Necessary Clutch Wallet designed by Emmaline Bag.  The main boddy of this is made from cork leather which is really fun to work with.  My domestic machine had no problem at all sewing through it. I'm not sure if you can see the pretty silver flecks in the cork, but it is quite shiney and looks awesome with the hot pink bandana material.


And below are the insides.


I have more pics on Instagram @karens_colourful_creations.  I tend to take pics right away on my phone, but for whatever reason, they won't upload to my PC anymore.  So, there are lots more pics over there.

And that's what I've been up to this year. Between stitching and sewing, I think I got a fair amount done.

Since this will probably be my last post for this year I'll wish you all a Merry Christmasd and a very Happy New Year!  All the best in 2017!!

Karen

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Long overdue

The very first thing I want to tell you is that my domain name has changed.  GoDaddy wanted too much money for the renewal of my old domains, so I went in search of a new one and settled on www.stitching.ca.  Welcome to my new domain! :)

Now lets get down to business with what's going on in my stitchy life.  There is soooooo much to share, since my poor ol' blog has taken such a back-seat this year.  I'll try not to overwhelm you with almost a whole year of stitchy goodness and I will try to break it down into a few posts. 

Next up - PICTURES!  Today I'll show you my cross stitch updates.

Around the World in 80 Stitches - Papillion Creations

Dimensions Kit - Santa's Secret

Seville - JCS magazine and Pumpkins on Parade by Carousel

Miss Peepers - LHN
BlueBird - Just Nan
Underwater Lottery - Designs by Lisa
Bunny and Basket of Flowers card - freebies from magazine
Blubird pillowcase - embroidery design found online


Red House in Winter - Little House Needleworks
Peppermint - Little House Needleworks
Tweet - Little House Needleworks

Final Finsishing of Pumpkins on Parade, and a couple of ornaments that were sitting in my "To Be Finished" Pile

From an old magazine - can't remember name of design or which magazine
I'm sure there are more cross stitch updates to share, but these were all I could think of when I was taking some pictures today. 

There haven't been very many cross stitch stash acquisitions this year.  I ordered a few things from Traditional Stitches during their annual sale (see below pics).


 
And a second order from Traditional Stitches for a couple of charts that are being given to me as Christmas presents this year.  These two charts have been on my wishlist for a very long time.  I was so glad to finally be able to get them.
 
 
And finally, last but not least, an order from Herrschners for some $1.35 magazines and a few other sale items.


 
That's all I have for cross stitch updates for now.  My next post will show a whole lot of sewing goodness!  Hope you come back to check out my sewing updates tomorrow.  :)
 
 
Thanks for visiting,
 
Karen
 

Friday, March 25, 2016

Stitchy Mojo struck again

Since my last post, I've been a very busy stitcher.  So busy in fact that I didn't stop to take time to post. When the stitchy mojo strikes I think I just have to go with it! ;)

I've been mostly working on The Seville Pillow from the Just Cross Stitch June 2015.  I'm very happy with my progress, although a little bit tired of yellow. Here are the before and after pics:



My after picture shows almost the full first page of the pattern completed. This 6 page pattern is definitely a larger cross stitch pattern than I normally take on, but I've been enjoying every stitch.

I found a nice big piece of 36 count cream linen in my stash that worked perfectly for this project.  The thread I chose is DMC 744.  It's a nice soft yellow, but I dare say that I was getting a bit yellowed out after my last big stitching session.  

I've also had a few smaller things on the go including a little bit of finishing.  

First is Little Miss Muffet's Tuffet designed by Twisted Oak Designs and I managed to stitch and finish it in its entirety.  Now, the stitchy gods were definitely on my side for this one.  Can you believe I managed to find the perfect size paper mache box at the local Dollar store!?!  

I didn't have any fabric in my stash that matched, so I went shopping with my Mom at the local fabric store (who just so happened to have a special sale on cottons that day).  In the piles and piles of cottons that were on sale she eyed this cute blue cotton that matched perfectly!  

I had an extra skein of the dark pink DMC floss in my stash that was used to make the cording and the little piece of lace came from a big bag of odds and ends of lace that I picked up at a garage sale a few years ago.  So this was a super handy little box was a steal of a deal to final finish.


