Gimme Summer Love

Okay, I know the lyrics are Gimme Some Lovin', but I just can't pass up a good play on words!

This past week I have been working on Faerie Summer Love, and making good progress; here she was a week ago:                                                                                                                          

And here she is as of last night:

The wings are done except for the Kreinik, so I should be able to finish them up today. My guys have just left for the weekend; I went and bought some DVDs yesterday, and I intend to burrow down into my craft room this weekend and stitch until I can't stitch anymore! I might even be able to finish FSL by Sunday night, though no promises. ;)

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Caught up, and a new start

Last Saturday I was able to finish up part 4 of CCN's Frosty Forest, called Snowy Friends:

I am now caught up with the charts released so far--woo hoo! The next block has another cabin in it, and the cabin blocks are my favorites to work on. 

I was going to get back to Mirabilia's Red when I got caught up, but I decided to start Nora Corbett's Faerie Summer Love instead. It is smaller than Red, so it should stitch up fairly quickly, and then I will have all four of the seasonal faerie designs finished. Here is where I am as of last night:

Her dress is supposed to be green, but I just really didn't like all of the greens in the design, so I decided to convert the dress to a nice, bright berry color. So far, I'm really liking it. I also played with her face a bit, as I didn't like the way it was charted. She looks a little bit snotty now, but it was the best I could do with it! Here's the chart picture, for the sake of comparison:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Getting caught up

During the push to finish Bucklebury Sampler over the past few weeks, I put all other projects to the side. Now, I'm slowly getting caught up with the Just Nan SAL and CCN's Frosty Forest. Yesterday, I finished my piece for the March JN SAL post, and am deciding what I want to stitch for April; probably another Christmas WhimZi, to continue with my "theme".

This past Tuesday I drove up to The Stitching Bee and picked up part 4 of Frosty Forest, Snowy Friends. Then I came home and finished up part 3, Snowman's Cottage:

I've made a start on part 4, and am now further along than the following picture shows:

I'm hoping to finish up part 4 over the weekend. The next entry, part 5, will be another cabin design, which are my favorite blocks in this series. I am having a lot of fun playing with colors on this piece, too, so it looks a bit different than the original.

On a stitchy side note, I recently had my Faerie Autumn Glow published in the letters section of Cross Stitch Collection, issue 233:

Gotta love free floss!

Speaking of free, Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is giving away one of her gorgeous sampler designs to one lucky winner; click here, and it could be you! I've fallen in love with Forget Me Not, as the colors are just beautiful.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Rosewood Manor's Bucklebury Sampler

I finally finished this gorgeous piece last Wednesday night at about 11:30, and the next day it was in the mail to Karen. Normally I can't share pictures, but because the chart has already been released, I received permission this time. (Karen does not want the pieces ironed before sending them to her, so please ignore the "bumpiness".) Here is the whole design:

And some close-ups, to show the beautiful details:

Now that I'm done with that one, I'm getting caught up with CCN's Frosty Forest. I should be done with part 3 today or tomorrow, and part 4 should be at my LNS any day now. Once part 4 is stitched, I'm planning on finally getting back to Mirabilia's Red (although I also have to finish my Just Nan design for the March SAL). So many wonderful charts out there, so little time...

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Just Nan SAL for February

This month for the JN SAL I stitched up her Christmas Eve WhimZi design, and popped it in the frame that came with it. I did change a couple of colors, and I used a different fabric than what was called for, and am pleased with the result. Here it is finished, before framing:

And here it is in its WhimZi frame:

I've started another WhimZi design for March, called Reindeer Game; maybe I should do all Christmas pieces for this SAL, then display them all at the end of the year...

Other posts regarding this SAL can be found here; there is even another Christmas Eve piece that someone else stitched. There is also a message from Nan Caldera herself.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

See, this is why I don't have much of my own stitching to show

Sometimes, the problem with trying to keep my blog updated and interesting is that model stitching gets in the way. I stitch for Rosewood Manor, and usually what I'm stitching is several months away from being released, so I can't share any pictures. Now it looks like three of the pieces I've stitched are being released, so I thought I'd share them here (I"m borrowing the pictures from the Stitching Bits & Bobs site, because they have nice big pictures).

Cornwall Cottage Sampler is the piece I was working on last spring, and it is a BIG one--about 18.5" x 18.5". For this one, I stitched the chart model, so you can just make out my name in the box towards the bottom right:

I then took a couple of months off while my son was home for the summer, and then last fall I started working on Spring Has Come, the three-part mystery sampler that is coming out in March:

For this one, I stitched all four of the pieces shown: the main design, and three bonus designs that are included with the charts.

