Finishing Frenzy!

As we race headlong towards 2022,  I wanted to get a few things completed before the end of the year.

Stitching wise, I completed my forth in the Blackbird Designs series, For the Birds.

The Light Upon the Lawn will join the others, to be made into a little heritage book commemorating my Grandparents on both sides of the family,  my mum and dad, two brothers and myself.

 Temperature Tree, designed by Stitchin’ Mommy on Etsy was my next finish.

My final three finishes were stitched and FFO’d.

All were Christmas pillows, that unfortunately I didn’t manage to done before the big day, but at least I have a head start for next year!

Silver Bells was the chart from the Stitch Tool Box (Etsy) Mystery Box 2021.

Noel and Tis the Season were both charts from Christmas Cheer Pin Keeps, designed by Jeanette  Douglas.

I had one final finish of a stitch that I did back in 2013.

At the time ‘Summer Splendor’ from Little House Needleworks was a traveling chart, being passed from stitcher to stitcher as we finished it.

Mine just sat in my sewing box after it was done but I decided to have a go at making my first drum.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Down a Rabbit Hole!

This time last year I was a stitcher that worked one project at a time, two at the most, so the need for project bags was non-existent.

Things stayed that way until May, when I joined in with May-nia and started five new projects through the month and obviously needed something to keep them in…….. you know how it goes, right!

I now have several but at the  end of November  I came across Stitch Tool Box  on Etsy (based in Canada) , and she was offering a Mystery Christmas Bag , complete with chart and floss, as well as a needle minder and floss ring and decided to take the plunge.

It did take a bit of time to get here but it was so worth the wait! 

The bag is beautifully made, with a vinyl front.

And there were two charts

The first is a chart from Twin Peak  Primitives, Happy Holiday 2021. 

And the second was a little kit,  Silver Bells, which came with the threads and three tiny silver bells, a year charm and bakers twine for finishing.

I’ve stitched mine on  28ct Amber Permin,  instead of the 32ct linen called for, so the bakers twine is not going to be enough trim the pillow I plan to finish it as.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Block Party – 25th

I’ve had my eye on the fantastic series of ‘Block Party’ from Hand’s on Design for some time and purchased two back in the summer.

AS a cat lover, ‘Meow’ was a must, 

but the one that really caught my eye was a Christmas design.

‘25^th’ showcases all of Santa’s reindeer, eight around the block and Rudolf is included in the pins that adorn the top.

It’s stitched on 28ct Amber Permin with all the called for Weeks Dye Works overdyed cotton threads.

The set of pins are from  Just Another Button Company.

  

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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My First Black Sampler - Matter's Choice

 The 1^st November saw the start of the Black Sampler November SAL (stitch-a-long) that was hosted by Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery.

 I had never stitched a piece in just one colour before and I thought it would be fun to join in, as there are so many wonderful charts out there to work on.

 I decided to stitch ‘Matter’s Choice’, from Carriage House Samplings.

I started on the 4^th November and finishing all the stitching by the 27^th.

 It was done on  36 ct ‘Cookie Collection  from Nicholas Flamel Design, on Etsy and I used Sulky thread for the first time.

The frame was custom made by Skelf Frames.

 Happy Stitching!

Sue

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Advent

 I only worked on three projects during the month of November but did manage 26 finishes!

How does that work out I hear you say.

Well, I completed a sampler, which I will show in my next post and then as we raced through the month I was frantically stitching on my  Madame Chantilly Advent Calendar, which I fully finished just in time for the 1^st December.

In actual fact the little panels were fairly quick to stitch, but it was the finishing that was a little more intensive, especially as I had to repeat the process 25 times.

The chart shows the panels as little pillows but I decided to make mine into flat ornaments, using the fantastic tutorials from ‘The Twisted Stitcher’- Vonna Pheiffer on Floss Tube. 

I finished them with cording made with my Kreinik Custom Cord Maker and added some bling in the form of small shell buttons and tiny diamantes on all the snowflakes.

Chart - Advent - Madame Chantilly

Fabric – 36 ct ‘Lambs Fur’  - Nicholas Flamel Design (on Etsy)

Thread – DMC

Start date – 3^rd November 2021

Fully Finished – 28^th November 2021  

 

Then my final stitch was to finishing the November branch of my Temperature Tree.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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New Month, New Start …….or Two!

 On Tuesday 2nd November I finally made a start on my own Christmas stitching and have a few things lined up, including some Prairie Schooler Santa’s and Block Party ‘25^th’ from Hands on Designs.

I decided to start with my Madame Chantilly’s Advent , a collection of 25 really cute pillows, although  I’m planning to make mine into little flat ornaments as opposed to pillows.

 I’m stitching on  36 ct ‘Lambs Fur’  hand dyed linen from Nicholas Flamel Design (on Etsy) and using the called for DMC threads, although I substituted the two Les fils de Atalia threads  with two variegated DMC’s.

What I really love about this stitch is that they are quick little stitches, so almost every day I have a new finish!

So far I have completed one, two and three and I’m part way through four.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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October Round-up

 I’ve only worked on three of my WIP’s this month.

 I’ve actually been taking part in #witcheystitchy2021 over on Embroidery.com, where the idea was that you had to stitch for a least 30 minutes each day throughout October and be accountable on their Facebook group and then there were also 5 tricks you could take part in too.

For the first stitch I went back to one of my May-ina starts, ‘3 Butterflies’ from Rosewood Manor and I managed a finish.

Start of Month

End of month

My weekends were spent joining in with the Chatelaine Weekenders, when I stitched on ‘Butterfly Lace Mandala’, designed be Martina Rosenberg.

Start of Month

End of month

One of the five tricks during the month was to stitch something that frightens you and the first of the 1 over 1 butterfly’s fitted the bill perfectly.

I’ve never done this before and it was very time consuming, but so worth the effort.

The final project I worked on was my Temperature Tree, designed by Stitchin Mommy, on Etsy.

Start of Month

End of month

I finished the leaves on the September and October branches and stitched some more of the trunk.

I also had two small starts, the first being the next in the Loose Feathers series, For the Birds, from Blackbird designs.

The second was Matter’s Choice from Carriage House Samplings

but I ended up frogging the little bit I stitched.

I realised that I had cut my fabric to the size of the finished stitch and had forgotten to add the extra around the edge for finishing.

I’m so annoyed with myself because in all my years of stitching I never managed to do that……..oh well, I have a new bit of Linen now and will start it again for #blacksamplersal

Happy Stitching!

Sue

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