Sunday, March 17, 2024

Happy St. Patrick's Day!



I know it sounds silly, but St. Patrick's Day is a favorite day of mine.  My Dad loved to embrace his Irish heritage.  We always dressed in green on the 17th growing up, and always had a special pin to wear on the day.  I attended college in a predominately Irish Catholic town and their St. Patrick's Day celebrations were epic!  So...how could I resist stitching an Irish Blessing for today?  This is a free pattern from Herrschners that I have had in my stash for ages.  I think it turned out pretty good...now to decide how to fully finish it.  Hopefully by next St. Patrick's Day I'll have it ready to display somewhere!  I hope you all enjoy your day!  

                                                 Slainte' mhaith




Not many know the true story of St. Patrick...

The REAL story of St. Patrick's Day:
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated every year on March 17, but why? Many who celebrate have only a vague idea that there was a real man — a Christian — named Patrick. He was born in Britain to a Christian family, but he didn’t accept Christ until after he was kidnapped at age 15 by Irish pirates and sold to a harsh Druid man in Ireland. Patrick was forced to work as a herdsman by his captors, and during that time he would pray for hours. At age 22, he escaped and returned to Britain. But several years later, he had a dream calling him back to Ireland to minister to its people. Heeding this call, Patrick journeyed throughout Ireland, sharing Christ until his death, thought to have been around March 17, A.D. 461. Whether you’re wearing green or not, remember the story of the Christian witness behind St. Patrick’s Day.



Friday, March 15, 2024

March Gifted Gorgeousness/Fully Finished Gallery


I hope it's ok to combine the two.  I have a few that fit into both categories, so I thought I'd just only publish the pictures once.  Anyway, welcome to the Gifted Gorgeousness post for March.  This is a monthly challenge masterminded and hosted by the lovely Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.  (Click here).  Once a month, on the 15th, Jo has us link in to her blog with our updates on the things we've stitched associated with the word, gift.  This can be a gift to us or from us and can be something we stitched with gifted fabric, floss, kits etc.  You get the idea.  We welcome others to join in at any time!  Head on over to Jo's blog for more "rules", to subscribe, and for the links to see what others are stitching for this challenge too!  
I have quite a few so I'll get started...  

First up are these fabulous eggs that I found.  The patterns can be found in the Facebook group by F.lli Graziano srl.  They have a lot of patterns for different seasons and celebrations.  I dearly love her egg patterns and have had them in my stash for ages.  Since they are freebies, I consider them GG candidates.  Here are the eggs I've stitched so far, and pictures of the ones I have fully finished.  












I stitched this little bunny egg by La Comtesse & Le Point De Croix.  This was a freebie on her page.  





I also found a set of eggs by Owl Forest Embroidery Easter Eggs I found on their freebie page.  There are 12 in the series, but this violet basket is my favorite...I wonder why?  LOL!





This little Bunny Egg was a freebie from Victoria Samplers a few years ago.  I found some 32 count light blue fabric that I stitched this on over two.  I just adore that little bunny! 





These bunnies were finished 6 years ago.  I was looking for something in my to be finished box and found them.  I always loved this pattern, in fact I had pulled it out to stitch this month...I had forgotten I had stitched it so long ago.  This was a free pattern from Snowflower Diaries from several years ago.  I wasn't sure I would get everything fully finished before Easter, but here we are!  And now I can hang them all up!  Yay!



Just for fun I'm posting a picture of all my Easter Eggs!  



I may have posted these pieces before as they were unfinished and are from Just Cross Stitch publications.  DH gifts me the subscription each year so I consider these GG candidates as well.  Here are the two that I have finished recently.  This is Ready for Christmas from the 2023 JCS Ornament issue...  



And Checking it Twice from the JCS August 2023 issue.  



Both were designed by Durene Jones and stitched on 40 count Burch over two.  I used ornaments I found at Hobby Lobby, removed the bow at the top, and turned them around to attach the stitched ornaments to the inside of the tart pan.  I can't take credit for this idea, I saw someone else do it, and after Christmas I found them on sale for 90% off.  Now who could pass that up?  I really hope they have them again this year, I'll buy a whole boatload...lol!!   

