Loretta Spears: Christmas Heirlooms called Threads, finished as ornament

Photo after having stitched and finished a little Loretta Spears oranment.

Christmas Heirlooms called "Threads" all stitched

Just finished stitching "Threads". All that remains now is to finish it.

Christmas Heirlooms called "Threads": Loretta Spears, designer

This is the little Christmas ornament that I have just started working on. Photo that came with the instructions.

Miniature Georgian House and Garden Gate: Gay Ann Rogers, designer

Once in a while I try to do a bit of finishing and this morning I decided to tackle those two miniature projects that I have stitched a while back. They are: Miniature Georgian House and Miniature Garden Gate, both designed by Gay Ann Rogers.
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I simply finished them by using those Metal Finishing Forms. It makes finishing of little ornaments so much quicker and easier. Have added a bit of padding underneath, green fabric on the back and made some cording and that was it. Can't remember where I have ordered them initially, but there are some here. I know that you can find them at lots of places.
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I already have some miniature ceramic ones that I love to put on my Christmas tree and this year I will add those too. That should be cute :-)
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On another note, I have been watching "Le Tour de France" since July 4 and that has been distracting me quite a bit from my stitching since I never multitask, prefering to give my undivided attention to whatever I am doing.
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For those of you who do not know what Le Tour de France is, it is the biggest and most grueling cycling event that currently exists lasting for 3 weeks. The big question that all the fans are now asking themselves is which of the two will win the Tour: Lance Armstrong or Contador :-) How many stitchers are watching this, I have been wondering ..................
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Pierrette =^..^=

Patches of Snow Mini Stocking: Ready for next Christmas

It has been what seems to me a long time since this charming little stocking been waiting for his turn to my finish table. Well I have just done it this morning on a very hot and humid summer day.

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Yesterday I went through my stuff to try to find cordings and ribbons and found these that seems rather perfect for the job at hand, so put everything aside for this morning as I am really not an evening stitching person as I am usually too tired by then and just want to relax with other stuff. I felt that at times I was all tombs as this is rather small, but managed to do it, finally :-)

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This was a little kit I had purchased a long time ago and it is a Kaitlyn Marie Designs (1994). It was mostly beading with a little bit of needlepoint. Now I need to go to my list of finishing on my blog and remove this one.

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Dodecagon ornament series by Jim Wurth: Framing

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After discussions with our framer and my husband, we have finally made the decision to have them framed by groups of three, meaning 4 frames. Because of the different colors involved, we could separate them in two families, so we will have two frames the same and two frames that will be different but will suit that color family better. They will be on the vertical, not horizontal. I will not be putting all four of them together on my walls, so having two different sets of frame will not matter.

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Tomorrow my husband will go back to the framer and bring the first six ornaments of what I call my first color family and will decide on mat and frame. After that he will go back with the other six and do the same thing. We think that this way we will be more happy with mats and frames than having to pick only one mat and one frame and try to please all these diverse colors, so hope it works out nicely.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Cross Stitch Horrors

[Cross stitch project that I am working on]


I came across this some time ago and thought it was just so funny until it happens to you that is, that I wanted to share it with you all. I have no idea who the author is, so here it goes:

CROSS STITCH HORRORS

Today I joined a cross stitch class

And though it may sound dumb

Where once my fingers used to be

I now possessed a thumb

I couldn't thread the needle

And this creates a 'hitch'

For without a threaded needle

You can't create a stitch

The instructor had to thread it

And though it sounds kind hearted

She muttered lots of muffled words

And hastily departed

She showed us how to make a stitch

And where we should begin

But the first stitch ended painfully

Beneath my tender skin

Well, I've never been heroic

And I believe one lady said

The screams that issued from my mouth

Would surely wake the dead

The class was in an uproar

As they crammed to take a peek

For my face was now a deathly white

And my legs were feeling weak

My finger was in tatters

I tried hard not to cry

But the gash looked like a canyon

There was a good chance that I'd die

The teacher yelled impatiently

What she said I'll never know

For I fainted in an instant

When the blood began to flow

The teacher phoned the ambulance

For the wound was very deep

But she said the blood-drenched patterns

Could now be mine to keep

As they placed me in the ambulance

She let out such a shriek

When I tried to reassure her

That I'd be back next week!

Lovely Christmas poem by an unknown author

'Twas the night before Christmas, and, oh, I was weary.
My stitching unfinished, my eyes getting bleary.
The stockings weren't finished, the chimney was bare.
And I knew that morning soon would be there.

My children and husband were tucked in their beds,
But visions of backstitches ran through my head.
I'd stitched ornaments and presents and gifts by the ton,
And now, I was finally, almost, almost done.

As I poised my needle for one more backstitch,
I heard something outside that made my hand twitch.
I jumped up from my stitching, and flew to the door,
Pressed my eye to the peephole, tip-toed off the floor.

My stitching forgotten, I peered into the night.
When suddenly, I got a terrible fright.
On my porch appeared Santa, holding his sack.
He knocked softly, and I took a giant step back.

I unlocked the deadbolt, and let Santa in,
He entered and gave a mischievous grin.
"Hope you don't mind if I come in the door?"
"Coming down the chimney can be quite a chore."

He said, "You're up late. Still working I see."
"Do you know how tired you're going to be?"
"I know, Santa," I said, with a sigh,
"But I'm still backstitching the stars in the sky,"

"And the fields on that stocking look blobby you know,
I need to backstitch the drifts in the snow.
I've been stitching and stitching and stitching, no rest.
I just tried to finish stitching too much, I guess."

"I know what you mean," he said with a smile.
"This is my busiest time of the year, by a mile."
He stooped down by the tree, and he opened his sack,
And began to pull presents out of his pack.

"I've got some things here I think you might like,
An oak stitching frame, and a brand new Ott-Light.
A bundle of floss, and a great big mat cutter,"
I smiled and felt my heart go a-flutter.

He put down gifts for us all, then he waved his right hand.
"Go to bed," he said, glancing at my floor stand.
He gave me a wink, and stepped out the door.
I just stood there a moment, glued to the floor.

After he'd left, I turned back to my chair,
Picked up the stockings, and started to stare.
The backstitching was done! The stars lit the sky!
And on my son's stocking angels sung on high.

I ran to thank Santa for this final gift,
And watched as his sleigh started to lift.
I heard him exclaim as he pulled out of sight,
"Merry stitching to all, and to all a good night!"

Author Unknown

MERRY CHRISTMAS: Christmas Projects slideshow

The Night Before

It has been a while since I have done any work on Anne Stradal's design called "The Night Before", but if I want to have it for Christmas I better get moving :-)

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What I have done today is completing her dress and bonnet and make her nice and pretty by giving her a nice pearl necklace.

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I have a little more work to do on this project before I can start thinking about the finishing, but at least I am slowly getting there :-)

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By the way for those of you who have not yet seen it, Anne has just started a blog called "The Cape Stitcher".

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Will probably be back sometimes tomorrow afternoon with another progress photo, if all goes according to plans (grinning).

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Pierrette =^..^=

Wintertide ready to send as gift

Wintertide all done and ready to send as Christmas gift, so one done and how many more to go? I don't want to know (grinning).

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Need to clean my working space now before starting on something else.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Wintertide: Almost done

My little Christmas ornament is all stitched. All that remains to do now is cut the fabric around it, press and starch it a little so that it can hang properly and of course add a little piece of thread to hang it :-)

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Will go and do that right away!

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Pierrette =^..^=

Wintertide: Small corner flowers added

Moving along with Wintertide. Just added the four corner flowers with vines. As I am working this project, I have decided to make a second one a bit later using a different fabric and threads as I am not 100% happy about the outcome of this one. It looks good, I think, but it could be so much better. My fabric has uneven threads, which is a no no when you are doing hardanger. Not sure what I was thinking when I selected it (not thinking perhaps!). I had problems with the thread suggested, so switched to DMC Perle, which was not quite the proper size for this piece. I am telling you, big learning curve on this one. I need to use the appropriate fabric and thread for the task at hand next time around. Oh well, I suppose we can't win them all :-(

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I will now "attack" the kloster blocks and hopefully only cut the right threads and weave the bars. Let's see what happens next!

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Pierrette =^..^=

Wintertide, Poinsettia stitched

Working on 28-count linen has been a bit tough on my eyes, mostly in the evening and white on white did not help any, but managed to complete all the klosters and the poinsettia with leaves. Ouf! I am exhausted :-(
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This project was asking for silk mori, but that did not agree with me at all, so ended up using DMC Perle #8 instead. I tried DMC Perle #5, but did not like it as I felt it was too heavy a thread for that particular use and just did not look good. The #8 was a little too thin to my liking, but decided to go with it as it was the best of the two options I had as I just did not have the time to start looking online for something better and then wait for the threads to arrive.
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I still have a bit more decorations to add on all four sides of this ornament and then do a bit of cutting and weave some bars and it will be all done, so see you all soon :-)
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Pierrette =^..^=

Wintertide, A Patricia Andrle design

I have found a lovely free Christmas ornament made in hardanger, another technique that I especially like, on the Kreinik website. It is called Wintertide and has been designed by Patricia Andrle. I have other projects from her, but this is the first one so far that I have been working on, something that I should probably change as I like her style. I have only started working on it last evening so have not done a whole lot so far, but having fun with it.

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Instead of using the Silk Mori white thread, I have switched to DMC Perle, something that I already had in my stash. I am hoping that by the end of today I will have made quite a bit of headway with it.

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The next project that I absolutely need to get started on is the lovely end-of-term examination ornament designed by Gay Ann Rogers, so as soon as Wintertide is all done I will start working on it as the deadline is rapidly approaching. I am thinking of using some Christmassy colors instead of the same colors used on Mystery in a Corner. After that I need to finish Mrs. Santa :-)

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Better go back to it as the clock is ticking.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Jingle Bells Christmas Tree Farm

While I was searching for something else I found this lovely Victoria Sampler project that I started a while back. It is named Jingle Bells Christmas Tree Farm and you can see a photo of the completed project here.

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I was looking at the picture and there are still quite a bit to do on it, so I will keep it close by so that I can do a stitch here and there and eventually it will be all done. This is mostly cross stitch, something that I don't do very often, so that will be something different to work on.

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Better go back and try to find what I was originally looking for :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

The Night Before: A little more done

Well, since the last post about The Night Before, a design by Anne Stradal of ABS Designs, I have frogged her dress and stitched it in a lighter color, decided to stitch her apron using a metallic white thread with a little bit of silver in it. I thought that she might have decided to wear her prettiest apron since we are on the eve of Christmas. I also stitched some little shoe/slipper using a metallic pink to keep her in style :-)
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I have done the lamp base using a gold metallic thread, finished the wallpaper behind her.
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I still have to finish the top of her dress as well as the base of her sleeves (cuffs), finish the pine branches on the wall with a red bow, do the lamp shade stumpwork style, do the scarf knitting also stumpwork style, do the basket, the yarn balls and add the knitting needles, and oh yes also need to stitch her hat. I think that is about it.
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I was thinking of adding a pearl necklace around her neck. Would that be too much? I have made her dress rather plain so I feel that I need something to make it stand out a little bit. Of course the scarf will cover a part of her apron and dress. I was wondering if I were to add some thread over the dress and create some kind of design. Any ideas, anyone?
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Pierrette =^..^=

The Night Before, an Anne Stradal design

It has been a few weeks since I have posted anything on my blog, the reason being that I have not been feeling that well and have been taking things rather easy, which have given me the opportunity to do a lot of reading, something I love and usually am not able to find enough time for it.
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I have been able to do a little bit of stitching though and have been working on The Night Before which is the accompanying piece to The Day After that I have stitched not long ago.
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The photo below has been stitched by Anne Stradal herself and has been included with her permission.

[Designed and stitched by Anne Stradal of ABS Designs]

Below is a picture showing what I have done up to now.

