Cherry Blossoms

I was pulling together my materials for my new travel project, Cherry Blossoms Fob, and I decided to go back and check my pics of my Cherry Blossoms Biscornu. Strangely, I couldn't find the pics of the finished biscornu anywhere. I could have sworn I had some pictures up here but I can't find those either. So, new pics of my finished biscornu with the materials for the matching fob. The Cherry Blossom biscornu was a kit that included everything. The Cherry Blossoms Fob is a Teenie Tweenie chart that comes with the little pearls. The fob chart calls for Weeks Dye Works overdyed floss but the biscornu used ThreadWorX floss. I have a good length of the ThreadWorX floss left from the biscornu kit and I am hoping to substitute that for the WDW. Hopefully there will be enough and then the two pieces should match perfectly.






Of course, I took so long to get my materials together for this that I won't be able to start on the new biscornu kit right away. The new biscornu kits have arrived and I am looking forward to stitching the Baby Shamrocks Biscornu. And then, of course, I need to stitch the Baby Shamrocks Fob. The Cat Lover's biscornu is adorable too. I have a few cat lovers on my Christmas list who just might appreciate that cute little design.

Sandcastle birthday cake

So - I finally finished the sandcastle cake. There was a good deal of seaweed but no black bubbly things (I think those are egg cases for some sort of sand shark). The kids had a great time at the party and when it came time to have cake and ice cream - they ate all of the cake decorations. They weren't too interested in the actual cake. They were thrilled that they actually got to eat "rocks".

Lessons learned from this include:

Fruit roll ups dissolve into something that looks like swamp tar when the humidity level is high.
You CAN eat those realistic looking candy rocks.
Gummy fish stick together nicely when the humidity level is high.
Kids will even pass up chocolate if they think they can eat rocks instead.

Sandcastles

My young son will be having his birthday party this week. He has requested a sandcastle cake. I already had the sandcastle bundt pan and thought I could just make a sand-colored cake - Spice Cake - and it really wouldn't need too much decoration. The cake pan has quite a bit of detail. Of course, my son had a different idea - he feels that all cakes need to be decorated. So - I pictured a nice sandcastle like Mirabilia's Seaside Kingdom - nice bright sand, some sparkly beads, a few shiny shells, some ribbon flags. Yeah. That's what I thought. My son looked at it and said, "Yeah Mom, there isn't nearly enough seaweed and those bubbly black things that we find on the beach." So I drew some seaweed on the picture. Still not enough. Drew some more seaweed. Still not enough. Finally I got enough seaweed and "black bubbly things" on it. Now it looks a whole lot more like a mud pie. I'm thinking I might just make a huge batch of brownies and mash them up. This should be interesting.

Helen (Stitchingranny) commented on my last post about her method for taking projects with her when she's out and about. I'm going to take some of her suggestions and keep a project with me. I'll take something small - the Cherry Blossoms Fob that goes with the Cherry Blossoms biscornu. Its nice and small so I won't cry too much if I do get something on my fabric and have to start over. I have some of the over-dyed ThreadWorX floss from the biscornu kit left so I can make the two pieces match well. Thanks for telling me how you travel with your stitching, Helen.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads.

My Grand Plan

So here's my Grand Plan for Summer stitching. I need to get two name trees done for Christmas ornaments. I also want to finish 3 Twinklings WhimZi ornaments to keep on hand for those "surprise" gifts (you know, when you hadn't planned on shopping for a person and they arrive with a gift for you). I also need to do one of the Sweetheart Tree nutcracker ornaments as a Christmas gift (can't say here which one). I have an exchange due at the end of the Summer and I will probably sign up for one other exchange during the summer. I think that's all for obligation stitching. However, I do have a huge amount of obligation knitting.

Then - the items I would like to stitch just because I want to stitch them. First, the new Gilded Dragonfly Scissor Purse from Just Nan. Also, I really like Slicker Parade from Xs and Ohs. And I want to do one of the Mini Mandalas from Chatelaine. At some point, I would really like to try my hand at one of the HAED designs. AND, on top of all of that, an email from Mirabilia this week hinted that the company re-organization may be completed soon so the Mirabilia charts will be available again.

Baseball ends next week so I think I'll start off with stitching the Sweetheart Tree nutcracker. This week I'll get everything kitted up. How do people bring stitching with them when they're out and about? I can bring knitting and I have passed time waiting for practices or appointments knitting, but I don't think I could stitch. First, I'd be worried about getting something on my fabric. Second, how do you keep track of your threads and chart? How many places do you go that you can lay out your chart and pick through your threads to get any stitching done? I'm really curious how people achieve this. I would love to figure this out. Any thoughts?

