A Little More Finishing

A surprise visit yesterday by my daughter from the West Coast had us occupied until a little after 2 pm.  We'll see her again on Saturday when we try to gather the larger family for a brunch.   She leaves again on Sunday and has many people to see, places to go in the interim.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on sewing and assembly finishing with these results:

I want to make an ornament for each of my three grandchildren.  This year's theme will be Christmas trees.    First up is this little beauty for my diva of all things pink.  I've photographed it atop the backing fabric.  Hey, I know pink isn't a traditional holiday color but the diva will like it.

Next, a mini Love Bird Sampler for the January [wedding anniversary] through Valentine's Day display.

And then there's this Prairie Schooler promo card for the patriotic display from May 31 to July 4.

Finally. there's this pin pillow, stuffed with ground walnut shells and trimmed with chenille.

I got as far as prepping the cardboard for the Queen Bee ornament, the first oval shape I've attempted.  We'll see how that goes today.  This ornament would meet my goal of 5 finishes in a month but I plan to keep doing finishes until I can see the surface of the dining room table/  Who knows, I may even use the table for a meal!

Some Actual Cross Stitching Again

I am guessing you are all nearly as tired of finish photos as I am of finishing.  I need to do something with a needle in hand that involves something a little more complicated than whip stitching.  Even so, here are a few more shots of finished ornaments and smalls

two more heart ornaments:

Aury's 2013 Quaker Heart

and

Victoria Sampler Maine Heart

and I trimmed two more pin pillows

Primitive Needle's By the Light of the Moon

and  Dragon Dreams' Here Be Dragons

But I also squeezed in a bit more stitching on Sue Donnelly's Pin Pillow.  I added the border using the deep red and the tarnished gold from the fabric Sue included in the kit.  I happen to like borders.  They serve as great guides for the presser foot when doing  the sewing finish, producing a nice straight seam.  They also serve as an excuse to add some specialty stitching, in this case: over one cross stitch, herringbone stitch and square Rhodes stitch.

And I prepped some blue fabric for the two Town Square ornaments that I need to do to meet this month's goals.  And, as you can see, when I have filled this piece of linen I will have six more ornament assembly finishes to add to my to-do pile.  This is why I never seem to catch up.

Once I had prepped the fabric, I went on to stitch another Town Square chart to meet my monthly goal.  See below.

The Town Square chart I had intended to stitch this month was The Sweet Shop by The Sweetheart Tree but it is far too detailed a chart to kit up and finish up in the time remaining this month.  So I have switched it with my November goal, The Gourmet Shop by Twisted Threads, which is a much simpler chart.  I will have a much better chance of completing this chart before month's end thereby meeting the goal of one Town Square ornament a month.

Pineberry Lane Pin Pillows

In this day and age of separating sets to make individually priced charts, it was a surprise to find these three pin keep charts included with the sampler design.  [My finished sampler may be seen in the previous post]  At $10.79 from 123stitch, an online needlework shop, this was quite a bargain.  

Pineberry Lane's Tansy Pin Keep

Pineberry Lane's Yarrow Pin Keep

Pineberry Lane's Rue Pin Keep

And now, to share the wealth, I thought I'd offer the Tansy -Yarrow - Rue chart to one lucky reader.  Just post a comment explaining why you like primitive designs in general and/or why this design appeals to you in particular.  I'll select a winner over the weekend.  Good luck to all who enter.

And, since there was room on the linen I used to stitch the pin pillows, I used the space to start Elizabeth Designs' A is for Autumn.  I expect that will be another quick and easy stitch.

Blogaversary Giveaway

Barbara, who writes a lovely blog called mainely stitching , won my blogaversary giveaway back in September and requested a patriotic piece. It took me a while, but this is what I came up with using Glory Bee's complimentary chart, Liberty, which I converted to Belle Soie silks. I kept to the same muted palette as in the charted GAST overdyes for two reasons. First, that palette worked so well with my chosen backing fabric and chenille trim. [I have photographed the pillow against the backing fabric, one of three coordinated fabrics of which I bought 1/2 yard each some time ago. There is a print and a larger plaid in the same colorway. Wonderful stuff.] Second, I remember one of Barbara's posts in which she stated that she thought Buckeye Scarlet was one of the ugliest reds imaginable ... so I figured I'd better steer away from the traditional bright red-white-blue. I chose the finish of a small pillow lined with muslin and filled with ground walnut shells so that it could be used either as a pin pillow in her craft room or a bean bag toy for her children's indoor winter amusement ... it can get pretty cold on the Maine coast during the long winters and a variety of indoor games are a maternal survival technique! I added a little brass charm of the Liberty Bell that has been kicking around in my stash for nearly a decade. Until this piece, I had never found just the right project for it ... but it works perfectly here. I am pleased with the result and hope Barbara enjoys the piece as much as I enjoyed making it.

In a finishing sort of mood

Last night I finished stitching my adaptation of the Friendship Sampler [designer unknown, due to my sloppy downloading and printing]. Since I had Barbara's blogaversary gift awaiting a finish [photos to be shown once the piece is in its new home] and I wanted to finish the Sampler in the same way, I spent this morning assembling and trimming two pin pillows filled with ground walnut shells and lined with muslin. The pin pillow is pictured above a swatch of the backing fabric. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it enough so that you can see all the specialty stitches I used to make this a real sampler: the border is made up of brick stitches, tent stitches and a square Rhodes stitch and I incorporated lazy daisy, long stitches, Queen stitches and eyelet stitches into the body of the piece. I had a grand time making the piece my own. And while in a finishing mood, I went on to finish this little patriotic ornament from Prairie Schooler. I used some hand-dyed chenille from RR Reproductions as trim for both pin pillows and some hand-twisted white cord for the ornament. For the ornament, I used some beads leftover from a Kreinik kit to make the hanger and added this cute little silver USA charm that has been kicking around in my bead box for years. Once I have posted this entry, I'll return to measuring, cutting and padding the boards for five Town Square ornaments that have been languishing in the finishing basket.