From My Needle - End of 2013 and Start of 2014

First to share my stitching finishes from the end of 2013.  The first ones are small needlepoint kits I purchased at the Cross Stitch Pals Retreat at Myrtle Beach this past October. The kits are from Foxwood Crossings. She was one of the many wonderful designers attending the Pals Retreat at Myrtle Beach.

First one….

"Ribbon Wreath" by Foxwood Crossings

Completed on November 29, 2013

Second one….

"Ribbon Basket" by Foxwood Crossings

Completed on December 17, 2013

Third one was completed while I relaxing at my Dad's for the Christmas holiday.

"Christmas Crown" by Foxwood Crossings

Completed on December 24

The last of the four kits was finished in January.  I'll show it to you in a bit, but next in the list of finishes is my last finish for 2013, "Christmas Donkey". I stitched the donkey in a Stitch-A-Long (SAL). Not sure what was more fun, the actual stitching, or each of saying "DONKEY!!!!!" practically every time one of us posted an update on our stitching.

"Christmas Donkey" by Forgotten Farms

Stitched on Silkweavers 32ct lugana, color Creekstone

Completed on December 31, 2013

And next is the last of the 4 Foxwood Crossings needlepoint kits, and my first finish for 2014.

"Ribbon Tree" by Foxwood Crossings

Completed on January 1, 2014

Next up, the SAL group that did the DONKEY wanted to stitch something in honor of upcoming Valentine's Day. We chose Samper Pear VI, a freebie pattern from Sampler and Santa's - Pear page.

"Sampler Pear VI" by Sampler and Santas

Stitched on 28ct mushroom lugana

Completed on January 18, 2014

I love the freebie Pear patterns from this site. I plan to stitch some of the other pears, maybe eventually all of them. And I have a huge piece of the 28ct mushroom lugana, should be enough to stitch all of the pears on the same fabric.

And last but not least --- my latest finish from this past weekend.

"Yikes!" by Bent Creek

Stitched on 32ct platinum lugana

Completed on February 9, 2014

I had started stitching on one of the other freebie Pears. Will see if I finish it before my mood has me either starting something else new, or switching back to one of several UFO's from 2013.

Hope all have had a great Valentine's Day.

Happy Stitching to All,

Chris

Happy Valentine's Day, and a new year for blogging

Ok, once again, I have been a horrible blogger, being that I haven't updated my blog in a year. I decided today that it was time to start blogging again. And to also plan to comment on posts made by my blogging friends (I've been reading blogs from time to time, but not commenting -- yes, I know, I've been very bad).

So I've changed my background (hope you like it).  As I'm starting to type this post, I realized my last post was one year ago today, Valentine's Day 2013. No, I did not plan to start blogging again on Valentine's Day, but I do find it amusing that it has worked out that way.

More later. I plan to post pictures of completed stitching projects from the last couple of months, and I need to grab the photos. I will work on that post a little later tonight.

Talk to you soon,

Chris

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone is having a great day. Whether family members, a spouse, children, friends, or a mixture of all of the above, there are people in the world that love you no matter what. Today is a day to remember....think about....embrace, if you can....those that love you and those that you love.

I owe some update pictures, but I don't have any handy at the moment, so no pictures today. I have made progress on the UFO I started working on a couple of weeks ago. And this past weekend, I started working on Red Cottage by Plum Street Samplers.

I went on a 3 day weekend with some local stitching buddies this past weekend to Williamsburg, VA. When we arrived on Friday, we did a little shopping first. First stop was a cross stitch shop, The Stitching Well at Haus Tirol. I was good and only bought a couple of things. A few doors down, I visited The Knitting Sisters. I bought a kit for a very cute scarf that is knitted with 5 yarns, all shades of red and each very different in texture. The scarf is knitted lengthwise, which makes the changes in yarn texture really stand out.

After shopping, we had dinner at The Blue Talon Bistro. The food was outstanding. I had lamb shank which was delicious. It fell off the bone and was so tender you could eat it with a spoon. Yummm!

Saturday was a day of relaxing and stitching. A few of the ladies drove to Virginia Beach to shop at another cross stitch store, Dying 2 Stitch. I opted to stay at the condo and stitch. It was a great weekend. One we hope to repeat sometime later this year.

That's all for now. I'll post pictures in next day or so.

Hugs and Happy Stitching, Chris

My adorable dragon is finished

WooHoo, 'The Needle Guardian' by Teresa Wentzler is finished (well, the stitching is finished). This is the first of what hope are many UFOs finished this year.

