Happy Wednesday everyone!

Well after months of sparse stitching, I think I am finally FULLY back on the stitching train! All I can say it's about time. Between house building and constantly fighting the tendinitis in my wrist (which made stitching fairly painful after an extended stint in the stitching chair...) stitching has not really been a priority. Luckily, after a couple of months rest it seems that my wrist is finally getting back to normal... and the guys are currently roofing in the house - you will not see ME on that roof - so that means more time in the evenings than I've had in months!!!

I guess you could consider this as a mini-finish:

I've gone as far as I can until I get some more dark brown floss from 123stitch. I think I may have ran out of the required floss partly because I stitched on a higher count fabric than the model. Either way it was still agonizing to run out as I'm seriously one motif (a bird), the rest of the boarder around the word Nantucket, and a couple of finishing stitches away from putting this one in the 'Done' pile. 

OHHHHH WELLL!

So I moved onto my next (mini) project.

This is the 'North Pole Post Office' which is number three in the Santa's Village series by Country Cottage Needleworks. I'm stitching them all separately as I have vision of what I'm going to do with them in my new house... since there's 12 in the series that means I'm going to have to find 12 identical frames (GOOD LUCK WITH THAT haha). The best thing about this stitch is that it's fairly quick and you can see it come together in a flash. Very rewarding :)

I've also been thinking ahead to my next stitch... Santa's Magic. Not sure if I'll stitch this as a gift yet or keep it for myself. I guess it'll all depend on how easy the stitch is... however, since it's a Mirabilia I'm guessing it'll be fairly complicated. But I'm up for the challenge :)

There is one thing that is bothering me however with this chart - I've now sized it up several times... - and that is Santa's sleeve is empty of stitches for the most part, allowing you to tie in the colour of the linen with the overall design of the cross stitch. PROBLEM: the recommended fabric is called Desert Sand (which remarkable I have managed to find online) but it's yellow... very yellow. There are a few stitches you can see that complement the yellow fabric to shade in the said sleeve I was talking about earlier in the model picture. I don't like the fabric simply put. I can't imagine stitching on something so yellow and having it stand the test of time and still look good years from now. But how do I change the fabric colour so that I can alter the sleeve colours and still match Santa's hat????? What a conundrum! Please feel free to leave some suggestions because I don't think I can possibly decide what I can do without some input!

Model pic

Until next time!!!

Melissa

Merry Monday Everyone!

We got the O.K. from Elaine over at STITCHED WITH LOVE EXCHANGES last week to post pictures and comments about what we sent/received for the Spring Exchange. I was a little naughty in this department because I posted pictures of what I had received back in early June when I wasn't supposed too... Being my first time doing an exchange I was bound to make a boo boo somewhere!!! I quickly removed my pictures when alerted to my error and have since put them back in their original post since being given the OK. However, I want to do a little recap for those of you who didn't see it and to show what I gave to my exchange partner :)

This is what I received from Christina over at Whilst Iris Naps:

The theme of this exchange was My Favourite Things. No joke, to say I LOVE the package I received is a tremendous understatement. You can tell this package was lovingly put together! And all the goodies... well I nearly fell over when I kept pulling things out the package. On all counts you can certainly tell that Christina puts pride into quality. 

As for what I sent to Lisa over at Blackflies and Snowflies here's my package to her! Pictures kindly provided by Lisa - in my rush to send off the package I completely forgot to take a good picture of my finish and everything I sent! *Note to self - manage time correctly next time round***

May Wordplay Doorbell - With Thy Needle and Thread
Stitched on 18ct Oatmeal Aida

I so enjoyed putting this package together. I made some dyed floss to go along with the package and then felt a blue/brown theme emerging. SO I added some blue fabric and some ribbon. Tossed in some extra jingle bells, memory trim and a wonderful little magazine with some cute patterns .

As for my stitched piece. Knowing that Lisa enjoys the wordplays by With Thy Needle and Thread, I set to stitching up the May Wordplay. I did most of the stitching work up to my cabin and thought that the spring feeling of it certainly was fitting. Birds chripping and the leaves had started to make their way back onto the trees at that point. It was fantastic to stitch! I took considerable liberty in the floss colours as the chart called for special hand dyed floss which I had not ordered when purchasing the chart originally. So I tried my best to convert to DMC using the picture provided with the chart as a guide. I finished it with some brown ribbon and chose to add just two bells as I didn't want the 'jingling' to be overwhelming. All in all, I was VERY happy with the result. 


I have to say, for my first exchange I had a total blast! In fact, I have signed up for 2 more exchanges, with one to be sent off VERY soon. There's something so exciting and satisfying about exchanges. Perhaps it's the giving aspect, or perhaps the mystery. Who knows! All I know is that I don't think I'll stop doing exchanges any time soooooon!!!


Happy Stitching!


Melissa