Season's In Chalk-Christmas Finish

Good morning everyone,

I hope you have had a wonderful November thus far.  We had about on inch of snow last week, far earlier than normal. Glad it is gone for now but I am sure we will get more once Winter is on its way.

I have a finish that I finished a few weeks ago and I forgot to share it with you all.  I am happy to say Season's in Chalk-Christmas is done.  My son Brentley would like to have it so eventually I need to buy a frame.  I plan on starting Fall next,

I dyed some Opal 14ct Charles Craft Aida black using Rit dye and I just love how sparkly it turned out.  Trying to get into the festive season.

Thank you so much for looking.  For those of us who are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Mary

I am back with some finishes

Good morning everyone,

Wow!  The time has really flown and I can't believe it has been 2 months since my last post.  I hope everyone is having tons of fun this summer and getting some stitchy time in.

I have been very busy and have finished several things since we have last visited each other.  The first thing I want to show you is my Seasons in Chalk, Stars in Stripes by Hands on Designs that was in the July 2016 JCS issue.  I am doing each one and will make them all into pillows. 

I am currently working on Seasons in Chalk Christmas out of the Dec 2016 JCS issue.  Here is an update after working on it for 4 days.  It is so much fun.  I dyed some Charles Craft 14 ct Opal Aida in black and I am really happy with the results.

I also did the mini bunnies from the May/June 2018 JCS issue.  Here is May:

Here is June:

I ffo'd the skull and I just love how it turned out.

I was working on Ink Circles pattern called Cirque de Triangles but I just couldn't get into it.  I am sure we have all been there before.  So I cut off what I stitched and went looking for a pattern that I could still use the floss and fabric for.  I found this Mandala by Heritage Stitch on Etsy.  It reminds me of the Spiralgraph toy I had as a kid.

I also started on this baby sampler for my great-niece Eden.  I have finished all the leaves and just need to finish the trunk and the tree will be done.  There will be some woodland animals at the bottom.  I found this on Etsy and the store name is NikkiPattern.

Last but not least is the free pattern on Lakeside Needlecrafts website.  I am really enjoying this one.
It is done on some 28ct Monaco evenweave I hand-dyed last year.

Thanks so much for looking and catching up with me.  Have a great weekend.
Mary

April Smalls Check-In

Hi everyone,

Can you believe it is that time again.  Time to show you all my work (especially smalls) for the month of April.  Gosh, where did the month go?  It totally flew by.

Thanks again to Heather, at the Stitch Lotus for hosting this fabulous SAL.

Well, the first small I want to show you is out of the April JCS 2018 issue.  It is the April mini bunnies by Handblessings. I used Carrie's Creations Thread in Baby Blue and Koala Claw and misc. yellow DMC. 

Second finish, Think Winter by Lizzie Kate.  I hand-dyed some 14 ct Aida for this one.  I used a mixture of various hand-dyed floss I had in my stash.

Third finsh, Winter Silhouette by Handblessings Design and it was in the Dec 2013 JCS issue.  I dyed some 28ct Monaco Navy.  Hard on the eyes but I love it.  I also added beads for the snow.

Last finish, I participated in Garette aka Coffee Stitcher's birthday SAL on StitchMaynia.  This was my only finish.  It was by Monsterbubbles and was in the 2009 JCS I believe Aug.  I hand dyed 28 Monaco and used misc DMC.

Here is progress on my Season's in Chalk by Hands On Designs Flag.  It was in the 2016 JCS. It is on Joblean.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.
Mary

March Smalls Check-in

Good morning everyone,

I hope everyone that celebrates Easter has a wonderful weekend and whomever doesn't celebrate I hope you have a great weekend as well.

I can't believe it is time for the check-in already.  I have been stitching like crazy and have a few things to show you.

Thank you again to Heather at The Stitching Lotus for hosting this wonderful SAL.  You can join at anytime.

I finished this ornament at the beginning of the month.  It is called Spiderweb Ornament from KBB Crafts and was in the 2017 JCS Special Halloween issue.

After seeing everyone's cute finishes I decided to do this bunny series.  It is in the current JCS issue and I adapted the colors to match my backing fabric.  I am choosing to do all the bunnies brown and this color is from Carrie's Creation Threads.

