Last finishes of 2013

It has been awhile since I wrote a blog!

We have had a busy fall. We moved into our house in October. Unpacking was not fun. I was actually sick of  seeing boxes labeled crafts and fabric-the horror! We still have a few boxes here and there that need to be unpacked.

I did not get a lot of stitching done during the fall due to said move, but I am starting to get back into the swing of things now that the holidays are done. I have big plans for 2014-like finishing up Lady Hera. Poor girl has not seen any stitching on her since August or so.

I put up When Witches Go Riding at the end of October, and I will have to finish it before next Halloween. Sadly, I do not have a picture of the progress I did make. In November, I started Happy Harvest by Country Cottage Needleworks. I love fall designs and had to stitch this one.

I also finished Cardinal Winter by Little House Needleworks before Christmas. Someday I will make it into an ornament :)

I started Gingerbread Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks and have made good progress on it. I will finish this one sometime in January!

Happy New Year!

IHSW September

It is hard to believe it is almost October. Where did the time go?

Well, this weekend I worked on When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler. I love stitching Halloween and autumn pieces. Please excuse the thread running behind the fabric :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Evening Primrose Finish

I finished Evening Primrose by Nora Corbett this weekend. She is stitched on 32 Crystal Meditation Lugana. While I loved the fabric, I did not like stitching on it. Either way, she turned out quite cute. I really love all the purple beads on her :)

And some close-ups:

Thanks for stopping by!

Updates!

It has been a while since I last updated, but it has been a busy summer for us. We were looking for a house, made an offer, and then had it inspected. It was well worth the money for the house inspection. There was too much wrong with the house, so we walked away, and are back to looking at houses.

We also adopted a second dog from Helping Shepherds of Every Color Rescue. Her name is Ellie, and she is a 1-2 year old German Shepherd. She is very sweet. Unfortunately, Mandy, our first dog, is not interested in sharing our apartment. Mandy growls every time she see Ellie inside. However, they get along fine at day care and the dog park, so there is hope! We also DNA tested Mandy, and she came back half Belgian Malinois with a little lab and Cocker Spaniel thrown in (I don't see the spaniel in her at all). It was a fun little test to do, and I think the Belgian Malinois explains a lot about her personality-her high energy for example.

Ellie at the dog park, and Mandy in the background.

Mandy with dog slobber on her nose :)

Since my last blog update, I finished Little Miss Sunflower by Little House Needleworks. She turned out cute :)

I have been working on Evening Primrose by Nora Corbett. Her skirt is much easier to see this time. I have her wings, some backstitching, and beading left. I hope to finish her by next week.

I will probably start When Witches Go Riding by Prairie Schooler soon-I love Halloween patterns :)

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW July

I had a case of startitis this IHSW weekend :) But that is ok, because it is my reward for suffering through a bout of vertigo last week. I finally started to feel normal this weekend and what a relief - I can eat and move around. Poor hubby had to do all the chores and take care of Mandy, our smart, rambunctious dog.

I wanted something a bit simple to work on this weekend. The thought of working on the peacock in Lady Hera with all the color changes did not appeal to me in my vertigo state. So, I started Evening Primrose by Nora Corbett as the pattern has large block of colors. The fabric is Crystal Meditation lugana by Picture This Plus. While I really like this fabric, the weave is tight, and the holes are hard to see. Below is my progress on Evening Primrose. It is all white stitching so far, and it does not show up real well in the photo (look closely), but you can see the sparkly fabric.

Since I did not care to work with the fabric for Evening Primrose much, I started Little Miss Sunflower by Little House Needleworks. The fabric is Sage jobelan, and it is much easier to stitch with :) I am going to alternate between these two patterns so I don't get too annoyed with Evening Primrose.

Lastly, I finished up Farm Fresh by Country Cottage Needleworks a week or so ago. It was a fun, cute stitch. I am not sure what is up with the photo, but the bottom left corner seems a bit faded. The colors look better on the right side.

