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

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

New Years Days 5/15

Happy Friday! It's hard to believe it's Friday already! This week has just flown by! Even my girls were wondering where the week went! It poured all day yesterday, and today it looks like another cold, dreary day, threatening of rain again! Living in Arizona we'll take all the rain we can get! I'm just not used to it raining all week! Makes for great stitching weather!

Just catching up, my daughter had a school project and presentation to work on yesterday, and my son had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, that got me behind a little, but I'm making great progress on Desert Chatelaine; Part 4 is a joy to stitch. The colors are gorgeous, and the pattern and stitches are fun and easy to stitch. Part 3 has some Queen stitches which I'm going to practice on before I actually stitch them on it!



Pierre Penguin is just about finished, as is my continued stitching on the snowflakes of Gingerbread Train, both of these should be finished by the end of the weekend! Continuing on with Gingerbread girl and Peppermint tree, I bought some new Krenik #4 braid #32, and I don't like how it looks, so I'm going to go with blending filament #32 and white, then after this one, I'm going to switch to the recommended fabric.

Working on Ink Circles Stained Glass Mistletoe, I am starting to love the colors. I already love the design, it's just the muted colors of gold and yellow-green that were dragging me down, but the mint green picked me right back up!!

For Stitch Maynia's 15 in 15, my new start for the day is Joan Elliott's Stardust Fairy. Purples and neon greens are a couple of my favorites, so this one is starting off fun! The colors are gorgeous!

New starts this weekend, include Stoney Creek's 'Paradise Banner', and Country Cottage Needlework's 'Beach Cottage, which I am excited to start!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Happy Stitching!
xo, Christine

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day4

New Years Day 3/15

Happy Monday! Today, I am enjoying a wet and cold, rainy winter day with a cup of hot tea, and working with silks, always puts a smile on my face!

I'm making some good progress on my 'Summer' Celtic lady from Lavender and Lace, and I'm finding the border of part 4 on Desert Landscape not only fun, but the colors of the silk combinations, absolutely gorgeous.

How cute is the Gingerbread Girl with her peppermint tree??!! I love working on Gingerbread Village series by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Tonight, I should have Pierre the Penguin's face completed. It's wonderful to see my daughter happy to see my progress on her Penguin ornamet from Brooke's Books.

Also, tonight, I'm working on finishing up Page 1 of Ocean Unicorns, for my Day 4 WIP. I'll have the stitch count on that for you tomorrow, but I can't believe I actually finished a whole page in a full stitch chart.

Wishing you a great week!
Hope you have a fun stitching day!
xo, Christine

New Year's Day 2

Happy Weekend! I hope you are all enjoying your Holiday weekend! I'm a little sad to say that today is the last day of our Christmas Vacation. The ornaments and decorations are all packed away, and I'm just getting ready for back to school tomorrow. Last night my husband and our son had a bonding night, so the girls and I made cookies whilst I stitched away, watching House reruns and Pirates of the Carribean on Netflix.

For Day 2, I started with my Brooke's Book SAL, Pierre the Penguin, her Animal Advent Freebie. I also bought Dorthy for her Wizard of the Oz, she's on her way, and my 12 year old daughter decided for next month to do her Grumpy Merry Christmas Cat, another freebie. That's 3 down, 9 more to decide on.

As much as I am having fun stitching Gingerbread Train, and believe you me, it is a quick stitch, I'm loosing steam, so to say! All I have left is half a peppermint wheel, and snowflakes. I just have to keep plugging away.

Now this is funny, and I don't know how it happened, but I figured out why I stitched the wrong colors on Desert Landscape, my printer somehow inverted two symbols, and I just stitched the  wrong colors. C'est la vie! Yesterday, I really wanted to pick up Mediterranean Waterlilies, but apparently it was a Waterlilly Kind of day at my LNS, they were all out, so I picked up Grape instead. When I finish the band, I will post an updated pic, but the color combination of Emerald, Grape, and Periwinkle is gorgeous, along with the turquoise cabochons of Delicate Teal, and I am loving Part 4.

My New Start for the day was Nora Corbett's 3 French Hens. In my kitchen nook, it's decorated Italian Rustic with Roosters and Hens, and I absolutely love this chart and can't wait to hang it in there. Although I'm not a huge fan of golds and browns, this was a fun and easy new start.

For today, I'm going to continue working on all the 3 WIP, if I have time I'm going to start Joan Elliott's freebie for my younger daughter, if not, I'm going to pick up Summer Celtic Lady from TIAG. I started working on the border, and I love the Green's and Golds.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Have a fun stitching day!
xo, Christine

Day 1

A Couple of Christmas Finishes and a New Start CCN 'Gingerbread Train'

Happy Weekend! 

This weekend, I'm pulling out Christmas Decorations, baking, and 

finishing up some Christmas ornaments!

Here are the first two, both by Teresa Wentzler! I love her color choices.

I'm working on two of her designs right now, Heart Sampler, and 

the Egyptian Sampler.

These ornaments were quick to stitch up and so very pretty with

their iridescent, pink and blue beads. 

This week, I'll be finishing them up, as well as I finally finished 

'Be Joyful' from Country Cottage Needleworks!

TW Father Winter Ornament (freebie)

TW Beginning WhiteWork Ornament (freebie)

Also this weekend, I started Country Cottage Needlework's 'Gingerbread Train'! 

The Classic Colorworks 'Ribbon Red' is gorgeous!

Wishing you all a fun stitching week!

Until Next time,

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2015 Ornament Exchange

Happy Weekend! It been a beautiful and gorgeous weekend here in AZ!

Today I wanted to share with you, an ornament I finished for an exchange I am in!



It was luck that I found this pattern, I wasn't even looking for a deer pattern, but as

it happened I've been obsessing with white deer busts, I just had to stitch one for Keala {and one for me}! I've been cross stitching for about 25 years now, and this is the first time I've ever stitched on linen. 

For a complementing back fabric, I went with small red buffalo check with mini white Christmas trees.

For finishing the ornament I chose this Tutorial on how to make a Flat Ornament!

You can find the Free chart HERE!

Wishing you all a fun stitching weekend!
Until Next time,
Christine