Smalls SAL December

Around the beginning of October I lost my stitchy bug!

I did stitch a couple of days within the last couple of months, I even 

had a couple of new starts, which I will post about on the first!

There were two projects I was close to finishing, that one project,

all I had left to do was back stitch, and add the beads.

About a week before Christmas, I pulled it back out, 

determined to finish it.

It was to become one of my MIL's gifts.

Here it is all finally finished !

Brooke's Book's Bride's Tree Ornament 

'Guidance' 

32ct Raw/Gold Belfast Linen

My other small finish, was a quick stitch, that I had so much fun stitching,

that I am happy to report,

I got my stitching bug back enough,

to plan out next year!

Which includes a couple big starts, 

I am starting on the 1st!

Here's my other small finish,

'Flurries in the Firs'

by 

Blue Ribbon Designs

Hand tea dyed 28 ct. Monaco

JCS August 2016

I'm looking forward to next year participating in the Smalls SAL!!

Brooke's Books Bride's Tree 'Guidance'

32ct Raw/Gold Belfast Linen

Just finished my MILs gift. I love this Brooke's Books 'Guardian Angel' and it fits my MIL perfectly,
 as she's been my guardian angel! 
This is finish #18 for 2016! 
I lost my stitchy bug around the middle of October, 
and all I needed to finish this was the beading. 
Picking it back up again, got my stitchy bug back! 
I may have one small last finish for the year! 
The frame I distressed myself with chalk paint and gold spray paint!

April WIPs Mirabilia Queen Mermaid, Chatelaine and Brook's Books

Happy Wednesday to you! Last weekend, we finally got a little bit of Spring weather. It did get up to 97F already, but with the April showers it was a nice break. I was thinking of a title for this post, because I haven't really been doing to much stitching, it's been more of beading, beading and more beading.

I don't know what happened last week, but I started one day on my Brooke's Books ornament 'Faithfullness', and I stopped. I worked more on my Chatelaines and Mirabillia. A free week of stitching on my WIPs is planned for the last week of April, I just swapped it out for the first week. This all had to do with beading. When I started beading the Bride's Tree, I thought why not finish the beading on my Chatelaine, and then like a domino effect, I carried it over to wanting to stitch the beaded rattlesnake on my Desert Landscape.

Here is the second day I worked on my Bride's Tree. I noticed one of the roses needs to come up a stitch, which is an easy fix.

I'm stitching this as a Mother's Day gift for my mom! She loves roses! I'll give more of my thoughts on this WIP when I finish it. I do love all the Springy pastel colors in contrast to the pink of the rose.

Hopefully by the end of the week, I should have 'Tiny Rose Garden Mandala' finished. I just have a little more beading to go.

I've been working on Desert Landscape to get me to the point where I can start stitching the beaded Rattlesnake! Living here in the suburbian desert of Arizona, yes, my sister-in-law had a rattlesnake in her front yard! Being a Chatelaine, I know Martina would capture this gorgeous creature in her design and she always amazes me! I love the contrast of the Silk N Colors Copper Rose with the drab greys, and the sparkle of the Black TB really sets the snake off! It's the beads that really make it gorgeous! 

Since my LNS doesn't carry Delicas, and the gold bead in the design calls for actual gold plated beads, I opted to use the gold Mill Hill beads in my stash. I did find a limited list on Delica-Mill Hill conversion. The other bead on the rattlesnake is a rootbeer color, and I found a Mill Hill color bead that is a close match called Allspice. 

This is how far I've gotten. I do a small section a day, but I love the progress!

Finally we have more progress on 'Queen Mermaid'. Today I'm going to go back and add her arms. Last week I worked my way down to her lilac bustle.

I'm waiting to find out if this week, the new Mirabilia release is a Mermaid, because I'm trying to finish this one, so I have a reason to buy the new one. I have a feeling, I won't be able to wait, so I'll be working on two. If the new design released isn't a mermaid, than that's fine too, because I really want to focus on just finishing her first!

Wishing you a wonderful Springy stitching week!

Oh, next time I will be starting a new WIP, a beachy one for Summer to come!

