Still Stitching and an Unusual Exchange Idea

Yes, I am still here and I am still stitching, just can't show anything yet, but very, very soon :). We are still in massive remodel phase in our house, so I have only had time to stitch on exchanges. I gotta get to work on Edgars RR too and I think I have finally found what I want to stitch, I am going to make sure this weekend :).

Now the different exchange Idea. I belong to an ornament exchange but I got to thinking it would be fun to do ornies for different seasons or holidays. I have a wire tree I use to hang little ornies and smalls on and I would love to be able to decorate it with ornaments for all types of occasions and seasons. I have tons of small designs that would make good ornaments, and some flip flops ornies I've made, etc. I wonder if there are any other stitchers out there that might like the same thing? and would be interested in exchanging??

I am stitching

It is just that much of it is for exchanges, but someday I will be able to post more pics.

Here is an exchange that did arrive. It is for an ornament exchange to Staci. I used a design from an old hardbound cross stitch book. The fabric is a Silkweaver solo and it has metallic thread around the lettering and blue mill hill beads. I am afraid the sparkly fabric is hard to photograph so it does look better in real life, LOL.

Hopefully I will be able to show more pictures soon.

My first try at a Floss Ring Tag

It didn't turn out too bad. Guess I'll have to try a few more of them for gift tags, etc. The design is a Cat Whiskers..stitched on 32ct Opalescent white Lugana.

A Wish Granted by Carol

Carol sent me this fantastic scissor pocket in response to my wish on the MAW group. It is so beautiful and my first scissor pocket (even though I've made about 4, I didn't have one for myself). It is so beautifully stitched and the finishing is expert. She picked the perfect colors for me and I love everything Cat Whiskers. The design is Cat Whiskers Red Desert. She used a very pretty Lilac cashel and Victorian sampler threads in Heather Purple. Isn't is pretty. I love the little button, it brings all the color out in the piece. Thank you so much Carol..

As done as it is gonna get

I have finished the Halloween RR as far as I can before needing to send it out. I have a bunch of exchanges due so I need to focus on them now. I have the center piece completed. The border still needs to be done, but for now it will stay just basting lines until it comes back..:). I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I think it will look really cute when the border is done..

Weekend Stitching

Yes, it is more of the Halloween RR, since it needs to go out on the 15th. I hope I don't run out of Charcoal WDW before I get this finished, that would be awful, LOL.. I just have a little of the house left and a spooky tree to the right of it. I am not completely sure how I want to do either side of the house, I have a couple Halloween sayings I am thinking of putting there..

And still more Halloween RR

Yes, that is all I am working on right now. Of course, all of a sudden we decided to redecorate most of the house, so it has been a little slow going on the stitching but we are taking the long weekend off decorating, so I hope to finish it this weekend..:)..

Here is where I am so far:

Halloween RR - A little more

I got a little more done on my Halloween RR this weekend. I wish I had gotten more done, I am gonna have to kick rear to get it finished to go out, guess I may have gotten a little ambitious, LOL.. Here is what is done so far.

HOE LHN Exchange Received

from MarJean. Isn't this absolutely the best box. I love it. The design is perfect, especially since I am currently redoing my room and these colors will match beautifully!!! Thanks so much to Marjean. Also the fabric will work beautifully for some pinkeeps and she even sent the cutest little design with some fibers to complete it in!!! And boy is the feet care package going to help me!!! Oh and there was a to do list pad, but we have so much to do here, someone already grabbed it out of the package.

Halloween RR

I fnally got the lines basted on my Halloween RR. Wherever there is basting there will be a border of black and orange alternating in groups of 5 stitches. The center section will be stitched by me and it will be Barbara Ana's Haunted Halloween house in the center, A Helga Mandl saying on one side and another Halloween Saying on the other. The fabric is Enchanted Fabrics Witches Brew Belfast Linen 32ct.

Blue Ribbon Tokens of Affection

needlebook for the Make a Wish Exchange. Kelly wished for a needlebook and she likes flowers and plants. This is one of my favorites because the colors make me feel happy and it is so pretty. Kelly says she likes it so I am glad I decided on this one.

Lin's Ackworth book

I finished my page in Lin's book and mailed it on to Sandy today. I've done 4 now. I won't have another for a little while now, so I need to get to work on my Halloween RR. I also finished a needlebook for an exchange but can't show it yet. Hopefully soon though :)..


Here is the Ackworth book page. Mine is on the left..

Flowers for Sarah

is moving along. I have been stitching on about 3 different things this week, but this is the only one I can post a picture of right now, the others are for exchanges ;)...

