A Little Gray Hare

Given the fact that my birthday is soon, I find the title of this newest start to be très amusant. :)

I snagged this latest start on one of my buying groups on Facebook. I managed to get it at a very reasonable price, especially given the fact that Linda Ebright of Lizzie Kate announced her retirement almost a month ago. Like everyone else, I have been searching for those charts to fill in the gaps of the collection. My latest stash acquisition game involves getting stuff as cheaply as possible. I understand free markets and capitalism, but it's not as if I do not have a metric boatload of other things to stitch. If I manage to get it at a good price, then so be it. If not; oh, well. That is the way love and capitalism goes. :)

Well, at any rate, here is my latest start. This makes #5 for the year thus far. That is almost halfway to my 12 pear year goal, so I am happy about that. :)

Design: A Little Gray Hare limited edition kit

Designer: Linda Ebright for Lizzie Kate

Fabric Used: 28 count vintage Antique Green by Zweigart

Fibers Used: Crescent Colours Belle Soie silk in Babbling Brook, Carnation, Cinnamon Stick, Collard Greens, Eiffel Tower, Ivy League, Mango, and Rouge. 

Accouterments:  Mill Hill beads in#42014 Petite Black and #42101 Purple

Stitchers' Notes: Began Thursday, March 8, 2018. Finished Thursday, March 15, 2018. Chart purchased secondhand. Fifth project for 2018. 

Time for me to dash. It's time for some organizing and getting my act together. I hope everyone is having a great week. Happy stitching!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Love Banner Finish

And with this finish, I am caught up with the series for this year. I love the way this turned out. This series has just flown by. I am really, really looking forward to the rest of the series. Should be lots of fun choosing colors! 

Well, here it is, just in time for next year, haha!

Design: Love (#F-164 from the 2017 Flip-It series)

Designer: Linda Ebright of Lizzie Kate

Fabric Used: 27 count antique white Fanciful Hearts stitch banding in antique white, green and red by Mill Hill. Item number MH07450106 in 4.5 inch wide banding. 

Fibers Used: Anchor six strand embroidery floss in 47, 55, 103, 112, 225, and 230.

Stitchers' Notes: Began Saturday, March 25, 2017. Finished Sunday, March 26, 2017. Stitch banding distributed by Wichelt. Substituted called for fabric and floss for those of my own choosing. Third finish of seven that will be released throughout 2017. Ribbon of unknown manufacturer.

I must be off. It's time to clean up my stitching area and find another project to stitch on. As I have now completed my unofficial yearly goal of 12 projects per year, I think I will now 'play' in my stash and see what strikes my fancy. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Easter Friday Finish

I just love this new series by Linda Ebright of Lizzie Kate. They stitch up so, so quickly and they look darn cute to boot. After the completion of the Love chart, I will be all caught up until the release of the next designs. I have my fabric all purchased and set aside for the remaining 4 designs. I cannot wait for them to come out. I am really looking forward to stitching these and seeing how they will turn out. One of the things I really love about my hobby is the ability to adapt colors and elements to my liking. I love playing around with colors and watching a project turn out, often quite differently than the pictured model!

Well, at any rate, here is my latest finish. Just in time for Easter this year!

Design: Basket (#F-166 from the 2017 Flip-It series)

Designer: Linda Ebright of Lizzie Kate

Fabric Used: 27 count antique white Fanciful Flowers stitch banding in antique white, green and yellow by Mill Hill. Item Number MH10450130 in 4.5 inch wide banding. 

Fibers Used: Anchor six strand embroidery floss in 57, 119, 242, 293, 379, 380, 398, 403, 433, 1002, and 1094. Rainbow Gallery Arctic Rays thread in #AR17 Christmas Green.

Stitchers' Notes: Began Thursday, March 23, 2017. Finished Friday, March 24, 2017. Stitch banding distributed by Wichelt. Substituted called for fabric and floss for those of my own choosing. Second finish of seven that will be released throughout 2017. 

Well, I best be off. Tons to do as always. Next up in the Q-Snaps is Love. Can't wait to get started on this one. The colors are just lovely and I think it will probably be my favorite so far. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

The First Of A New Series Finish

Back in February, Linda Ebright of Lizzie Kate had announced seven new holiday themed designs for the 2017 Flip-It series. The designs cover the Valentine's (Love), St. Patrick's Day (Luck), Easter (Basket), Fourth of July (Liberty), Halloween (Boo), Thanksgiving (Thank) and Christmas (Merry) holidays. Each Flip-it will have a antique gold charm and the stitch count for the individual holidays is 43W x 58H. I picked up the first three, Valentine's (Love), St. Patrick's Day (Luck), Easter (Basket), at my LNS as I love the composition of the designs and the elements used. My LNS was having a sale on stitch banding. I managed to find the perfect banding for each of the season. I purchased enough to complete all seven holidays, once they have been released. 

I have also decided that I will be swapping out the colors. The called for fabric is a 32 count light mocha. However, most of the banding is white, so color substitutions are necessary. For this latest finish, I chose a floss I really love, Anchor. I love, love, LOVE the coverage of this floss. I really do need to use more of it. 

Well, at any rate, here is my latest finish, completed just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

Design: Luck (#F-165 from the 2017 Flip-It series)

Designer: Linda Ebright of Lizzie Kate

Fabric Used: 27 count antique white Fanciful Hearts stitch banding in antique white, green and gold by Mill Hill. Item number MH07450107 in 4.5 inch wide banding. 

Fibers Used: Anchor six strand embroidery floss in 108, 240, 246, 259, 316, 403, and 1012. Kreinik metallic threads in #4 Very Fine Braid in #002HL Gold. 

Stitchers' Notes: Began Saturday, March 11, 2017. Finished Sunday, March 12, 2017. Stitch banding distributed by Wichelt. Substituted called for fabric and floss for those of my own choosing. First finish of seven that will be released throughout 2017. 

Well, I had best be off. Time to get my materials together for the next project and clean up my stitching area of today's finish. Hope everyone had a great weekend! 

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Winter Solstice Post

Happy Winter Solstice to everyone! For those of you out there in Blogland who can't stand winter, the days from here on out will be slowly, but surely!, getting longer. Which also means my beloved Peeps aren't that far behind. Yay!!


At any rate, I managed to pick something back up that I had sort of started. I wasn't digging on the original fabric, so I changed it to my favorite Picture This Plus Cashel linen in Legacy.  I am loving the project so far, but twice the frog has visited, so I hope he's gone for now!


Here is what I have so far:

Design: Holly and Hearts Mystery Sampler (Part One)

Designer: Linda Ebright for Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 count Picture This Plus Cashel linen in Legacy

Fibers: Weeks Dye Works  embroidery floss in Artichoke, Baked Apple, Charlotte's Pink, Chestnut, Collards, Dirt Road, Oscar, Parchment, Pebble and Straw. 

Stitcher's Notes: Stitched one floss thread over one fabric thread. Frame by Q-Snap.  Needle by John James, gold plated in size 28.

I am seriously considering changing the saying in the middle part, but to what I am not sure of yet. I may just do the stitching around the saying and decide later. 

Well, I best be off. Today marks the start of my week and I have to be at work soon. Hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C. 

Finally a finish!

Late last night, or early this morning if you prefer :), I managed to get my first finish in almost three months. Life got in the way, and quite frankly, I lost the desire to stitch. I really like this one and made myself put in 10 stitches at a time until I got into a groove and last night is the end result. I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

Here is the finished stitching:

Design: Halloween Mystery Sampler Part One bonus design, Haunted

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 count evenweave fabric by Dyeing 4 U in Moonlight (Discontinued color and manufacturer).

Fiber Used: Old Maid of the Abyss by Hand Dyed Fibers

I have one other project that I is on my WIPocalypse list (or at least my version of it!) that I want to finish, as well as one more that I do not have on the list. Then I suppose I will need to make a WIPocalypse list for next year. Hard to believe that the year is drawing to a close and we will soon be celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love this time of year! :)

Well, I best be going. Tons to do today. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C.

It's Been A While

Howdy, y'all! It's been a while since I last posted. Life has just gotten in the way and I am not stitching as much as I have been, but these things happen, yea?

At any rate, I finally have gotten to where I feel like stitching, so I decided to start something new. Yes, I know, you're going to have a heart attack from that surprise. But nothing was really calling me and this one I have seen stitched in a variety of ways so far, and when I saw the design, this color combination immediately came to mind.

Enough of my blathering, let's get on with the show! :)

Design: Halloween Mystery Sampler Part One bonus design, Haunted

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 count evenweave fabric by Dyeing 4 U in Moonlight (Discontinued color and manufacturer).

Fiber Used: Old Maid of the Abyss by Hand Dyed Fibers

Closeup:

The Snoopy bag was purchased last night at Barnes and Noble. I thought it would be a cute bag to keep my Halloween projects in. :)

While I love the colors in the floss, I am disappointed in how un-silk like they actually feel. My apologies to the HDF fans out there in blog land, however, compared to my Caron Waterlilies and Au Ver A Soie and the Belle Soie silks, the HDF's do not feel as silky as the rest of them. It could just be me :). I've also had some issues with knotting and fraying a bit, but it's not as bad as metallics! :)

Well, I best be off. I think DH wants to go to the movies or go do something today. Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend! :)

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Respectfully submitted,

C.

Fast Liberty finish

Got a quick one day finish under my belt just now. Last one for June, which brings my grand total for completed stitchery to seven. Yay! Go me! Anyhoo...here's the pic and the related stitchy notes:



Design: Liberty


Designer: Lizzie Kate


Fabric: 28 count natural linen


Fibers: Crescent Colours Antique Lace, Bandana, and Wavy Navy


Started and finished on Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I'm off to go crawl in the bed for a bit. Not feeling too hot right now and I need to go where it's cool and a bit dark.


Hope everyone's having a good day! :)


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Respectfully submitted,


C.

Seasons change

I was passing by my stitching area and I noticed that I still had the 'April' Lizzie Kate design on the stitchy area walls.


I paused.


What's the calendar date again?


Oy!


Ok, stop whatever it was I was doing, get the step stool, get out my seasonal stitching. Decide what to put up and if I have enough frames to be able to change everything I want up.

Now, at this juncture, I would like to add that my idea of 'seasons' are different than what most people follow timewise. Most folks have seasons broken down thusly:


Spring: March, April, May

Summer: June, July, August

Fall: September, October, November

Winter: December, January, February


I, on the other hand, have known farmers, gardeners and other folk who follow a different type of seasonal calendar:


Spring: February, March, April

Summer: May, June, July

Fall: August, September, October

Winter: November, December, January


This makes more sense to me, somehow. I guess to me, it makes more sense that the 'seasons' are like this timewise, due to planting, growing, and harvesting of the stuff I eat. I mention this only because when I changed out my seasonal wall, everything is summer related. Temps are rising at a rapid rate here in Sin City, so it quite frankly feels like summer anyway.



Country Cottage Needleworks 'Summer Strawberries'.
Fabric: Dyeing 4 You's 'Sandy's Sunshine' in 16 ct aida.
Threads used: Crescent Colours Spinach, Cupid , Pink Champagne, Granny Annie. White thread by DMC in B5200. SanMan Strands in A New Leaf.

Began Friday, June 27, 2008; 9 PM PST. Finished Wednesday 07.30.08.









Design: Sunshine Sampler #117

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 count natural pearl

Fibers: DMC and Crescent Colours

Began: July 2005

Ended: July 2005

Stitched piece during trips to the beach Summer 2005 with Amber.






Design: Strawberry Sampler

Designer: Needlecraft (UK) magazine

Fabric: 28 count natural linen

Fibers: DMC

Start and end dates unknown. Probable 1996 or 1997.






Design: Cottage Garden

Designer: Nikki Lehman of Country Cottage Needleworks

Source: August 2006 Just Cross Stitch Magazine

Fabric: 28 count white Monaco

Fibers: DMC 153, 155, 156, 157, and 420. Weeks Dye Works thread in Pecan. Crescent Colours Joshua Tree, Tomatillio, and Summer Spray.