Until next time!

xo, Christine

March Update, Finish #7 and Plans for April

Happy Spring! Hope you enjoyed your Easter! It was a beautiful Spring day here in Arizona. I enjoyed the warm sunshine as I watched my girls hunt for eggs, and then enjoyed a nice family dinner. The girls and I made lemon cupcakes with strawberry filling and white chocolate buttercream! With a honey ham and asparagus, it was the end to the perfect day!

It's hard to believe it's the end of March already! I had several blog posts ready to go, but I got a little behind in my stitching thanks to the brilliant Martina Weber and her Chatelaine designs. After I finish her Tiny Rose Garden Mandala freebie, I do have the urge to start another one of her smaller designs.

First here is my WIP that I am so close to finish. I'm halfway through with the blackwork, half stitches and tiny Algerian eyelet roses, that are truly very dainty and lovely, and then I'll save the beadwork for last.

Here's a little more detail!

Continuing with Country Cottage Needlework's 'Gingerbread Village' SAL, is 'Gingerbread House 2'.

I ran out of 3 Crescent Colors at the same time, and took a little time off, until I found my way down to my LNS. I should have it finished tomorrow.

I saved the best for last, this weekend, finish #7 Brooke's Books 'Dorthy'. I tried to finish her Friday night, with just a row and a half left, but couldn't keep my eyes open! I did do Ruby slippers, with their red sparkle, and I used DMCs black S310. Once you get used to working with it, I love how it gives Toto a silky sheen. I wasn't too thrilled with the DMC metallic gold. For the next ones I'll be using treasure braid. This was a joy to stitch. It did take me a few rows to get used to stitching on 32 ct. again with the one arm and the middle of the apron, but I'm happy how pretty she looks.

For next month, I am going to do a rotation with my 

Chatelaine 'Desert Landscape' on the weekends, 

Mirabilia's 'Queen Mermaid' on Wednesday, 

one week will be 'Gingerbread Village', 

for April's Brooke's Books I'll be working on one of her Bride's Tree ornaments

and one week, I'm going to start a little late, but I think

these designs are absolutely adorable, 

I'd been seeing them around, and then I saw April's design and I was 

hooked, from the Sunflower Diaries SAL 'Joyful World'

That leaves one week, to work on a WIP.

Then we'll see how this rotation goes.

Until next time!

I hope you have a lovely stitching week!

xo, Christine

Finish CCN's Gingerbread House 1 and 4 New Small Starts

Happy Weekend! Hope you are enjoying the lovely spring weather! It's been rather warm here pushing 90Fs already! Remember when I said I wasn't planning on catching a cold or virus or any annoying bug, well I did just that. Last Thursday I started not feeling too well, and by Friday, I spent the next three days in bed with a terrible cough, and head cold, sore throat and fever. I'm feeling much better know, but still having a hard time kicking this.

I did finish Country Cottage Needleworks, Gingerbread House #1 by the end of February. Thank goodness for Leap Years!

and here is my small start on the next Gingerbread Village, Gingerbread House #2

For this month for the Brooke's Books SAL, I started 'Dorthy'! Love this design. 

It's really cute and fun to stitch!

I didn't get too much stitching done on her, because I started 3 other small designs.

Two St. Patrick's desgins, and one old Freebie design from 

Chatelaine 'Tiny Rose Garden Mandala', that I can't find anymore.

This first St. Patrick's design is a Freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs, 

'Leprechaun Lodge'

I'm having fun with all the shamrocks. 

A new obsession of mine are cottages.

and the other one is a New Shepard's Bush design from

St. Patrick's Day Trifles, called

'Shamrock House'. 

I actually hand dyed this fabric.

I love the color! It's a light violet, and the colors of the over dyed floss look 

absolutely lovely!

One last thing, here is my WIP Wednesday of Mirabilia's Queen Mermaid!

Her hair is almost all stitched up! 

This week I'll be working on her shoulder and arms, leading to her treasure box!

Until next time!

