Framed Finish and Wedding Sampler update

 Woo hoo!  I finally got my PTP Floral Arrangement from HAED framed!

I got the frame and mat from a local frame shop.  It was hard finding a place that would do the oval mat.  I washed the piece yesterday and ironed it dry.  I left it hanging overnight to make sure it was bone dry before framing it today.

This is stitched 1x1 on 40ct. linen in true half stitches (not “tent” which usually is a needlepoint stitch).

I got the beads to finish the TW Wedding Sampler last Wednesday and finished it the same day.

I received the frame for the wedding sampler today.  I’ll wash that tomorrow while hubby is playing bingo with his sister and I’ll frame it on Friday evening while he’s working at our local auction.  Thank goodness he gets out of the house every once in awhile!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

A Finish!

I finished my PTP Floral Arrangement from HAED!

I stitched this on 40ct. linen, 1 strand of floss over 1 fabric thread.  It doesn’t really show in the photograph, but there’s a lot of shiny bits which were done with 2 strands of Kreinik blending filament.

My rotation has changed a bit as I’m trying to stay off my feet as much as possible (they ache - have to go to the Dr. to see if it’s plantar fasciitis).  For now, my next project is Sweet Peas by The Lilac Studio.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Lockdown progress

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is staying safe!  Since the lockdown, our shop has been closed so I’ve been making progress on some of my crafts.

I finally made it to the assembly phase of my Frolic quilt (Bonnie Hunter mystery from last year).

I have made it a little further than this but didn’t take a photo.

I also made progress on my PTP Floral Arrangement.  I finished another page.  I’m going to stick with this one and do the partial page left on this row before I rotate again.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Cross Stitch & Scrapbooking Updates

First of all, I added Mini Wings in Repose to the progress bars at the right.

Next, I've got an update on PTP Floral Arrangement.

I've got 10 pages done now!

I do have to say I thought the orange/white flowers at the bottom were going to be the death of me.  While I do make mistakes in my stitching, usually it's just a stitch or two that are easily dealt with.  Not on these flowers though!  I made some sort of mistake near the top of the cluster that I just couldn't identify properly so that I could fix it.  I ended up doing some over-stitching (literally stitching over incorrect stitches) and some "This color is close enough" stitches.  They look fine now so that's the ultimate result.

Now I am truly back to my rotation so I'm back working on La Belle Dame...

As you may have read in a previous blog post.  I've discovered digital scrapbooking!  OK, I'll admit it, I'm addicted to it!  As my family's genealogist, I've certainly got enough photographs to work with - 1,001 just from one set of grandparents!

I've just completed my first book but saving my pennies to get it printed.  It's really quite a bit less money versus using real papers and an album but a bigger lump sum.  With "traditional" scrapbooking, I've purchased bits & pieces at a time so I've usually spent $20 or less per purchase.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of the pages that I've put together.  I'm still a novice at this but I can only get better!  Just to be clear, I'm the child in all of these photos (I'm currently in my 40's).

Here is a list, with links, of some of the designers whose wonderful talent made these pages possible:

• Correen Silke
• Sheila Reed
• Scraps by Jessica art-design
• Jeanine Baechtold

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Progress Photo: PTP Floral Arrangement

My latest rotation project was PTP Floral Arrangement from HAED.

I can't really do an accurate figure on how far along I am as it's an oval shape so I've just been counting each page as a percentage of the whole.

Anyway, I've just completed page 9 of 16!  I'm doing this in half stitches, aka tent stitches, on 40ct. linen.  I've used one strand for the floss and two strands for the blending filament.

Next up in the rotation is one of my HAP SAL projects, and also my focus piece:  La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Answer #6 - Stitching Supplies

This time it is a two-part question about stitching supplies.

Leigh asked:
Where do you buy floss and fabric? 

This answer is a little involved.  I have so much floss that I've been collecting over the years, I don't have to buy much.  If I'm starting a new pattern, I hit up my stash for the required floss.  Any colors that are going to require more than one skein, I will buy new skeins so that I know I have enough of the same dye lot.  I do have a local quilt store that stocks DMC so if I need only a few skeins, I'll get them there.  Unfortunately, it's expensive there, about 69¢ each.  If I need more than say, 10 skeins, I'll buy them online.

When my local LNS went out of business, I worked her going-out-of-business sale in exchange for stash.  I got a lot of fabric!  I'm pretty set for 28 and 32 counts.

If I do need floss or fabric, I shop primarily at 123stitch.  If I'm doing something like a band sampler where the fabric is visible, I like using dyed fabrics and Silkweaver is my favorite.  Both these companies are in the US.  For online shopping in the UK, I've heard a lot of good things about Cross Stitch Heaven.

Leigh also asked:
I've also never stitched on linen before, so I might try to do a smaller linen project first as a test run. Any tips for switching from aida?

