Christmas stitching

I've been working on some Christmas stitching.  First, I finished the free Gingerbread Houses SAL by Shannon Wasilieff.  I got Shannon's permission to change the last house in the bottom right corner so it wouldn't look like the first house, so I combined it with a bigger gingerbread house chart from her Etsy store.

Then I stitched these 2 Lizzie*Kate pieces and made them into ornaments for family.

Next I stitched these 3 cute Margaret Sherry mice from a recent WOCS issue and sent them out as Xmas cards.

And now I'm working on another Shannon Wasilieff design called Mrs. Claus' Merry Dresses. I'll wait to add the beads and french knots until all 3 dresses and border is done.

Mid-November update

I finished the Triple Jack piece into another flatfold display that looked great for Halloween.

And today I finished Nuthatch, a Mill Hill beaded kit.  It was my first time working on perforated paper and I'm happy with how it turned out.  I've ordered the corresponding red frame and will give this as an xmas gift.

October stitching

I finished the owl candle band piece into my first flatfold display, using autumn leaves fabric & ribbon and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out:

Then I stitched up this Trick or Treats bag for my daughter using waste canvas.  The pattern is from the Nov 2014 issue of WOCS.  Shannon was kind enough to design additional T's for me to pick from so I wouldn't have 2 similar letters.  Just love how it turned out, even though my daughter may be too young to trick or treat this year.

And I finished the third house in the Gingerbread House SAL by Shannon Wasilieff.  The Treats bag pattern is her design too.

A couple more finishes

I finished Frank's Family Portrait in August and my local needlework shop did a fabulous job framing it!

And I just finished the Owl Candle Band from the Oct 2014 issue of Just Cross Stitch.  I left off one owl on either side to fit my fabric and I used 14 ct aida instead of the called for perforated paper so that I can make a wall hanging or something with it.

The bad news is that I have to start TW's Camelot Sampler over from scratch.  I don't know why it didn't click in my brain that 2 over 1 on 28 ct wasn't going to work.  And it's impossible to frog it too.  So just easier to start over.  I've got a new piece of fabric prepped so it's ready to start but some other Halloween stitching probably comes first.

I've also been working on a free Gingerbread House SAL by Shannon Wasilieff.  Here's my progress with the frame & 2 houses:

Silent Night

It took me awhile but I finished Silent Night by Cottage Country Needleworks.  I think it turned out pretty well, even though one of the snowflakes has a mistake.

Edited: Yeah, I couldn't let that snowflake alone so I fixed it after taking the pic & posting it.  

A slew of updates

It's been 2 months since I've posted updates!  But I also haven't been stitching as much so here's the bit of progress I have made:

Frank's Family Portrait

A Victorian Xmas Eve

 Christmas Tree from 365 Cross Stitch Designs bookazine

 Yuletide Frost from 2012 JCS Xmas Ornament issue

And right now I'm working on Silent Night by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Stitching updates

Been awhile since I posted update pictures.  First, I finished page 2 on A Victorian Xmas Eve:

 So here's what the whole thing looks like now:

Next I worked for a bit on TW's Camelot Sampler but couldn't focus on it for a whole week so I only stitched on it for 4 days because the over 1 twisted vine border is so cramped and slow moving.

 Then, for a big change, I worked on a Dimensions kit called Tree Ornament, on plastic canvas.  I'll twist some of the red floss into a cord and glue it to the back along with some felt to finish it off.

Frank and his Bride and SFS April report

Here's Frankenstein and his Bride after another week of stitching.  I stitched all of page 2 (right side of house & top of Frank's head) and started on page 3 (bride).  It's a fun piece to work on!

For the month of April, I only spent 99 cents on stitching stash and that was for a digital XS magazine.  I worked on Frank, the Camelot Sampler, A Victorian Xmas Eve, and completed Triple Jack and stitched Snowmen Trio.  All designs from stash!

Snowmen Trio

Here's my xmas piece for April.  It's Snowmen Trio by Cottage Country Needleworks.  A cute but easy design that took me 3 days to stitch.  I'll make it into an ornament later.  I used DMC instead of the hand-dyed floss it called for.