Nora Corbett Designs

A new series of designs from Nora Corbett - Letters from Nora. The first three designs in this series have been release and they're really cute. These designs are all stitched on 32 ct Waterlily Linen with Crescent Colours threads. You can get more information on the materials for these designs on our Nora Corbett page.

Happy Summer

It's been a long time without a post!

In the last 6 weeks, I think I have been to a dozen school concerts, plays and award ceremonies and I feel like I have attended 100 little league practices, scrimmages and games. Needless to say, there has been little stitching going on. I've really only had time to finish a couple of exchange pieces, do lots of planning for Summer stitching and kit up my Summer projects. I can't wait to stitch.


I did finish off a biscornu for Kate for a Make a Wish Exchange. I based the piece on a design from Elizabeth's Designs. My pictures were pretty poor, but you can see pics on Kate's Blog.



There have also been some really great new releases in the past few weeks. The Dragonfly Scissor Purse from Just Nan was really very popular and sold out months ago. Nan has designed a new scissor purse - a limited edition kit. This piece includes beads, pearls, swarovski crystals, and is trimmed with metallic gold cord. The really neat feature on the scissor case is a thread called Gilt Sylke Twist. This is a thread with a silk base that is wrapped with the thinnest gold threads. Imagine the shimmer and shine of this thread!

The Gilded Dragonfly Scissor Purse and fob are stitched entirely with Au Ver a Soie silk - no conversions are given. We hope to have the silk packs available by the end of the month. The silk packs will be approximately $69.00 (they include the gold twisted cord). We will only have as many silk packs as we have Dragonfly Scissor Purse kits. The estimated release date for the Dragonfly Scissor Purse is June 25.

The new shipment of Barnabee's Bride kits is expected sometime next week. We will only have a couple more that have not been reserved so be sure to order soon if your heart is set on having one of these beautiful boxes.

For those of you who haven't yet started When Barnabee Met Bella, we will also be getting the silk packs for this design. The colors of the silk really pop on the lilac and blue backgrounds.

We also have a couple of new Christmas Eve Courier designs from Nora Corbett - Cupid and Vixen. These are the fifth and sixth reindeer in the series. Two reindeer left - unless she does Rudolph too!

Off I go to put my Summer stitching goals in writing! Can't wait to start!!!

Thank you Lynn

Thank you Lynne! This is my birthday package from Lynn for the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club. Look at the chart from HAED - its called Celtic Butterfly One and its a quick stitch. I've never seen it before but I really like it. And I always like overdyed threads!

Thank you again Lynn!

Flower pics

Not much stitching going on here - and what little stitching that is going on is for an exchange so I can't show anything. But I do have pics of the flower fields in Carlsbad, CA. This farm or "Flower Ranch" grows ranunculus and they were in bloom when we visited. They also had beautiful poinsettias, lots of African Daisies and a Sweet Pea maze.

Stitching pics next time!

Flowers and biscornu

Long time no entry.

I've been away on vacation. Not a lot of stitching - although I did finish the stitching on both sides of the Cherry Blossom biscornu - just need to finish and stuff it. I did get to do lots of other fun stuff.

I spent a week with my family in southern California. I got to visit my sister and her husband and my two little nephews. We had such a wonderful week. We visited Legoland which was a blast - especially for the little ones. We checked out Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo! We all loved the zoo. We got to see Polar Bears up close and personal and we got to identify each Zebra by name via his "rump print" (don't get to do that every day).

Of course, the weather was beautiful - pretty much by anyone's standards. Sunny, in the upper 60's during the day, a little cooler at night. I really couldn't get over how bright everything was. The flower colors are so bright they seem to be electric. We even had a chance to go to the flower fields in Carlsbad. They have acres of ranunculus all in bloom and they allow the public to come in and view the fields up close. Absolutely gorgeous. (Pics are coming as soon as the camera gets unpacked.) All those flowers everywhere just make me itch to get out in my garden. Unfortunately, my garden still has patches of snow on it.

I did get the Weeks Dye Works fabrics for my birthday for Just Nan's biscornu, When Barnabee Met Bella. The colors are wonderful and I can't wait to start it.

Happy Spring everyone!

Cherry Blossom Biscornu and Just Nans

Last weekend, I did finally choose (randomly from a bag) which biscornu to do first - I started on Cherry Blossoms Biscornu from The Sweetheart Tree. It stitches up quickly, here is my progress after a couple hours - even while watching various basketball games. Its too bad that you can't see that the fabric is opalescent. There are also lots of beads to put on each side of this design - I added one so far. I need to finish stitching this today or tomorrow so I can start on the Just Nan biscornu.