Have an amazing stitching weekend!

xo, Christine

WIP CCN Gingerbread House 1 a Winner and LNS New Stash

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Ours was filled with beautiful Spring like weather, even though I know the last of winter is yet to come. My youngest daughter and I enjoyed a road trip up North to visit my family, unfortunately my mother the first night caught a cold, and I told her not to worry, as my daughter had already had a cold, and I have no plans on catching one any time soon. I was pleasantly surprised to see her lilac bush had new buds on it already, which she said may or may not freeze, since up north they haven't seen their last frost date yet. So hopefully it won't freeze. This Spring my mother is going to give me a cutting or two from this bush, which I'm curious to see how it will survive down her in the Valley of the Sun. There is one spot on the side of the house, out side of my kitchen widow that is shaded by some very tall Palo Verde trees, that are growing on a green belt beside our house, and it will get about 2-3 hours of early morning sun, and be shaded the rest of the very hot day. Other than that I stitched a little and watched Disney movies and National Geographic Wildlife documentaries with my daughter, and did a little Antique shopping later on Saturday morning.

This month has just flown by, my goal is to finish Country Cottage Needlworks Gingerbread Series #3, Gingerbread House 1 by the end of the month. Since I didn't stitch hardly the second week of February, and hardly this weekend of last, I'm pretty sure I can finish this before the weekend. I really want to work on my Chatelaine Deseret Landscape and finish the Octagon center.

I just have the one tree left, the rest of the gingerbread house, and the top border, and *ugh* the snow at the bottom. I really don't like stitching white. I don't know why, I just do!

On Friday I had a couple stash missions, of which I only got 1 of 3 accomplished. I went to my LNS to pick up some Krenik for my Brooke's Books 'Dorthy', and my 13 year is stitching her first chart from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, it's Pen Pal's #204 'St. Patrick's Day'. I asked her if she wanted to try stitching the Krenik, and see how she does, if not, I'll save it for something else. She stitched up the face in an hour. She's a fast learner!! My LNS didn't have the ones I needed, so I'll need to check another not so LNS in Phoenix which is a little further away. But I did pick up a couple of Rosewood Manor charts, one was 50% off, and I couldn't help picking the other up as I loved the color combination. They are 'Spanish Proverb', and 'Arise My Soul'.

 After following the progress of  Dani's 'Spring Quakers', I was looking to pick up that chart, but my LNS didn't have this one.

The third mission, was to browse through Barnes and Nobles to find a Cross Stitch Magazine that had this design. It's supposedly in the New Cross Stitch Collection Magazine, but I didn't find it. I found the magazine, just not the chart. *sigh* I'll just keep looking! This would look perfect in our bedroom!

So, instead I ordered, Shepard's Bush 'St. Patrick's Day Trifles'.

Onto the winner of my Instagram Giveaway!

is Crafty Kara

Youtube and Instagram

So Congratulations, and

 Thank you so much to everyone for following me!

Wishing you all a wonderful stitching week!

Until next time!

xo, Christine

WIP Wednesday Mirabilia's Queen Mermaid and Gingerbread House1 Update and some New Stash

It's hard to believe we are coming to the end of February. Last week just flew by and this week is going just as fast. The beginning of March I have a baby shower and a 50th Birthday party to attend, I was thinking about doing a birth sampler for her, but I won't have it ready in time for the baby shower, I might be able to get it done for her before the baby is born.

Yesterday I worked on Queen Mermaid, and I was able to stitch most of her lovely face.

This coming week, I am going to work a little on her hair, and her shoulder.

Not stitching hardly last week, but me a little behind on my Country Cottage NeedleWorks

Gingerbread House 1. With 11 days to finish I am thinking I should be able to get it done by next week.

I got stash in the mail yesterday from Brooke's Books. I recieved my Bride's Tree Ornaments.

Here are the 4 I am going to stitch this year!

April I will start with 'Faithfulness' for my Mother as a Mother's Day present! She loves Roses, and I know she is just going to love this!

Be sure if you haven't already, check out my first Giveaway on Instagram.

You can find me on Instagram @atthecrossrhodes , or click HERE.

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week!

Until next time!

xo, Christine

A Little Valentine Stitching and finishes, and my first Giveaway

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! Sorry for not posting last week! It was a family and fun filled week. My oldest daughter came for a visit on Wednesday, her birthday was Valentine's Day, and my youngest daughter Lindsay's Birthday was the 10th, so we celebrated both of their birthday's on Wednesday. My oldest daughter stayed until Friday, and then Saturday and Sunday I had a bowling tournament and surprised myself with a score of 170! After the tournament, I drove to visit my family who lives about now 3 hours North of me in Prescott, Arizona for a visit, since my girls had Monday off, and got back home last night.