April stash expenditures so far only consists of one cross stitch magazine, but in digital form, so it only cost 99 cents!

CamSam progress and Pumpkins!

Here's where TW's Camelot Sampler is after week 3:

 I finished the Camelot medallion, the initial & date blocks and started on the twisted vine border.  It's entirely 2 over 1 in that section so I thought the parking method would be the best way to tackle it but I'm struggling with parking since I've never done it before.  Here's a close-up of the twisted vine border:

After that rotation, I finished the Mill Hill kit called Triple Jack, that I had begun in March: 

This is my first time working with beads and I chose to use black floss to attach them (matching the black aida) rather than using a floss that matched the beads.

Victorian Xmas Eve week #5

I finished a week of working on this piece a few days ago but didn't get around to posting a picture.  I ended up stitching a lot of snow and did some other parts when I got tired of doing that - finished the red dress (except for backstitching) and started on the 2 kids.

I put this piece back away until the next rotation and picked up Camelot Sampler.  The confetti stitches are KILLING me!  It kills my motivation and speed.  But one stitch at a time, I'm getting it done.  

Frank's Family Portait & SFS March

I actually completed a week's worth of stitching on Frank's Family Portrait over a week ago but didn't post it then.  It's by Glendon Place.  Here's what the finished piece will look like:

I'm using the recommended 28 ct lugana in "Mire" color from Picture This Plus but it's not as vibrant as the model.  It still looks pretty neat.  So here's my progress after a week:

I knew my stitching time would be limited this past week due to some volunteer work I do so I picked up a small kit I had: Moonlight Madness: Triple Jack by Mill Hill.  I'm almost done with the stitching of the pumpkins but still have the border and all the beads to go.  Here's what the finished piece will look like (no progress pic yet):

And for my March Stitching from Stash totals: 

Carryover into March: $1.87

Purchases in March: $18.80

Total spent: $16.93

I bought some beads for my Camelot Sampler, some floss I needed for Frank, but the big purchase was the 365 Cross Stitch Designs bookazine.  Love it!

Camelot Sampler progress after week 2

I didn't have nearly as much stitching time this week as I've had in the weeks past but I still got a fair bit done on Camelot Sampler considering all the confetti stitches with blended threads.  The bottom part of the castle is visible!

Next I think I'm going to start a Halloween piece to get back to having a rotation of 3 projects.

Happy Stitching!

Harry Potter mini piece

I found a french blog that has free patterns of the Harry Potter characters.  The first one I stitched up was Harry, of course, and he'll go in a birthday card for my mom.

Happy Stitching!

A Victorian Xmas update and Feb Stitching from Stash summary

I worked 5 days on page 2 of A Victorian Christmas Eve to finish my 4th week of working on this piece.  (It took about 2 days to finish page 1 in my last update of it.)  I wasn't really motivated to work on this piece in my rotation and wanted to skip to another piece but I really got into it as I was stitching because it went fairly quickly, except for the confetti of the pine tree.  So here's where I am after week 4:

And for my February summary for the Stitching From Stash challenge:
Rollover from January: $9.09
Amount spent in Feb: $23.13 (after spending $9.09 above)
Stash purchased: I used the rollover amount to buy another qsnap, I also bought TW's Camelot Sampler and everything I needed to get it started (fabric, some floss & needles)
Rollover for March: $1.87

Happy Stitching!

Pure Michigan is finished!

I finished the MI piece by MM Waldock Designs (aka Oberlin Samplers).  I'm so glad that the border words I changed worked out as far as spacing.

Close-ups:

Details of the items in each letter:

M - State of MI with Lansing Capitol bldg marked & pictured

I - Big Sable lighthouse

C - MI apples

H - Mackinac Bridge with sailboat and Great Lakes freighter

I - Henry Ford Museum

G - MI cherries

A - Model T, Fort Michilimackinac, and a morel mushroom

N - White Pine tree and skiers on a ski lift

Next up is another week of stitching on Victorian Xmas Eve.  

