I Promised Astrid

At StitchFest in Herndon Va this weekend I met in person Astrid of Dragon Stitches and Other Stuff. It's been so long since I posted. I promised her I would post today. We had a great time. In the project bag exchange she chose the bag my sister put in. It was made of dragon fabric. Here's a picture of the whole group.

I'm going to start catching up for the past year. I started the year doing the #stitch9challenge created by Michelle Rudy of @farmgirllovesgoats. These were my picks.

These are the first five I finished. They were completed January through April. In April we went to Ireland. That will be a separate post in the future. We also adopted two new kitties at the end of April. This is Honey. 

and this is Roxie.

Well that's all for this post. I'll post the remainder of the year next.

Thanks for stopping by.

2018 Stitching

I've added a page for my 2018 finishes. I haven't made a page for these for a few years. I'm going to try to blog more. I still come and read the blogs but I don't post as much as I used to. I think Instagram is spoiling me because all I have to do is take a picture with the phone and I can post it right then and there. I need to make the extra effort to move the photo from the phone over to the computer so I can blog about it.

2018 was a rough year for me. Our mom went to join our dad in heaven in March. August I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disk Disease and had to have two shots a month near my spine to alleviate the pain. That's how I spent my August, September, & October. Just when I thought I was over all that pain I got the kidney stone from hell two weeks later. I had to have two surgeries, one to put a stent in to push the stone back into the kidney as it was too pick to pass (13 mm!) and the other was the lithotripsy to blast it into many little pieces. That took up the first two weeks of November. So I am looking forward to a less painful and healthier 2019. My goal is to get myself healthier, try to eat better and lose some weight. Oh and do more stitching!

Happy New Year Everyone!

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!

Thanks for stopping by.

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.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Thanks for stopping by.

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.

Thanks for stopping by.

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.

Thanks for stopping by!