July- Smalls SAL Update

Good Afternoon,

Sorry for the delay but I totally forgot about the last Friday of the month.  It just kind of sneaks up on you all of a sudden.

Thank you Mary at Mary's Thread for hosting this SAL.  I love stitching smalls, especially on the weekends when my stitching time is limited.  This month I decided to do my own version of Christmas in July.  Since I didn't have any wips, I chose to work on Christmas Ornaments this month.  I always have the best intentions on stitching tons of ornaments, but somehow it is never the right time until December.  I go to set up the Christmas tree and then get disappointed on my lack of homemade decorations.

Well, I was able to complete 4 but I only took pictures of 3.  I will have the opportunity to ffo them next month when the boys go back to school.

What I love about stitching ornaments is that I can use random or scrap floss and material.

I chose to select projects out of the 2010 JCS Ornament issue.

#1- Star by JBW Designs.

My only change was that I omitted the word Star.  I used random 28ct Linen that was tea dyed and Limited Edition Carrie's Creation Silk floss in red.

#2- Joy by LadyBug Lane Designs

My fabric was 32ct White Chocolate Linen and misc red floss.

#3 Regal Red Christmas by Milady's Needle.

My fabric was the same 28ct Linen that was tea dyed.  I chose to use an old hand-dyed floss in my stash.  Can't remember who, but it is over 10 years old.  I used a color called Evergreen to match the backing fabric for the ornament.  I had to alter the design because the skein was small (about 5 yards) and it was too big.  They used a 40 count.  Overall, I think it looks pretty.

My plans for the next month, I am in the process of doing another Christmas ornament and I hope to get it done over the weekend.  I have a biscornu wip that needs done and I also need to do July and August for the Year In Cupcakes series.  Then I will be up to date.

Thanks so much for looking and all of your wonderful comments.
Mary

Finally A Finish

Good Afternoon,

 I hope everyone has had a great weekend and had plenty of stitching time.  I really haven't stitched since last week when I finally finished my larger project.  My son Blake, is off of dead period and is now in football practice full time.  We also attended our last football camp for the year.  It was quite an experience that I am sure we will have to do again next year.  

Anyway,  I have a finish that is larger than a small and that isn't a ffo.  Because of this, I decided to make a new blog post.  Besides, I was too excited to wait until the end of the month.

My finish: 

The Key

By: Stitchyfish Designs

From: 2016 JCS Halloween Special Edition

Floss: DMC 310

Fabric: 32ct Belfast Linen (hand-dyed by me)

My son, Brentley, decided that he would like this once it was finished.  I did make some changes per his request.  I omitted the wording at the top and changed the bottom to gate.  He also didn't like the key dangling from the crow's mouth. I now see I have some of the bottom railing of the gate to do.  I will do that tonight.  

Eventually, this will get framed.  I will probably wait until after school starts which is August 9th this year.

Well that is all for now.

Thanks for looking and I always enjoy reading your comments.

Mary

July's FFO SAL Check-In

Good Morning Y'all,

I hope everyone has had a great couple of weeks with tons of stitching time.  I have been stitching everyday but only have one FFO to show you today.  That is ok, hopefully I will have more done in August.

Before I forget, thank you Rachel at the Ten Hour Stitcher for hosting this SAL.  It really does motivate me to fully finish my stitched pieces.

So, I was going through my collection of hand-dyed floss and decided I wanted to make something with them.  When you only have a skein or two, biscornu's are a great way to use them up.  I found the perfect pattern here on Louison's blog.  She is so generous and has hundreds of free biscornu patterns.  I chose #332 and I stitched it on 25ct white Lugana (3 over 2).

Side 1:

I am not sure of the color but it is Mo's Sales Thread.  I only had one skein so I had to improvise on side 2.

Side 2:  

I found some DMC #67 in variegated Baby Blue. It is a great match to the Mo's Sales Thread.  For the middle I used a brad (from the Scrapbook section) instead of a button.

Well, I am off to do some errands and then hopefully some stitching later.  Unfortunately, I have to rip out some thread and redo a section because the hoop messed up my stitches.  I guess that is why I normally stitch in hand.  Oh well, it was worth a try.

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Mary

June's Small's SAL check-in

Hi Y'all,

Welcome to June's Smalls SAL hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread.  It is such a fun SAL that is low pressure and tons of fun.

I have a few things finished for the month.  I completed the smalls from the book #272 by The Cricket Collection.

1st is The Bee:

I completed the bunny and sheep but I can't find them on the computer.  I will post them as FFO's probably in August when the kids go back to school.

