Coffee and Cross Stitch

Snowy Night | Cross Stitch

I used to stitch a lot of Mill Hill buttoned and beaded kits, mainly for gifts at Christmas.  I loved how the beads buttons would add so much life to the stitching, giving it an extra layer of beauty.

While I got away from them for a few years, I've recently picked up a few of their newer kits.  I stopped using the perforated paper, and instead use 32 ct fabric that I have on hand.  Luckily, for this wintery scene, I had a leftover piece of (what I think is) Dusk from PtP.  It was almost an exact match for the perforated paper that came with the kit!

I know we're all desperate for spring, warmer weather, and sunshine, so this winter scene probably makes most of you want to run for the hills.  I started this while it was still frigid out, and messed up BAD with the colors.  Since this is a kit, they give you all the thread, but they're not numbered.  I told myself I should go into my DMC stash and match the threads so I knew the difference between "very, very dark", "very dark", and "dark" blue.  But.....I didn't, and had almost half of this stitched before I realized my mistake.  I had to rip it all out and start over, this time, making the effort to match up the colors with my stash.

And that's my story about how I finished a winter piece in spring.

The beads always take longer than I anticipate.  I think because you have to stop at each half stitch and attach a bead, rather than just keep right on moving down the line with stitching.

Well worth the effort, though.

All of these are tiny beads, attached with a cross stitch so they lay upright on the fabric as opposed to on an angle.

Looking at this, I can almost hear the church bells in the background as the snow falls over the town, the moonlight glistening on the snow.  A quiet night with hot cocoa or tea warm in your mug as you settle in with stitching or a good book :)

I have a frame for this piece, so hopefully I can set aside some time to frame this prior to next winter.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Happy stitching!

(Almost) Instant Gratification | Cross Stitch

I don't know about you guys, but when I'm stitching larger-than-life projects like Quaker Christmas II, I need to have smaller projects around me that I work on when I need a break.  

I always seem to stitch those smaller projects with lightning speed, and they're done in no time.

This past weekend, I took out one of my beaded kits to work on, and was done in no time.

Might've also been the gallons of coffee I was drinking whilst stitching a project about coffee that made it go a little faster.

God, I love coffee.

 

Dedecorating Day | Cross stitch

Is that even a word?  To dedecorate?  Saying "taking down the decorations" just seems excessive.  I like dedecorate, and the auto spell check didn't catch it which clearly means it's an actual word, so I'm using it from here on out.  So there.

The Feast of the Epiphany is always a sad day.  Not really...I mean, the Wise Men made it to the manger and all...it's about the fact that my Christmas decorations come down after the Ephiphany.   {Although, I have been known to keep them up through January...out of pure laziness....}  So, so sad.

Now, even though it was very sad to take this lovely piece down -

...this piece goes up in her place --

This, my friends, is Sabrina.  Of all of the things I've actually made for myself (which is almost nothing compared to what I've given away), this is my favorite piece.  I.love.her.  As soon as I saw this in the shop, I knew I had to have her, and begin stitching immediately.  Mirabilia designs are one of my absolute favorite, and by looking at this piece, I'm sure you can see why.  They're heavily labor intensive, but the work is totally worth it.

I mean, honestly.  That dress.  I want it.  The way the flowers  just drop so slightly from her grasp.  Stunning.

{sigh} Look at the detail on this dress.  For serious.  All those flowers & vines are beads.  The insides of those flowers are filled in with Kreinik thread (yet another one of my stitching mortal enemies, but sometimes, ya just gotta muscle through it; otherwise, the finished piece doesn't have the right effect), and each have a Mill Hill treasure in the center.

(above) A closer look at those beads.....

Like I said, where it's always sad to take down "A Royal Holiday", putting "Sabrina" up in her place, where she'll remain all year (until I get crazy brave enough to start one of the seasonal queens....maybe after i finally finish my sis's wedding gift....moving on....) is a total bonus.  Love her.

Much of the roses, and the leaves are stitched with Caron Waterlilies, which I highly recommend using, rather than doing a DMC conversion.  The silk for the leaves is actually a purple to green dyed silk, which is next to impossible to replicate with DMC, unless you want to switch your colors all the time.  I'll pass, thankyouverymuch.  So, although they're pricier, if you've committed to doing a piece of this magnitude, you should use the silks for the flowers & leaves.  That's how I look at it, anyway.

The fabric I chose for this is 32 count French Lace.  It's a very, very light green, which complemented the greens and blues of her dress perfectly.

I think the biggest reason why I love this piece is because she reminds me of Grace Kelly.  I LOVE Grace Kelly.  Since I can't be her or ever meet her, this is the closest thing to imagining what she'd look like in person, with a long, elegant dress on.  She actually wears a very similar dress in "To Catch a Thief", which makes me wonder if that was Nora's inspiration for this piece...