The Just Nan shipment arrived this week. The Barnabee's Bride box is so cute. I'll get some better pictures of it today (before it gets cloudy out again). The biscornu design is wonderful as well. When Barnabee Met Bella is stitched on Weeks Dye Works hand-dyed linen and in light blue and lavender colors and also has lots of shiny beads - which you just can't see in the picture. We still have a few When Barnabee Met Bella designs left. We don't have any more of the Bella Bee box left for March delivery, but you can pre-order one for May delivery.

I hope everyone is having a Spring-like weekend (at least up here in the northern hemisphere - and a nice Autumn weekend down under).

So much to stitch

I finally finished part 4 on Indian Summer Reflections - at least as finished as I'm going to be for now. I didn't love the way the dew drops from the branches were coming out. I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed with this one - I'm keeping my eyes open for some lighter colored blue-gray overdyeds. I didn't love the backstitched leaves on the other branches either. I don't even have another idea for that yet. As for the spider webs which are currently missing, I am going to stitch a couple of samples - one with a pearl blending filament and one with a silver blending filament and decide which one I like better. Then, I'll put this piece away for a bit. There are so many things calling to me!


The biscornu kits from The Sweetheart Tree have arrived. Since I couldn't decide which to stitch, I'm just going to grab one out of a bag. Its so nice to have these come all kitted - and kitted with good fabric and fibers. Then its not so bad to be indecisive until the last minute - you can still start as soon as you decide. I need to get going on this because the new biscornu design from Just Nan - When Barnabee Met Bella - will ship next week. I already have the fabric and floss ready for that one. Then I kitted up that cool dragon design from Xs and Ohs. That one will have to wait until I am brimming with patience - I don't love stitching with Kreinik braids for long periods of time. I have to get moving on Scatter Eggs as well - there isn't much time before Easter.

I think Spring might be coming! We've had lots of rain in the last couple of days and its been really warm - close to 50F. Our snow is down to 4-5 inches deep in places and it is supposed to be warm for the next few days as well. I saw robins and bluebirds today - the robins are a good sign - I'm not sure if the bluebirds leave for the winter or if they've been here all along. I can't wait to see daffodils poking through the ground. Happy Spring!

Arrivals from Nashville

Lots of boxes have been arriving here this week - full of items ordered at Nashville.

The biscornu kits from The Sweetheart Tree have arrived. I can't tell you how cute these are. Sparkly and detailed - really nice. I can't wait to see the other designs that Sandie selects for the rest of the biscornu series - and even more, I can't wait to see the other needlework goodies that she creates for each series. I am personally hoping for the Blackberry design, the Holly design, and the Shamrock design. Sandie has already shown us the Catnip kitty fob which was adorable. Wait til you see that one. She has also mentioned Cherry Blossom and American Star.

My Easter project this year will be Scatter Eggs from Shepherd's Bush. This is stitched on 20 count Cork linen so it should be a quick stitch and it has adorable buttons from Just Another Button Company. I'm just going off to the fabric store tomorrow to find a nice coordinating fabric for a pillow finish.

Up on the website this weekend - new designs from JBW Designs. Here's French Country Amour.



There's a great picture of a beautiful scissor fob done with this design on the JBW Designs website.

I'd love to show you some of my stitching - but there isn't a lot to show. :-(

A Dragon and a Moose

How's that for a title? The Dragon is from Xs and Ohs and the Moose is from Stitchworks. First the moose.

The moose is Malcolm the Moose. These are a series of designs on 4" x 6" cards from Stitchworks. These aren't new, but I saw them at the Nashville Show again and then I noticed a few of these in a local school. They are adorable all stitched up. There are monthly designs as well as occupational and sports designs. Each design either uses buttons (which are absolutely adorable) or Mill Hill treasures. Here's a pic of the Surfer Moose for June. The buttons are the cute little inner-tube and the fish. We'll be getting these up on the site this weekend.



Then, the dragon. Here is another design that isn't new but really struck me when I saw a stitched model. It was really stunning stitched on black linen. You can't tell from the cover picture very well how beautiful this design really is.
See all those yellow speckles on the dragon? They aren't really yellow speckles in real life - that's just the was the camera picked up all the sparkle. Yep - that's all sparkle. The design uses 19 spools of #4 Kreinik braid but its all worth it because the final piece as really stunning.

As the days get longer and there is more light available at the end of my day, I'll be stitching this dragon for my son. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Lastly, on the shop front - we will be carrying hand-dyed fabric from Picture This Plus. I'm sure many of you have seen these fabrics - they are really incredible. While we have loved the hand-dyed fabrics we've carried in the past, we just couldn't handle the backorder times (sometimes 3 months or more!) Picture This Plus produces fantastic fabrics with wonderful service. We probably won't have all of the fabrics that PTP creates on the website, but we'll be happy to order any that strike your fancy.

Have a great weekend! Remember - get the most out of these last few weeks of winter (wishful thinking?) Spring is coming!

