A Small Finish and a Large Start!

Good day stitching friends!  I have been getting into the Christmas spirit with some ornament stitching!  This piece by Homespun Elegance is featured in the 2013 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue.  It caught my eye immediately!  It is called 'Majestic Bird' and I stitched it in DMC colour variations (the red) and Nina's threads (the green).  The bird is supposed to have a crown charm in his beak, which I changed to some stitched holly and ivy.  It is stitched on 28ct self-dyed evenweave and is finished as a simple hanging ornament, backed with the green fabric pictured.  

I have stitched some other ornaments from the 2013 JCS Ornament Issue, but I still need to do the finishing :)  

I also have a rather large start to share.  I have been wanting to stitch one of Heaven and Earth Designs Christmas ornaments for a while and finally decided to stitch 'Not a Creature was Stirring' by Donna Gelsinger.  It does not look like much yet, but I am really enjoying it!  I am stitching it 2 over 2 on 28ct parchment evenweave, so it won't be ornament size, but rather a size more suited to framing.

Here is what the painting looks like, isn't it beautiful?

I have been spoiled by Michelle from StitchCraft Place again - this time with a Christmas gift!  She sent me a gorgeous Christmas card, some limited edition sampler thread from The Gentle Art and some special Christmas tea.  Thank you Michelle!

That is it for today, enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

Last Gifts to Arrive!

Hello my dear stitching friends and a warm welcome to my new followers!  The last of my Christmas packages finally arrived in the new year!  This gift was sent to Lee in Brazil and included quite a few handmade gifts, as well as some Christmas labels, Christmas themed mini pegs, a souvenir teaspoon of South Africa and a Christmas card: 

 

I stitched this Christmas tree for Lee - it is a segment from 'Vintage Christmas' by Country Cottage Needleworks and finished as a hanging pillow ornament (also shown in a previous post):

The design for this needle painted pinkeep is from Trish Burr's book Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners and is backed with the pictured fabric (also shown in a previous post):

This gorgeous beaded doily was made by my mom especially for Lee!  The work is so delicate and I just love the 'pink-gold' colour of the beads!  Thank you mom for making this gift for my friend!

Here is a pic of all the handmade gifts:

I also included a little gift for Larissa.  She is a student at Lee's embroidery school and was kind enough to send me a gift last year.  Larissa also received some handmade gifts, Christmas labels, Christmas themed mini pegs and a Christmas card:

This sweet little 'Prancer' is by JBW designs and is stitched on 28ct blue linen and finished as a hanging pillow ornament - such a cutie!

I also made these counting/marking pins and matching scissors fob for Larissa - I hope she likes them!

Well, that 'wraps up' the Christmas gifts for last year - I am always so relieved when all the packages arrive safely at their new homes :)

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

 Michelle

Christmas Gifts Sent and Received

Hello dear stitching friends!  I hope you all had a lovely Christmas - we spent a wonderful day with family!

Dear Edit and I have been exchanging Christmas gifts for the past few years and this years both of us received our gifts before Christmas!  Here is the package I sent to Edit:

Here are the stitching and Christmas related items, including an ornament, counting/marking pins, fabric, cute Christmas themed mini pegs, labels and a card:

Here is a closeup of the ornament that I stitched for Edit - this sweet Owl is a design by The Floss Box and is stitched on 28ct self-dyed fabric and finished as a hanging pillow ornament:

This lovely bear and the hanging heart ornament was a gift for Edit's little baby girl, Sara - I hope she will like it!

I was lucky enough to receive this wonderful gift from Edit this year!  Look at that gorgeous draw string bag - it is so lovely, I wish I could use it all year round!  And that piece of Santa and reindeer fabric - so cute!  Also included was a chart for JBW Christmas ornaments and those cute gingerbread magnets and a little reindeer ornament!  Thank you so much Edit - I love everything!

That's it for now!  Have a great weekend and a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year!

Happy Stitching,

Michelle

Christmas Ornaments and More Needle Painting!

