Day 1 of 31 Days of Cross Stitch

 Wait....it's September??!! Good bye, August! Hello, September!! 🍁🧡🍂🧡🍁🧡

 Happy Tuesday,everyone! Today, I am starting @melstitchingstuff #31daysofcrossstitch

Day 1 Meet the Maker

Hi, I'm Christine, and I'm 48 years old, living in Maricopa,AZ. Originally from Orange County, CA. I am a SAHM now, with a health degree from MCC.

I'm married to my HS sweetheart, and mother to almost 3 grown children and one teenager. I'm also momto 2 kitties and 2 huskies. I love my family with all of my heart. 💖

I've been #crossstitching since I was 18, mostly because I grew up watching my Great_great Aunts embroider well into their 80s. My proudest finish is 'Aphrodite' by #mirabilia. I love this stitching community, because it is a wonderful place to connect with people and make new friends!!

Some of my other hobbies, include painting, photography, travel, antiquing, baking and eating my weight in chocolate cake!

Until tomorrow!! 

Happy stitching🙂

End of August: WIP update, September plans and a little haul

 

photo credit

Happy Sunday all! We finally got some rain last night and relief from the 50+ days of 110F temps. I'm dreaming of Fall right around the corner, which most likely won't be until October, but I can still dream of crisp fall mornings and snuggling up in a cozy blanket with a hot beverage. Until then here are some of my WIP updates and plans for September, with a little haul I picked up last month.

First, are two projects I am close to finishing and hope to have done by the end of September. The first is Mirabilia's 'Orchid'. This was my first attempt at 1x1 and I did not like it at all with cotton DMC. I watched a video on youtube about using silk floss, which I will try on my next flower pixie, 'TigerLily' which I might start next month, if I'm able to gather fabric and floss for it. I still need to rip out some of 1x1 but I started beading to just get motivated for that last push to finish her. 

Second, is my oldest WIP from Jeremiah Junction, 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'.

A couple other finishes to add for next month will be 'Honey Bee'.

 and I finished, 'Season of Plenty' by Little House Needleworks, in 2019,

 and ran out of time to make it a FFO, which is my plan for next week.

 and ran out of time to make it a FFO, which is my plan for next week.

Other focus pieces for next month, will be Mirabilia's Princess Elliana, 

Chatelaine's 'Misty Morning Vineyard', 

Nora Corbett's '3 French Hens'

 

and Prairie Schooler, 'When Witches Go Riding'.

With 3 finishes, and one possible planned start is Tigerlily, I'm also planning on starting

  Joan Elliot's Fantasy SAL, 

Owl Forest '100 Owl' SAL,

 and Santa of the Forest by Lavender and Lace  if I don't start one of the three.

As for Haul, I'm obsessed with Honey Bee's so I picked up 

CCN's 'A Bee Sampler' 

and Black Bird designs 'Sweet Land of Liberty'.

Until next time: 

Happy Stitching :)

Christine xxxx

My 1-10 WIPS

 This week- my weekend view hopefully will be looking a lot like rain, because this week has been cloudy overcast filled with heat and humidity… with a bit of Fall decorating.

For today's post, I'm starting to count my WIPs. Truth be told, I haven't counted them all yet, and the number just keep increasing. I've decided to start some sort of a rotation by adding projects that I would like to finish this year, and when I finish one, I've left myself a FREE day to start a new project.

Here are in no particular order my first 10 WIPs.

1. PS 2020 Santa

2. CCN 'Beach Cottage'

3. TW 'Egyptian Sampler'

4. TW 'Night'

5. MH 'Paisley Pumpkin'

6. PS 'When Witches Go Riding'

7. Nora Corbett's '3 French Hens'

8. Mirabilia Leilani the Hula Dancer' *FREE Pattern*

9. Mirabilia's 'Princess Elliana'

10. Stitching Housewives 'Honey Bee'

Finally, it was Happy National Dog Day to my ol' man! He 'STRONGLY' insists I walk him everyday at 5:30 am!! Not so much the past couple of weeks, because it's been so damn hot here! Hopefully, we can start back up, next week!

Until next time: 

Happy Stitching :)

Christine xxxx

A Stitchy Update 9-18-2017

Good morning!
Here is this month's stitchy update!
A little more progress on Chatelaine's Desert Mandala ( I am not putting the pretty beads on until it's all finished..) 

I finished Part 1, and almost finished Part 2. I just have back stitching, and to add all the specialty stitches.

My favorite cactus with Belle Soie 'Sage' and DD 'Stormy Sky'

My finish for this month, is LHN 'Season of Plenty', which was stitched on 28ct coffee/tea dyed even weave. I changed the color of the months to help them not get lost in the fabric. How cute are these little pumpkins and crows?

My new start, is actually to start back again, with LHN, 'ABC Sampler' the letters,

'IJK'!!

Here's my progress so far! This is also stitched on 

28ct. coffee/tea dyed evenweave!

In the Garden, today/tomorrow, I'm going to try and start herbs in a mason jar, with Basil first!

I'm also going to set out in the front yard, a lantana, and repot a tomatoe plant that my mother started for seed for me, and with the cooler fall temperatures, I can set it outside now.

Happy Sunday, Happy Stitching!

xo Christine

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