The next two were Valentine's gifts from DH.  They were kits from Wonderland Crafts and I really enjoyed stitching them.  They are stitched on perforated wood and came with a pre cut felt backing.  They are much prettier in person, you can't see the wonderful luster to the beads in a picture.  I look forward to hanging them on my tree next Christmas!  




I put a few stitches if Floral Magenta by The Heart's Content, the kit was gifted to me from a friend.  I love the color of the floss!!



I started this Irish Blessings Wall Hanging piece for  St. Patrick's Day.  DNA showed I was part Irish, part Welsh...so I like to celebrate both holidays!  LOL  Anyway, this was a free pattern from Herrschners so I consider it a GG piece.  I'm hoping to finish before Sunday, wish me luck!  It's stitched on 36 Ivory over two....pictured, without the lettering, it's halfway done!





I guess that's all I have to show at the moment.  I did want to update you on Anne Thomas 1856.  I have been trying to stitch 5 pages a month since I started on the first of January.  I was able to stitch pages 10-15 in the first few days of March...yay me!  



So I am working on more seasonal stitching that I have been hoping to have ready.  There are only 5 more pages left to go, but they are chock full of stitching.  April promises to be a supremely busy month but fingers crossed she will be completed by the end of April and I can get her framed.  Wish me luck!  That is all I have to show for now.  Hopefully I'll have more to show next month!  Till then, stay safe (the storms we have been having lately have been wickedly wild!), stay healthy and Happy Stitching!!

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Leap Year February Catch-up

Whew!  I don't know about you, but this month just flew by!  Even though things have been moving at the speed of light, I've had a lot of stitch time.  It's hard to explain how that happens here, just know I put a lot of miles on my stitching!  LOL!!  I know I mentioned before that I hoped to stitch 5 pages a month on Anne Thomas and I was certain I wouldn't be able to do it, but lo and behold I did finish those 5 pages!!  I put in 9,736 stitches in Anne this month.  



I was officially halfway on the 23rd.  I was excited for that because there were a few other things I wanted to do this month that I was putting off.  After reaching the halfway point, I began to stitch on other things.  I stitched on two Santas for Clare's tree this year.  Mr had 633 stitches, 



and Holidazzle Santa had 2153 stitches.  



They were stitched on perforated paper (and I STILL need to get those in the mail...sorry Clare).  Those two I took on a mini vacation that my husband and I went on to Lancaster.  I'll talk about that later.  I put a few stitches in Floral Magenta....very few, I just didn't have a heart for it this month but decided to try to stitch a bit each month.  I only put in 633 stitches this month.  



Then I have joined the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Challenge on Facebook.  Each month, by a majority vote, we have chosen one pattern from the most recent Ornament Issue.  This month they chose A Christmas Star by Giulia Punnti Antichi.  I chose a random floss I found at a thrift store, kind of a medium pink, and stitched it on 25 count navy fabric over 1 using Rainbow Gallery Petite Treasure Braid silver.  I loved how it came out and even was able to fully finish it before the month was out!  Yay me!  This one had 819 stitches.  



Next I chose one that is for the month of March called Ready For Christmas by Durene Jones.  This was stitched on 40 count Burch over two and has 2246 stitches.  



There was a companion piece to this one by Durene Jones called Checking It Twice and is published in the August 2023 JCS issue.   This is also stitched on 40 count Burch over two and has 2351 stitches.     



Last, but not least was this Wonderland Craft kit (KL386) that my husband gave me for Valentine's Day.  This was a fun one, using beads (and a silky kind of thread that refused to stay in my needle) on perforated wood.  It stitched up in a day and had 812 stitches.  



That made a total of 19,032 stitches this month.  That doesn't count the stitching I did to make three of the Christmas pieces into ornaments.  You have seen the one above, and this one is Letter to Santa from last month.  



The other was Believe by Rosewood Manor.  These were different to assemble but nice for a change from the round ornaments.  With a little luck I'll get the other two I have stitched together soon as well.  



Now a little bit about our Lancaster trip.  Well, we actually stayed in a little town previously known as Cross Keys (I hesitate to write the real name...lol...Pennsylvania is known for some very strange names for towns).  My husband's birthday is in January...so for his birthday and Christmas combined I got tickets to two performances as gifts.  The first was Mousetrap, a play that has been running in London for ages (he saw a performance before he met me while traveling in London back in the late 70's).  The performers at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater in Lancaster are very good, it was full of laughs, intrigue and quite a surprise ending!  



