Peacock Needlebook Finish

Here is my needlbook front all done. Finishing it up into the needle book will be a longer process. I want to take my time and do some extra pieces for a scissor pocket and a monogrammed back piece. Frosty Forest has been delayed nearly a month by the store I am getting my auto ship from. Frustrating to wait and email and not get a real explanation, so they get a couple more days to get back to me or I will cancel and get it somewhere else. On a much more fun note I made a start on a new small project and I will be posting pics of that tomorrow.

Progress and snow!

Working on my peacock needle book, added the border which is sort of half the original pattern half making it up as I go along. The weather here has dipped as low as 4 degrees F which is very cold for Southern Oregon. We got about six inches of snow as well. That's my husband coming home from work in the snow.

Peacock Needlebook update pic

Here is a progress picture of my in between project, Peacock Needlebook.. Starting the back stitch on this and adding beads at the end. I have some lovely colors of wool felt for the needlebook pages and hopefully get this finished right as Frosty Forest arrives. The fabric is already here and it's gorgeous. I'll be posting here and on the SAL blog along with side projects here. The weather here has turned freezing at night, good stitching weather to just snuggle up and work. I'll be busy busy in the next week with seeing the new Hunger Games movie, a check up at the doctor, Thanksgiving and my birthday the day after. Good times!

Keeping Busy

Waiting to start Frosty Forest I thought I would do some projects I had been wanting to try. I got out my crystals and beads to make counting pins. They are fun to make although the E 6000 glue gives me a headache it is worth it for the outcome. I wanted to make these forever to use for an upcoming giveaway.

 Better pics to come once I clean off the glue bits and give them a cleaning. The peacock stitch I started got a visit from the froggy, and I took out the Terra cotta color ring and I will restitch it in another color. Progress pics will be soon as I plan on stitching this cold foggy day away!

My In Between Project

Before I start the Frosty Forest series from Country Cottage Needleworks I thought I'd do something while I wait for the pattern to come out in mid November. I have Joan Elliott's Wit and Wisdom book and I've wanted to do something out of it for a while now. I thought about it and decided to do the peacock and mandala part of Eastern Promise. The larger piece is stunning and someday I think I'll do the whole thing but for the time I have a small piece like this is perfect. My goal is a needlebook and if I get it done quick enough maybe add a scissor fob to it as well. The fabric I'm using is from Stephy's Fabby's called Meadow in 28ct Cashel opalescent linen. I am a member of her Fabric of the Month since last year at this time so I had quite a few fabrics to choose from in my stash. This one just fit the colors I think. It's a fun little piece and it's going fast. Here is my start pic from a few days ago. I've gotten quite a bit further since then and I'll post more pics of my progress in a day or so.

December Cottage Finish

Here it is and the last Monthly Cottage in the series. I am so happy to have them all done but I will miss them. I loved the color changes and little design changes to personalize them. December didn't have much in way of color changes, only some sparkle added. A few small design changes like leaving out the bird and yellow dots in the white border flowers and adding candles, a tree with icicles in the windows and a few icicles on the roof. While I wait for Frosty Forest to start I am going to work on another UFO and possibly do a small autumn stitch. More to come soon!

December Cottage progress pic..

Bit of sparkle added to the snow and well on the way.

Finished! Ink Circles Art Nouveau Love Letters

It felt good to get this piece finished, its been a UFO for at least a year. I am also excited to start the new Frosty Forest series from Country Cottage Needleworks in mid November. The stitch a long blog is up at http://ccnfrostyforeststitchalong.blogspot.com/ and any one who is interested in joining the SAL can email for an invite.

December Cottage Floss Toss plus!

So much good stuff I can't stand it! First the December Cottage floss toss which compared to last month,  this one I am not changing anything. I will be adding some sparkle to the snow with both blending filaments and Kreinik #4 in 032 white pearl.

I have also picked up a UFO from last year and will finish this up. Its Ink Circles Love Letters Art Nouveau sampler. Its coming along well and fast, a few more details in the frame and then the letters and it will be a hands down happy dance. The other great news is Country Cottage Needleworks has a new series starting mid November called Frosty Forest. I will set up on an auto ship to get started as soon as the charts come out and I am really excited! (Can you tell?..lol)

November Finish

 Here it is all finished up and I really love how it came out. I hemmed and hawed about what threads to use, in the end I used Carrie's Fall Splendor for the leaves in each corner, and the lovely Knitty Gritty hand dyed thread from yarnplayer on Etsy. I used Poblano Pepper by Crescent Colors for the house, Indian Summer by Weeks Dye Works for the month and the shutters, Crescent Colors Dark Chocolate for the border, roof, windowpanes, trees and turkey as well as the acorns in between the leaves where I omitted the flowers. I did the acorns in satin stitch and the remaining leaves in Knitty Gritty.  I debated about the turkey for a while, finally found a freebie online and did it in one over and changed the tail a bit to fit it in. I think this is my favorite block of the whole year, (my birthday's in November so maybe I'm biased..lol). On to December!

