'Tis Halloween.....

...and a Happy 3rd Birthday to Little John.

Blessings, Barbara

In Search of a Pattern

Remember a few years ago I hosted two blogs where you could post what you had for sale and what you were looking for?  Well I might have to start them back up again.  I saw a pattern on Pinterest and became very intrigued by it.  It's by Bent Creek and it's called The Big Round Zipper.  It's stitched on 18ct. over 2 threads and I would love to have this pattern.  Here is what it looks like....

If anyone has this and is willing to sell it or loan it to me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Blessings for the week, Barbara

A New Start

I happen to come across this little Carriage House sampler pattern and knew I had to stitch this up.  I have an interesting finishing I want to try that I saw on Pinterest and this sampler will be perfect for it.  Here's what I have done so far....

I'm stitching it on 28ct. Natural Cashel linen using just plain ole DMC and I'm loving the colors.

You might have noticed that I've opened an Etsy shop.  I decided to do this because it's easier to take care of sales that way.  It's called "2StitchOrNot2Stitch".   Clever....right?  You can get to it by clicking on the picture at the top right of my blog.  I have several different catagories from cross stitch to quilting and a few in between.  I'm still adding things every day but my back says only so many a day.  I'm really cleaning house this time in my sewing room which needs it badly.

I'll leave you with a smile....

Blessings, Barbara

Happy Dance Time

I finished it!  I finally finished it!  I really like it on the board that I used and I used foam core to make it stand out a bit more.  I finally found the label for the fabric I used and it's called Flossie's Celadon Glenshee linen.

 Now I'm on to working on the owl mitten for sister in law.  I'm using 30ct.  Dower Linen with DMC and the black is Mandarin floss.  I absolutely hate DMC black for the way it looks fuzzy.   This should hopefully be a quick stitch.

I was looking on Etsy last nite and I came across a lady in the Ukraine who does cross stitch patterns.  My grand daughter, Peyton, loves Beauty and the Beast (Disney) and I saw that this woman had a pattern for an abstract of this movie.  I purchased the pattern and yesterday I went and bought all the floss needed.  I think I'm just going to do it on cream Belfast.  She says white but I don't use white unless I really have to.  Living here in Orlando, they really drive home the Disney trademarks and how you don't tread on their toes.  I feel like I've done something illegal by purchasing this pattern.  Should I feel this way?

I'll leave you with a chuckle...

Blessings on this perfect Sunday,

Barbara

Hard at Work

I have been very hard at work on The Drawn Thread's design "Snow Days" and am a matter of days from finishing it.  I made a comment about how much I love this linen and I have another piece that's the color of indigo that I need to find a pattern for.  If you can think of one, let me know.  Here's what I have finished....

I only have one last snowman to do in the bottom left corner and it's done.  I'm going to mount this on a primitive winterized board that I purchased at Michael's last year.  

I love to look at Pinterest and I came across some thimbles I thought I'd share with you.  Some of these are just beautiful.

I have my next project lined up.  My one sister-in-law loves owls so I thought I would do her the Cross Eyed Cricket mitten design that features an owl and make it into an ornament.  Think she'll like it and I also want to do a Little House Needlework design called "Bless Our Home" for the kids for Christmas.  Why do I always wait till the end of the year to get these ideas?  

I also purchased some wool felt in a ton of primitive colors to do some penny rugs.  Anybody else think these are just too cute?  I also have a few pincushion designs in mind.  I love working with wool felt so it will be a nice relief from cross stitching.

Blessings Upon You,

Barbara

I think the above says it all.

Remember this....

I believe this was suppose to be finished last year and I decided that this year, dang it, I'm going to finish it.  I absolutely love the linen that I'm stitching this on and since you can't get it anymore, I'm determined that it won't go to waste.  The linen is by Maureen Appleton of The Heart's Content that she dyed by all natural ingredients....veggies and such so that gives me a boost to finish it.

Here's a picture of my two little rugrats driving around in Little John's Jaguar.  Zane is having a ball.

Would you believe this little car has a radio in it and the doors open just like a real car.  Zane has decided that he's tired of crawling and has taken his first steps.  He thinks he's pretty neat and he just idolizes Little John.  He keeps following him around and some times Little John gets tired of it.  LOL Oh those pesty little brothers!

Have a great week!

Blessings, Barbara

Um....does anyone else find this pincushion as disturbing as I do?

P.S.  The Bent Creek design I started went to the trash.  One word.....BORING!!!!

