Two Finishes For WIP Wednesday!

Two happy dances to share with you all today. I could not decide on what to put up above the main body of the design I was stitching, nor could I find an appropriate font, this baby is finished as of now. I may go back at a later time and stitch a saying that is appropriate for the design, but as I have been waffling on whether to do it or not, I am keeping this as is. I truly enjoyed stitching this guy and I plan on stitching it several more times as the design is perfect for fall. 

Here is finish number one:

Design: Autumn's Bounty

Designer: Marva Owen for Black Star Designs 

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours cotton floss in Toasted Marshmallow. The Gentle Art Sampler Threads in Black Crow, Buttercrunch, Dried Thyme, Maple Syrup, Nutmeg, and Sarsaparilla. 

Fabric Used: 32 count Belfast linen in Legacy  by Picture This Plus, from their Crystal line.

Accouterments: Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Friday, August 3, 2018. Finished Monday, August 20, 2018. Changed pumpkin from orange to white. Substituted Algerian eyelet stitches for  Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red  seed beads. Please note that this chart is OOP and very hard to find. Please also note that this chart is not for sale/trade. 

As of Wednesday, August 15, 2018:

Finished Monday, August 20, 2018:

Finish number two comes in the form of a Mill Hill kit that I purchased on a buy/sell group on Facebook. It was a bargain at $2.50, IMO. This was my first time using the included perforated paper. I am not sure that I like stitching on paper. The floss got caught in the corners an awful lot, which became annoying after a while. 

Here is finish number two:

Design: Caramel Apple (MH18-9203)

Designer: Mill Hill

Fibers Used:  DMC Embroidery Floss Art. 117 as called for in the chart

Fabric Used: 14 count Antique Brown perforated paper by Mill Hill

Accouterments: Mill Hill beads as called for in the kit. 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Tuesday, August 21, 2018. Finished Wednesday, August 22, 2018. Left off beadwork at the top of the design. 

Time for me to be off. I need to clean up my area and check on dinner. Hope everyone is having a great week. Happy stitching!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

WIP Wednesday Update For Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Hidey ho, sports fans! Hope everyone is getting plenty of stitching time in. I have managed to get a bit further than last week, but not as far as I would have liked. It's always the way, isn't it?  :)


At any rate, here is what I have so far: 

Design: Autumn's Bounty

Designer: Marva Owen for Black Star Designs 

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours cotton floss in Toasted Marshmallow. The Gentle Art Sampler Threads in Black Crow, Buttercrunch, Dried Thyme, Maple Syrup, Nutmeg, and Sarsaparilla. 

Fabric Used: 32 count Belfast linen in Legacy  by Picture This Plus, from their Crystal line.

Accouterments: Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Friday, August 3, 2018. Changed pumpkin from orange to white. Substituted Algerian eyelet stitches for  Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red  seed beads. Please note that this chart is OOP and very hard to find. Please also note that this chart is not for sale/trade. 

As of Wednesday, August 8, 2018:

As of Wednesday, August 15, 2018:

Well, it is time for me to be off. I hope everyone is having a great week. Happy Stitching!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

WIP Wednesday And A Change Of Seasons

At least stitching wise. I really wasn't 'into' stitching a whole lot this past few weeks. The air quality here has been absolutely horrible due to the wildfires and it has made it quite difficult to breathe, let alone get anything done. I am sending prayers and good vibes to the people and first responders who are having to deal with this disaster. As bad as my burden is, theirs is far greater.

This actually led me to the decision to stop stitching my latest project , and instead start stitching on fall related things. I have really had the itch here lately to stitch on fall and Halloween related stitchery. I have had this one in my stash for quite some time now and I decided to start it immediately. 

Here is what I have so far:

Design: Autumn's Bounty

Designer: Marva Owen for Black Star Designs 

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours cotton floss in Toasted Marshmallow. The Gentle Art Sampler Threads in Black Crow, Buttercrunch, Dried Thyme, Maple Syrup, Nutmeg, and Sarsaparilla. 

Fabric Used: 32 count Belfast linen in Legacy  by Picture This Plus, from their Crystal line.

