Jumping on the Dandy Wagon

I've seen quite a few versions of Silver Creek Samplers' Dandy Dreams floating around, and while on vacation, I started a new one. I ordered the recommended Picture This Plus linen in Chime from 123stitch - it took over two months to get but it was worth it - I love the look and feel of it. It's a very substantial fabric in a light mottled yellow color. So far the stitching has not been without its issues. I thought I had brought all the required floss with me, but found that I had left the skein for the lettering at home. So I ran to Michael's five minutes before closing, only to find that they were out of that color (don't you hate when that happens?) I looked yearningly at the WalMart nearby, remembering when they used to carry floss - oh the good old days. So I focused on getting the border done. A cautionary tale for those who plan to stitch this - the grids at the bottom of the chart only have nine stitches, even if it looks like there are ten. Unfortunately I realized this only after I'd stitched the left hand border and bottom row, so the frogs came to visit - how did they know to follow me to Florida? Here's my progress so far (I made one slight change - I didn't like the unfinished look of the little round things in the border, so I made them symmetrical). In other stitching news, I finished June's owl for the Oakhaven Designs SAL:

Here's what the first six months of owls looks like:

And that's about all the news from here. Hope everyone is having a good summer so far!

A Finish and a Find

The North Wind has finally blown and it's finished. You might be forgiven for thinking that this is a spring scene rather than a winter one, since the Icing Belle Soie for the snow just didn't show up very well on the blue linen. You can see it a little better in real life than in the picture, but all-in-all I'm a bit disappointed. Oh well, it's still a pretty design even if it's not that snowy.

The North Wind
Little House Needleworks
Belfast linen - Meadow Mist
Crescent Colours, Belle Soie and DMC

After finishing NW I went back to Jenny Bean's Christmas Sampler. This one has its own issues with the loosely woven linen, but it's a lovely design. It's about to go on hiatus again though, because the June Oakhaven Designs Owl chart just came out, so I'll be working on that for a bit.

This weekend my sister and I stopped in at an antique mall, and I decided to see if I could find a flower frog to use to store my scissors. I didn't see any, but then my sister asked about them at the checkout counter. Lo and behold, I was thrilled to be shown this one. It has a base and a lid - isn't it pretty? It cost a grand total of $6.75 - quite a bargain. My sister was very surprised to see it - she thought I really wanted something that looked like a frog!

My First Decorated Pillow

I really enjoyed stitching iStitch's Sew a Brown Bunny, and finishing it was such fun. Thanks to Carol of Stitching Dreams, I learned the secret of attaching ric-rac (what a relief to learn I didn't have to sew it and could glue it instead). I chose the hot pink to pick up the color of the little heart and the flowers in the fabric. I have Michele to thank for the sweet gift of this chart - Michele, I loved every stitch!

Sew a Brown Bunny
iStitch Designs
R&R Abecedarian Blend
DMC and Crescent Colours

My other stitching has mostly been for the Oakhaven Designs Owl Sal - below are the April and May pieces. I'm looking forward to June - wonder what the theme of the month will be?

April Owl

May Owl

I'm still plugging away on The North Wind, and hope to post a finished picture soon. It's time to be stitching on something springy!

Giveaway Winner

My son picked a name for the giveaway - it's Marilyn! Thanks to all who entered - I wish I had more copies of the book.

A Fantastic RAK and 100th Post Giveaway

A few days ago I got an email from Carol from iStitch, with the most wonderful surprise. Michele from Just Another Stitching Blog had RAK'd me with Sew a Brown Bunny, Carol's newest design. I'd had my eye on it since it was released but hadn't gotten around to ordering it yet. It was such a lift for this to happen - Michele is one of the nicest bloggers around and I was just so excited and touched that she'd done something so nice for me. I have already pulled the threads and selected the linen for this project, and will be starting it this week. It's the perfect Easter design. If you want your own copy, why not pop on over to iStitch Charts - you won't regret it! Michele, thank you ever so much!

I finished my March Owl for the Oakhaven Designs SAL. I'm enjoying stitching these little guys!

