New Cross-Stitch Kits!

I've been shopping and here's my haul!!

 First, my most exciting finds! I just returned from a road trip to South Dakota and Wyoming at the end of July. We Visited 3 National Monuments and I was so excited to see that at each of the gift shops, I found a coordinating cross stitch kit by The Posy Collection! Can't wait to collect more on future trips!

 

 Before going on vacation, I came across these adorable kits by Bent Creek! Quaker Moon and Halloween Branch! Too Cute!

 I think it was in June when I was doing a lot of gardening, I came across these two floral-related kits on Amazon and well, now I own them. Mason Jar Lineup and Roses on White Chair, both by Dimensions. Not sure when I'll stitch them but I do love them!

 This final one was purchased on e-bay. Sunflower Snowman by Dimensions. I saw it stitched up online somewhere and remembered I wanted it a while back. I found it has been discontinued so I grabbed one off e-bay while there are still some (not many) available! I liked it because......it has birds of course :)
See you soon with some updates on a few small projects and a new start! Hint: It's not any of these shown but an older one from my stash.

Butterfly Forest Finished!

 I finished this on July 24th, 2014!!! It is even more beautiful in real life! Here are some more close-ups.....

 If you look at the photo above, you can see there is a single gold thread couched on as a delicate frame!

 

And here are some progress photos I took and never posted....

Thanks for looking!! For previous work on this projects, click here:

Butterfly Forest 

Free as a Bird Finish!

A cute little bird I just had to stitch....

Called Free As A Bird from Cross Stitcher magazine!

Robin's Nest Finished!

 I started this project last spring and finished all the stitching last July(2013) at which point I put it away to do the backstitching at a later time. Well, I decided it was high time to get it done. I finished it up on May 18th. So glad I did because I think it's one of my favorites! If you want to see the progress pictures I blogged about it here   Robin's Nest in progress

A Few Small Finishes!

I have a few small finishes I've been working on since my last post. I just can't seem to get enough of Little House Needleworks so I purchased a couple more patterns. These are called Thread Packs and basically what they are is the designer (Little House Needleworks) getting together with the the specialty thread company (Crescent Colors), and making a combo pack. All I had to do was supply the fabric. Those fabrics you see in the back are just a variety of linens I bought to do some of the ornaments from my JCS dvd.

The first one I did is called Cherries and I think it turned out cute. You can see the effect of the over-dyed thread if you look closely. I used a fabric from my stash that I have a very large piece of(30"x36"). 28ct antique white evenweave by MCG Textiles

This next one is called Pumpkins and I really love this one because I love to stitch anything Autumn related, especially pumpkins!

The nice thing about these thread packs is you get a full skein (5 yards) of each color and very little is needed for the pattern, so you have lots of leftovers for your stash!!

This next finish is going to be turned into an ornament for our tree. I just saw it and had to stitch it! He reminds me of the dog in how The Grinch Stole Christmas! So cute! The pattern is from the JCS 2010 Ornament issueand the designer is Serendipity Designs

The North Wind- Finished!

I finished putting in the final tail feather stitches in this morning!!! A fun, quick stitch!

And a close-up of the Robin!

Next up, I have a few mini projects I want to work on. I found lots of fun ornaments in the JCS DVD I previously wrote about, AND I have another order coming from 123Stitch! I ordered a few small cuts of different linens to try and 2 small kits fell into my cart as I was checking out... *ooops*

The North Wind- Progress Update

This design is stitching up so quickly that my blog updates couldn't keep up with my stitching. So, you get to enjoy all the updates in one post! I started with the lower left of the design and worked along to the right.

Is wasn't until I got to the barn that I really was able to see the effects of the hand-dyed floss. I really like the look it gives!

 

A close-up of the little Robin looking for frozen worms...and not finding many I would guess!

 

Next I moved on to the snow flakes and clouds. A bit tedious doing the individual snow diamonds with all the starts and stops...but it looks great when done. I ALMOST used beads but decided against it in the end.

 

Finished up the rest of the wording...

 

and the final snowflakes.

All that's left is the Robin on the branch and my next post will be the finished project!

The North Wind- Cross Stitch

As promised, here is my latest project, started on 4/9/2014! It's called The North Wind by Little House Needleworks. The quote on it reads "The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow
                                                                            and what will the Robin do then"
Here is my wee start:

This project is especially exciting for me because it's the first time I've stitched with hand over-dyed thread from Classic Colorworks (formerly Crescent Colors). I usually swap out the specialty threads with DMC but I decided to splurge this time since it's a birthday present from my husband (basically I ordered it and then told him it's what he gave me for my birthday!) It's hard to tell from the picture but there is slight variation of color in the floss giving it a variegated effect. I fear I've gone down a road of no return with this floss, which will not be good for my pocketbook! Love it! I also ordered the recommended linen called 32ct Vintage Tundra by Lakeside Linen which is lovely to stitch on!

The second part of the birthday gift from my family is this DVD from Just CrossStitch magazine. It's basically 10 years of magazines PLUS (and this was a big selling point for me) 10 Ornament issues! If you're not familiar with the Just CrossStitch ornament issues they are filled with something like 75 little cross stitch ornaments in each issue. I'm sure you will see a few of them on my blog! My husband put all the issues onto our Kindle Fire so I can view all the mags, in pdf form, easily while on the go. I've only made it through a few issues so far but I already see how the stitching trend has changed from 10 years ago.

Final 3 Little Sheep Virtues- Kindness, Gratitude and Joyfulness!

Kindness- the 10th virtue.....

Gratitude- the 11th virtue....

Joyfulness- the 12th and final virtue! 

I worked on the final three at the same time because I ran out of the floss for the lettering and had to wait for it to be delivered. While waiting, I went ahead and finished all the rest of the stitching for the final 3, then all I had left to do was stitch the 3 words. I thoroughly enjoyed every stitch of these and am sad to see them come to an end. The positive side is there are so many wonderful patterns by this company that I want to stitch..not to mention my other WIPs waiting in the wings!

And finally, the full project hot off the hoop! Finished 4/9/14. Sorry about the wrinkles but I just wanted to get a photo before I do any of the finishing work. Not sure how exactly I'm going to finish it but I'm pretty sure I'm NOT going to frame it. I'm leaning toward making it into a wall hanging with a very thin cotton batting and some coordinating fabric border and a nice decorative hanger (and don't forget all the buttons that still need to be added!). We'll see when and if I get around to that part of it as I've already started a new project. Stay tuned!

Little Sheep Virtues Cross Stitch - Friendship

The beginning of April brings another finish! I love the purple heart sunflowers in this one!

3 more to go and the next one has pumpkins on it....so cute!

Little Sheep Virtues Cross Stitch - Wisdom

 The 8th Virtue is complete!

I finished it up March 29th. Before I finished it, I completed all the remaining border stitching on the final 4 Virtues. I should be posting the next finish in a day or two since I'm almost done with it! They really stitch up quick now that the borders are done.

Little Sheep Virtues Cross Stitch - Patience

Completed the 7th one!

It was nice to use some blue in this one to shake things up a bit!
Each one of these designs comes with a button embellishment and it dawned on me that I should've been photographing them with the button (temporarily) on them so you can see how it will look.  I don't want to permanently attach the buttons until the whole project is complete so it won't interfere with the hoop. Maybe when I'm done, I'll take a close-up photo of each design WITH the button/s attached!

Little Sheep Virtues Cross Stitch - Simplicity

Finished the 6th virtue March 15th!

My favorite part of this one is the cute little birdhouse!

There will be another post very soon as I'm almost done with the next one!