Exciting News!

Did that get your attention?  

No, I haven't won the Lotto or 
had a date with Channing Tatum,

but I am halfway done with the background

on my blackwork piece.

Well, I think it's exciting...

After the background is completed,

I'll still have some shading to do on the petals,

and then I'll be done.

But it's a very, very slow process.

And just in time for May...

I've developed a renewed appreciation for Aida cloth.

I began my cross stitching life using Aida cloth,

and then abandoned it for linen.

I belonged to the group who had "moved beyond" Aida.

But now Aida comes in so many pretty colors --

the above is an over-dyed piece from Picture This Plus --

and it is so easy to work with and hide your thread ends,

that I've started using it again.

I wish I had chosen it for my blackwork piece!

The pattern is from Hands on Design's

A Year of Celebrations leaflet.

Here's Heart in Hand's Checker Bird...

I used the called-for colors,
but changed the bead color to red,

because I didn't think the included white beads

would show up on my... 

light-colored Aida cloth.

Am I being a reverse snob?

Just slap me if I am.

I don't think I've mentioned it here,

but for the longest time I've wanted

to get one of Charley Harper's

designs for needlepoint.

They are painted canvases and,

therefore, very pricey.

So I not only had a birthday in March,

but I had a 20-percent-off coupon from

my local needlepoint store, too.

The perfect storm.

I was planning on buying only one,

but I couldn't decided between these two...

I have a thing for birds.

And there were a lot of bird designs to choose from.

It's a miracle I was able to

whittle it down to just two.

If you're not familiar with Charley's wonderful designs,

you can google Meredith Collection

to see what I was up against

in picking just one two.

They all make me smile.

Last but not least,
I've been doing so many colorful pieces lately
that I had a desire to do something
a little bit more drab.
Enter my only other WIP at present...

...Kathy Barrick's Good Intentions.
This fills the bill for drab!

That's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Catching Up

The time since my last post has been rather hectic, so we have a lot of catching up to do.  Let's get right to it, because there are a lot of photos.

This is my Prairie Schooler alphabet, finished as a quilted wall hanging by Vonna, the Twisted Stitcher.

I was able to find coordinating fabric that had a "stitched" alphabet pattern in it.  It was perfect for this piece!

I finished the last little bit of this Needle Delights Originals Easter design, and now its home is in the lid of a Sudberry box.

Another very recent finish is this little pillow from Hands on Design's A Year of Celebrations.  It's not my best finishing job, but it is what it is, and it looks cute from across the room.  The word "grow" under the daisies could almost be mistaken for "snow" which is what we got today.

This is from Prairie Schooler's A Prairie Year leaflet - the design for May.  A future pillow.

This design from Lizzie-Kate's Spring Smalls booklet is another future pillow.  I haven't been finishing these things too quickly, so these two may not make it for Spring 2019.

The ladybug that I showed a couple of posts ago now has a daisy to sit on...

I've started the background, and it is a painfully slow go.  I had planned to take this one to the county fair in August, but I'm not confident that it will be done in time.  We'll see.

I have a good start on this design by Jeanette Douglas.  It was featured in a class that she taught at the Fancy Works retreat in Bloomington, IN, at the end of March.  This will be a little tray, and there's a scissor fob and drum pinkeep in the set, too.  The overdyed ground fabric is really very pretty, but I guess my camera didn't like it.

This is the progress I've made on my ANG challenge piece.  Two and a half packages.  This one definitely won't be finished by the end of June, and I'll be $10 poorer.  But at least it's no longer a UFO.

Last but not least, this is what the stylish, color-coordinated dog will wear on a stroll if she's recovering from foot surgery and has a bandage that needs to be kept clean and dry...

Molly looks about as happy with the whole thing as we are.

I think we're caught up now.

Thanks for stopping by.

I Have Conquered "The Beast"!

Finishes

Yes, it's true.  I have prevailed over the Beast!  Not only is it finished, but framed as well.

My framer tends to finish these pieces in record time.  (Maybe he feels a sense of urgency because he's 94!)  Anyway, he works with his daughter, and she wasn't there when I went to pick this up.  They have a new credit card reader, and he hadn't yet gotten the tutorial on how to operate it.  So he just sent me on my way with the framed piece and said we could worry about the payment later!  We did go back later that afternoon, with our checkbook this time, even though he said it wasn't necessary that we come back the same day.  I hope he wouldn't do that with a new customer, although I wouldn't be surprised if he did--he's very nice.  And they do know me well.

Here are some close-ups...

I didn't bother to change the date!

Blue Jeans and Daisies

by Blue Ribbon Designs

I mentioned a March small that was being pillowfied in my last post.  Here it is...

It turned out OK!

A Prairie Year - March

by The Prairie Schooler

Progress

My Lizzie-Kate Spring piece hasn't received much love, so I won't show that here, but I'm moving right along on the Easter piece.

Holiday Delights, Easter

by Needle Delights Originals

New Start

I usually like to throw a blackwork piece into the mix, and this year I chose a PDF download from Ajisai Press...

Here is my start on the ladybug...

It's kind of scary looking, and way bigger than life-size.

It's like the ladybug that ate Cleveland!

So that's it from here.

Hope your February is going along well.

Thanks for visiting!

Year End Wrap-Up

Hello, Blog Enthusiasts!  It's me and I'm back for a year-end stitching wrap-up.  I realize it was July when I last posted, so we have a lot of ground (get it?  ground?) to cover.  Where to start...?

But of course, the Prairie Schooler alphabet:

I showed the V for Vineyard finish in my last post, and here's the entire row.

And we have Y for Yarn...

...and the ampersand.

No Z.  Yet.

This is the fourth block in this series

that shows a woman stitching,

and the first one who's a lefty.

The stressed-out sewer in S is for Sewing

had her scissors in her left hand,

but she could be ambidextrous.

I finished BBD's Spell of the Moon.

...and Lizzie-Kate's Hocus Pocus...

...Blue Ribbon Designs' Hayride Happenings,

published in an issue of Just Cross Stitch;

I got the frame from Hobby Lobby...

...Needle Delights Originals' Poppers...

...and Boo Logs by the same designer...

...I pieced together a bed quilt from a

Bonnie Hunter workshop!

The actual quilting was outsourced

on this large piece.

I used up a lot of scraps and left-over

fabric with this one...

...this cute little thing was a kit by Hands on Design,

sold exclusively by one of my LNSes...

...my only Christmas finish this year,

from PS's Folk Art Christmas booklet...

...and finally January, from Hands on Designs'

A Year of Celebrations.

This one hasn't been pillowfied yet -

hopefully, it will be before 1/1/19.

I have made very few stitching plans for next year.

Obviously, finishing Z is for Zinnia is one of them.

I have a start...

I'd also like to finish Blue Jeans and Daisies,

otherwise known as "the Beast."

I've got quite a bit done, 

but I just don't enjoy stitching on this linen.

This is an icky photo;

I can't get the colors right on my little iPhone -

it's much prettier IRL.

I have this little design in the works,

Erica Michaels' Defining Winter.

It's going to be another pillow.

One can never be too rich, too thin

or have too many little pillows.

I plan on starting this blackwork piece "soonish."

Other than that, I think I'll just stitch

whatever strikes my fancy.

So that's it for this year.

Hope your 2018 was a good one.

Thanks, as always, for dropping by.