Here's my progress on The North Wind. All that's left is the white - lots of white. The chart called for Crescent Colours Toasted Marshmallow, but it has subtle browns in it and I thought it would make the snow look kind of dirty. So I'm using CC's Belle Soie in Icing. It's not showing up as well as I'd like - I think my linen should be a bit darker. But it's not, so I guess we're going for a subtle look.I don't recall where I heard about this, but there is a new kind of cotton stranded thread being produced, called Rosace. They are offering three free skeins through their website - you can pick the colors you'd like. The floss is quite nice. To get your free samples, go to http://www.threadrosace.com/ and click on the bar at the very top of the page. I think their free offer ends in a few days, so do this quick if you're interested.

This is my 100th post! Never when I started this blog did I imagine I'd have had enough to say or show to reach this point. Being a part of this stitching community has enriched my life more than I can ever articulate. There is a quotation attributed to the poet W.B. Yeats that I think is very apt - it says, "There are no strangers, just friends who haven't met yet." I think that describes the relationships between stitching bloggers so well.

To celebrate my 100th post, and to give a little back for all that has been given to me (literally and metaphorically), I'm doing a giveaway. I'm still gathering things for it, but one item that's definitely up for grabs is a copy of A Cross Stitch Christmas: Celebrations in Stitches. It's the edition that has the chart for Brightneedle's Lo How a Rose, and I know there are many of us who want to stitch it. So this will be one of my gifts to the winner.

To enter the giveaway, you don't have to be a follower, though I would be thrilled if you wanted to be one. Just leave a comment on this post, with your email address if it isn't in your profile or you don't have a blog. I'll pick a winner and post the name on Tuesday April 12th. Meanwhile I'll be thinking of what else I can throw in. Good luck!

More Owls Have Flown In

I've added the February owls to my SAL fabric - as you can see they are sleeping (partially because I am a dud in the french knot department, so I couldn't keep their eyes open). I 've decided that these are owls in the daytime. I'm enjoying this SAL and am looking forward to March!

Here is my progress on The North Wind. I made one change to the pattern - I added a question mark after the word "then" because the last line of the verse is really a question, not a statement. I guess all my grammar lessons stuck with me because I just couldn't leave it be. The dot is a bad version of a french knot, and it's a little off center, so I really should keep fiddling with it, but for now, it's on to the robin. As I suspected, I ran out of Pea Pod so the border will have to wait until I get some more.

It has come to my attention that this is my 99th post! I can't believe I've made it to this point - never when I started this blog did I think I'd ever have that much to say or show. It's been such fun and I've "met" so many nice people. When I hit 100 posts of course I must celebrate by having a giveaway. So I better get stitching!

February So Far...

Now that I'm recovering from the shock of winning Carol's giveaway, I thought I would post what I'm working on this month. I am doing my very first SAL with the Yahoo group for Oakhaven Designs. I am a sucker for owls, and there will be an owl design for every month. Here is January's owl:

Ever since I learned how to stitch on linen it's what I've always chosen to use, but for some reason this SAL seemed to call out for Aida. So I'm stitching on Jobelan Aida in a hand-dyed shade called Babbling Brook. I love this little owl and am looking forward to the next installment for February.

I did start LHN's The North Wind, which has taken me away from Jenny Bean for awhile. It's such a pretty design. A warning to anyone who wants to stitch it, though - it is very likely you will need two skeins of Crescent Colours Pea Pod, which isn't specified in the instructions. But I'm nearly done with the lettering and this color is called for all around the border, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to run out. So learn from my experience and buy two skeins!

I subscribe to Just CrossStitch, and though I don't often find something I want to stitch from it, I enjoy looking at all the designs. And this month's issue does have something I'd love to take on one day - Winter at Beacon House by Praiseworthy Stitches. It's well worth the cost of the magazine. Speaking of JCS, my November/December issue never arrived. I wrote to customer service requesting that they send me a copy, and instead they sent the 2010 Ornament issue, which I already have. If there is anyone out there who needs one, let me know (my email is in my profile) and I'll be happy to send it to a new home. If more than one person wants it I'll have DS pick a name out of a hat.