More new products

Here is an update with some more new products. These are from Twisted Oaks Designs. First, Honor Thy Needle Etui. The finished model for this was really exquisite. The chartpack comes with the graph, excellent finishing instructions, die cut matboard and wood beads.

We have also added the designs in the French Monogram Collection to the website. In all, this collection includes an eyeglass case, a bookmark, a biscornu, a needlebook, a scissor fob, a bourse bag, and an album cover.

We have also added Coq au Pins and Merry Noel. Both of these designs are from the Chicken series and they're awfully cute. Be sure to stop by and see them!

Stop back tomorrow for another update.

Back from Nashville

We're back from Nashville and we had a great time. It's great to be able to faces with names and voices and to meet lots of new people!

Here are a few highlights from the show. I'll do a few more posts on special things from the Nashville show during this week. You can see all of the new items as we put them up on the site on our What's New page. For now, here are a few special things.
- You can click on the pic to go to Needlearts Gallery and see a much bigger pic.

Barnabee's Bride - Bella Bee from Just Nan. This is a new enameled box from Just Nan (remember Lady Scarlet's Secret Garden). This is really adorable. The kit includes the box, which is decorated with crystals and even has a little magnet to hold your needle, the graph and instructions for the needleroll which fits neatly inside the box, finishing instructions, opalescent white Belfast linen, fusible interfacing, overdyed silk, overdyed wool, snap, the little beads and the mother-of-pearl flower, Swarovski sequin, and Gold Bee. You'll need to supply your floss, perle cotton, and kreinik braid. This is definitely one of those times where a picture just can't do justice to the actual item. This is a limited edition and we will only be getting a few - so be sure to order early if you don't want to be disappointed.

Nan's been incredibly busy. She also released a wonderful biscornu design, When Barnabee Met Bella. The details on this piece are really wonderful. Lady Scarlet even makes an appearance! You can't really see all of the sparkles and embellishments in these pictures, but, trust me, this piece is exquisite!

Then, in addition to these beautiful pieces, Nan is beginning a new series called "Over the Top". These are little tins whose bottom portions have been decorated on the exterior with art paper. There will be a series of four tins released during the year. These are also a limited edition series. The top is all ready for you to complete with your stitching. The first one is "Hop", a great Spring or Easter design. The kits include the tin, the graph for the design, a die cut chipboard circle for mounting the stitching to the lid, fleece, fusible interfacing, coordinating ribbon, embellishments and finishing instructions. You'll need to supply the linen, floss and twisted cord.

Then, as if that weren't enough - there are limited edition kits to create little projects that will fit inside the tin. This limited edition series is called "In the Tin" because they fit "in the tin" - how clever. Each of the project in this series will coordinate with a tin and each will be a different little needlework "goody". The first is "Hop" - a little needlebook fob. The front shows a little bunny in flowers and the back is a pretty little viola. The kit includes the graph and instructions, finishing instructions, embellishments and snap, wool and fusible interfacting. You'll need to supply the linen, floss and twisted cord. This will fit nicely in the tin with a 2 1/2" pair of scissors (which are not included, but we'll be happy to recommend a pair for you).

Click on the pic to go to Needlearts Gallery and see a much bigger pic!
Another highlight of the show was the Sweetheart Tree releases. Sandie has started a new biscornu series. The designs for these pieces will coordinate with the most popular of her scissor fobs. The first releases are Rhodes Butterfly biscornu and Cherry Blossoms biscornu. These are kits that include everything you'll need except for the stuffing. Then look for a Catnip Kitty biscornu kit and a Baby Shamrocks biscornu kit this Spring. Add, to add even more excitement, Sandie plans to continue designing coordinating needlework tools - releasing coordinating needlebooks, scissor cases and finally Bourse bags to hold the collection of needlework tools. Definitely looking forward to each of those.

Another Sweetheart Tree highlight is the Sparkling Forget-Me-Not Sampler. This is another limited edition sampler kit and is just as beautiful as can be.

Stop by our website often to see the new additions. February is always a big month for new releases, both for Nashville exhibitors and many other designers.

Frogging

So - is frogging a skill or just a necessary evil?
That pretty much sums up my afternoon and pretty well takes care of most of my progress for the whole past weekend.

Sniff. Sniff.

ISR part 4 still - Again!

I know this looks suspiciously like the photo in my last post - but its not! First, I did actually get some stitching done on this. But, as for the photo, I finally found out what some of those buttons on my camera are for - at least sort of. My camera is at about four years old. It usually just takes pictures of the kids as they zoom from one activity to another. It has lots of settings that I've never used - and I vaguely remember thinking "I'll never use that" as I was reading the manual (4 years ago). I always knew that my photos of my stitching were awful but I always had a scanner to fall back on for the really important pics. But when I look at some of the beautiful pics in stitcher's blogs, I started to think that I need to sign up for remedial photography classes.