With all of that going on, I was able to finish Lizzie Kate's 'Be Mine Valentine'. 

28ct. Antique White Cashel

The heart is stitched with WDW 'Love', the Be Mine is WDW 'Blackberry', 

the ribbon is WDW 'Blue Jeans', the Green border is CC 'Beansprout', and the Valentine is

a Purple varigated silk from GumNuts I had in my stash.

Yesterday, I finished my February Brooke's Books SAL,

Merry Christmas Grumpy Kitty

which is a freebie and you can find it HERE

28 ct. Ice Blue Cashel

I substituted Gold Treasure Braid #4 for the star, and instead of french knots

for the snowflake, I added some sparkly crystals!

I've been working on my CCN 'Gingerbread House 1', and I'll post an updated picture of it as

well as I'm hoping to finish the corner motif on my TW Egyptian Sampler.

Onto the fun stuff, I reached 100 Followers on Instagram also this Valentine's Weekend!

To show my LOVE, I'm giving away not only

the LK 'Be Mine Valentine' chart, but 3 of the WDW flosses

Love, Blackberry and Blue Jeans, too!

All you need to do to qualify for an entry is to Follow me on Instagram, and like the photo there!

You can find me on Instagram @atthecrossrhodes , or click HERE. The contest will run from

now 2/16, until Sunday 2/20 at 11:59 p.m MST. I will announce the winner on Monday, 2/21! 

Wishing you all a lovely stitching day!

 Until next time!

xo, Christine

WIP Wedndesday 'Queen Mermaid' and Update

Happy Friday! Whoa!! Where did the week go! I meant to post yesterday, but it seems that there is this cold bug that is being shared around our house. Thankfully, I haven't caught it yet, but my dear husband, son and daughters each in turn have got it all week. On top of that my youngest felt she needed glasses, when actually the optometrist said she most likely only needs visual exercises to strengthen her eye muscles, so we have an appointment tomorrow for her.

Last week I mentioned that my husband and I were going to try and eat heathier. I'm taking a 30 day challenge to give up refined sugar. I already sweeten my cuppa hot tea with honey, so I'll just add it to my coffee as well. Also, I am only using 1/2 tsp for a daily total of 4 tsp. Over the course of my day I drink 4 cups of coffee 2 in the morning and 2 in the early evening, and then 2 cups of tea in the afternoon and at night. For last night's dinner, I tried something new, and I was pleasantly surprised. One of the foods, {which aren't many} that I have a strong dislike for is cauliflower. The last couple of years, I've seen it as a replacement for rice, so I gave it a go, and grated a cauliflower to make a stir fry. I have to say it was absolutely delicious.

Here is what I've been stitching on for 

\WIP Wednesday Mirabilias 'Queen Mermaid'.

I stitched more of her skin for her neck, arm, and back. For next week, I hope to work on her face.

Here is more progress on the Country Cottage Needlework's Gingerbread Cottage #1, and

Brooke's Books 'Merry Christmas Grumpy Kitty'. 

Today I'm working more on the center octagon in Chatelaine's Desert Mandala!

Oh, and I am beyond thrilled and excited to find out the Nora Corbett has a new Pixie Fairy for the New Just Cross Stich Magazine. 

If you haven't already seen her, 'Queen Anne's Lace' it's a Free download pattern Here. I've got some fabric that I want to try my hand at dyeing. And even though last month I started 8 new starts, I'm adding this as my +1. The colors are gorgeous and fun I just can't wait to get started on her!

Until next time!

Have a lovely stitching weekend!

xo, Christine

February 1st New Starts

Happy Monday! I hope you had a relaxing weekend! This week there isn't too much going on around here, but next week, I have two birthday girls, that are 12 years and 4 days apart, my oldest and my youngest!

Today, continuing on with both Stitch Alongs, Country Cottage Needlework's Gingerbread Village, with Gingerbread House 1, 

and Brooke's Books with 'Merry Christmas Grumpy Cat' for my tween daughter! 

