Winter Quaker SAL

I love this project so much!  I thought I would post the February portion.  I have done a few patterns from Wiehenburg Designs and they are some of my favorite samplers I have hanging on my walls.  I haven't seen a lot of new things by Martina in a long while, and last I heard she had thought about not designing any more because some of her designs had been "stolen".  I feel awful for designers when copywrite is broken and they lose money because others are profiting illegally.  It's a shame when really good designers choose to stop designing because of this.  So when I saw this SAL, I didn't hesitate, I want Martina to know that I love her designs and to encourage her to continue.  If you would like to join in the SAL you can find the information to order her chart here.  

This is stitched on 28 count navy over one with the suggested colors.  She suggested stitching on a neutral color, but I couldn't find one that I liked.  I just hope the colors of the animals and trees stand out on the navy!!

I'll be back soon with an update on another SAL I'm working on right now, Modern Folk Embroidery.  This is another one I just can't seem to get enough of!  What a joy to find something that I love stitching on!

Till next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and Happy Stitching!!

January Finishing

It's a dreary day here on the First of February.  We got a few inches of snow yesterday which made it for a nice day to stay home and watch the big flakes fall.  We got about 3 inches.  This morning when we got up, there was a layer of ice all over that lovely snow.  We are laughing at the antics of the birds in the back yard.  I've never seen birds skate before, but our backyard is on a very steep incline, so when they land they slide.  From the tracks in the snow I can see the deer made a midnight call to the birdfeeder and cleaned out most of the seeds.  Darn deer!!  Poor DH is trying to decide if he should sacrifice himself and make a trip to fill up the feeders.  There is more snow and freezing rain in the forecast...and while it's nice to have DH home, I sure hope he's able to go to work tomorrow.  I don't get much done while he's here.  LOL!!

I decided (after last year) that I would try to finally finish the things I stitched during the month by the end of the month.  I was able to finally finish all the round ornaments, I'm still trying to decide how I want to finish the square ones.  Maybe I'll surf the internet today looking for inspiration...

Anyway,  here are the 7 I was able to fully finish last night.  5 are from the Brooke's Books advent series, one is from the 12 Dragonlets of Christmas, and the last is from the 2020 JCS Ornament issue.  Hopefully February will be a less hectic month!

I'm hoping to participate in The Love to Stitch Challenge 2021.  It starts today and goes through February 28th.  I found this on the Embroidery.com Cross Stitch & Hand Embroidery Facebook Group.  To enter you need to log into an account on the Embroidery.com website, sign up to participate, then stitch at least 30 minutes a day.  Post before and after pictures either to the facebook group or send an email and if you stitch every day (you have 4 grace days) you will receive a trophy needleminder at the end of the challenge!  Wish me luck!  If you want to participate too, here's the sign up page.  Click here

For the challenge I am working my first day on Winter Quaker SAL by Wienhenburg Designs.  It sure is hard to put this down once I get working on a Quaker motif.  It makes it hard to wait for the next portion!  I'll post pictures when I finish up this month's portion.

Off to get my projects lined up for the month of February.  When the dust had settled, I had stitched 16 items and fully finished 10 of them.  One of them I didn't intend to finish but sent it to a friend for her to put in her flip book.  Two others will be made into cards for my pen pals.  So that leaves 3 I still need to finish.  Not a bad job!  Hoping you all are safe, warm and healthy wherever you are!  Happy Stitching!

Little by little...

Keeping busy!  I just wanted to update a little bit what I've been stitching.

Today I finished January by Serenita di Campagna.  This was part of a SAL last year, I just never found time to get them stitched.  The first three months were free, I found them on her facebook page.  She has a lot of nice freebies there.  This was stitched on 36 natural over two.  I love these little designs!!  They are all very sweet.