Hello dear stitching friends!  Oh my, Christmas really is just around the corner!  I have been working on some Christmas ornaments these past few weeks - here are some that I would like to share with you today:

This beautiful Christmas tree is a segment from Vintage Christmas by Country Cottage Needleworks and is stitched on self-dyed 28ct evenweave.  It is finished as a hanging pillow ornament and is backed with the fabric pictured.  I changed the colours to a more traditional, vintage colour way and I just love how it turned out - I think I will use more segments of this design for ornaments!

This little cutie is a freebie by Carmela and was such fun to stitch.  It is stitched on light blue linen in DMC threads and also finished as a hanging pillow ornament.  It is backed with the adorable snowman fabric pictured.

I have also been doing some needle painting.  This little piece is called Cerise Anemone and is from Trish Burr's book Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas For Beginners and is finished as a pinkeep. 

I have really been enjoying the needle painting and hope to start a new project soon - after I do some more Christmas stitching, of course!

The sun has been shining and the temperatures rising here in our corner of the world and the summer flowers are starting to show their colours!  Here are some pics of my Hydrangeas:

They are a stunning pink this year and almost ready for picking!

That's it for this post - enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

Some Stitching

Hello dear stitching friends!  Well, Winter has truly set in here in Cape Town, but we are fortunate to have a bright, sunshine day today and it is wonderful outside.

Here are some updates on my stitching of the past few months:

I have made some progress on the Reticella lace course that I am doing with Lee Albrecht.  I just love all the delicate patterns and the variety in the lacy designs.

Here is a little Christmas ornament that I stitched a few months ago.  I still need to do the finishing and might go with a flat finish, using the fabric pictured for the backing.

It is stitched in Madeira silks on 28 count self dyed fabric.  It was such a treat to work with silk for a change!  I also love the slightly more antique tones - especially the 'Old Gold' colour.

And now - a little bit of stash!  I came across these lovely ribbons at an outdoor craft market a few months ago.  They were sold by weight - what a great find!

Here is a better look - I have so many ideas of how to use them for finishing :)

Here is a picture of my 'baby'.  Lexi, our Bullmastiff puppy turned one year old in April!  I must say, I can see that she has grown a bit since then :)  She is so extremely spoiled and such a loving young lady (and sometimes very naughty!)

That's it for now - I will share some more stitching progress in my next post - I have been spending a lot of time on my Heaven and Earth Designs stitching, but at the moment I'm working on a few smalls.

Until next time - Happy Stitching!

Michelle

A Stitchy Update

Oh my - I cannot believe that it has been more than a month since my last update!  Fortunately I have some stitching to show :)  

I finished this block on Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings.  The whale and background took really long, but I'm glad that the block is finished!

I also started another block on SoHRH - this is the bottom left hand corner and is stitching up much faster than the previous block.  I love how it's turning out - the colours are so striking on the Harvest Beige linen and is even more beautiful in person.

Here is how the entire piece is looking at the moment:

In keeping with my stitching goals for the year I stitched (and finished) a Christmas ornament in February.  This lovely bauble is a freebie by Kissy-Cross.  She has some beautiful freebies - I even have another one of her charts printed out to stitch some time soon :)  I finished this piece as a hanging ornament, trimmed with a little golden bow and backed with green polka dot fabric.

This beautiful piece was stitched by my mom and is called 'Outside my Window' and was featured in the 2005 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.  I absolutely love this piece - the snowy crystals and the Gingham bow finishes it off beautifully and it is backed with the pictured blue 'Crackle' fabric by Moda.  (I love the Moda Crackle fabrics - they are great for finishing!)

Michele over at Heaven and Earth Designs had a HUGE leap year sale which led to me acquiring a new chart!  This is Alice in Clockwork and is a Quick Stitch piece by Jasmine Becket-Griffith.  Naturally, I had to start it immediately and it is such fun to stitch!  I love this piece and can't wait to make some serious progress on it :)

As I have mentioned before, I am part of a very lucky group of ladies currently learning the Reticella lace technique through Lee Albrecht's embroidery school.  To thank Lee for her generosity I sent her a package of goodies to use in creating some more beautiful embroidery pieces.

I sent the gift in this lovely biscuit tin:

This is what it looks like when you take the lid off :)

I included some DMC Perle threads in numbers 8 and 12, as well as some linen fabrics, suited to Reticella and Hardanger techniques.  I also included three pieces of patchwork fabric.

I LOVE this card - it is such a beautiful and idyllic scene - I wish I had all those beautiful flowers growing in my garden :)

That is it for now - I have some serious catching up to do on all your beautiful blogs.

Have a great weekend and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

Stitching, Gifts and Stash

Hello dear stitching friends from a hot, hot Cape Town!  I have stitched and finished another Christmas ornament, making it two ornaments this month!  This cute design is by The Prairie Schooler and is featured in the November 2009 issue of The Gift of Stitching Magazine.  I absolutely love Prairie Schooler designs!

 He is stitched on 28 ct evenweave in DMC threads and finished as a mounted hanging ornament.

I have also been stitching on the Shores of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings - it is one of my stitching goals this year to complete at least a few of the blocks on this piece.  That whale is a big fellow and it is taking a long time to fill in the sea background.  I am stitching it on 32 ct Harvest Beige Minster Linen in DMC threads.  (The colour of the fabric isn't completely accurate on the photo - it is actually a very rich colour and the threads look great on it.)

I have also been inspired to work on Train of Dreams by Heaven and Earth Designs.  It is wonderful to see this beautiful picture emerge, but there is so much more stitching to do!

Last week I went to my favourite quilt shop and bought some fabrics, mainly for finishing, but who knows what use I might find for them!

Carol had her birthday earlier this month, so I sent her a little gift:

Her favourite colour is blue - easy for me to remember, since my favourite colour is also blue - so I put a 'blueish' gift together, including a pinkeep, scissors fob, ribbon, thread, fabrics and a chocolate.

The pinkeep is stitched in House of  Embroidery stranded cotton in a shade called Iris.  The design is taken from Elizabethan Cross Stitch by Barbara Hammet - it is one of my favourite stitching books of all time!

I was also so excited to receive this lovely Valentine's gift from dear Annie last week.  Now I have another scissors to add to my collection - it even came complete with its own pouch!  I also love that beautiful Valentine's coaster! Thank you for the wonderful surprise Annie!

That's about all for now - until next time, Happy Stitching!

Michelle

Stitching Goals and Gifts Sent and Received

Can you believe that we are already ten days into the new year?  This year, for the first time I have decided to set some (hopefully obtainable!) stitching goals for myself.  The first goal being to stitch more Christmas ornaments - at least one a month.  Here is my ornament for January:

It is a 'Treasure Christmas Pincushion' by MTV Designs and was featured in the November 2008 issue of The Gift of Stitching Magazine.

It is stitched on 28 count evenweave fabric in DMC stranded cotton and House of Embroidery threads and trimmed with gold seed beads.  What a fun stitch!

Some of my other stitching goals include finishing at least a few blocks on my Shores of Hawk Run Hollow start and to completely finish the huge Historic Countries Sampler from The Gift of Stitching Magazine.  I am also going to try to restrict my amount of new starts until a few WIPs are done.  That being said - there are some new starts in the pipeline, but I will tell you more next time!

I sent out a few gifts to some blogging friends over the Holiday season and am happy to report that all gifts were received in good order.  This little package went to Edit - I love the little Winter Wonderland cushion and might even make one for myself  this year!

This package went to Annie - I am definitely enjoying pincushion finishes at the moment!

This gift went to Babs, along with an extra scissors fob for her mom.  I was lucky enough to receive some of the lovely Belgian Lace that her mom makes in a giveaway some time ago.

Here is a close up of the hand made gift goodies:

I also sent a gift to Lee in Brazil:

Here is a closeup of some of the contents of the package.  Lee collects thimbles and I found this cute little fellow in a local antique store - perfect for a Christmas package!  I made the fob, biscornu and scissors/needle book for her - all in pink!

I was also lucky enough to receive a lovely Christmas package from Edit.  I absolutely love the fabrics and can't wait to use them for some finishings!   I also love the ornament - it was on my 'to do' list and now I have one.  Thank you for the great gift Edit!

That is it for now!

Until next time - Happy Stitching!

Michelle