Blackbird Designs and Fancey makes an appearance!

The stitching world had a great loss last week. Barb Adams, one half of the Blackbird Designs team, passed away at the age of 69. Far too early in my book. Apparently she'd recently been dealing with esophageal cancer. I'm so sorry for her passing. I never had the pleasure to meet Barb, but was a fan of Blackbird Designs ever since they made an appearance in the stitching and quilting world. One of my most favorite BBD pieces is With My Needle. I finished this WAY back in 2009, and enjoyed every single stitch. This design was one of the first Loose Feathers designs, and I adore it.

I have collected and amassed a good deal of their designs over the past 23 years. I sold off Summer Offerings, a blackbird surrounded by an oval berry border, some time ago, and I've always been sorry about that. Been looking for it ever since! Aside from her friends and family, the cross stitching world as a whole will miss this talented lady. I will, for sure.

Worked on Shoo! a bit this week, and Fancey is taking shape!

This has been a fun stitch too. I have to get some feet and beaks on those little crows in the sunflower plant though!

Now for some stash I bought last month while on vacation.

I scooped up some fabric too, soft aida as well as linen. Don't have any projects in mind for them, but they'll be there when I need them, right??!!

BIG pandemic news: We went to the movies for the first time in nearly 2 years!! We saw F9 Fast and Furious. It was super entertaining and we loved it. What a great thing to get back to. We sure did miss it!

I hope everyone is well and life is returning a bit more to normal wherever you may be. Get your vaccine and get back out there! It's great! 

Until next time,

Flag Folk update and some Stash!

I worked on my Flag Folk this weekend. I absolutely love it on my hand dyed fabric!

I also picked up some stash from my stash unload groups. I always get excited about stash!

Now, see that Mirabilia? I have the magazine/color version, but I felt the need to have the black/white chart too. I also have that project about 3/4 of the way complete--back from 2007. I am not going to keep it, because I'm not happy with a LOT of the stitching. So maybe I will give it another go! Or not. LOL.

I do love those Told In A Garden ones too. There is just something about those patterns that I adore. The homey-ness, or simplicity of life depicted in them. They just speak to me.

Easter dinner was super simple tonight, with Stouffer's meatloaf and mashed potatoes and green beans in a microwave bag! I have felt ready to go back to bed all day with the pollen being so high, or maybe it's just cabin fever. I made myself stitch though and for that I'm happy! Also being with my kiddos makes me happy. They probably can't wait to bust out of here, but for now, I am enjoying having them here all the time.

Take care of yourselves and loved ones. Until next time,

Snowman and Headache Fairy updates

I never thought I'd see the day. My dear hubby drove me up to In Stitches today, a great needlework shop, and I thought I spied a familiar dye lot of Dandelion Stem. I was almost afraid to examine it more closely. See, I have had this fairy in progress since, oh, about months and months ago! So I dared to buy it, and guess what? IT MATCHES! Now I can finish this baby up. I took her off my WIP list because I thought I might actually have to toss it out. It's a perfect match. This ordeal really turned me off to kits for the most part.

Whew. This has saved me some gray hair-not much, but some. I had ripped out some stitches to provide Sharon Crescent with a sample. I never got a response from her and now have to stitch back what I removed, but hey, at least I can now complete her, right? All the other skeins I tried were a yellow dirty green. But this is a nice Spring time shade of green.

I've been SO darn sick this week, I hardly got any stitching in, but I did get some of the pudgy dude's belly done. It'll look so prety once the roses and other specialty stitch is completed on him.

I need to get caught up on my blogging by visiting all my buddies. Thanks to everyone who is a "follower". Every once in a while I go to visit someone and am mortified I'm not "following"! I fix it when I notice that. It's such a nice feeling to have friends out there in cyber land. Take care and happy stitching this weekend! Until next time,

A Finish and a Milestone

This week has been the most stressful week I've had in a loooong time. I think for me, it's the working, plus trying to get everything ready. The lack of time just steals away some of the joy. I'm glad to be on the other side of Christmas, looking towards the new year. I want to work on losing some weight, keeping up with stitching, and making more time for family activities and being together. Believe me, I have a much more comprehensive list, but I won't bore you with that here!

I finished Night and Day.

I have no idea what I'll do with it, so onto the "finished" pile it will get heaped. I'll have a mess of stuff to finish next year. I'm going to do the Christmas Ornament blog thingy too and hopefully that will help me reach my goal of having lots of hand made ornies for next year. Maybe I can even give some away to friends and family!

OK, the milestone is that I put Gathering Eggs on my qsnaps-and if you knew how long this baby has sat unfinished, you'd know why I say it's a milestone!

What has held me back is that the blue sky isn't up to my usual standard of stitching for myself--I know, ridiculous, right? Some of the stitching isn't as "tight" as I'd like it and I could pick apart many things that aren't perfect. I'm going to look at this like a teaching piece for myself. The blended threads, the large design, the eventual beading, etc. I've told myself that if I finish this, I will be worthy to start Fairy Moon. I LOVE that design, and I bought it many years ago. I want to do it, but dangit, I gotta do this one first. Thanks for all the comments to my blog, whether there is a photo or not. I'll be reading everyone's blogs and catching up this week. Have a safe and happy New Year celebration, wherever it may be!

