A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

I've been working on the registration for a literary convention about a children's book author, so stitching has taken a back seat to endless hours entering information into a database. I am so sick of my computer (except for when I steal time to look at blogs). But I have managed to do two small pieces. I've been in an animal mood lately, it seems. This little fellow is a freebie that I got from the cross-stitching.com site. The chart can be found here.

Midnight Owl
Lesley Teare
Platinum (I think) 28 count linen
DMC threads

The next piece in my menagerie is from The Gift of Stitching (September 2006). This was really fun to stitch. I got to play around with overdyed threads - after using them it is sometimes hard to get out the good old DMC. But what would we do without it! I'm still sad that WalMart stopped carrying their floss.

Have You Any Wool
Beth K. Hendzlik
Off-white Belfast linen
(mostly) my own conversion of WDW, GAST and CC

Since I'll be traveling to the convention soon I wanted a smallish projectto accompany me. Barbara kindly sent me the chart for Brite Birds, so I have started that and will take it with me. Even though I doubt I'll have the time to stitch, having something to bring along is like a security blanket!

Here in Massachusetts the month of June has been like monsoon season, and July has started out the same way. My stitching lamp has provided me more daylight than the real thing! I hope
the sun is shining down on everyone, wherever you are.

Small Steps

A few little projects have been on my horizon lately - nothing fancy, but fun to stitch. Cruising eBay one day I found this little booklet of Brightneedle freebies, with a lot of sweet designs that looked quite my speed. I love Brightneedle and am sorry they don't seem to be designing any more.

Many of the charts called for specialty threads that I don't have (not much of a stash of those yet, though I'm trying) and had no DMC conversions. But this one did! And my marbleized scissors were calling out for a fob, so here it is:

Bunny Hop
Brightneedle
28 count linen
DMC threads

Dearest Friend (detail)
Brightneedle
28 count linen
DMC threads

Sorry for the shadowy second picture - Blogger sometimes turns my pictures sideways (go figure) and I had to use a different one than I had planned.

I also stitched up a freebie by The Sampler Girl that I've seen on a number of blogs. Being from southeastern Massachusetts, it seemed like the perfect project.

In Thankfulness of Heart
The Sampler Girl
28 count platinum linen
Crescent Colours threads

This one will be my first foray into trying to make a little pillow, if I can just figure out how to get the edges straight. I'm tempted to just make a pinkeep, but "been there, done that" and it isn't going to help me to get over my FOF (fear of finishing) if I keep going over old ground. Tune in next time for "as the pillow turns."

Finishing Duo

At long last, I finished the two pieces I've been working on for, well, ages. First up is Always and Forever, complete with initials. I can't tell you how much trouble they gave me. Stitching with half a brain tends to do that. First I stitched the m where the b was supposed to be, then I aligned the tops of the letters instead of the bottom. I hosted so many frogs that I practically had to feed them! My husband's initials behaved themselves better - maybe they know this is part of his Father's Day present. For a different take on this design, visit Sweet Pea Stitches - she made some neat changes for her anniversary gift.

Always and Forever
Little House Needleworks
Crescent Colours Mer Blue
28 count unknown linen

And I finally completed Moon and Stars! I'm over the moon about that - pun intended. The house might be a little shaky and the stars a little weird, but I really enjoyed this one. If I had it to do over, though, I might make the bottom border yellower, to pick up the color of the moon (the floss is called Ginger Snap - I love that name) - the white jumps off the linen a bit much, but hey, it's done and I'm happy with it. I only have one more LHN chart in my stash now - Dear Diary Abigail Winslow. Being from the Boston area it seems only fitting that I stitch this one. Guess I will have to stock up on more LHNs (it's my civic duty, you know).

Moon and Stars
Little House Needleworks
Crescent Colours Threads
28 count Silvery Moon linen

Speaking of stash, I started a wishlist so I can keep track of what I want to stitch. The trouble is there are too many blogs with wonderful stitching to tempt me. The enabling around here has just got to stop!

I'm off to see Star Trek, making the reason I'm a mother one very excited little boy. Happy Mothers's Day to all of you!