Yes.  Run away from aida.  Sorry, just being a fabric snob.  ;-)

If you've only stitched on Aida, I wouldn't suggest linen. Linen can be great but it tends to have variations in the thickness of the threads.  It also costs more than evenweaves.  What I would recommend is either laguna or jobelan evenweaves.  The best tip I can give is the starting point.  This is very well described and illustrated at Kathy Dyer's site, point #18, so I'll have you check it out there.

Happy stitching!

Stacy

WIP progress photo

Let's see, Wednesday night, I finished pages 7 & 8 on my PTP Floral Arrangement.  Woohoo!  That puts me at the 50% mark.

Here's the photo of my progress:

Since I've decided to make La Belle Dame Sans Merci my focus project, that is what's next in my rotation.  The next page on La Belle is going to be boring but probably pretty fast - it's about 95% black.  I've already done the non-black stitches and then the bottom and right edges of the page so that all I have to do is...black.  I guess black is appropriate considering my current Netflix viewing choice:  Midsomer Murders.  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Finishes and WIP photos!

Whew!  I've finally gotten 12 Days of Christmas framed!  I was going through some old computer CDs during the last couple of days and I found my first WIP photo of 12 Days.  It was taken on Jan. 9, 2006!  Well here's the finished product:

I also had another, much smaller, finish recently.  It's an ornament, Let It Snow.  This is a Dimensions kit.  No, I don't have a Christmas tree up year 'round (DH won't let me), I just started my Christmas shopping in January this year.  It's hanging on a small tree with a snow family at the base.  The tree and the ornament are both going to be presents for my mother.

 

And finally, here is my current progress photo for PTP Floral Arrangement.  I've finished page 8 which is the right edge and am filling in page 7 now.

 



As I mentioned, I found some old CDs with photos on them.  I also "lost" my personal webpage when we changed from a business to a personal account with my ISP.  I'm going to start posting photos of my completed works that were on my webpage to my blog for "posterity".  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Daily Blogging?

Well, it appears that I'm not so good at doing the daily blogging.  I don't know why, I'm on the internet for hours every day.  I think I'll drop the daily attempt and just try to be more frequent than previously.

Anyway, I've been doing okay on the Flying so far.  I'm at the stage where I'm just trying to create the "habits":  get dressed, make the bed, pick up the laundry, swish & swipe, etc.  So far, I've got those 4 down.  The laundry habit has had a side-effect.  I won't do laundry unless I have a full load (whites and reds are the only exception - we don't have a lot of them).  Well, I've had 2 days this week where all the dirty laundry was collected and sorted but there wasn't enough for a full load!  And no, I didn't have enough of our whites or reds for a load either.  Actually, today makes 3 days.

On the stitching front, I have made progress there too.  Here is where I was on PTP Floral Arrangement after Thursday evening:

I also received a couple of frames in the mail this week.  One is for my 12 Days of Christmas and the other is for my whitework sampler (the actual name escapes me at the moment).  I decided to work on framing the whitework piece first because it was going to take less effort.  Here's a photo of it in the frame. 

It's not quite framed yet, though.  I had to make my own spacers since I wasn't using any mats.  I just pinned and laced the piece, popped it into the frame and took a picture.  Then I took it out, popped in the acrylic, and glued in the spacers.  I left that to dry overnight.  Tonight, I'll most likely finish off the framing.

Since I finished 12 Days of Christmas which was my focus piece, I had to choose a different piece to focus on.  The new star in my rotation will be La Belle Dame Sans Merci.  I figured I'd been working on it the longest so it needed to get finished...eventually.  ;-)

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Flying, Patterns and Stitching day 4/231

Hey Everyone!

Here's today's update on the stuff listed in the title.

Flying:

Make bed
Do Breakfast Dishes
Swish & Swipe
Laundry
2 Minute Room Rescue

Yesterday, I also dusted the tops of all the door jambs.  Ugh, were they filthy!  There were also tons of cobwebs in the corners.

Patterns:

Yesterday, I received 2 sewing patterns in the mail.  They are for...handbags.  While I love the tote that I made, I still need a new purse so I'll be working on that in the next few days.  Here are the patterns I got:

Claire by Lazy Girl Designs: 

 

and also from Lazy Girl Designs, Miranda:

 

 



I'll most likely start with the Claire bag 'cause I should have all the supplies on hand to make it.

 

 

Stitching:

 

I did more work on my PTP Floral Arrangement last night.  Here's a progress photo:

 

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Stacy



My latest WIP...

This round of my rotation was PTP Floral Arrangement from HAED.  To remind everyone, this is done on 40ct. linen, 1 strand over 1 thread (1x1), in half cross stitches.  As of now, I have 6 out of 16 pages done!

Next up in the rotation:  Mystic Garden - HAED BB SAL piece.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy