April Just Nan SAL entry

As predicted, a day late. After an amazing Mirabilia retreat, then a nine hour drive, I had absolutely no ambition last night!

My entry for this month is Noella's Christmas Berry, which is one of a set of four JNs that came with a beautiful enameled box to hold the stitched piece. Here is Noella, holding her berry:

Here is the berry, before and after finishing:

I make no claim to having good finishing skills, which is why there will never be a picture of the top of this berry! Gathering the fabric and attaching the bead cap was a bit beyond my limited skills, but other than that it turned out pretty nicely.

So I now have three of the four "enamel box" designs completed, with only Minerva's Mouse left to stitch (Minerva is an owl). Here are Lady Scarlet's Secret Garden, Barnabee's Bride and Noella's Christmas Berry:

I hadn't intended to stitch Noella, but an opportunity arose to trade the pattern for Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll (which I have wanted for a long time), so I ended up stitching the berry in a couple of days, finishing it on the third day and then sending the pattern out to its new home. And now I have Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll to stitch!!

For more JN April SAL entries, click here.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Small Frosty Forest update

I don't have much stitching to share, but I thought I'd post a small update before I head off to Columbus, OH for the Mirabilia retreat starting tomorrow. Part of the reason I don't have much to show is because I haven't actually done much stitching while I try to get ready for my trip. I did get my April Just Nan design finished, which I'll post on either the 27th or 28th--the post date is supposed to be the 27th, but after driving 9+ hours home from Ohio, I might not feel like blogging!

So what little stitching I did accomplish, aside from the Just Nan piece, was on part 5 of Frosty Forest, Bluebird Cabin:

Here is the whole design so far:

Part 6 will probably get to my LNS next week, so I'd better get stitching when I get home from the retreat if I want to stay caught up with this one. It seems like once I fall behind on a multi-part series, it's pretty much over!

I have to laugh at myself a bit, because as I was working on Bluebird Cabin, I realized that there is no doorknob charted. Raccoon Cabin and Snowman's Cottage both have one, so I knew I wanted to put one in. However, each of those two have the knob on different sides, and if the last house, Snowgirl's Cottage had one, I wanted to put it on the opposite side of that one so that there would be two on each side. And yes, I do have a "touch" of OCD! I actually emailed the designer, Nikki Leeman, to ask her which side the handle was on on Snowgirl's Cottage, and she was kind enough to reply to such an odd request. I know, I'm weird!

Heads up for Nora Corbett fans, she is going to have a design in the July issue of Cross Stitch & Needlework, Moonlight Laguna Mermaid:

I might have to stitch her on Lugana, instead of linen, just because it would be fun to say Laguna is on Lugana! ;)

Hope everyone is having a great stitchy week!

Ahhh, spring in Wisconsin!

Last week the temperature was in the 50s-60sF, so every day I tried to spend two or three hours in the morning working on trimming back our plants. This is what I woke up to this morning:

Lovely...NOT! On the plus side, I'll have more stitching time, since yard work is cancelled. ;)

Work continues on Red, and every detail that emerges makes me fall more in love with her:

I had to extend my Qsnaps, so I did some of the beading at the top before I did that:

I spent some time yesterday working on a small Just Nan design for this month's SAL entry. I can probably finish the stitching today, but then I need to finish it into a berry, so we'll see how that goes.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy (and snow-free!) week!

I'm in love with Red

Mirabilia's Red, that is (although I love the color, as well!). The more I work on her, the more I appreciate the amount of detail in this design, and I can't wait to see more appear. Here is where I left off last night:

I really need to get some yard work done in the coming weeks, now that the temperature is finally warming up a bit, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to work on her. I also still have to pick out a Just Nan design to work on for the April SAL, and I finally picked up part five of CCN's Frosty Forest, which I should stitch soon if I want it to be finished before part six is released. It's frustrating, because I just love watching her "come to life" a bit more each day.

On another Mirabilia related note, the Mira Retreat is rapidly approaching; it will be April 25-27, in Columbus, OH. I'm dreading the drive, as it looks like it will be close to nine hours, but I can't wait to see everyone. I'll definitely be taking Red with me, but might not get much stitching done that weekend, with all the sharing and talking that goes on.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

She's (and THEY'RE) Finished!!

The Kreinik I needed arrived yesterday, so Faerie Summer Love was finally finished last night:

The fabric is Shimmering Meadow Twilight, on opal Belfast, from Sugar Maple Fabrics. Here are a couple more pictures that show the pretty beads better:

What makes this finish even more exciting than usual is that she was the last of the four seasonal faeries that I wanted to stitch, so I now have the complete set finished. From left to right, Faerie Spring Fling, Faerie Summer Love, Faerie Autumn Glow and Faerie Winter Dream:

Sometime in the future, I'd like to send them to Jill Rensel for framing; guess I'd better start saving up!

Hope everyone continues to have a great stitchy week!