Camelot Sampler

I've been working on Teresa Wentzler's Camelot Sampler for a week now.  Here's what the finished piece will look like:

 There are 94 colors, most used as blended threads:

 And here's what it looks like after a week.  I opted to stitch parts of the border as I work on the central pieces so I'm not doing the whole border at the end.

 The twisted vine border has over 2 and over 1 parts.  The inner most backstitched line is a wrapped backstitch.  There's also and inner and outer border either side of the twisted vine border using ecru perle cotton in a 4-sided (square) stitch.

Tomorrow I'll go back to working on my Michigan piece for a week.  Happy Stitching!

Victorian Xmas Eve update & a new TW piece

I finally finished page 1 of A Victorian Christmas Eve by Sandy Littlejohns.  Only 5 more pages to go!

Last week, I visited eBay for some unknown reason...maybe a sly itch to add to my stash? I only placed one bid but I won the auction!  At least I only spent $4.99 but the item arrived today in the mail and I know I'm just going to LOVE this piece!  It's Camelot Sampler by Teresa Wentzler.  

My "to stitch" list was already substantial for the year but of COURSE I can squeeze in one more project!  Here's to hoping Camelot Sampler doesn't take me as long to finish as the other big TW piece I've done: The Guardian.  I've included the finished Guardian picture below since I haven't shown him off on the blog yet.  He's still the piece I'm most proud of and he has a place of honor in my daughter's room.

Party Penguin

Here's February's contribution to Christmas ornaments & cards for the year.  This is "Party Penguin" from Issue 93 of Cross Stitch Card Shop (nov/dec '13).  He's so cute and stitched up very quickly!  He'll be going into a Christmas card for a friend who loves penguins.  I just need to add a Christmas message underneath him.

Happy Stitching!

Pure Michigan

I found a neat pattern showcasing Michigan sites and things MI is known for thanks to seeing the designer's Louisiana piece in my local needlework shop.  The designer is Oberlin Samplers aka MM Waldock Designs.  I've been working on the MI pattern for a week now.  I'll be changing some of the border words to make it more meaningful to my hubby and I since we hail from Michigan.

I'm stitching it on 28 ct tea-dyed Monaco from Charles Craft (no fancy fabric due to my Stitching From Stash budget!).  The chart is all hand-written!  From the symbols on the chart, the floss list, and all the backstitching instructions for each letter - it's all done by hand & was photo-copied by the designer.  It certainly makes it interesting to stitch as I have some interpretation to do.  For example, a symbol on the chart may look like a fractional stitch but the designer just wrote it smaller so as not to intrude on the backstitch going OVER the whole cross stitch.  It probably makes more sense when you're looking at the pattern.

The picture on the cover is very small:

And here's where I am after working on it for a week:

Already pictured are the Big Sable lighthouse, MI apples, the Mackinac Bridge with a sailboat and Great Lakes freighter, the Henry Ford Museum, and MI cherries.

Did you know MI has more lighthouses than any other state in the U.S. thanks to the Great Lakes?

Happy Stitching!

Weekly progress & Stitching from Stash January summary

For the past week, I've been working on "A Victorian Christmas Eve" by Sandy Littlejohns.  I started this piece last August but this is only my 3rd week working on it.  I'm almost done with page 1 (of 6).
What the piece will look like when it's finished:

 
What it looked like when I picked it up at the beginning of the week:

 And after working on it this past week:

Today I also picked up Christmas Tree Farm from my local needlework shop that did the framing.  I opted for a "puffy" finish instead of using glass.

 Here's an artsy side picture that shows the "puff" better.  The LNS owner likes doing puffy framing for seasonal pieces but prefers using glass for piece that will be displayed year-round to keep them safe from dirt, pet hair, etc.

And for my Stitching from Stash summary for January:

Total spent: $58.99

Xmas gift money used on Stash: $43.08 (more gift money spent on non-stitchy stuff)

Total for January after gift money: $15.91

I've now got 5 pieces ready to go with fabric & floss so I shouldn't be spending much in the next few months unless I find magazines I can't do without.  I usually buy the digital copies which are cheaper than paper.