Don't you hate it when...

...you run out of thread for a project?! That sinking feeling you get as you stitch along, and start to think that the remaining thread just doesn't look like it's going to be enough... Well, it happened to me with the model I'm working on. Hopefully, more thread will be in my mailbox today and I can finally finish this piece.

However, one good thing that came of the shortage was that I was able to spend yesterday working on The Raven Queen with no guilt! I'm using a brighter color of Waterlilies silk in her dress, and so far I'm pleased with the results:

I do have one small finish to share, which I had completed a few weeks ago. It was a free SAL on By The Bay Needleart's blog, which came in four parts; the first three parts were regular cross stitching, then the final part added embellishing stitches. I had the first three parts done about a year ago, but never got around to the final touches, so I finally pulled it out and added some spider-web stitch flowers, lazy daisy leaves and French knot flowers. Here it is before:

And after:

There is also a kitty on the porch, because any home I'm in will always have a kitty in it!

Last week I offered to send needle minders to some of my readers, and I heard back from seven of them. It was so neat that a fairly wide range of countries was represented in such a small group; three in the US and one each in Canada, Italy, Sweden and the UK. All of them were mailed out this past Monday; a couple in the US have been received already, and hopefully everyone will have them soon.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Your comments are appreciated

Well, I'm about 2/3 done with the Rosewood Manor model, but since I can't show pictures of it I don't have any stitching I can share right now. Instead, I thought I'd just take a minute to say "thank you" to all of you who read my blog, and for all the comments you leave. While I didn't start this blog as anything other than a place to keep track of my projects, it has been really fun getting feedback and feeling like a part of such a great community of stitchers.

As a small token of appreciation, I have some needle minders that were made by my friend Gina; I had mentioned that people were always talking about losing their "stitchy bug", and that she should make a minder up so they could "find" their bug again; this is the result:

I had ordered a bunch to take to Italy to share with the retreat attendees, and these are the ones left over. I have gone through the last two pages of my blog, and the following eight people have left the most comments over that period, so I'd like to send them each a needle minder:

Marilyn

Le trame della Galaverna (Giovanna)

Justine

Linda

Annie

Heather

D1-D2

Rachel Tomkins

To these kind ladies, please send me an email at rrowe @ new.rr.com (remove spaces) with your mailing address if you would like to receive a minder.

And a big thank you to everyone for making my blogging adventure so much fun!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

She has a face!

The Raven Queen, that is:

I'm glad I was able to get at least that much done before I had to put her away. I would love to be able to start the dress, but the Rosewood Manor model came in last week so I'll be working on that for a while. I might try to take one day a week, though, to work on the queen.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Great weekend!

My guys left for Iowa early Friday morning, so after getting some cleaning done and buying some groceries I was able to spend the rest of the weekend stitching. Luckily, the new Mirabilia The Raven Queen had arrived on Thursday, so I was able to start it. Here it is as of last night:

A close-up of the pretty architecture design:

The fabric is a unique piece from HLC Fabrics, on opal Cashel linen. I thought the background would be a bit softer on this color, which would help the queen stand out a bit more; so far, so good!

Before the new chart arrived, I got quite a bit done on Bothy Threads Sleeping Beauty:

It is actually very relaxing to only work with one color like this, and I look forward to getting back to it later.

Last week I also got back a couple of the models I stitched for Rosewood Manor. This is Halloween Quilt Sampler:

And Bargello Sampler:

Getting these back kind of made me miss the model stitching, so I asked Karen if she had any she wanted done, and she's sending one to me this week.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

My pretties are home!

About five minutes after I finished my last blog post, the framer called to tell me that all three of my pieces were ready to be picked up; needless to say, I was at the store 20 minutes later!

Here is Charlotte, in her shimmery lime frame:

The Nymphs were a bit harder to choose for, as the cool tones in Night and warmer tones in Day made it hard to find the right frame, but I think they turned out well:

I liked how the brown and black mottling in the frame mimicked the same colors in the wings.

Since I am seriously running low on available wall space, these two are now hanging in the small hallway outside my bedroom:

I like how they look together, as the Nymphs both have a bit of that bright lime in them.

The third piece I had framed was a painting by Nora Corbett, which was the inspiration behind Mirabilia Designs:

I absolutely love this beautiful piece, both for the artwork and the story behind it.

In more Mirabilia news, Titania is finally done after more than 10 years of gathering dust (well, not really, as she was properly stored away) in the Bucket o'WIPs:

Another one from my original list of WIPs has been slain; I'm on a roll!

When I went to visit my mom, I took one of the Mill Hill Owlet kits with me, so I now have two of these little cuties finished (only four more to go!):

Back to Mirabilia for a moment--have you seen the new release, Raven Queen? I think she is so amazing, and will be starting her as soon as the chart arrives:

The chart should be here later next week, so while I wait I pulled out Bothy Threads Sleeping Beauty to work on until it arrives:

That is one big bundle of black floss!!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Grrr!!

