Finally some progress!

Well I think I'm in the homestretch now with March Cottage. This cold really knocked me for a loop and had me so sick. I still have a bit of a cough but it's getting less. This cottage feels like it's take twice as long as February just because I tried to stitch while I was sick and ended up frogging a few times to fix mistakes.  Hopefully I'll get it finished here in the next week or so. I can't wait to get April Cottage, it is so dang cute and I love the clouds. They just make it pop.

I had a nice outing with my best friend to a few craft stores although I only ended up getting a couple of fat quarters of fabric. We are planning for another Shop Hop at end of April thru the beginning of May for the middle of Oregon. We're going to go through our craft stashes and find things to sell to fund our trip. Hopefully we can get enough for gas and snacks..lol. I have a ton of cross stitch kits and charts that I need to put up and sell. I'm thinking of putting up an Etsy shop or just going to directly to Ebay.

It's funny how tastes change over time and things that you dearly loved a few years ago now aren't your favorite or you've moved on to different designs. I used to buy tons of Gold Petite Mini's from Dimensions, I have gobs of them and although did stitch a few I have WAY too many so hopefully those will go to new homes. I remember when I was younger not being all that keen on samplers or on more antique style stitching. Now I LOVE them and find them so adorable.

Oh and while I was out with my friend we stopped at my LNS Middleford Alley Yarn and I found they had a few My Big Toe designs fobs and marking pins. I picked up a gorgeous Mini fob in purples with a butterfly charm. I also got a set of blue marking pins as well. I'll post pics of these soon. I emailed My Big Toe about a matching set of accessories and they are happy to put them together for you through your LNS. Next month I'll go and order up my set which I am just obsessed with. I've just discovered embroidery scissors and only had my simple little pair with a cracked handle. I now have a couple of pairs of titanium scissors (love the colors) and want fobs for those. If it's sparkly and colorful I'm all over it..lol. Always good to have something to look forward to after this nasty cold. Spring is on it's way I hope!

Down for the count

I am seriously down with a bad cold which either my husband gave me or I gave him because we both have it. Coughing, sneezing, fever the whole bit. So no progress to be had on my March Cottage sadly. Despite our illnesses I did recieve a lovely bouquet of flowers from my husband and in the mail (from myself.hehe) I recieved my bundle of Valdani stash. I found it for an amazing price online and it's SO yummy.

Sorry if the photo is a bit dark it's a dark and dreary day here in Southern Oregon. Our unseasonably warm spell came to an end with about half an inch of snow that melted away. We now have dark grey skies and rain in the forecast. I am off to make a pot of tea for the sick hubby and me. Happy Valentines and I hope to be back in the pink soon.

March Cottage progress

Here is a bit more progress made on March Cottage. I really like how the green's are turning out. I speculated on changing the peach to purple, but seeing April Cottage and the use of purple in it I can stick with the peach.

I'm hoping to start on the borders soon and get the windows finished. The Weeks Dye Works Pecan that came with the chart from ABC Therapy didn't have as much color variation in it, so I used another skien I had of it with more color changes. I like how the roof came out. Those little sheep are just adorable! My neice who is 3 loves Shaun the Sheep and couldn't help humming the theme as I stitched them up..lol.

March Cottage start..

I received March Cottage in the mail on Monday and got to start on it yesterday. My husband and I got a couple of days to go and have a little getaway and while we were away I visited a lovely cross stitch store in Grants Pass, Oregon. Unique Lee Yours is a wonderful shop with a terrific owner. We got to speak for a while as I got to look around the store. I of course had to buy some threads to add to my stash while I was there. I'll post pics of them soon. The store website is here if anyone would like to stop by http://www.uniqueleeyours.com/ .

I wish I could say I was further along on March Cottage but I've been watching too much of Downton Abbey. I watched the first season on Netflix and now I'm watching the second on PBS.com. Hard to keep your mind on your stitching when you're glued to this beautiful show.

March isn't even here yet but...

I've already assembled my floss toss. I found the list of flosses called for on ABC Stitch Therapy where I'm getting the auto ship of the cottages. March is on it's way and I can't wait to start on it, with a few changes. Here is the original floss toss...

The prescribed colors are okay, for some reason I had it my head that the greens were a bit greener in the sample photo. The pink I thought was more peach, which after February I was actually liking the peach color. So I made a few substitutions that I think I will stick with when I start stitching. Here is my alternative floss toss...

I've swapped out 3347 for Weeks Dye Works Envy, as well as swapping 3348 the lighter green for DMC 704. I thought they were a bit brighter. For the pink DMC 947 I switched to DMC 352 which is much more peachy than pink which I like. The DMC 744 is now swapped out for DMC Variations 4100 which still has some yellow but also some of the same peach colors as the DMC 352. I kept the WDW Pecan and the white and dark DMC 3031. These may change if I start stitching and it seems off but hopefully they'll come together the way I'm hoping.

I also made a start on my Ink Circles Love Letters Art Nouveau. I participate on their SAL Blog and had fallen off a couple of months stitching Cottages. When March gets here I'll just rotate.

February Cottage Finish!

February is all done, at least in the stitching department. I need to actually start framing some of these soon. I'm a serial stitch finisher but then leave it to sit in a ziplock till it gets framed for way too long. Hopefully before I get March finished I'll have January and February in their final finishes. I must say I'm loving the DMC Variations I used for this. I've used lots of different vareigated thread in the past but these were just as good as the more expensive hand dyed fibers I'm used to using. I hear there are new colors coming out that I'll have to get. Anyway March should be here in the next week and I hope to get it underway soon.

February Progress part 2