Progress pic

Well I am not as far along as I should be, we had a visitor come stay. A small brown bunny came literally to our door! I look out our front window and saw a  little rabbit hopping up to our door. We thought it belonged to the daycare next door but they said it had been wandering the neighborhood. I caught fairly easily and we got it settled  in a cage for the time being. We cannot keep it but we will make sure it gets a good home.  He or she now has some deep bedding, pellets, timothy hay and a new big water bottle. The pic was taken right after we caught him.

On the stitching front I LOVE the hand dyed thread from yarnplayer called Knitty Gritty. I tried some Carries thread for the leaves and the colors were so off so I frogged out the few test leaves and went back to my first choice that I had second guessed..lol The Knitty Gritty is perfect and so now I am back on track.

Progress pics, more color decisions

Still plugging along and changing colors as I go..went with Crescent Colors Poblano Pepper for the house and deciding on threads for all the leaves...

November Cottage Floss Toss and Start

Here is the floss toss with the called for colors. I wasn't keen on the tomato red oddly named Grapefruit for this so I traded it out for a deeper red WDW Indian Summer. I also didn't care for the green but haven't found a replacement yet, have to dig through my stash. I traded out the Simply Shaker Harvest Moon for WDW Marigold.  I am leaning toward doing all the leaves with  a one off hand dye by yarnplayer. Diving into stitching, the roof is done in Dark Chocolate by The Gentle Art. More color changes in the border as well later, just have to see. Just for fun here are our two cats being puddle cats in the heat. ONE more day of 98 degree weather here in Southern Oregon and our fall weather finally begins. I can't wait for rainy days of stitching curled up under a blanket.

October Cottage Finish

Here is my October Cottage Finish. I loved this one, it felt really good to get back to stitching again. This one I changed quite a few things starting with the colors, the border and added the moon with clouds and cat in the O. I also made the door look as if it were slightly opening and left off some of the leaves on the tree. The moon is done over one and I used quite a bit of Glissen Gloss blending thread to make the moon sparkle. I'll have November Cottage Floss Toss tomorrow and start pics as well.

Progress pic

Here is a progress pic of the October Cottage, coming along and not much left to do. Feels very nice to be back at stitching again.

Hand Dyed Thread Sources

If you're like me and are addicted to beautiful thread, I thought I might share some of my secret sources for cool hand dyed thread. None of these shops or links are associated with me other than I buy stuff from them because I'm a thread-a-holic..lol.

The first is Bath Tub Studios on Etsy. I love this shop, there are lots of different types of hand dyed thread available including embroidery thread but also tatting, crochet and others.

Second is yarnplayer, which those of you who do tatting might already be familiar with. She also makes some just gorgeous hand dyed floss as well. 

Third is therainbowgirl also on Etsy. She does such colorful and amazing hand dyed threads, I just drool. Her embroidery floss is listed under stranded cotton as she's a UK shop. 

Finally last but certainly not least is Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. 

This shop is on Ebay, they have a wide range of colors and she also designs samplers and kits. I've only bought the threads but they are lovely and reasonably priced. 

I hope you enjoy these links, again no affiliation and I didn't receive anything from these stores I didn't buy myself (again thread addict here..hehe). 

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Hi everyone, if you wondered where the heck I went, I'm back! Honesty I had some health issues (mostly dental) that needed attention, plus I just got a severe case of cross stitch burn out. I'm back though, got out unfinished October Cottage and hope to finish it in September, then finish up Nov and Dec. before starting a large Joan Elliott piece that I finally found the right fabric for.

I didn't mean to drop off the face of the earth for nearly a year but a break was nice. I still did some crafty things but not a great deal. Nothing takes away your concentration more than a toothache and it really put me off but I finally now have all dental work done but one tooth getting pulled, probably at the end of this month. During my time off I organized all my stash, acquired more stash and so I'm looking forward to getting back in the swing of things.

We had a hot smoky summer here in Medford, and now temps are coming down and fall will be here soon (hopefully).