I made a couple of changes. There was an outer border of Nun's Stitch and the instructions had you fringing the piece beyond the Nun's Stitch border. I didn't want to fringe it, so I left off the Nun's Stitch border too. As I fold under the edges and attach a backing fabric, I'll add a running stitch just inside the outer border. The design also included a similar cluster of braid lines (what I called the "Medussa Hair" that is around the Dragon's head) and beads on the tail. I made decision to leave it off. Now to pick out the fabric I want to attach on the inside, and then to find some pretty wool felt for the inside for the needles.

Next up on my to-stitch list is another UFO:

This is a stitching project from a Susan Greening Davis stitching retreat from 2008 (I think it was 2008). When finished, it gets attached to the purple pansy bag you see behind it.
I hope everyone is having a great Sunday afternoon. I'm currently watching Braveheart on TV while I stitch and blog.
Hugs and Happy Stitching, Chris

Progress on my Dragon

Hello all. I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I have made good progress on 'Needle Guardian' this weekend. Here is what it looks like now...

There still a little stitching to do, below the words and in the corners, but after getting my name and the backstitched words done, I was in the mood to get a little of the other backstitching done. I'm loving how it is turning out so far. Hopefully it will be done in a few more days.

Before Christmas, I had signed on for the Stitch A-Long for Country Cottage Needleworks 'Santa Village'. I had started the first piece, but didn't like the fabric I initially chose. I'm waiting on a couple of fabric options to arrive in the mail. Was hoping to have decided on fabric by now. Oh well, once fabric has been decided, I can get back to working on them.

I hope everyone has a great week. Hugs and Happy Stitching, Chris

Belated Happy New Year

It's time to start blogging again. At least to keep track of my stitching projects during the year. I'll start with my last finish of 2012. The finish below is a pattern that Tanya from The Scarlett House made for us at the PALS Fling in Myrtle Beach this past October. It's stitched over 1 on 25ct evenweave. I finished it December 31, 2012.

Next is my first start and finish for 2013. It is 'Halloween' by Threadwork Primitives, stiched on 28ct antique white evenweave.

I've decided this year to split my time between working on new projects AND finishing some of the many UFO's I have in various boxes and craft bags. Here is the first UFO that I pulled out about a week ago. It's 'Needle Guardian' by Teresa Wentzler. This is what it looked like in it's last touched state:

And here is what it looks like tonight:

The dragon will look much better once the backstitching is added at the end. This is a cute design I stumbled on years ago. Can't wait to get it finished.
That's it for now. Hugs and Happy Stitching to all.

Don't faint, yes, this is a new post...FINALLY

I have so many wonderful stitching friends, friends that laugh with me, friends that listen to me when needed, friends that stitch with me. And most importantly, friends that remind me that I haven't updated my blog in over 6 months. Well, I have just returned from hanging out with several of those wonderful friends. I have been in Myrtle Beach, SC, attending the 13th Annual Cross Stitch Pals Fall Fling. There were many familiar faces there and there were several new faces there this year. It was wonderful to see everyone and, for those that were attending for the first time, it was great to meet you and I hope to see you there again next year.

This year, the Fall Fling was at a new location, the Springmaid Beach Resort.

Here is a photo from the balcony of my room:


This was the view from the front door balcony side of my room:


And here is a view from the beach I took this morning before I left:


Stitchers from all over the place attend the Pals Fling. This is MichelleKS. Michelle was my roomie this trip:


Here's a photo of MicheleWA (no, I didn't spell her name incorrectly, she spells Michele with one "L"):


Here is a photo of DawnNC and her daughter Emily. Dawn and I have been best friends since 1st grade and have attended all 13 of the Pals Myrtle Beach trips. Her daughter Emily has attended all 7 of her years and has many "Aunts" from the Pals stitchers:


Here are KarenAZ (right), SharonPA (middle) and DianeIN (left). This was Diane's first trip to the Pals Fling:


Saturday night was the last night and many group shots were being taken. Here is a group photo of the crowd I was hanging out with. You see that DianeIN (up front) fit right in with the rest of us crazy, silly stitchers:


One of the most popular activities from the PALS Fling is the grab bag exchange. Grab bag containers can be anything. This year's containers were great. Here are photos of some of the containers:






The "penguin" container from the middle photo is the one I ended up getting and it was packed with wonderful goodies. I have a few more things to share, but need to take photos first. I'll do that and share in my next post.

Last photo to share for this post was this beautiful view of the moon coming up over the ocean's horizon. I was walking back to my room Saturday night and happened to look up and saw the moon starting to appear. I grabbed my camera and this is one of the photos that wasn't blurry:


I wasn't up early enough any morning to capture a photo of a sunrise over the ocean, maybe next year.

That's it for now. I'll take photos of a few other things to share and will post again in a day or so. To all those that attended the Pals Fling, I hope to see you all there again next year. And to those that couldn't attend this year, I hope to see you there next year too.

Hugs and Happy Stitching,
Chris