I tried doing a wreath and it was terrible.  It looked like a throw back to the 1980's.  Don't get me wrong, I love the 1980's.  The music, movies and fashion; it was my decade.  Unfortunately, home decor was awful back then.  

I decided to make them all into flat fold ornaments.  I can put them in my bowl, or hang them when I want or hang them in the future.

Next I finished stitching A Year In Cupcakes - June by Durene Jones.  You can find the pattern on ETSY.

I just need to put on beads instead of french knots for the seeds.

My final finish for the month is not a small but I just had to share.  It is called Blessed Land by Tempting Tangles Designs.  Deb now has the PDF in her ETSY store.  I love the it so much.  I used 32ct Sand linen and the called for DMC threads.

Thanks so much for looking and have a wonderful weekend.

Mary

June's Fully Finished SAL

Hi y'all,

I just want to thank Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher for hosting this wonderful SAL. 

I am happy to say that I have a fully finished project this month.  I stitched this project last year for my son Brentley.  To be honest, this wasn't the original project I was going for.  I started Ink Circles Cirque des Triangles but I kept making mistakes. I decided to scrap the project but I still had a ton of fabric left and a lot of Carrie's Creation overdyed floss.  I then went to search for the perfect pattern and I found one on Etsy. 

A few months ago I was at The Goodwill store and happened upon this frame.  I always try to pick up the square frames and anything else that is unusual.  It was originally a medium brown color but we decided that a white frame would make the project stand out.  We had to wait until the weather was warmer and then Bill (my husband) spray painted the frame white. 

My son has been on vacation to visit my family in Florida, so we took that time to repaint his room.  As you can tell, his favorite color is green.  The picture is now hanging in his room, waiting for him to get home tomorrow.  I think he is really going to love it.

Well, that is all for now.

Thanks for looking,
Mary

May's Small's Check-In SAL

Good morning y'all,

I can't believe it is the end of May already.  Thanks again to Mary at Mary's Thread for hosting this fun SAL.

So have you got a lot of crafting in this month?  I had a lull in stitching for about a 7 days due to my oldest son, Bradley, graduating from high school.  Between getting ready for family to arrive from Florida and them actually being here, I couldn't stitch much.  Then, I had 2 weekends where we decided to do some painting so that was about 5 days with no stitching.  But I am ready to get back into the swing of things.

I have a few smalls that I have done this month.

I am working on Cross Eyed Cricket #272 called Soft Boiled.  I am going to do the 5 cute little critters and make a spring wreath.  Hopefully, it will turn out ok.

So far I have completed 2.  The first one I did was the chick.

The second on was the butterfly.

I am currently working on the bunny and hope to show you that one next month.

I am also up-to-date on the A Year In Cupcake series by Durene Jones on Etsy.  Here is May's; I just love the soft pretty colors.

Well that is all I have for now.  I have been working on some larger projects and hope to have one finished next week to show you.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone's beautiful smalls.

Thanks again for all your wonderful comments and have a great weekend!
Mary

Stitchmaynia Week 2 Progress

Good morning y'all.

Happy Tuesday! Hope you are all having a fabulous day with time to craft.  I have to go to Michael's today to pick up a larger frame for Darth Vader.  Yesterday, I spent a few hours pinning and lacing him and now he wont fit in the frame I bought.  Since he is already prepared and I don't want to undo all that work, I am just going to get a bigger frame with a mat.  I need to have it done by Friday because my sister and parents are coming up from Florida for my son, Bradley's graduation and Darth Vader is a gift for my sister and BIL, Kevin.  I want to make sure they can take it back home with them.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope you did too.  My 2 oldest sons Bradley and Blakley bought me some flowers and coffee.  I was surprised and delighted by the gesture.

I purchased a some stitching related things from my son Brentley and my precious dog, Hana from 123stitch! I plan on doing the Hardanger free SAL by Durene Jones on the Lakeside Needlecraft website here
Just look under free charts.  I also want to learn other types of hand embroidery so I found some things at Hobby Lobby.  To round out my purchases, I found some fabric for embroidery on Ebay and bought from floss from Mo's Sale on Facebook. 

So, lets get to some progress pictures.  I decided to work on the Swans and Shears SAL from Tempting Tangles Designs last week.  I have officially completed 7 out of 16 pages.  I decided to stop working on it since I am at a good stopping point.  I really enjoyed working on this. 

Before:

After:

Thank you so much for looking.  Have a great week!
Mary