Brooke's also added another 

freebie Advent Animal #20, 'Odette Owl'

 a Beautiful Fluffy Snow Owl with the prettiest red bow!

Looking at the rotation for my other projects, for the month of February, I am going to focus on 

Teresa Wentzler's 'Heart Sampler'

Kustom Krafts Ocean Unicorns for two weeks

&

HAEDs Peacock and Doves in a Garden for the other two

&

Chatelaine's Desert Mandala

&

on Wednesdays I'll be working on Mirabilia's Queen Mermaid,

 until she is finished

Depending on how the day is going and if I hit a spot where I need to put the project on time out, 

I'll pick up one of my other WIPs for a short break.

Wishing you all a fun stitching day!
Until next time!
xo, Christine

New Years Stitching Days 14 & 15/15

Hope you are enjoying your weekend! It was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday! My son had his first bowling tournament and came in 3rd place for doubles. It was all very exciting. Later that day I went to the grand opening of Ludwig's Roses in Phoenix. They are a South African Nursery expanding here to the States. Their website for the States hasn't gone live yet, but their South African one is, you just need to google it. There were around 300 varieties of roses to choose from and you can imagine how hard it was to just choose 1. A post about roses will come up from time to time, because they are another passion of mine.

I had my eye on several, one of the most absolute gorgeous roses I'd ever seen was called Queen of the Garden, and rightly so. She was straight and tall, with a gigantic bloom. She was definitely regal looking, except I already have a rose the same color, and wanted something a little different. One of my dear friends was trying to convince me to pick a wild rose, Miracle on the Hudson. It had a gorgeous yellow center and 5 or 6 perfect petals. Supposedly this rose is going to win Rose of the Year. I'm more of a petal person, I love gorgeous petals and the more the better. This rose was also more of a walkway rose, which only grows to about 3ft. I like mine a little taller around 5 or 6 feet. The last rose that I didn't choose, was a very romantic and dreamy rose, this is the one I regret not getting, because it was the loveliest shade of periwinkle and had the moset pleasant scent I've ever smelled. This will be in my garden one day, when I can sit on a warm sunny day, out in a hammock, just soaking up the sun, and fresh air and enjoying it's fragrance as it floats on a breeze. It's name was Ocean in Motion.

Ok, now the one I did choose is another winner that everyone was picking up left and right. If I didn't get the one I got they would all be gone. It's name is appropriately South Africa. It's a Floribunda rose, which means there will be many roses on one stem. Which is ok, I prefer hybrid tea roses, but I couldn't pass this one up. I love David Austin Roses, except I don't know how they would fare here living in a desert, and South Africa reminded me of a David Austin rose with it's ruffly quartet center. The rose is supposed to be a golden rose, but the rose on the bush was more apricot. Which I love even more. Here it is in all it's beauty and spendor.

Onto Stitching News:

Day 14: One of my WIPs that I really love stitching, is Chatelaine's 'Ruby' in her Gemstone Series. My birthday is is July, and I was stunned at the gorgeous shades of Red and Gold, mixed in with varigated rose silk and the shading of the black silk with grey. Absolutely gorgeous. Anyways, I missed a stitch and it went on time out. I am going to try and get this done for my birthday in July.

I just noticed I'm off a stitch on this one as well, and will fix it this week.

Day 15: One of the projects I really wanted to stitch for my mother for Mother's Day or her birthday is Mary Roe  by The Scarlett House  . Funds were running a little low with all the starts I'd been kitting up, and as it happened, someone in the Stitch Maynia group posted a WIP pic of a chart I'd had stashed away, with a Honeycomb and bees in a beautiful garden, that also had a sweet verse on it that my mother would truly love. So that's what I started yesterday. IF I have time and finish this for Mother's day, then I can start Mary Roe for her birthday to finish by September.

I have plans to sparkle it up a bit and I've never been fond of french knots, where they are I'll be adding beads. This is going to be a joy to stitch! =)

Today I am continuing on with the Gingerbread Village and Brooke's Books SALs, with Gingerbread House 1 and Grumpy Cat ornament. I'll post progress pics of them tomorrow as well as what my rotation schedule will be of working on the other 13 WIPs I now have going.