A finish

I hope everyone's week has been good so far.  I'm really worried about those in the pan handle of Florida.  I have a reader who lives outside of Tallahassee and I haven't heard from her in 2 days so I'm a little worried.  I received an email from another reader who has Mary's phone number and she hasn't been able to get in touch with her.  I know that there is so much destruction there that it will be weeks before they get electricity but that doesn't stop me from worrying.  I heard that one little town was wiped completely off the map.  Unless you have gone thru one of these storms, it's hard to describe the fear and anxiety that you live with.  Let's all say a prayer for those in need.

I do have a finished to share with you.  It's another Blackbird design that's done in one color.  For some reason I've been attached to this type for the moment.  This one is called "Autumn Silhouette" and I stitched it in another DMC Variations thread 4522.  One thing I'd like to add about this pattern....I absolutely hated stitching the border.

I've started a new project and it's another older pattern.  "Quaker Home" by Bent Creek.  I'm stitching it on 30ct. Dover Linen with the recommended DMC threads.  Here's what the pattern looks like.  I know it looks like it's stitched in shades of blue and green but they are actually browns and greys.  I'm not planning on framing mine but making it into a stand up.  We'll see just how it looks when I'm finished.

Halloween is coming up soon so I thought I'd start celebrating early.

Blessings, Barbara

A Sewing Sunday

Good Sunday Ladies and I hope you are enjoying this afternoon of leisure and getting some much needed stitching (or resting) done.  I decided to do some sewing and work up a pattern for my half doll that I showed you weeks ago that I purchased on Etsy.  Here she is as I purchased her....

and here she is now....

She is part pin cushion and part caddy.  For the dress I used mini charm squares and I used a coordinating semi solid for the pockets.  The bottom I used a cd so she sits very flat and I stuffed the bottom of her with walnut granules with polyfiber on top for the pincushion part.  I used a satiny lace that matches the stole around her shoulders and I used the same for the lace around her waist.  I had no pattern for this but I like how she turned out and she's sitting beside my stitching chair to hold my glasses and scissors in her pockets.  I've always wanted to make one of these and now I can strike that off my "to do" list.

Peyton has decided to make some knitting markers and she did a beautiful job.  She really can't get into needlework because of her two little ones but this she can do at night while sitting in bed watching tv.  You will find these in her store at the top of my blog page under "Peyton's Stitch Markers for Sale".  It will have the price plus shipping and with each order you receive a surprise which I'm not allowed to tell you about.  These will hopefully help pay for her medical bills since their insurance isn't the best.

That's about all for now.  Thank you for stopping in and also for all the prayers that are being said for Peyton.  

Blessings for a Wonderful Week, Barbara

Awareness Day

October 7th

Well I've gotten a new HP laptop and I'm slowly learning Windows 10 which isn't too bad.  My old one had Windows 7 so there's not that much difference.  I've been able to retrieve quite a lot more than I expected from the external drive that I used for back up.  I just now have to find a way to retrieve all my machine embroidery patterns and I'll be set to go.  

Tonight Peyton and I went to the Orlando Regional Medical Center to listen to 3 different doctors talk about Trigeminal Neuralgia and how it can be treated.  The one that Peyton really wanted to talk with was the surgeon and she did get to after the meeting and he was very gracious with all the info he gave her.  She was the only one there that has it on both sides of her face and he made mention that she's very young to have this condition let alone on both sides.  She became so emotional that tears were running down her face when he said that she more than qualifies to be studied at his center there at the hospital if her insurance allows her to be.  Well of course when I saw the tears on her face I started crying because I would gladly take this pain for her.  So now it's in the hands of the insurance company when she calls them and the Lord only knows how that will go.  I did make a mistake on my last post when I said October 4th was awareness day.  It's actually on the 7th of October and again the color is teal.

I started a new BBD project called Autumn Silhouette and I'm stitching this with another one of the DMC Variations threads.  This one is 4522 which has dark grey, a medium brown, a medium rust and just a touch of purple.  I am loving this color and here's what I have done so far.

I want to thank you all for the prayers that have been said in Peyton's behalf.  She's such a sweet girl and to be going thru this I don't want to see her become discouraged.  She's trying to keep Little John's and Zane's life as normal as possible and I can't give her enough credit for that.  They are getting the house ready for Halloween and both boys birthdays.  Little John's is of course on Halloween and Zane's is November 8th so they will be celebrating on November 3rd.  I cannot believe that Little John will be 3 and Zane 1.....time goes so fast when you get older.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you nothing but happiness and love until we talk again.  

Blessings, Barbara