An Advent Calendar Start and a Gift for Annie!

Hello dear stitching friends from an extremely hot Cape Town!  We are having our first real heatwave of the season and it is set to continue for at least another few days -  I hope it will be a bit cooler over Christmas!

I have a fun Christmas start to share with you today: The Fairytale Advent Calendar by The Little Stitcher.  My mom spotted this piece a few weeks ago and we added it to the 'to do' list immediately!  My mom and I are combining efforts on this project - we each chose twelve designs to stitch.

The designs are really small and stitch up very quickly - just the thing so close to Christmas!  We are stitching it in recommended DMC threads on self-dyed 28ct evenweave.  The fabric is actually a bit darker than in the pictures and works so well for Christmas stitching.

Here is number 1 and number 2 - please note that the reindeer in no 1 still needs his backstitch antlers :)  I just love the little red cottage - it is so pretty!

Numbers 3 and 4 are both winter forest scenes - I love stitching snowy pieces when I'm 'trapped' in the heat!

Numbers 5 and 8 also still require backstitch - no 5 also needs antlers and in no 8 backstitch will add definition to the presents under the tree!  These designs are so much fun to stitch - whimsical and primitive - perfect!

I am also delighted to report that my holiday packages are starting to arrive at their destinations - I am always so relieved to hear that a package arrived safely!  This was my gift to dear Annie this year, including a handmade ornament, pillow and counting/marking pins:

You might recognize the little snowman ornament from my previous post!  I took a quick pic of this little freebie by Carmela on our Christmas tree before I packaged it:

Here is a closeup of a little lavender pillow included in the package:

I also added some aperture cards and raspberry fabric. 

That's it for now!  Enjoy the last few days until Christmas and 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

Needle Painting, a Pincushion and a Cottage of Lace!

Hello dear stitching friends and a warm welcome to my new followers!  I have a variety of finishes to share this week.  I have been wanting to try some needle painting for a while now and stitched this little Victorian Pansy by Trish Burr as my first piece.  

It is stitched in DMC stranded cotton on white linen.  I'm not sure what I'll finish it as yet - maybe the cover of a needlebook or just a little pinkeep?

This Cathedral Window pincushion really drew my attention on a few web pages and I just had to try my hand at it!  It turned out very pretty in pink fabrics from my stash, but I don't think I'll be using it as a pincushion - it is already on display in a basket with some other ornaments :)

I stitched this 'Maison Dentelle' from gazette94 a while ago.  It is stitched in DMC B5200 on dark pink Aida - even though I don't like stitching on Aida I love how it turned out.  

I think this little cottage will look good in a frame, so I'll be on the hunt for one :)

This has been a very 'pink' post, so I will end it with a photo of some pink roses from my garden - I wish you could smell these - they are a delight!

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

Angelic Stitches

Hello dear stitching friends!  Finally - a post from me!  I hope you have all been keeping well as the year is quickly moving along and the festive season is fast approaching.  Would you believe that there are already Christmas decorations in some stores and that gift wrap and Christmas crackers are lining the shelves?  

I have been getting some stitching done, here is my latest offering:

This beautiful angel is designed by Joan Elliot and was featured in a Cross Stitch Card Shop magazine.  She is stitched in DMC thread and gold braid on a natural 28 count evenweave and trimmed with seed beads.

She is part of a set of four and I would like to stitch a companion piece for her, but I will leave that until next year.  I will probably try to find a frame for her so that she can be on display this Christmas!

I was also the lucky winner of a great giveaway Mary over at Colorado Stitcher had a while ago - I won the latest version of the My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software.  It is going to be great fun playing with this software and processing some of my photos - hopefully I will get more scrapbooking done, but I'm sure some stitching time will be lost!  Thank you Mary for this wonderful prize!

Our Spring has been slow in arriving, with today being one of the first sunshine days of the season.  Here are some pics I took over the weekend, in between rain storms.  Our garden is slowly coming to life - here are some Inca lilies ready to open:

And guess who should be lurking behind the plants!  Lexi loves being in the garden with me, but sometimes she shows the plants too much affection and flowers and buds are lost!

Here are the first roses in bloom:

That is it for now - I have been stitching a few Christmas ornaments, but sadly no finishing has happened!  I hope to share some more stitching (and finishing) soon.

Enjoy the rest of the week and Happy Stitching!

Michelle

A HUGE Finish!

Hello stitching friends!  Well, I have not been blogging, but I have been stitching!  I have finally finished my Historic Countries Sampler from The Gift of Stitching Magazine!  After getting very far with it last year it was packed away and 'resting' until I suddenly decided that I wanted to finish it this year.  It was great fun to stitch and I am very happy with the result:

It is a bit difficult to photograph the entire piece due to the size (this really is a biggie!), so here are a few closer shots:

It is stitched on 28ct antique white Jubilee with the recommended DMC threads.  This is a big one off my ever growing WIP list!

I have also been stitching a few smaller designs and am currently working on an Angel by Joan Elliot, but more on that in the next post.

It seems that Spring is finally arriving - we have had a few sunshine days, but nights are still bitterly cold.  It was a very long, cold and wet winter and it is so good to finally see the sun again!

That's it for now.

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

My Internet lives again!

Hello Blogging friends!  Oh my, I have been longing to do a post, but we have had such trouble with our internet connection, but it all seems to be sorted out for now.

I have been doing a lot of stitching and will show progress pics over the next few weeks, but firstly I want to show you the wonderful prize I received.  I won Lee Albrecht's Christmas draw at the end of last year and a few months ago the package arrived.  It was so much fun to receive a brown paper package!

Here is a look at the goodies inside.  A lovely magazine containing some Reticella work, postcards, Perle cotton, a Brazilian pin and some wonderfull organic soap!

Here is a close up of the small kits, they are so sweet and I absolutely love the Matrioska thread keep!

The main prize was this wonderful Hardanger Christmas Stocking kit - it is so beautiful!  Lee also included a calender, containing beautiful pictures of her work and kits.

The students from Lee's embroidery school also wanted to get involved in sending some gifts and I was lucky enough to receive this lovely package from Larissa.  She included a card, stunning dog print fabrics, sweet treats and some other goodies.

Look at this cute fabric - I love it!

This piece of fabric is also great and I love those buttons - she must know how much I love dogs!

Thank you so much to Lee and Larissa!  I appreciate these beautiful, thoughtful gifts so very much!

I have a lot of catching up to do on blogs and will also post some of my stitching updates soon.

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