So here is where I am at with flowers for SarahI need to get to work on setting up my Halloween RR. I think I might be getting a little over ambitious with it, LOL...We shall see, I may not get it all stitched before it needs to be passed on to Hannah...

An Exchange arrived at it's new home

so I can now post a picture of it. Both were stitched on an opalescent Silkweaver solo.
The first is a fob/pinkeep from Sweetheart Tree called Americana Star. The second is a fob I turned into a pincushion from Shepherd's Bush called Glory.

I have been stitching

although I can't yet post pictures of a couple things because they are for an exchange, but hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to..

Here is where I am on Flowers for Sarah..I think this is my favorite square on this design. This is also the second largest one, the largest on will be the final square. i still need to figure out what color fabric to use for the outside of the needlebook. It is going to be much larger than I thought. Well off to the kids!!

Halloween RR

I think I have decided on a fabric for my Halloween RR. It is Witches Brew from Enchanted Fabrics. I am not as talented as some of the other stitchers in the dyeing of my own fabric, LOL.. Here is a picture of it..

Now to figure out my central design and how to lay it out...

Help Me (I've fallen off the wagon)

I am joining exchanges and round robins again. I guesss I just can't stop myself, I did so good the first of the year too, but definitely have fallen off the wagon. I definitely surprised myself joining round robins, since my last two never came back to me :( I've decided to join my first Neighborhood RR and I also joined a Halloween RR. The stitchers are wonderful people so I am sure I will have no repeat of the last episodes. Well off to pull children off the ceilings and chase newly walking children... Have a GREAT DAY!!!

More flowers for Sarah

I got a little more stitching done on this the last few days. It has been hectic around here. I started on the second part which does stitch up quickly since it is mostly an alphabet. I am also working on an exchange which I can not post here right now.. Well off to work!

Flowers for Sarah - first Section

is done. I spent all day yesterday out on our covered deck stitching. It was hot out but there was a fantastic breeze. I took pictures of the birds coming to our bird feeders and stitched. I managed to get the first section of the needlebook stitched. The second part is an alphabet that should not be too long..

Flowers for Sarah Needlebook SAL

YAY! I did get started on it last night. It is stitched on a piece of 7 x 54 Antique White linen 32ct. There are actually only 4 colors in it. The piece is so long because you spread out the sections and fold to make pockets, kinda hard to explain, but you will see as it goes along. Here is the first progress picture, yes it is only a leaf, but it is something, LOL. Sorry not the best pictures and yes, I was too lazy to stitch the edges, so I guess I better do something about it tonight, LOL..

New Starts

Yes I am bad, even with all my WIPS I am starting some new things.

I started Inspiration by Rosewood Manor this weekend. This is about 1/2 the first page (I think there are 17 pages). It is stitched on 32ct Tawny Sparkle from Silkweaver


Then last night I did the gridding for the Flowers for Sarah Needlebook by Blackbird Designs. I am doing this one during a SAL at the Blackbird Designs Group. This is stitched on Antique White Linen - 32ct. The cut had to be 7x54".

Have a Stitchy Day Everyone!

Biscornu Finish

I finished up this biscornu this weekend also. Now I am going to work on Inspiration by Rosewood Manor. Just what I need to do is start something new, with the hundreds of WIP I have, LOL.. Well here is the biscornu, it is stitched with a Threadworx floss, although I can't remember the color, sorry..

Days off work

I took a few days off work this week (Thursday and Friday), no one under 13 in the house, YAYAY!! anyway ran around and had fun all day Thursday and then got down to some stitching. I finished this needlebook and am now working on a biscornu :)..


the Needlebook is from LHN. I made some changes in the way it is finished, I just need to put the felt inside for the needles and it will be completely done. The fabric is a 28ct Silkweaver Solo opalescent!

CC Sweet Treats

I finished one of the squares on the Sweet Treats design. it is stitched on 28ct Silkweaver Solo Fabric

Finished

YAYAY!!! I got it finished. I had a lot of time yesterday to finish up Rites of Spring by Blackbird Designs. It is my first finished Blackbird Design and certainly not my last..

Finally some stitching on Rites

Life conspired to keep me from getting much stitching done last weekend and most of the week, but the last few nights I did get some stitching done on Rites of Spring. I hope to finish it this weekend and start on some much needed to be done exchange pieces..

And More Rites of Spring

I know, I'm getting repetitive, sorry. Hopefully I will get this finished this weekend. I am really enjoying stitching it and I love the way it is turning out...

A little more Rites of Spring

I haven't gotten too much more done, but I did finish one of the swans. Lots of family committments the next few days, so not getting as much going to get stitched, hopefully this weekend I can kick it!!

