Yes, I Still Cross-Stitch!

Though I haven't posted a cross stitch finish for a while, I still stitch. I recently finished several larger pieces, and have "finished" two of them. The third, Raise the Roof's "Crabby All Year" is awaiting finishing.

This one is Prairie Schooler's "Q is for Quilting," stitched on 28-count linen.

This one is Bent Creek's "Cabin in the Woods."  I stitched on 28-count linen, but over one thread instead of two. So the finished size is about 5" x 3".

Christmas 1973

My senior year of high school. I'm the one in the middle with the cool shag haircut. Eileen was a sophomore, and Toi Lynn was in the 4th grade. I was reading "The Night Before Christmas," a Floyd family and then a Holman family tradition for Christmas Eve.




I was so proud of this brown corduroy pantsuit! Brown and pink - great colors for 1973!

Ornament Swap

I signed up for the Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap hosted by Robyn on Daisy Quilts. My partner was Cheryl, who sent me a cute tree made with felt. She said it was the first time she'd done something in felt - she did fabulous job, don't you think? She has a great blog, The Stitchin' Chicken - and does wonderful work!




This is the little Santa I paper-pieced for her. The pattern was from a very old Quiltmaker magazine. I used a teeny gold jingle bell for the pompom on his hat, and a scrapbooking brad for his belt buckle.

I signed up fr

Carol Doak's Holiday Mini Challenge

Carol Doak designed this mini-quilt for her Yahoo Group. Since it had a blank white square in the middle, I thought it would be nice to add a design - and I had an already-stitched Santa ornament just waiting to be placed there.

The Santa has a garland around his head that has pretty red beads on it.

Back from the Sierras

Just drove back from the Sierras - had a 5-day weekend since I took personal leave on Friday and today. We camped at East Fork Campground on Rock Creek - I'll be posting pics on my travel blog, Wanderlust, in a few minutes. When Don was off fishing on his own, I did some stitching (of course) and reading. One of the first things I did was put the binding on this mini-quilt - it's made of four "orphan" string blocks from my string quilt blocks. You see, I'd been tooling along, making 5 1/2-inch blocks, and ever so often I'd accidentally cut one to 5 inches. No way was I going to throw them out! So I put four together, made it into a little mini-quilt, and added binding. This made a perfect hot pad for our table in the trailer, so that's probably what I'll use it for.


I also finished May and June from Crabby All Year, so I'm a month ahead on Daffycat's SAL.
I also stitched a little flower (English paper piecing) and will make it into another mini-quilt, and finished a little wedding gift for my sister (who got married on Saturday). I'll post a pic of it once I've finished into a wall hanging.

Two Robins Home to Roost - recognize the second one?

These two pieces made it home just before Spring Break. Both were for round robins on CSRR. I had to finish stitching on the piece to the right, so I took it with me and finished it up while we were in Bishop. It's called Measure of a Year and it's by Prairie Schooler. It was stitched on by Vicki, Isabel, Georgena, Cassandra, Lisa, Doreen, Melissa, Tina, and m.

The piece below is called Spring Chicken - but I don't remember the designer. It's NOT Erica Michaels, as I erroneously wrote earlier. Does anyone recognize this? I can't find the chart! It was stitched by Doreen, Helle, Melissa, and me.

Prairie Schooler Exchange Recieved from Shay

This cute ornament came on Thursday from Shay, as part of the Year-Long Prairie Schooler Exchange. At first, I panicked, because I knew I hadn't sent Shay anything- but a little research led me to remember that this was an uneven exchange - meaning I sent to someone else and Shay sent to me. Whew! I love how she personalized this for me with my initials. It's going to hang in my bedroom and add a little touch of prettiness to the room. Thanks, Shay!

Utah Sampler - Shepherd's Bush

Since Utah is another one of our favorite places to camp, I needed another piece for my trailer. I found this one at Shepherd's Bush! I made a bell-pull-type wallhanging from it and will take it to the trailer Wednesday.

"C" Penguin for Doreen's RR

This little guy is for Beatrice, Doreen's daughter. In this RR we spelled out her name, and I got the "C." The Penguin ABC charts are from Cross Stitching magazine.