A spring surprise and a sigh of relief

The other day I got the nicest surprise - a mysterious envelope arrived with a lovely skein of Crescent Colours floss - Ripe Melon. Enclosed was a note and a card with the url of a really neat blog: http://www.themovementyourturn.blogspot.com/. Here you are encouraged to do nice things for somebody, and post comments about what you did or how someone blessed you with a kindness. It was such a treat, a real pick-me-up, and I'm having fun deciding what to do now that it's "my turn." Thank you, anonymous friend (I have a sneaking suspicion that I know who you might be, but it's fun to speculate)!

The sigh of relief is because I am just about finished with Always and Forever (everything except the initials), and the border ends matched up! I can't tell you how scared I was as I approached the finish line, but all was well. I did make one mistake with this piece - I started the border one stitch above the tree more than there should be, but even though the bottom of the border was thus closer to the lettering, I think it looks okay.

Moon and Stars is still perking along - I'm just doing the finishing touches. So I hope to post pictures of that soon. Of course, soon for me could mean weeks, but I'm trying!

My First Needlebook

For better or worse, here's my maiden journey into the world of making needlebooks. I used this tutorial, and got a lot of help from Jean (thank you, Jean!) when I was having trouble figuring out how to attach the felt. She also gave me some nice ideas about attaching edging to it - I didn't have anything to use on hand so that step is still ahead of me. I wonder if I could navigate the mysteries of making twisted cord. Gotta hide those lumpy edges! Meanwhile, it's certainly nice to have a place to keep my needles. This was really fun to put together and I'll definitely try it again.


Mystery Sampler (Scotland)
The Gift of Stitching July 2008

Cashel linen, DMC floss

New Start and Book Find

Thanks for all the feedback about my needlebook fabric. By a landslide it's the darker material. Now all I have to do is make it. We've been in Florida visiting my mother-in-law so I haven't had a chance to tackle it. Maybe this weekend I'll get up the nerve.

I'm almost done with Moon and Stars, but I started LHN's Always and Forever while I was away. Stitching with silk is so nice - it just glides through the linen. I was relieved to find that this floss (Mer Blue) doesn't stain the fabric when I've had to frog. At first I thought the chart had a mistake in the border - I counted the left and right top stitches and it looked like there were 11 stitches on one side and only 10 on the other. I wrote to Diane Williams who told me there were 10 on each side, and I realized I'd been counting using the grids, not the actual x's. The grid on the right side only had 9 columns, not 10 like is usual. That'll teach me to make assumptions! At first I wasn't sure the floss was variegated enough but I'm happy with the way it's turning out. Here's what I've gotten done so far:

I am now the delighted owner of a book I'd been coveting. I don't usually find designs I want to stitch in books, but I found America's Best Cross Stitch at the library, and it has some lovely pieces. While I was in Florida I visited an amazing used book store called Haslam's, and lo and behold they had the book! They had two copies, and quite a few other cross stitch books. If you are ever in St. Petersburg Haslams's is well worth checking out.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I'm looking forward to catching up on all the blog posts I've missed.

My Trip to Joann's

Being at loose ends the other day, I decided to take a step closer to putting together the needlebook I have been promising myself I would try to make. So I took myself off to Joann Fabrics to see what I could find that would get me nearer to this goal. I found two different fabrics to use for the inside of the needlebook, and I'm in a quandary about which to use.

On first glance the darker fabric looks far more interesting than the light one (the purple color is the felt that would hold the needles). But the lighter fabric picks up one of the greens in the peacock and flower, and I am wondering if the white felt I'd use with it would show the needles better. Then again, maybe it's too boring. What do you think?

Here's the rest of my haul from Joann's: the linen is so I can try Vonna's baste and bake method for coloring fabric. I bought some fray check so I could put cording around an ornament and try to hide where the cord begins and ends. Now of course I have to make the ornament! You all are so enabling. Everything I see I want to be able to do. I hope that as I slowly pick up the tricks of the trade I'll increase my output of finished pieces. Thanks for all the inspiration!