Have a lovely stitching day!

Until next time!

xo, Christine

New Year's Stitching 13/15

Happy Weekend! After a couple of months of oooohing and awwwwwing which Heaven and Earth Design to start, I found this lovely to be my first HEAD, it's A Peacock and Doves In A Garden. Here are the first 150xs.

In other stitching news, I just ordered the complete set of Brooke's Books The Bride's Tree Ornaments, there are 12 of them on Sale for $20, but I am only stitching 4 this year; Home, Plenty, Faithfullness, and Hospitality.

Non-Stitchy news, I am finding it somewhat funny that everyone starts their New Year's Resolutions on January 1st. Instead I started this fun and crazy Stitch Maynia, with only 15 projects, most are new projects and some are WIPs, AND now, yesterday my husband and I are both going on a healthier eating plan. Not so much to lose weight, but I have a weak heart genetically, and he's a Type 1 Diabetic and we are both on medication for our hearts, which he is bound and determined not to be on, and I agree with him. We're going to work on eating better, and see if we can get healthier to not need this medication. I am in no way going off the medication, unless my doctor advises me, but it's worth it to get healthy.

Until Next time!

Have a Fun Stitchy Day!

xo, Christine

New Year's Stitching Days 12/15

Happy Wednesday! Not only is this week flying by, but it is hard to believe where did January go??
My oldest daughter is possibly going to visit us this week or weekend, then my son has his first bowling tournament, which I can't tell who is more excited my son or my husband!! Also Saturday, I would like to go to a new Nursery that is opening up on the West side of the Valley and pick up a couple of new rose bushes. So it looks like it's a busy busy weekend! Of course when I'm on that side of town, I'll be picking up some stash for next month!

Getting caught up with Day 10 of the Stitch Maynia's New Year's Stitching, is actually a WIP Teresa Wentzler's 'Heart Sampler'. This is on my to finish list for February!

The pink hearts in the top first part are Queen Stitches, which I was happy to practice on them for this piece, because I noticed that my Chatelaine's Desert Landscape has a ton of them in one part with the cacti.

Today I am working on Queen Mermaid for my WIP Mermaid, I will have an updated pic of her tomorrow. I am also pulling out another WIP a small Chatelaine that got thrown into the time out bin because I found where I need to frog out a row.

Also, I looking in my stash for a Victoria Sampler pattern with again pretty blue and aqua colors.

Until next time!

Happy Stitching!

xo, Christine

New Years Days 10 & 11/15 and Finish #3 'Gingerbread Girl and Peppermint Tree'

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a relaxing stitching weekend! Friday night we got together with my husband's sister, BIL and the cousins. Just a fun night with Pizza and Wings! I'm loving this stitch maynia challenge to start or work on 15 or 31 new starts for the New year. It gives me that push to start projects I've been meaning to stitch in my stash or that I've had my eye on, that really called to me.

Finish #3, CCN 'Gingerbread Girl and Peppermint Tree'. I started her on the 1st, and I would have had her finished sooner, if I had finished 'Gingerbread Train' before January, but with Christmas and New Years, I was working to finish them both. Now I'm back on track to start #3, 'Gingerbread House 1' on February 1. I also bought to stitch for my husband's client who loves 'Fleur de Lis',  Ink Circles "Fleur de Orleans' to give her and if I have time stitch for myself too! Aren't the colors gorgeous??

Continuing on with 15 days in January for New Starts. Here is Day 8

from Country Cottage Needleworks 'Beach Cottage'.

It was ages ago that I tea stained my first fabric, and I thought I'd give it a go again.

I took 28 ct. White Monaco, and covered it in a stock pot with a pot of freshly brewed coffee.

Let the fabric soak in it for 10 minutes and pulled it out. Wrapped it in a towl to dry.

I ironed as much of the wrinkles out as I could, and I absolutely love the color!

Here is Day 9

from The Praire Schooler 'When Witches Go Riding'

I'm no where near Finishing Ink Circles 'Mistletoe Stained Glass Ornament' by the end of Januar, but I'm going to give it a go tonight and see how far I can get!

Until Next time!

Have a Happy Stitching Day!

xo, Christine