Most of the rest of the finishes for 2009 ~waiting for framing~

Lizzie*Kate Snippet

Housework Never Killed Anyone

stitched on 32 ct country mocha Belfast

leftover GAST colors from Housework Makes You Ugly

I plan to stitch a few more on this theme and hang them all together.  As you may have guessed, I'd much rather spend my time stitching than cleaning.  :)

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Shepherd's Bush

Be Calm

stitched 2 or 3 over 4 on 40 ct vintage light exemplar

Crescent Colours as charted

Someday I'll get around to adding the embellishments (which I have) to this...

This was stitched for my son who has a great deal of trouble with self control.  He has had a horrible temper almost since birth.  I'm hoping that a gentle reminder will help.  We'll see. 

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Carriage House Samplings

Withering Tulips

stitched 1 over 2 on 36 ct white Edinburgh linen

NPI silks as charted

I love this one, but it has bittersweet memories for me.  I started stitching it while we were on vacation in New York last summer.  It was my favorite vacation so far.  I didn't get very much stitching done during our trip because we were on the go so much, and by the time we got back to the hotel I mostly wanted to sleep.  When we got back to L.A., my dad was hospitalized.  During visits, I would stitch on it while he napped.  He would drift off to sleep often, sometimes in the middle of a conversation.  Progress was gradually made on the stitching as Dad steadily declined.  I finished the stitching on the morning he peacefully passed away

~~ I miss you, Dad. ~~

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Blackbird Designs

Happy Birthday

stitched 1 over 2 on 40 ct vintage light exemplar

Silk N Colors, my own conversion

I modified the houses by omitting the patchwork/checks and hearts.  I felt they were too busy with the patchwork.  I didn't even realize there were hearts charted until after I had stitched the bodies of the houses when I was referring back to the chart for the colors of the windows and doors.  I couldn't see them on the model because they're lost in the busy-ness.

I stitched this for my daughter's 21st birthday.  She received it in December, sans frame.  Something else to get around to someday, right?

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Little House Needleworks

Acorn Hill

on 32 ct country mocha

Belle Soie as charted

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Little House Needleworks

Snowflakes

stitched on 32 ct natural somethingorother (can't find the chart, my notes, or the tag from the fabric)

Crescent Colours as charted

I just noticed that 2/3 of these have birds in them, like the ones I showed a few posts ago.  I hadn't realized how much I was drawn to birds in designs.

So that about wraps up the 2009 finishes.  There are assorted fobs and floss tags that I haven't shown, but they're pretty insignificant.  There's also an item that I stitched for an RAK that I'm plugging away at getting made up into a finished item.  I'll show that one when it finally makes it into the hands of its recipient.

Next time I'll show you the finish that had me happy dancing last Saturday....  Stay tuned!

Thank you for visiting and/or reading, and I appreciate your comments

2009 stitches that will be ornaments ~someday~

Prairie Schooler

Herald Angels

JCS ornament issue 2003

stitched on 32 ct white Belfast linen

DMC and Kreinik as charted

Shepherd's Bush

In a Stable

JCS ornament issue 2004

stitched on 32 ct country mocha

overdyed flosses from stash (request conversion if interested)

Heidi

Sleigh Rides free design

stitched on 32 ct country mocha

combination of Weeks, GAST, and Belle Soie overdyeds from stash

4 My Boys

Rejoice freebie (no link)

stitched on 32 ct white Belfast and 32 ct natural Permin

my own conversion of overdyeds from stash

Mill Hill petite beads

SamSarah

All is Calm

JCS ornament issue 2003

Stitched on 32 ct country mocha

overdyed flosses from stash

Instead of a button, the little bird is stitched one over one and was from the Lizzie*Kate ornament in the same issue.  I will be adding a star button when I finish this, though not the one used by the designer.

Tiziana

Christmas SAL

stitched on 32 ct white Belfast

DMC

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I just found another one last night on a piece of linen that I'm using for the February Bride's Tree SAL.  I'll post it when I finish the February ornie.

Thank you to everyone who has commented!  I love getting comments!

The End is Near

Progress is being made on the Mill Hill Winter Wonderland.  All the cross stitch is done as well as the majority of the beading on four of the five trees.  I'm hoping to find enough stitching time to add it to my short list of 2010 finishes this forecasted-to-be-rainy weekend. 

No stitchy pics, so I'll share a shot from our summer vacation.

Christian at the Flatiron Building, NYC

 July 2009

I'm working on getting details on the rest of my 2009 finishes.  I've been too lazy in the evenings to go through my various hidey-holes to find the charts, notes, and fabric info.  Hopefully that will be another weekend project.  Stay tuned.

Beautiful exchange received, more 2009 finishes, and my WIP

I received an absolute treasure in the mail yesterday from Sharlotte as part of the Ties That Bind Exchange.  Look at this beauty!

