My Stitching Box – Band Sampler - Jeanette Douglass

Well, it’s the weekend and the weather has turned cold again, but at least it stayed dry for the London Marathon which took place this morning. (Sunday)

I wouldn’t call myself a gardener but when the weather warms up and the sun comes out I do like to potter out there. 

Sadly, over the years the grass has turned mostly to moss and in places it’s died completely, leaving muddy patches, so I made the decision to have the grass re-laid.  I’m also having a new awning over my patio, so I'll have a nice shady spot to sit and stitch when the sun eventually decides to shine.

Anyway, onto the needlework and in the two weeks since I last posted on here I have had 1 finish, 2 new starts and I’ve worked on 1 wip.

My finish was the first part of my Leap Year Day project, the band sampler from ‘My Stitching Box’ from Jeanette Douglas.

This was such a fun stitch with all of the beading and specialist stitches and I can’t wait to stitch the other pieces of the set.

The star at the top is stitch 1 silk thread over 1 fabric thread.

With that finished I started my 15^th new start of the year and the 1^st part of the 9 piece ‘Log Cabin Christmas from Little House Needleworks.

This is ‘Log Cabin Squirrel’ and I’m stitching with all the called for threads and fabric.

My next new start was my April Christmas ornament for the 12in24ornamentstitchalong, with Carol from Stitching Dream Blogspot.  

I decided it was about time I stitched another of the Prairie Schooler Santas,   This one is from 2001.

Finally, I joined in with the Chatelaine Weekender Facebook Group and pulled out my Butterfly Lace Mandala.

Now that Palace of the Winds is finished, this is my oldest wip and I plan to make it a bit of a focus piece until it’s finished.

This weekend I’ve worked on the large yellow 1 over 1 butterfly on the right.

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 My Stitching  Box  

Designer – Jeanette Douglas

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart Evenweave – Antique White

Threads – Classic Colorworks Belle Soie, NPI Silk, Gloriana Silk Floss & Rainbow Gallery Splendor

(1 silk thread over 2 linen threads with the exception of the satin stitch & Bargello, which is 2 silk threads)

Beads – Mill Hill

Log Cabin Squirrel

Designer – Little House Needleworks

Fabric – 32ct Belfast Linen – Raw

Threads – Classic Color Works (Called For)

Prairie Schooler Santa 2001

Designer – Prairie Schooler

Fabric - 16ct Aida (tea/coffee dyed)

Threads – Called for DMC’s

Butterfly Lace Mandala

Started 9^th September 2021

Designer -  Martina Rosenberg - Chatelaine

Fabric – 28ct Jobelan Evenweave – Antique White

Threads – Called for Silks, DMC and Petite Treasure Braid

Beads – Swarovski Crystals and Delica Beads

  

‘Palace of the Winds’ – Final Tuesday!

 I’m doing a happy dance today, and the reason, last night (Tuesday) I finished my 2^nd oldest wip.

 ‘Palace of the Winds’  was started on January 14^th last year and I picked it up and stitched on it for a total of 51 days in all.

Thanks  Jan Hicks Creates  for such a beautiful pattern. 

I loved stitching it, although I’ll be honest and admit that I had several visits from the frogs,  because apparently I’m naff at counting, Lol!

This was an intricate pattern, so I thought I would give Pattern Keeper a go for the first time and got great satisfaction watching the number of stitches count down from 24,908 as I marked them off.

The closer it was getting to 0, the more I wanted to stitch on it.

I finished up having 2 stitches left to complete according to the app, but I just couldn’t see where they were, so I asked for some help in the ‘Pattern Keeper’ Facebook group to see if there was an easy way to find them.   

Several lovely ladies offered advice and in the end I was able to spot them, put in the final 2 stitches, and it was showing 100% stitched, so a big thank you to everyone who answered to my cry for help.

The next stop is to get it to Frames of London and find the perfect frame.

Palace of the Winds

Designer - Jan Hicks Designs  

Fabric – 36ct Evenweave – Light Grey

Threads – Cottage Garden  Threads  (Foxgloves, Cocoon & Bluebell)

 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

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‘Palace of the Winds’ and some shopping!

 As I’ve mentioned in the past, my idea of ‘Palace of the Winds Wednesdays’ has been a great success for me, given that I didn’t pick it up for some time. 

As I’m getting closer to seeing a finish, I found I didn’t want to put it down.

The last time you saw it was 24^th March,  when I had just completed the large semi-circle in the centre of the pattern.

I continued on with my Wednesday stitching but this last week I have been a monogamous stitcher and only worked on this one project.

Pattern Keeper tells me I’m at 92.54% and have just 1858 stitches left to stitch, so fingers crossed I will have it finished this week coming.

My Butterfly Lace Chatelaine will be my next focus for a finish because it’s my oldest wip, and it will replace Palace of the Winds on my stand.

I did a spot of online shopping this week and have had some new charts and threads in the post that  go with some of my Nashville acquisitions. 

First was some beautiful Cottage Garden threads in the colour Jacaranda, to stitch another Jan Hicks chart ‘Arabesque’. 

Then I got threads, fabric and the 2^nd chart for the Log Cabin Christmas series, from Little House Needleworks.

And finally, I loved stitching the Sampler Bunny from La-D-Da so much, that I decided to order two more charts and the threads for them. 

I have enough of the fabric used for the first bunny for one more, and I have ordered fabric from 123 stitch, which I’m still waiting for, for the second bunny, so I lots of projects to keep me going over the summer!

Well, that’s all for this week.  I hope you all have a productive week with whatever you are working on.

 

Happy Crafting!