Lastly, is an ornament I finished for Needlecraft Haven. They choose a freebie every month and you can post a picture until after the last Sunday of the month.  This was my first time participating and it was a lot of fun.  It is called Christmas Joy and you can find it here in the November 28, 2017 entry.  It is really modified because I decided not to include the cart and the trees.

So as far as my bigger projects here is an update on them:

Seasons in Chalk by Hands On Design JCS 2016.  Beginning of the month:

Current progress:

White Tigers beginning of the month

:

Current Progress:

Well that is all for now.  Thanks for looking and have a great start to April.
Mary

2017 Smalls SAL- Last one for 2017

Hi everyone,

I am here to post a few smalls I have completed this week for the 2017 Smalls SAL hosted by Heather @ The Stitching Lotus.

Heather is hosting this SAL next year and you can join anytime.  It is really a great motivational tool to get smalls done.

The 1st one I completed was Ho Ho Ho Santa from Prairie Schooler.  It was in the 2014 JCS Ornament issue.  I stitched it on Hand Dyed 18ct Chia Tea Aida by me and misc floss to match my fabric.

The bottom is a little messed up on the white but the stitching looks good so hopefully that overshadows my mistake.

The 2nd finish is called Swirly Hat by SanMan Originals and it was a design on the message board.  Sadly, she has fallen ill and the message board hasn't returned but I still think about her and hope she is doing ok.

This is stitched on some old 18ct Aida.

Lastly, I FFO'd both houses as gifts for in sister-in-laws.  I hope they like it.

The only difference is the first one has more grass and then I decided why do I need to stitch all of this grass?  So I recharted it and think it looks ok.

Well that is all for me.  I have been sick so haven't wanted to stitch anything big and with my sons and husband home until Wednesday, Jan, 3rd I know I won't get a lot of stitching done.

I hope you have a fun New Years and have loads of time to stitch.

Mary

September smalls check-in

Good day everyone,

Hope you had a wonderful week since I last checked in.  I participate in this wonderful monthly Smalls SAL hosted by Heather at Stitching Lotus.

I finished 2 ornaments this week.  They are both by Turquoise Graphics and Designs and were in JCS magazines.  I am really trying to make my Christmas ornaments sparkle, shine and glimmer.

I worked on these wips and made pretty good progress but I got called out by my husband for not working exclusively on the 2 houses I need to do for Christmas presents.  I hang my head because it is true, so for now I need to get them out of the way.  It is just a lot of color changes but I know it is worth it; I just need to suck it up.

Here is my progress on Summer by Hands on Design.  Sorry for the lousy picture.

Here is a new small I am doing on the weekends.  It is called Happy Thanksgiving by Redbear Designs on Etsy.  I dyed some 28ct Monaco with Tan and Camel.  It is really cute.  I will probably frame it in a wooden hoop and buy a display stand.

Last but not least is the before picture of the house:

And the after picture:

Thanks again for looking and all of your kind comments.  It really means a lot to me.

Hugs,

Mary

September Theme-Tas-Stitch

Hi everyone,

Hope you are having a great month and Happy Fall Y'all.  It is the beginning of my favorite season: Fall.  It is still hot here (in low 90's) but I am not complaining at all.

Thanks again to Kerry at Ramblings of a Biscornu Addict for hosting this SAL.

The last 2 weeks flew by.  I did manage to get some smalls completed but not that much on my larger projects.  Oh well, one day at a time.

The first small finish I did was the September section of Connie Gee Designs Rainbow SAL.  I used Carrie's Creation Thread in Sapphire.

The second one I just FFO'd today was Christmas Eve Delivery by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  It was in the 2015 JCS Christmas issue.

Cording is not my strongest finishing skill.  Do you all have any tricks you can share?  I have watched Vonna's tutorial but I thought you might have some other tricks to share.  It isn't bad; I would say just average.

Here is a non-stitchy finish I completed this month.  It is a very easy table runner you can find here

Well, I bit the bullet and joined Flosstube.  If you are interested, you can find me here as Mary Cat Stitches.  I just thought it would be a great way to interact with others.

Well that is all for now.  I hope you have a great week and I will check back next week for the 2017 Smalls SAL update.

