Rain, Glorious Rain!

Happy Monday everyone!  It is a great beginning of the week here - it is finally raining!  The KY clay really needs a good soaking.  What is even better about the rain is that the ground, which hardens into brick during the dry spells, will get soft enough to dig in.  This is truly great, since DH and I picked up some assorted perennials this weekend.  The timing could not be better!

I am still totally in love with the new hobby; napping!  In other words, the needles are not exactly racing here.  I did stitch this adorable design by Barbara-Ana (Quoth the Raven: Nevermore)) and I like the raven so much that I had to stitch up a mini-version too.  As you can see, he is itty-bitty.  I was thinking about finishing the tiny one into a pin, but he may be too small.  The design is intended to be used as a scissors-fob, but I think that it is way too large!  I'll have to come up with something else to do with it.  I am also contemplating making a third version for an exchange coming up this fall - he is just too cute not to share.

You can buy this pattern either from Creative Poppy (they'll send you the pdf and a pass-word pretty much instantly) or printed out on paper (I got my hard-copy from ABC Stitch Therapy). 

Barbara Ana has a couple of additional - equally adorable - Halloween designs; Owl-o-ween Scissor Fob and Trick or Treat Scissor Fob:

I have also fallen back into the dangerous habit of browsing e-bay every now and then....  Sometimes, I really do manage to get a great deal that I am really pleased with, such as this silk-gauze kit (frame included!) from The Heart's Content for less than $25.  Three of the letters had been stitched by the previous owner, but I ripped them back out and started from zero.  Here are a few progress pics:

As you can see, I am working on filling in the background right now.  It takes time, but I enjoy it - since everything else is already stitched there is no need for counting.  Very relaxing...

I would love to find the companion piece Love Thyself one of these days...  ;-)

The new sampler is coming along slowly too, but it is all right since I really enjoy working on it.  The problem is that I try to tell myself to switch between the projects every other hour or so, but then I get so engulfed with what I have in my hands that I forget everything else....  Oh well, there is just too much fun to have!

Did I show you the sweet little scissors keep from Rovaris?  I am becoming a big fan.  I was really impressed with the "Stitched Initial Necklace" that she came out with a few months back (here is the back of mine).  This is the latest sweetie from Rovaris: Scissors Fob Kit.  All the parts spread on top of the sofa:

After a very quick and easy assembly:

While browsing the net to find the link to the necklace, I happened to run across another of Rovaris' beauties: Wreath  What a gorgeous design!

Speaking of beautiful cross-stitch, check all the photos of Forget-Me-Nots in Stitches at Barberry Row. Many of these designs are older and not posted on any US stores or on Lauren's web-site, so some of them were new to me.

Well, other than that, not a whole lot going on at the stitch front.  The garden has finally gotten some TLC, so I can post some photos without weeds!  :-)  Here is an oak-leaf hydrangea, planted last year, and she seems to be doing well.

The other day I saw a robin take a drink form the sunflower bird-bath.  That made my day!  :-)

The hardy hibiscus are doing really well this year too.  I discovered that one of them already started blooming this morning.  (Please ignore the clover.... LOL)

Another hydrangea, also planted last year.  I love the shape of the flower clusters on this one!

Lavender - what is not to love!?  They really take care of themselves, smell wonderfully, and are a bee and butterfly favorite!

Our new flowerbed is starting to look a bit "bushy"...

More lavender.

And the older hydrangea is sporting both pinks and blues this year.

The bunnies don't want me to log off before they say hi.  Princess has some tummy problems right now, but I think that he'll get better soon.

Well, time to get going!

As always, thanks so much for all your wonderful comments and have a great week full with fun stitching time!  I hope to pop over and see you all soon!

Happy Stitching,

It has been a while.... :-)

Well, after almost three weeks of silence here at Nirvana, I'd better roll up my sleeves and start typing!  Part of the reason is that I really haven't been stitching all that much lately - I have discovered a new hobby; napping!  LOL  I should feel a little bit ashamed of myself - the photos have been loaded and ready to go for about two weeks now...  Well, here we go!

As you may remember, my parents were here for 10 days earlier this month, so I didn't get a whole lot stitched then as you can imagine.  We did get out on adventures pretty much every day - Andy was working nights all the week through, which complicated things a bit (don't even get me started on his crazy schedule - sigh!  I just about had it!!!!).

I did work a tiny bit on the new Prim Sisters kit, which turned out to be much sweeter than I thought initially.  A quick stitch, so I got a bit done while my parents were here and it was really fast to finish up after they left for Sweden.