The second performance we saw was A Tribute to Olivia Newton-John.  She is my husband's favorite singer.  He says her name with reverence, sings (that's a loosely used term when talking about my husband's vocal abilities) along with all her songs, and drools when he sees pictures of her.  It almost makes me wish I were a blonde.  LOL!!  We had a little chat with her after her performance and Mike got to have his picture taken with her.  He was in heaven, in case you couldn't tell by the look on his face.  She was very good, and sounded quite a bit like her.  It was a very entertaining performance!  



We really do enjoy the Lancaster area and even talked about retiring there.  Fingers crossed, we can do that before we are too old to enjoy the ambiance of the area.  Here is a picture I took from the window of a restaurant one night at twilight...so peaceful!  



I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but Mike will be going on a work trip to Spokane, Washington in April.  We had been planning for me to go with him, but I've had a problem with my knee for months.  I saw an orthopedic and had a shot in that knee, that helped for a day or two and then it's back, if not worse, than before.  I don't see myself running through airports trying to make connections...so I am staying home (imagine the amount of stitching I'll get done with no one to monopolize my time!?!?!?!  With a little luck I might even finish up Anne...Oooooh the possibilities.  Who am I kidding?  I'm gonna miss that man like crazy!).  So...since I'll be saving on airfare, and we do enjoy our little jaunts here and there, we are hoping to make a trip to Sight and Sound to see the performance of Daniel sometime this year.  Stay tuned!  And on that note...I'm off to see about doing some finishing before the month truly is over!  I'm actually looking forward to stitching on Anne tomorrow!  Thanks for reading my rambling!  Happy Stitching! 

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Anne is halfway there!

Hi fellow stitchers!  I have some exciting news to share!  I have reached the halfway point of Anne Thomas!  I reached this point two days ago, but didn't take the time to post until today.  My hope is to finish 5 pages a month and so far I'm still on track!  Yay!  I did finish a good portion of page 13 because I hoped to finish the whole bird over the IHSW so I'm actually ahead of schedule for next month.  



I promised myself I would stop after I reached the 5 pages for the month and stitch something else, so now I'm working on Ready for Christmas by Durene Jones from the 2023 JCS Ornament Issue.  This one is being stitched on 40 count Burch over two.  I had hoped to make it a bit smaller, but it's a bigger pattern than I expected!  LOL!!  Anyway...I thought I would show progress on this one too!  Hopefully I'll have this finished by the end of the month too!  Wish me luck...for some odd reason, I've had to stitch and rip and stitch and rip...weird.  I love this one and it's companion piece (I hope to stitch that one too soon!).  Here is my odd looking headless snowman....EEEEEEEK!  



I'm off to get some finishing done, it's about time as I've accumulated a few things that need to be fully finished.  Not my favorite part of stitching...but I hate to see them sitting on the sidelines!  I have to put my thinking cap on...so if you smell something burning...bring the fire extinguisher!  It's about to get HOT in here!  LOL!!  

Til next time...Happy Stitching!  

Monday, February 19, 2024

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend-February Follow-up


Hi Stitching Friends!  Welcome to this month's installment of IHSW!  I've been following this challenge for a few years and this year I decided I would give it a go and see how well I do.  This month I decided to concentrate on Anne Thomas 1854 by Hands Across the Sea Samplers.  I'm stitching this on 40 count Vintage Pecan Butter over two.  My goal has been to complete 5 (out of 20) pages a month.  Because of this weekend, I was able to finish page 8 and begin working on page 9.  Once my goal has been met for this month, I'll fill in the remaining days with a different project.  I'm so excited to share I was able to finish the middle bird (I actually had to tape three pages together so I wouldn't lose my place while I stitched the entire bird...so even part of page 13 was completed too!)  In total, I stitched 2066 stitches this weekend.  Pretty good considering Miss A was here for an overnighter while her parents had a much needed date night.  Everybody was happy!  Including Miss A who was sooooo excited to see her parents on Sunday even though she had a blast while she was here (and so did Gigi and Pappy!).  Here are before and after pictures.  






