New Stitching Stash!

Here are my latest stash acquirements from the latter part of 2014. First, another Mill Hill beaded kit called Nuthatch! I still have not stitched the Chickadee kit but when I do, this will go nicely with it. Oh, and I recently noticed there is a new one just out featuring a Robin with her nest that will be added to my stash in the near future! :)

I fell in love with this pattern by Scattered Seed Samplers, a new designer,  and I  had to own it! It's called Mary Mustardseed and it is so me!! The quote says "Scattered seeds I sow for thee, Oh gather birds and sing for me". I will stitch this in 2015, guaranteed!

Another MUST to stitch in 2015 is this Colorado sampler by Fireside Originals. It was kindly gifted to me by a stitcher from The Cross Stitch Forum. She also lives in Colorado and has this same pattern. Our plan is to each stitch it by the end of the year.

 Front

Another gift from yet a different stitcher from the same forum is this pattern booklet called Majestic Birds of Prey. It only cost me the price of shipping and has some great patterns I hope to stitch one day!

Back

Finally, While browsing Virpi's blog and all her gorgeous projects, I came across this kit and ordered it the very same day! I think it is soooooo adorable!

Happy Stitching!

3 New Starts for 2015!

First off....Christmas haul! I received this kit from my 12yo son for Christmas and jumped right into starting it on Jan 2, 2015!

 I received this kit from my 10yo son for Christmas and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't start it, too. So I put the first stitches in on Jan 9, 2015!

As if that wasn't enough, I signed up for a free Flower-of-the-Month SAL (stitch-a-long) hosted by
Brownie's Chair
I started this one on Jan 13, 2015. I'm stitching on 28ct Antique White Lugana from Zweigart I had in my stash.

Oh boy! I see a trend happening here and things aren't looking good for my already large pile of WIPs. I need an intervention.....but not until I start just one more ( My Colorado Sampler) in Feb *hangs head in shame*

Holiday Cheer Cross-Stitch

  I was all set to dig out Santa's Feathered Friend form last year and finish it up this Christmas. That was the plan UNTIL I saw this Design by Ursula Michael while flipping through old issues of Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine (Jan 2012 issue). I loved how bright and cheerful it looked and I thought it would be a great pattern to stitch on some sparkly fabric.

So.... I started stitching it on Dec 7, 2014 on 28ct Opal Lugana by Zwiegart.

I have to say that I think Ursula Michael makes the most adorable snowmen!!! I think I'm hooked!

As I was stitching I thought this would be a good project to add more bling to, in addition to the Opal fabric. Holiday projects should have lots of bling, don't ya think? I'm talking gold thread and Mill Hill beads!

I have left over beads in my stash from the various Mill Hill kits I've done, but I needed some great sparkly gold thread. I ordered some gold Petite Treasure Braid by Rainbow Gallery. I've heard lots of good things about it and some say it stitches easier than Kreinik.

While waiting for the gold thread, I continued to stitch away through the holiday season loving every minute of this bright and cheery pattern!

  Ok, metallic thread arrived early Jan and I couldn't wait to try it out. I experimented using two strands and found it a bit too thick. Then I tried a blend of one strand floss/one strand metallic and the sparkle was too subtle. I ended up with one strand metallic and I really like it!

 I've added a bit of the gold metallic to the bells as well. You can see where I've left open stitches for beads to add at the end!

 Finally, here is my progress as of Jan 13, 2015. My plan is to continue working on this until it's finished......hopefully by the end of Jan!

Glory of Autumn Cross Stitch

 Ah! The beauty of my favorite season (now only a distant memory)! What better way to celebrate Autumn than with a new project! I guess I can't really call it new because I've had it in my stash for a few years but since I never opened it, it's new, right???  It's called Glory of Autumn by Dimensions. I started stitching it on Sept 6, 2014.

It came with 14ct Ivory Aida but I swapped it for 18ct oatmeal Fiddler's Aida. I LOVE working with this and have quite a bit of it in my stash.

This kit has the most beautiful colors in it!! It looks so much better in real life than any pictures can show.

It does have some stitches that call for 6 strands of floss but I'm keeping them at 4. Six is a little too bulky for 18ct in my opinion.

Finally, here was my progress as of Dec 6, 2014. It was hard to put this one away but a Christmas design was calling my name..... that's up next!

Orchids & Hummingbird Cross Stitch

 On August 10, 2014,  I started working on this kit that was in my stash. Orchids & Hummingbird by Dimensions. It was a surprise gift from my husband in 2013 and I was inspired to get it going in anticipation of the Hummingbird's arrival to my garden for the second year in a row! They come down from the nearby mountains in mid to late August and stay for only about a month.....not long enough! Here's a photo I took the first time one showed up...

My progress....

This was my progress as of Sept 9, 2014. With the arrival of Fall, my favorite time of year, I decided to put this one away and get out a more 'seasonal appropriate' kit to work on. Up next.....Glory of Autumn!

2014 finishes!

As promised, here are my finishes in the last half of 2014! The first one is this adorable little cardinal called Lady In Red by Valerie Pfeiffer. I completed it on August 16, 2014!

Also started and finished in August was this stamped project called Enough Coffee by Dimensions.

It was a quick project with some embroidery stitches mixed in. Stem stitch (I think it was) and satin stitch. I'm not great at doing either of those so this was good practice!

I even framed it without glass and a little quilt batting to give it some puff!

In September, I completed Harvest Basket! I stitched most of it the year before and only had the sunflowers to do to finish it up! It called for quite a bit of backstitching, however I chose to only do some around basket handle and stems! You can see more of this project from this post in 2013.

Then on to some Halloween finishes. Completed in Oct 2014 was Halloween Hoot Owl by Ursula Michael. Found in Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue 2014. I altered the original pattern by leaving out the bow-tie.

Also completed in Oct was Happy Halloween Crow by Jan Fate. Also found in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue 2014.

Another Halloween project that I actually stitched on august was Pumpkin Stew by Shepherd's Bush Design (Teri L. Richards).

A closer look at the buttons....

If you look close you can see I used 14ct Aida with gold sparkle.

Last but certainly not least is a finish by my 10yo son! He has a bit of an obsession with mustaches and when he saw this kit, he had to have it. I'm proud of him for completing it in just a few days!

Next up.....some new stash,  Wips from late 2014 and some new starts in Jan 2015!

FlossTube!

Happy New Year! Yes, It's January (again!) and that means it's time to get serious about updating my blog. There is a reason I let the dust collect here a bit since August. No,  I haven't stopped stitching..... I've been doing plenty of that as you will see in the coming days as I bring this little blogspot of mine into the year 2015!
The reason I've neglected the updates here is because I joined the ever growing community of FlossTubers! What are FlossTubers you might ask? Well, in case you haven't had the pleasure of watching cross-stitchers vlog about their finishes, WIPs, stash, tips, tricks, tags and more on YouTube, then you don't know what you're missing! It started with a handful of stitchers making videos, then the word got out and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon now, including me!
Here's a link to
My Videos
in which you will hear me babble on about all things stitching and a little bit of my life sprinkled in.
 
Just in case you happen to find it interesting and want more, here is a (constantly updated) playlist of all the FlossTube videos starting with the most current and working back. Be forewarned, they can be addicting to watch and highly enabling (in other words, your stash may grow by leaps and bounds if you start watching!) Enjoy!

FlossTube Playlist

See you soon with some 2014 finishes and some current WIPs!