It turns out that the remedial photography class doesn't start until April. I thought I should have a clue about my own camera before I go to this class and started trying out all the various buttons and dials - and lo and behold - some of them actually do wonders for my pics.

For the last two days I have chased around my kids and various squirrels taking their pictures. Today, we're having a bit of an ice storm so I can't wait for the sun to come out afterwards so I can take a picture of the sun hitting the ice on the trees. I don't think I have ever looked forward to an ice storm before.

Of course, the other positive aspect of an ice storm is some uninterrupted stitching time!

Have a great weekend everyone. Start cleaning out some space in your stash area - the Nashville Needlework Show is next weekend and the designers have already been showing off some wonderful new designs and products!

ISR part 4 - still

Still working on this beautiful design. I really love it, but I don't seem to get nearly enough time on it. I'm trying to decide if doing the beading on this now instead of waiting until the stitching is done will keep me a little more focused on finishing this design. I already have three other Chatelaine mandalas kitted up and ready to go.

But, in my defense, I have finished one more square for the afghan.

Hoping for a major snowstorm in the near future. I am even prepared with movies for the kids, food in the freezer, a stack of seed and flower catalogs about 2 feet high - and a very full stitching bag! (Just not the weekend of the Nashville Needlework Show!)

Snow! Snow! Snow! and resolutions

Lots and lots of snow! Sorry for the long time between posts. Now that the holidays are over and inventory is done, I'll have more time to stitch and keep up with online friends.

Shop News first - our next sale will be for Valentine's Day. The sale will start on Valentine's Day and continue through the weekend. (This will be right after Nashville, so there should be lots of great new stuff available).

I didn't get much cross-stitching done over the last few weeks but I still kept busy. I finally tried punchneedle. It was cute and my son really liked it but I think my primary stitching focus will remain cross stitch. I have spent lots of time knitting since my son wanted an afghan for Christmas. It was a VERY small afghan for Christmas, but it is knit in squares and I'll add more squares as they are complete.

I was lucky to receive a new computer for me- personally, not business - for Christmas. Thank you hubby. I have been busy setting it up over the last week. In my past life I was a system developer and architect. Over the last few years, I have had no contact with the programming world besides some limited website development. I can't believe how much my brain has slipped! It was so frustrating having to concentrate so hard on tasks that I could have done on autopilot just a few years ago. So, first New Year's resolution: Sharpen the Sword as they say. I feel that I need to keep up on emerging technology much better than I have in recent years (and no, the Wii does not count).

Second resolution - no starting new projects if my "To Be Finished" drawer has more than six projects awaiting framing, or other finishing. I have seen some the most wonderful finishing techniques lately - especially little stitching books. I really want to commit to trying them out instead of just ooohing and aaaahing over other people's blogs.

Third resolution - teach three new stitchers all the way through a project this year. There is a lengthy thread on the Mirabilia bulletin board about the scarcity of materials available since so many LNS have closed and the large chain stores have stopped carrying cross stitch supplies. Much of this is due to the decreased demand for supplies. This is not entirely due to online shopping. It is also due in part to former stitchers switching to new forms of creativity like knitting and scrapbooking and in part due to a lack of time for activities like stitching. The more we share our passion for stitching, the more we can increase interest. The more interest we create in cross stitching, the better we can support designers and manufacturers of the products we love to use. So, consider finding local community groups that are looking for new acitivities to offer, or a son, daughter, niece or nephew, or neighbor, and teach them to create something wonderful. You never know, you could find your best new stitching buddy. (stepping down off my soapbox now).

New starts this month -
Exchange piece
Barnabee's Quest
Thank you gift

Impatiently awaiting -
New biscornu series from The Sweetheart Tree

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing everyone health, happiness and enough peace and joy of the Christmas season to last the year. Merry Christmas!

Ornaments finished

It has rained and snowed and iced. Mostly rain and ice. The kids still had school - except for the sniffly one. But yesterday and today were pretty productive.

I ended up finishing my Golfing Chick as an ornament as well as the 'Chris' name tree. They both came out pretty well. Lacing is not fun on funny shapes.

My younger boy has asked for a knitted afghan for Christmas. Here's my start on block number 2 of the Great American Afan Afghan. I finished block 1 last week but I really don't like it at all. Its not like I have tons of time before Christmas, but I won't be using my first block unless it becomes absolutely necessary (and it probably will).

