A new designer

I am really excited for my friend Akshay, who has taken the plunge and published his first cross stitch design under the company name Smitten by Stitches. It's currently available for sale at Fox & Rabbit while Akshay works on creating a few more designs with an eye to opening an Etsy shop in the future. Some people are doing a blessings sampler SAL, though I didn't discover it in time to participate since it's supposed to be started and finished in January. I love playing with one color designs, so last Friday I pulled some floss and fabric that I thought would look good together:

Of course, then I had to stitch enough of it to see how they all came together, and I am pretty happy with the result so far:

Aside from the Threadworx floss, the remaining colors are from Cottage Garden Threads, specifically their Daydream collection. While I've had some of their threads for a while now, this is my first time using them and I am really enjoying them; they have a nice feel, and I like the rapid color changes in the variegated skein. I'm looking forward to playing more with this design this week, though Merry Merry will most likely be my main focus.

I spent Saturday and Sunday stitching on Merry Merry, though not a lot on Sunday because the urge struck to work on cleaning up my craft room (i.e. organizing WIPs and putting stash away that had been piling up over the past six months or so), so I spent several hours doing that. I'm making good progress on her though, and it's almost time to extend the Qsnaps:

The chart calls for Mill Hill treasure 12162, which is a medium snowflake, but when I went to place it in her headpiece I found that it was too large to fit in amongst the surrounding beads. I looked at the model photo on the Mirabilia site and it looks like that one actually goes over the bugle bead to the lower right of it. Here is the best fit I could get with that treasure:

Luckily, I had a 12161 treasure in my stash, which is a smaller version of the same snowflake, so that's what I ended up using:

I'm stitching mine on 32ct fabric, so it's possible the treasure might fit on 28ct, but if it doesn't fit I would suggest eliminating that bugle bead to the lower right of it, or using the smaller version.

I'm planning to fill in more green on her dress this week, attach some more beads to the finished area, then extend the Qsnaps and maybe start some of the white underskirt--I have a feeling that's going to be less fun to work on than the rest of her, so I might try to intersperse that with parts of the rest of the dress.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on my last post, and my condolences to those who have also lost their mom. When I read the first comment posted it immediately reminded me that my mom is the one who started me on my stitching journey--she had come down to Champaign, Illinois for Mom's Day weekend and we were shopping on Green Street when we came cross a needlework shop. We went in, even though neither of us was a stitcher, and I fell in love with a Chief Illiniwek design they had stitched on an afghan. My mom bought the supplies for me, as well as a small kit to practice on first, and my love of stitching was born!

Those were some pretty amazing weekends, and I'm glad I have the memories of them.

Just in the past week or so I have actually had a couple of days during which I didn't cry at all, for the first time since about last October. My guys went to Iowa this past weekend and I spent about 15 hours over the course of three days doing some deep cleaning to make up for some of the neglect my house has suffered over the past year. I still have more to do (windows and screens--ugh!), but just getting things back in order has been a huge mood booster for me. I didn't have a lot of stitching time, but when I did I spent it on Merry Merry, who now has her hands/gloves:

I love that on a fabric with scattered snowflakes that both of her hands ended up right next to flakes--kind of like she's creating them and sending them out into the atmosphere. I think in the next few days I might start adding the bling to her headpiece and upper body, as I always love to bring the sparkle to life.

While I was gone a Nora Corbett model dropped that I had stitched, NC359 The Dining Room:

It looks like Wichelt changed the drop on the chandelier after I sent it back, and I'm not sure which version I prefer yet:

I have all six rooms of The Doll House kitted up, and I plan to stitch them all together, but no idea when I'll actually start them. I'm going to two Queen City Stitch Retreats this year; the first is their Chatelaine Weekend in July, and I'm planning to start Rose Lights sometime before then:

The second is their second Mirabilia retreat in October. At the first retreat in 2023 and again this year they are having a SAL for Charlotte, but I already stitched her back in 2015:

However, this year they're also having a SAL with a Nora Corbett design, Geranium, so I'm going to take part in that one:

So between Merry Merry, Rose Lights and Geranium I should have plenty to keep me occupied. I've also let Cecilia from Heart in Hand know that I'll be ready to stitch for her at the end of this month, so I think she's going to be sending a design that she'll be releasing at Market this year. It definitely feels good to be feeling more normal now; about this time last year is when everything started getting bad, so this year I'm hoping for calmer times.

Hope everyone as a great stitchy week!