I finally got my act together to take a  picture of how far I've come getting 6 Fat Men by Lizzie Kate ready for the Round Robin.  This is a series of 6 different charts.  I hope to get one of these stitched before I send it on it's way.  There never seems to be enough time in the day!!  LOL  In all honesty, I think I could send it away like it is and then finish it when it comes back.  More to think about.  Anyway...here is where I'm at, and a picture of what it should look like when it's done.  This is stitched on 36 count Amber over two.  I'm waiting on a couple of floss to arrive but hopefully everything will be ready by March!

That's it for the update today.  Fingers crossed I'll get some things fully finished tomorrow.  I'm really pleased with my progress so far this month!  With the January finish above that makes 14 finishes this month!  Stay safe and Happy Stitching! 

Sew busy!

 I had so many things on my to do list to finish up this year.  And then...SALs happened.  Hahaha!!  A few people I know decided to stitch the Peppermint Purple SAL and encouraged me to join in.  So...here I am!!  LOL  The 4th installment was published today, and since I had stitched the first 3 yesterday, it was easy peasy to finish up the 4th part today.  I sure hope I can keep up with this one!  I've decided to do it monochrome because it will be easier than trying to keep track of the different colors, and this one is soothing to my eye.  I'm using DMC 3806 on 40 Count Cream linen over two.  I love it so far!

I've been following the Little House Needleworks Facebook page and saw that they were doing a SAL on their page.  I had decided I wanted to stitch the months (these were originally published in 2010 and I bought the chart packs that came with the threads back then) but I had hoped to be one month ahead.  Best laid plans yada yada yada.  Well maybe I can pull ahead next month (dream on DJ).  Anyway, I finished this one tonight, just in time to post it for their SAL.  Yay!  Here is January!  It was stitched on 40 count Burch over two.

I just realized I don't have a picture of the project I've been working on the past couple of days.  I've been invited to participate in a Round Robin and fortunately had a project mostly kitted up.  I had 6 Fat Men by Lizzie Kate just waiting in the wings....fabric and floss (missing a couple but they are on order) already set aside!  So...I now have all the outlined boxes stitched and the little motif in the middle, along with the words at the top.  I think I will fill in one of the boxes, but I have until March 1st to do that so will wait until next month to stitch on that.  I'll have a picture of it next time I update my blog.  

So...tomorrow I hope to work on another monthly project.  I'll post pictures when I'm done, this one is really different and I love it!!  It was a SAL from last year that I just never had time to get started.  Wish me luck!  And stay tuned!

I guess that's all the news for now!  I hope everyone is safe from the crazy storms happening all over the place.  My thoughts are with the folks in Alabama after the tornado there, and in the Midwest and Northeast as they continue to get hammered with snow storms.  Keep safe everyone!  Happy Stitching!!

Stitching along...

Hello fellow stitchers!  It's o'dark thirty here on the east coast, the sun is beginning to rise.  I hear we may be in for some wicked winter weather this weekend, so I'm hunkered down ready to get stitching!

I chose a few SALs I hoped to stitch this year, and then several others popped up.  You know me, I can't resist a good SAL!  LOL  So...two that I really love I decided I will definitely stitch.  The first was The Fruit of Plenty by Modern Folk Embroidery which I really fell in love with from the moment I saw it.  I picked out the floss and fabric a while ago and just waited for the first of January to start.  That was my January first start...does anyone else do that too?  Start a brand new project on the first of January and hope to finish by the end of the year?  I'm sure I've posted a picture of that before, but here it is again.  I can't remember the colors I chose, I really need to write them down.

The second  SAL is Winter Quaker from Wiehenburg Designs.  You know me and Quakers, I'm such a sucker for them, and Martina really creates some beauties!  I've done several of hers...and each one is so unique.  She recommended a dark natural color, but I like to stitch mine over one, so I tried natural...nope, and frogged it.  I tried Amaretto, nope and frogged that.  I tried dirty linen...nope, Burch, nope,  Flax, nope....and then I threw caution to the wind and picked up a 28 count Navy.  Yup!!  The white just pops off that fabric like fireworks...haha.  Then came the dilemma...do I use the colors called for for the other little motifs, like trees?  I tried the green last night, and I really think I like it!  So here is January's portion, and I will have to be patient waiting for the next portion.  Wish me luck! 

