Wool Applique

Hope you are enjoying your weekend wherever you are! It’s a cooler, rainy day in Minnesota. Good day for stitching!

Tonight, I took time to finish up the wool appliqué piece that I started a couple of weekends ago via an online class with Rebekah L. Smith. It’s not perfect, but I am happy with it. All I had left was the stem for the flower and the blanket stitch around the edge. Rebekah likes to put a piece of black felt on the back of her stitched pieces; I picked up the felt at JoAnns during the week. Love the color palette!

Last Sunday I was very lucky and managed to score this project bag from Deborah Harry’s Etsy shop. It makes me happy because it reminds me of my Auntie Betty; she used to embroider dish towels like this. The bag is expertly made.

Little Lizzie played a hard game of “fetch” this afternoon, in between the raindrops. She’s all tuckered out for the night!

Stitching on another Blackbird tonight. Will try to come back tomorrow with an update!

Spring Fling 2017

Long overdue post. I’m kind of surprised at how long it took me to stitch these three pieces! This was the project from Spring Fling 2017. Barb and Alma from Blackbird Designs were there; it’s always a delight to see these two ladies!

Here’s my finished stitching:

The top right piece will be framed in a frame that we painted and waxed in class. It’s called “The Lily of the Valley.”

The bottom piece will be finished as a drum and it’s called “And Blossom as the Rose.” The top left piece is for the top of the drum.

I need to have a couple of serious finishing days pretty soon. I’m racking up the stitching finishes, but need some dedicated time to fully finish these pieces!

I think I might return to the Blackbird Designs project from Spring Fling 2019. I have one more piece left to stitch and it sure would be nice to have another finish in March!

Overdue Post

March is just flying by. Thank goodness the month is a little longer than February!

I’ve been busy stitching away. The first project that I worked on was this Pinwheel / A Homestead Gathering from Cathy Habermann. The kit is a collaboration with Me and My Stitches. I will receive four packages during the year. The stitching is done. Once I have this “finished finished” I will post a picture of the entire package and all the little goodies we received.

Next up - I’ve been working on this Blackbird Designs project. You will recognize it from the Sewing Club book, but I’ve had this project since 2019. Barb and Alma were the featured designers at Stitchville’s Spring Fling that year. There are four pieces that make up the entire set, I have three of them stitched. (Sorry for not ironing it.)

Finally, I participated in a beginner wool applique class on Zoom with Rebekah L Smith this weekend. This was our project. I still need to stitch the stem that attaches the heart with the leaves and then the flower at the top. I also need to blanket stitch around the outer edge. Almost finished. It was a great class!

Here’s a recent Lizzie photo. She makes me smile every day!

February Stitching

The first two months of 2021 have been quite productive. I’m pleased with the number of pieces that I was able to start and finish in February.

Fraktur Freida from La D Da

Summer House Necklace from Stacy Nash

Chelsea Surprise from The Purple Thread

A Country Winter from Plum Street Samplers

In My Garden from Blackbird Designs

Currently, I’m working on a collaboration from Hands on Design and Me and My Stitches. It’s a club, called A Homestead Gathering, that will include four seasonal shipments in 2021. The first shipment included several goodies and the pattern to stitch this pinwheel. The finishing will be very similar to the Perennial Pinwheels from Hands on Design that I finished last August. 

Little more stitching to do before the finishing commences! I’ll take a picture of the complete package when the pinwheel is finished.

Thanks for stopping by. Keep your needle warm!

In My Garden

Snuck another finish in - In My Garden by Blackbird Designs. It’s weird stitching on 28 count with two threads, but I did it!

Had a great stitchy weekend. Too bad tomorrow is Monday. Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to work I will go...

Another Start

Continuing my quest to finish up some of the kitted up smalls that were club pieces or other projects that I had intended to stitch in the past. Since I finished the Plum Street piece (previous post) I needed another project to work on.

Last Sunday I started working on “In My Garden” from Blackbird Designs. This was a club kit from the Silver Needle. You can find the pattern in their Sewing Club book. It’s stitched on 28 count Weeks Cocoa Gingham which is quite different from what I am used to, but also quite relaxing!

I hope to have this finished by the end of the weekend. Maybe I can squeeze in one more February finish.

Today I am going to be Zoom, Zoom, Zooming! Take care.

A Country Winter

Well, I had hoped to make an update this past weekend, but life got in the way!

