A Good Stitchy Week

Hello Stitching Friends!

I have had a good stitching week. Here is what I have been up to.

I have only been working on my Plum Pudding, except for yesterday. Here's my progress as of today:

I think I am about halfway done with the cross stitching and then the beads. Maybe another 2 weeks?

On Sundays, I am going to participate in the Instagram "SantaSundayxs". I want to get alot of things stitched for next Christmas. Yesterday I stitched Plum Street Samplers "Kringles Coal", from the JCS 2014 Ornament Issue. I love how it turned out.

I think I want to somehow make this into a small sack ornament. We'll see.

I had today off as it is Martin Luther King Day. I decided to finally try my hand at dyeing some linen using the tea/coffee recipe. I dyed some 40, 36 and 32 count. I love how it all turned out.

 I am going to continue on with Plum Pudding. I am really enjoying it.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Who Knew!

Well, here it is June 5 already. Where does the time go? This will be the last week of school,  just 3.5 days. For a long time it seemed like the school year would never end and now I can't believe it is almost over. Looking forward to some time off.

I have been away for quite awhile and I am not going to go into all that. But the last couple of weeks I have made some new discoveries in the stitching world.

FlossTube. WOW! Now instead of blogging, people are bringing it on YouTube. They talk about their WIPs, finished pieces, stash enhancements and some are even doing tutorials on various topics. I have watched a few but I find myself wanting them to pick up the pace. However, it is kind of fun to place a face to some of the fellow bloggers.

They other big discovery for me anyway, is NEEDLEMINDERS. Who knew? Now I do already have some needleminders. It is one of the treasures we get annually at our little retreat we have from fellow stitching squad member, Jackie. However, I thought you could only use them when you were using stretcher bars or Q-snaps. I, for whatever reason, didn't think that they could be used on just ANY piece of stitching. I guess I thought it had to be a flat surface or the needle would fall off!? What was I thinking? Silly me! Since coming to this realization, of course I have a few more of these on order.

Anyway, I do have some stitching to share. I decided to start something new on Memorial Day weekend. I chose Plum Street Samplers, "Betsy's Tart". I did however, change everything about it.

I bought the below clock at Hobby Lobby. They are still 1/2 off. I removed the insides and spray painted it using Krylon Cherry Red paint.

And here is my finished piece. I absolutely love it!

Plum Street Samplers

Betsy's Tart

28ct. Lugana White/Silver

DMC: White, 326, 797 and 799

Star buttons from JoAnn's

I am so happy with how this turned out. I haven't completed a finish for a long time. It is kind of a large piece. The face is 6" round.

That is it for now. I am going to stitch the rest of today. I hope you find time to stitch as well.

Thank for stopping by.

JillMN

Two Thousand Sixteen

A New Year. A New Beginning.

I have been so amiss from not only my blog, but from stitching in general. For the past year and a half, my husband has been in and out of hospitals and rehab centers. And in September, he was put in a care center. Unless you have been in this kind of situation, I don't think you know what it is like. It is just so wearing...mentally. I still work full time as an Office Manager in Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade school, which I REALLY enjoy. However, I have really missed my stitching life and am going to give it my all to get back into it.

The other day, this came across my Facebook page.

This really hit me good. It is really hard for me to do what this says, but I decided I need to really try. I can't fix everything.

OK, enough of all that.

Working at a school, I have had the luxury of having some much need time off the past 2 weeks for Christmas break. It has been so wonderful! I decided to clean out my big walk-in closet, get rid of stuff I really don't need and re-organize my stitching stuff so it will all be more accessible. It won't all be done quickly, but I have been working on it for a few hours everyday.

My son, Giles, and may I say how grateful I am for him now, gave me 2 patterns off my wishlist and a beautiful accordian style file with peacocks on it for Christmas. I started one of them the day after Christmas and finished it in 2 days.

With Thy Needle and Thread

Holly Jolly Frosty

This was really a fun and fast stitch. I am not quite sure how I am going to finish this one.

I then started this next piece and was hoping to finish it still in 2015, but I was just a few hours short.

Plum Street Samplers

Merry One

Another very fun stitch. I really like this one. I think I would like to frame this one.

Traditionally I have always started a new project on January 1. I really wasn't sure I wanted to do this as I have sooooo many WIP's that I really would like to finish. However, since I am working on my "stash", I perused through a basked of older patterns that I have not stitched yet. What was the most fun of going thru these was the fact that about 95% of them used only DMC floss. YAY!!! Overdyed threads are overrated and I have been disappointed by them so much, I just don't use them anymore. There is no dye lots for these so the threads that were used in the picture on any pattern won't be exactly the same as what I buy. The above pattern, Holly Jolly Frosty, uses 13 different overdyed threads. One color is used in just 8 stitches. Really, how much color change are you going to see in 2 blocks of 4 stitches? And pay $2-$3 for that 1 color? Anyway, I did find "Peacock Spot Sampler" by Ewe & Eye & Friends.

Sorry this picture is so light, but it is very light on my pattern. I have had it so long that the picture faded? LOL!


It is not very big so I was okay with that. Here is my progress so far.

I couldn't get this picture to rotate. It appears that I am a little rusty at blogging. I will have to sharpen my skills back up!

