Last Post of 2017 - Not a Wrap Up!

Hard to believe 2017 is ending and 2018 is beginning.  I have a few things finished since my last post to share with you.  I was off the week after Thanksgiving and my goal was to finish 3 cross stitch projects.  The Chessie and Me book finish I forgot to photograph so I'll save that for my next post.  All three finishes were finishing techniques I had never attempted.

First up was a Mounted Tag Finish a la Vonna.  You can find her outstanding YouTube video from Vonna HERE.  Whether or not you have any interest in doing your own finishing, I'd suggest you watch all of Vonna's finishing tutorials on YouTube.  They are that good!  I can't say that it took me 40 minutes like Vonna to finish my tag - more like 4 hours but I'm very pleased with my first attempt!  Thank you Vonna for holding my hand through the process - even though you didn't know it!  :)

Prairie Schooler HoHoHo Santa
Just Cross Stitch Ornament Magazine 2014
Called for DMC
32 Count Summer Khaki

Up next was a Blackbird Designs stocking finish.  This is from Merry December.  I like stitching on higher count and thought I'd stitch future stockings on higher count fabric.  After having to turn this stocking on 32 count, I'm quite happy with 32 count!

BlackBird Designs Deer in the Meadow
Called from overdyed cotton floss
Called for fabric

I also had one of my finishes framed.  This is Scottish Excursion by Amy Mitten.  I substituted another linen (32 count LL Vintage Pearled Barley).  The angle of the photo makes this look odd.  I used museum glass for the very first time and am SO happy with it. Makes a HUGE difference in my opinion.

Close up of the frame.

 

I also surprising dug Ann Dale out and stitched on her for a bit in November (or was it December?).  This photo is terrible but that entire bottom row except for the far left tree is what I stitched this time around along with extending the borders.  I stitched all that in a week or so and just like that, my mojo for Ann went out the window!

  

Murphy turned 1 December 11th.  We celebrated with a cookie from the dog bakery - the cakes were too big for his 20 pound self - and a couple of toys for "aggressive chewers".  He wasn't happy with my taking a photo since I woke him up from a nap to take it just a few minutes ago.

Thank you so much for continuing to visit my blog and leave sweet comments!  They keep me going!  Wishing you all a healthy, happy and safe New Year full of happy stitches!

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Finishes!

I'm so happy to share a few stitching finishes with you!  It's rare that I have a finish.  Oddly enough, I finished both of the samplers on my son's birthday - August 7th.  Both are SAL's with my EGA Guild.  The Amy Mitten project was our 2016 SAL and this year we have a Brenda Keyes/The Sampler Company SAL going.

This is the Amy Mitten project.  The Scottish Sampler.  This piece has chenille couched just underneath the house (the dark and light green).  It's not fun to work with in that capacity.  I'm glad to have this done.   It gave me problems as a linen thread disappeared somewhere.  Jill helped me out with the problems that ended up presenting in the house but the rest of it just landed where it landed.  I wasn't going to stress over it since almost the entire sampler was stitched at that point.

 

The Scottish Sampler/Amy Mitten

32 Count Lakeside Linen Pearled Barley

Amy Mitten's Hand Dyed Silks

This is County House Sampler from Brenda Keyes.  I first noticed this when Tonya Brockmeyer of The Scarlett House posted her sampler on Facebook.  I asked what it was and she told me and said it was one of her favorite stitches of all times.  The linen color here is off.  I would have never stitched a sampler on this natural/raw linen but I saw it stitched on it at Stitch and Frame shop and just fell in love with it.

Country House Sampler

Brenda Keys/The Sampler Company

40 Count Zweigart Raw Natural Linen

NPI conversion from Joe shared by Margaret the Sampler Lover

The color is more true in this picture.

This isn't a reproduction so I stitched my name in a blatant attempt to guilt my sons into keeping this when I'm gone. Ha!  Who knows, it might work!  :)

 

I also signed up for a Shining Needle Society for Barbara Jackson's Springtime Eggs.  I finished the first one right away but I haven't shared it here.  The 2nd one is in progress but has not been getting any attention lately.

I've spent the weekend organizing my stitching "stuff" because I could not find something I had been trying to find.  Still haven't found it but I'm confident I could find anything else stitching related if I was looking for it!

I hope you're having a great weekend and that all your stitches are happy ones! 

New Starts

This year our EGA Chapter has a needlepoint SAL and a cross stitch SAL.  We had Kathy Rees from Needle Delights Originals come last year and speak to our Chapter.  Since she has so many beautiful projects and brought kits for everything (she was on her way to market), the needlepoint SAL was member choice of any Kathy Rees projects.  I chose Color Delights Rainbow.  I started on July 12th and finished on August 9th which is a super quick stitch for me.  The called for Vineyard Silks were used.  It was a fun stitch and there is plenty of silk left over to use in another project.  If you're a cross stitcher this type of counted needlepoint is a perfect project.

 

For the linen SAL, we chose a specific project from Amy Mittens 80 Days Around the World projects she is releasing this year.  We chose Excursion #1 Scotland.   I ordered the chart and threads preferring to select my own linen (which is 32 count Vintage Pearled Barley from Lakeside).  I started this right in January and later set it down to work on Shores of Hawk Run.  I'll be picking this up again soon.    I love that this sampler includes personalizing it with family members initials and I've enjoyed stitching this to date.  What I have left is fairly densely stitched so lots more to go!

 

I've not stitched with Amy's silks before.  The colors are beautiful and seems to have a lot of twist to them.  You can see it in the photo below.  This project also uses some couched chenille for the grass and steps of a house that is yet to be stitched in on my project.  That's going to be new for me!

With the prior post, that mostly brings everyone up to date on what I've been working on stitching wise this year.  It seems I've been doing more stitching than anything else.   What are you working on?  I'll be back again soon, I hope all your stitches are happy ones!