Accouterments: Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Friday, August 3, 2018. Changed pumpkin from orange to white. Substituted Algerian eyelet stitches for  Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red  seed beads. Please note that this chart is OOP and very hard to find. Please also note that this chart is not for sale/trade. 

Well, it is time for me to be off. I hope everyone is having a great week. Happy Stitching!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

All Hallows' Eve Finish On 9/11

My latest finish came about today as I have managed to misjudge how much fabric was available to me. As consequence, only the middle portion of this project was stitched. I did not feel like stitching the alphabet, as it was over one. I'd like to say that it is because I did not feel like stitching over one, however, it's really just sheer laziness on my part. 

Well, at any rate, here is my only finish thus far in the month of September 2017:

Design: All Hallows' Eve

Designer: Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie and Me

Fabric: 36 count Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Attic Tea, Eiffel Tower, Herb Garden, Lasagne, Old Crow, Teddy Bear, Tortoise Shell, Vanilla Pudding,  Weathered Vine, and Wheatgrass. 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Tuesday, August 22, 2017. Finished Monday, September 11, 2017. All materials pulled from stash. Substituted the called for 36 count Vintage Meadow Rue for the 36 count Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens. Stitched with the called fro Belle Soie silks from Crescent Colours. 

As of Thursday, August 24, 2017:

As of Monday, September 11, 2017:

I must go for now. I need to clean up my stitching area and figure out what to stitch next. I hope everyone is having a great week so far. 

8:46 am.

9:03 am.

9:37 am.

10:07 am.

Never, ever forget.

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

A New Fall Start With Chessie And Me

I culled this project from Leaflet Silo late last night as I gave up on trying to stitch on Ana again. This makes the third time that I have attempted to stitch on this project. No wonder that she has wound up in the Bin O'Shame! 

I have ripped out a good portion of the stitching on her that I have done so far. And I am not even going to discuss the use of symbols that are almost alike. Ana has symbols that are solid squares and diamonds next to one another. This would not be an issue, however, the chart is printed on that stupid and unnecessary ivory paper and the printing is somewhat small. It is also printed as one large chart, which is awkward as hell trying to stitch from as it takes up a great deal of room. Having to be well rested, heavily caffeinated, and having to constantly check the chart versus the stitching is somewhat annoying. I should not have to carbo load to stitch a chart, ya know? I stitch to relax and she has been anything but relaxing. 

I decided to drop twenty and punt after about 6 hours of stitching on Ana. I am trying to stitch from stash and this latest start already had the floss purchased for it. I pulled the fabric from another project and got out the Q-Snaps. I have wanted to stitch this one for quite some time now. I have held off on stitching fall related projects, as last year, I began in mid July and was burned out by October. Fall for this establishment does not end until the day after Thanksgiving. That's quite a lot of time to not be stitching on my favorite themes of fall and Halloween!

Well, at any rate, here is my humble start on the first project of the fall/halloween season:

Design: All Hallows' Eve

Designer: Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie and Me

Fabric: 36 count Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Attic Tea, Eiffel Tower, Herb Garden, Lasagne, Old Crow, Teddy Bear, Tortoise Shell, Vanilla Pudding,  Weathered Vine, and Wheatgrass. 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Tuesday, August 22, 2017. All materials pulled from stash. Substituted the called for 36 count Vintage Meadow Rue for the 36 count Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linens. Stitched with the called fro Belle Soie silks from Crescent Colours. 

Well, I must be off. No rest for the wicked and all. I hope everyone is having a great week.

Happy Stitching!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

The Air Is Wild With Leaves

This past weekend was devoted to the new start of a design that DH picked out. It is a fall related piece and one I have wanted to stitch for a very long time now. This piece also has the distinction of being purchased twice. Apparently, I really and truly wanted to stitch it, haha! :)

This piece will also be my focus piece for the month of November. I am hoping to have it finished by the 25th of this month, as I then start my last project of the year, a retired design by Jackye Derhay Renahy of A Mon Ami Pierre. These two are fairly large pieces that will take quite a bit of time. 

This one also has the unique distinction of my stitching the central leaf in colors that were completely different than what was charted! Luckily, the colors that I chose will blend nicely with the rest of leaves that I need to stitch. I am really enjoying this project so far. I do love Prairie Schoolers' designs and luckily have quite a number of them to stitch.  

