Last new WIP...

...for a while, anyway! Blue Ribbon Designs has a new, three-part mystery sampler called Blue Jeans and Daisies; I picked up the first chart this past Sunday, so Tuesday evening I decided to take a small break from model stitching and make my last guilt-free January start for the year:

The design calls for a WDW fabric called Blue Jeans, but I went with a piece of Silkweaver Sapphire Sky that I already had in my stash. I had originally planned to use flosses from my stash, substituting as needed, but when Kendra waved her one extra thread pack around, I caved and bought it!

Speaking of Kendra, she opened up The Stitching Bee for a stitch group this past Sunday, and much fun was had by all. Besides acquiring the above chart and floss, I also got the third chart in Santa's Village, North Pole Post Office, and the embellishment pack for Mirabilia's Roses of Provence. And because I couldn't take the model with me, I brought along Roses of Provence, which I believe is going to be one of my favorite Mirabilias:

Which leads me to one very exciting piece of news: there is going to be a Mirabilia Minions stitching retreat in Greenville, SC, in April, and Nora Adams (aka Corbett) is going to attend! I am actually going to meet my very favorite designer! I imagine I feel like a 12-year old girl who just found out that she's going to meet Justin Bieber. ;D 

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

One down, eleven more to go

Santa's House is done, and I am really liking the way it fits on this fabric:

His eyes are a bit large, but those are the smallest French knots I could make! ;D I am really looking forward to working on the next house in this series, but need to get back to my model for now.

Oh, and you know how I mentioned that I might start Mirabilia's Roses of Provence this year? Well, last night I went through my fabric stash, and found the perfect piece, so I will be starting this in the near future; this is an "old" Silkweaver solo on 32ct Jobelan, and I think the colors are wonderful:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Santa is outside the house!

I am having a hard time putting Santa's House down; at this point, I'm hoping to finish it today, and THEN I really need to get back to my model! Yesterday I was able to stitch both Santa and the tree, so now I have some snow left, and then the branch and berries below the house:

I probably would have been done already, except for spending the weekend stitching this cute little Valerie Pfeiffer Golfing Chick for Lora, who had asked for someone to stitch it for her on the 123Stitch MB:

My wonderful husband gave me a gift certificate to the gallery where I get most of my pieces framed, so I took Pincushion Fairy and Poppy in, and got them back a couple of days ago. For PC, I chose the same frame as I did for Floss Fairy, but in a different color:

There are several more colors to choose from in this frame, one of which is a green that matches the wing colors perfectly, so I already know what I'll be using for Needle Fairy, when she's ready.

I love the frame I chose for Poppy, as I think the swirls in the frame really complement the swirls of the dress:

So, now I am off to finish Santa's House; check back in a few days and you can see the whole thing. :)

Eyes, don't fail me now!

Wednesday, I drove up to The Stitching Bee and picked up the first two designs in the Santa's Village series from Country Cottage Needleworks. I was anxious to see how the houses would look on the fabric I chose, so I took a couple of days off from the model I'm stitching to work on Santa's House. Here is my progress as of last night:

I love the way it looks; however, this 2-over-1 stitching is not particularly easy for my 45-year-old eyes! It's also a bit harder to push the needle through the holes; I'd probably be done with this house if I was stitching 2-over-2. But I will persevere, because I do really love the way it looks on this fabric. CCN just released the third design, so I'd better get my model done soon, so I can get caught up!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Stitchy goals for 2013

So, in the first year (and four days) of my blog, I managed to slay seven of the 20 WIPs that I started 2012 with; certainly not as many as I had hoped, but a somewhat respectable number. ;) Going forward into 2013, I have decided to keep my original WIP list, with the hope of finishing several more this year. However, I am also going to make some guilt-free January starts, with the objective of finishing them all this year, so as not to carry any more WIPs into next year.

The first of these is Sandy Orton's Rapunzel, which I am starting as part of a Sandy Orton Fairy Tale SAL on the Mirabilia Stitchers board. I have chosen a Heavenlee Creations fabric, which I hope will give the illusion of sky and mountains/trees in the distance:

After finishing Nora Corbett's Pincushion Fairy, I still had all of the flosses sorted and ready, so I decided to pull out Needle Fairy for another start:

Country Cottage Needleworks has a cute new multi-part design called Santa's Village, and when I found a piece of Tattersall linen in my stash, I decided to stitch the series on the 28ct linen, 2-over-1; the whole village will fit on one fat eighth of fabric:

I saw a design called Decorating the Christmas Tree on eBay, but the seller wanted $7.50 for a chart pulled out of a magazine, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that for one chart from a magazine that costs that much for an entire issue. Luckily, a nice woman named Kathi saw my post on the 123Stitch MB, and kindly offered to send the pattern to me at no charge. I have pulled some floss colors to make a conversion, so the three little girls will be wearing different colored nightgowns; that should make it even more fun to see this one progress:

Finally, I have made a small start on a Vervaco kit that I have had my eye on for some time, called Tango in the Streets. It finally went on sale for $23 (down from $60), so I snapped it up! Unfortunately, the fabric it came with, which is printed with a background design, is Aida, which I just don't want to stitch on, so I switched it out for a piece of dark purple linen. I've got some ideas for framing this when it's done, but no sense in getting too far ahead of myself!

I am still waffling a bit on whether or not I will start the newest Mirabilia design, Roses of Provence, once my order comes in. It definitely reminds me of the "older" designs that drew me to Nora's work in the first place, and I already have the floss ready to go, so it could easily make the list!

For now, though, it's back to work on my current model. Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Pincushion Fairy is done!

My first finish of 2013 is one that I was hoping to finish last year, but I suppose four days difference isn't too bad; here is my cute little Pincushion Fairy by Nora Corbett:

There are six Stitching Fairies in this series, so I still have four more to do. Pincushion Fairy will be joining her "sister", Floss Fairy, on my craft room wall as soon as I can get her framed:

I think Pincushion may end up being my favorite, but I guess we'll see after I stitch Linen, Bead, Thimble and Needle Fairies!

Now that I've finished this one, it's time to get to "work" on the model that Karen sent to me in December. I'm also trying to figure out what new projects to start this year, so stay tuned for my goals for 2013!