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