Copyright

(c) 2009 - 2024 (MEM)

Please keep in mind that, unless otherwise noted, everything on my blog is copyright material of some sort. Either by me (as picture taker, writer, creator) or more importantly by the designer of the needlework pieces I present. If you promise to be copyright mindful, my promise to you is to do my best to provide you enough information in my post for you to obtain your own legal copy. Please be respectful of these copyrights and not take business away from our wonderful designers. Thank you.
............. . ."She looks for wool and flax and works with her hands in delight" Proverbs 31:13 NAS


Monday, April 26, 2021

Celebrate Harvest - Finished

I ordered, and am slowly working on  Coming to America, The Women of the Mayflower, which I last talked about last September. It came with a bonus chart and special fabric for finishing the bonus chart into a pillow.

Well my Mayflower is still at sea, but I am ready to Celebrate Harvest! I finished the stitching and next I need to finish it into a pillow.

It is called Celebrate Harvest by Barbara Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread. 


I snuck my initials and year in at the lower right.

The fabric that came with it is a reproduction of a page from William Bradford's journal which documented the history of the first 30 years of Plymouth Colony.



That about covers it for today. 

Monday, April 19, 2021

Owl Firecracker Needlepoint Almost Done!

 Here is an update from this post.

I only work on this at my stitching club every Tuesday afternoon, so kind of slow progress for such a small piece. The background stitch (climbing stitch) is giving me a few fits. But I am almost there!

Once the background is done, there are a few stitches to add at the edges to aid finishing and then the finishing it!! So, stay tuned.


Owl Needlepoint

Happy Stitching!!


Saturday, April 17, 2021

Land of the Free - Finished

I got all the stitching done for this fun little project. It is about 5 inches square and done on 32 count fabric using cotton floss. It called for silk floss. You can get more information about it and see the list of thread substitutions on my April 13 post.

It is from 2011 and I had to modify the date on the roof to reflect this year. It required a little fiddling, but I got it done. Besides the cross stitches and backstitches, there are some satin stitches, Smyrna crosses and chain stitches on the project.

I am not sure how I am going to finish-finish it yet. I have my eye on a mill hill frame in chocolate, but it was out of stock. 

Blackbird Designs Land of the Free Cross stitch

Now to find another project to stitch on in the evenings. I have gotten back to a preretirement routine where I stitch in the evenings while my hubby sits on the sofa next to me and we "watch" TV. I do more listening than watching and listen to more programs on the tube while I stitch, but that is ok. He asks me what I want to watch and I tell him it does not matter, I can stitch to anything. It gives us some together time, and I get a lot of stitching done! It sometimes adds up to 3 hours a night.


Happy Stitching!







Friday, April 16, 2021

April Card Challenge

We live in an active adult (55+) community and it has many clubs and interest groups. I belong to a few of the crafty clubs: [Don't Worry Bead Happy, Festival Stitchers (which I founded), Quilting Bees and Paper Crafts and More].

My Paper Crafts more club does a monthly challenge and this month was a challenge to make slim line cards using a 6"x12" piece of designer paper cut a specific way. Then you will end up with five cards (or ten if you use the entire 12x12 sheet)! It is sort of a mini one sheet wonder.

This is what I came up with using a retired Stampin' UP! designer series paper called Painted Seasons. I used the paper with succulents. For all you card makers out there, my colors are from Stampin' UP! and I used Pool Party and Petal Pink cardstock. The ink is a retired color called  Call Me Clover. 


They got the idea from this video

In case you do not know, slim line cards seem to be the rage right now and they are sized to fit in a standard #10 business size envelope.


That is all for now - Take care!!


Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Land of the Free by Blackbird Designs

I was cleaning up some old emails and found one from Joan Seidel replying to my request for the thread she used to stitch this design. The original calls for silk and she used cotton. She was very nice and gave me her substitution list. I would love to refer back to her blog, but this is from July 2011 and the email does not give her blog name. No way am I about to remember it now!

Anyway it got me thinking about this piece, so I looked for it in my stash and found it with all the threads! The fabric is not the one called for in the original design, but it all seems to work.

Here is my progress:


The design is stitched on 32 count over two threads and will be 5 inches square when completed. It was in the July 2011 issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine.

Here are the substitutions: 
  • Sampler Threads (ST) Tarnished Gold for Mudpie.
  • Weeks Dye Works (WDW) Kudzu for Attic Tea
  • ST Blueberry for Evergreen
  • WDW Bark for Tortoise Shell
  • ST Brandy for Butterscotch
  • ST Old Brick for Poison Apple
  • ST Old Red Paint for Rose of Sharon
  • WDW Angel Hair for Sandy Beach
  • WDW Cinnabar for Terra Cotta
I cannot tell you the fabric I am using, it was from my stash, but it is a 32 count even weave.
I am working on this in the evenings and making good progress. It is quite fun to stitch too!!

Happy Stitching!



Sunday, April 4, 2021

Easter Cards

 I made these cards for Easter and thought I would share with you. 

The first one is my prototype and I had to make the lattice with 1/8 inch strips since I did not have a die. This was kind of a nuisance so I decided to make a run to one of my local paper crafts store - Scraps of Love in Peoria, AZ - and get a die. I had not been there in almost a year, so I was there a while looking at stuff and found other things I just NEEDED to have! HA HA.

I did find one lattice looking die that looked perfect! Until I used it, it did not cut out the squares!! But it worked great as a background for the bunny card!! Well, I did not want to go back to the store (it is about 24 miles one way) so I purchased a die from Stamps of Life, off Amazon. It came just in time, but the lattice squares were smaller than I wanted. So, I made some with the small squares and I cut some of the squares out to make bigger lattice for others. Phew!

I have not been in a card making mood for quite a while, but it seems to be picking up. Still, I did not make the usual numbers for Easter, so if you usually get a card from me and did not, I apologize! I hope to do better next year. 


 
This card uses the Stampin' UP! rainbow glitter paper for the egg.

This card is mostly balmy blue and uses Stampin' UP! big daisy punch to make the bunnies.
 I have a pile of loose bunny ears now!


Happy Easter! He has risen!!!!


Saturday, April 3, 2021

Owl Cracker

I started this in the fall of 2016. It was a project my local ANG chapter decided to do from the ANG Chapter Project Notebook. It is a set of 5 fall designs called Autumn Crackers by Marilyn Owen.

There is a quilt block, a maple leaf, a fall tree, a pumpkin and an owl. I decided to do the owl. The design is 3 1/4" x 4 3/4" and it is on a piece of 8"x 9" 18 count mono canvas. It is supposed to be finished as a cracker - like the ones popular in Britain at Christmas time. It uses pearl cotton, Kreinik braid, Fyre Werks, Silk Lame, Gloriana silk and DMC floss (you can use Splendor instead, I opted for floss).

This is one of the projects I picked up to work on when my community stitch group started meeting again on Tuesdays and I have only been stitching it then.  As you can see I am almost done. I just need to finish the last column on the right, the background above and below the owl and a few stitches to help with the finishing. Then on to finishing!




Happy Stitching!!