A Christmas finish!

 Hey Everyone!

I had a finish last night that would qualify as Christmas in July.  This is Nutcracker Sampler from The Nutmeg Needle.

Now I'm off to see how my stuff did at the fair.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

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

Christmas Stitching Challenge

Well, it's time for an update on this year's Christmas Stitching Challenge...and I actually have one!

The last round of my rotation, I started Heirloom Nativity Sampler by The Victoria Sampler.  When I work on a piece like this, I stitch until I have to roll my scroll frame.  Here's what I've gotten done so far:

It looks like there's plenty of room for another band but the next band is the shepherds in the forest, or something like that, and it's a bigger band like the angels.  This is the first 7 bands out of 30.

The fabric is the recommended 28ct. linen.  The color name is something like Ice Blue (I forget what it's called).  It's about the same shade as DMC 927.

That's it for now.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Images from the Past: Wedding Samplers

Images from the past refers to items that I finished some time ago and were on my personal webpage but not necessarily on my blog.

Today I thought I'd post photos of the various wedding samplers I've stitched.  No, I never stitched on for DH & me.

This one was for my younger sister and brother-in-law.

 

This was for my youngest sister and brother-in-law.

 

 

This was for my pastor's daughter.  This is one of only a handful of project to have no mistakes.  The mirror image effect of the pattern made any mistakes glaringly obvious so I frogged quite a bit.

 

This was for a good friend and her husband.  She was my matron of honor when I got married.

This one was the only one that I've done a major modification on to fit the couple.  The original was for two white hands and cream colored roses.  I was matron of honor in this wedding.  Unfortunately, none of the bride's other "friends" would stand up for her because she was marrying a non-white man.

I did this one for my cousin and her husband.  I modified this one slightly by extending the borders and adding their names and the date.

This is one sampler that I've stitched 3 different times.  I stitched it for the lady who used to be my babysitter (now divorced); my uncle and his 2nd wife, the image shown, (now divorced); and my niece and her husband.  The third time was the charm with this one - the niece and nephew are still together!



 

 

I have also stitched one with swans on it but never had a photo.  I stitched one called United in Love as well but since they got divorced, I guess they weren't that united.  Never had a photo of that one either.  Oh, well.

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Stacy





February choice & New Finish!

Here's the chart I chose as my February choice from the HAED Christmas Raffle that I won:

This one is called Breakfast at the Beach.  Since I do live near the ocean, I've always loved "beachy" things.

I also have a new finish.  You have to love band samplers...seriously, I mean you!  For me, band samplers are lovely and they work up rather quickly.  I love having finishes!

This one is an all-white band sampler from The Gift of Stitching which was an online cross stitch magazine.  The sampler was a mystery sampler meaning that you didn't see anything beyond the section you were given for that month.  It ran in the May, June, July, and August issues in 2007.  The sampler was called:  White Musings Mystery Sampler and was designed by Follow the Leader Designs.

Spoiler Alert!
Anything beyond here will spoil the "mystery".   ;-)


Here's the picture of the completed sampler:

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

A Finish for Autumn

I had a small finish recently. As you've probably guessed, I love HAED. Since this post mentions a "small" finish, that rules out it being a HAED.

I also have a "thing" for band samplers. I like the challenge of using different stitches plus the relative speed at which I can finish them. (Relative to a HAED at least.)

Since I opened my Etsy shop, XedStitches, I've included a couple of freebies when I ship out purchases. One of the freebies really intrigued me.

Since it is a freebie, there isn't a color photo of what it looks like when it's finished. Any pattern that uses floss with the names: Dried Thyme, Cidermill Brown and Melon Patch has to be great, right? (BTW, those are all Sampler Threads from The Gentle Art.)

Well, I finally broke down and decided to actually stitch this small sampler. I started it on Sept. 6 and would have finished it on the 7th but I didn't have the beads I needed. (I didn't think that was possible considering how many beads I have in my stash!)

Drumroll, please...here is the photo of the finished (and framed!) project:

The frame is a cheap, 5" x 7" WalMart frame that I painted black. The "mat" is scrapbooking, acid-free, cardstock that I cut to size.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Woodland Violet Sampler - FRAMED!

Yes, I was shouting in the title of this post!  This piece turned out great, even if I'm the one saying it.  I took a chance on both the frame and the purple mat - I didn't have samples of either one.  The frame was on sale because it's been discontinued and the purple mat option is new enough that I didn't have a sample piece of it.

Sometime tomorrow, I'll probably be rearranging the cross stitch pieces hanging in my living room to better accomodate this piece.  DH will be out for a couple of hours so I can do it without him freaking out.  (For some reason, he worries whenever I wield a hammer.  hehehe) 

Happy Stitching!

Stacy