Sampler 4 Saisons

Good evening! I picked up this WIP from my stash. It is Sampler 4 Saisons by Anagram Diffusion. I haven't stitched on it since December 2014 and before that not since 2012. It didn't help that I came down with the flu that December. It didn't help my stitching mojo.

I was hoping to stitch on it this year, but with crochet projects and other cross stitch projects, I hadn't got around to stitching on this design.

It is stitched on 32ct olive green Belfast linen using DMC 498 and B5200. The photo is the sampler since 2014. Hopefully with the motivation of my friends here, I'll make some progress on this sampler again.

Rachel

A little Friday night stitching...

Friday night's stitching was all about the creepy tree and friends that I have been trying to get finished for the November and December Hallowe'en SAL Blog themes.

"Dancing in the Moonlight" - Praiseworthy Stitches

The pic above shows you where I was at with this before Friday night's stitching and the pic below is the creepy tree finished.... along with the raven, cat and resident ghosts!

"Dancing in the Moonlight" - Praiseworthy Stitches

I didn't really need to do much on Friday night - just finish the branch off near the left hand ghost...  I still need to add beads and a bit of backstitch but that will be done at the end when everything else is stitched.

Did you notice my lovely new needle minder?  Just perfect for Halloween stitching - a spider in his silvery blingy web!

Next Friday is Christmas.... and unless I pig out too much on turkey and Christmas pud I will most likely be stitching.... so hopefully I will have something to show you!  But if not, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Happy stitching and frolicking ♥♥♥

Hugs xx

Horn of Plenty Framed

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you guys are having a good holiday season so far.

I went by Hobby Lobby and picked up my Horn of Plenty design this morning.

With the help of the framer, I chose a frame and an inner beaded wood edge. I wanted to frame it like the model in the magazine with just a frame instead of a mat board and frame.

I think they did a lovely job on the framing. I can't wait to give it to my aunt for Christmas!!

Thanks to everyone who left such lovely and motivating comments while I was stitching on this pattern. It really kept me stitching!!!

Rachel

Christmas ornie for FF

Decided to work on one of my previous ornies this Fri. Also worked on it Sat. Decided to do the bear too. I was just going to do the tree but there's room for the bear, too. Started on the bear Sunday. I'll show it's done.

MIA

.... this post is going to go on this blog and all of my SAL blogs, too.  You may have noticed that I have been MIA for a couple of weeks now and I am so sorry but I cannot see that changing for a while!  I am uberbusy at work setting up a important project before I go away on leave in a week or so.  At the same time, I am uberbusy at home, trying to get organised to go away for our big trip!

Something had to give, and I promise you, it has not been the stitching but it has been the blogging!  I cannot see that changing in the next week and a half before we go, unfortunately!

Where are we going, I hear you ask?  Well, TraderVic and I are off to Taiwan for DS1 and his wife's Taiwanese wedding - why have one wedding in a year when you can have two?  We attend the wedding then we will be travelling around Taiwan for a while then it is off to a lovely resort in Kota Kinabalu in Borneo for the rest and relaxation part of our holiday  and then Singapore - should be a lovely trip if I can get everything organised, that is!

So, you will not see me on any of the blogs, I do not think between now and mid to late January, I shouldn't think.  I will try to read blogs while I am away but not too sure how much blogging of my own I will get done!

If you are a Facebook friend, keep an eye on my feed if you would like to follow our travels.

Merry Christmas to you all, lots of blessings and a Happy New Year,

See you all next year,

lots and lots of hugs, Kaye

Friday Night Dancing...

First Friday night of frolicking for a couple of weeks... and I am back working on "Dancing in the Moonlight" designed by Praiseworthy Stitches.

I have been stitching on this all week as my "spooky tree" for the Halloween SAL Blog.  It's not quite finished yet but we are getting there!

So before I started stitching on Friday night my creepy tree looked like this;

"Dancing in the Moonlight"
Designer: Praiseworthy Stitches

After stitching on Friday night the spooky tree looks like this:

There is still a bit more to stitch on the tree before I can say that it's finished but hopefully it will be finished in the next couple of days.

