Two Finishes and Spoilers

We (my sister Lynn & my friends Helen & Minnie) went to the 2018 Cross Stitch Club Retreat in Harrisburg PA a couple weekends ago. While there I started the first installment of the Silver Needle's A Little Help From Our Friends Stitching Circle. It is One Hundred Hearts designed by Sampler Not Forgotten.

I'll have to FFO it sometime soon. Next up is my pumpkin. Janis from Noteworthy Needle drilled our pumpkins (the craft kind you get from Michaels) so we could stitch our chosen pattern on it. It made my thumb sore pushing the needle through but I finally finished it.

I'm going to put a battery operated candle in it and put on out on my porch. I might eventually do another one, but it will be a smaller design.

Now - SPOILERS AHEAD. Anyone who has not received their Halloween box from Colour & Cotton beware. Lots of pictures ahead.

Tissue paper when you open your box

Chart

Hand dyed ricrac and an adorable ouija board needleminder

Hand dyed beads and I love these little scissors!

Hand dyed backing fabric

Hand dyed velveteen fabric

Hand dyed cotton floss

Beautiful hand dyed silks

Hand dyed Charcoal quarter and Parchment half 40 ct.

And there you have it. I love everything that came in the box. The pictures do not do them justice. I don't want to take anything out of it and use it LOL!

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Lots of Smaller Projects

Well, here we are just about at the end of August. I guess I better do an update. I completed several projects in July & August so, here we go.

LHN Winter ABCs

 

Close up of Winter ABCs

Shepherd's Bush Little Witch

Shepherd's Bush Trick or Treat

Plum Street Sampler Merry Ewe

I am now working on TraLaLa's Alice. I am stitching her on 32 ct Vanilla Latte from Hand Dyed by Stephanie. Love this fabric. I'm also using the DMCs listed except the blue for her dress. I substituted a variegated Victoria Motto. The tag doesn't have a color name so I can's tell you which one it is. The DMC color the pattern called for was 415 which to me is a gray not a blue and we all know Alice's dress is blue.

Another one I want to start I just got in the mail this weekend. I laughed because my husband got the mail in and called out that I had "stitchy mail". Got him well trained! This is a limited edition Plum Street Sampler only available from Dyeing To Stitch in Virginia Beach. I called last week and asked if they had any left after seeing it on Instagram and luckily they did. So chuffed to have gotten it.

Well, this is the longest post I've had in a while. Maybe if I posted more often they would be shorter. I'm posting a lot of WIPs on Instagram. If you want to see those you can follow me there under the name brutcherjan. Don't know why/how it came out that way but that's the name.

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July 1 Update

So here is where I am with all my stitching. I haven't shown the LHN Farmhouse Christmas finishes since #3. So here are 4, 5, & 6. I picked up #6 on Thursday and completed the stitching on Saturday. The fabric is all the same, just different lighting on the photography.

#4

#5 - This is my favorite

#6

Since I finished these so quickly I stitched Spirits and Spells by Brenda Gervais in between #5 & #6. These are the small things I travel with. By travel I mean my lunchtime project at work and Stitch Night project. 

This is just so adorable. I have the Santa that is similar so I'll have to dig it out and kit it up to do soon.

My big project on the stand at home is the Chatelaine A-Mazing Lavender Garden Caleidoscope. It is almost ready to be re-positioned on the scroll frame.

Love the rice stitches on it. It is actually done in three different fibers. I think they came out okay.

So, that's what my June stitching looks like.

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Lavender Update

Well, I've been stitching away on my Chatelaine. I didn't get too much done this week, but I did finish another section, sans beads of course. I took the pictures with my phone so they aren't the greatest but you can see the fabric color really well this time.

Where I am overall

Close up of the latest section. 

I've started on this motif on the other side. There are four of these.

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Been Busy

I've been busy stitching. I have two more of the LHN Farmhouse Christmas completed. I'm hoping to have them all caught up before number 5 comes out. I started using Vonna's method of doing smaller pieces tacked to stretcher bars. It seems to be working out pretty well.

