My stitching mojo...

is back :)

Actually, right after my last post, I picked up my needle and gave it a go! I finished Carriage House Samplings "Carolina Handley" yesterday! And even started "Prudence Wilcome"! I am stitching them both on 40 ct. Purely Primitive from Silkweaver.

I thought I'd leave you with a few pictures from my backyard. This is a beautiful tree, I think it's Hibiscus.

Here are some lovely flowers that are growing in front of the pool deck.


My mother and father brought me this calla lily as a housewarming gift when they came to see our house for the first time this July.


I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my backyard. If you could see the whole thing, you'd freak. It's becoming overrun by weeds and I am just thankful that the people we bought the house from already had landscaping in place or it would be much worse. I definitely do not have a green thumb and my husband doesn't have the time.

Great giveaway!

Head on over to this blog Dip Diddly Designs, she's got a great La-D-Da giveaway that you don't want to miss!

I haven't been stitching at all lately, I guess I lost my mojo. Hopefully it will come back soon!

Awesome giveaway

Yuko is having a wonderful giveaway for her three year stitching anniversary. You should go sign up, her work is beautiful.

In other news, I've been stitching Carriage House Samplings "Carolina Handley." I started a couple of days ago and have been making decent progress. I thought it would be much harder to stitch on 40 count than it actually is! I also purchased a Q-Snap and I love it. I've never been one to use a hoop or anything else to hold my fabric but I thought I'd give it a try and see if it would help with wrinkles in the fabric and to keep my stitching more uniform. So far so good. I'll post progress pictures soon.

Two finished finishes

I did wind up making the BBD Sampler into a pillow for my mom for Mother's day. This year was the first year that I wasn't able to be with her on Mother's day and it was hard. I count everyday with my mother as an extra blessing because almost 10 years ago she had a liver transplant without which she obviously would not be with us now. I'm going to Michigan tonight to attend a tea party with her tomorrow :)

Since I wasn't able to be there, I mailed it to her and she got it on May 9th. She called me as soon as she opened it and said she loved it, it was perfect! Below is the backing fabric I used (it really does match better in person). I kept it simple and am pleased with how it turned out. I wish I would have done better on the hand sewing where I closed the pillow.

I also finished a gift for my sister who got married this January. I hadn't planned on stitching her anything as I didn't think she was particularly fond of handmade gifts. But when I mentioned the one I made for my friend, she said she like handmade things. So, when I saw this free pattern "Wedding Swans" from Carousel Charts on the online needlework show, I thought, why not. So, here it is, I hope she likes it. I added some ribbon to the sides so that I could use a standard 8 x 10 frame without having so much extra linen showing on the sides. I used a small piece of silkweaver solo, I can't remember the count, either 28 or 30, and white and black DMC (those were her wedding colors).

Thanks for stopping by,
Meghann

Another finish and a giveaway

I have another finish to show. It's La-D-Da's "The Ark." I love how it turned out. I stitched it on 32 count Sudden Storm by Silkweaver with the recommended DMC floss. Soon I will find a frame for it so it can actually be finished finished :)



You should definitely go on over to this blog and enter yourself in the wonderful grab bag giveaway that she is having for her blogoversary!

My BBD sampler

The picture isn't great and I didn't have time to iron it because we've been on the road back home from Michigan and I just wanted to be sure to send it before the deadline. So here is my interpretation of Petites Lettres Rouges. It really is much prettier in person ;)

I used a piece of scrap linen from my stash and DMC colors 367, 368, 369. Green is my favorite color. I stitched my maternal grandparents names (Marie & Foster) and the year they were married (1946). My grandfather passed away in September or 2006, just a little over a month shy of what would have been their 60th anniversary. I still miss him everyday. I plan on giving this to my mother for Mother's day and I think I may try to finish it as a pillow.

Two posts in one week?

My friend is getting married this Saturday! I thought that rather than get her something from her registry (which I did for the shower) I would make her something :) I know that she doesn't read this blog, she doesn't even know it exists, so it's safe to show the present here. Her colors are iridescent raspberry and white, so I chose to use hot pink (light and dark) and white for the present. I sure hope that she likes it!

The design is from a wedding leaflet that I found at Hobby Lobby on clearance for sixty-three cents! There are three or four other designs in there. I can't remember the designer off hand and the leaflet is somewhere in my craft/guest room in the mess that will remain until I finish painting and decorating in there.