Thanks for looking,
Mary

I have 2 check-in's today and some finishes.

Good morning everyone,

Can you believe tomorrow is April.  Next week my 3 sons will be on Spring break so I am not sure how much stitching time will occur, but I will try.  I guess I will kit up a couple of small, easy projects to alternate with my Ink Circles wip.

Thank you to Heather at Stitching Lotus for hosting the 2017 Smalls challenge and Kerry at Ramblings of a Biscornu Addict for hosting Theme-Tas-Stitch.

Here is one from February I forgot to show you. It is called Love You More and was a freebie on Hands blog here.

This month's smalls only consisted of three.  One I showed you on 3/17/17 and was the St. Patrick's shamrock freebie by Brooke's Books Design.  The other one is called Winter Garden by Turquoise Graphs and Design and was in the JCS Sept/Oct 2012 issue.  So much beading but totally worth it.  I can't wait to turn it into an ffo.

This little cutie is an oldie by Sanman Originals Design.  I will make it into an ornament.  It is called Easter Tulip.

Now onto the March Madness.

Here is an update to Cirque de Circle by Ink Circles.  I can't wait to have this done and my son is getting excited to have it completed.

Here is an update on White Tigers.  I made tremendous progress this month also.

And lastly, another Turquoise Graphics and Design. It is called Christmas Wreath and is from JCS 2010.

Thank you for looking at my blog and my stitching.  Hope you all have a great weekend.
Mary

Small's SAL February Check-in

Good afternoon everyone,

Can you believe I have 2 post in 1 week?  Very unusual for me.  I decided to participate in the 2017 Small's SAL hosted by Stitching Lotus.  This month I have 2 finishes.

The first one is a FFO and is by San-Man Originals.

This is a piece of 28 ct Monaco I experimented with fabric dyeing with craft paint.  I don't think I will use this technique.  However, this next finish was ice dyed using craft paint and 28 ct Monaco.  It was much better to stitch with.

This was a super old freebie from my stash that was suppose to be a biscornu.  I even added the border to make it bigger but it still wasn't big enough for what I wanted so I will make it into either a pillow or ornament.  I will use the background Valentine's fabric.

The only thing I am disappointed in was the fact I couldn't complete Winter Garden by Turquoise Graphics and Design.  All I have left is some of the gold and mauve beads.  I hope to show you by the end of March for the next check-in.

The picture is terrible and really doesn't show you all the progress that I have made but that is ok.

Thanks again for looking,
Have a great weekend,
Mary

Made some FFO's today

Good afternoon everyone,

Well I finally got behind the sewing machine to make some FFO's.  I have a few more projects to complete but it will be easy.

These 2 are from Sanman Originals.  The first one is Swirly Cane and I made it into an ornament.  The second is Get Ready and I made it into a pillow for my basket.  I am pretty happy with the results.  I struggle with ornaments sometimes because of the cording but I won.

I have my first finish of 2017 completely Finished but I will wait until the 27th to post.  The hint is that it is a Sanman Originals chart I purchased last month.

I have made some great progress on Ink Circles because I have completed the 3rd page.  I will post an update next week.

Thanks so much for looking and for any comments that are made.  It truly means a lot to me.

Until Jan 27th,
Mary

2 Finishes and a New Start

Happy New Year everyone.  I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday last month.  Ours was nice but low key.

I had some small finishes last month.  I was finally able to complete the last 2 of the series (January and December) into pillows.  This series is by Hands On Design and were in Cross Stitch and Needlework Magazine 2014.  It was 2 per issue.

Not perfect but that is ok.  I accidentally attached the back the wrong way for December so I had to cut it off.  On the left side the trees are pointing down instead of up but it is done and still cute.  I am not going to stress over it and I didn't want to throw it away.

I have a new big start that I will rotate with my Circle des Cirque.  It is called White Tigers and it is by Jeanette Crews Designs.  It is in the  Stoney Creek Collection Encore #8106 book.  I am using 32ct Pearl Gray linen.  I just started on Tuesday so not a lot of progress so far.

Here is an updated picture of my Circle des Cirque.  I am almost done with page 3.  I will work on this every other week until it is done.

Thanks for looking.
Mary