Sunday, February 26 Weekly Recap

 Good Sunday Afternoon,

Greeting from HOT, SUNNY Florida! The temps are in the low 80's today when predictions of getting into the 90's by midweek. Sorry to the Northern folks dealing with all the snow. I'll send you some sunshine. The morning hours flew by but now I'm here to recap my stitching week! Not much progress to show but anything is an attempt at moving forward!

I'm still stitching the 'seed packs' by Stitching With the Housewives and as I stated in the previous post I ran out of #3865. I put it on my 'to do' list and I finally walked down to Michael's on my lunch break on day only to find out the they had NONE! Boy o boy was I upset! This meant I'd have to take a trip to JoAnn Fabrics (approx. 12 miles away). So I gathered up my coupons + my birthday coupon, made a list of things I need or will need and headed there on my next day off from work. I'm shopping along and come to the cross stitch aisle only to discover they don't have any #3865 either!!! Now I'm raging, because this now means I'll have to order online if I have ANY chance at finishing these 'seed packs' before spring arrives. Monday, March 20, 2023.

Here is a previous stitched piece ~ STRAWBERY SEEDS by Stitching With the Housewives.I'm waiting until I have all the packs stitched before fully finishing them. By the way I planted strawberry seeds this morning in my garden box. I'll keep you posted on how they do. 

So, I came home with $137.00 of 'other stash' (pillow forms, interfacing, stuffing, fat quarter fabric, jelly roll, cross stitch fabric (fiddler's cloth 14ct), ....you get the picture. All because I was going for thread!!! I immediately placed on online order with 123Stitch for 6 skeins, then I added some JABC pins for a finish I spoke about last Sunday (Block Party 4th by Hands On Design) and then Primrose Cottage has a new bee chart that they are releasing at the Nashville Market so I needed to get the bee pins for that. Had to justify the shipping charges...that package will arrive Tuesday, February 28th. So at least the thread is on it's way! Hip Hip Hurray!

I then was viewing Hands on Desgins recent flosstube #78 and she showcased her new releases for Nashville...well that was another rabbit hole I fell into. I had decided to do all four seasons of her BASKET designs. I ordered her Spring Basket as a preorder so decided in the meantime to get all my goods together for the entire series. She uses just 3 pillow forms and interchanges them seasonally, hence the purchase of pillow forms at Joann's! I've decided to stitch all the seasons on 14ct fiddler's cloth therefore the pillows will be bigger than the 10'' she takes about in the tutorial, also on flosstube. I will just need to order the SUMMER basket after market, just in case I see something else I 'need'.

I've also decided that I want to try my hand at making a quilt this spring. I chose a beginner chart by Primrose Cottage called Gingham Squares (available on their Etsy shop). I purchase an ADORABLE fabric bundle by Primrose Cottage, and the jelly roll (from Joann's) will go along with this fabric. Will probably start in late April as I have a full few month ahead. More later on that.

This morning I kitted up my traveling piece...Lizzie*Kate's ABC's of Faith. I will be stitching this on 14ct antique white aida using called for DMC threads, Weeks Dye Works and on Classic Colorworks as a substitution thread. I'm only taking one piece to work on while on vacation instead of the normal 10 pieces I bring and barely have time to touch any of them. We have 2 long flights so I'm hoping to do most of my stitching then.

The one main piece that I started stitching this week (as I'm waiting for my thread to arrive) is Heart in Hand ~ BLOOMING TINY TOWN. Stitching on 14ct antique white aida using the called for DMC colors. I have just about all the houses 'built' and then I'll move onto the flowers and trees. This is a really cute 'spring' piece.

While I was puttering around in the kitchen this morning I made a batch of Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies but added walnuts as my daughter and I like anything with nuts. Enjoying one now as I type this out. YUMMY!

I only found a few FREEBIES this week...they one I really like is Rouge by Crocette a gogo. She is on FB @crocetteagogo.puntocroce and Instagram @ricamidimarula. Looks like a nice spring stitch.