Also, I finally found a way to finish the ends of my braid so that they don't look crummy and they don't continue to unravel. Remembering back to my mother's macrame planters and such, they usually had this knot at the top where all of the cords were wrapped. I tried this on the ends of the cut braids with Kreinik braid and it worked out pretty well. I can't seem to get a good picture of them. It kind of looks like a sparkly version of the doodads on the end of shoelaces.

Golfing Chick

Finishing weekend! Lots of ornaments to finish. Especially now that we have a tree to put them on!

Here's my Golfing Chick again. Slightly better picture this time. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with it since the recipient doesn't usually have a Christmas tree big enough to hang ornaments (she's usually gone for the holidays). I needed to get something done with it so I decided to lace it - who doesn't need practice lacing? Now I can decide what to do next - flat fold, frame, box, something.

Still have to finish off 3 name trees, 2 teenie tweenie kits, and 2 tins. Busy Sunday ahead for me. Then it will snow/ice or something into Monday - might get another finishing day on Monday!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

An addition to the flock

Here's a new chickadee for my flock. This is the Golfer Chick from Valerie Pfeiffer. Kinda cute, isn't she? She'll be part of a Christmas present for my favorite "golfing chick". Not a great picture (actually an awful picture) but she's really adorable in real life.


I decided to work on one of Brooke's Books Gingerbaby ornaments. These are stitched on perforated paper and really cute. My son has decided to give it a try too (lots of early release from school days this week). Hopefully I'll be able to finish one or two of these and use them as gift tags/ornaments for some of the younger kids in the family.

I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy the season.

And Happy Hannukah!

My snowman collection

I am so excited. Sometime ago, BeckySC had a drawing for a snowman box that she had finished - and I won the drawing! Her box has arrived just in time for my Christmas decorating. Its wonderful. She does such a fantastic job stitching and finishing. Here's a pic with some of my little snowmen.

Thanks so much Becky!

Black Friday sale!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is surviving this big shopping day. So, when you've come home and hidden your purchases and have your nice cuppa, relax and shop for your favorite stitcher. We have a couple of hundred items on sale including fabrics and designs from a number of favorite designers (including some discontinued designs). Be sure to stop by and have a wonderful weekend!

Black Friday Sale at Needlearts Gallery

'Tis the Season

No stitching pics. Not much stitching this weekend either.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving - cleaning, planning the menu - re-planning the menu - un-planning the menu. I think I'm just going to wing it. As long as there's turkey - I've done my job.

On the shop front:
I'm not known for being patient. I've been searching the "leaked" Black Friday ads for weeks so that I can make sure that I plan accordingly. Once I got my whole plan down, I realized that I don't have any Black Friday planning to do this week. Somehow, I felt a void there - so - - I thought, Let's have our own Black Friday sale. ('Cuz heaven knows that we wouldn't want any time to relax during Thanksgiving week - that would break with tradition)

The outcome is our Black Friday sale - which, given how impatient I am, starts now rather than Friday. I have a few really great deals that won't be available until Friday. I also have some limited quantity items on the list - some of the Out of Print Mirabilia Designs. You'll want to stop by early if you're interested in those.

So stop by the shop and stock up on those designs you've wanted this year - or pass your wish list on to your nearest little Santa. Black Friday sale at NeedleartsGallery.com

Giggles Wall-hanging

Here is my finished Giggles in the Snow wallhanging. I think it came out pretty well and I have the perfect place to hang it.

This design is one of the discontinued designs from Nora Corbett of Mirabilia Designs. It is one of very few cute 'boy' designs around. I wish Nora would do a few more boy designs - before my boys grow up. She does a beautiful job with them. My next big Mirabilia will be Seaside Kingdom - also discontinued. I've seen a WIP of this piece where the stitcher converted the girl into a boy as well and I will try to do that as well.

Off to stitch some more Valerie Pfeiffer chicks!

Isn't this gorgeous!

This is a design called Brandon from Stitchin'spiration. It is a beautiful blackwork piece created by Sally Rudkin. I wish I could really show you how intricate and detailed it is. Guess I'll just have to stitch it! Be sure to click on the pic so you can see the larger version. In the larger version you can see the little pineapples and urns around the perimeter of the garden and the intricate fills of each section of the garden.

This is one of the designers who exhibited at the Online Needlework show. We'll be adding her designs to our website as well as those from Cindy Valentine, Twisted Oaks (remember the cute box with the otter?), Haberdashery Designs, With My Needle, and Whispered By the Wind.

In case you need to kit this one up right away - the model was stitched on 32 count Waterlily Linen with 2 skeins of #153 Distant Hills Waterliles silk from Caron Collection. I'll be starting this one as soon as I can - my first Blackwork piece.

Isn't he cute!

Isn't he cute! This is Valerie Pfeiffer's Christmas Chick. I knew I liked him (I'm pretty sure he's a him and not a her). But he came out really nicely. I like him better than the other Valerie Pfeiffer chicks because there's more color here. I still have to stitch the Golfing Chick for a gift.