Thanks for stopping by!

Princess Parade

I have a new finish: Princess Parade by Country Cottage Needleworks. I stitched this one for my three, adorable nieces :) My three-year-old niece, Olivia, loves princesses, and I thought this would be great for her. The yellow princess is even holding a little frog. Too cute!

Over the weekend I was not feeling well, and I spent a lot of time stitching. I worked on the peacock in Lady Hera. I will post a pic when I get a bit more done, but the colors are amazing. I also started Farm Fresh yesterday by Country Cottage Needleworks because I needed a new start :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

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Framed Japanese Garden and a Finish

I picked up Japanese Garden from the framer last week, and I thought it turned out amazing :) This piece was definitely worth the effort. Now, I need to start stitching on my other Chatelaines.

After Japanese Garden, I decided I needed something small, quick, and easy. I finished Blueberries by Little House Needleworks. It is perfect for the summer.

My two oldest nieces made a quick visit to my parent's house for the weekend, so I of course had to go see them too. Olivia had a great time playing tug-of-war with Molly.

Ava, after seeing a picture of Bluebeard's Princess by Mirabilia open on my iPad, decided she wanted Bluebeard's Princess instead of Elizabeth. I said ok (even though I had already started Elizabeth) and put in an order to 123 Stitch for supplies. My package should be here later this week, and I will start working on her. If I am really industrious these next several months, I will have her done for her birthday in December. We shall see :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Japanese Garden: Finished!

I finished Japanese Garden this week!!! Happy dance time :) I started this in April 2011 when hubby was in France for work training (lucky him), and I was home all alone. I decided I needed a little pick-me-up and started this beauty. It took a little over two years, but I am done.

I stitched Japanese Garden on 32 ct ivory jobelan and used most of the called for silk threads, except the NPI silk (I used the DMC substitution). For the bridges, I used Caron Waterlilies Espresso. Enjoy the pictures!

Close ups:

Thanks for stopping by :)

IHSW May

It has been a while since I last posted. The good news is that I started my new job at the beginning of May. The bad news is that I have not had much time to stitch. I have been coming home tired, but hopefully I will adjust to my new schedule and find time for more stitching.

For IHSW, I worked on Japanese Garden. Before I started work, I finished all the cross-stitching. Now I am working on the beading, and there are a lot of beads :) Below is some of the beading, and my goal is to finish this beauty up by the end of May. I am so excited :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Mirabilia Minion Retreat

Two weekends ago, I attended the Mirabilia Minion Retreat in Greenville, South Carolina, and I came back with lots of goodies :) First, I bought Mermaid's Sea opalescent belfast from Under the Sea Fabrics by Leslie LaFleur. It is gorgeous, but I don't know what I want to stitch on it.

I acquired some great stash from Panda's Crossing, the local cross-stitch and bead store. Can you tell I like Halloween? I was quite excited about finding the Prairie Schooler patterns. The thread is for several fall Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks patterns, and the fabric I bought because I liked it. Last but not least, I also bought Gypsy Mermaid at the retreat.

At the retreat, I worked on Water Lily by Nora Corbett, and I had Nora sign this pattern :) It was great meeting her.

And finally, I finished Water Lily this weekend. She is on Water Lily jobelan, and she took me a little under 2 weeks to stitch.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Strawberry House Finish

I was supposed to be working on Japanese Garden- the last crane, which is done over one. However, I had a huge mental block, and I didn't want to do it. Something about the over one stitching. Ugh! So, out came Strawberry House by Little House Needleworks. It was a cute and fast stitch.

Then I tried working on Japanese Garden again. Still no luck. This time I started Elizabeth by Mirabilia. A little back story about this new start. My nieces came to visit me last month for my birthday. My 8-year old niece saw the Nora Corbett pixies hanging on the wall and said she liked them. I was immensely pleased and promptly asked if she wanted me to stitch one for her. I showed her my stash of Nora Corbett and Mirabilia patterns, and she picked out Elizabeth.

