I'm Back. Lots of Finishes!

 Hi Everyone!

I'm back, finally.  It's been a rough Summer.  I lost my Mom in June and have been dealing with that emotionally and physically (cleaning out her house for sale).

In spite of the grief, I have been able to finish some things.  I got 2 of my finished cross stitch pieces framed.  First is Heirloom Nativity Sampler from the Victoria Sampler.

The other one that got framed was my Sweet Peas from Cindy Rice.

I had had a shoulder injury that took a little chiropractic work and some physical therapy to fix, but no pain now!  Because of the injury, I hadn't been able to work on my mystery quilt.  Now that I'm healed, I was able to finish the Grassy Creek Mystery by Bonnie Hunter.  Here's my finished top:

Just a couple of days ago, I had my most recent finish:  another fabric wreath!  I did an Autumn one this time:

This wreath has 5 different Autumn fabrics.  I still have one more wreath form but haven't decided what fabrics to use on it...we'll see.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Quilt Finished!

Hello Everyone!

I finished quilting my antique grandmother's flower garden last night. Totally finished including binding! I hate binding so that's pretty major. ;-)

Here are all the relevant details:

• Top made by my great grand aunt Anna Emeline Armstrong Casebeer (b. 1882 - d. 1945)
• Batting: Warm & Natural
• Threads: Essential Threads (green), Gütermann (variegated yellow)
• Dritz stencil #3408, cornered feather 4" (small flowers)
• Full Line Stencil #30327, wandering vine (yellow border)
• 10" circle used to make arcs in the hexie flowers
• 108" wide white on white backing (no idea of brand)
• Started hand-quilting on 4 Oct 2018; finished on 19 May 2019
• Finished size: 70" x 80" (177.8cm x 203.2cm)

I have NOT washed (soaked) it yet. I wanted to document it first before I did...just in case.

 

Whew! I'm so glad I've finally finished it. I AM going to make a label for it but it will go on after the quilt's been washed. I have to show it off a bit then I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Progress Report (including Finish It Up!)

This post may contain affiliate links.  There is no obligation to purchase anything and no fee to you if you do.

I know, I know.  I haven't shared anything lately.  (hangs head in shame)

I have been working on "stuff" though!  First up, my progress on Little Bee Eater (retired) by Malcolm Bowling and HAED.  I really only work on this little guy when it's slow in my trophy shop and I'm too lazy to do anything else.

This is a few hours worth of progress over the course of a week.  I'm looking forward to hopefully more progress on him soon.  He's stitched on 28ct. hand-dyed fabric, 1x1, full crosses.

Next up, I've just finished another quilt top!  That makes the 3rd top I've completed since late this Summer!  The quilt is actually sideways on my design wall.  I only have 7' ceilings in my sewing room so my wall is wider than it is tall.  Sideways was the only way the finished top would fit on the wall.

The pattern is Carolina Chain from the book Addicted to Scraps by Bonnie Hunter.  This is the first pattern in the book.



On one of my FIU projects, I have made progress!  I'm getting close to 50% finished on hand-quilting my bulls eye quilt!

Here's a close-up of some of the quilting.  In this photo, you can see the 3 different patterns I'm doing:  oak leaf stippling in the black border, a simple twist in the white border and rose stippling in the body of the quilt.

The top of the pink/green/yellow/black square on the left is the middle of the quilt.  I'm working left to right as I quilt and the borders plus the first two blocks are nearly done.

Here's a fuller picture of the quilt:

Another of my FIU projects is finally seeing the light of day:  my Log Cabin Star wallhanging.  I haven't done anything apart from digging it out and searching for the directions.  It's a quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) project which is part of the reason I haven't finished it.  I don't like this way of doing it.  It works just fine, I just don't enjoy it.  Thankfully, it is only a wallhanging.

It's made of Christmas prints.  I am going to finish this...soon.  I want to give it to my mother for Christmas (yes, Christmas of 2017).  It will have a border added to it and I'll put a hanging sleeve on it.  I'll be glad to get this one done!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Update on Rapunzel - Christmas!

