P is for Princess

Isn't this design adorable. I think it would be perfect in a little girl's room. Maybe in a box top or a little pillow. Of course I have little boys. Actually I have one little boy and one medium-sized boy.

This design is P is for Princess from The Sweetheart Tree. It is the most recent design in the French alphabet series. I was thinking of a young-boy inspired French Alphabet - can you picture D is for Dragon and B is for Baseball done in this style? It would be interesting.

P is for Princess from The Sweetheart Tree

The best part of these designs (besides being adorable) is that they come in a kit. The kit includes everything you need except for a hoop or frame AND the materials are quality materials - DMC floss, Summer Khaki Cashel linen - not the inferior materials that you get in some kits. AND the kit comes in a little clear plastic box which is so handy. The box holds everything so you can just drop it in a bag making it the perfect little travel project - especially since this design doesn't really have too many beads. I stitched Blackberry Jam a couple of years ago which came in the the same box and now I use the box for a travel sewing kit. I have wished for more of those boxes at least a dozen times for all sorts of purposes.

I think I'll stitch this when I finish Letter J. It looks like it will be a quick stitch.

Happy stitching everyone!

More Jordan

Letter J - Jordan - from Nora Corbett. We had a pretty good snow day yesterday - hopefully the last one for this winter. We got lots of snow but it should melt pretty quickly with the sun being higher in the sky. I did get a bit of stitching done on letter J. I wish I could figure a way to show all the sparkle on this. There are a lot of beads!

J - Letters from Nora

Keep looking for signs of Spring!

A little glass and a little thread

Isn't it amazing what a huge difference just a little thread and a little glass can make? I did some backstitching and some beading on Letter J. It was really very little stitching and beading yet it made such a huge difference.

I've been working on lots of finishing for customers for the last week. I just love finishing pieces for other people. So many times I don't finish my own pieces because I am tired of looking at them by the time the stitching is done. Finishing other people's stitching gives me a chance to look at a piece from a new perspective and frequently I get to finish pieces that I wouldn't have chosen to stitch myself which makes it even more fun.

Looks like we're getting a ton of snow tonight which means no school tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have time to stitch some more on Letter J and Boo! Club.

Happy Snow Day folks!

February Vacation

It's been a vacation week. Kids at home. Day trips. Play dates. Not a whole lot of stitching.

I did get a little bit of Letter J done. She's a joy to work on and an easy stitch - I just haven't been able to dedicate any time to her. I stitched even less on the Boo! Club. Hopefully I'll have something recognizable to show this week.

Then Shepherd's Bush released Scatter Luck - I just have to get this one and get it stitched by St. Patty's Day. Preferably this St. Patty's Day.

Fairy Toes

J - Letters from Nora

Yes, those are fairy toes - and fairy knees too. And those fairy toes and knees are stitting on the swirly part of the letter 'J'. This is coming along nicely. I like the colors more than I expected and I really like stitching with the Crescent Colours. The other nice thing is that this piece is relatively small - it should just fit in my 8" Q-Snaps so I can even bead as I go. Now I'm looking forward to the other letters even more.

So much stuff!

I'm back - finally. I feel like I have been held hostage by an overzealous internet security package that wouldn't let me post to countless blogs, read most of my RSS feeds or even visit countless completely "safe" sites. I've learned my lesson and I will be sticking with my tried and true software.

So, in the past month, I've had lots to say and no one to say it to so I'll try to catch up in the next few weeks. Plus, this past weekend was the Nashville Needlework show so there are tons of new releases to drool over.

Here's an update on my January project. This is Dizzy Busy Bees from The Sweetheart Tree. It was (at first) a quick stitch. But then, I miscounted and had to frog an entire bee skep. Then, I finished up all except the charm in the center. I had already decided to finish it as a needlebook. But then I received these wonderful counting pins - from DebBee's. I love the colors and I had been wanting a set of counting pins for months. So I decided that my needlebook would instead be a home for my counting pins. I took my stitching with me to the quilting shop to choose some fabrics and somehow during that trip, I decided that I didn't care for the red beads. So, out came the red beads. I still need to replace them - possibly with honey colored beads. Then, I must have been in a perfectionist mood, and I couldn't find the perfect fabrics. So this dragged on for a couple of weeks. I now have the perfect fabric and I'll be testing a few bead colors today. Hopefully, I get this finished in the next couple of days so I have a home for my counting pins.

Right now, my counting pins are getting lots of use. I have started Lizzie Kate's Boo Club and I plan to start the Living with Charm series and the Christmas Spirit with Charm series as well. The counting pins are coming in handy with that border.

I also have Nora Corbett's Letter J started from her Letters from Nora series. Unfortunately, I don't absolutely love either the letter J or the letter K (for myself), but that may be for the best. I may have to push myself a little more to finish up the letter J (for a gift) but at least I won't be tempted to do the letter K for myself. My boys have told me that I'm a little too old to have fairies in my room anyway. I really hope that the letter M knocks my socks off when it comes out because I'll be stitching it twice! (also for gifts)

As far as Nashville goes - I was unable to attend due to a family emergency, but I am still drooling over a number of new releases. I am in the process of adding them to the website, but here a few of the notable releases:
From Sue Hillis designs:

Stitchers Days of Christmas - really cute.

Harvest Gourds is one of a bunch of new Autumn designs from Glendon Place

http://stores.needleartsgallery.com/-strse-5722/Harvest-Gourds/Detail.bok

There are also some beautiful new designs from Just Nan, a new monthly series from Brittercup Designs, some great designs for stitcher's tools from Cat's Whiskers, a traveling stitcher's pocket from Little House Needleworks, and some fabulous new designs from Jeannette Douglas. These will all be up on the website in the next few days. Also, we are delighted to be carrying Seba Designs and Giulia Punti Antichi designs. The Seba designs are already on our website and the GPA Designs will be added this week.

So much to stitch - so little time!

Organization

Since it is January, and we've had lots of indoor time, we (mostly I) have been organizing the house. It started with organizing all of the Christmas decorations - then the toys (just so we could put away the new ones from Christmas) then it spread. The laundry room, the pantries, the linen closets. My family is praying for a thaw so that there is an excuse to spend the weekend outside instead of organizing something. They're worried that "organizing" might last all the way to "Spring cleaning".

My evening organizing has been stitching. I have found tons of charts that I purchased more than ten years ago. I absolutely love some of these. I'm really bummed that quite of few of the designers of these charts stopped designing needlework years ago.

I love this one. It is called Lunar Harvest from Danelle Marie Classics. The copyright is 1992. I can't even find more information on this designer. The stars are stitched with metallic blending filaments and braids. I'll be starting this design this month. It is stitched on Navy fabric, so it will be good practice for the dragon I plan to stitch on black fabric this summer.

I did start a quick little piece yesterday. This is a Teenie Tweenie from The Sweetheart Tree - Dizzy Busy Bees. If I had stitched it on a larger count fabric, it would have been larger and I probably could have made a nice biscornu from it. As it is, it will probably be a needlebook. Its really cute and is stitching up really fast.

Thanks for stopping by!