After working on Elizabeth for a bit (I will post a progress pic when I have a little more done), I finally dragged Japanese Garden back out and finished the last crane with the help of Pride and Prejudice-I listened to the audiobook. I am so happy that last crane is done. It should be smooth sailing from here :)

This weekend I will be attending the Mirabilia Minion Retreat in South Carolina. It should be lots of fun, and hopefully I will get a lot of stitching done. I will be working on Elizabeth, and I am going to start Water Lily. Below is my shirt I ordered :)

Have a great week!

Lady Hera Update and a Finish

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Here is my latest progress on Lady Hera. I finished the curtain! You can also see my tiny, little start on the peacock-the few green stitches near the bottom of Lady Hera's dress. The peacock should be stunning when it is done.

I also finished up April by Little House Needleworks. I have now completed all twelve months. They were a joy to stitch and so cute!

Thanks for stopping by :)

March IHSW

I hope everyone had a great weekend! It was gorgeous here-warm and sunny :)

This weekend I finished Cattleya Orchid by Chatelaine!! It is my first finished Chatelaine, but not my first Chatelaine start. Japanese Garden was my first, and hopefully I will finish that in a few months (I am aiming for May). While I was beading away, I noticed that part of the gold border was supposed to have green beads in it. Ooops! I made the executive decision to leave it alone since I did not feel like pulling out those stitches.

And some close-ups:

I can't get over how sparkly this is! When I walk by it, it just shimmers! And it doesn't even have that many beads in it. I am quite pleased with it :)

Lastly, a picture of my other orchid. It just started blooming :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Japanese Garden Update and a Finish

It is hard to believe I am turning 30 this week! In honor of my birthday, I kindly gifted myself with some cross-stitch stash :) I ordered Lilac and Evening Primrose by Nora Corbett, beads, and some fabric. I also signed up for Chatelaine's Japanese Moss Garden, meaning I need to finish Japanese Garden sooner rather than later.

So, here is my progress on Japanese Garden. I am getting there!

I also had a small finish last week: Berries by Little House Needleworks. I needed something that felt like spring, because it has not been warm here in Alabama. We actually had snow this weekend (it didn't stick).

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Lady Hera Update

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Mandy, our little monster of a dog, likes to chew things. Back in the fall, she chewed on the handle of my cross-stitch scissors. The scissors are usable, but the bite marks make the scissors uncomfortable to use. So, I bought a new pair and decided to be more conscientious about putting my scissors out of her reach. I was doing great for a while, but she attacked my new scissors while I was cleaning and bit part of the handle off this time. Silly dog! I finally wised up and bought a new pair of all metal scissors, figuring she would have a much harder time destroying these (I hope!).

As for Lady Hera, I stitched a whole lot more of the blue curtain, but I still have a lot left. This curtain is huge!

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW February

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

For Valentine's Day, hubby and I planned on cooking a nice dinner, and I made a rich, chocolate sponge cake layered with a light, whipped ganache for dessert. Unfortunately, hubby came down with a stomach virus on Wednesday night, so I ate the Valentine's Day dinner and dessert, while he had a plain sandwich. Valentine's Day was kind of a bust for us this year, but hubby did get me a new orchid :) My other orchid is a dark maroon/purple color, and it should be blooming shortly. Yay!

And, for IHSW, I worked on Cattleya Orchid by Chatelaine. This one is moving along quickly, and I love the pink thread in the border :)

Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to checking out everyone's IHSW progress!

Lady Hera Update

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Saturday was a nice day for us, so we took Mandy to the dog park, and boy did she run around. Unfortunately there was mud puddle, and Mandy loved it. Ugh! Yesterday, it rained all day, so I got some stitching done and watched Downton Abbey.

Here is my latest progress on Lady Hera. I thought I finished a decent section of the curtain (the blue blob), but when I ironed her out, I realized I have quite a bit to go. She is looking pretty good now that she has a face :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!