Woo hoo!

I have a page finish on Rapunzel!  She still has that haunted look but at least her face is complete now.

Next up will be La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

Here are a few photos of the decorations I've put up for this year:

The Santa tree in my office:

(l. to r.:)  Santaberry Pudding, Santa's Magic, Christmas Elegance

The tree in my living/dining room:

 The tree in our trophy shop:

The tree in my sewing room:

Tannenbaum, O Holy Night (stocking), Victorian Patchwork (stocking):

Heirloom Christmas Sampler:

Checkered Santas from Leisure Arts and 12 Days of Christmas from Teresa Wentzler:

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

HAP SAL September report + County Fair Results

I made progress on my La Belle Dame Sans Merci this past month.

Here are the before and afters:

I went from 51.61% to 54.88% complete!

I've also made a bit of progress on my Rapunzel but no picture yet.

I've taken a break from my rotation [insert stunned gasp here] to work on some model stitching.  This is for a pattern of my own creation which I am keeping under wraps until I'm ready to offer it in my Etsy shop.  The only hints you will get are that I tea-dyed some fabric and I bought GAST threads in Forest Glade, Acorn, and Weathered Barn.  No, an actual barn is not even remotely related to the pattern.  ;-)

Now to the county fair results!  I showed at the Pacific County Fair this year after the Grays Harbor County Fair (Washington state, USA).

I entered my French Santas as a pair, my Sisters Three by Paula Vaughan, the Heirloom Christmas Sampler, and my crocheted table topper.

Sisters Three and the crocheted table topper:

Won these ribbons (one each, of course):



















The French Santas, as a pair:

Won these ribbons:

The Heirloom Christmas Sampler:

Won these:

Yes, I'm happy with the results!  On the way to pick these up at the end of the fair, DH asked me how I thought I'd done.  I told him I "expected" four blue ribbons.  He said I was going to get 2 rosettes as well.  I'm glad I didn't bet him on it.  I would have lost the bet for winning!  lol

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

This and That with Photos!

Hello Fellow Stitchers!

If you're like me, photos of stitchy stuff are almost as good as the actual thing.  Not quite, but close.  ;-)

First off, I forgot (hangs head in shame) to post my last page finish on QS Dragonflies.  This is page 4 done.  The fabric is from Picture This Plus and I purchased it from 123stitch.com.

Once I started on page 5, I realized I was one row too low on most of page 4.  In order to get everything to line up properly, I'm adding a row of stitches as I go.  As least I'm not frogging!

Next up, the pretties that arrived in today's mail from 123stitch.com:

The bunch on the right is part of what I need for an autumn-themed project in the future.  I figured I'd start buying a few each time I place an order.  That way my Paypal account isn't screaming.

The colors on the left are for a project of my own design.  These are all Gentle Art Sampler Threads (GAST).  There are 2 Forest Glade, 1 Acorn (brown), and 7 Weathered Barn.  The WB was a bit darker than I thought it was going to be but looking at it, I think it's going to be perfect!  No, I'm not telling what it's going to be.  No, there won't be any progress photos.  This is for a pattern that hopefully, I'm going to eventually offer for sale so no previews apart from the threads.

Last, but not least, is a photo of the cabinet where I store some of my supplies.  I've redone the look of it after browsing ideas on Pinterest.

Here it is before:

...and here it is now:

The top drawer has miscellaneous "stuff"; second drawer is all my tools (hammer, pliers, etc.); third drawer holds my collection of Mill Hill beads; fourth drawer has stock size frames and mats; fifth drawer is the few cross stitch kits I own; long drawer is stuffed with crochet thread (bedspread/doily type).   The door has been converted into a chalkboard.  Behind it I have a shelf of my glues and paints and the rest is my floss and Kreinik collection.

The bouquet on top is my wedding flowers.  So glad I opted for silk.  After all these years (21 this month), they'd look awful if they'd been real.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy