Blizzard Finishes

The aforementioned blizzard dropped about two feet of snow, necessitating a driving ban for nearly two days. Then our snowblower broker, so my weekend was spent indoors, and I had no excuse not to finish a few things. Here are the results of my enforced vacation:

I should have cut the linen for the cat a bit smaller and had the right side of the pillow be visually shorter than the left, but by the time I realized this I had already sewn the two sides together. Thanks to Carol for telling me how to attach the trim (use glue and a toothpick!) 

I took these pictures horizontally, but you know Blogger and its mind of its own! I started to rusch the ribbon  below for it using Vonna's tutorial (it's metallic and lacy and I love its look), but holding it up to the pillow it just didn't look good. Now if I could have done a ribbon like this lovely one of Vonna's, that would have been a different story. But rusty orange ribbon is awfully hard to come by.

I also followed Vonna's advice (thank you Vonna!) to iron interfacing to the back of my linen, and the pillows are definitely less lumpy than they would have been if I'd done them without it. So all in all I am a happy camper. Now all I need is another blizzard to get the rest of the finishing done!

I was reading some messages from a cross stitch list I am subscribed to, and there were several reports of craft stores no longer carrying DMC and using Sullivan's instead. There was even a mention of Michael's stocking another type of floss instead of DMC. Has anyone been finding this? While I prefer to stitch with overdyes when I can, I can't imagine having to order DMC floss online instead of running out to Michael's or A.C. Moore to pick up what I need!

My Just CrossStitch magazine came in the mail the other day. They have a new editor and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were a number of designs I actually wanted to stitch! Usually I am lucky to find just one (not that I've done many of them other than ornaments - Summer Song was my first major piece) but maybe I'll find more that I like in JCS now. For anyone interested they had profiles of and charts from the designers of both Prairier Schooler and By the Bay Needleart.

It's school vacation week so my son is still sleeping - it's so nice not to have to rush around and get ready for school. I think I'll use the quiet time to get a little more stitching done...

Oy - I just looked at this in draft and accidentally closed the editor rather than the preview tab. Thank goodness for autosave!

Settling in for a blizzard (with stitching)

Here in the Northeast, we're being bombarded by dire predictions of a major Nor'Easter. We could be getting 16-24 inches of snow in my area, along with howling winds. School is already canceled for tomorrow. I've done the obligatory grocery store run, and only hope that we don't lose power so all the food I bought isn't for naught. What I really wanted to do was run out to my LNS and stock up on charts and floss, but I couldn't make the timing work. Not that I don't have plenty of stash, so I think I can make it through a few days of being housebound.

Since I blogged last (where does the time go?), I've been fairly prolific, at least for me, a slow stitcher at best. Nothing fancy, but I've enjoyed the pieces I've worked on a lot. So here's the rundown...

First up is the second in the series of Less/More by Lizzie Kate. I only liked two out of the four designs, so this will be the last one. At the very end, I lost my skein of WKS Purple Haze to finish the last motif in the design at the bottom. But Plum came to the rescue! The shade is so close, I can't even tell where I used it anymore. Can you?

Talk Less, Say More
Lizzie Kate
Mocha Cashel

WKS and GAST

Next I stitched this lovely little design by Helga Mandl from The Gift of Stitching Magazine (I can look up the issue if anyone is interested). I used Hand Dyed Fibers Bewitched, and love the variations in the color it gave the piece. I have the perfect fabric to make it into a little pillow.

Autumn Pinkeep 

Helga Mandl (TGOSM)
Peach Cashel

HDF Bewitched

After that I found a very old freebie I'd printed out years ago by a French blogger named Dominique. I've meant to stitch it for years and finally got around to it. I changed the color scheme a bit and used GAST Rose Garden, WKS Blue Spruce and CC Bean Sprout and Whatley Woodlands, along with a pink floss from the Lizzie Kate design for the flower, but I can't recall its name. I believe the translation is something like "nothing comes of running" but of course we know it as "slow and steady wins the race."

Rien ne sert de courir
Dominique A.
Cashel scrap
GAST, WKS and CC

While looking through my freebie files I found one with a message I really want my son to take to heart, so I stitched it for him. As the Cowardly Lion would say, "ain't it the truth?"

Doing Right Quaker Sampler
Nancy Woodson - Liberty Primitives

Lambswool Cashel

DMC 3768

After this one I wanted something really quick, so I stitched up this cute little chart from The Sampler Girl from Kitty Kringle's Pattern Book for Christmas (Tanya might have offered this as a freebie on her blog at one point).It's done on a small piece of linen that I won from a giveaway by Carol of Stitching Dreams - I'm still thrilled that I won it more than a year later. I use the little red scissors she included all the time. The threads were WDW Schneckly (what the heck is a schneckly?) and Collards, GAST Old Red Paint, and CC Queen Bee.

Little Fir Tree Ornament
The Sampler Girl
Unknown linen

WDW, GAST and CC

Finally, here's another ornament pattern I just finished - I couldn't help but think of Michele W., reindeer lover extraordinaire! Threads were WKS Havana, GAST Grecian Gold, and CC Spinach and Bandana.

Star Reindeer

Sharon Bennett (Daffycat)

Linen scrap

WKS, GAST and CC

So what do all these stitched pieces have in common? Yes, you're right - none of them are finish finished. But since I'm going to be snowed in, I will have no excuse but to do that. So stay tuned...