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So far I have done a bit of the wallpaper, which I intend to do exactly as Anne did. I have done the flooring and the rug using the same color thread for the carpet (Rainbow Tweed RT55) and a DMC #5 perle for the flooring (mine is a shade lighter than Anne). The chair has been done in two shades of Velour Very Petite. I have stitched the table where the lamp is and the legs of the chair using the same DMC Perle #5 brown color.

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Now we are where things are getting a bit more complicated, at least for me :-) I wanted to change Mrs. Claus' dress, using the same color though as Anne did hers. At this point I am not sure if I like it or not. That is the reason I have not stitched yet her slippers as if I have to frog the dress, then I don't want to spoil the slippers. I was thinking of adding a little lace to the colar and bottom of her sleeves. Now, do I go for white or some pink color? I am still wondering what stitch I will be using for the apron and what color? Since she is not a maid, I don't have to leave it white if I don't want to. Oh! you may have noticed that I have stitched over the scarf that she is knitting and will also do the same thing over her apron because I want to add the stitched scarf over (like stumpwork). Still thinking about her needles as to how to make them. Also still debating about her hat, not sure what I will do..

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I have been wondering if I want to cover the shade of the lamp with some fabric instead of thread. Also have not decided how to do the lamp base, stem and finial. I will do the basket the same way as Anne did hers, but will wait for the balls of yarns as I may change some colors. As for the pine branches and bow, I may decide to do exactly as Anne did, unless I make the bow Brazilian embroidery style.

[My photo is a bit dark compared to Anne's but have used the same colors]

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So, lots of decisions still to make before this piece is completed. I will probably start working on the wallpaper while I am thinking about all this. If you have some ideas for any part of it, I would love to hear from you all and also tell me if I should change her dress or leave it as is. I don't mind doing a bit of frogging in order to make her look nicer :-)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Peace Tree

I have just this minute completed all the stitching on this latest ornament from Jim Wurth. This one has a Christmas theme and is quite different to the rest of the series which you can see here.

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You can see candles, bows of different sizes and colors, wreaths, etc.

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All the time I was stitching it, I could not decide whether I liked it or not. I like the individual components, just not sure that I like the overall look, if you get my meaning. It is like when you have this feeling that something is not quite right but can't quite put your finger on it.

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It is still a nice ornament as I don't think that Jim could create anything ugly even if he tried, but this one will need some getting used to it. On the other hand some of you may just absolutely love it. I would love to hear from you either here in the comment section or if you prefer just write to me at LovetoStitch99@comcast.net

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Now, I will go back to Angelina who has been sitting very quietly waiting for me to go back to her.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Peace Tree: Gold beads added

Here is a photo showing the gold beads inside the Jessicas that I had forgotten to add yesterday :-) With the beading added like that, it gives it a more finished look.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Peace Tree: Dodecagon Ornament Series by Jim Wurth

Peace Tree is the 11th of the Dodecagon Ornament Series designed by Jim Wurth that I have received so far. The 12th and last one should arrive sometimes in November, ending that lovely series.
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Jim said that he wanted to make at least one ornament that would have a Christmas theme to it and this one is it. The design took me a little by surprise when I saw it first and did not know what to think of it really, but now that I have started working on it, I am slowly changing my mind about it.
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All Jim's ornaments look much better from upclose as he uses a lot of metallic threads, which is so difficult to make all that sparkle stand out when taking photos, at least when I am taking them.
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I was supposed to be working on some other projects, but ever since I got so behind in stitching that series at the beginning and finally managed to catch up after stitching one after another, I promised myself that I would work on each one of them as soon as I would receive them, so temporarily put aside the main project I was working on in order to start working on it, though I have done it at a very slow pace.
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I have added a photo showing a close-up of that first section. Oups, just realized that I have forgotten to add the beads inside the small jessicas :-(

I have started working on Angelina, my latest blackwork project, but I feel that I have not done enough to take a photo. Will do as soon as I have a little more done to make it interesting for you all :-)

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Better go back to my forgotten beads before I continue working on the rest of it.

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Pierrette =^..^=