Stitchy update, DIY projects, and birthday catch up!

Hello there! I am moving at a snail's pace it seems. Time just going to other things and work, but here is my tiny bit of an update on Know Thyself.

The flosses are quite pretty, but don't seem to be as vibrant as the model. However, I do love the delicate look it has and I will be excited to frame it in a gothic type black frame and hang it in my bedroom. I have black furniture in there and my husband just stained a wall of shelving black for me and made me a black stained jewelry organizer--it's gorgeous.

This past week, I made a little plaque for my bedroom as well. Um, HELLO. I will be doing more of this.

I loved every bit of doing this project! Took a page from a pretty planner I had, and voila! Whole thing was about 15-20 minutes of time spread over one day. I let the stain dry overnight and mod podged it all to seal and give a nice glossy glow. LOVE!

 

Also worked on a bit of a crochet thingy. I am not sure I enjoyed making this puffagon crochet square, even though it is totally adorable.

 

 Working the puff stitches into that tiny little ring just drove me crazy. I was thinking about making a dresser scarf (remember those?) by joining a bunch of them, but I don't know if I'd make it till the end of the project. Hmmm, I'll have to think about it some more. 

I had a birthday since I last posted. I had a nice lunch with my kiddos at Longhorn-one of our favorite places. It was perfect. I received an entire Tiramisu cake from them! They got me the sweetest and most thoughtful gifts, including a bag of orange, cream filled Twizzlers (heavenly), a porcelain hand jewelry dish, and a jointed figurine of Sam, from the movie Trick 'R Treat. I think he's gonna stay out all year long.

And yes, his hood comes off to reveal the horror underneath. If you haven't seen this movie and you love all things Halloween, please please watch it!

I was also treated to Hocus Pocus themed birthday gifts by my hubby, and my mom got me goodies from my Amazon wish list-as did my nephews. I am so fortunate to have these people in my life. And not just for the presents!

Well, it's been a long post, and if you've stuck this far, thank you for being here. I hope you and yours stay well and safe, and I'll see you soon on the way to a finish for Know Thyself, hopefully! Until next time,

Know Thyself Update and Stash

This has been a fun project so far. It's not my usual type of project, but it's so pretty and interesting.

It is stitching up pretty quick. Work was a bit busier this week so not much stitching time, but I did get some in.

On Saturday, I drove up to In Stitches and dropped off my Notforgotten Farm's The Giving Sisters for framing. It might take up to 8 weeks, but I'm excited to get it back. I need to get to the point of being able to pin or lace linen. I'm pretty comfortable doing aida, but not linen. I've never been disappointed with their framing though. 

 

Traffic on I95 south was horrific, so I decided to take Rt.1 and gee, wouldn't ya know, it took me right to Carlos O'Kelly's!

 

 

The only thing missing was my mom sitting across from me. When I go pick up my framing, I'll make her go!

A bit of recently acquired stash now. I'm sure I won't live long enough to stitch all the stuff I have, but I'm going to try. I really am.

I have always loved Mosey 'n Me. The passing of Frank Bialec, Judy's husband, has made me even more nostalgic for their work. A good many, if not all, their Santa's look just like Frank. What a good soul he was. So talented in many ways, and putting positive things out there into the universe. He will be missed.

Hopefully everyone is doing well. I've been feeling pretty low these days. Wish I could spring up out of this mental slump. I don't like it. So I'm just going to keep stitching away. It helps so much!

One day this past week, I saw this out my front door. I'll take it for what it's worth!

Enjoy your week! Chin up and we can make it through. Until next time,

A New Start!

A wee change of plans. 

I started stitching BBD Beneath the Sunlit Sky, but stitching with two strands of floss was really throwing me off. Then I had trouble seeing the linen, and counting, etc. That was rectified when my wonderful mom got me the next level up of magnifiers (readers). I'm at a 3.5 now. Ugh. But I can't complain, because it helped a lot!

In between trying to do that and getting the new readers, I attempted to start BlackwoodandBriar's Know Thyself (a PDF download from etsy). I love how it looks on the black fabric, but WOW, there was no way I could do it. I just can't see. And I managed to snag a perfect piece of black Heatherfield for this,but nope. SOOOO, I had some fun and hand dyed a piece of linen, and viola!

I am super happy with the linen. Again, it has no pink in it. I don't know why my phone camera does that. 

This pattern calls for metallic floss for the eye. I bought some, but I don't know if I'll use it or not. I'll probably give it a try and see.

I took some really cool video of a lightning storm we had recently. I find it fascinating to be out in lightning. Not the safest maneuver, but in my defense, I was just on my own porch. Hope you enjoy. Please change the settings on the video to "HD" for best quality!

Isn't that just beautiful?

I hope everyone is doing well. I don't even know how to put my own state of mind into words anymore. I just keep stitching. Just keep hoping my kiddos are healthy and happy. Keep hoping my mom stays safe. 

I'll check back soon with an update on my current stitching and a couple pieces of stash I got recently. Until then,

Mrs. Maguire is DONE! A new BBD start!

Finally, a finish for Mrs. Maguire's Garden! I did alter just a couple small things. I used all the called for DMC, except for the skin. I used DMC 3864, because the called for floss just didn't show up on this fabric. I added her apron, and widened the brim of her hat by one stitch on either side to accommodate the addition of a bit of hair.

I enjoyed sticking with her for the long haul! I'd given up on this one at some point in the past, and had nearly finished it on different fabric. But I'd wanted to do it so bad, and I'm glad I did.

So, I eagerly ironed her out and gathered the supplies for my next project. I'm going to do Beneath the Sunlit Sky, by Blackbird Designs. The colors here are luscious. The fabric is 28 ct. cashel, by Picture This Plus in Fog. It's a pretty color. Very softly variegated with a hint of pale brown here and there.

I don't enjoy over-dyed flosses too much because I find they are thinner, and they have a tendency to "shred" while stitching. I've found Weeks Dye Works to be the worst culprit here. Most of these are Gentle Arts, with only one WDW color, so we'll see how it goes.

I hope the coming week is great for everyone out there. Until next time,