Here is April Monthly Sampler from Little House Needlework. I finished it awhile ago but only recently got the picture out of the camera. I hope you are all happily stitching. I am looking forward to the end of the month. Celebrations here we come!

Celebrations Confirmation!!

I got my confirmation for Celebrations in yesterday's mail. Less than 3 weeks away!

LHN-Sampler of the Month-March

Well, we survived the Bar Mitzvah. The weather wasn't great but we had a great time anyways.

This is the only thing I have finished since our last stitching day but I thought I would post it since we are in March. These designs are so easy and quick to stitch it motivates me to keep on stitching.

I know this has nothing to do with stitching except this is what has been keeping me very busy. I saw these clear plastic pails and thought what a great favor they would make. I designed a label on the computer, added bling (hard to see in the photo) which are scrap book embellishments, some ribbon, tons of candy and VOILA! Austin's Bar Mitzvah party favors. Only problem I had to make 65 of them for all the friends he has invited. YIKES! Thank god my mom is coming to help.

Carol and I both completed this project together. The stitching was quick but I have been lazy with my finishing. I decided to make a matching scissor fob. I stitched part of the pattern over 1 and on the back I wanted it to look like fabric so I did a plaid pattern to match the design colors. I then finished if off with some bling(beads of course). I will bring it to stitching day so you can see it close up.

Well, I've started a series by Little House Needleworks called Monthly Samplers. Here is a close up view of January and One of February framed.. I Had them framed in an interchangeable frame so that I can change them as the months change. These are easy stitches and I am looking forward to stitching next month.

Oh what a fun project this was. Denise, Carol, and I couldn't resist this debut kit from Olde Colonial Designs when we were at Celebrations in the fall. It stitched up really quick and I decided enough, get to it and finish the silly thing. Well, it was far easier than I thought and it actually came out really, really cute. Love it!

Winter Wingding by Blue Ribbon Designs. Really tough to photograph because the alphabet doesn't show up.. One of the problems with overdyed thread, some areas get too light. In hind sight I probably should have done something different for the letters.

Cranberry Sampler with lots of modifications. I took out the alphabet because I didn't like the size of the sampler--too big! I then substituted some overdyed threads and changed the bog color.

I have a few finishes to post. I haven't been to the framer yet but decided that I better post them because I will probably never get to the framer. This is Bent Creek's Branch Series. Hard to photograph but really cute.

Merry Little Christmas by Elizabeth's Designs

This was a kit that I bought many years ago. It finished up in only a couple of hours. Even though the leaves look interesting the whole thing is basically backstitch using overdyed flosses. Denise, I thought you'd be interested in that part! ;-)

Christmas Ornaments

These are some ornaments I stitched up in the last 2-3 weeks. Ornaments are awesome for instant gratification! Each of these took only a few hours or less to stitch up and 4 of them were basically free. I got the patterns from old JCS Ornament issues and used up old scraps of linen and left over thread from other projects. The 2 in the middle were kits that I bought years ago.

Quaker Pincushions by Milady's Needle

Easy, easy, easy stitch. Only took a couple of hours each. Got to use up scraps of linen and Gentle Arts sampler threads, which didn't variegate as much as I was hoping. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them. I don't need 2 more pincushions. I was thinking about ornaments for the tree, or maybe the blue/green one as a needle book, although I don't really need any more needlebooks either! Obviously I don't NEED anything else, I just felt like a little bit of easy stitching.

Turtle Needlebook by Olde Colonial Designs

This stitched up pretty quickly. How cute is that baby turtle?? As usual, I'm not looking forward to the finishing work, but the instructions seem pretty clear so I'm hoping to get that done this weekend. I'm putting that in writing to try to make me do it! Nataly and Denise, did you get your's stitched up yet

Petticoat Row Class

Hi Everyone,

I hope all is well with everyone. Work is way, way to busy, but I am taking some time for myself and I am all signed up for the Petticoat Row Class. See some of you on Saturday!

Denise

A new biscornu! This design is a kit offered by Dinky Dyes to teach sequencing of overdyed flosses. Well that just wasn't working for me. I stitched it randomly and I like the way it turned out. I added seed beads all the way around and some glass beads at the corners. It was really hard to photograph but Dov says it has an indian feel to it because of the bead work. Still learning how to tighten that center button. I actually used stacked beads, could be why I couldn't get it any tighter. Great cat story about this one but I think I will save it for our next stitching day!

Summer Joy design from Country Cottage. I was working on this in my Wednesday stitching group and when I got it back from the framer I so wished it was still summer time. It has gotten to cold tooo quick.

Hi guys! Here is a finish that I just picked up from the framer. It's a Bent Creek design and I just love how it came out. I did easel backs so that I could display them on a table or shelf.

Rose Sampler by Little House Needleworks

Started this the day Natalie came over and finished stitching it a few days later. Nice easy stitch, which is just what I need right now.

I took the lazy way out and ordered the pouch with it, so finishing was just a matter of sewing it by hand to the back of the pouch.

So now I need to get back to MSA ... or maybe another quick easy project .... hmmmmm... decisions, decisions.

Olde Colonial Pincushion

Hi Everyone! I just finished this last week at one of Aiden's baseball games. It is an Olde Colonial Kit. I finished the entire thing at the ball game, stitching and finishing and still had time for the last 3 innings. Talk about immediate gratification!!

Couldn't resist

How awesome was Saturday ?!?! This cute little guy was too much for me to resist. I started him at 7:00 AM Sunday and finished a few hours later. I think I might have to give him another leg though, he looks a little funny. Now I just have to figure out what to do with him. Nataly, you're in charge of ideas ... got any ideas for a 1-legged wren?

DMC metallic thread question

Hello All,

I have a question, has anyone used DMC's antique effects line of metallic thread? I am working on Little House Needleworks Thread Gathering and it calls for E436 antique effects. I bought it today, and I hate the feel of the floss. Now, I have used metallic threads before, but it has always been used with regular floss and added one strand of metallic floss. This is six stranded floss, so what do you all think? Any feedback would be great.

Denise

Traveling Stitcher Project Pack

Nataly wanted to see my finished Traveling Stitcher Project Pack, so here it is. Obviously my fabrics are different, and I decided to put the stitching on the outside of the needlebook. It's a little bigger since I stitched it on 28 count fabric. I still need to cover the top of the magnetic button that I used to keep it closed. I'm having a hard time finding something to go over it. I'm going to try to make a fabric yo-yo and see if that works.

Are you ladies ready for a stitching day next Saturday? Don't forget about our stash swap.

Traveling Stitcher Scissor Fob

I also finished the Traveling Stitcher project pack and needlebook, which Nataly already posted. My scissor fob was not as cute as hers, but it was easy to stitch and I'm happy with it.

Needlework Garden Snip Basket

This is the cover for a snip basket by Olde Colonial Designs that I picked up at Celebrations this year. The pattern said to use 1 strand of floss over the 32 count fabric, but it didn't seem like enough coverage so I stitched over some of it again with a second strand. I finished the stitching a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't mounted it yet. I still need to hinge it to the basket