Flowers on Parade

The spring show continues around here...the azaleas have already come and gone.

The irisis are just barely starting to fade at this point.  But the roses are coming on strong.

Spring is beautiful reminder of God's creativity. 

I finished up a couple of cross stitch projects.  The first is a small needlecase, just right for carrying in my bag with a small project.  The second is Forget Me Not by Blackbird Designs.  I started on this last year and then put it aside for a good while.  It's framed and hanging now, so I'll have to get a picture of that.

Sorry for the dark pictures, it was a rainy weekend!

Needles

So, my knitting needles have given way to tapestry needles all of the sudden.  I guess the blast of warm air we got around Easter turned my attention away from hand knits and onto samplers.  I've been working on a Blackbird Designs sampler "Forget Me Not." 

But, not before I got Bianca's Jacket finished and wore it to Easter services.  It's my new favorite sweater, and I will definitely be knitting another one in wool for cooler weather (after the stitching bug fades, that is).  Hopefully, I'll get some modeled shots before too long.

And I'm about ready to start on another quilt.  Don't know what pattern yet, but I'm browsing...I even bought a new quilt magazine.  I haven't done that in a while since I have quite a stack, but it has a Jo Morton pattern in it, and I love her patterns.

Stitch on....

New Stitches

Hey! I like to cross stitch. I'd almost forgotten...I've been enjoying looking at several needlework blogs this past week or two, and I finally got out my abandoned cross stitch project and started stitching on it again.
This is one of my own designs, right now I call it "Cream of Star Soup."
It's not far from being finished...a couple of leaves and the wording.

I'm also machine quilting this quilt...finally. The stabilizing part of quilting a big bed quilt is probably my least favorite part of the process. (The part where you stitch a grid to secure it for the decorative quilting.) I love piecing the blocks, making the quilt top, and doing the binding, but manhandling a big quilt while machine quilting takes some muscle!

I've also started a new purse for myself. I keep trying different designs and figure one of these days I'll come up with the perfect bag for holding my essential stuff, as well as a couple of magazines, a needlework or knitting project, and idea notebook. Plus look cute and hold up to daily use...I need a strong bag! I tend to jam a lot into it.

Daisies in the backyard:

Picking Up Speed

I've gotten a few things done around here lately....it must be the unseasonably (very unseasonably) cool weather we've had around here for the past week. I mean, 60's and 70's in Arkansas...in August!? All I can say is...hallelujah! Especially, since for the last month it's been, oh, about 150 around here. This is what Shepherd usually thinks of August in Arkansas:

But these days, it's more like:

Anyhoo...I finished the four patch. It was completed handpieced and handquilted. And I loved every minute of it. There's probably not a square corner on it, but I don't care. I love it, and I named it "Shepherd's Coat." For obvious reasons.

I also got the stitchery framed and hung in my sewing room. Lovely $1 dollar frame.

And we were given a couple of pounds of fresh figs, so I made fig preserves. Boy, oh boy you talk about making the house smell wonderful, and fall-like. And what beautiful jars they are.

Sew Many Memories

This is a very old UFO that finally got finished about a month ago. The name of it is "Sew Many Memories" by Sue Hillis. I love this piece, but boy oh boy, did I ever get tired of backstitching! Yowser. But, it's finally complete (after about a 3 year wait) and I'd been looking for a frame. It fits into a standard 8 x 10 frame. So, yesterday while we were out and about, I found a great old wood frame at an antique store for $1.00. I love it when that happens.

So, I just gotta mount it and frame it, and then call it "done!"

Needle in hand

(Vintage Bloom)

I've had a couple of encounters with cross stitchers this week that has renewed my interest in my designs. I love the whole design process in cross stitch. I keep several notebooks to jot down ideas and snippets so I don't "lose" them. I've learned that the great idea I had 2 days ago can be long forgotten if I don't get it on paper then and there! It's a fascinating process going from pencil sketch to charting to stitching, with all the revisions and changes in between. Sometimes what you end up with doesn't resemble the initial idea at all, and sometimes it does.

For instance, this design "Into the Garden Softly" looks almost exactly like what I pictured in my mind when I first jotted it down.

While "Wild Sunflower" went through several changes. And then there's the fun of picking the floss and linen. I'm partial to the overdyed flosses such as Gentle Art and Weeks Dye Works. And I'm a huge fan of Lakeside Linens, they are so soft...and washable!

I'm feeling renewed design energy coming on!

Stitching Spring

I've broken out my last cross-stitch project, which has been languishing for almost a year. Something about spring makes me feel like stitching. Maybe it's just lighter on your lap than knitting or a quilt!

I've been rather neglectful of my cross stitch designs lately, and that's too bad. I love to stitch, and I think my designs are pretty good, even if I say so myself. I got rejected by a distributor last year, and pretty much gave up after that. But I may try a couple of smaller distributors, or just see what I can do myself on Etsy or something.

I'll try to post pictures of some of my designs.

Anyway, this is a good day for cross-stitch!