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.