Will, I think that is it for now. Happy New Year to all and thanks for stopping by!

JillMN

Spring...the season of new beginnings!

My plan was to get back to my blog when Spring arrived. I am a couple of weeks past but here I am.

I am not going to go into why I haven't blogged in over 7 months. Just alot of everything! I have got quite a bit of stitching done these last 2 weeks however.'

First is Blackbird Designs, Strawberry Garden Sampler. I stitched this with the threads as charted on 32ct. Cream Belfast.

I chose not to put in all of those lazy daisy stitches. I thought it looked too busy. I am very pleased with how this turned out.

Then I couldn't wait to stitch up this new one from Hands On Design, Stitch Every Day. This one I stitched with the DMC equivalents and it is on 32ct. Raw. I will be finishing this one as the drum and it is going to go on my desk at work!

The next one is one of Plum Street Samplers, A Friend Loveth. This one I did with DMC's also. This is on 32ct. but I don't remember what color linen.

North Pole Express is a free pattern from Little House Needleworks when you buy the charted threads. I got mine from 123stitch.com. I thought it was so cute and it was a very fast stitch!

Now to decide what to work on next? I will start something new but I am going to start some kind of rotation with my "And They Sinned". I would like to get some serious progress done on that.

Well, thats it for now. Hopefully I will be back next week with more to share! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Mary's Sampler...parts 3-5

This is week 5 of the Plum Street Sampler's, Mystery Sampler already. I have been keeping up but not been a good blogger.

Here is week 3 and 4's addition. Apparently I didn't take a picture after week 3.

And here is today's installment, week 5.

I really like the smallness of this sampler. The pictures I have seen of it stitched on the charcoal/black linen, look very interesting. I might have to do one that way also.


I had a message that my background was going to disappear this week so I had to change it.Kind of an odd message I was thinking. Either that blog is closing down or they are not "free" anymore.

Oh well. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Mary's Sampler...Part 2

Today's pattern was sent bright and early this morning so I got right to it.

This is so darn cute! Love it! I was a little worried that the fabric is a little too dark, but I am using what was called for. We'll see.


Yesterday I went to Joann's for a little therapy. I ran across this.

I quickly realized that I have not received mine in the mail yet as I am a subscriber. Since I had it in my hand and had a coupon, it was a no brainer. I haven't looked through it yet, hopefully I will get to it today.

Today I am just planning on stitching. What is everyone else up to today?

JillMN

I Still Do Stitch!

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I did work on very late birthday gift. I finally got it mailed out and it was received just this past week.

Jackie celebrated a monumental birthday back in June (just a little late, I am!). My summer was kind of a blur with being so busy at work. I just said yesterday, we never grilled and I still have not had any corn on the cob, which is probably too late now! Anyway, Here is what I sent her.

 Instead of wrapping it in paper, I wrapped it in some 28ct. overdyed evenweave.

It is a scissor/needle/trinket box. The hardanger motif was taken from a freebie fob pattern of the Victoria Sampler. I used some waterlilies that I had that was not labelled.

And here is the inside. Felted bottom and magnets for scissors and needles. Jackie sent me a voice mail and an e-mail and she loves it! That makes me happy! Happy Birthday Jackie!

                       ***       ***        ***         ***

Is anyone out there participating in this? I could not resist. I was sick all weekend and didn't have the right fabric right away so I finally completed my part 1.

This is a 9 part Sunday Mystery Sample that Plum Street Samplers is doing. The Sampler's theme is the birth of Christ and it is called Mary's Sampler. I am so excited to do this. I think my friend, Jackie, should do this also!

I am still plugging away at my Patches of Life Sampler and should have an update this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching!

JillMN

Halloween Greetings

I received my squares from Lenna for the Fair Square Halloween Round. They are so beautiful!

The design she stitched is from the Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch. It is a Plum Street Samplers design, which I love. However, she switched up the design and fibers a bit which fit me better.



I just love what Lenna did with the design, especially the peacock!

Lenna stitched this on Cobblestone Belfast linen 32 ct. She used a silk over dye (Peacock) Waterliles for the peacocks and Butternut Squash for the half moon. She has never been fond of pineapples so she put a half moon in it's place cause she has always collected and loved half moons. Come to find out on her name crest, (for her maiden name), one of the symbols is a half moon. She used Sassy Strings hand dyed floss in Golden Promise for the crown, Weeping Willow for the 2010 and the flower petals. CC Muddy Puddle was used for the sheep's body. A more carroty color was used for the pumpkin mixed with the Golden Promise. Golden Promise was used for the legs and head. The purple and orange are from Lizzie Kate's Boo colors that she did her name and Waco, Tx. with.

They are just perfect for me. Thank you so much, Lenna!

JillMN

Thank You Lisa V.

Lisa V. had me for both the HoE Lizzie Kate exchange and the Winter All Seasons Ornament Exchange. She didn't give me any specifics of either designs. Today the postman brought both of them. First the Lizzie Kate exchange--


And here is the ASOE Winter ornament--


I love the little cardinal on this one. Thank you Lisa.

I finished my January ornament for the 2009 Christmas Challenge. It is a freebie from Plum Street Samplers called "Emmanuel". It is stitched on 36ct. Light Examplar with DMC Floss.