Baa Baa Barn Sheep

I've been on a roll with smalls and was able to finish another one that has been in my stash for a long time.  Here's Baa Baa Barn Sheep:  

Myrtle Grace Motifs

Baa Baa Barn Sheep

Recommended hand WDW

32 count mystery fabric

It's stitched with three pieces of floss over two fabric threads on 32 count mystery fabric which gives it a nice dense look.   

The barn scene on the sheep probably isn't everyone's cup of tea, and to be honest, I don't think I would have picked this up if I hadn't seen it finished in the store.  But I'm glad I did.  It was fun to stitch and was finished up in just a few days.  

My final finishing mojo has vanished though and this one has been added to my pile of pieces waiting to be finished...eventually....

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!
Karen

Jeanette Douglas Spring Quaker Pincushion

Jeanette Douglas has designed a few small kits and let me just say they are awesome!  I ordered a few of them a few weeks ago and below is the first one that I stitched.

The kit included the floss for the cording, the buttons, the linen, and the felt backing fabric.  All of this for just $15 CDN at Traditional Stitches.  I think that's a pretty good deal.  I only ordered the scissor fob from this series, but I think I'll have to get the other two because I loved stitching it and putting it together so much.  

Below is a close-up of the front:  (sorry for the blurriness. I used the macro function on my camera, but it didn't seem to work.)

And the back....:

After I stitched the cute little Quaker design, I knew I would have to finish it right away...  I want to finish everything lately.  This was only my second time making twisted cording and I still can't believe I have put off making this stuff for so long.  Jeanette includes complete finishing instructions with the kit too.

Well, there you have it.  A cute little scissor fob and it only took a day or so to make.  If you haven't seen Jeanette Douglas' little kits, you should check out her site.  I've been enjoying kits a lot lately and I will probably get a few more of these.  They are such cute quick little projects.

Teeny Tiny Tea Time Bunny

I was gifted with the cutest little kit a couple of weeks ago. It was so adorable that I started stitching it immediately.  It stitched up so quickly that I decided to go ahead and do the final finishing as well. 

Tea Time Bunny Tiny Tin Cover

by

Lorri Birmingham Designs

 Tea Time Bunny is stitched over one on 28ct Monaco Fabric and it certainly tested my eyesight!  It's not the first time that I've stitched over one, but I definitely haven't done it very many times.  

It's mounted on a teeny tiny Altoid tin.  I have never actually seen these tiny tins before.  To give perspective as to how tiny this is, I set my embroidery scissors beside it in the photo.  

The design itself is utterly adorable.  Who doesn't like bunnies?  And a bunny in a teacup is just too cute.

I haven't done very much finishing over the past couple of years, but I have been feeling the urge to finish everything lately.  This tiny little tin was the first tin cover that I've ever done.  It's also the first time I've ever made my own cord.

I've had "The Spinster: Cord, Trim, Rope" tool in my stash for years, but this was the first time I have ever dug it out to try it.   I can't believe I let it sit in a drawer unused for probably 7 years!  Crazyness!!  It was so simple to use.  It even comes with instructions to make beaded rope and bullion trim.  I'm really quite curious how the beaded rope would turn out....

 The above picture doesn't show the sides of the tin, but I glued some white rick rack around it to make it look pretty.  Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Something else that I finished awhile ago was "Butterfly Lace."  I'm not sure if it will stay as it is or not, but I thought I'd share what it looks like for now.

I mounted it in a shadow box that I bought at Michael's some time ago.  It was the only one they had at that time that had a padded backing that you could stick pins into.  Also, it's a rectangle (like most store bought frames), which isn't the most flattering for this very square design  I think it would look better in a white square frame.

In order to mount this in the shadow box I needed the piece to be finished around the edges so, I hemstitched it and I placed a piece of pink fabric on the back to show off the drawn and pulled thread stitches.  To balance it in the rectangle frame I added the piece of lace to the side and attached a small butterfly charm that I had in my stash.  I still felt like it needed something and scrounged around in my stash for a piece of pink ribbon to make into a little bow.

I'm not overly thrilled with how it turned out which is probably why I never bothered sharing the final finish with you all until now.

Over the weekend, I was in Homesense and they had a nice assortment of shadow boxes with padded backings.  They even had a square one (albeit a bit large for this).  But I bought it anyways because I love how simple it is to pin something into them and how easy it is to change them around for different seasons. 

One thought that I had was using the Butterfly Lace design in this along with some other pieces.  Kind of making a collage of stitched pieces.  Do any of you use shadow boxes to frame your pieces?

Thanks for stopping by! I always appreciate your comments.

Karen

Finally - a finish!

Yup, that's right.  I managed to stick with something long enough to finish it off!  The design that kept me going long into the night was Quaker Gardens by Blackbird Designs.  I was determined to finish it last night before going to bed.  

This pattern sat all kitted up in my stash for literally years.  While searching for my next projects I would always take this one out and admire it and then file it away for "next time." 

Well, Quaker Garden's time to shine finally came around and I enjoyed stitching every little bit of it. 