When that one was completed, I received the one I'm currently working on, which is Bucklebury Sampler:

This one isn't the chart model, it's a second piece that Karen will send around in trunk shows. I should have been finished by now, but I've been sick (twice!), so it's been going slowly lately. Hopefully another couple of weeks will see it finished.

Someday, all of the pieces that I've stitched for Karen will come back to me, nicely framed, and I will have a wall full of gorgeous Rosewood Manor pieces to enjoy. 

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Just Nan SAL

The first post date is finally here, so I can share my first JN finish of the year, Candy Cane Snowflake:

The kit actually came with a piece of fabric, but it was a bit too light for my taste, so I used a piece of hand dyed Cashel linen in a pretty, pine green from my stash. I had started it on a piece of Belfast linen, but realized that the charm was going to be too large for the piece. Luckily, I discovered that before I got too far!

One of my favorite parts to this design is the red and white striped beads that are around the center charm; they are just so cute, and look like little peppermint candies!

There is a frame designed for this piece, but I wasn't able to find one, so I used the frame designed for JN's Rudy Reindeer, and I think it is a nice substitute. It gives it a bit more of a Christmas vibe, with the tree charm, and will be a nice decoration to get out every year now at Christmas:

I have already completed my next JN piece for this SAL, and made a pretty good start on the third, so I'm thinking I'll actually be able to complete this year-long SAL with 12 pretty little finishes. And if I'm able to do even more, all the better! This page has more entries for this month's SAL.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Not much to show

I've spent the majority of my stitching time on the model lately, with a few minor exceptions. I have now completed two small Just Nan designs for the SAL, and yesterday at stitch group I started on the third one. Of course, I can't share pictures of these until the SAL dates arrive!

The only stitching I can share is the border for the third installment of CCN's Frosty Forest:

Now if only the pattern would come in! I'm heading to my mom's for the weekend, and I have my fingers crossed that the pattern will arrive before I leave.

Norden Crafts has announced a Rosewood Manor mystery sampler SAL that starts in March, and posted the following picture:

These are the pieces that I was stitching last October/November. Very pretty color palette in this one!

I'll end with a couple of non-stitchy photos: this guy (girl?) was perched about a half mile from our house the other day. I saw him on the way to pick up my son from school, and he obligingly stayed long enough for me to get home, grab a camera and head back for these pics:

Isn't he just awe-inspiring?

Hope everyone is having a great stitchy week!

Preparing for the Just Nan SAL

As some of you may have noticed, there have been a couple of Just Nan additions to my blog lately. First was the 2014 SAL badge, which links to a page that explains the SAL guidelines. Secondly, I added a page of the JN patterns that I currently possess; there has been quite a bit of discussion in a JN group on FB about trying to compile a complete list of JN designs, so several members of the SAL are posting their personal lists to aid in that endeavor. I'm also adding a list of the SAL blog post dates, so I can make sure to post on the correct dates. Actually, I've already completed my piece for January, but I'm waiting to post until the 31st!

Here is a picture of a bunch of small JN designs, which I'll be choosing from during the SAL:

The piece I've already finished isn't pictured, while my next start was the Christmas Eve WhimZi (the small blue picture in approximately the middle of this picture). I had to take some comforters to the laundromat the other day, so this was a great little design to work on while there. I have decided to only work on smalls; between large models, my Mirabilia "Red" start and keeping up with CCN's Frosty Forest, I just don't have time for any larger ones right now.

Speaking of smalls, here is a picture of most of the JNs I have stitched over the years:

Here are the remaining pieces I've stitched:

High Hopes

Frosty Hopes

Witch Way

Christmas Hearts

Honeysuckle Rose

So, if you like Just Nan designs, stop back at the end of the month; I'll be posting sometime during the 31st. The design I stitched is pretty rare, so it's possible you've never seen it before. ;)

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

My New Year start

When I was going through my finishes from last year, I realized that this was the first year in quite a long time that I didn't have one large Mirabilia finish. I did have seven smaller Nora Corbett design finishes, but not one big one. So, what's a stitcher to do? Yep, you guessed it--start a large Mirabilia design right away!

I'd joined a FB group in which everyone starts a new Mira/NC design on January 1, and I decided to take one day off from the model to join in. My new Mira start is "Red", on Enchanted Fabrics' Rainforest Belfast linen:

I managed to finish her face and hair, but now I have to put her away until this model is done. I am so anxious to start on those gorgeous reds in her hood, but it probably won't be until the beginning of February that I can get back to her.

I hope everyone has a wonderful (and stitchy!) New Year!!