I have another finish! A Country Winter by Plum Street Samplers. This was a club kit from a few years back. I did not stitch the border on purpose. I don’t plan to frame it; I’d rather finish as a small pillow. You’ll also notice a small design change - I did not stitch the snowman either. It just seemed like a quiet, peaceful country scene and it felt to me like another deer was more appropriate. I don’t think Paulette will mind.

An update on Miss Lizzie - as of Tuesday, she is cone free!

This might be my last post for February. The year is flying by. Can you believe that it is March already?

Winter Delivery

Here is another piece I worked on finishing during Saturday’s Zoom call. You might recall that I stitched this last December. I finished it as a small pillow, but it never really felt “finished.”  Lady Dot Creates to the rescue! I ordered some small rick rack in black (the actual color name is Licorice). On Saturday, I hand-stitched the rick rack to the pillow. Now I’m happy with it!

After all of my finishing projects I started another small kit from my stash. I purchased it as a club kit, but I do think the pattern is available now to purchase.

A Country Winter by Plum Street Samplers

Not bad for two nights of stitching, right?

Lizzie is doing well and thanks you all for the well wishes. She has to wear the cone for another week, but trust me, she is back to her Labrador  antics!

Take care and stay warm wherever you are!

Summer House Necklace

One of my groups of stitching friends gets together once a month via Zoom. The Zoom call starts in the morning and continues into the evening. We can come and go as we need to. We Zoomed yesterday. I kept the laundry going in between stitching projects.

The pin disks in yesterday’s post was the first project that I worked on. (Robin, I purchased these kits from The Purple Thread at Needlework Galleria in 2019.)

My second project of the day was to do the finishing on this kit from Stacy Nash called Summer House Necklace. I started stitching it on Superbowl Sunday and worked on it throughout the week. It was a quick stitch and an easy finish!

Little Lizzie was spayed this week. Despite having to wear this cone, she’s still a happy girl!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chelsea Surprise

Today was very productive; I have lots to share, but it’s late, so let me just give you a little taste.

These sweet little pin disks were very easy to finish. The kits came from The Purple Thread.  Instant gratification!

Lizzie was watching Flosstube with me last Sunday!

Fraktur Freida

Fraktur Freida is finally finished! (Say that five times really fast!) I started this not long ago and expected to finish it last weekend. Why is it that as experienced stitchers we always think we can get more stitching done than is physically possible?  I worked on her through the week and she is now finished.

Fraktur Freida by La D Da

The pictures are dark, but this actually represents the linen quite well. The design is stitched on Weeks Havana linen. This was a kit from one of the Silver Needle clubs.

Little Lizzie had a play date today with my daughter’s dog, Nala. Nala is just over a year old. Looks like Lizzie is catching up to her!

Acorn Gathering

Acorn & Threads, a needlework store in Portland, OR, hosted an online event yesterday. Close to 200 stitchers from 33 states and two provinces “zoomed” in for the event. We heard about the history of the shop, got to meet the shop’s staff, we met Frony Ritter, the designer of the pattern that was gifted to all of us, and we met a few other needlework celebrities on the call. Acorn & Threads is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year!

Once COVID is behind us, I hope to one day visit Acorn & Threads. They are my people!

January Stitching

Can’t believe that tomorrow is the start of February. Where did January go? Here’s a recap of my January stitching.

These first two pieces were essentially done in December, but I had some solid stitching to fill in at the bottom of both and I saved this for my January Zoom calls.

Anna Grater by The Scarlett House.

Autumn Leaves by Prairie Schooler. (Ignore the stitched line at the bottom; it was a counting mistake!)

I also nearly finished this piece, but I still need to chart and stitch the personalization. The Strawberry Patch by Homespun Samplar.

Hardanger Bunad pieces - collar, cuffs, and front placket for blouse. These aren’t finished yet. I need more thread and it’s coming from Norway.

Lastly, Kindred Spirits of the Thread by La D Da.

There were a few other projects I worked on, but they didn’t hold my attention for very long. Looking forward to seeing what February brings!

Kindred Spirits of the Thread

I have a finish! This design from La D Da was a kit offered through the Kindred Spirits Sampler Guild, and a limited number were also available through Kitten Stitcher. This will be finished into a drum (when I get around to finishing it!)

More later - I’m spending my afternoon at an online retreat offered by Acorns & Threads.

Heartstring Samplery Designs

I really enjoy stitching Heartstring Samplery designs. Lately though, I really enjoy her mugs with sampler designs. I’ve been drinking a lot of hot tea and hot cider!