Quaker Garden

Blackbird Designs

Recommended threads and fabric

The grayish blue and and the bits of white really pop off of this fabric.  And the pink adds that bit of colour that really captured my attention with this design.  All of the Quaker style patterns that I like are the more colourful and this one with its little pops of colour fitted that category perfectly.  

Another thing about Quaker patterns that draws my attention is the assortment of motifs.  This one is rather small, so it only has a few.  But the ones that attracted me to this pattern were the little moth and the bright flower at the top.  

In general, Quaker patterns aren't really what I'm drawn to when it comes to stitching.  I believe this may be the first bigger one that I have stitched (if you really want to consider this larger.. it's really not that big).  I always thought they would be tedious to stitch and many are not designed with a lot of colour.  But having said that, I really enjoyed stitching this one.  So much so that I may select another one from my stash to work on next.  I have Rosewood Manor's Spring Quakers all kitted up somewhere.......

'Til next time,

Karen

 

A little progress X by X

I've made very little progress on my newly started pieces and I have no idea why.  I should be working away at these designs.  I love all of the patterns and the colours and look forward to seeing them finished, but my attention span doesn't last for more than a few minutes these days.  I pick up one piece and set it aside after a few minutes to work on something else.  By the time I get everything pulled out for the next design I end up making very little progress (if any at all). 

 Needless to stay, I've had another new start.  I wonder if anyone can guess what this is?  It was a really popular Blackbird Design back a few years ago.

 

Did anyone guess what it is?  If you guessed Quaker Gardens, then you'd be right!  I'm not much of a Quaker pattern girl, but this one really appealed to me at the time.  So, I hopped on the Blackbird Design bandwagon and bought everything for it years ago.  

After having it collect dust for several years in my "To Do" bin, it appealed to me again.  I thought if I could pick up something that only had cross stitching in it, I might make some progress.  And I did make a bit of progress, but unfortunately I had to pull a bunch of it out. Someday I will learn how to count accurately lol. 

I'm not sure if anyone else out there enjoys reading old diaries or letters of famous people, but I do.  Maybe I'm just nosey, but I love to read actual letters and stuff.  My latest find was Van Gogh's letters translated into modern English and very easy to read.  I just bought this a few days ago and I'm already a quarter of the way through! 

 

It is all correspondence that he had with his brother, Theo.  It shows the sketches and paintings that he is talking about in his letters along with actual pictures of the letters.  Anyways, I love reading it and I can see reading it more than once. 

Well, breakfast is ready, and my cup of tea is calling so I best go.  I wish all of you well and hope that you have a beautful weekend filled with good weather and lots of fun.

Thanks for visiting!

Karen

Feelin' busy

Last weekend was one busy weekend!  We decided to go to for a day trip which coincidentally happened to be where my LNS is.... so, of course I stopped in.

I picked out a counted canvas pattern called Tiptoe Through the Tulips and all of the stuff I needed for it.  I love doing these needlepoint designs, but my oh my the supplies for them add up quickly.

As you can see, I was so happy to get this that I started it as soon as I got home.

The other pattern I bought is one of Cathy Jean's latest designs, Laughing in Flowers.  I bought the thread pack for it as well and will start it soon. I still seem to be having a case of startitus lol.  I want to work on everything all at once.  I have a feeling this will be started in the very near future lol.

The other thing I bought was a spool of the gold sparkly ribbon I needed to finish off my last Holiday Ornament. which I also finished as soon as I got home.  This is it with the last two corners finished off.  

 And this is a pic of all four completely finished.

It may have taken me a few years to complete this set, but I'm glad I did in the end. Now to decide how to finish them off....

 I'll leave you with a pic of my crazy pooch....

Karen

Catch up

It's been awhile, I know.  I have been severely neglecting my blog and for the most part stitching in general.  Recently, I picked up a small little ornament that I was working on before Christmas and I enjoyed placing the simple Xs on this simple little design and it's all sort of snowballed since then.  I've finished this cute little Prairie Schooler design a couple of weeks ago.

 

Prairie Schooler

Snowy Nights

Just Cross Stitch Christmas Issue 2010

I wanted to start something else, but kitting things up just doesn't appeal to me right now, so, I've been looking for things that are simple to set up and that are all ready to go.  I've had this needlepoint for years now and had only one ornament left to stitch to finish off the kit.  It was sitting out on a table so, I just grabbed it and started working on it.  It is American Quilt Collection Holiday Ornaments Series 1.  As you can see, there are two corners not completed...  I ran out of gold ribbon.....

Below are all four of the ornaments.  They are so vibrant and cheerful.

American Quilt Collection - Holiday Ornaments Series 1

After this, the startitus began.  I decided I wanted to work on my Hardanger skills so, I started these blocks from the Janice Love  Basics and Beyond book.  I decided to stitch a bunch of blocks first and then I'll finish each one with a separate filling stitch from the book.

 

So, my interest in Hardanger faded while working on the buttonhole stitch (probably one of my least favourite stitches) on the first block as you can see above.  I started looking through my old finishes (I have a huge pile of things that need to be finish finished) and got the finishing bug.  