Hope everyone has a great week.... see you back here next weekend!

Happy stitching and frolicking ♥♥♥

Hugs xx

Christmas Stitching - Mini Pincushion/Candy Holders

Good afternoon everyone!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday.

I stitched up these mini Christmas designs last month, but had to restitch three of them yesterday because I cut them too small when trying to finish them.

I found the containers at Michael's in their dollar section during October. I knew I could make them into something fun as Christmas gifts.

I used metallic cording and ribbon to embellish the edges of the lid and around the cross stitch design on each container.

I opened one of the containers (in lower right of picture). All of them have a shiny silver finish in the inside.

I plan on filling each container with small candies as part of my Christmas gifts for my friends at our annual get together later in December.

In terms of frolicking, I haven't decided on what to work on next. I have two WIPs in my stash, the cottage cake series by Cottage Country Needleworks and a French design by Anagram Diffusions that I could work on......ah, decisions, decisions!

Happy stitching everyone!!!

frame

I bought this today at St Vincent de Paul thrift store for  $5. Not sure if I got a bargain or not. Don't know how to put it together. It was like this when I bought it. The little frame in the background was already put together I have some of that type. was hoping this other piece held them some how to make them hands free for stitching.

A Finish - Horn of Plenty!!! ~happy dance~

Good afternoon everyone!! I finished my pattern earlier today after backstitching the mums and the border tendrils. I was so happy that I whipped up some brownies. Crafting and chocolate.....sounds like a great combination.

My next project will be finishing a couple of mini pincushion jars for my friends for Christmas. I'll have to show them to you when I get them finished.

I'm hoping to get the Horn of Plenty framed soon if I can find some time to get together with my friend Kristina as she will help me choose frame/matboard colors :)

Hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving holiday this week!!

Rachel

A Finishing Frolic with Trixie and Serendipitous Jo

The last time you saw the lovely Trixie she looked like this, after a trip to the Frog Barber to remove her DMC Metallic hair:

I ordered the Kreinik Black and the coverage was excellent.  There is also a hint of blue in there which makes a really nice hair colour.  Here she is with her hairdo done:

I stitched Trixie on 28 count tan evenweave and just the accessories on perforated paper because money!

Here she is with her broom, which I love.  It's just a simple tassel made from scraps of thread wrapped round a piece of cardboard, then you sew it to the fabric using the green thread and snip through the top of the tassel to make a tufted broom.

The charts shows some little bows on her hat and skirt but after struggling with the one at her neck I gave up on that idea!

I scrapbook most of my smaller projects and display one per month in a box frame.  Here is Trixie's paper.  It's from the Twilight range by Scrapping The Magic:

Just keep stitching....Horn of Plenty

Good evening!  Here's my progress so far:

I took Annie's advice and stitched a bit, backstitched a bit and viola! my progress has been good. The bad news, I think I might have to make a run to the craft store because I don't think I'll have enough thread to finish backstitching once I get to the cornucopia. Don't you just hate that?! I do because I know I'll be tempted at the store by other crafts!!!!

Rachel

Horn of Plenty progress

My progress this weekend:

My progress last time:

Part of me doesn't want to finish the border. Just thinking of all the backstitching I'll have to do makes my head spin. But at least it's a step closer to being finished when I get to that point :)

Rachel

Another finish!

Hello Everyone!

I'm very pleased to report that I managed to do some stitching Frolicing yesterday:) I stitched on some Xmas gifts, but I also managed another finish!

This time it was my Iphone Xmas case:)

I''m very pleased I managed to finish this BEFORE Xmas lol! I must say that I really love stitching these cases - it is soo much fun!

I hope to be back next Friday with more stitching - I have some more Xmas designs that I would love to work on and the Frolicing is giving me a perfect excuse:) Thanks Kaye!!

Annie

Parisienne Kitty

Another Friday has been and gone.... and I even managed to get some stitches in!