Next, is The Sweetheart Tree's Tiny Violet Sampler.  I had the silver cable on order and was so happy when it arrived and I was able to stitch the final border.  It is a beautiful design and I absolutely love it.  It's just so sparkly!! :)


Finally, I did a little bit of Easter stitching.  The pink and green bunnies are from a little pattern called Bunny by The Sweetheart Tree and the middle design is Hop by Lizzie Kate.  I decided to try my hand with grommets/eyelets, and I'm afraid I'm not overly happy with how they turned out.  I really wish I had added a angled edge at the top to make them more tag-like, but I forgot to and I already had them mounted when I realized my mistake.


That's what I've got to show for all of my stitchy enthusiasm in the last month.  Now, it's time for me to cross go and cross a a few more Xs while the mood is still with me.  

Wishing all of you all of the best this Easter weekend!

Happy Easter!

Karen

Monday, February 22, 2016

A stitchy update

So, it's been awhile since I've posted a stitchy update.  So here it goes:

I finished the Victoria Sampler needleroll into a needleroll.  This is quite an accomplishment for me because I've never made one before.  It really wasn't as difficult a finish as I anticipated either.  :)


Victoria Sampler
September Birthday Sampler

Next, is an ornament that I've been wanting to stitch for a long time.  I think this little reindeer is just so cute....

Serendipity Designs
Candy Cane Reindeer
JCS 2010 Christmas Issue

I've also been working on VS Biscornu Beautiful Finishing #4, Sweetheart Rose:



Since there are so many pieces to this, I've been working it in an assembly line type of fashion... IE: all of the Rhodes Hearts first... then comes the backstitching.  Although, I did get a bit bored with the Rhodes Hearts and haven't stitched a few of the squares yet.  Since it is such repetitive stitching, I've been taking lots of breaks and working on other things in between.  

One thing that I've been working on that is a bit different for me is an embroidery piece.  Using a piece of fabric that came off of some hemmed curtains, I decided to make an embroidered cushion.  I traced a quilting stencil onto the fabric and have started Split Stitching the design.  Here's a pic:



This fabric definitely isn't ideal stitching fabric.  It's heavy and it has some sort of thermal backing becauase it is a piece of thermal curtains lol.  No matter, I am pleased with how it's turned out so far. The light mauve thread is in the first picture because I've considered adding it to the design somehow.

And finally, I started a small little design that I can't remember the name of or even who designed it at this moment, but it will be a little topper for a circular box.


This is the first little triangular section that I've stitched.  All of the little triangles will form a smallish circle and it will be fitted onto a 4" circular paper mache box cover.  

This is probably one of the first patterns I ordered online, which means it has been waiting to be stitched for years.  I've had it kitted up for ages and keep meaning to start it, but something else always gets my attention first.  Well, this pretty little design is finally going to get it's time to shine.  

Now, that's quite an update lol.  Looking back it appears I've been stitching a lot more than it feels like I am and that's a good thing.  :) 

Wishing you lots of stitchy bliss,

Karen

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Victoria Sampler Birthday Needleroll

Last week I started and finished the stitching of the September Birthday Needleroll kit by Victoria Sampler. It's a really cute little blue sampler that will be hemstitched (maybe this week) and made into a needleroll.  I don't think it will take much time for the final finishing, but hemstitching always takes me awhile to set up.

September Birthday Needleroll Kit
by
Victoria Sampler

I'm not sure if I'll jump right into the hemstitching this week or if I'll work a little more on this Victoria Sampler biscornu that I started here.  Some of my old WIPs are calling my name as well.  I'd love to finish some older projects that I've had laying around for literally years, such as Around the World in 80 Stitches. 

These days, I've been on a small kick and there always seems to be another small kit or design calling my name as one gets finished up.  So, I need to decide to work on something a little bigger and maybe finish one of my BAPs up or work on some more smalls.  Decisions decisions....  I also feel like playing with prick and pounce set again and transferring some more designs.  

Well, it's time for me to get off this computer and get busy with some stitchin'.  

Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!