On with the show! :)

Design: Autumn (Book Number 66, Autumn Samplers)

Designer: Prairie Schooler 

Fabric Used: 22 count Ariosa linen by Zweigart in Café au Lait by Fleur De Luce hand dyeds

Fibers Used:  Rainbow Gallery Splendor 12 ply silk floss in S899, S1009, S986,

 S903, S1056, S1049, S1011, S1040, S887, S849, S1020, and S1128.

Stitchers' Notes: Design taken from Book Number 66, Autumn Samplers. Substituted the called for DMC Embroidery Floss Art. 117 for the Rainbow Gallery Splendor 12 ply silk floss. Began Thursday, November, 3, 2016. 

As of Monday, November 7, 2016:

Time for me to bolt for the door. I hope everyone had a great weekend and I wish you all a happy week! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Chicken Noodle Soup For The Stitchers' Soul

Am I the only one that turns to 'comfort stitching' when stressed out? There are certain designer that I find are the stitching equivalent to mac and cheese and meatloaf. Something homey and comforting, like a big bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup that your grandmother or your mom would make when you were feeling low. 

I have several designers that fall into this category. Blackbird Designs is just such a designer. With the advent of fall just around the corner (less than 4 days now!), this piece was just the ticket. I enjoyed the colors and especially getting back to my Legacy  by Picture This Plus, which I dearly love. 

At any rate, I did manage to finish the stitching up on this piece late last night. As consequence, I had to wait until today in order to take pictures, as Mr. Sun was visiting Japan at the time I finished. :) 

The stitching went fairly quickly. I will finish this into a pincushion, whenever I manage to procure a sewing machine. :)

Design: Pumpkin Blossom pincushion (Taken the book Autumn, Loose Feather collection 2011)

Designer: Blackbird Designs

Fabric Used: 32 count Belfast linen in Legacy  by Picture This Plus

Fibers Used: Au Ver À Soie  Soie d'Alger in #4125 Marron (Brown) and #4236 Lion. Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Carrot Cake, Collard Greens, Old Crow, and Pumpkin Carriage.

Stitcher's Notes: Started on Friday, August 26, 2016. Finished on Saturday, August 27, 2016. Design featured on page 8 of the book Autumn, Loose Feather collection 2011 by Blackbird Designs. Left off border.

Time for me to bolt for the door. I need to decide what is next, the Pumpkin Blossom Sewing Box or part of the main design as a scissor fob or more likely, an ornament. 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and I wish you all a happy week ahead! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Damn The Torpedoes!

It's full steam ahead for fall and Halloween related stitching. By the calendar date, we have T-minus 10 days and counting until much anticipated first day of September rolls around. This is really my favorite time of year. With fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years' all within three months time. Bring on the cooler temps! Bring on the snow! Bring on the flannel! Pumpkin flavored all the things!

To usher in this season, I did yet another fabric and fiber test. This time, with a part of a design that I want to stitch in its' entirety. As this piece only contains two colors, I will need to pick out a lovely shade of pumpkin for the other color. I think I have two designs from Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle that I think would look lovely on this fabric. I need to purchase more, so that I can hand dye it such as this piece. 

Well, at any rate, here is my 'sample' piece that I just finished up. I think it needs to be a bookmark. I think it would be a riot to use it for The Good Huswife's Book of Spells:

Design: Hallow Game Board (partial)

Designer: Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle

Fabric Used: 22 count Ariosa linen by Zweigart in Weathered Barn by Fleur De Luce hand dyeds. 

Fibers Used: Rainbow Gallery Splendor 12 ply silk floss in Black (S801).

Stitchers' notes: Design retired and out of print due to Lisa Roswell's death in February 2011. Fabric and fiber test for other designs in my collection. Please note that neither the Hallow Game Board nor the Book of Spells is currently for sale or trade. 

Time for me to be off. I need to clean up my stitching area and get the materials ready for the next project. It's another bonus design from Blackbird Designs. I really do love those bonus designs! :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy upcoming week! :)

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Respectfully submitted.

C. 

To Boldly Go

where I have never gone before. This latest finish was a combination of designer, floss and fabric that I have never used in my 20+ years of stitching. It was a lovely little experiment and I really enjoyed playing around with things. 

