Long time, no blog

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well out there in stitching land!

Since my last post, I have finished stitching and backstitching the Letter L. She looks awesome so far! However, I am frustrated to no end with the beading! I have beaded before without issue. Now it seems that beads that are in the same row do not want to line up. After about the fifth bead or so, consecutive beads start to move either higher or lower than the bead before it. I'm not sure why it is doing this. I'm using invisible thread to attach the beads. I will never work with this stuff again if I can help it!

The only thing that I can think to try is to start at the other end of the row and work in the opposite direction. Perhaps someone has a suggestion for me to try?

I also received Hugs and Kisses in the mail a couple of weeks ago and have started on it. My LNS doesn't carry any fabric by Lakeside Linens, so I am stitching it on a cream-colored fabric called Edinborough. The fibers are Gloriana Threads. This is my first time stitching with silk threads. They sure do have a wonderful feel to them, but I was blown away by the price. They are definitely cost-prohibitive, especially for someone who is unemployed! But I did want to try them at least once.

I have finished the central motif and am starting on the one above it. I chose this design because the colors complement my bedroom well, which is decorated in green and red.

This weekend I am headed up to visit my parents. My sister, niece and nephew will be going to. It is approximately a four hour drive, so we don't usually get to visit too often. It is very quiet there and the pace is much more relaxed, so I will certainly be getting some more stitching done.

Take care everyone!

Look at what I won!

I'm very excited! This morning I received an email from Belinda at Blue Ribbon Designs (actually, I received it last week and thought it was her newsletter and was planning to read it when I had more time). She told me that I was selected as one of the winners in a contest she had held a few weeks back. I am one of those people who never wins anything. Instead, I usually watch other people around me win.

As a winner, I was allowed to have any one of her charts for free. I picked Hugs and Kisses.

Hugs and Kisses
by Blue Ribbon Designs

This is my favorite BRD chart, and I don't have it yet. I almost missed out on receiving the chart, as she was getting ready to pick another name since she hadn't heard from me. Thank God I read that email in time! The chart also comes with designs for needlework smalls. I am going to start with the sampler first. Hopefully it will come in the mail before the weekend. I plan to start on it right away. :P

I haven't been doing much stitching lately, as job hunting is taking up most of my time. Still, yesterday I did manage to finish the fairy on the Letter L. Here she is, minus any beads or backstitching.

It would be awesome if I could get her done before my new Blue Ribbon Designs chart gets here, but I think that is probably too ambitious.

Hope your stitching is going better than mine! See you next time!

Sweetheart Sampler Stocking Finish

I am happy to report that I have finished my second stocking from the Love is in the Air booklet by Blackbird Designs. I think it's just dah-ling!

Sweetheart Sampler
by Blackbird Designs
Fibers: Gentle Art Sampler Threads
Fabric: 28 ct. Autumn Field Linen

Instead of starting yet another stocking, I put some 32 count French Lace linen on my scroll frame and started the Letter L by Nora Corbett. What you see in the progress pic is the fairy's dress and her leg. It's coming along nicely.

And, as promised, here are pictures of the cards I made for my Mom's birthday and for Mother's Day.

A friend of my sister's had seen the invitations that I had made for my niece's First Communion, and now she has requested that I make a single keepsake invitation for her own daughter. I'll have to find some time to fit that in between job-hunting and wall-painting!

Hope you have a warm and wonderful day!

A Day with the In-Laws

I had a great day yesterday with the in-laws (how often do you hear those words uttered?!?). I took the ladies around to the cross stitch stores that I frequent. I bought all of the supplies for the Letter L by Nora Corbett. One of the shops already had the chart for the Letter M, so I picked up the chart and threads for that one is well. I still need fabric for it though. Here is the floss toss for L -

And here's the floss toss for M, against the fabric for L. The linen pictured is called French Lace since they didn't have the Waterlily linen in stock. I will probably use Waterlily for M.

My original plan was to stitch both L and M for my sister-in-law and finish them into cushions. However, I think I will stitch L for her and stitch M for my niece Madison. I thought it might be better in case Laura is not a fan of the pattern or of my finishing job. But if she loves it, then maybe I could stitch M for her later.

I also made what I thought was an impressive-looking cake for dessert at dinner last night. It doubled as a birthday cake since all of the boys in the family have their birthdays in May. Bill's (my husband's) is on Monday.

I can't wait to start stitching on M. I probably won't be able to start until tomorrow though. Today I am attending my niece's First Communion, and then I have to prep for a job interview that I have on Monday. Wish me luck!

First stocking finish

I finished the first stocking from the Love is in the Air booklet by Blackbird Designs. I love it. It's just so cute. I ended up frogging two of the hearts at the top and restitching because I didn't like how I had done them. I think I was still getting used to stitching with hand dyed thread at that point. I am going to wait until I have more itty bitty stockings stitched before I finish this one.

Be Mine
by Blackbird Designs
Fibers: Gentle Art Sampler Threads
Fabric: 28 ct. Autumn Field Linen

I couldn't wait to start on the next one, so I dove in right away. Here is my progress so far.

Sweetheart Sampler
by Blackbird Designs

My husband's side of the family is coming to visit us on Saturday, so I made a Mother's Day card for his Mom. I've been a little tired of making cards after doing all of those invitations, so I used a pre-cut card to save myself some time. I also used another of those gold foil roses that I had bought at the CreativFestival. I think it looks pretty good for really not being in the card-making mood.

I'm thinking of possibly putting Celtic Summer back on my Q-snaps and making some progress on her. I also need to get started on the Letter L by Nora Corbett. I am stitching it for my sister-in-law and hope to finish it into a cushion for her for Christmas. She will also be coming to visit this weekend. We plan to visit some cross stitch shops. I think that I will buy the supplies for this new start then, and just tell her I'm stitching it for my sister.

Have a great day everyone!