Oh! I forgot to mention that my DH bought me this:

It's a 24 watt Ott Lite, floor lamp!! I have been needing this thing so bad! Now I can actually see what I'm stitchin'. Imagine that. Now I can see even more imperfections than before! :)

Dagnabit!

Except that's not what I said. When I realized my Halloween Fairy's mask was stitched up wrong (as I was backstitching), I resorted to pleading for help. With a quick email, my friend Tracy was able to confirm that I did indeed need to tear it out and do it over again. BLAH! I had to though. It was BAD, lol. Here's a before and after for you, above.

After I took care of that, I made some good headway on the other wing. A fellow blogger called this the "Headache Fairy" and I love that term. I'm quickly running out of the Crescent Colours in Dandelion Stem, so I'll have to go on a hunt for that tomorrow.

And, by the looks of my posts, I need a new start. Something Halloweeny or Fall"esque" I think. Maybe this?

I have had this one for a while and would love to finish it. Isn't that little witchy sweet though? She is too cute. Not that I need anything to get me in the mood though. Halloween season is my favorite of all. We go ALL OUT doing the house up and usually have a big party. I want to do something different this year though, or at least add some new and interesting things.

If you have any great sites for Halloween, please let me know! I need to add a great scary book to my reading list too. Heart-Shaped Box is currently freaking me out, but is an awesome ghost story! Happy stitching (and witching!).....

Mirabilia Fairy, Shepherd's Bush, and a THANKS!

SHARON !!! She gave me these two sweet little awards and I'm humbled.


I have seen these on other (WAY BETTER!) blogs and wondered what was going on that people got them, lol. Now I know. What happens is that some sweet soul reads your blog and thinks enough of you to give you a virtual pat on the back, as if to say "You're OK in my book!". What a nice feeling. Thank you Sharon. You and those those adorable grandbabies of yours just rock. Here's some other blogs that rock too. But this is in no way all my favorite blogs! There are way too many to put here!:

Pretty In Pink
The Twisted Stitcher
Wendy's Art Blog
Coastal Stitching
Stitching Scientist
Who Has Time to Stitch????
Garden of Stitches

Here's the rules of the game so to speak:
For those of you who have been awarded, please post the following rules on your Blog.

1. The winner can put the logo on their Blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other Blogs.
4. Put the links to those Blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the Blogs of those you've nominated

OK, here's a TINY bit of wing progress on my Halloween Fairy. I told you I wasn't the quickest stitcher in the East!



Now, here's a photo of the corrected Shepherd's Bush with painted mat. Again a horrid photo. Anyone want to give me a camera? :)



My mom loved it, and I have a horror story about the framer's to tell you but alas, let me just say I won't be going back. I'm really sad about that, but after this debacle the past few days, I just don't need this again!

Thanks for reading, to those that do. I enjoy your blogs too, more than you know! I hope everyone has a wonderful "Back To School" week..........

Mirabilia Halloween Fairy progress...come see!

I'm by no means the fastest stitcher on the planet. I get caught up in being lazy, uh, I mean being busy (yeah BUSY!) and doing other stuff, but I try to do a tiny bit each day at least. Some days more than others!

I finished nearly all of the one side and I'm really stoked. Maybe, just maybe, I *am* the kind of gal that can finish a Mira design? Stay tuned. Time will tell...

I thought of trying to finish the little blackbird (see previous post) into a sweet little "small" of some kind. I have never really done that before, but I love seeing how everyone makes these beautiful little treasures. I'll look up some instructions and see what technique fits the little guy the best. Wish me luck!

A DIRTY secret revealed.

Beautiful, isn't she? She's a WIP, yes, a Mirabilia (full sized one-not a little fairy). She's called "Gathering Eggs". A longtime favorite. When she's done, she'll be spectacular.

But I did mention a dirty secret, didn't I? Well, I started her in - get ready - no seriously, sit down - 2002. OMG, can you believe that? I came all that way to abandon her! I have a buddy that stitches only Mirabilia, and I think she'll have my head if I don't finish this little sweet lady up. Honestly, it's a secret shame of mine, and I thought maybe getting it all out there would put some light on the matter, and someone would(for goodness sake!) hold me accountable for that piece!!! Please.

So, the other thing is my Halloween Fairy. I have been stitching on her right wing. Well, it's HER left wing, but you know what I mean.

Coming along pretty well. Those ladies at the Mirabilia stitching board put me to shame, serious shame. One of them, who shall remain nameless, has stitched TWO of the new Trick or Treat patterns in about one week. C'mon!!! Please see the issue above. I've had a WIP for the past 6 years and this chick is stitching two designs in a week?? More power to her!

So how 'bout you? Any dirty secrets to share?

New blogger here!

Hi there! I'm a new blogger, so be patient while I get everything situated. My header looks off center to me. Anyone else see it that way?

Oh well, let me get my project out there. Right now, I'm working on Mirabilia's (Nora Corbett) Halloween Fairy. I've surprised myself with this one and it looks like it just might get finished. It's been fun.

I'm not up on all the cross stitch blogging acronyms (I've seen alot!), but I hope to be soon.