I did some smaller changes to the back by adding my initials and the year (+ accidentally picking the wrong colors for the heart...) and I have decided to finish this piece into a zippered pocket instead of the gigantic needle-book that it is intended to be.  This time, the kit included a bit more fabric to do the finishing work with, so that gives me all kinds of freedom - yay!

So far, this has been a great club and I am looking forward to the next set.

Last weekend (I think - time flies), I was participating with a booth at the Founders Craft Fair here in town.  Since my camera batteries were dead, there are no photos to show from this year, but if you'd like to get an idea about how things look, it was very similar to last year's event.  We did have a slight lesser number of booths indoors this year, but it did feel like a lot more people came by.

The two main-questions I got this year were different versions of "Oh, you are doing needle point?"  (how come that everyone is familiar with needle-point, but not cross-stitch, I wonder?) and "How much are they?".  I had to explain quite a few times why the items in the display were not for sale and people seemed to be genuinely surprised (you know the blurb about stitching time and material costs, yada-yada).  It is funny; nowadays so many of us assume that everything is for sale; in this industrial era we don't ever stop to think about how much time it actually takes to make things by hand.  It also seems that many of us think that  the ultimate goal is to make a profit out of what we do, not to find joy in developing a skill and and the feeling of peace of mind.

Well, while interacting sporadically with people (it was still far from being packed), I did get time to work on two Patrick's Woods pieces.  The first one was the little Hare Lines kit that is a small note-book accessory to go with the Hare Pyns set.  The only thing I really had left to do was the border, which was a little bit tricky, and the initials but I did finally get it done and I do like the way it turned out.

I did also start on this sweet little mattress-style pin-cushion, which I am looking forward to doing the finishing work on.  Sherri printed the vintage violet girl on some muslin type fabric and created a lovely design in purples (tent-stitch over one, so not too bad).  I finished the stitching in the evening and now it is lying on the ever growing finishing pile at home.  The purple felt will be cut out into a double heart shape and used for a little needle holder.

Note the pretty wooden cutting board below.  Andy and I picked that up at Shaker Village when we were there with my parents.  I'll show you the photos from that excursion in my next post.

I did also pick up this sweet little picture at Shaker Village - Oh, how I wish that I would have bought many, many more to share!  Note the text written in cross-stitches - just adorable!  It will probably get framed and hung somewhere in the house one of these days.

Other than that, not much to report right now.  I have gotten a few shipments of stash lately, which has been fun.  The Halloween Fob in the picture below was an E-bay find and the charts were a draw of luck (or rather, a draw of suspicion or "covering my a$$") a few weeks back.
Remember when Guilia Punto Antichi came out with the adorable Shabby Chic Pendant earlier this year?  Well, suspicious as I am, I read through countless kit descriptions at several needlework stores on-line, but I could not find anything that clearly informed me what the kit really included.
My feel was that if the button did not come with the kit, it was a waste of a pretty good deal of money.  And you know the deal about exchanging patterns - not gonna' happen!  I even made a few phone calls to various stores to be sure, but none could give me a straight yes or no (that should have been my first clue, LOL).
Well, I finally placed the order with Stitching Bits & Bobs but sent Bobbi an e-mail where I stated that, unless the button came with the kit, I was not interested.
Lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, the "kit" showed up in my mail box and it was nothing but a chart pack - for $16!  I mean - wow, that is a bit hefty in my humble opinion!!!  Luckily, when I called Bobbi and pointed out that I had sent her the e-mail (which she admitted to not have read), she exchanged the chart for a store credit so I got the three charts below instead!  Not bad at all...  Two of them I have been wanting for a while, so that was like Xmas!

The EMS sampler is coming along all right.  This is not the latest update I have, but it took longer to stitch this time.  I did struggle with the mushroom motif which I had already decided to switch for something else - the question was what!?  I will show you how that turned out next time, but I have to say that I am pretty pleased. I am anxiously awaiting part 6 - only a couple of days more!

And finally, this is a new sampler that I just started stitching for someone very special!  This secret person does not read my blog so I will be able to share the progress with you.  This is another kit from my favorite design house, Haandarbejdets Fremme in Denmark.  This piece is also a bit further along, but I'll have to share that progress with you next time as well.  

This sampler is only stitched with five colors and as you can see from the photos below, it is stitched in Assisi style, which is one of my favorite styles.  Close-up here:

And this will be the size of the sampler, once finished.  I am having so much fun stitching on this one!  I really like the quality of the Fremme's designs and kits!  (That may be the reason why I have a drawer packed full of Fremme kits at home.... )

Well, time to get back to the robot here in the lab.
Have a great week and wishes of many hours of Happy Stitching!  (I owe most of you a visit, so that is on the top of the to-do list now, even before napping!)