Just a little bit of stitching tonight. I’ll finish the La D Da piece tomorrow night!

Recent Stitching

Thanks to those who continue to visit my blog; I appreciate your kind comments.

I’ve been kind of fickle lately with my stitching. I haven’t really settled in with a project. I was working on the Barbara Ana sampler which I will share with you below and then decided I should hit that box of smaller projects I have been collecting. Looking for some quick wins I guess.

So here is Barbara Ana’s Portuguese Bird Sampler. I love Barbara Ana designs. I started this one about two years ago and made a meager start. When I stitched on it last week, I added the alphabet. The linen is darker than what the pattern calls for. It’s Picture This Plus Oaken.

This weekend I pulled this kit from La D Da out of my box of small projects. I should be able to finish this in a couple of nights.

Here we are at Monday again. Hope you have a good week!

Quaker Sewing Roll

This is an oldie but goodie - Quaker Sewing Roll from Catherine Theron. I stitched it in 2014. This is another piece that I personalized by including initials of some of my aunts who inspired me to create at a young age. My Auntie Theresa crocheted. Auntie Betty was really an accomplished needlewoman - she did embroidery, cutwork, hand quilted and she crocheted beautiful doilies and tablecloths using fine thread. My Auntie Florence was an accomplished knitter - from mittens and slippers to sweaters and afghans. My mother crocheted, but we know her best as the Mad Tatter because she tats like a boss. So this piece was stitched as a tribute to them!

Have to share this picture of my little friend and constant companion. She’s 24 weeks old now!

See you tomorrow.

Wild Roses

Happy Tuesday! Hope your week is off to a great start.

Thank you for all of your kind comments regarding yesterday’s post. I had two pieces framed last fall and would like to share the second one with you now.

Several years ago I stitched Wild Roses from Carriage House Samplings for a dear friend. At the time, I knew that I would want to stitch it again for myself. I think that I stitched this in 2019 and it took me a year to commit to framing it.

I don’t recall the name of the linen that I used; I just know that I had seen a model of this design on display at Lynn’s of Madison and the yellowish/gold linen was stunning. They fixed me up with something similar. The piece is stitched with DMC floss.

This piece is a tribute to my mother’s family. Her parents were married in 1908 (date at the top). Their initials are at the top on either side, T for Theresa and M for Martin. They had ten children. There are five sets of initials down the left side and five sets of initials down the right side. The Mad Tatter’s initials “MM” are on the bottom right. I am really proud of this piece and very happy with how it turned out.

I’ve got some other projects in mind that I hope to stitch and personalize in the near future. Do you ever personalize your pieces like this?

I will share a few more pieces that are personalized like this over the next few days. Have a good night!

My Heart Can Rest

One of my new year resolutions was to try to resurrect this blog by posting more often. Unfortunately, I started the new year with a bad case of bronchitis and I had all I could do to focus on recovering and did very little stitching much less blog posting. But I am on the mend now and am ready to turn this poor neglected blog around. Most of you follow me either on Facebook or Instagram and see these posts there, but I have several other followers who are not on social media who want to see updates here. The most important of those followers is the Mad Tatter and you all know we need to keep her happy!

Today’s post is going to be a piece I finished stitching last year. I had it framed late last year and never shared a post of it after I received it back from the framer.

My Heart Can Rest is a design from Blackbird Designs. This was one of the projects/kits we received at the Attic in November of 2019 (my last in person class with teachers before COVID.) I stitched it with the charted linen and floss. I decided to personalize it honoring my paternal grandmother.

This piece was framed by Total Framing. I wanted to try them out after hearing so many good things on Flosstube. They did not disappoint. The frame couldn’t be any more perfect.

I’ve got another framed finish to share tomorrow. Y’all come back now!

The Strawberry Patch

Stunned and appalled at the events of the day. Grateful for my stitching which allows me to reflect and contemplate.

I had planned to start a new project on January 1, but my WIP pile was calling my name. I started this small sampler last year (three times - you know me and my ongoing journey to find the “right” piece of linen). Now, it’s almost finished. I just need to add personalization. Will wait until the weekend to chart it out. I’ll be able to celebrate a finish soon.

It’s a pretty little sampler, don’t you think? It’s called The Strawberry Patch from Homespun Samplar. I think that the final linen selected was 40ct Legacy from Picture This Plus and it is stitched using GAST fibers. Sorry for the wrinkles.

I think another WIP is calling my name...