Knee Keeper by The Wee Bee and Eventide Designs

This is a project I finished today that is a late Christmas gift. It's based on a Knee Keeper design by the Wee Bee. The quilt square design is from the Quilts and More patterns by Eventide Designs. I made a knee keeper for myself a year or so ago, and I made this one to match a needle book that I had previously made for the recipient. Not a great picture, and I couldn't fit the whole thing on the scanner, but you get the idea. This is probably my last finish for the year. Now I'm off for a stitching day with my sewing friends! WooHoo!

Enough stash for awhile?

I was looking for something in my stash the other day and realized that I easily have enough to keep me going for many, many years. Probably long after I'm able to see and stitch any more. Of the things that I've organized so far (about 3/4 of my cross stitch stuff) I counted 15 Works in Progress, 53 Kits, 20 Ready to Start projects that I've kitted myself, 13 Charts and Embellishments that just need to have fabric added to get started (I probably already have the fabric in my fabric stash), 6 Charts and Fabrics that need to have the floss gathered to start, and about 124 charts. This is only cross stitch! It does not include My Stitching Album, which can be counted as many small projects or one very expensive big one, and a few other things that I haven't found/organized yet. I also have hardanger, pulled thread, drawn thread, sewing/quilting, and other craft projects waiting for my attention. So my new years resolution is to work only from my stash, EXCEPT for the rest of My Stitching Album which I've committed to buy from my local shop, and perhaps a 'little something' at Celebrations in May ;-)

Happy Holidays to all, and a Happy New Year filled with lots of time for stitching.

Quaker Basket Needle Book

This was a free design by The Prairie Sampler. Instead of using her color suggestions I decided to use one of Jar Designs overdyed flosses. I ended up leaving off the basket part of the design because I was running out of the floss. Then Nataly had the great suggestion to finish it as a tri-fold needle book instead of the needle roll design that the designer suggested. Although the finishing instructions for the needle roll were clever and different, I'll use a needle book every day and don't have a good place to display needle rolls, so I decided to use Nataly's excellent suggestion. Thanks, Nataly.

Friendship Star Puzzle Purse

I finished stitching this piece many weeks ago and put it together a couple of weeks ago, but I've been too busy to post, or stitch, since then :-(

This cute little item is by the Prairie Sample. I thought it was one of the most clever designs I've seen. The stitching was very easy and the assembly was not too tough either. The hardest part was getting it folded correctly the first time! Fortunately the designer included a paper template with the pattern. Without that I doubt I'd ever have gotten it right. The series of pictures shows it in several different views. When it's all folded up you can keep needles or a thimble in the middle.

This is all of the stitching that gets done:

This is what it looks like partially folded:

This is what it looks like all folded up:

How cute is that??

Autumn Time by Homespun Elegance

I just finished framing Autumn Time, which is the last in this series. I really enjoyed working on these, but I did modify each of them and leave off the ABC at the top and the 123 on the right side. I was going to start working on My Stitching Album by Jeannette Douglas next, but the fabric was backordered so I'll have to wait. Rather than start another new project, maybe I'll pick up one of my many UFO's and see if I can clean up a couple of those. Hope you're all finding plenty of time for stitching. Maybe we should think about scheduling another stitching day sometime in late October/early November??

Summer's Bounty by Milady's Needle

I just finished stitching this and put it in the off-white bag by Olde Colonial Designs. I decided to do a nun stitch around the edge to keep it from fraying, which took more time than it was worth. I'd like to do some seasonal pieces and pop those into the off-white or black bag as appropriate. Next time I'll just zig-zag around the edge instead. Off to start Fall Time for my clock. Hope everyones's getting lots of stitching time!

Olympic Challenge

The 2muchXS Yahoo Group is having an Olympic Challenge, and I decided to sign up for it. For those who aren't familiar with it, the challenge basically means that you start a project during the Olympic opening ceremonies and finish it by the closing ceremonies, at least that's the goal.

The project doesn't have to be a big one, as a matter of fact most people who signed up are working on small projects. I signed up to do Summer Time by Homespun Elegance. I thought it might give me a chance to actually finish this and get it mounted in the clock before summer was over!