Chugging Along!

Happy Monday to everyone!  I hope that your weekend was just as cozy and relaxing as mine was.  DH is back on night shift again, so that gives me a really good excuse to take looong naps in the middle of the day during the weekends.  It is so nice just to sleep next to each other - it is surprising how many of the things that we would probably label "smaller" that I find out I miss once they are not there.  Yesterday was really wonderful, with a nice lunch out at the local "luxury fish place", a stroll through the book-store, and some mending of torn and worn clothes in front of the adventures at Downtown Abbey in the evening.  Add to that that DH and I found a new British TV series that I am in love with - The Midsummer Murders.  Wow, oh wow - they are great!!!!   I am thrilled.  I have already worked myself through three mysteries and I can't wait to get back from work so that I can continue.  Life is good - doesn't take a whole lot to keep me content...

I did also do some limited shopping at Silverneedle during their Superbowl sale.  Very, very minor!  Is it bad when you feel like you already have everything that you want!?  LOL

Anyway... I have had these pictures uploaded on the blogger page for ages now, but finding the time to actually write a bit to go with all the photos has been trickier.  Too many things to do!  You know the feeling, I am sure!  LOL

Here is the first sampler that accidentally got added to the list of 2012 projects after I had constructed my WIPoclaypse list.  This is the Ellen Maurer-Stroh sampler that I mentioned in a previous post or two, stitched on a antique white 40-st linen over two with one strand of DMC.  Since I am one of the most impatient people in the world, I decided to stitch on the pretty bluebell border as far as I could.  It was easy to memorize, which makes it a quick stitch.  I did switch out a couple of the blues to darker shades and I like how it is turning out.  I am thinking that I may switch out the colors completely on the right-hand side border and stitch pink blue-bells there instead.  Thoughts?

The February part has already been posted, so I have it printed and ready to go.  Right now, I am devoted to the upper flower border and I have stitched 5 of the 10 repeats that make up the full border.  This one is not a border that you can really memorize, but it is lovely!  She has a unique way to play with colors and the light pink flowers look almost transparent, like really fine china!  Very skillfully done.  The February assignment contains a rose sprig and half of a very pretty fruit basket.  Can't wait to get working on them!!!  (Still not too late to jump over to her site and download these pretty charts - they are in color and very easy to read.  And let me tell you, they stitch up much quicker than you would ever believe!)

This is the current state of the Scarlet Letter EH sampler.  My favorite part is stitched up, even though many areas are meant to be filled in with trellis stitch.  Since the instructions in the pattern are pitiful, I will have to root around in my stitch-room and to to get out the Proper Stitch book by Darlene O-Steen.  I really hope that trellis stitch is in there (I am pretty sure that it is...).  On to a more narrow border where a lot is going on - carnations and knot-work - very pretty!  I think after that boder is done, the half-point is met...

Excuse the wrinkles - I only iron when my life depends on it! ;-)

I pulled Snapperville back out last week too.  Only one more square to go, plus the border around the little scenes.  This is an easy stitch, but somewhat boring and surprisingly slow, I think.  I guess that I am not thrilled because I have a hard time imagining that I will actually hang it somewhere.  The colors are pretty though - I am not following the colors at all, since I am too cheap to expand my already pretty significant overdyed thread collection.  I just pick colors from the existing bundle and go with that.  Don't you like my blond horse?  :-)

I am currently thinking about some alternate verse for the bottom border, since I am not thrilled about the original; "Teach us that we may learn the importance of every day. . .of every hour as it passes".  I found Kim's very pretty finished SV for inspiration: "North or South, East or West, Farm or Town, Home is Best" here.  I like how she made her "swirlies" in the lighter color too!  I am shamelessly copying that, once I get there!!! 

Here is another oldie that has been lying on the "almost finished" pile for ages now.  I only needed to add the text and then do the actual finishing work...  The chart is from a vintage German Burda magazine, so I needed to translate Frohe Weihnachten to Swedish and English.  To fit in the text, I had to stitch it over one.  Isn't is just amazing how you (as in I) can count something 100 times and still have it end up off-center!?  Rather than ripping up the entire Merry Christmas row, I decided to add a little sprig of something...  I think that it worked out all right, so next up is tracking down a backing fabric and some time to sit down and sew it all up.  I think that I will finish it as a wall-pocket that I can collect Xmas cards in (I should be ashamed of that though, since I don't send out Xmas cards myself).  Or I could have some pretty branches of seasonal plants.  We'll see - maybe even this Christmas!  (Yeah, right!)

There is a Valentine heart from the same (two-part) series that would be fun to stitch.  We'll see - maybe in 2013?