That's about all for this week...remember make yourself happy! Do what YOU want to do!

Until next Sunday.

♥Elizabeth 

Sunday February 19 Weekly Recap

 Good Morning Blog Followers!

Happy Sunday morning! This week has a few fully finished items and many items fully stitching and stitching pieces in the work! Sit back with your favorite cup of something and read away. I've got my coffee nearby so here we go!

Last Sunday I was up in the 'craft room' after posting my blog and fully finished BLOCK PARTY ~ 4TH by Hands on Design. This was a challenge piece for me as I participate in Flags on the 4th hosted by Primrose Cottage. The 4th of every month you stitch a flag so that by the end of a year's time you will be able to fill a dough bowl or such and have 12 patriotic flags. I had seen this piece by HOD and just knew that I had to stitch it. I wasn't keen on the 'greenish/yellow' fabric that it showed on the chart so I dug around in my fabric stash and stumbled across this piece of 14ct demin aida and got busy doing a floss toss to see if the called for colors would work on this fabric. BINGO! They did, so away I started stitching! This was a piece that took some time but I finally finished stitching it and now it was time to FULLY finish it. I have never done a finishing like this but I must say I am quite proud of myself and even Cathy Habermann commented that she 'loved it stitched on this fabric'. Thank you, Cathy...that means alot to me. I did not use the enclosed wool piece that was included with the chart as I wanted to show off the demin fabric. I will eventually order the button pins to 'poke' in the top.  (ok, I just put them in my cart @ 123Stitch).

I then went onto finish WREATH SWAP 1 ~ MARCH by Stitching With the Housewives. This was a few days of stitching time and then a quick finish to have ready to swap out on my HOME is where the wreath is piece. 

I then fully finished FEBRUARY  WORD PLAY by With thy Needle and Thread. Have had this piece stitched for years and finished into a hanging pillow only to realize that I wasn't happy with the finish! So I 'frogged' out the fully finished pillow and did a simple finish to display on this easel. I can switch them out monthly.

I then tried my hand at some cute quilted Valentine hearts by Erica Made. She has a blog and website with adorable quilting projects that are great for a beginner like me!

Then the  final fully finished item was 1776 by Primrose Cottage for her FLAGS on the 4th SAL. This was a free chart if you are subscribed to her newsletter. I had been watching her flosstube and someone commented that this would be a cute chart for a needleroll. Years ago I had stitched and made a few needlerolls and had forgotten about them. What a cute addition to my collection for Flags on the 4th.

Stitching for the week ~

I finished stitching my March BARN STAR by Lori Holt using Fat Quarter Shop's color redition. I just need to quick fully finish it and it's ready to swap out on my little black barn. 

I started stitching the SEED PACKS by Stitching With the Housewives this week only to find out that I had NO 3865 in the house at all! Out of 3 tackel style storage boxes and a drawer full of duplicate threads, there was NONE to be found. So, I decided to 'color' stitch the 5 charts and will go to Michael's tomorrow on my lunch break and get the much needed threads. Here are the charts I have 'color' stitched so far.

Under my needle right now is DAISY SEEDS by Stitching With the Housewives, once again just stitching the colored parts until I get that much needed 3865!

FREEBIE FINDS ~

I found a few freebies this week that I am interesed in stitching. LUCKY by Rovaris. Looks like a cute little quick stitch for a pillow finish. I don't have many St. Patrick's Day things so this will be a nice addition.

I also found HAPPY EASTER by Cherry Hill Stitchery. I can't wait to stitch this one up!

LIZZIE'S LUNCHBOX STITCH:

This is a new category I came up with to show you what I'm stitching on at lunchtime when I'm at work. This week's piece is I CAN I WILL by Silver Creek Samplers. This was a free chart I mentioned in a previous post. Stitching on 14ct fiddles cloth using the called for dmc threads.

Well I think I've rambled on enough and hope that I have insprired you to make some time for yourself today and pick up that needle and 'poke' that fabric.

Till next week!

♥Elizabeth