This 'n That

Hey Blog Buddies,
First off--welcome to all my new followers!  I'm glad you're here!  I've been kinda quiet this week because I was stitching away on a Valentine-themed project which is done now, except for the framing.  Unfortunately, I can't show it to you before VD--Valentine's Day, of course!  (heheh)  Yesterday, I went to my LNS and found the perfect frame for it, so I have no excuse not to finish it today, but I'll probably think of something.  Don't worry though, I have photos for you!

While I was at my LNS...  ...I'll bet you're thinking that I purchased at least half a dozen new charts.  No!  I was good, but I did have a list with me for DMC threads.  Usually, when it comes to DMC floss I'm kind of frugal and try to buy it at Joann's, but the store near me is poorly managed, skeins of floss all over the floor, in the wrong trays, etc.  And they're usually out of many of the colors I need, which is frustrating.  So I decided to bite the bullet, paying almost double, and get what I needed at the LNS.  They were having a buy-3-get-1-free sale (no, I didn't know about it ahead of time), and they had every color I needed!  So I got the rest of the threads for this beauty, which is on my 2013 To-Stitch List:

Many of you may recognize this as

99 by Ink Circles,

inspired by the bus song of our youth.

I already had the chart and the Ale linen

(yes, the color of the linen is "Ale")!

Now I have the rest of the DMC that I need.

I also selected and kitted up my

February Halloween ornament for the SAL.

This month's theme is black cats, so I chose...

Fraidy Cat by Jamie Kile of Knotted Tree NeedleArt,

from the JCS 2011 Halloween Collection book.

I really like the light orange 40-count linen (from my stash!)

that I chose for the ground.

This Halloween Ornament SAL is really keeping me on track!

Yesterday I started stitching another model for

the hardanger mini-class that I'll be teaching.

Each person in the class will be choosing their own materials,

so I wanted to give them more than one idea.

I finished the model this morning--

the stitching takes no time at all, really.

The new one is on the left.

Readers of this blog have already seen the one on the right.

I plan to stitch a third one before next meeting.

Last but not least, since many of you shared with me

when you started stitching and what technique(s) are your favorite(s),

I thought I'd do the same because you're dying to know, right?

Well, I started out with stamped embroidery designs

when I was pretty young (12ish?).

A few years later my mom stitched a lovely stamped-cross-stitch tablecloth

on white linen with 2-tone pink roses and green leaves.

I liked it so much, I decided to stitch one, using my own colors.

I believe this was probably from my later teen years...

Yikes for the colors!

And double yikes for the execution!

And my eyesight was better in those days, too!

But stamped crosses never look as precise as counted.

I lost interest in this project,

and my mom kindly finished it for me.

Her crosses were much neater!

The first photo is the best representation of the colors

because I used a flash.

As far as which technique is my favorite, I can't pick just one:

there are so many cool cross stitch designs out there,

then there's hardanger, blackwork, and canvaswork.

Those are my top four.

You're very tenacious if you've read this far.

Hope you're having a fun, stitchy weekend!

Thanks for visiting!