I went through a serious finishing kick a week ago and got a few projects completely finished.

Here is my Christmas Tree from Fremme.  The little picture is based on the pretty sad story by the Danish author H. C. Andersen; The fir Tree.  I love the little bunny jumping over the tree in the upper corner!

On display with the Swedish flag!

I did finally manage to do right by the nephew.  Nephew's "First Xmas" ornament and birth sampler in progress:

The ornament is a sweet little freebie by Brookes Books Designs.  I switched some of the colors to make it less pink and I tried to place the beads in the border on the side to create a lace effect.  That didn't really work out as well as I had hoped, but it is finished!

The birth sampler got framed.  I got the matting and frame from Michales general framing area.  No specialty materials or measures needed - don't you love when that happens!?  DH helped me pick out the frame.  It's a lot of fun - he had planned to run over to the pet-store right next-doors to Michaels, but decided to come with me instead.  I think that he knows that he is really good at helping me pick out stuff, so he enjoys it - as do I .  (No worries, we did hit the pet-store afterwards, so all our critters got fed this week too....) 

My parents are coming to visit in May, so my mom offered to bring everything back to Sweden in their luggage.  That will work out really well!  Last time I shipped a framed piece over to Sweden, the glass shattered on the way over.  Not so good....  I am really glad that Littlest Sis didn't get hurt when she unwrapped that package!

And finally, here is my "just for fun" project (it was not on any of my start-of-the-year lists...): Jenny Bean's Pin Tuffet from Shakespeare's Peddler.  Quick and fun and finished with the Sudberry House Shaker Round Pincushion. 

I switched out every single color for this piece, I think.  I went for purples instead of rusts and I am really pretty delighted with how it turned out.  My inspiration was the checkered flower in the bottom right.  It is black and white in the original, but it still reminded me about the Snakes Head lily, a very pretty Fritillary that is the landscape flower of Uppland, Sweden.  Since that is the landscape I come from, I felt that it was a fitting change and I switched the rest of the colors to go with the lily. 

If I would change anything with this project, it would be the foam that came with the Sudberry piece.  It is a polymer foam that has high friction, so it is hard to stick your pins into the cushion.  I should probably have switched out the foam for several layers of batting or maybe made an inner cushion filled with some other type of material.  Oh well, now I know for next time.

I am finishing this post with some amusing craft.  This Princess Leia hat from Bleu Arts at Etsy reminds me of a favorite scene from 30 Rock.

Liz Lemon is trying to get out of jury-duty by pretending that she is more than less peculiar -  this video is a shout out to my buddy Hip^Hip^Happy, who is on call for jury duty right now.... you go get'em girl!  :-)

Take care and Happy Stitching!  I will try my best to swing by all your blogs out there. it's been a while.

PS We had a mega-frost over night here - hope that all my spring-bulbs made it...  :-(

Ahhh, Saturday!

Hi everyone! As always, thanks so much for all your comments. A lot of you signed up for the give-away and I got a bunch of new followers from all over the world, which is always a thrill. The give-away drawing is scheduled for today, but I will get to that that later tonight. I have popped down to the basement to give a quick summary of the week, both in stitching and in general.

I would also like to thank you so much for all the sweet and interesting comments in regards to the "mixed mess" post. Thanks, I really appreciate it! Please keep in mind that I am still not real savvy when it comes to responding to comments. I am trying, but generally I just pop by your blogs and leave comments there. I hope that works!

We do now have two more contributors (and one in process) and 8 followers at the Brightneedle Blog, so that is really cool. One contributor, Maggee, even posted a picture of her stash a couple of days ago, so we are officially up and running now!
This will be my latest post on that blog; Brightneedle's Button Satchel:

Let me assure you, my hands are not of an abnormally large size, this pouch is just very, very small. The kit came without a photo or dimensions on the front cover, so as usual, I had no clue what I was buying... LOL
As you can imagine, I was a bit surprised (= long nose) when I opened up the package to find a piece of linen that was smaller than my hand to work with! Oh well, at least it meant that it was a quick stitch... A very small project for quite a bit of money, so I would probably not recommend this kit, if that is all right to say out loud - even though I do admit that it is very cute!!! Anyway, how much stuff can I really store in this pouch? Not even a lip-gloss... :-o
If you do decide to invest in the kit, be aware of the fact that the size is pretty much exactly as large as it needs to be, so take care when placing your stitch area. It has to be placed pretty much in the exact position that was intended for it, or you won't have any extra linen to work with in the assembly step.

BTW, the French manicure in the photo above is that "gel stuff" that I wrote about months ago. Still love it; the photo shows how it looks more than 2 weeks after having it done - impressive huh!?