Number 2 Horsin' Around

Number 3 Grandpa's Pick-up

I also have a new big start. I started Chatelaine's A-Mazing Lavender Garden Caleidoscope. I've already put in little and big Jessica stitches. There is also a lot of bling in this. The middle is worked in almost nothing but metallics. I'm stitching it on 28 ct. Lavender Mist from Fiberlicious. It looks more blue in the picture than it is in real life.

That's all I have for now.

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A Couple of Finishes

I finally finished Part 1 of LHN's Farmhouse Christmas "Little Red Barn". It is stitched on 40 ct. Newcastle linen Light Mocha. I used all the called for CC except the Bamboo. I used the DMC B5200 for the white instead. I didn't like how the Bamboo looked on the Light Mocha.

I've started the second one. It's what I call my travel piece. It travels to work with me where I stitch on it during lunch time and it travels to my LNS where I stitch on it at Stitch Night.

This next one is a semi-finish. It is a baby birth sampler and I can't finish it completely until after the baby's born so I can put all the pertinent info in. It is Moira Blackburn's Tree of Life. I converted it to silks and stitched it on 40 ct. Vintage Porcelain by Lakeside Linens. You can't tell in the picture but the linen has a slightly pink tinge to it. Which is good as my friend knows she is having a girl.

I love how vibrant the silks look.

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Royal Games I

Finished this last night. I would have had it done earlier except I was dog sitting for my sister and did not take this to her house. No, I am not doing Royal Games II next. I plan on finishing a baby sampler I'm doing next. Then I want to start a Chatelaine that I have kitted up. Anyhow, here is the picture of RG I

Thank you everyone for the comments about my Woodlawn win.

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Woodlawn Plantation Needlework Show

This is the 55^th year of the Woodlawn Plantation Needlework Show in Virginia. People send stitching in from all over the country to this show. I’ve entered pieces over the years and have never received so much as an Honorable Mention. My friends convinced me to put The Astronomer by Myles Pinkney in this year. My husband and I went to today and to my shock there is a blue sticker on my card. That means I won a first place blue ribbon. Wow! I’ll get the actual ribbon when I pick up the piece after the show is over. I am beside myself with joy. I guess I have to start on another HAED now so I can get another blue ribbon at the 65^th year show. Yes, it may me that long time finish another one.

A Finish & a Little More Stitching

I have my first finish of the year. This is Natale in Slitta by Cuore e Batticuore. I'm thinking of making it into a pillow. Please excuse the wrinkles as I haven't pressed it yet.

It is stitched using the called for DMC threads except the gold. I substituted 3829 because the 3828 did not show up on my fabric which is 36 ct. Lakeside Meadow Rue.

After we lost Gray I needed a distraction so I started something new. Nothing like a new start to take your mind off things. I already had this one kitted up and waiting. I am now half way through Royal Games I from Mirabilia. I finished the Queen of Hearts except the beading tonight.

Isn't she lovely? I was hoping to have this completed by the end of March but I'm going to be busy dog sitting my sister's dog and visiting her in rehab. She has to have a knee replacement. I may not be able to stitch on this but I have a baby sampler to work on as my travel project so I will be stitching.

Thank you to everyone who commented about Gray. I appreciate your kind thoughts.

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Gray

We lost our beautiful boy Gray today. His kidneys pretty much shut down. Gray was born in the crawlspace under our house almost 18 years ago. We had captured all his siblings and even his mother and taken them to the shelter, but he was the last one. My husband would sit on the porch and tempt him with tuna. One day he just walked in through the front door and never left. As he was feral it took many years before he would even let us pick him up. We still had two females at the time and they used to beat the crap out of him when they felt like it. Eventually he was the last cat standing. He turned into a real love bug once he was the only cat in the house. He loved to be petted and brushed. My husband and Gray had a nightly routine. Gray would came stare at him around 8:30 every night and Sam would go into the bedroom with him and brush him. As the years went by he became more loving and open. The only thing he really hated was going to the vets. Oh my he could scream like you never heard from a cat before. They even said he was infamous. They could tell when he arrived because they could here him all the way in the back. He's in kitty heaven now with his aunts and uncles.  I love you Gray.