Purchases, Finishes, and Progress!

I am so happy to have some time off. In fact, I have already been off one month. Time is passing quickly.

The last several months have been busy and full of happy events, with some stitching thrown in from time to time.

Some time in spring I was fortunate to be able to attend a Lizzie Kate Trunk Show at our local LNS. My dear friend and I had lots of fun oohing and drooling over all the fabulous patterns and models.

I had to purchase something, right?

Here is what I selected:

While in the shop, I saw this one stitched up as a model and just had to purchase this Plum Street Sampler pattern. It is gorgeous in person! 

Back to Lizzie Kate, I started stitching up one of the ornaments right away.  Despite having collected scores of ornament patterns, I do believe this is the first one I have ever stitched!   

I usually stick to large projects that take me forever, but I finally decided to do some smaller projects so that I get a sense of completion. 

Here is Jingle, which was a nice, fun quick stitch: 

I am not sure how I will finish this one.  I have been watching Flosstube videos for quite some time now, and love one gal's (Yvonne- Dough Bowl - Night Owl Stitcher Yvonne) dough bowl idea of displaying various seasonal smalls in a beautiful antique dough bowl. This is something I might pursue down the line.  I found one dough bowl while on vacation recently, but it was too rustic for my taste.  The hunt continues...and I must stitch items for this bowl. The finishing is the tough part for me, and I may have to call upon my finishing friends for help in this project.  I move slowly, so who knows when an actual dough bowl will be ready for display.


In June I purchased some plain tea towels at a discount chain store.  They were just crying out to be stamped and embroidered.  I thus went ahead and stamped one to stitch.  Much to my dismay, I found that the weave was way too loose to be of much quality for stitching.  Just the same, I had already stamped the towel so I decided to go ahead and stitch on it.  The weave was SO LOOSE that I couldn't do french knots but instead had to improvise a funky sort of stitch for the center.

I have collected way too many iron-on patterns for years, and I decided upon Aunt Martha's Colonial Girls and Puppies.  My stitches are very poor, but I did finish it. The towel is of such poor quality that this one will simply be a decorative towel. The good thing was it was done in just a very short time.

Besides working on Jingle and the tea towel, I have been working on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.  Progress IS being made, ever so slowly.  Here are a few photos:

           Photo from April 

June and July Photos: 

I am enjoying this piece, but it is slow going. There are twelve total blocks, and I am on just the third one after over a year of stitching.  Perhaps I will just stitch four squares? We will see. 

We recently returned from a road trip that took us to beautiful places around the USA.  In our travels were able to visit a fantastic needlework store.  Oh, to live close to that mecca!  I will share more information on that journey in an upcoming post.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Progress At Last

Time flies by so quickly.  Where does it go? So much has happened in the last few weeks that it is hard to even try to recap a bit of it. With that being said, it is time for a long overdue stitching update. 

A small update on The Houses of Hawk Run Hollow: 

I took the photos shown above at the end of November. That is when I last stitched until this week, and I only made a tiny bit of progress during that short session.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

New WIP- At Last! Mary Ann Blackburn by Blackbird Designs

I truly have not started a new project since 2012.  Can that be true? I think so.  I am not overly fond of gathering up items for a project.  I know that is unusual as many have said they LOVE to kit up new projects. Anyway. since I only had two WIPs, (that are super old) I decided to start something new. I was happy to get this book:

This is the first pattern I am stitching by Blackbird Designs.  I so love their patterns!

Here is my fabric with the threads I'll be using.  A few of the threads are substitutions as my local store did not carry all the 'called for' colors. We found nice colors to take their place.  The store I shop at is great, and they're very helpful with this sort of thing.  I also chose a 28 count fabric, and I think the color is mocha, or light mocha perhaps. I felt many different linens, but I chose this one as it was softer than many of the others.

Here is the design I'm stitching.

It's going really well, and here are some progress pictures: 

I see now that the colors on my project look nothing like the leaflet, but that is perhaps a photo thing. Either way, I am pleased with these colors.

Thanks for stopping by today, and happy stitching! 

Wedding Ring Bouquet Progress

Finally, a small update. Here is my latest progress on Paula Vaughan's Wedding Ring Bouquet. I used a hoop for a small portion of it, and that was something I hadn't done in years and years. At this point I have a lot of white left to do, and also an abundance of backstitching awaits me as well. I started this on a whim in 2002 or so. It's done on 22 count hardanger fabric, using one strand of DMC.  

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Save Your Orts and Quaker Diamonds Progress

I have been enjoying myself lately by stitching A LOT more on a regular basis. I feel very lucky to have free time to do this right now, but I know it will not last forever.

While enjoying my stitch time, I realized one morning that I was running low on a particular color required for my Quaker Diamonds. This is the one I've been working on for months. What happened to the 'withered green' color? I really couldn't say, but I didn't want to order more Valdani threads as there wasn't really THAT much green left to do.   What to do? I looked at corresponding DMC colors but I didn't want to mix them into the project.

I went into my ORT vase, and lo and behold I was able to find a lot of small strands of withered green (H202)  that I was able to use. I completed all the green required, and I think I have enough tiny pieces of green to finish one small little section.  In fact, some of the ORT threads were so long that I couldn't see why they were even in the ORT vase. Live and learn!

I've also gone from using my frame with Q-snaps, to stitching in hand, to using hoops, and now back again to the stand.  It's great to have all these options. For years and years I only stitched in hand.