First Weekend of May Stitching

I kinda got hooked on Rites of Spring right now, although I really need to get to work on an exchange I am in :)...Here is what I got completed this weekend.

Beautiful Square from Nicola

I received these beautiful squares from Nicola yesterday. I wish the picture showed the beauty of the stitching and all the beads better. Thank you so much Nicola, I love the goodies also. I plan to make this into a hanging pinkeep, I will post a picture as soon as I do...

More Rites of Spring

The tree is about finished. Now it ought to move along very fast!

Rites of Spring

by Blackbird Designs was started last night. I originally was using a darker fabric but it turned out to be too dark and the colors weren't showing up. I switched to this one. I am not sure whether it is a Silkweaver or Enchanted Fabric. I think the design will go together rather quickly now though.

Weekend stitching

Well I got started on another project this weekend. I got the border done on the CC Sweet Treats design. I told Mom I would do it for our fairly newly remodeled kitchen. Heres what done so far. I got the border done, so now I am going to do a little stitching on the Blackbird Loose Feathers Spring Rites for the rest of the week :).. This is a 28ct Silkweaver solo Lugana.

Well at least I figured

out why I haven't been motivated to stitch. Appears I am over BP medicated, LOL. My blood pressure has apparently dropped some on its own and my medication dosage was way to much and my BP was way low, so I was having fatigue symptoms, so glad to have an explanation as to why I felt so tired and unmotivated. So now taking 1/2 the dosage and ready to stitch hopefully again. It think this weekend and I work on my Quaker samplers or a Blackbird design, HMMM, which should I do. Or maybe even the CC sweet treats, gosh, guess my BP is better already, LOL. I wanna stitch!!!

Very Little Stitching

has been going on lately here. I've been doing some organizing and trying to make some decisions on what to stitch, etc. I did make some progress on Sleepy Hollow.




I think I am going through another stitching evolution again. I think I want to get to stitching some of my fantasy pieces again. It seems like every couple years I go through some kind of change of what I want to do, LOL. I am so weird. I'm digging out the Mira's, Passione Ricamo's, HAED's and Teresa Wentzlers. I am redoing my plans and goals for the rest of the year. We shall see, LOl. Hopefully I can get the stitching bug going again..

To Rotation or not to Rotation

Okay, I'm back to doing almost all selfish stitching again, a couple small things to do by summer, but not much..But I have a lot of big things I'd like to do for me. But with my lack of attention span on any one time I have to change off. I am trying to decide whether or not to go back to a rotation system similiar to my old days (loosely based, not time limits or minimum times) or just wing it..I have several designs I really want to get done this year, but oohhh, I love to do other things...I am such an addict..What to do, what to do.

Weekend Stitching

I managed to get some good stitchine time in this weekend.
I finished my square in Darla's Ackworth RR. It is the Hollyberry colored one.

Then I got this part of LHN's Willow Tree In finished for another Exchange!!

Earth Day F&S from Melissa G

I received these very pretty squares from Melissa last week. I was unable to post to the Fair and Square blog for some reason, but I can post here, not sure why. So here is the picture. I love the squares and all the goodies, unfortunately the chocolates disappeared in the daycare before they got added to the picture..Thank you so very much Melissa..

Did you ever hit a

roadblock in your stitching because you have obligation stitching to do, and you really, really want to stitch something you are dying to start, but if you do that you feel guilty....so, you do nothing. I kinda hit that stitching block this week. So...I guess it is time to get all the obligations done and then I can stitch fun stuff, so the rest of the week and weekend is devoted to catching up the obligations and then on to fun stuff..

Dragon Carousel Floss Toss

Okay, so I finally got everything together for Dragon Carousel and hope to start it maybe this weekend. I chose to use Enchanted Fabrics 28ct Hocus Pocus linen for the fabric. It is one of my favorite fabric colors for night or dark backgrounds. So here it is. I think it is going to be so pretty.

Excuse the Dust

and confusion..

I NEEDED A CHANGE. I must be going through a late midlife crisis, LOL.. So I hope I don't confuse anyone too much... I am really into fantasy art and literature, so I guess I just headed that direction again...See ya later.

Last Weeks Stitching

I did get some stitching done this last week.

I started a new one (of course, I am a serial starter). It is my first HAED. I spent last week gridding and I got about 500 stitches into it. It is by Jasmine Becket-Griffith, one of my favoites, Where's my Valentine.

Then I got a few more stitches into The Kiss by Mirabilia. I hope to finish this one this year.

And finally, I worked on a frog biscornu as a gift for someone. It is a freebie design by Casey Buonaugurio.