Since we are on the subject of collaboration boards; I have finally gotten around to posting my first Christmas project over at the All Year Christmas SAL blog. I'll post the pics here too, but don't be shy - feel free to hop over the the Xmas SAL blog and check it out! :-)
Here it is; the Noel Quadrielle:

I decided to do the assembly a little bit different than how the instructions are written. Instead of using just one piece of interfacing, I opted to go for 4 separate pieces. I figured that it would be easier to get four crisp corners that way and I do believe that it did make the assembly a bit easier.
I am sure that most of you are well aware of this trick, but I do recall the mixed duh-and aha-moment when I first learned it; using a scanner to get perfect templates.
Scan back of stitched piece:

Pin cut-out scans to interface, card-board or any iece needed for assembly:

Iron corresponding piece of interfacing to back of stitched piece (remove scanned cut-out before ironing):

Finish as usual:

I have been on a finishing kick lately and I finally framed a Brightneedle piece that I stitched back in 2008. Oddly enough, I get more stressed out by all the stitched-but-not-finished projects that I have lying around than all the kits, charts and materials that are waiting for some TLC. The story about the frame is pretty neat, but I already wrote about that on the Brightneedle blog...

Four years after stitching the Sweetheart Tree Happy Birthday Knob Knocker, I finally finished it into an actual knob knocker using my newly arrived Far Far Away 3 fabric stash (yay!). I was lazy and used an elastic type lace-trim to finish the edges. I am not so sure that I like the hanger made with the lace, so I may have to rip out and modify a bit once I get a better idea.

Just a quick note about the fabrics. If you like me love the larger Snow-white prints, do not buy the fat quarters but do invest in the 1/2 or, even better, full yards. The reason why is that all my three Snow-white FQs were cut so that the main motifs ended up on the edges and the majority were snipped in half. I still love this fabbie, but I can't really do as much with it as I had envisioned. At least now I do have a better idea about color and size, so that will help for future orders. Let me know if you would like to see an example and I'll post or shoot an e-mail with a pic of my FQs.

Another finish; a small harvest bouquet kit from Fremme mounted on a Clara Weaver phone book that I found on e-bay for cheap a while back. I don't really need two phone books, so I have to figure out who to give one of them to (interested anyone?). I am pretty pleased with the way that it turned out, even though I went with a fairly bold printed paper for the back.

Not a whole lot going on here on the stitching front. I have pulled back out a sampler form the Scarlet Letter, the EH 1669 Reproduction Sampler, that I will try to spend some quality time with for a while. I am estimating that I am about 1/6 of the way there... (I love (not so much) how I always manage to get bird-seeds in all my pics, btw...)

My grand new beginning looks incredibly pathetic with maybe a total of max 30 stitches, so no use posting that sad story here...
However, I did bite the bullet and got the over-one stitching done for my Lucet class in October. Now I have a bunch of pre-finishing steps that I really should hop on board with, but it looks so complicated that I am a little turned off... ever felt that way?

Last, but not least - introducing our latest family member (as always, excuse the state of the floor. Believe it or not, DH vacuumed it less than 24 hrs ago...):

I am so excited - I have never had a bunny before, so if anyone has any special tricks and tips to share, I would be all ears! I am not sure what to name him yet. I have been thinking either Bobby, Chocolate or Kanin (the latter means rabbit in Swedish). All my name ideas are pretty lame, so if you have a suggestion for a name, don't hesitate to leave me a comment. That poor bunny needs a name!
He is a real snuggle-bun and the people at the pet-store says that he is really social with people but he does not like other bunnies. I have been cuddling with him like crazy and he doesn't seem to mind in the least. He is also pretty curious and hops around and sniffs at everything, so we will have to bunny-safe the living-room now (I hear that they like to gnaw on electrical cords and such, so we have our work cut out for us in that department). The birds are not real interested, which is pretty much ideal.
I love him more than I love my new shoes and that says something, 'cuz my new kicks are pretty cool!

Can you believe that I got even more spoiled than shoes and bunnies this week!? Hip*Hip gave me a couple of charts as a thanks for having fun last weekend. So sweet of her and absolutely not necessary! I love both of the charts, but the favorite is the May I chart from All Through the Night (which I have been admiring on-line with my hand hovering over the Buy Now icon...)

Thanks for spoiling me, Hip*Hip!!!! :-)

Well, time to run off. There are drawings to prepare and bunnies to cuddle with. I am planning on making some Patera jewelry tonight too - if i can get my printer to work, that is...

Thanks so much for swinging by! Have a great weekend and Happy Stitching,