Miss you Mom

It's difficult to start this post as I'm still coming to terms with my mom's death the day before Thanksgiving. She was actually living with us after a serious health event when I started this blog back at the end of 2011 and was always such a fan of my stitching; I would get emails from her almost as soon as I would make a post because she checked here several times a day, even when I told her I usually only posted one day a week. During her hospitalizations and rehab stays in 2024 I would often use her iPad to pay her bills, and every time I opened her browser it would be open to my blog. So it's hard to write this knowing that she'll never see it, but I'm trying to find my "normal" again and stitching and blogging are a part of that.

The Thursday before Thanksgiving I spent a few hours visiting my mom and I started a Jim Shore Mill Hill ornament for a friend who was supportive while I dealt with everything this past year; we both love the cardinals that visit our bird feeders so I thought this ornament was perfect for her. My husband, son and I were supposed to go to my mom's care facility the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to celebrate the holiday there, but Monday afternoon she slipped into an unresponsive state so instead I spent Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday sitting with her and stitching while families gathered in the main part of the facility. I finished the ornament Tuesday night, and the next morning she left me. All that to say that of course I couldn't give the ornament away, so I decided to stitch it again for my friend and used 18ct perforated paper instead of the 14ct that comes in the kits. I really like the smaller version created by using 18ct and will definitely be using it for more ornaments:

I did sub out two of the size 15 beads, one with a petite bead and one with a Magnifica; if there are more than about six beads in a row then the size 15s are too large for the 18ct paper. 

I also used the 18ct paper to stitch a new little ornament from Val's Stuff called The Giving Season; she is donating all of the profits from kits sold last November and December to a local pet food pantry in her area, so I bought it both because it's adorable and because it was for a good cause:

I'm going to make a beaded hanger for it, just haven't felt like pulling my beads out yet to choose colors.

I had received a Mirabilia model last August before things really got crazy here, so it was not quite halfway done when December rolled around and it was supposed to be completed by early February. It's probably good that I had it though, because stressing about meeting the deadline made me work on it even when I didn't really want to, and the stitching process started to work its magic and bring some much-needed peace to my mind and body. I finished it on December 30th and was able to ring in the New Year with no deadline pressure and working on an old WIP from about 13 years ago, Nora Corbett's Needle Fairy:

There are six Stitching Fairies in this series and so far I've completed Floss, Pincushion and Needle, with Thimble, Bead and Linen still to stitch.

Back in October I finished Nora's Arezzo, which wasn't very far along in my last post from September:

This past weekend I started the newest Mirabilia design called Merry Merry; I have this fun snowflake fabric from HLC Fabrics and I thought it would be perfect for this one:

Here she is as of last night:

There is some Kreinik #4 braid used around her collar and I really didn't like how thin it looked on my fabric. The circled area on the right side shows how it looked with one strand of the Kreinik; for the area on the left side I used one strand of DMC 890 to make the stitches then topped them with stitches of Kreinik and I like it much better:

I really need to get some things done around the house that I've been neglecting for the past couple of months, but I'm planning to work on this one when I have stitching time.

I'll end with a piece that I stitched for my mom back when she was exactly the age I am now, and a photo that I've always disliked. It was my mom's favorite photo of us but I've always thought I look horrible; now I just see how happy and healthy she looks and I love it too:

I'm really hoping for a good 2025, and wish the same for everyone.

Models released

A couple of Nora Corbett models that I finished back in January were released over the weekend; NC350 North Pacific Mermaid:

And NC351 South Pacific Mermaid:

I did ask if the names should be switched, as the red and yellow one says "South Pacific" to me and the cool colors look like "North Pacific", but I guess they were correct as is.

South Pacific originally only had one seahorse, but when I sent in a question right as I started her the amended chart came back with two! She also had some work done on her hands before they were accepted by Nora:

Here are some more photos of the finished pieces:

I took the weekend off from the model and worked on Nora Corbett's Arezzo; she now has a face and all of the skin is done so I'm happy with the progress I made:

This coming Saturday is the online Friendstitch Gratitude Gathering, and the goodie box arrived a few days ago:

It's always fun to open the box during the gathering, and this one is even a little better because it is part of my payment for stitching models for the retreat. I definitely need something to look forward to these days!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Still here and still stitching

It's been another minute since I last posted, so it took me a little while to put together what I've been working on again. It adds up, even when I feel like I'm not making much progress on anything.

