Bent Creek Halloween Cracker (OOP)
The Trilogy Secret Pumpkin Patch Kit
The Trilogy EEKology chart with linen cut.
Just Cross Stitch Halloween Collectors Issue from 2015.
Bent Creek Glory Chart and Supplies.
Mirabilia's Le Nouveau Paris inspired design.
Victoria Sampler's elegant International Hearts series: England.
Any many other charts, kits and magazines at LiterarycatStitches. Please come over and take a look!
I have been posting charts and kits from my stash that I am ready to part with. I have such an abundance of lovely needlework items, but I know I cannot stitch all of them! Do take a look--maybe you will see something you like?
Here Comes Santa Claus 2005 Limited Edition Kit
Two Country Cottage Needleworks designs all kitted up!
Heart in Hand Needleroll Charts
Starting to add older Just Cross Stitch Ornament Christmas issues, too.
You can take a peek at all my listings at Etsy in my store: LiterarycatStitches.
I have long wanted to really start downsizing my belongings in general, but more specifically I have a lot of crafting materials that I need to give away or recycle. I have started by weeding books and recycling magazines, but what to do with my very large stitching stash?
Although I am not ready to get rid of everything (I hasten to add--my favorite designers--I will hold on to those charts and kits), I need to begin with materials I am fairly sure I will not stitch. Some things I will happily donate, but there are some really nice charts and kits that were not inexpensive and that I would like to know other stitchers may actually work on and complete.
So, I have opened an Etsy storefront and am beginning to list items there to sell at reasonable prices (in most cases half of what I originally paid or less). If you have an inkling to do so, please go take a look.
Take a look at some of the things I am selling here.
Wish me luck!
It's been a while, hasn't it? I've not been stitching as much as I like (which means I have not been stitching hardly at all sadly), but I have been very remiss in not sharing a few of my finishes from 2014. There weren't many, but let me begin catching up with this one.
This is a Prairie Schooler design from the "Autumn Leaves" chart.
I decideded to make it into a little cushion and added gold beads to the edges.
I was quite pleased with how it turned out as it was a gift for a friend. I have been stitching one design for her of all the seasons.
Winter finish coming soon!
I'm moving right along with Prairie Schooler's "Where There are Bees" sampler. It's stitching up quite nicely if I do say so myself!
In real life I steer well clear of bees (though honeybees are sort of cute in a fuzzy way), but she looks sort of regal here, don't you think?
And here is her hive. I like stitching bee skeps generally. There is something sort of pleasing about them.
I am working now on the lower border which is a little tedious going, but once it's stitched I think the rest will fill in fairly quickly.
As for the linen color problems I was having . . . I am getting used to the color for the Lizzie Kate Halloween mystery sampler, but I have decided I need something different for the Prairie Schooler Christmas Sampler. There is still plenty of time for that one. I have decided I don't like stitching (at least not a large project) on Jobelan too much. The color is just so-so. I might stick with plain reliable Lambswool. Has anyone stitched the Christmas Sampler? I came across this over one stitching of the design--isn't it gorgeous? Any ideas of what linen Véro L. might have used?
In any case I have plenty of things to keep me busy while I think about it all.
Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. I'm off to pick up my needle now...
Earlier this week I was rummaging about in my stash bins and came across this Prairie Schooler chart that I had kitted up years ago. It is a design I have long wanted to stitch and so pulled it out, thinking why not? Better to try and add it to my stitching rotation than just leave it languishing in a bin, right?
It is another Prairie Schooler design (Chart 63 "Christmas Samplers"). I am going to stitch the middle design, which has a bit of "The Night Before Christmas" worked into the design. I kitted it up using the suggested line, which is 32 count Bay-Leaf Jobelan. Of course linen colors never show up in their true colors on charts, do they? I'm used to using Lambswool when stitching PS, but I don't have any extra on hand so will stick with the Jobelan. What do you think? I am not sure that I love it--I like it, but feel a little hesitant. Maybe I just need to stitch more to get a good feel for what the colors will look like against it?