Sue

X

 Palace of the Winds

Designer - Jan Hicks Designs

Fabric – 36ct Evenweave – Light Grey

Threads – Cottage Garden  Threads

Sampler Hare – La-D-Da

Well April is here and our clocks have gone forward, giving us lighter evenings, so it really feels like Spring has arrived at last.

The garden is looking a bit of a mess at the moment because I’m going to have the lawn re-laid in the next few weeks and the gardeners have put down weed killer before the new turf goes down.   There are signs of new growth though and my Perris is the star of the show for the time being, until I can get some bedding plants in.

On Easter Sunday,  I  managed to get in one last new start for the month of March and I’m feeling pretty proud of myself because it’s my 40^th start for the challenge   #celebrate50startalong    This is the challenge that Michelle from Pennys Daughter Shares  started on Instagram to celebrate her 50^th birthday back at the end of September, with the aim to start 50 new projects before the end of September this year.       

The good news…….I have just 10 more to go……yah!

(see the tab above for a list of the projects I’ve started so far)

So, on to project 40.

I’ve had ‘Sampler Hare from La-D-Da sitting here for some time,

I've just never got around to starting it, so Easter weekend seemed the perfect time to get me needle into my fabric.

I’m still trying to stash bust, so I pulled out a piece of 32ct Soft Cream Evenweave and the  threads are a mixture of the called for DMC’s that I had, and then I substituted the ones I didn’t for other DMC and Anchor threads.

Once the outline was stitched, the rest as really fast and I finished it on the 1^st April.

I loved working on this so much, I think I’m going to track down some of the others in the series.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue x

Samper Hare

Designer - La-D-Da – Lori Markovic  

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart  Murano Evenweave – Soft Cream

Threads – DMC 612 & 3799 (called for)

Substituted DMC 3768 &3864

Anchor 856 & 1007

 

Jelly Bean Jubilee – Brenda Gervais

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter.

 

Why, when there’s holiday stitching to be done, do I always bring it down to the wire?     Well, if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t be writing this, Lol!

I purchased Jelly Bean Jubilee by Brenda Gervais last year and only managed to get two of the designs stitched before the Easter weekend. 

This year my plan was to  finish the rest, but with Easter being early and not starting on them as soon as I had hoped,  I still only managed two of the remaining five!

 Jelly Bean Garden,

‘Hop, Hop, Hippity, Hop

I decided to make them stash busters and used scraps of 36ch mystery linen and Roxy Floss Co threads for both of them. 

I’ve also done some more stitching on the band sampler from ‘My Stitching Box’ from Jeanette Douglass, adding another four bands.

My Sewing Box

Started 29/2/2024

Designer -  Jeanette Douglas

Fabric – 32ct Murano Evenweave – Antique White

Threads – Called for Classic Colouworks Belle Soie, NPI Silk, Gloriana Silk & Rainbow Gallery Splendor

Beads – Mill Hill

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

My Stitching Box – Jeanette Douglass

 

Since starting this as my Leap Year Day start on the 29^th February, I’m finding it difficult to put down.

I have fallen in love with every Jeanette Douglas design that I have stitched so far and this little set is no exception and as we know, she loves a specialist stitch or two.

So far in this sampler I have worked plain old Cross Stitch, Satin Stitch, Tied Cross Stitch, Bargello Stitch, Large Satin Crosses, Woven Stitch and I am just about to tackle a band of Jessica and Ray (eyelet) Stitches, so wish me luck.

I had great trouble finding the ‘Cabranmary Woods’ box for this project over here, so in the end I searched to find the best price (including postage) from the USA.  It took a while but in the end I ordered from Farm Girl Dry Goods and it came fairly quickly, so it’s sitting here, ready to take each piece as I finish it.

All I have to do now is source a crown charm.

 

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 

My Stitching  Box  

Designer – Jeanette Douglas

Fabric – 32ct Zweigart Evenweave – Antique White

Threads – Classic Colorworks Belle Soie, NPI Silk, Gloriana Silk Floss & Rainbow Gallery Splendor

(1 silk thread over 2 linen threads with the exception of the satin stitch & Bargello, which is 2 silk threads)

Beads – Mill Hill

 

Jelly Bean Jubilee – Brenda Gervais

 I purchased this little book of seven charts last year and stitched a couple of the designs, so my aim this year was to finish the

 rest.  But Easter is early this year and I only managed two more, leaving three for next year.

First up is Jelly Bean Garden, 

I then I stitched Hop, Hop, Hippity, Hop, Hop.

Both were stitched on mystery scraps of 36ct linen from my stash and I did a floss conversion to Roxy Floss Co threads.

I’m making them into pillows, as I did with the others but at the moment I don’t seem to have the right colour trim, so I feel an on-line shop coming on, Lol!

Also, over the last couple of weeks I made a good bit of progress on ‘Palace of the Winds’, by Jan Hicks.

This is where it was when you last saw it.

And this is where I am now.

I finished filling in the semi-circle (although I have just noticed I have miss the little flower in the top right) and then went on the bring the stitching up on the right-hand side.

Last but not least for this post, if you have seen my Instagram you will already know that my weekly food shop this week through up a most surprising item.

Our local Sainsbury’s has a small ‘Habitat’ home goods section and tucked in amidst the candles, and ornaments was this small bud vase made of Mango wood.

 

The perfect scissor holder, right!

Happy Stitching!

Sue

x

 

 Jelly Bean Jubilee

Designer – Brender Gervais

Fabric – 36ct Scraps from stash

Threads -Roxy Floss Co,  

 

Palace of the Winds

Designer - Jan Hicks Designs

Fabric – 36ct Evenweave – Light Grey

Threads – Cottage Garden  Threads