Until next time, my lovely friends...stitch and be merry :-)

A Royal Christmas | Cross Stitch

So...Christmas is very rapidly approaching, and I finally, finally, decided I should maybe hang some of these cross stitch designs I've had framed, so it looks like I actually live in this house.

Bare walls kinda make it look like I'm gonna just up and leave any day.  Or maybe it's the curtain-less windows that give that effect.  And how long have I lived in this house?!

Ahem.  Moving on.

I got out my storage box that has all my various framed cross stitch pieces in it, which are very carefully wrapped so nothing happens to them during their year in seclusion.  A couple of the pieces I forgot I had.

Including her --

 

This is a Mirabilia design, called "Royal Holiday".  I love this piece, and cannot believe I had her hidden for almost all of the Christmas season.  For those of you who know me, I tend to change some stuff in a lot of the graphs I do -- this one I kept just as suggested.  I know I picked a lighter fabric than what the model was stitched on, but for the life of me I can't remember what color I chose.  

She will hang in my living room until the Epiphany, when I begin to take down all my Christmas decorations and wait patiently till it's appropriate to start dreaming of spring and put up all my spring/Easter cross stitch pieces and other decorations.  :-)

A Look Back

Hello everyone!

I have been more insanely busy this past week than I imagined I could be.  I have so many things I want to post (most especially the wedding gift I'm feverishly stitching for my sister), but I just haven't had enough time to sit here and write a post.  And I feel terrible about it. 

I also will not be posting any pics of my sister's gift until it's in her hands.  It's no fair that you guys would get to see it before her.  I will admit - this project is taking up a huge amount of my stitching time, and I haven't had time to work on much else, which explains my sporatic postings.  Normally, as most of you know, I post WIPs of all my projects...but not this one.  I beg you all to bear with me until I can have it framed, given to her, and then I'll go into gory detail about every last stitch (and the color changes I made ;-))

I do hope to have something new posted soon, but in the meantime, I found this old blog post from my previous location, and thought you might enjoy seeing it again, or, if any of you haven't seen it before, for the first time.

This post shows one of my favorite baby gifts that I've made - I did a Mill Hill project that was a collaboration with Sticks, and is called "Sleep Tight".  I absolutely love almost all of the Sticks projects, and this one is definitely one of my absolute favs.  I might have to stitch it again in the future :-)

Head on over to my old post to see how I finished it!

Much stitchy love to all ~~~

Eat, Drink, and be Scary...

Alright, peeps.  I know I'm a day late (and a dollar short) in sharing this, but better late than never, right???

I simply couldn't let a Halloween go by without sharing this rockin' finish with you all.  I did this two years ago (even though I just swore to myself it was only last year....good thing I date and sign all my work....) and absolutely love love love this.

It's called "Eat, Drink, and Be Scary" from Waxing Moon Designs.  I stitched this on 28 count Smokey Grey (LOVE THIS FABRIC -- I also used it for "Hiss" of "Eek, Boo, Hiss!") and used all the overdyed threads called for in the pattern.  If you've been following me for a while, you know it's very unusual for me to do that -- I'm always changing either fibers or the fabric from the sample.  I'm telling you, though, you CANNOT go wrong with Smokey Grey.  Just not possible.  Trust.

I would like to point out the fly ("I don't know why she swallowed a fly....perhaps she'll die...?") hanging precariously off the tip of the hat.  Also of note, the candy corns slighly askew amongst "Eat".  Love them.  Well, not literally.  I hate actual candy corn, in fact.  It's quite nasty.  Much like wax with a hint of sugar.  But not so waxy that they're like wax lips (remember those nizasty things??  Good God.), but just waxy enough that you feel like you just accidentally ate the wax drippings from a birthday candle that was allowed to burn just a smidge too long along with your gigantic forkful of cake and icing.  Ew.  No, no.  I'm talking about how much I love these little buttons.  And how about that bat at the bottom?  Awesome.  All of these are from Just Another Button Company and can be found at your LNS or you can find them and order online!  

Up next, since Halloween is officially over, a pretty Autumn piece I finished 2 years ago (again, would have sworn on my purple robe that I did this last year). 

This is a pretty Mill Hill piece that I got from one of their books, which I think can only be found online these days.  All full of pretty beads and treasures, I love hanging this where all can see.  It's not very big, but it definitely has a lot going on!  I love working with stitching band, too -- especially this one, since it has the lovely fall leaves on the sides to give it that added umph.

And how about that hanger!!  Awesome, right???  This can also be found online at Mill Hill.

Love that lil' acorn ;-)

I love how stitching band is SO EASY to work with, and gives you a fabooooo alternative to framing.  We all know how expensive framing can be, so having even just a few alternatives to framing your work, especially with something as simple as this, can make your work look just as beautiful, and sometimes, gives it an entirely different look altogether.  Stay tuned for more of my love affair with stitching band ;-)

Until then...do something cReATIve today and bask in the fall leaves and crisp air with some mulled cider (or better yet, mulled wine!! woop!)!!