The design I am going to show you today is called "ABC Chats" by Les Brodeus Parisiennes.  I am stitching the kitties for a monthly Alphabet inspired stitch along - more details on my blog - link is here....

Last night when I picked up the afghan the "C" kitty looked like this:

Then after an hour or so of stitching he looked like this:

The image below is from the  Les Brodeus Parisiennes website and shows you what they will all look like when stitched.... (Kaye, just thought you might like to be tempted again!!) :o) 

Catch you all next week..... wonder what "WIP/UFO" I will find to stitch on next Friday?

Happy Stitching and Frolicking... ♥♥♥
Hugs xx

A spring project

Hello friends,

For the weekend I pulled out a spring project that I had started way back in March or so. It was one of my starts for Debbie's Crazy Challenge and as I try to get all these projects finished this year I stitched on the Daffodils until they were finished yesterday morning.

First I thought: What, a pink daffodil? and I was already about to change the colours into yellows but then I checked the internet and found a picture of a pink daffodil. So, if they exist, why not stitch them. I hope to finish this bookmark soon.

Happy stitching,
Brigitte

Horn of Plenty Progress

Good afternoon everyone! It has been raining all day, which makes for great stitching weather.

Here is my progress this Friday and the weekend: I am steadily making my way around the border.

And here is what it looked like the last time I posted:

I don't think I will finish it in time for my aunt's birthday on November 16th so I plan on giving it to her for Christmas. My friend Kristina has agreed to go with me to our local Hobby Lobby to get it framed. She's good at picking frame and mat board colors.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Rachel

Blackwater Hollow

I finally remembered to stitch something for the Frolic! Blackwater Hollow Sampler by Stacy Nash, a longtime WIP of mine..

I'm almost at the halfway point on this.

Happy Halloween to you all!

More Christmas Mice....

The title gives you a rather big clue what I stitched on last night.... Christmas Mice!

I decided to get the mice finished this week so Friday night saw me continue to stitch on another of my Margaret Sherry Xmas Mice... Xmas Mouse #3.

Before I started he looked like this:

Designer: Margaret Sherry

And after last night's stitching effort he now looks like this:

Friday Frolics stitching........

My plan is to now get finish off all the backstitching either this afternoon or tonight...

See you next week!  Happy Stitching!
Hugs xx

A Friday Finish!!!

Hello fellow FF stitchers!

Sadly I haven't had time to do any Friday Frolics for a few weeks - I just have so many Xmas projects on the go and then I've been unwell for a couple of weeks too. However, today I was determined to find time for some stitching and I actually managed to finish my UFO that I started over ten years ago!

This is where where my Swedish Santa was when I started stitching today...

...and after finishing the sky and adding some missing backstitch...

 

 ...I finished it!!

It feels pretty good to be able to have a finish that is that long time coming! The chart is from a Swedish magazine from 2003 so it's about time, I'd say!

Hopefully I'll find time to do some more frolicing next Friday:)

Annie

FF and Christmas Ornie rolled in to one

I needed to work on my Angel which is a Lavender and Lace Freebie 1991. So I used it for my FF, too. I needed to get the red beads as they gave me gold ones. My LNS is about 40 minutes away. Finally made it there today. Hope to work on it some more this week.

Angelic Friday!

Well hello to another Monday (or at least it is Monday where I am!)

I managed to get some Friday night stitching in this time.... instead of stitching on an old WIP on Friday night I decided to stitch on my October piece for the Christmas Ornie SAL. (This month is rapidly drawing to a close and I haven't done my angel or nativity piece yet!).

I actually started this new design on Thursday evening, so when Friday came around the Angel looked like this:

Before FF stitching

After stitching on Friday night, the Angel looked like this:

After FF stitching

This little angel can be found in a very old Cross Stitch Christmas magazine (1999) - design is called "Joyful Angels Triptych" and is designed by Mona Eno.  I am stitching her on a piece of "Waratah" 32 count fabric from Stitches and Spice.