F & S Square for Renee - Flamingos by Prairie Schooler

These flamingoes are from "Two by Two II" by Prairie Schooler. I stitched them for Renee K for Fair and Square Round 11.

F & S Squares from Renee K

I received these the other day from Renee K for Fair and Square Round 11. The top design is a motif from The Victoria Sampler's "Where Stitchers Gather." I just love it! It goes great with my passion for stitching and quilting.


Thanks, Renee!

Spring Freebie from Prairie Schooler

Now that Laurie has received this little magnet I sent her for the Year-Long Prairie Schooler Exchange, I can post a picture of it. It's from one of their old freebie patterns and I just finished it into a little pinkeep-magnet.

Tiny Treasures - Fob from Taija

I received this adorable little fob from Taija in Finland. We're both part of the Tiny Treasures Exchange blog, and this was the first exchange. She obviously can stitch the teeny weeny pillows a whole lot better than I can! What doesn't show is that those dark colors are really a nice royal blue, making this a USA/patriotic fob!

Thanks, Taija!

Color Exchange Received from Kim

I joined the Color Exchange on the 1-2-3 Stitch! Message Board, and my partner was Kim. I asked for green, and she sent me these great goodies for my stash: a dark green piece of linen, a light green piece of linen (Silkweaver!), and 3 lovely skeins of Weeks Dye Works floss.

Thanks so much, Kim!!!!!

#3 - Christmas Quilt - K J Designs

This was the third little finish this afternoon - I think I'm going to go back to the padded pinkeep-type ornaments. They look so much better than these pillows with my pathetic stitching. The chart for this one was in the 1984 Just Cross Stitch Ornaments issue.

#2 - Merry Christmas Ornament by Lindy Jane Designs

I finished stitching this back in December, and just now got around to finishing it into a little pillow ornament. This design was in the 1985 Just Cross Stitch Ornaments issue.

Friday Finish #1: Shepherd Boy fob by Told in a Garden

This is my first, well, actually the second, pathetic attempt at a scissors fob. I joined the Tiny Treasures Exchange blog, and the first piece we were to make is a scissors fob. They looked pretty easy to me, and they are, but I just happen to suck at whatever kind of stitching it is you do to close the gap when you make little pillows. You'll see in my other ornaments I finished today that they suck, too. The first little fob I tried to make was so cute - a teeny weeny little house and tree by Bent Creek, stitched one-over-one on 32-count linen. Problem number one was that I cut it too small for making into a little pillow, so when I turned it inside out some of the design was in the stitches. Second, since I'm so bad at doing the stitching, and the linen kept coming apart, I couldn't close it. Into the trash it went. Next, I stitched this little guy, from the Told in a Garden Bookmarks collection. See the uneven dent in the bottom? That's where I did my hand stitching after machine stitching the rest. Oh well. The person who receives it will also receive an explanation and the hope that she sees it as "rustic."

"Lavender" by Marika Belfiori

I made this little ornament/hanging for my massage therapist Sue. When she begins the massage, she gives me a little sniff of eucalyptus, and when I turn over, I get a wonderful sniff of lavender. I stitched this on light green opalescent lugana from Silkweaver - it really sparkles. The designer is Italian Marika Belfiori, who has some really nice free charts on her blog.

A Michael Powell freebie - Christmas Tree

I love the look of Michael Powell's designs - from the curved edges stitched with 2 strands of black floss, to the bright colors and unique color changes. I have all of his cottage/church/lighthouse freebies, and haven't yet stitched one - and when I saw he had just added a Christmas tree to the collection, decided to make it my first Michael Powell.

Blackbird Ornament - Blackbird Designs

This little ornament appeared in the 2004 JCS Ornaments Issue. I don't know about you, but I was originally pretty confused about the finishing directions. It turns out that the designers stitched a large one, over two, and then made photocopies of it that they mounted and used for ornaments. They advised that if you wanted to stitch the blackbird for an ornament without doing the photocopying, to stitch it one-over-one. That's what I did. I changed the 2004 to 2008, and used some gold cording for the edges.