And a while back I splurged on the Lizzie Kate Mystery Sampler from last year. I have the charts, linen (again the suggested count and color from the chart) and overdyed floss. Once again, however, the linen colors look vastly different--from the chart and what I actually have in hand. I know hand dyed linens (this is 30 count WDW Tin Roof) will vary by lot, but in reality it much more greenish (and in my photo it looks almost like a muddy color--in reality it is tad darker) than what appears to be a silvery sort of blue on the chart. Once again--what do you think.
I'll keep going with both and suspect the colors will grow on me. I don't tend to be very adventurous when it comes to changing colors--linen or floss from what is called for on charts. When the actual linen color turns out to be so different, it always jars me just a little bit. A problem with only being able to order supplies online and not have a nice LNS to shop at (and see stitched models up close).
Remember this mystery project? It's finished and it has safely arrived at its new home! Are you curious what it is? Or did you already recognize it?
It's an older Bent Creek design in their Zippie series, which I have long had in my stash. I am trying to stitch more from my stash (though I admit I have been tempted lately by some new designs, too). I finished it as a cushion and am pleased with how it turned out.
I was afraid I was too rusty to do the finishing and was afraid it would turn out an odd shape, but it mostly came back to me (though my sewing machine does still scare me a little--I prefer to do as much finishing by hand as I can). It was the perfect design to get my feet wet with once again in stitching and finishing.
Bent Creek has some really sweet designs and I think they must have been one of the very first cross stitch designers that I ever bought and stitched! I'll be dipping into my stash bin again looking for more of these little kits to work on, I think.
I'm back from my work conference in Fort Worth, but I seem to have brought back an uninvited guest in the form of a stomach bug. Fortunately it came upon me towards the end of my stay, but unfortunately I had to spend Saturday traveling with a nauseated stomach, which was unpleasant to say the least. I am feeling better but not quite right so am trying to rest and recuperate.
Fort Worth was lovely however. I stayed in their downtown area and spent most nights walking and window shopping. I didn't get in as much stitching as I had hoped as I was busy with my class and the hours I spent in the airport coming home were mostly just with my eyes closed hoping my stomach would settle. You can see more of what I did here, in case you are curious (Fort Worth has some really amazing museums!).
This is the project I did manage to add a few stitches to while I was away (and I had no problems taking my stitching through the security check by the way). It's an older Bent Creek design that came kitted up. I am making it for a friend of mine, but I think it is safe to share here as I don't think she knows I have a stitching blog. I am planning on finishing it as a cushion. It seems a nice, cheerful spring design, don't you think?
Now I have a translation question for anyone who might speak French or has experience working with French cross stitch charts?
I know "lin" is linen, but if the chart calls for 12 fils/cm, what is the equivalent in US linen count? And "nombre de brins"? I'm sure I will have more questions, and I am sure Google translator will help, but sometimes their translations are a bit wonky, if you know what I mean.
One other stitching note. Remember I was looking for someone who carries Reflets de Soie charts? I have discovered that European Cross Stitch has "Anais Curveur 1896", so she is ordered and hopefully will arrive in my mail box very soon (because you can never have enough projects to stitch, right?). I want both charts I shared, but I had best start with just one. I have plenty of other designs all lined up and ready to stitch already.
Hopefully I can get back to my Bee Sampler, too!
I think Typepad is back up and hopefully there will not be more problems with the commenting function. They were hacked a week ago and so my blog has not been accessible during the last week at various times. And often if the pages loaded comments were either not appearing or not functioning--so sorry about this, but I think (knock on wood) things are back to normal.
I have been making steady progress on my Prairie Sampler "Where There Are Bees" project. I'm very pleased with how it is turning out, and I am finding this a pleasure to stitch. I spend about half an hour a day or so and it seems to be working up very quickly.
I'll be gone most of next week as I have a work conference in Texas. Although I am taking some stitching along on the plane (I have layovers both going and coming), I think I will leave my bee sampler at home. I have visions of something happening to it, which of course would be really awful. Instead I will take a couple smaller projects--as yet to be determined. I have a number of partially stitched projects that are in need of attention.
I'll let you know what I decide to take (before and after pictures perhaps?). Until then, have a happy weekend everyone.