Holland Landscapes update!

Last night I finished the part 7 window scene with the windmill on my Holland Landscapes! It took longer than I would have liked seeing as we are doing some renovations in our house this summer. They will have to wait until after vacation to get completed, but I have already picked out my vacation projects....ones suitable to a lakeside view and lots of relaxation!

Anyway, here's the window, and a progress picture of the whole piece as well!

Another quick finish!

While stash diving this week (and supposedly organizing) I found this and decided to stitch it up for my bird-themed kitchen finally! It is a design from an old JCS leaflet called Absorbing Nature by Cathy Livingston. The designs are all supposed to be for towels, but this Bluebird fit nicely on the 14ct vinyl weave that came with the soap dispenser by Crafter's Pride. Maybe I'll making a matching kitchen towel someday.....

Prairie Schooler Santa ornament

A little Christmas in July stitching, this one being the 1991 Schooler Santa from Prairie Schooler!

I'm stitching backward through them all to the year I met my DH, which was 20 years ago last weekend! Two more, and then I'll just stitch each new one as they come out every year. Eventually I'll finish them all as ornaments and they will have their own tree. If you had to finish 20 ornaments how would you do it? I have some nice backing fabric, but I'm not really looking forward to 20+ little pillow ornies. Suggestions welcome!

I have also been working on stash organization and clearing my hobby room of extraneous "stuff". Right now it's chaos as I have been putting everything into an Excel file (being a former librarian has it's advantages, and obsessions too!). All the charts and leaflets are done, and most of the kitted stuff....saving the magazines for last as they are a whole other "obsession"! I'm eventually going make a list of stash up for adoption, so stay tuned.

Not to worry, I'll leave time for stitching, or go crazy!

Alla Turca, Part 7 added

I added part 7 to my Alla Turca last Friday before the 4th of July holiday and just now got around to uploading the picture! There are only 2 parts left on this SAL, and I've enjoyed it thoroughly! The fabric is Silkweaver's Aquamarine cashel, the threads are gold Sparkle braid and Weeks' Peacock, all stitched over one.

Sunday I started another Schooler Santa ornie (1991 edition this time) to add to the collection...a bit of Christmas in July for me! After that I'm going to try and get back to Holland Landscapes.
Unless something else screams louder! ;-D

July Biscornu!

Hi all! Happy 4th of July in America! I finished my July Biscornu late on the 3rd and won't be able to post tomorrow, so here it is! It is by Alexandrina of the Matryoshka Biscornu blog, and is called the Summer Butterfly Biscornu. It made me think of fireworks, so I used some 28ct white evenweave and leftover Dinky-Dyes silks, stitched it over 1 and made a little 2 inch fob. I tried the trick of plain fabric on the back (strengthed with the same evenweave) and I think it turned out great (if a bit fiddley with such a small biscornu!). Once stuffed it was nice and smooth on the back.

June Recap, July Goals

June Recap...
WiPs...
~Castles in the Air, Pt. 3 Done!
~Alla Turca, Pts.4-6 Done!
~Kiwi Tote Bag Done!
New Starts...
~Just Nan's Beaded Rose Biscornu Done!
~San-Man's Going Bananas Done!
~San-Man's Kitty Frame Done!

July Goals...
WiPs...
~Castles in the Air, Pt.4 Started...
~Alla Turca, Pt.7 Done!
~Holland Landscapes, Pt.7 Done!
New Starts...
~Alexandrina's Summer Butterfly Biscornu Done!
~Something for Christmas in July...1991 Schooler Santa Done!
~Bluebird Soap Dispenser Done!
(and who knows what else?) ;-)

Castles in the Air progress report!

I finished adding Part 3 of Papillon's Castles in the Air today! It's already getting large, so next time I may have to add the q-snap extenders....

I also picked up a couple of framed pieces from my framer last Saturday. (Before a nice lunch with my stitching buddies!) This is Ink Circles' Growth Rings.

This is Praiseworthy Stitches' Winter Bird Delight. Blogger insists on rotating it 90 degrees, but you get the idea!

Kiwi Tote Bag

I finished this tote bag a couple of weeks ago, and now that my DD, the birthday girl, has turned 15 I can finally post a picture! The tote bag came from CharlesCraft, and the pattern is from a website called CraftWeb NZ, under the Assisi heading, and called the Kiwi Pin Cushion. (We have Kiwi relatives, and DD loves kiwi birds!) I stitched said Kiwi four times with four different varigated flosses, using color theory principles (warm/cool, primary/secondary, complementary colors). DD picked up on that right away, being the art student she is! Oh, and she got a cool new camera too, and started practicing on the cats right away. Hard to believe my little girl is growing up! Fast!

This week I've been working on part 3 of Papillon's Castles in the Air and hope to post a new pic soon!

San-Man cuties!

I got some cute charts and mounts from the San-Man Originals Secret Shop newsletter (limited edition charts for board members) and stitched up two of them right away! (I needed a break from all the over 1 stitching anyway!) ;-)

The first is called Going Bananas, and came with the matching tuck. I used DMC and white 14ct aida.

The second is called Kitty Frame, the frame included the little fishy chart to stitch. I used DMC and 14ct light blue aida. It's really tiny, as you can see by the thimble next to it!

Alla Turca SAL, Parts 4, 5, and 6 added!

Here is my further progress on the Alla Turca SAL by Pelin Tezer...I have caught up thru part 6 of the 9-part SAL. Frogs paid a visit when I noticed I had stitched the three upper left motifs off by two threads up and over! I had to rip them out and re-stitch them after I finished part 6...yes, one of those things in life you can't avoid...death, taxes and FROGGING! ;-D



Now I can return to my other SAL, Papillon's Castles in the Air! More soon, I hope!

Biscornu for June

Latest finish is another biscornu for the Basket of Biscornu blog group....this one is from a Just Nan pattern called Beaded Roses, c2004. It is small and would make a nice fob too. I used a 28ct light gray jobelan scrap from my stash. I'm still working on my DD's birthday present too, but I only have a couple more days before she is done with school for the summer, so I've been stitching rather than blogging lately!

May Recap, June Goals...

May Recap
Work on WiPs..
~Holland Landscapes Not this month
~New Zealand Map Not this month either...
~Castles in the Air Pt.2 Done!
~Kira's Tote bag...Working...
New Starts...
~Do a biscornu...Frog Biscornu Done!
~My choice...Alla Turca SAL First 3 parts of 9 Done!
Finishing...
~Frog Biscornu finishing Done!

June Goals
Work on WiPs....
~Castles in the Air, Pt.3 Done!
~Alla Turca, Pt.4-6 Done!
~Kira's Tote Bag Done!

New Starts
~Biscornu for June...Beaded Roses by Just Nan Done!
~Going Bananas...San-Man Originals Started...