July Gifted Gorgeousness

It's time for Gifted Gorgeousness again!  If you don't know what that is, take a little trip over to Jo's blog Serendipitous Stitching (click here) and you can find what we have all been stitching for this challenge.  You can also (click here) to see the rules and join in the fun if you would like!  GG is all about gifts, those for others, or things gifted to us, or materials we have been gifted to stitch.  Basically anything with the word gift associated with it.  

I've been all over the place these past 4 weeks since the last GG post.  With the leak in the ceiling and everyone having been ill, and all the other things going on, I'm not sure if I'm coming or going!  LOL  I was too sick to really care about searching out patterns and finding floss and all that, so I was picking things out of a box of projects that I already had kitted up instead of following my regular monthly routine.  That puts me behind in my SALs I've been working on, but that's ok, I still have a few things I can show.  

Each month I stitch for my pen pal in Texas.  We ditched the regular "challenge" pieces this month so I had to really think about what I was going to stitch.  I found Flowers and Flags pincushion in the August 2014 JCS Magazine and thought it was perfect.  I stitched it on 40 count mystery fabric, and then was stumped how to finish it.  After I was feeling a bit better I went on a deep dive in my box of finishing supplies and found these stars (I originally bought them for Christmas ornaments...but  hey, I thought they would work perfectly for this).  I hope she enjoys this, and now I'm thinking I might like one of my own!  LOL  It's always the case with the things I stitch for her!  I haven't sent it out yet, I have to figure out what else to include in her package...

Each month I have a few Christmas ornament challenges.  When I stitch anything from the JCS magazine I usually consider it a gift because my husband has gifted me the magazine for years.  This month I stitched a few.  From the 2018 JCS Ornament issue I stitched A Merry Christmas to you by Patricia Ann Designs.    

And I also stitched A Christmas Dress by Gulia Punti Antichi.  I love both of these and really hope to fully finish them soon.  

From the 2021 JCS Ornament issue I stitched Christmas Bouquet.  I changed a few things around, but love how this one turned out too!  All were fun stitches!  

I had time to finish the July portion of Tale As Old As Time.  This has been such a fun SAL and you can still collect all the pieces at Story Stitches.  I love working on this for my DIL and I think she loves it too!  

Yesterday I was able to get caught up in the Wiehenburg SAL Cottage Garden Mystery.  I was given this pattern by Martina as I was the first to finish the Winter SAL.  I love the colors in this one, I've substituted some hand dyed fibers in place of the DMC suggested.  

Wednesday I got to spend time with Little Miss A.  I didn't get to see her for two weeks...babies chance so much in such a short time.  But we had a good day yesterday.  I can't wait until our play date today!  

I guess that's all the GG I have to show this month.  I haven't had time to stitch on my other SALs that were free to me...so hopefully next time there will be more to share!  I hope everyone is staying safe and keeping healthy!  Till next time, Happy Stitching!   

Odds and Ends

I realized in my last post I forgot I had stitched some other patriotic pieces that I didn't mention.  These don't fall under Gifted Gorgeousness so I guess I should post them where you can see them.  I always add things I finish to my goals page for the year, but I doubt many of you look there.  So...here are some things I missed telling you about.  

I have some Christmas stitching goals I try to reach each month.  Usually they are from the JCS Ornament issues from different years.  But this little owl is from Foss Box and has been in my stash for ages.  I finally pulled it out to satisfy one of the "requirements" from a challenge I'm working on.  I had fun stitching this, and hope to finish it in a round ornament.  (I left off the square border around it).  

I've also been working on the 12 Days of Christmas from the book 2001 Christmas Designs.  I'm trying to stitch one a month, so far I'm up to 7 Swans a Swimming.  Here are the first half of the year!  

I have been trying to add to my patriotic stitching and found these two in some Blackbird Design books I have.  First is Song of Summer 

and the second is Patriotic Bouquet.  Still trying to decide how I'll fully finish them...they were fun to stitch!  