The Butterfly Lace Sampler is one of my favourite finishes and has been sitting in the finishing pile for years.  I always wanted to put it in a shadow box type of frame, but couldn't decide how to go about it.   At first, I thought maybe buttonhole stitching around it and pinning it to the shadow box would work, and I started stitching it, but it didn't add anything to the design.  Then it struck me to hemstitch it and pin it to the box.  

 

So, I prepared it for the hemstitching and now just have to do the actually hemstitching.  Below is the box I plan on putting it in with a little lace placed accross the top and bottom maybe.

 

Now you ask, why didn't I finish the hemstitching?  Well, at the time I didn't feel alert enough to work on it so I set it aside.  But having the itch to stitch I started looking through some things that I had kitted up already (I still didn't feel like pulling threads and fabric and figuring things out).  I came accross The Drawn Thread Easter Egg Sampler which I have wanted to do for a couple of years now.  Now, Easter has been over for a couple of weeks now, but I still decided to do it.  And below is as far as I got with it.

 

The leaves are actually buttonhole stitched lol.  I just can't seem to get away from that stitch.  Below is ia pic of what it will eventually look like.

So, that's where it's at.  I have a few BAP to work on, but don't feel like pulling them out right now.  I'm sticking to relatively small designs and I'm trying to keep myself interested.  It would be such a shame to stop stitching when I have so many beautifully things in my stash that need to be stitched! 

Since I've been gone for so long, I don't expect to see too many readers come by my blog, but to those of you that stop by, thanks for taking the time to read my blog!  :)

Karen

A semi-finish

After about a year and a half the stocking is just about done!  I can't wait to finish this one for good.  I actually forgot that my daughter's name still needs to be stitched until I took it off of the scroll rods.  Hopefully that won't take too long. Aside from that, there's "just" the backstitching.  I'm always amazed at how much the backstitching makes a stitched piece pop.

I know I should be sticking with this and getting done, but I just need to set aside for a few days.  The idea of hours and hours of backstitching just doesn't do anything for me right now.  Does anyone out there actually like backstitching?

Well, I've got nothing else to share for now... so, 'til next time....

Karen

Giddy-up

The stocking is really coming along.  This last week, every spare moment was spent stitching a few Xs with the hopes that the cross stitching will be finished by the end of this week.  Unfortunately, since I work 12 hour shifts that doesn't add up to a whole lot of progress, but I did make some!  The horses are almost done!  :)

You can see the beginning of the carriage there as well.  It's so close to being done!  It would be so nice to get one big finish in before the end of this year.  With my little hiatus, this might be my only stitchy finish for the year. 

Well, I mustn't doddle..  I have to get back to stitching! 

I'm baaaaack!

I doubt there are too many folks out there still following my posts after this very long hiatus.  To those that are reading, thanks for stopping by!  Blogging, stitching and just about any other hobby has been put on the back burner for awhile now because things just got so busy.  We bought a house and moved a few months ago.  I now have my very own room for crafting!

So, through-out this hiatus, there was no stitching whatsoever.  About two months ago I started to get back into the groove a little bit, but still very little stitching was taking place.  I started quilting instead!

My daughter's quilt top

This is a quilt top I've made for my daughter.  She picked out all of the fabrics and I sewed the blocks together.   After that, we both arranged and rearranged the blocks to make the top.  It was fun, by my goodness it's definitely much more difficult than it looks.

I still have to baste it and quilt it.  I hope to have it finished for her for Christmas.

After getting this far with the quilt top, I started putting a whole lot of effort into stitching.  I've been working super hard the last few weeks on Donna Kooler's Winter Scene Stocking (also a gift for my daughter).  I'm so close to being finished it, I can taste it!  

This piece is on a scroll frame, so, unfortunately all you can see is what will be the foot of the stocking.  I added the picture below so you can see what it will look like once finished.

All I have left is the horse and carriage and one more little tree.  Plus, of course all of the backstitching and there is an enormous amount of it!  This is a piece I started back in 2012, so, if I can finish this for Christmas this year, it will be a huge accomplishment for me.  

With all of the stitching I've been doing, I figured a trip to my LNS was warranted to see the latest trends and of course, I didn't come home empty handed.

I bought all of the goodies needed to kit up the needlepoint kit (Holiday Tree IV) and the Victoria Sampler Accessory pack for the biscornus.  I've wanted this pattern for ages.  I've never actually made a biscornu and can't wait to try it.  I'm now on the hunt for some wooden sewing spools as well for the little hardanger ornaments.  

So, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures.  One of our new fur baby and another of a rainbow that we saw from our deck a couple of days ago.

 Meet Kino!

I'm still here

Hi!  I know, it's been awhile.  I am still around, but I have taken a blogging hiatus.  I've lost my stitching mojo and have no desire at all to pick up a needle right now. I haven't stitched since Christmas, really.  So, my blogging break will continue for awhile longer.  I have been looking through all of your posts and hope it will help inspire me to stitch again.

 Also, if you're wondering why my blog looks so bare it's because I've decided to remove my posts from public view on an annual basis.  It will grow again once I get my stitching mojo back and start posting again.  This is really just a pro-active way of downsizing my digital footprint on the Internet and taking privacy a bit more seriously.  I hope you all understand. 

Wishing you well,

Karen