Next starts will be an ornament from the Just Cross Stitch ornaments issue and either Dasher or Donner from Nora Corbett. We know there will be eight reindeer designs and can assume that they will all be about the same size, but I can't decide how I want to do them - all on a large piece fabric or each individual reindeer on its own square of fabric. I suppose if I choose one way, I can always stitch them again if I change my mind later. Here are Dasher and Donner if you would like to start your own.

New Christmas Designs

Just a very quick update to let you know about some wonderful new Christmas designs that have been released. The Nativity is the second in a series from Glendon Place. (Remember the We Three Kings Design?)

There is also a beautiful new design from Victoria Sampler - Heirloom Nativity Sampler with lots of beautiful threads and specialty stitches.


Be sure to stop by Needlearts Gallery to see more new releases.

Giggles done

I should have known that feeling like stitching something that normally would drive me crazy didn't bode well. While the beginning of my beading day last week started with quiet beading time, the next part was for sleeping. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. That's a problem when the kids are wide awake! It was the beginning of a nasty cold - the kind that slowly gets passed around the entire family.

So for the last few days, I've had sleepy little ones curled up on my lap while I finished beading. My Giggles in the Snow Boy from Mirabilia Designs is done. I found some nice blue fabric for a backing and I will finish it into a wall hanging this week. He came out nicely I think - but it will be a while before I start the girl.

I have a bunch of ornaments to get stitched and finished in the next few weeks. I have some Valerie Pfeiffer chicks - specifically Christmas Chick and Golfer Chick. Then I saw a Mirabilia fairies Round Robin on another blog this weekend (I'll add the link when I remember which blog it was). The blogger had stitched Lilly's head on her pillow and she looked great. So, now I'm checking out each of the Mirabilia ladies to determine which heads are suitable for ornaments. I also need to do one more of the Kreinik freebie snowmen.

And I just received my Christmas Eve Couriers charts! Must start them too!

What a day!

For some reason, I woke up this morning feeling far more patient than usual (might be related to last night's baseball game - or it might not). So, to take advantage of this unusual event, I decided to sit down and bead Giggles in the Snow - the parts that I would normally dread - all those little beads spread far apart from all the rest of the stitching. So - I did complete half of the beading. I wonder when I'll wake up in that mood again?

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. It still hasn't gotten cold here - which is unusual. I'm still pulling veggies - tomatoes, green beans, eggplant and carrots from the garden. My roses are even blooming! Since it hasn't been cold, even at night, it took a whole lot longer for the leaves to change and we didn't get as wide a range of colors as usual. But they did finally change - I think it was overnight somewhere between last Thursday and Friday. Its supposed to rain and be windy tomorrow so I wanted to get out there and see the leaves before they're gone. Here's our backyard and then a more distant picture of the ridge where we live.

I love Fall!!

Christmas Eve Couriers

Christmas Eve Couriers is the new series from Nora Corbett - the designer of Mirabilia Designs. Nora has released two designs for her new series - Dasher and Donner. She has also released two more designs for her Pixie Couture Design series - Rose and Violet. The reindeer designs are really cute and they're small - nice quick stitches. I can't wait to stitch the reindeer. There's a pretty interesting discussion going on about Nora's new designs on the Mirabilia bulletin board if anyone is interested in contributing (plus the board always provides lots of inspiration).

Here are links to the new reindeer designs -

Dasher	Donner

Another ornament stitched

I finished the stitching on my 'Daniel' name tree. I still need to add a star and beads and then I'll finish both of them into ornament/gift tags. I wish I had noticed that the Daniel ornament is significantly larger than the Chris ornament. At least now I'll be careful to check the sizes when stitching other name trees. Unfortunately, this is a pretty pitiful picture. I'll try to get a better one when the sun is out.


On the baby stitchable front - I still have a few bibs and sippy cups left. Please email me if you're interested!

On the store front - new Mirabilia and Nora Corbett designs will be going up tonight. They're so cute - you have to check them out!

Baby stuff

I've been reading a whole bunch of stitching blogs - and there are a whole lot of babies on the way. Which made me think about all the baby stitchables I acquired while waiting for my boys to arrive. Most of it is still waiting to be stitched. For the most part, the ones that were stitched were stitched for other babies (nieces and nephews and friends). I have tons of baby stuff. So, given the number of babies on the way - I have decided to give it away to other stitchers who can make better use of it than I can. I have booties, bibs, caps, bonnets - and tons of charts for baby designs - Alma Lynne, Stoney Creek and a bunch more. So, for anyone who is interested please send me an email - let me know if this is a boy or girl or unknown and the type of item in which you're interested and we'll put something together! I'll feel so much better having these things in the hands of someone who will use them!

