Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends!  This is a picture of Colt and DiDi in full costume and makeup from their recent Nutcracker show.  Colt played a father (with two wives and six kids) and Di was a flower maiden, soldier, marzipan and arabian.  Nutcraker has become a tradition for our family, this is Colt's second and Di's 4th.  Colt even agreed to have his long hair pulled into a ponytail for the role. 

And here is Colt posing after a concert with his new favorite instrument.  He joined our local string orchestra this past fall and has really enjoyed performing with them. Their Christmas performance was wonderful. 

I have dinner guests at six so I'd better get busy.  Have a wonderful holiday and I'll be back after the New Year.

Just Crossstitch Halloween Ornie Issue

Just stopping by to post a quick picture of the new Just Crossstitch ornie issue.  The little green witch at the bottom of the cover is my contribution to the magazine.  I always look forward to seeing the new designs, and I love the variety of this year's designs.  There are several more ornament designs inside the magazine so if you get a chance, pick up a copy and take a peak.  

Lots going on here.  We've just welcomed a new fur baby into our family.  Her name is Francesca, she is an eight week old black pug, the sister of our Lucy Lu.  She has the same cleft palete issue that Lucy has, but she is eating well and is soooo full of life.  She is so small that she fits in my hand.  She perches on my shoulder like a parrot.  I'll get a pic up in the next day or so.  Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your week!!   

August already?

Another hot and sunny Summer day here in Tennessee, so I popped outside to take a few snaps of my latest finishes to show you.  First is another little pillow, this one a Ewe and Eye & Friends design.  I love the little jabc buttons, reminds me of candy dots, yummy little rows of pastel sugar.

Next, this adorable little witch from Brooke's Books.  One of a series of three, it's done on perforated paper and was a blast to stitch. The really fun part was cutting the pieces apart and attaching them to create the finished piece.  Her little girls are adorable and have such detail, can't wait to stitch the other two in the series for my Halloween tree.  On the home front, lots of family stuff happening here, won't bore you with the deets, but it is making for some late night stitching, so I'll have lots more to show you.  Enjoy your week and thanks for stopping by.

LOVE Needlepoint

Okay, I admit that I love needlepoint but this is actually a "LOVE" needlepoint.  I used my Alphabet Series letters to chart out "LOVE" on 18 count canvas.  I stitched it with a wonderful chocolate Rainbow Gallery Petite Very Velvet and 4 shades of overdyed cottons.  I love the contrast in fibers, the fuzzy Very Velvet creates kind of a valley for the overdyed cottons to fit into.  It's actual size is about 16" by 16" and it will make a wonderful pillow.  I've found the perfect shade of faux suede to back it with and am searching for the correct size feather pillow insert. 

 If you haven't guessed, I am really happy with how this came out, next, I am going to paint our last name and do a long pillow for the family room.

I have a couple other needlepoint pieces that I need to finish as pillows as well.  The first is by Birds of a Feather, it has a companion canvas with a pink background that I can't wait to start stitching.The next is a celtic inspired design that came with the neat clay button centerpiece.  The counting on this drove me batty but it was worth the effort. And, last but not least, this cute little frog, a freebie design, soon to be finished as a scissor fob.  Did I mention that I love needlepoint?  :) 

 Before I go, I want to thank you for your comments on my last post and welcome the new followers to my blog.  I'm trying to carve out a bit of time every fews days to post, lots happening here and posting is a nice way to organize the stitchy things in my life.  I'll leave you with a couple of pics of my Boo Boo and my Lucy Lu.  Take care!!! 

 

Friday finishes

Can you believe that it's Friday again, already?  The Summer is flying by at record speed, I hope that you are enjoying some sort of Summer fun where you are.  We made it through dance camp and boy scout camp (different kids, same week, same town, fifty miles from home, one day camp, one overnight).  Dale took boy scout camp duty and I took dance camp taxi duties and fun was had by all.  Tennessee USA is still running at the Playhouse and the kids do several shows a week, they love seeing the reactions from the various audiences.  And, since sleep and I have been strangers lately, I have some finishes to show you. 

First, I stitched up Blackbird Design's quick little monchromatic design.  I finished it as pin pillow, with a bit of antique lace and a few antique bakelite buttons.   

Next, another Blackbird Designs piece, this one their little Souvenir freebie.  I used two Crescent Colours silks on a hand dyed piece of 40 count and it stitched up quickly.  I finished it as a pillow with a bit of hand crocheted lace and a seed bead trim.  I'll stitch this again, someday, for Di, in a bright turquoise, and finish it with a great piece of turquoise eiffel tower fabric that I have in my stash.  She loves all things French, but this isn't bright enough for her room.

And, finally, my favorite pillow finish, a Carriage House Samplings design, stitched in silk on a 40 count handdyed linen.  I finished it with a couple antique buttons and added a jute rick rack trim which I beaded with seed beads to add a little color to the trim.  It may end up on my dresser as a place to display my antique pins. 