This was Sharlotte's first bourse finish, if you can believe it.  Didn't she do a fabulous job?!?  The design is exerpted from Blackbird Designs' Be Kind and True, and she stitched it on evenweave that she dyed herself.  The exterior fabric is a lovely sage moire and, you can't see them here, but she used pretty mother of pearl buttons at the corners.  I absolutely LOVE everything about it!  Thank you again, Sharlotte! 

By the way, Sharlotte is hosting a giveaway on her blog that ends January 31st.  Hurry on over there for a chance to win - or not, because if you DON'T enter, I have a better chance of winning! LOL

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Below are the only Christmas items that I finish-finished in 2009.

Suzanne

2008 Christmas Ornament free design

stitched on 14 ct dark green aida

Ecru DMC

Mill Hill beads

Jardin Prive

SAL Christmas offered on The Thread Basket

stitched on 26 ct cream Shannon linen by Zweigart (discontinued color), 1 over 1

DMC floss

Download this one before it goes away.  There are charts with "Merry Christmas" in English, French, Italian, and Spanish.  Many stitchers participated in this SAL.  There are pictures on this blog of it stitched in a lot of different ways.  So many creative stitchers!

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This is the bane of my existence my current WIP.

Mill Hill

Winter Wonderland

Love:

• how this looks
• the design 
• how sparkly this will be when I finally get to the beading

Don't love:

• perforated paper
• sorting floss in kits - especially trying to tell DMC 3756 from white
• sorting itty-bitty beads
• stitching with three threads
• that this is taking sooooooooooooo long to stitch
• that it looks like I'm going to be short several lengths of 3756 (I haven't had to restitch anything, so whoever kitted it miscalculated.)

Started just before Christmas.  Will it ever end?????

2010 Finishes to Date and Welcome Followers (whoever you are)

Lizzie*Kate Freebie

Snug as a Bug

26 ct cream Shannon linen by Zweigart (discontinued color)

DMC conversion

Siena Alphabet from Stitchpoint.com

Stitched for Sharlotte in the Ties That Bind Exchange.

More photos on Sharlotte's blog here.

Finished as mattress pincushion.  New to me finish and/or technique #1 for 2010.

Primitive Bettys

Home freebie

40 ct vintage light exemplar

Anchor Bates threads from ollllllld stash

Stitched for Brides Tree SAL January 2010

Edge finished with hemstitch.  New to me finish and/or technique #2 for 2010.

Welcome, followers!  We have a computer shortage at home, and by the time one's free I usually am too tired to go online, so I do the vast majority of my blog reading between phone calls at work.  I would love to be able to greet you individually, but apparently you are "inappropriate".  The followers feature (on every blog I look at, including my own) shows this lovely message on the work computers:

ATTENTION

AN ACCESS RESTRICTION HAS BEEN PLACED ON THIS SITE BY STATE FARM

Our filtering software has indicated that the site you are attempting to access contains information or material which may be inappropriate for use or viewing by State Farm agents or their staff.

This event has been entered into the access logs.

Isn't that nice?  Um, yeah...NO!  So pardon me if I don't greet you all individually, and I hope you'll understand why I won't be following your blogs using this feature.  Chances are good, though, that yours is probably already among the 878 (yes, eight hundred seventy-eight) blogs and counting that I try to keep up with in Google reader. 

And finally, just because it makes me smile, here is our feline trio in a rare moment of harmony (even though Hope's eyes make her look like she's possessed and Shia says the picture makes his butt look fat). ;)

Monkey, Shia, & Hope

More 2009 Finishes that need to be framed or ornamentified - with birds

Bent Creek

Redbird Sampler

unknown linen

threads as charted

Knotted Tree NeedleArt

Red Bird Fraktur

unknown linen, tea-dyed by me

threads as charted

Blackbird Designs

Christmas Ornament 2004 (JCS ornament issue)

40 ct vintage light exemplar

silk conversion from stash

(modified the sentiment on the one on the right at the request of my daughter)

Angel Stitchin'

JCS ornament issue 2003

32 ct country mocha

threads from stash

More to come....

A few 2009 finishes

Mini biscornu fob

The Floss Box

14 ct fiddlers cloth

mystery vintage floss

Floss tag

My own "design"

Pinkeep

Alphabet from 1989 Craftways Keepsake Calendar (May), designer uncredited

Fob

Mini biscornu design from The Floss Box

All stitched on unknown 32 ct linen
DMC floss

Housework Makes You Ugly

Sisters & Best Friends

Yellow 28 ct Cashel

Gentle Arts Sampler Threads as charted

Fob

Mini biscornu design from The Floss Box

32 ct R&R Reproductions Creek Bed Brown linen

DMC floss

Scissorskeep and Pinkeep

"Red Motifs" by Carole Rodgers-Simply Cross Stitch magazine J/A 1994

Mini Biscornu Fob

The Floss Box

Origami Orts Box and Floss Tag

Combination of designs from The Floss Box and my own design

All stitched on 32 ct Permin lambswool

DMC linen floss