Hippety, Hoppity, Here Comes An Easter Finish....

Last weekend I found time to dust off my sewing machine and stitch-up the "Hoppin' Along Sampler", With Thy Needle & Thread's sweet little Easter bunny pillow design.  It went from this...

To this... Uh...not quite what I envisioned. Looks more like something called Lumpy.

But with some shaping, the addition of ears, ribbon, whiskers, embroidered nose and even a little blush, my little bunny is looking much better.  Even Zoe thinks so.

 

All set for Easter decorating!

Of course, Zissou, Zoe's twin was not impressed.

Thanks for visiting. Sending best wishes for a blessed Easter and Passover.

Coffee to Dye For...

I did it! I coffee dyed my "Hoppin' Along Sampler" bunny-to-be linen. (Pattern from Country Stitches/With They Needle & Thread.) After seeing Deb's finished model adorning her blog, I just had to get over the apprehension I was feeling about the coffe thing. It turned out a little darker than I anticipated but I like it. Here's the before and after pictures.


Before Coffee:

After Coffee:

I bought a sheet of clear plastic template that I found in the quilting department at JoAnn's to trace the pattern. The instructions say to use a disappearing ink pen to trace the stitching line onto the fabric, but I'm leery about that since I won't be washing the linen afterwards. Instead, I'll trace the cutting line and use the guide on my sewing machine to stitch. Anyhoo, I plan to spend some time constructing the little bunny this weekend.  

In my travels through blogland this week, I came across a couple of noteworthy giveaways. Click on the ladies names to link to their respective blogs.

Pat is giving away another of her beautiful totebags. This one is in honor of her birthday, which is today, Saturday. Her drawing is this evening at 7:30 EST. Pat is my neighbor and a good friend and she does beautiful quiltwork (is that a word?). I was the lucky recipient of one of her previous totebag giveaways and I can vouch for the quality of her work.

Terrie is having a Jenny Bean Humble Servant Sampler giveaway and she is even including the floss pack as well. Terrie owns a cross stitch shop in Georgia called The Stitch Store and from the pictures she shows on her blog, I'd LOVE to visit. She also likes cats. What's not to love? Stitching and cats, sound like my kind of place!

Better get crackin' on the usual Saturday errands and tasks. I'll be working on my bunny this weekend and deciding which project(s) to place within reaching distance of my stitchy chair. Stay tuned...

Enjoy the weekend, whether it's cold, damp and snowy like mid-Michigan today or someplace that really feels like it is "spring"!

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the most you wish for

Be the least you get.

May the best times you've had

Be the worst you'll ever see.

Old Celtic Blessing

Shamrock Heart - The Sweetheart Tree

Hope you were lucky enough to put a few stitches in today!

My First 2010 Finish!

I finished "The Pink Hare Sampler" which makes it my very first stitchy finish of 2010. Here's a snap of my big, er...little finish. It's only 3 1/2 square. Very delicate and the colors are just so scrumptiously soft.

  

The Pink Hare Sampler

Ewe and Eye and Friends

Stitched on 35 ct. Hand Dyed LInen (unnamed, but I'd call it Bisque).

Used recommened GA and WDW floss.

(Exception: substituted Madison Rose for the Red Pear, which I didn't have.) 

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was having trouble deciding if the pink ribbon that I used for the roses worked. Well, I frogged one of the roses and restitched it in the darker pink. I liked it so much that there just wasn't a question about which pink to go with. So I frogged the other two roses and restitched them in the darker pink as well. Actually, I had to frog and restitch those damn ribbon roses several times trying to get them to lay right.  The rose at the top is still kind of tight but I can live with it.

I expect my next stitchy finish will be "Hoppin' Along Sampler" by With Thy Thread and Needle (Country Stitches). I am nearly done with the cross stitching. Then it's on to "antiqueing" it with instant coffee and constructing the bunny. Which means I'll need to dust off my sewing maching. I'd really like to finish this by Easter. And, yes I do mean this year. Do I hear laughing???

A big THANKS to all of you who leave me a comment every now and then. I really apprecitate it. Your comments always brighten my day! I am loving the blogging world, it's wonderful connecting with people that share the love of needlework!   

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the world.

The Postman Came and I Received, Oh My!

Looky, looky what I received in the mail this week! Two packages from Stitches N' Things (market and pre-market orders), Stitching Bits and Bobs, and 123 Stitch (both market orders). Yay for me!