The floss is by Rainbow Gallery and it is a 12 ply silk floss, called Splendor. It was my first time trying it. It seems a bit thinner than my ubiquitous Au Ver À Soie  Soie d'Alger or my Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk. It is as soft as both of these, however, and it is less than $4.00 per card at my LNS. As I have a number of fall related projects that I wish to stitch up, I am looking at cost this time around. 

The also new to me fabric that I used is a 22 count linen called Ariosa. It is by Zweigart and it is a very nice fabric. It a 60% Viscose, 40% Cotton linen in a 22 count. I purchased this particular piece in a white and dyed it myself. I love the way it turned out. It is perfect for the piece that I had chosen to stitch. 

The designer was also new to me. While the chart was a freebie, I had never stitched any of the designs by Teresa Murgida of Primitive Acorns. I have had this particular freebie for quite some time, but never got around to stitching it. It stitched up in less than a day, and probably would have taken less than two hours, had I 'applied' myself. But it was Saturday, so I was not in the mood to 'apply' myself to anything but faffing about. :)


At any rate, here are my efforts from yesterday. 

Design: The King of Autumn (freebie)

Designer: Teresa Murgida of Primitive Acorns

Fabric Used: 22 count Ariosa linen by Zweigart in Weathered Barn by Fleur De Luce hand dyeds. 

Fibers Used: Rainbow Gallery Splendor 12 ply silk floss in Black (S801). Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk Collard Greens, Harvest, Mango, Pumpkin Carriage, Tree Trunk and Tulip. 2 mm silk ribbon in Witchcraft by Vicki Clayton of Hand Dyed Fibers. Kreinik #002C Gold cord. 

Stitchers' notes: Began and finished the stitching on Saturday, August 14, 2016. Fabric, Splendor fibers and designer were firsts. Fabric hand dyed by me. 

Well, I must be off. I need to do some things to get ready for the week. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Tiny Fall Finish

I really lollygagged on this one. It should have taken all of a day at most, however, here I am, over a week later and it's finally finished. This week was a wee bit busy, and to be honest, I wasn't feeling all that up to scratch. I am hoping that this changes, as I have many projects that I wish to work on. This also includes the loaner chart from the Blackbird Designs Lending Library. It arrived in the mail and I really do need to get to it. 

I love the way this one turned out. It's a seasonal freebie and I can see stitching this as a Halloween tree as well. Once I finish with the loaner chart from the Blackbird Designs Lending Library, I may do just that!

At any rate, here is my humble offering:

Design: L'Arbre d'Automne

Designer: Jardin Privé 

Fabric Used: 36 count linen by Hand Dyed Fibers in Earth Stars-5213

Fibers Used: Au Ver À Soie  Soie d'Alger in 4126. Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Carrot Cake, Cinnamon Stick, Cranberry, and Old Crow.

Stitchers Notes: Freebie may be found here. Substituted called for DMC floss for silks of my own choosing. Will be stitching this again as a Halloween tree. 

Well, I had best be off. Tons to do today and I need to get myself in gear here. :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

When WIP Wednesday...

turns into Finish Wednesday. I managed to finish this up just a few minutes ago. Once I was past stitching the house, this piece picked up speed and it went quite quickly. I think I need one more Halloween piece for the year, then I am finished stitching with Halloween stitching for the year. 

Well, at any rate, here is the latest finish:

Design: Acorn Hill (Chart #46)

Designer: Diane Williams of Little House Needleworks

Fabric Used: 28 count Cashel linen by Lakeside Linens in Vintage Lentil

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours  cotton flosses in Bramble Bush, Brown Sugar, Copper Penny, Cupid, Hickory Sticks, Toasted Marshmallow, and Weeping Willow 

Beads Used: Mill Hill beads in #03049 Rich Red and #60479 Frosted White

Stitcher's Notes: Began Tuesday, September 29, 2015. Changed colors on two of the pumpkins.  Did not stitch saying in original design.

As of Monday, October 5, 2015:

Finished as of Wednesday, October 6, 2015:

Well, I had best be off. I need to clean up my stitching area and find something else to do. Happy Wednesday, everyone! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C.