Here was the piece before my latest stitch sessions:

And here it is a few days ago:

I took this one today, as yesterday I was able to work about more on the motif in the bottom right corner: 

I think at this point I have completed 21/26 letters, but I still have to finish this motif, complete another small motif, and finish one more motif that is above this one. That's it, except for a few tiny stitch designs here and there.  

Keep in mind I started this in 2013. I am not one to finish things quickly, but that is fine. I did have three finishes in 2014, so for me that is a victory. 

Thanks for stopping by, and do remember to save your ORTs.  

Beautiful Stitched Pieces at the County Fair

We are thrilled that cool air has finally  hit our area.  At least for a short while, anyway.  This weekend it is supposed to be up to the 90 degree mark again.  I have always disliked the heat, and I am forever shocked to hear that some folks love it hot.

Just shy of a few weeks ago we went to the county fair.  It was a miserably HOT day, and I am amazed that I actually went on such a day.  We joined our grandchildren, our daughter, and her husband for this festive occasion.  The kids LOVED the rides. It's nice that they're now old enough to do a few little rides. For dinner we passed on fair food, and ate in air-conditioned comfort at a restaurant that has locations all around the southern California area. It was delicious, and delightful to enjoy our meal in cool comfort.

One of the things I love the most about the fair is seeing folks' lovely handmade works. I marvel at the workmanship, and creativity.  As I walked in that building, I remarked to my husband that it would be amazing to know the amount of hours of work spent by the people who created all the pieces in the building. The building includes needlework, sewed clothing, costumes, quilts, photography, scrapbook items, to name just a few of the items in the building. We took some photos of some of the pieces we saw that day.  Sadly, I do not know who stitched them except for one of the pieces.  I don't even know which ones actually won ribbons, except for the ones where one can see the ribbon, of course.  They're all winners in my book.  I am not sure of the names of a lot of these pieces, and if you do know the design names please leave a comment and let me know.  I would really appreciate it! For some reason, the fair description does not include the designer's name, nor pattern name.

 Thanks to all who stitched these pieces. Here are a few of them that we saw that day:

First of all, this is Theresa Wentzler's Peaceable Kingdom.  It is a beauty! With all the blended threads a Wentzler piece contains, you can imagine this took a long time to stitch.  This one has a third place ribbon on it.

 Here is a beautiful piece, and thanks to Ohsewcrafty leaving a comment I now know the name of this one. It is called Pleasures of Winter and it's a Dimensions Gold kit. 

This piece won a second place ribbon, it seems. Lovely, but at first I had no idea on the name of the designer or pattern.  Thanks to Ohsewcrafty's comment, I can now say it is also a Dimensions Gold kit. It is called Twilight Bridge.

How impressive! I wonder what pattern this might be? Edited: Thanks to OhSewCrafty I can now tell you that this is one of Debbie Patrick's patterns. It's the Beringer Winery in Napa.  Thanks, OhSewCrafty.

A bit of blackwork on this one, I see. How lovely!

Here is Peace Angel by Lavender and Lace.  The face was done in over one stitches. It was quite large, and very impressive to behold.

This is Lavender and Lace's Summer Angel.  Gorgeous, isn't it?

This is Butternut Road's Catching the Wind.  (Same designer as the Lavender and Lace designer, the oh-so-talented late Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum)

For those of you who like to play the game Loteria, there were some clever patterns from the game that were stitched up so festively.  This one had a great presentation along with the stitched pattern:

This was so beautiful.  I was struck by the wonderful quilts hanging above the dock.  Does anyone know the name of this pattern?

This piece won "Best Of show" in its division.  Simply beautiful! I do not know this pattern's name, either. I do see the stitcher's name on this piece. Excellently done, Ms. Nunn!

I  had to take a photo of this costume that was featured in the same general area as the needlework.  Isn't it amazing?

These photos are of displays found in the House and Garden building.  The theme was "Mardi Gras" this year. I adore the rich colors and designs.

I love the bright, garish colors of the fair.  I think it's a throwback to childhood, when our great aunt and uncle used to bring us here, along with our parents. It was simply enchanting then to see all the colors of the fair. 

And what would fair photos be without a photo of one of the fried food fair stands?  I've never tried any of this deep fried sweet stuff at the fair.  I guess they must be tasty, looking at the constant lines in front of them. 

After spending about 7 hours at the fair, we happily left for our home in the neighboring county.  Until next year, farewell fun fair.

Quaker Diamonds Progress

I have been so fortunate lately as I've had time to actually get some great stitching time into my day. Ah, summer, how I love you!

I worked on Quaker Diamonds this past week, and here's my progress thus far:

I am now moving onto another WIP.  I think I will pull out Theresa Wentzler's Fruit Bellpull. I haven't worked on that one in years, and it's time to get some progress added to it.  It has a lot of blended needles so progress can be a bit slow, but the results are so worth it!

I have decided to go back to rotating my projects as I did years ago, so that way each of my five projects will get a bit of stitching on them on a more 'regular' basis.

Happy Stitching!

1983 Chick

1983 Chick, a photo by loves2stitch2 on Flickr.

The first counted cross stitch piece I did, back in 1983. This is frightfully close up, and I do see some problems with the threads.

Twenty-eight years ago...yikes! Where does time go?

Found- First Counted Crosstitch Project

Stitched in 1983, a photo by loves2stitch2 on Flickr.

I found these three projects while cleaning out a closet yesterday. The chick was the first counted crosstitch project I ever did. I stitched all three in 1983 before our daughter was born. They were the decorations on one of the walls of her little bedroom in the small apartment where we lived at the time. On Aida cloth, of course! What fun it was to find these old hidden projects.

Via Flickr:
First Counted Crosstitch Projects Ever!