In no particular order, except I'm saving my very favorite until last. (Don't peak!) First up are the new Prairie Schoolers. There's a little robin design in Signs of Spring that is a must stitch for me because I collect robins!

From The Drawn Thread, one of my long-time favorites, Small Seasons. I see it as a pinkeep or needlebook.

Next up, Lizzie Kate. I love her series designs. I stitched her Boo! Club and ABC Lessons last year and love how they turned out. The little Easter Quick-it needs to be one of my smalls finishes this year!

New overdyed flossies from WDW, Crescent, and Olde Willow. More Floss-a-way bags for storing my fibers. Cuts of Antique White and Country Cream Befast linen. And the Hillier scissors that I have been coveting for awhile and a pair of Little Gems in the Prim color (flat black). Very cool!! 

Okay, now it is time to share my very favorite new stash. The one that has me drooling. The one that I oohed and aahed over while I looked through the pages. The one that is absolutely breathtaking. The one that will make me go mad trying to decide what to stitch first.

Without further adieu...here is my favorite, the beautiful and wonderful... 

Honeysuckle Manor!

Have you seen this book? It is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. A feast for the eyes and so creative, each and every design. If you love Blackbird Designs, heck even if you don't, you'll love this book. Well worth the price! I also received Thankful November, the November stocking book (loved the stocking on the cover and the other two included aren't too shabby either!) and Bluebird (yeah, I love that one too!). Blackbird designs just keep getting better and better!!

Here's a couple of snaps of the designs in Honeysuckle manor that my fingers are itching to start.

Margaret Harris

Honeysuckle Pin Box

A Ticket A Tasket

A Stitcher's Companion

Pin and Needle Cupcakes.

(Sorry for the sideways picture, that's how it imported from Picasa and I couldn't figure out how to right it. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate the advice.)

See what I mean, simply gorgeous designs! Now those of you that are Blackbird followers are probably thinking, "If Robin loves Blackbird Designs so much, why didn't she get the other new Blackbird designs too?" Excellent question! In fact, Robin, er...me, did order them and they are coming as soon as they come in.

Don't you love it when shops mail partial orders and don't make you wait weeks and weeks until something else that you ordered comes in? I have found one mail order shop, in particular, that does this as a standard business practice. Don't know about you but I find that impressive! I know that it costs more to ship orders separately but if it is going to take, say more than a week to get the rest of the order, I would like to be asked if I'll pay the extra shipping. Since I don't have a LNS, when I order stash and a week goes by, I feel kind of like a junky waiting for my fix. It's kind of pathetic and undignified for a women of my age!

Oh, I can't forget to share the freebies that I received with my orders: freebie charts from DoOp Designs, Val's Stuff, Lilybet and two from Workbasket. Stitches N' Things included a free grab bag in my order and it included a large cut of 29 ct. Cottonfields Glenshee linen. I've heard good things about Glenshee linen and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

I wish every week could be like this! And I wish money grew on trees cause that would need to happen if the other were to come true. LOL!

Well kids, thats enough of my meanderings for this afternoon. I've got laundry and vacuuming to finish cause the cats refuse to do it. Lazy furbabies that they are! Hope to get a little stitch a** action in this evening. 

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world today.     

Roses are Pink...Or Should They Be Dusty Pink?

I've been happily working on my E&E&F Pink Hare Sampler. Almost finished BUT the ribbon roses have been giving me fits! First there weren't any instructions included to stitch the ribbon roses...but I found a couple a helpful demos on u-tube. Cool! Piece of cake! However, choosing the ribbon color has been very challenging. Searched all over the place online looking for the right shade of pink and just couldn't decide, it's so hard judging color online. Happened to stop into Hobby Lobby and lo and behold they had two shades of pink ribbon and I bought them both.

I chose the lighter pink ribbon to actually stitch the roses, but now I'm second guessing myself. I really hate it when I am not satisfied with my color choices. Switching colors is not my forte even though I like to do it on occassion. So I've decided to frog the smallest rose and restitch with the darker pink ribbon (shown in the picture). Then, I'll decide which pink I like best. Here's a pic of my sampler with the stitched light pink roses. Note: the ribbon in the upper right corner is the darker shade of pink.

Anyhoo...here's a closer look. The ribbon roses are so pretty. It was fun watching them grow. If you haven't ever stitched a ribbon rose, give it a try, they are such pretty little accents.

Watch for more hare-y drama. I'll post a picture with the roses in both pinks and I'll be asking for opinions.

Thanks for stopping by!