I continued stitching on her over the weekend, so if you would like to see where she is at now... pop over to my blog for an update!

Hope everyone had a successful Friday night of stitching!

See you next week
Hugs, Noni xx

Horn of Plenty progress

Hi! I was able to stitch this Friday and weekend on my pattern.

Here is my progress:

I was able to finish stitching the 'shadow' area underneath the cornucopia and start on the border.

Here is what the pattern looked like last time I posted.

I hope everyone is having fun with their projects!!

Rachel

Continuing Frolics with Trixie and Serendipitous Jo

My current Friday Frolic is Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch from Brooke's Books.  I had an issue with the metallic black DMC last week.  It just didn't cover well at all.  Then I saw the same design on FB where the stitcher had used Kreinik and the coverage looked great.  So this week I used the other two DMC metallics I had planned to discover how they covered.  They both look fine so I only need to buy one spool of Kreinik and some perforated paper for the accessories.  I frogged the black metallic in preparation for next week and here she is:

Stitched on 28 count tan evenweave

Don't her metallic purple boots look great?

Serendipitous Jo's Frolic With Tricky Trixie

I picked up Brooke's Book's Trixie the Hallowe'en Witch for my Friday Frolic and didn't do too well.  I've done all the DMC and now have the Kreinik.  I didn't have any of the charted Kreinik so I took the time to convert them to DMC metallics which I have quite a collection.  The Fuchsia looks great in her eye mask but then I started on the black in her hair.  It just doesn't cover well or look sparkly at all.  So I guess I have to bite the bullet and buy the Kreinik.  I will probably try the other colours first in case I need to order those too.

I'm stitching her on 28 count tan evenweave rather than the perforated paper because money.  But I will stitch the accessories on the paper so they won't be floppy or fray when I cut them out to attach them.  Good compromise.  I have the whole collection of ten witches so the paper can be used for them all over time.

Angel of Grace FF update

Didn't have much time to work on her as I was babysitting this week-end.

Christmas Bluebird

Hello friends,

this time I pulled out one of the projects that I started back in January for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy Challenge. It's a little bird and I left it here.

There were all the leaves that had to be stitched and I thought: No problem that will be done quickly. But it took me nearly the whole weekend. This morning I put in the last of the backstitches and it's done now. And I love it.

Christmas Bluebird by Diane Brakefield

in Cross Stitch & Country Crafts Jan-Feb/1987

Happy Stitching,
Brigitte

Horn of Plenty Progress

Good evening. Here is my progress on my JCS Horn of Plenty pattern:

And here was my 'before' pic:

Next up will be a few more stitches on the main motif and then on to the border.

I doubt I'll have much to show next time. We will have a crazy schedule at work for a while which means I'll be working late with no time for stitching.

It's a shame I can't tell my boss 'Can I leave? I've got stitching to do!'

Yep, I don't think that would go over well!!!

Rachel

Friday Frolics and FNSI October update....

Well, I am pleased to announce that as part of Friday Frolics  and for FNSI last night and for my Prairie Schooler SAL (gotta love a triple dip!), I finally managed to finish Day 11 of Santa's 12 Days of Christmas.  Woo Hoo!

I especially love Mr Fox in the bottom right hand corner.

On to Day 12 now for IHSW very excited, nearly there!

Have a great weekend,

hugs,

I'm behind ...

Hello friends,

I'm behind with everything at the moment but am slowly catching up on things. And befor the next Friday rolls on I want to show my efforts from the last two weekends.

Last Friday I pulled out Composition d'autumne by Perette Samouiloff which I started about a year ago. I have added two more motives. Before it was just the little birdies in the branch

and now it's the leaves and the little bunny that were added.

The weekend before last I pulled out my Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and finished house #5 that I had started a week before. I'm so glad that it's done, you know how it is with houses - they sometimes are very boring to stitch but look gorgeous when done.

I still don't know what I will stitch on next Friday. But I'm looking forward to it.

Brigitte