Sunday, April 26, 2009

Two Finishes!

There really hasn't been much time for stitching lately; we had houseguests (my cousins from Canada) all week and were busy visiting with them and other family members that stopped by...but today has been my day to stitch! It's been raining outside all day (we really need it) so there's no guilt feelings for not starting to work in the yard!

My first finish is a piece I started about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's from La D Da and it's called Quaker Alphabet. As I think I mentioned before, the picture of the design did not appeal to me, but when I saw the stitched model at Stitcher's Crossing in Madison I totally fell in love with it! I stitched it on 35 count Straw by Weeks Dye Works and used the recommended fibers - Belle Soie Creme de Menthe and Noir. I love it!

Then, I couldn't help but not jump on the Blackbird Designs freebie/contest bandwagon. Here is my version of Petites Lettres Rouges. I like some of the quirky problems with the pattern so I didn't make too many changes. I added my grandmother's name and the year she came to America from Hungary. This is stitched with DMC 115 on some of the 28ct cream Belfast that I coffee-dyed. It was a fun stitch!

Giveaway --- If you would like to receive my gently used chart for Quaker Alphabet including my leftover silk, please leave your name on this post. I will draw a name next weekend. (You will need to supply your own fabric and Belle Soie Creme de Menthe; there's more than enough Noir to stitch the letters!)

That's it for today. I pulled out two new projects to work on and have couple of exchanges for May that need to get started. Until next time...

Saturday, April 18, 2009

So Far Behind!

The past two weeks have been CRAZY at our house..we hosted Easter dinner for my family (15 people, I think?) This week we have relatives coming from British Columbia; they will be staying with us for five days. I'm very grateful for this time with family.

So, what have I been stitching lately? Let's start with the ornament that I stitched for Julianne on the Christmas ornament swap; April was her month to receive. She indicated that she loved Christmas greens and reds and that made me think of this ornament -- it's from the 2002 JCS Ornament Magazine and it's a design from Nordic Needle. I finished it off as a small stuffed pillow with beads around the edge and some personalization on the back. Cute, yes?


Next up are two sweet fobs that I stitched to coordinate with the Gingher Sarah scissors that came out last year. The design is a freebie from Debbie Draper called "Love" which can be found here. I chose thread colors which coordinated with the colors of the scissors -- the lighter middle is CC Persimmon, the darker middle is WDW Grenadine , the blue is ST Morning Glory, the green is ST Spring Grass. I stitched them on some 28ct white linen and finished them as tiny biscornus. What do you think?

Here's my current WIP. I would have never purchased this pattern based on the picture but I saw the model when Mama Joan and I went to Madison and fell in love with it. Wanna guess which design this is? I'll give you a clue, we went to Madison for a class with Lori from La D Da....

That's all I got! Hope you have all been well. I'm going to try to pop into some blogs now and see what I've been missing. Have a nice weekend!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

Wishing you and your family and friends a Happy Easter!

I promise to have stitchy pictures soon...

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Dirty Trick

Yes, Mother Nature played a dirty trick on us last night. We woke up to find snow everywhere! The pictures below are of our deck and the trees behind. I think we got about two inches of the fluffy white stuff. Can't complain, other parts of Minnesota have had it worse!



I can now show you a picture of the biscornu I sent out for the Tiny Treasures exchange. It went to Patti in the U.K. This was my first experience stitching on black!


Bumblehearts Biscornu
Periphaeria Designs
28 count Black Cashel
DMC fibers