With Thy Needle and Thread --Snow Bird

Happy New Year to all of you.  I hope you have a wonderful celebration tonight to bring in the New Year.  I look forward to what the New Year holds and am thankful for all of the good and not so good things that happened in 2013.  The good for the memories I cherish and the bad for the lessons I have learned.  I was able to finish the Snow Bird Pin Keep from With Thy Needle.  The kit included everything you needed to stitch and assemble this lovely little decoration.  I am pleased with how it turned out.  The pictures don't do it justice.

I was also able to capture a few shots of my very own snow birds.  A house finch and a couple of Gold Finches.  Their winter colors are so different from their summer colors.  Still beautiful.

I want to thank all of you for stopping by.  I really have enjoyed catching up on blogs and receiving your wonderful comments.  I plan to spend New Year's Eve and New Years Day in my stitching chair.  I have lots of plans for the New Year but I will have to see where it takes me.  I can't wait to watch the Rose Parade and HGTV has it aired commercial free...Doesn't get better than that

Happy Stitching!

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of you a Very Merry Christmas!  May you be surrounded by happiness and peace.  The photo is my progress on Hibernation Day by My Heartstring Samplery.  It is wonderfully pleasing to stitch while I am sitting by a warm cozy fire.
Happy Stitching!!

A finish or two...

I often wonder if other stitchers have this problem.  I tend to get involved in SAL thinking "Oh the parts are small, I'll have no problem keeping up.  Or I look at a piece and think "Oh I can whip this up No Problem!!"  Then, boom time escapes me.  These two pieces where just that.  I can stitch these up and have them displayed in time for the season.  Well, I didn't make it this year but they are ready for next year.  I will frame the smaller piece myself but the other piece is an odd shape, so off to visit the framer. The first piece many of you will recognize.  It was all over blog land last fall.  It was a freebie SAL offered by Donna of By the Bay Needlearts.  I used DMC variations thread for the leaves and DMC for the rest.  It is stitched on mystery linen from my stash.  I love Donna's coastal scenes and the fact that she sizes her finishes to fit into a standard frame. 

 

 

This next piece is from the Halloween Book offered by JCS for 2013.  It is designed by The Primitive Hare.  Stitched on Lakeside Linen 32ct Vintage Lentil with DMC threads. I am pretty sure that the kitty at the bottom of the piece was what attracted me to stitching it but the bitty spiders and charming witch's boots were an equal draw.  I look forward to displaying this piece next Halloween.

Back to the stitching chair to cozy in with a hot cup of tea and my Hawk Run Hallow piece.  The temps are frigid and we are expecting lots of snow in the Northeast this weekend. Thanks for stopping by and I wish you Happy Stitching!

Stitching Update

Now that our holidays are behind us and I have had a chance to relax a bit I can take some time to share with you what I have been up to.  Here is a quick snap of the table setting at Thanksgiving.  This was our 16th year hosting Thanksgiving and we have been using the same dishes since the first.
We have never broken a single dish.  Figures cheap dinnerware scathes misfortune but the fine crystal has succumbed to mishap.  Every year we manage to break a least one glass during the washing process. 

I have made placecards each year and fold the napkin differently each time.  Below is a close up of the placecard.  My brother says I am too elaborate but I just love taking some time out of the preparation to do something I enjoy--crafting.

This is a picture of my favorite dish.  It is a glass turkey that I use for the cranberry sauce.  I just love him.  Well, enough of that, how about some stitching.  I managed to stitch up this Cat's Whiskers design which was way deep in my stash pile.  I didn't like the color of the silk it came with so I switched it out with a Silk n Colors--Autumn Leaves It is stitched on Light Mocha Belfast. This first pic shows the stitching complete. The following pics show you the finished scissor case.  I have made several of these and love them.

-front-

-back_

Can you see why I chose this floss color??  It matches my stork scissors which are now tucked safely inside

Since I updated you on our Thanksgiving I thought I would share this finish with you.  I stitched it in time for Thanksgiving but not enough time to have it framed.  It is Plum Street Samplers --Thankful for Thee.  It is stitched on 35ct Olde Town Blend by R & R with the called for NPI silks.  I just LOVE working with NPI.    Well, that's it for today.  My stitching chair is calling and I have two 12 hours work days ahead of me.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Happy Stitching