Valentine Stitching and a Freebie!

Hello dear stitching friends!  Can you believe that there are only a few days remaining of the first month of the new year?  And what have I been up to these past few weeks?  Well, I have a big announcement to make - after years of 'playing' around with designing, making sketches and dreaming of creating more of my own designs I am finally doing it!  

I am happy to announce the launch of Lady Lexi Designs with this 'Be My Valentine' design!  The ePattern is available in my new little Etsy Shop in pdf format!

But how can I launch a shop without a little gift to my friends?  Here is a 'True Love' freebie for Valentine's day - I finished it as a long pillow with red check fabric and it is trimmed with cotton lace, a red ribbon and a cute little heart charm.

I used DMC 321 for this piece, but you can choose which ever fibers you like :)  If you have any trouble saving the chart, or if you would like me to send it to you directly, please email me.

If you do stitch one of my designs, please feel free to email me some pictures - I would love to see your finishes!  You might also be wondering where the name 'Lady Lexi Designs' comes from?  For regular readers of my blog - you are right - it is named after my dog Lexi, who at almost two years old, is a real lady and also my sweet 'baby'!

Well, that's it for now - I hope you enjoy my designs :)

Enjoy the remainder 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

The Last Stitches of 2012 and the First Stitches of 2013!

Hello dear stitching friends - I hope you have been enjoying the first few days of 2013!  I would like to share the last stitchy finishes of 2012 with you.  My mom and I finished our stitching on The Fairytale Advent Calender by The Little Stitcher before the end of the year!  This was such a fun stitch - here are some pics:

The backstitching is also complete and they are now ready to be finished into little hanging pillow ornaments.

They are stitched on self-dyed 28ct evenweave in the recommended DMC threads.

Such a lovely quick stitch - I have been trying to decide which one is my favourite - I do love the reindeer and sleigh motif (23)!

I have really been enjoying the Christmas stitching (I have a few stitched ornaments from last year that still need finishing!) and decided to kick the year off with an 'Ornament for January'.  Here is a pic of my first few stitches of 2013 - hopefully I will be able to share the finish soon :)

That's my update for today - enjoy the weekend 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

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all my stitching friends a very Merry Christmas!  

Hugs,
Michelle

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