My mom and son are still dealing with medical issues, but my dog's issues have been improving--yay! I started the August sheep from Amy Bruecken's Warm Wooly Welcomes during one of my mom's procedures:

I stuck with Cleo and was able to finish her up a few weeks ago:

I am not thrilled with the coverage of DMC 310 here; if I had it to do over, I would probably use three strands. It looks okay from a distance, but pretty thin closer up. Cleo makes the fourth finish of the original six Bewitching Pixies, so I'll be choosing between Ana and Luna when I decide to start another one.

I've made a small start on Nora Corbett's Arezzo 2014, which is a design she did for a show in Italy ten years ago. The chart is hand drawn and difficult to read, but a few years ago I sat down and entered it into a charting program, so it is much easier to work with now:

The balcony is charted in shades of brown, but I wanted to use this fabric (SMF Petals on Belfast) and I thought grays would look better with it; I'm pretty happy with how the changes turned out.

The last model I stitched for Heart in Hand has been released, which is Thankful Tiny Town:

Mine is the one finished as a drum on the cover. It is a really fun stitch, with the turkeys being my favorite part. I'm looking forward to stitching it for myself with the additional Frill included:

I did end up accepting a Mirabilia model from Wichelt, since it has a six-month deadline and that's at least twice as long as I need to stitch it, so that's my focus for now; I'm hoping to work on Arezzo maybe just a day or two each week, as well.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Cleo is taking shape

Things are still a bit crazy here, but I do have a small update on my stitching.

I've completed enough of Nora Corbett's Cleo to know that I'm happy with the fabric I chose for her. I was a little concerned that the greens might get lost a bit, but I think they will be fine, and I love the way the purples look:

She'll probably be my focus piece this week, though I did end up finishing July's sheep on the Amy Bruecken design:

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Trying to stay afloat

My mom, son and dog have all had medical issues in the past several weeks, so between ER, hospital and rehab visits, doctor appointments and the vet I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water. Even stitching is not helping as much as it usually does; I've taken a hiatus (hopefully brief) from model stitching because the stress of stitching on a deadline when I didn't feel much like stitching at all was too much. I'd like to think better times are right around the corner, but realistically I know this is probably going to go on for some time.

It turns out that Warm Wooly Welcomes is a good piece to take to waiting rooms, as the small individual charts and ease of the subject matter make it easy to work on almost anywhere. It went with me to the ER two days in a row:

And then to the emergency vet about a week later:

Then it went with me to a day of stitching in Green Bay, celebrating my LNS owner's 30th anniversary; I got a lot done that day, and am almost done with July's sheep:

I've stitched a couple of models for Heart in Hand, one of which has just been released:

The other one is a new Tiny Town, which will probably come out soon since Cecilia has a pretty short turnaround time when I send a model back to her.

This past weekend I picked up Nora Corbett's Mari again and was able to finish it:

I did really enjoy working on Mari, and since I already had three more of the Bewitching Pixies kitted in the same floss box I decided to start another one, Cleo:

As with Mari, this one is being stitched on an opal Belfast Silkweaver solo, and I'm hoping it turns out as well as I picture it in my head.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Another wildlife rescue attempt

Eight years ago, I took a duckling that had been separated from the mother to a local bird sanctuary where they were able to rehome him/her with another family of ducks. A week ago this past Sunday I came across a baby bird who was in even worse shape; it looked like he (I'll go with "he", though I have no idea what sex he/she was--I couldn't even tell what kind of bird he was, he was so little!) had been blown from the nest and a parent had tried to help him, but a hawk must have gotten the parent because there were "parts" scattered on the curb where the baby lay. :( I saw him as we headed out with the dogs for their walk, and cried when I saw him moving and realized what I was seeing. I thought for sure that he was a goner, but when I left for my walk about an hour later, he was still there and still moving, so I couldn't leave him there again.

The bird sanctuary has closed, so I took him to a wildlife rehab center in Green Bay. I held him in my hand the whole way up there, trying to keep him warm, and I could feel him moving and hear him cheeping off and on while I drove, so I knew he hadn't died on the way. Before I handed him over, I took a picture; right before this photo he stretched his head up and opened his mouth to be fed, so I'm slightly hopeful that he can be saved:

I'm debating whether I should call to see if he made it, because I know it will just make me sad if he didn't, but at least he got a chance he wouldn't have had if I had left him there. I learned years ago not to watch nature documentaries because there's just too much carnage, but there wasn't any way to avoid this situation--sigh!

On the stitchy side of things, I spent last week on a Heart in Hand model that I need to mail back today. Now I'm back to Nora Corbett's Mari:

I originally thought that I might get her done in June, as I started her for a June Pixie SAL, but with the week off I'm thinking that's no longer possible; I guess time will tell.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!