2 Cross Stitch Finishes

I have actually finished 2 pieces, but need to "finish" them both still.  I completed these the first week of February and intended them to be Valentines Day gifts, but didn't find what I wanted for the actual "finishing" in time.

This first is a Lizzie Kate that I did for my daughter and son in law for their first Valentine's Day as a married couple.  It's stitched on a piece of 28ct Silkweaver Solo Jobelan.  I didn't have the called for floss, so I substituted with Vikki Clayton HDF and a skein of Caron Waterlilies.  I picked up the frame at the thrift store for it.  I've never yet framed a piece of stitching (for that matter, my first real finish of my stitching was the ornie exchange I sent to Vicky L), so this will be a challenge for me.  I plan to use the tutorial that Meari has on her blog.  I really love the way it turned out and this is one of Therese's favorite sayings.

 

The next finish is a freebie from Oakhaven Designs.  I belong to her Yahoo group and this was a freebie she gifted us with for Valentines Day.  I stitched it on a piece of unknown linen from my stash, that I'm pretty sure is 28ct.  I used Vikki Clayton HDF to stitch it.  When I ordered the floss for Winter Queen, I bought one of the "carrots" that Vikki offers with each order and I got a mini spool of 1 strand premium and it's colors are 2469/3107/2237 and I just really liked the way the blue/green/teal came out on this.  I also used a red HDF for the hearts.  I had intended this to be a little gift for the hubby, but didn't get it done in time.  I plan to finish it as a pillow with the blue fabric for the back and then use the cording as a little hanger.  I need to browse some of the finish sites I have bookmarked for the best one to use. 

 

And a close up of the peacocks.   My Grandma always used to tell us that the peacock was part of the Royal crest of our family back in the Black Forest area of Germany.  I wish I'd paid more attention to the whole story, but it was on my Grandfather's side of the family and I vaguely remember her saying that my many years ago my Great-Grandfather had been contacted by someone over there about claiming family land, but he never did.  Who knows if it's true or not, or got exaggerated over the years, but she always loved peacocks and now I do too.

TUSAL Update

It's time for a TUSAL update! I really didn't get a lot of stitching done these past few weeks, unfortunately my depression seemed to rear it's ugly head for a while. When that happens I just can't stay focused enough to stitch, so here's my TUSAL offering for this New Moon.

My Froggy Exchange sent to Vicky L

Now that I know that Vicky over at Nutmegger Stitchers Works received the exchange I sent to her, I thought I'd post a picture.  I picked up the little stuffed frog at a local craft mall, the froggy button from JoAnn's and the floss is from my LNS.

Since we had to pick a froggy themed piece I chose to stitched "MistleToad" by LizzieKate.  This was my first time finishing as an ornie this way and I did learn a couple things along the way.  I found that I should probably use 2 layers of batting rather than just one for padding, and next time I think I'll use my hot glue gun or maybe buy the Aileens spray adhesive glue rather than the liquid glue.  All in all though, I thought it turned out pretty well.

What do you think?

ILCS Froggy Exchange

I belong to the ILCS Yahoo Group and we recently held a "Froggy Exchange" in honor of our beloved moderator Rene le Frog. Rene had not been feeling well, had been in and out of the hospital and then was unexpectedly diagnosed with Cancer. It was quite advanced and only a couple short weeks after the diagnosis Rene left us for cross-stitch heaven.

Rene was a guiding force behind the ILCS group and while I only "knew" her for a couple of years she was an amazing woman who was truly kind, supportive and helpful to her fellow cross-stitchers. She was also a loving Wife, Mother, and Grandmother and enjoyed sharing her family and stitching with us all. She is greatly missed by all of us who knew her in the online cross-stitch world. I recently received my exchange from Marl in Canada. She "caught" one of her frogs while she was ripping out stitching and sent her to me in the form of scissor fob. Isn't it just adorable? She also sent along this cute felt bag with an appliqued froggy king on it, and some wonderful cotton floss from Carrie's Creations. I can't wait to try out the floss. Thank you Marl for your awesome exchange gift!

You'll have to wait to see what I stitched for the exchange until the recipient receives it. I mailed it out today, so I should be able to post pictures by the end of next week. I had fun stitching the piece I did and when the idea for the froggy exchange came up I knew EXACTLY what to stitch for it.

As always, thank you for visiting my little piece of blogland and have a wonderful weekend!

Quaker Sampler WIP Update

Just a quick update on my Quaker Sampler from The Workbasket. I haven't done a lot of stitching over the last couple of weeks, but I did finish the red motif and then started the green one next to it. Today I rotate back to my Castles in the Air SAL and I'm looking forward to working on that again. Thank you for any and all comments. I know I don't get on to blog too much, but I sure have fun reading and looking at all the beautiful stitching going on in the blog world around me!

Tusal update and WIP update

Happy February!  It's been a windy and wild February for us in the Midwest.  Wednesday we got socked with quite the winter snowstorm - lots of snow and high winds made for getting out of work early, having the next day off AND being paid for it.  Yippee!  Thursday morning we woke up to a foot drift in front of our back door and 4 foot drifts at the bottom of our driveway.  Fortunately, my wonderful brother in law brought his snowblower over after he finished his own clearing and then cleared our driveway and our sidewalks.  He spent over an hour on our place AFTER spending an hour doing his own.  He looked like the abominable snowman when he was done, complete with icicles in his beard.  I really should have taken a picture, but I didn't.

I worked for two weeks on my daughters birthday present, Winter Queen and here is where she was as of Sunday this week.

Next, we have Quaker Sampler from The Workbasket.  I just started working on this again after a 3 week hiatus and here's where I ended last night after Glee was over.

And last, but not least, is my Tusal for the new moon.  I did change the container as I found a little bit bigger one.  It doesn't look like much, but it's about a quarter full.

Well, that's it for now.  I'm going to be working on Quaker Sampler for the next week and then I'll switch off to my Papillon Castles in the Air.  I decided to rotate each piece and work on each for a week so that each one gets a solid week of stitching.  In between, I'll work on any smalls I want to do.  I've just about finished up my piece for the Yahoo ILCS froggy exchange in honor of our moderator Rene who passed away in January after a very sudden cancer diagnosis.  After the recipient has received it, I'll post pictures.

As Porky Pig would say....That's all folks!

Winter Queen WIP

Here she is!  I made a tiny start Friday evening and then worked on her both Saturday and Sunday in between household stuff and doing things with my boys and dh.  I had to force myself to put her down last night in order to go to bed shortly after 11pm.  If I hadn't I probably would have stitched on her all night.  I kept saying "I'll just do this little bit over here" LOL!

I believe it to be a respectable start. 

Thanks for looking and comments are always appreciated.  Have a great week!