Enjoying the process

I've continued to make progress on my Pretty Little Things box, and am just loving this project! I think a lot of the enjoyment is coming from stitching something without a strict pattern; I'm having a lot of fun choosing which items to stitch and where to stitch them. I even created a pair of earrings, because none of the charted designs would fit in the space I had remaining.

Also, once the larger designs have been stitched, I'm going back and adding some bling to fill in some empty spaces. Here is an example of that:

I had some crystals and beads in the upper left corner, but they snagged on my Qsnaps when I moved them, so I'll go back and add them later.

So far, I have two panels completed, and I have two more outlined and ready to stitch. Then I just need one more of the larger panels; it's looking pretty likely that I'll get this done before I need to start another model for Karen. Here are some more progress pics:

Oh, and speaking of models for Karen, here is one that I stitched that has just been released, called "Crosses of the Kingdom":

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Pretty Little Things progress

This past weekend my husband and son were out of town, so I hunkered down in my craft room with season 2 of Once Upon a Time on DVD and stitched until my vision blurred! ;) One panel of my box is almost done (I'm planning on adding some bead swirls to fill in some of the open spaces, but the main pieces are stitched), and I've started on the second panel:

A couple of close-ups, to better show the bling:

I'm really enjoying stitching each design, as I get a sense of accomplishment each time I finish one, and I still get to look forward to seeing the whole piece completed.

On the non-stitchy front, I caught a couple of visitors to our butterfly bush this past week. The first is a hummingbird moth, and the second is pretty recognizable:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

My new project

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have started another project for myself, and I'm hoping to finish it before I get back to model stitching for Karen. Last year, I did some stitching on a project for Judy Odell, who does amazing finishing work on her pieces. The project is called Shelley's Jewelry Box, and here is the finished piece:

In return for doing this stitching for Judy, she will be doing the finishing on the box I stitch; this is very exciting to me, because my finishing skills leave much to be desired! So, I finally decided what I would like to stitch on my box--Nora Corbett's Pretty Little Things. Here is my start after a few days:

I'm looking forward to seeing this grow, as I'm just picking motifs as I stitch, depending on where they fit in the best. I'm also going through my stash of embellishments, looking for sparklies to enhance the finish!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Couldn't wait to share!

I just put the last beads onto Faerie Spring Fling, and this gorgeous girl is now finished!

I enjoyed working on this one so much, that I'm almost sorry to be done! I sorely wish that I could start on Faerie Summer Love right away, but I have another project that I really need to get started; more about that in my next post. :)

Thanks for letting me share my happy dance with you!

Getting my dancing shoes ready...

...as I should be able to finish up Faerie Spring Fling in the next few days! Here is the latest update:

This piece has been such a joy to stitch; the colors are so bright and cheerful and fun to work with! Now I am starting to look forward to stitching the next one in this series, Faerie Summer Love.

Stay tuned for a finish in the very near future, and have a great stitchy week!