I also did a little stitching this week.  I was feeling nostalgic and did a little poking around in my stash, mainly my old magazines, and I found this little design from Birds of a Feather.  It's just so cute that I had to stitch it.  I will probably finish it into a little patchwork tote for my niece Vivian, the design suits her.

I also finished another piece for Just CrossStitch but I can't show you that yet.  I have to say that I really enjoy reading the stitching blogs and am in awe of the true talent of the many needleartists out there.  I don't comment all that often, but do know that I always feel rewarded when I take a moment to see what my fellow stitchers are creating.  Thank you for sharing! 

A new tree

Just a quick post to show you my latest tree.  The Liberty tree is featured in the July/August issue of Just Crossstitch magazine.  I finished this one as a button on pillow using one of Trail Creek Farms pillows, a quick and easy finish.  This magazine issue is also the ornament preview issue and there are several must stitch (for me) ornaments.  I hope to have a nice batch of new ornaments for the Christmas tree this year.  I've been collecting and designing ornament charts all year, now to get to stitching them.  My kids enjoy adding the new ones to the tree each year, and the handmade ones are always the favorites.  Thanks for stopping by, I hope that you are all enjoying your Summer.

Angels on Blue

I haven't been getting any stitching done lately but Susan A. has.  Susan kindly sent me this pic of all five of my angels stitched on 30 ct. Sky fabric.  My first reaction was Wow!!!  I love how the blue fabric sets the angels off so nicely.  Plus, her finishing is lovely.  Hers is the first set, other than my own, that I've seen completed and they just made my day. 
As a designer, I design what is inside of me, never knowing if it will be something that others will want to stitch, so it always makes me smile when I see someone else taking the time to stitch my designs.  Thanks for sharing these with me, Susan!!!  And thanks, everyone for visiting my blog. 

A Few Finishes

It has been busy, busy here. We are well into March and the days are just flying by. Been busy doing kids stuff, helping with the cross country team, trap practice, boy scouts and dance, dance, dance. Spring recital is coming up so it's time for me to help with costume details, which involves checking the costumes, doing any quicky finishing work that needs done on them, making any extra items needed, handing them out to the students and explaining the stage makeup and costumes how to's. The costumes are beautiful this year and really well made, I can't wait to see them on the dancers.

As for stitching, my finishing pile is growing. I have over a dozen things needing my attention. Little pieces and big. I will schedule a finishing day soon, I will, I will.......

Here are a couple of recent finishes, excuse the wrinkles. The first is a sweet little design from Carriage House Samplings. I have so many of her designs in my stash and am trying to work a few of them into my rotation. I love the pink, red, olive color combo in this design and have plans to make it into a thread keep.

This is Shakespeare's Peddler's Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler. It was a fun design to stitch, enough color changes to keep me interested, and pretty shades of red and green. I changed a few colors here and there but nothing extreme. I have two great rustic frames that would work for this piece and I cannot decide between them yet.

The last piece is Cape Cod Girls, by the Primitive Needle. Really quick stitch. I used a beautiful piece of linen from my "special" stash. Sharon Crescent, creator of the lovely Crescent Colours threads used to dye linens when she first started out in the needlework biz. The colors were soft and amazing and I bought a fat quarter of every shade that she had. I keep them in my "special" box and use them sparingly. This is a soft blue green and worked perfectly with the Weeks threads that were called for. I did pick up the new Cape Cod Boys companion design so it will get a "special" linen from the box as well.

Enough from me for today. I have orders to fill and a couple of magazine pieces to get ready. Thank you for your comments on my stitching and on my new little Lucy Lu. My daughter discovered that Lucy likes to play dress up so there will be some silly dog pics in the future. She is also reading up on agility competitions for pugs and plans to make Lucy a star. Have a great afternoon!!!

Lucy Lu

Here is my little Lucy Lu! She finally sat still long enough for a couple of shots. I LOVE her buggy eyes. Such a sweet little girl.

LHN Needle and Thread

I started this Saturday night and finished this cute little piece last night. It's Little House Needlework's Hoffman exclusive, Needle and Thread. It was fun to stitch and easy to finish. My first "market release" finish. It will sit near my stitching spot, perfect for my scissors and spare needles.

It's been busy since my last post. Everyday life keeps me on my toes lately. We have a new fur baby addition to our household, a pretty 4 month old black pug. Daughter Di named her Lucy Lu and she is such a liitle bundle of fun. The rest of my fur family is adjusting well to their hyper little sister.

I've been sneaking my stitching in wherever I can and will post more pics when I get some time. I really need to have a little finishing marathon, I have a dozen stitched pieces waiting for their finishes.

Until next time, enjoy yourselves!