The sun is beginning to rise and the whole sky is a glorious red, I love this time of morning when everything is quiet, anticipating a brand new day with loads of possibilities.  It's a Saturday too, what will I get up to today?  Only time (and possibly DH because he's home) will tell!

Other things I've finished in the past 8 days...

I finished three more Brooke's Books Advent characters...Mary Mouse...

Duncan Dog

Hattie Hedgehog.

Aren't they the cutest!!??

I also finished this cute little ornament, from the 2009 JCS ornament issue.  This is Snow Merry by Homespun Elegance.  I just love this one!  It's stitched on 40 count Summer Khaki over two.

I also stitched and finished two more Be Kind ornies for my pen pals.  Since I was out of frames that size and shape, I decided to finish them into pillow ornies.  They have since received them and each seemed to like them, which I'm grateful for.  Silly me, I stress over that a wee bit too much!  LOL  These were stitched from a Victoria Sampler freebie.

Believe it or not, those ornaments bring my total of finished items up to 12 so far this year!  Not bad, eh? 

Last but not least, a little peak at Anniversaries of the Heart.  I haven't got much more done since the last time I posted but wanted to let you know I got a few more stitches in...almost done.  I still have to decide who to honor with this block, which is why it's been put on the back burner.  I was going to honor my Grandmother, but I think I'll wait on hers for a wee bit.  I may finish the the rest of the stitching except for the personalization and come back to that later.  Decisions, Decisions, and you all know how bad I am at that!  LOL

Ok, onward and upward, I really need to decide what to stitch now until the end of the month.  I had three more things I hoped to stitch before the end of the month, so I guess I'll get crackin'!  Hope all of you are well and safe.  Till we meet again...Happy Stitching!

January 2021 Gifted Gorgeousness

Welcome to the first Gifted Gorgeousness post of 2021.  I'm excited because I received a ton of new patterns for Christmas, and my fingers are itching to start everything!  This will be a crazy year, as I've set aside a lot of patterns to stitch for friends, let's hope I can keep up with all my SALs, my monthly charts, my monthly challenges and the like.  I have a busy year planned for myself!  So....let's get started!

First of all, if you don't know what Gifted Gorgeousness is, where have you been?  Just kidding, I've been doing these updates on the 15th of the month for a couple of years now.  This is a challenge from the brainchild of Jo over at Serendipitous Stitching.  You can sign up at any time, and can find the rules here.  If you want to see what others have been doing for their challenge, you can find the link up on her main blog here.  

I find myself enjoying these updates, it reminds me that people are generous (I truly have generous friends!) and I enjoy stitching for others.  Last year I signed up for a couple of pen pals and have enjoyed anticipating mail each month...I love it!!  The only downside is that I love to write and receive letters....I don't hear too much from them.  I hope they don't find it a chore...because I enjoy stitching for them.  Anyway...Here is what I received from one of them, for Christmas, and for January.  Her little treats are so much fun to receive!  Aren't those ornaments amazing??  Her stitching is lovely too!  I can't wait to stitch the little nativity she sent, how did she know I collect them???  LOL!!

I had a little challenge with a friend of mine in a stitching group I belong to.  She posted these cute ornaments that she was making, so I offered an exchange.  I sent her a little masked snowman...

And she would send me this "Grinchy" ornament.  My husband loves the Grinch, and I thought he would think this was funny.  He did!  I think I'll keep it hanging all year, it's just too funny!!