Thanks!



Edited to add pics

Happy Dancin'

I'm happy dancing. Not that I actually accomplished much, it was more of an acquisition than an accomplishment. Last year, an acquaintance wrote to me about finding a Bee Skep Tassel Topper from Just Nan. She hadn't been able to find one in some time and I had one. I had been planning to stitch Barnabee's Quest but hadn't gotten around to it (it had already been a couple of years). Anyway, I agreed to sell her mine. A couple of months later, for my birthday, I got the embellishment packs for all three parts and was ready to start stitching. That's when I found out that the Tassel Toppers were no longer available. I searched so many stores. I searched eBay. I just couldn't find one. Anyway - fast forward to this past week. European Cross Stitch sent out a newsletter and mentioned that they had just one of a 'Tassel Topper'. What were the chances that is was the one that I was looking for? IT WAS! So, I ordered as quickly as possible and crossed my fingers. I tried not to get too excited because I've ordered before only to find out that whichever shop it was didn't really have them in stock. But now -- I got an email confirming that it is on its way!!!!! I am so excited!!

On to accomplishments (which pale in comparison to my acquisition) --

I finally have the beads for Mirabilia's Giggles in the Snow. So now it says Snow Angel. I still have to add all the scattered beads.

I also mounted my Scream Girls from Just Nan in its WhimZi frame. I like the pouff of orange hair on the ghost on the frame.

Goals for this week:

Finish stitching Daniel name tree

Beading on Snow Angel

find backing fabric for both name trees

Find Mirabilia Designs and Just Nan cross stitch designs on my website.

Flurry book cover

I finally finished the "Flurry" cross stitch freebie from Kreinik as a little notebook cover. I found these cute notebooks at the supermarket. The pink cover of one of the notebooks reminded me of the colors in the Flurry design so I decided to put it on the cover.

This is one of the few pieces I've stitched on Aida. I'm not really a fabric snob - but I definitely disliked the feeling of the needle going through this Aida. Although - its still not as bad as the feel of the needle going through some canvas. I need to stitch another of these little guys but I think I'll use Damask aida or maybe some hand-dyed aida with a different feel to it.

Unfortunately - no good pics of the finished cover. I'll try to get some more tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

Christmas Biscornu

As part of my Christmas ornament stitching, I started on Just Nan's Christmas Biscornu design. The embellishment pack for this design has a whole lot of beads - certainly more than I expected. This will be quite sparkly. I still have some smyrnas to do and all of the beading on the trees side - then I'll start on the Snowflakes side. It stitches up pretty quickly. We have this design and Just Nan's other new Christmas designs available at Needlearts Gallery.

A quick note about the Mirabilia design, Seaside Kingdom. Silkweaver has, in the past, dyed an opalescent fabric just for this design - sand colored on the bottom and sky colored on the top. I understand from Tracy at Silkweaver that they will have more of this fabric soon - so if you've been waiting for it, keep an eye out on their site. The Seaside Kingdom design has been discontinued but we still have a couple of charts available. We don't have this design on the Mirabilia page of the site since we can't order more, but you can send us your request if you are looking for this chart and we'll be happy to help while we still have some.

Its finally cooling off here and feels more like fall. And its rainy too. Tomorrow will be a good day to make a nice soup and some hearty bread. I love sweater weather!

Gimme a 'D'!

Here's the D and the A and the N. Now I just need the I and the E and the L. This is my 'Daniel' name tree from Mary McLenon of M Designs. Even though its stitched over one, it stitches up very quickly. I'll finish this into an ornament/gift tag.



On the shop front, this has been an absolutely wonderful week for new releases and new additions to the store. Some adorable new designs from The Gathering Place - Michael's Tree House and Night Creatures. More great additions - we will be carrying a selection of Heaven and Earth Designs. We hope to keep expanding the number and variety of designs from HAED that we offer.


We have also decided to become a part of the Hoffman Distributing online merchant mall. This means that you will have the ability to order any chart offered by Hoffman Distributing through our site. While Hoffman offers a vast catalog with great variety and pictures, they do not present the additional information for designs such as recommended fabric and stitch counts. We will continue to update our site with this information for our most popular designers. We are really excited to be able to offer this service! Look for the Hoffman mall sometime this month.

Scream Girls

Here's a cute Halloween ornament that stitched up real quickly. Scream Girls WhimZi design from Just Nan. The WhimZi frame is Scarey Hairy. I just need to get some fusible web to get it mounted according to the directions.


You can get both of these from our online shop.

This stitched up really quickly. I'm planning to start Lady Scarlet's Secret Garden - just because its cute. I doubt I would actually use it - but its cute.

Happy stitching!