And now I'm on my way to patch up Hop (Miss A's bunny rabbit who developed a hole in his back...thankfully no stuffing has been lost ... yet).  Should I count those stitches in my stitch count for today?  LOL!!  Today I'll be resting up (my back took a little twist lifting her over the weekend...OUCH!) and performing a wee bit of Yoga to loosen up the muscles while trying to get the Bluey theme song out of my head...lol.  It's a holiday here in the US today for President's Day.  I see a day of binging movies with DH and some marathon stitching!  I hope you all have a relaxing and stitchy day!  Happy Stitching!

Thursday, February 15, 2024

February Gifted Gorgeousness


Good Morning!  It's been a madhouse here lately, so many things happening at once, I can hardly keep track!  LOL  Thankfully I still remember important dates like, Gifted Gorgeousness and the blog hop yesterday!  Whew...where to begin.  Ok, if you haven't visited Serendipitous Stitching (click here) lately, then you wouldn't know about Gifted Gorgeousness.   Jo keeps us hopping with her blog hops and other challenges.  This challenge lets us showcase gifts, those given to us, and those we have given away.  In a way it's a fun thank you for stitching gifts we have been given.  I don't have much to show, I've been mostly concentrating on Anne Thomas (I'll show that at the bottom as it's not really a GG project) but I have thrown in a few "gifts".  

I  usually show anything I stitch from the JCS ornament issues as the magazine subscription is a gift from my husband each year.  I've shown two previously (Letters to Santa and Believe) in earlier posts so I won't show them again until I get them fully finished (my finishing pile is growing by leaps and bounds).  

I did stitch two Santas from the 2023 JCS Ornament issue for a tree Clare is preparing for charity.  If you would like to participate, please visit Clare's blog Aimetu's Stitching (click here) for any details.  I stitched only the Santas on perforated paper.  First is Mr (from the chart Mr&Mrs by Dirty Annie's).  I thought he was quite dapper!  



The second is Holidazzle Santa, again, only the Santa.  I hope he's not too tall...you can't see from the picture but there are a couple of different metallic threads in him and he really does sparkle!  



Next is Floral Magenta by The Heart's Content.   This was a kit given to me by a friend a while ago.  I have been trying to get this started for ages.  It's one I work on when my hand gets tired from Anne Thomas...lol.  I haven't put too many stitches in lately...I need to remedy that!  Anyway, here it is...I love it so much!



Next is a Fuzzy Moon kit from a magazine.  This one is called With Love X and I stitched this as a Valentine's card for my husband.  We agreed not to buy cards anymore and since this was a free kit from a magazine, he couldn't complain!  LOL!!  Once it has been displayed for a while I hope to find a little frame, we will see how it goes.  



I did receive a gift from my husband for Valentine's day.  He gave me these two Wonderland Crafts bead embroidery kits.  Aren't they lovely?  I can't wait to get started!  I'll have to wait for life to slow down a bit though...hahaha.  



That's all I have to show for Gifted Gorgeousness, but I still wanted to share a couple of things I have been working on.  First is the BAP (Big Awesome Project) I'm working on.  I have finally finished page 7 and am working on page 8.   This is Anne Thomas 1854 by Hands Across The Sea Samplers.  It's been quite the project!  There are 20 pages to this pattern...and I haven't quite reached the middle yet, but it gets closer by the day.  Hoping to put at least an hour in a day, I've done pretty well except for the few days I was away last week.  Fingers crossed I'll reach the midway part by the end of this month.  



Last is this swee piece I had hoped to fully finish for Valentine's day.  It is stitched but not quite completed.  It was a kit by Samplers Not Forgotten called Flower Heart.  Hopefully I'll get it fully finished soon, I have way too many sitting on the sidelines.  If only there were a few more hours in the day!  



Ok, that's all there is to show so off I go!  I hope all is well in your corner of the world!  Happy Stitching!   

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop 2024



Hello and welcome to the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop!  Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching organizes this blog hop each year as a chance to share some stitching love with our fellow bloggers.  We send her a picture of a "Valentine" she can send to another stitcher.  She sends us a different picture which we post on our blogs.  Then we hop around looking for the Valentine we sent...leaving some lovely comments as we hop along.  If you'd like to see what we have sent to our friends, please hop over to Serendipitous Stitching (click here) and start there to see the links to those participating.  This year I was sent this adorable little bunny.  Isn't he just the most adorable?  Thank you Stitching Sweetheart!  



I hope you all have a love filled Valentine's Day!  Happy Stitching!