Now...last October, as you know, I had a give away in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  A lady in my cross stitch group won the biscornu and scissor fob.  She so graciously sent me a Christmas card, and I just adore it!!  It was totally unexpected (aren't they the best kinds of gifts?) and I'm thinking of ways to finish it....as for now, it's sitting on my work desk (excuse the mess!) where I have a lot of gifted things on display which I rotate around a bit.  It's inspirational to sit at my desk, there are things that came from my Mother's house, and pictures of folks I care about.  Thank you, again, Mary!  I truly love it!!  

I decided since I have two new pen pals, that I've really neglected my British pen pal.  While I'm stitching something each month for the pals I found at the International Pen Pal Facebook page, my good friend in England wasn't getting monthly letters, let alone stitched things.  So...we talked a bit...and I decided to send her the LHN month pieces.  She is making them into a flip book so she can display the current month.  What a neat idea, right?  I'll be stitching them for myself too though I'm way behind in mine!  LOL  I sent her January last December with her Christmas/Birthday package.  I've since stitched February and March.  I'm hoping to send them out soon.  Hopefully I will get January done for myself this month...that's one of my monthly goals.  They are stitched on 40 count natural over two.

For the pen pals, I stitched two of these little patterns.  This was a freebie from the Victoria Sampler Chat group on Facebook.  I stitched the first one and thought...I think I have an ornament frame that would fit that...and lo and behold, it's perfect.  Ok, don't tell my pen pals, but I decided I loved it...so I'm keeping that one for myself...haha.  I will be stitching two more (one is done already) and thinking of another way to finish them off...LOL!!  I'm confessing my selfishness...LOL  Forgive me!

I stitched an advent calendar for myself a few years ago, and made them into ornaments.  I enjoy hanging them each day leading up to Christmas.  My new DIL saw the free patterns from Brooke's Books and fell in love.  So...now I am making a set for her.  I had hoped to finish 5 this month, and have a finishing day toward the end of the month then two per month afterward, I should finish in November just in time for her to start hanging them.  Wish me luck!!  Here are the first two, stitched on 32 count blue over one.

My DIL is so good to our son.  I really do love her to pieces!  They wanted a beach wedding so badly but in the end were wed on a farm in Havre de Grace.  All their decorations were nautical so when I saw this pattern last year, I knew I had to make it for her.  I gave it to her for Christmas.  This is a pattern by Maria Bravka I think...I'm on my new computer and haven't transferred all the files over just yet.  I was able to stitch it in two days.  I had everything ready, fully intending to stitch it for her for Christmas, but it got a bit crazy here towards the end.  I was looking for something in my room and ran across all the stuff (including the frame) to make it...and three days later I was wrapping it up for Christmas.  She loved it, by the way!  I hope she knows how much we love having her as a part of our family!!!

One of the challenges I've signed up for is for Christmas ornaments, one is through a facebook page and is ornaments from the last JCS Ornament Issue 2020.  Since the magazines were a gift from my husband I usually count anything from the in my GG post.  This one is one of my favorites from this year!  It is Poinsettia from Punchoka stitched on 32 mocha over two.  I may stitch a few more of these as gifts for Christmas this year, it really turned out fabulous!

Another challenge was to stitch another set of the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments.  I just ran out of time to get myself organized for this challenge.  So in searching for something else to stitch, I ran across these freebies from Dragon Dreams.  I always wanted to stitch these, so this is the year!  For the month of January I stitched a Dragonlette In A Pear Tree.  Since the patterns were free, I hope it's ok to consider them GG.  These are stitched on 28 count over two...and are such a quick stitch!!

Have I bored you to tears yet?  LOL  I know, it's a lot....and I'm too long winded.  I'm sure the posts will get smaller as the months go by.  I hope all of you are safe and healthy wherever you may be!  Do take care, won't you?  And Happy Stitching!!

Happy New Year (more than a week late)

Well, it's been a bit crazy here at DJ's Digs.  Between Christmas, New Years, and the like I've been here, there and everywhere.  I have a new computer which...I'm not sure I like much, but I'm moving forward anyway...LOL.  The computer story is a long one, and I won't bore you with details, but it's part of the reason I've been MIA on my blog for so long.