I dropped off two stitched pieces and a painting at the framing gallery just over two weeks ago, and I've been waiting to post here until I got them back and could share pictures (since I still don't have Titania finished!). Almost four hours ago the guy called and said I had an order in, but then he called back and said it was only one piece; he was supposed to call back and let me know when the other two would be done, but I still haven't heard back. Doesn't he understand how impatient stitchers get when they are SO close to getting a framed piece back?!!

To make matters (a bit) worse, I'm leaving tomorrow to spend the weekend with my mom, so I won't be able to get them until Monday if they aren't in by tomorrow morning. So, I guess I'll share my small amount of progress on Titania after all:

With my pretty little turtle from Just Nan:

I also took a picture of my new ort jar, which has a nice back story:

On our last night at the Primitive Hare retreat, we all went out to a local restaurant for dinner. I had tiramisu for dessert, and it came served in the cutest little glass jar. My new friend, Vicki, wanted me to slip it into my purse so she could keep it; I told her she was welcome to try for herself! But then I asked if I could just buy a couple, and they sold me two of them; one for me, and one for Vicki. So now I have the cutest memento of both a great trip and new friends made during the trip; the lid even has "Fido, made in Italy" on it. :)

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

Still trying to find my stitchy groove

I've been home for almost two weeks now, but I haven't stitched very much during that time. Last night I finally pulled Titania back out, and made some good progress:

I think I could probably have her done within a week or two if I just sit down and get busy. Then I have the fun of deciding what my next project will be!

Marilyn commented on my last post that she was looking forward to the goodies I received/bought on my trip, so I finally got around to taking some pictures; now I just have to squirrel everything away!

Here's a picture of what was in our retreat goody bags:

The wonderful free gifts that Casa Cenina gave to us:

A couple pictures of what I bought at Casa Cenina:

In case you couldn't tell from previous blog posts, I am a major cat person! ;)

Finally, all my Primitive Hare purchases:

Isi had her display up all week, so this was the result of about three separate expeditions. 

I guess I won't have to look far to find my next project!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

I'm home!!

I got home from the stitching retreat in Italy this past Wednesday night, and I think I'm finally getting back into the proper time zone! It was an absolutely amazing trip, and I'm really happy that I made myself stray so far from my comfort zone, traveling outside of the US by myself by plane, train and automobile.

The retreat was held by Isobel Argante of The Primitive Hare, in a B&B in Citta di Castello; the 20 of us had the entire place to ourselves for the week. Niky of Nikyscreations Primitives attended and held a finishing class, and Maja Szilagyi of The Snowflower Diaries came as well; all are wonderful designers and terrifically friendly women. Here are the class pieces we stitched (Florence by The Primitive Hare, and the smaller piece by Nikyscreations):

I didn't get around to finishing either one yet, but someday I will...

Here are some pictures of Isi's display:

The quilt shown above was really pretty; I'd love to do something like that in the future.

Here are some pictures of my stitching spot while there:

Between the wind and the mosquitoes here in Wisconsin, I don't stitch outside; it's a shame, because it was heavenly! And here is a picture of Peppa, the B&B's resident pig, who shared our spot:

Her skin is so thick that scratching her with my shoe was much more effective than using my hands!

One of our day trips was to Casa Cenina, which is an online needlework shop. They don't have a store front at their warehouse, but they were kind enough to let us shop from the warehouse floor. I saw some great charts from designers I wasn't familiar with; I might have bought a few...

Their mascot was a gorgeous kitty named, appropriately enough, Aida:

One entire day was spent on a trip to Florence, which was beautiful. On the way home, however, a bit of a mishap with the battery on the bus (SOS indeed!):

Fortunately, a very handsome police officer stopped to check on us:

He might have gotten more than he bargained for, as a bus full of tired women can become quite loud! I call the picture above "When stitchers get together...", or "What happens in Italy, stays in Italy".  :)

When the retreat was over, I headed to Rome for a couple of days. Unfortunately, the Coliseum and nearby sights were closed on the morning I had booked a tour, so I didn't get to see much of them:

On my last night in Italy, I had Spaghetti alla Bolognese and tiramisu on the balcony overlooking Rome:

Finally, on the LONG flight home, I watched five movies (three cheers for free seat-back entertainment centers!!) and stitched this little Mill Hill owlet, Violet:

I made some great friends during the trip; Jane, Vicki and Jayne from the UK, who took this lone Midwesterner under their wings and made the trip so much more fun than it would have been without them!

For those in the US, Happy Memorial Day, and to everyone, have a great stitchy week!