Karen

Monday, January 25, 2016

Some Finishing along with some Final Finishing

I've been making good use of my stash lately doing up some little kits that I've had laying around for quite some time.  The final finishing bug seems to have hit me too.  I've been doing everything from covering buttons to lacing pieces for framing.  Below are some pics.



The above little spool was a limited edition alphabet kit by Needle Work Press although it would be easy enough to kit something like this up oneself by using an old wooden spool and a bit of banding and choosing the alphabet font of your choice. I chose to stitch mine with Crescent Colours Bing Cherry and the butterfly button and the button on top both came from my stash.



Next, are the Covered Buttons designed by Jeanette Douglas.  The kit came with three designs and all of the specialty threads needed to stitch them, but it only had one big button for the final finishing. The pendant was in my crafty stash for a couple of years now, waiting for the perfect design.  I was really happy when I saw that the strawberry fit.  I picked up a few covered buttons at my local fabric shop in the largest size I could find and was delighted that tulip would fit on one of them.  The button that came with the kit is a bit larger so I had to play around to see which would fit on what.  I've noticed a lot of these little covered buttons and pendants popping up over on Instagram and I can understand why.  They are so quick and easy to make!  I'm quite happy with how these three little designs turned out.

I should probably mention the little beaded felt strawberry as well.  I made this up last summer.  I have a few of the Just Nan mice kits in my stash and wanted to practice the finishing (which is more or less a strawberry) before make these little kits up.  Unfortunately, this is the only one that turned out well.  I plan on trying my hand at a few more though because they are pretty cute. :)
  


 Finally, I did a little bit of framing.  Both of these pieces were stitched quite awhile ago and laying in my "need to be finished" pile.  The light green frame was one that I picked up at the Dollar store years ago (try to find a frame like that at the dollar store now!).

 "Canada" was framed with a shadow box that I've had laying around for some time as well.  I had a hard time getting this one to line up perfectly and if you look closely you can probably see that it's still a little crooked.  After about an hour of playing around with it I gave up and decided it was good enough. It always surprises me at just how long it takes to lace up a design for framing, but it is so worth it in the end.

So, that's it for my little finishing spree.  With all of my WIPs I shouldn't be searching for new projects, but I did.  I've started a needleroll (another new finish for me) that shouldn't take too long to stitch up.  No pics for now since there really isn't much to show.

Happy Monday!

Karen

Saturday, January 16, 2016

First finish for 2016

Wow! Can you believe that not only is it 2016, but we're also half-way through January too!  I dare say how time flies....

I finished these Plum Pudding Needleart pieces a few days ago.  Sometimes, it's so nice to work on monochromatic designs that don't require a whole lot of thought.  These were fun and easy to do and really didn't take much stitching time at all.

Holiday Samplings
by
Plum Pudding Needleart
DMC 115

The candy cane was definitely my favourite, but I really like the Season's Greetings piece too.  I used one of my favourite reds for these, DMC 115.  They weren't finished in time for this past Christmas, but that gives me a whole year to get around to the final finishing, right?  haha  

Next up is an "almost" finish.  That's one of those finishes where you just have a little bit left, but no thread in your stash that is suitable to complete it.

Tiny Spring Violet Sampler
by
The Sweetheart Tree

(The colours are really off in this picture.  It is definitely a lot warmer in real life.)

The only part left to stitch is an Oblique Herringbone border that is stitched just along the inside of the deeper purple border.  The pattern calls for Kreinik Silver Cable for this stitch.  I've never heard of Silver Cable before, so I'm a little intrigued. An order will have to be placed for the missing thread which should be fun since I haven't placed one in awhile.  :)  

Finally, I'll talk about all that stuff everyone talks about this time of year:  2015 achievements and 2016 goals.  I just browsed through my 2015 finishes and decided I wasn't that productive last year and I don't really have any goals for 2016.  So, I'm not going to bother with all of that this year.  I just want to have fun stitching and I'm not going to worry about how much I've completed or make any plans for finishing any particular projects.  I'm just going to stitch what I feel like whenever I feel like it.  :)  

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!  And I'm wishing you many happy stitches for 2016!  

Karen