I'll probably be stitching that at our stitching day on August 16th, which is only one week away 8-)

Some of my finishes and WIP

Hello All,

I have complete a small piece that I purchased at Celebrations. I actually finished it a day or so after Celebrations. It is from Faithwurks, it is a small wooden spool with a garden stitchery theme with the phrase "You are my sunshine." I stitched it very quickly and placed it on top of my sewing machine. I see it every day, and it reminds me of my children when they were young. I used to sing that song to them when they were babies and toddlers. I now sing the song to my niece and nephews, ages 4 and 3 years and 5 months.

Since I dropped and broke my digital camera a number of months ago, and have not purchased a new one yet, I can't show a picture. Purchasing a camera is just one of those things that I have not gotten around too. I will take a picture the old fashion way and then post a pic.

I am currently working on a piece for my nephew, Lucas. He starts daycare in late August and I am making him a "name tag" with ocean/beach theme. My sister and her husband are huge beach people, so I stitched his name and I am adding little beach things to go under his name, a fish, a pail, turtle, seahorse and a little boy floating in the water in a floaty beside his name. I will then sew the name tag onto a large tote bag that I purchased for use to haul all the stuff back and forth to daycare.

The other piece that I am working on is a little freebie from The Prairie Schooler, it doesn't have a name, but it is a little house, with trees, a flower and little rabbit. It is so small it is 33 x 24, so a quick stitch. It is actually my second one, I hope to make a quite a few of these as small gifts for the holiday season or for birthday gifts. The minute that I get bored with stitching them that will be it. There is nothing I hate more than stitching something over and over again. I have done that way too many times.

Denise
In beautiful coastal Maine

Flower Urn by Homespun Elegance

This is a project I bought at this year's Celebrations. I bought the pre-finished Stitchery Keep from Olde Colonial Designs and I substituted the floss with new overdyed flosses from Jar Designs. The Jar Designs flosses were nice to stitch with, but because the stitched areas were so small you can only see the color variations on the urn, so I probably wouldn't use them for a project like this in the future. It was a really fun easy stitch. I finished it in only 2 days! Cathy came over to stitch with me on Saturday and I started it then. I finished it up early Sunday afternoon. I wouldn't recommend breaking your foot as a way to get some stitching time, but it sure does make it easy to get lots of stitching done! Not sure what I'll start next. I'm enjoying working on and finishing small projects so I think I'll look through my stash and find something fun to start.

Winter Time by Homespun Elegance

This is a small project I started a couple of months ago and finished this week. It's one of a series of four seasons that fit in a desk clock by Olde Colonial Designs. I already finished Spring Time and it's been in the clock for over a year. I have Summer Time and Autumn Time all kitted up and ready to stitch. I decided to vary this design slightly from the designer's version. I left off an A B C across the top and a 1 2 3 going down the right side. I also made that variation to the Spring Time one that I finished earlier, and I'll do the same with Summer and Autumn when I stitch them.

Hi everyone, Hope you are all stitching! This blog is a great idea. I love the work you all have done so far. I've finished a couple of projects and I'm now working on a coral reef scene. When I figure out how to post pictures I'll load them on. Don't forget your name tags.

Nataly

Snowflake Table Runner WIP

This is my snowflake table runner WIP. I am proud to report that the center section is finally done! I now have to complete the other two sections to the left and right of this finished middle section. This is a kitted pattern from Scandinavian Stitches, my absolute favorite cross-stitch vendor. My goal is to have this finished by the winter holidays this year!

Another finish

This is called the Shaker Sewing Bag, designed by Samplers and Such. It's designed to fit in a pre-made bag by Olde Colonial Designs. I finished the cross stitching a month or so ago, but decided to do a hem stitch all around it to prevent it from fraying, and as a opportunity to try out hemstitching. The corners of the hemstitching were a little funky but I'm basically satisfied with the results. Now I get to start a new project! Something from my new Celebrations stash I think.

My first finish since Celebration of Needlework

This is a birth announcement that I just finished framing. I bought the Dimensions kit at least 10 years ago, started stitching it sometime later, and then it sat around as a UFO for many years. A month or so ago I picked it up and decided to finish it for a nephew's new baby girl. I finished stitching it last week. The frame was also sitting around in my stash and it fit perfectly. I love it when that happens! Not a great quality picture, but you get the idea.

A place to share our 2008 stitching

I thought it might be fun to have a place to share our stitching news and finishes for the year. I'm not sure if I set this up correctly yet, but I can fine tune it if I didn't. The intent is to have a place where any of the 5 of us can post our own stitching stuff and look at each others stuff. Interested?