Christmas was a bit different this year.  As our son had moved out early last year, he wasn't here for Christmas morning this year.  We actually got to sleep in late, and take our time opening presents, but in all honesty, I missed the excitement.  Mr. B always made it fun.  Guess this is the new normal as an empty nester.   But...for some unknown reason, I have been getting Christmas gifts still.  The mail has been slow but it has made almost every day an adventure...haha  I'm still waiting on two packages I was told have been sent.

So...let's see, where do I begin?  I participated in a pattern exchange with a lady from Canada.  She sent me this book, and a few other little goodies along with it.  I saw her Gingerbread Houses that she finished, and she had extra books, so lucky me I have another thing on my list to stitch...and even better, there is a nativity pattern in this book too.  Jackpot!!  I love the little bird patterns she sent too....I need a few more lifetimes!  LOL

My husband is my best enabler, and he found some really good ones this year!  I'm spoiled and I know it!  He has learned how to download patterns from different sites (I trained him well, didn't I?) so I received a few PDF files too...one he kitted with fabric, floss and beads!  First up is Merry Christmas from Owl Forest Embroidery.

Next is Winter Snowfall by Shannon Christine.  This is the one he kitted up for me.  I have drooled over this pattern since she first started designing it...darned Facebook, I shouldn't be watching her page....haha.  My fingers are itching to start this one!

He found a few books I've been looking at too, I don't know how he finds them!!  There were two from Blackbird Designs I hoped for...Sewing Club and Winds of Autumn.  I found boxes earlier for Mouse and picked a few up for myself too...now to decide which pattern to stitch first!

The Ultimate Sampler Motifs book is something I've wanted for a while now.  It's been out of print for a while, and they recently re-released it with updates.  I hope to design a sampler that honors my Mom...this should help a lot.  I love Benda Keyes designs!!

Another gift was this disc with JCS issues from 2010 to 2015.  I now have EVERY magazine published.  I have been given this magazine subscription as gifts over the years, but now I have most of them on discs, and those that I don't have on discs, I have downloaded the patterns from the website (a courtesy when you subscribe to the paper copy).  I love going back over the years looking at the older patterns especially the Christmas issues.

The last gift he gave me was this box of all the new colors of DMC floss.  This box appears to be a bit thicker than the earlier ones, and in really great condition.  I think I might even be able to use it to keep a project in while working on it.  Fun, huh?

I have a few things I've been stitching, I'm going to save some for Gifted Gorgeousness that I will post on the 15th...but here are some that aren't "gifted".  I found these adorable masked ornaments, and they were so popular, I'll be making a few more for some folks who liked them (They are friends I can't say no to...LOL)  Here they are fully finished and ready to be sent on...

I've had a tradition of starting something new on Christmas day and New Years day, this year I started After the Roses by Ink Circles on Christmas day.   I'm stitching on 40 count flax over two...and I love it so far!

For my New Years start, I started stitching on Modern Folk Embroidery SAL that I signed up for back in November.  I love this design so far!  I'm stitching on 32 count Ivory over one using different colors than they listed.  When I get a chance I'll post the numbers next month.  

I'll leave you with this project I'm working on.  I started this as a SAL with Mouse and a few other ladies.  We hoped to finish by November of this year, but I'm already a little behind schedule.  I love these patterns, and I think they look pretty good on this 40 count Vintage Country Mocha.  This is Anniversary of the Heart series and there are 12 in the series along with a few bonus pieces.  I finally finished up the brick work, so hopefully this second section I'm working on will go a bit faster now!

I guess that's all the news that's fit to print.  I hope everyone is safe, warm, healthy and doing well emotionally with all the upheaval in the world today.  I'm thankful for the stitching community that helps to keep me focused on positive things and keeps my mind and fingers busy!  Happy Stitching!!