Beary Sweet Tea Towel

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

So, ok, check this out:



As soon as I saw that my friend Julie (Welcome To My World/Sewitsforyou) had this adorable embroidery pattern in her Etsy, I knew I had to stitch it! And that's exactly what I did last night. Gosh, I sure do love the internet and PDF embroidery patterns. Instant gratification. :)

Julie has this and another set in her shop right now, and I highly recommend you check them out! The bears I stitched are actually part of a set of patterns that includes three different pages of love/bear-themed designs.

And how do ya like that tea towel it's stitched on? This I got from my friend Amy's Etsy shop. This towel is a dream to stitch on. It's heftier than your average tea towel. Super sturdy. (Tee hee, why does 'super sturdy' sound funny to me??)

Ok, that's it for me, my lovely bloggy buddies. I hope January was a good month for all of you and that February is even better. I've noticed lately that the birds are chirping outside my window. It's such a glorious sound! That, coupled with the warm-ish sunny afternoons we've had this week, makes me so excited for Spring! It seems like it's just around the corner now. Of course, along about mid-April it will get really cold and nasty and all my happy optimism will be out the window. LOL.

Ok, time for my cynical self to sign off. I will be back soon with more stitchy goodness to share. Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Top Secret Project Revealed!

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

Wow!! Thank you so much for your kind comments and framing tips regarding the sampler! I am so flattered. And thank you Rachel for the little blurb on the Craftzine.com blog. Wowsa! Can you say increased traffic, lol?!? It's so cool to see my handiwork on such an awesome website. :) :) :)

I probably should have done this in the last post, but here are some more details about the sampler. (This is for you, Mary Grace. :))

It's called 'Nature's Alphabet' and is by Elizabeth's Designs. It was not a kit, but rather a leaflet, which is how I generally prefer my cross stitch projects to be. (I like to pick out my own materials, though every so often a really awesome kit comes along that I must have.) I did the sampler on 32ct Cream Belfast linen, probably purchased at Michael's. It's mostly done with DMC floss, with a little bit of Weeks Dye Works overdyed floss, four skeins to be precise. The beads and charms (or, 'treasures', as they are officially called) are Mill Hill. All in all, everything for this project is pretty widely available. :) And get this, people: There is a companion piece! 'Nature's Alphabet II'. I must do this. But hopefully it won't take me five years to finish...

Ok, now onto something different...

I have been hinting at and showing you sneak peek pics of a special project that I've been working on. Well, the work is done, my friends, and I am ready to reveal the fruits of my labor! Tee hee, YAY!!!



This is a pillow I whipped up for my dear friend Amanda, who will be celebrating her birthday soon. I really hope she likes it. :)

What's that?? You wanna see some more pictures? Ok, sure!









Well, that's it for me, bloggy friends! I want to thank each and every one of you who take the time to visit my humble little blog. It means a lot to me! And keep lookin' out for more stuff from me soon--you know that I am always working on something! Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Five Years in the Making

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

I did not make a pillow this week. Instead, I completed a little something I've been working on for five years:



I started this in 2004, and put it away for quite some time. Every so often I'd pull it out of the closet and add a few more stitches to it, but I finally buckled down and worked hard to complete it. (Yeah, as if sitting in the recliner at night after the kids are in bed, sipping tea and watching The Office on DVD is such hard work.)

Here are a few more pics.









(See the ecru floss used to attach those teeny black beads? How it looks like the wings of the bees? Yeah, it only took my five years to figure that out. For some reason I thought the beads would be attached with black floss, and was confused when the pattern called for a light color. Um, DUH! Lol.)


This next pic is kinda blurry, but I wanted to give you an idea of the size of each square.





(Yeah, the Care Bear is random. I'm like that sometimes. Random=fun.)



That's the backside. There are some thread tails to cut, but overall I think it looks pretty good. Much better than this monstrosity from 1996.

So now I just have to frame it. Ick. It's an odd size, about 6.25in x 11in, I think, so framing it myself may not be an option. Soooooo, it may be a while before this thing gets framed! Good framing costs $$$, but I hear it's worth it. So, we'll see.

Oh yeah, and before I forget...I am working on a special little project for my friend whose birthday is coming up soon. Here are a couple sneak peek pics:





Well, that's it for me, my lovely peeps! I have tons of things in the works right now that I am super excited about, and I can't wait to share the details with you. But that must wait for another day! Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Wee Pillow

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

I am on a pillow-making frenzy! Ok, not really, unless sewing one pillow a week constitutes a frenzy...but in my world as a sewing newbie, it sorta does. So yeah! I am on a pillow-making frenzy!! :-D



(Click on the pic to get to my flickr, where you can see the individual pics in the mosaic more closely. And click here to get the embroidery pattern.)
This was a spur-of-the-moment pillow that I needed to make last night. (Don'tcha love it when you need to craft?) Well, actually it's been a long time coming; this was the first thing I embroidered and I'd been waiting to get a sewing machine so I could make a cute pillow. Anywho...I holed up in the office/craft room, put on some Alice in Chains and went to work. I tend to dive in rather blindly without giving much thought to a pattern. Whatever happens, happens. ;) It's not perfect, but I am quite fond of it. I think it's cute.

Hey, do you remember the sampler I've been working on? I am almost done with it!! All I have to do is add the tiny black seed beads in the "B" section...which I didn't have in my stash, so I had to order them. They should be here soon. So stay tuned, peeps! I will back soon with a picture of a finished sampler within a week, if all goes well. Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Pillow Talk

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

I got busy with the sewing machine this afternoon and sewed up a little pillow using a stitchy piece I did last Spring.



(Embroidery pattern courtesy of Andrea Zuill.)

It ain't perfect by any means, but I am pretty darn proud of it. :)

(Clicking on the pic will take you to my flickr, where you can see more pictures.)

That's all for now! I put some work on the cross stitch sampler I talked about in my last post, so hopefully I will back soon with some pics to share. Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Sewing, "S" Embroidery, and a WIP

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

Whew! As much as I love the holidays, I am always happy when they've passed and things return to normal. I haven't much time for stitching lately, which I am hoping will change soon now that things have calmed down around here.

Hey, guess what? I got a sewing machine for Christmas! Yay me!! I turned it on for the first time last night and played around.



(As you can see, I am a messy crafter.)

This was the first time that I'd laid my hands on a sewing machine since 1991, in 8th grade Home Economics class. I'd say my skills are pretty similar now to what they were back then. :P

Anywho...I transformed this stitchy piece into a pillow, and am in the process of making a teensy little ornament from this "S" embroidery I did quite some time ago.



Aside from learning to sew, I also picked up a WIP that I'd abandoned. And then I remember why I'd abandoned it.



It turns out that I'd stitched most of the fun stuff. See the green backstitching between the letter blocks? That is t e d i o u s stitching. Yawn. This picture is old--taken nearly a year ago--and is what I'd done before it went into the closet. I did a little bit more of the green backstitching the other night (no pic yet), but couldn't handle more than 45 minutes or so. UGH. So back in the closet it went...until the mood strikes me to put a little more time into it.

Well, that's it for me, Stitchy Peeps! I hope to be back soon with some finished projects to share...or maybe a couple new things. I do love starting new things. :) Until then...

Happy Stitching!