I also stitched TWO of these Old Glory by Little House Needleworks.  I sent one  to my pen pal for last month's exchange and finished up the other for me to display.  I found these little candle holders at Hobby Lobby and have finished both in the same manner.  I love how they turned out!  

I was supposed to stitch something cancer related for my pen pal this month, but kind of lost the plot on that one.  She and I both decided to stitch something different that represents July...but I did stitch this before I had changed my mind about what to stitch.  I know it was supposed to represent finding a cure for Covid, and ironically I caught Covid not long after finishing this...so I guess now it's my memory for catching it...haha.  I still think it's a sweet design.  This was Hope Cure by Henzeit.  

I guess that catches me up!  I'm still lagging in energy but really feel the desire to fully finish some items.  Maybe my desire will catch up with my energy and I'll get some things finished off toward the end of the month.  Watch this space!  LOL  Till then, happy stitching and stay safe everyone! 

Seeing Red

Or maybe I should have said Seeing Red White and Blue?  LOL  I decided that since it was so close to our Independence Day I would pull out some patriotic pieces to stitch.  I've had some things in my stash for ages, and I decided they really needed to see the light of day!  So...I stitched Betsy's Tart by Plum Street Samplers first, but I didn't like the original charted colors, so I did a little "reinventing".  I stitched her on 36 count Confederate Gray fabric.  Here is my interpretation and I like it so much better!  

Then I pulled out Holiday Hoopla 4th of July by With Thy Needle and Thread.  I changed the color of the fabric to 36 count Confederate Gray and used some of the same colors from Betsy's Tart.  It's a little darker than I would have liked, but I still like how it turned out!  

Next I decided to turn to a few Christmas in July patterns I have had sitting kitted up for ages!  I found this amazing red Jobelan 28 count, and thought it would be lovely with these patterns.  I used DMC B5200 and it just popped on this fabric.  So I stitched O  Christmas Tree by JBW Designs.  This is stitched over one thread...isn't it darling?  

Then I pulled out a pamphlet by Waxing Moon Designs that had two patterns in it.  The first was Merry Christmas.  I just love this one!!  

I still had some fabric left AND still some of the same floss I used for the first one so I also finished Christmas Reindeer!  Whew....I stitched all of these in 9 days.  

Are you wondering how I had so much time for stitching?  Well....I'm not sure when, or how I was exposed, but lets just say that I was minding my own business watching Little Miss A a little over a week ago when I heard water dripping.  It got louder and more frequent, so I started looking around.  Not far from where I keep my laptop, I found a wet spot on the floor, and when I looked up...I saw water dripping from the ceiling....right below our master bathroom.  YIKES!  Thankfully we found a plumber who could come out the same day, he found the leak (a worn out washer in a water valve under the tub was the culprit) and he was able to fix it.  The plumber gave us the name of a restoration crew who came out the next day to tear a hole in the ceiling and discovered that it hadn't been leaking for too long, plugged in some rather LOUD machinery and told us to leave it all running for 72 hours.  In desperation to get away from the noise and smell we went to our son's house for dinner where DH decided he wasn't too hungry and just wanted to go home to sleep.  That day he discovered he had a fever and went to bed.  I went to the store and gathered up some supplies for what I thought was a bad  cold.  He tested positive for Covid the next day....then our son tested positive the next day and two days later...you guessed it...I tested positive and so did our DIL and poor little Miss A too.  It is truly insane how quickly that spread...and we still don't know if it was the plumber, his assistant, or the restoration crew or someone else entirely.  Anyway, it seems we are all doing much better now and we all had mild cases.  Let's hope we stay away from that stuff in the future.  Thank goodness for healthy immune systems!  Still  I put the time to good use and got a lot of stitching done.  If only I were so productive in the finishing department!  LOL  But that is a tale for another day.  

Stay safe and healthy wherever you are.  And Keep On Stitching!!