Misc: Decided to skip the outer border as I could not find a nice enough color that would compliment the color changes I made and let's face it, I'm lazy as hell. Ran out of the WDW Pecan and I did not want to buy another skein as I find WDW threads to be thin and have a propensity to shred, so I just substituted DMC 420 and went on with life. The difference is not that stark and I wanted this one just plain finished instead of it languishing in the UFO pile.

Began: (approximately) Friday, March 20, 2009

Completed stitching: Thursday, April 30, 2009





Design: Bless the Breeze (former freebie, not for trade or sale)

Designer: SanMan Originals

Fabric: 14 count white aida

Fibers: DMC and Six Strand Sweets

Began: Friday, January 14, 2004

Completed stitching: Tuesday, January 25, 2004






Apparently, I didn't upload a pic of the one above 'Cottage Garden'. Stitchy notes to follow:


Design: Joyful Heart from the leaflet 'Seasons of the Heart 2"

Designer: Erica Michaels

Fabric: 28 count natural pearl linen

Fibers: DMC

Began: Monday, February 21, 2005

Completed stitching: Saturday, March 12, 2005



Newest WIP:


Design: Home of a Needleworker (2003)

Designer: Diane Williams of Little House Needlework

Fabric: 28 count natural pearl linen

Fibers: DMC in B5200, 355, 356, 450, 429, 729, 869, 3051, 3052, 3371, 3828


Began: Monday, May 4, 2009





Closing for now with a picture of Ozzy and Ushi pacing themselves:



It's a rough life, but someone has to do it!


Hope everyone had a good weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!


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Respectfully submitted,

C.

In the French manner

I have always admired the way the ladies in France put stitching on just about every available surface. Boxes, mail art, cabinets, anything that pretty much anything that isn't tied, nailed and/or glued to the floor. French ladies have a propensity for monochrome samplers and things stitched in two colors, primarily red and white. I have always wanted to stitch something like that, but never got around to it.


That is....until today. Just finished a French style monogram sampler. It's composed from two separate charts.

Here are the stitchy notes:

Monograms: DMC Italy (http://www.dmc.com/majic/pageServer/1c010100cl/it/ct/os/prid/26720/index.html)

Double M motif: Point de Croix Bourguignon (http://www.pcbdijon.com/accueil/TMP1072434954.htm).

Fabric: DMC printed aida in 14 count DC27T-arab2.

Fiber: Access Commodities #2936 (a really rich cherry red)

Needle: John James platinum tapestry needle in size 26.

Frame: Q-snap in 8x8

Began: Thursday, January 1, 2009.

Finished Saturday, January 3, 2009.

Here is 'Happy New Year' all framed up:

It's a lot darker and more rich looking in person, but for some reason, the lighting isn't quite right. Oh, well. :)


Hope everyone is having a good weekend!


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Respectfully submitted,

C.

Last finish and post of 2008

Last post and the last finish of 2008. Finished this just moments ago. I won't have time to finish any more today, but tomorrow, I will be working on one of my numerous WIPs/UFOs.


Stitchy notes first, naturally!

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Design: Happy New Year Snippet #S63

Fabric: 28 count black jobelan

Threads: Needle Necessities 1931 'Calypso' for wording, DMC Satin floss in S5200 and S666 for balloon, Kreinik #001 #4 Very Fine Braid in Silver for border. Hat stitched in Crescent Colours Crushed Pineapple, Anchor 1, and SanMan Strands 'A New Leaf'. Green confetti in upper right corner DMC Satin S909.

As 2008 draws to it's close, I wish everyone a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year!


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Respectfully submitted,

C.

Post #50 and my current WIP

I figured if I posted pics of the New Year's design I am stitching, maybe this would motivate me to get it done. That's when I noticed that this is post number 50. Wuwu....go me.

Now, on with the show. :)



Design: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 count black jobelan

Threads: Needle Necessities 1931 Calypso for wording, DMC Satin floss in S5200 and S666 for balloon, Kreinik #001 #4 Very Fine Braid in Silver for border.


Hopefully this will be done by tonight, tomorrow at the latest. I've stitched and applied for jobs today, so I can at least say I accomplished something.


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Respectfully submitted,

C.