Slow Stitching and a Few New Toys

Here we are in March with the AQS quilt show at Daytona Beach ending yesterday it was a lovely day unfortunately I left my camera and phone at home so not a single photo, and the first Slow Stitching Sunday for the month, I have made slow progress on my Spirit Bear piece these feathers seem to take forever and my choice of cotton duck fabric not so great the thickness of the fabric while sturdy is a challenge once you stitch for a bit and the needle seems harder to push through the fabric and it has the stitch and wash product on it too.  The feathers on the opposite side are done. I will link my post to Kathy's Quilts today have a look at what other bloggers are slow stitching today.
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/03/slow-sunday-stitching.html

This small stag head piece I finished stitching should be finished this week and on its way to a friend.

I have a few pieces that need to be ironed to remove the sketch lines than on to finishing them. In the meantime I am crocheting away on the shell stitch afghan and getting some reading time in.

The new issue of Needle Arts came this week's mail allowing me to rest my fingers while I read over a few articles.

Two weeks ago this lovely book Crewel Creatures by Hazel Blomkamp arrived on my door step from one of my friends. 

I just love the patterns in this book and want to eventually stitch Maureen the owl and then maybe Norman the turtle.

A few other nifty treats arrived in the mail this week with Spring on the horizon I wanted to make a few felted items so I ordered this lovely pastel palette of felt and floss from a favorite Etsy shop.

If you are curious here is the link https://www.etsy.com/shop/BenzieDesign  you can order just the felt without the floss but I like saving time and order both that way I know I have all the colors on hand. The felt comes in 2 sizes 9x12" and 12x18" I bought the 9x12 set.

This little packet of watercolor paint sheets is from a sweet site a friend sent me a link to, all you do is wet your paint brush with water and dab on the paint sheet and start painting.  

There are sixteen paint sheets in the booklet here are a few of the colors, each page of sheets is separated by a velum sheet, I thought these would be great to slip in my pack when I take day hikes and such. I ordered here:https://mymodernmet.store/

This came in last weeks mail a new Joan Elliott's Goddess pattern, this is the Frost Goddess

I need to pick up some Mill Hill beads at the local Needlework shop I didn't have the 3 colors I need in my stash of beads but I did order  fabric and the Kreinik threads I needed when I purchased the pattern from 123 Stitch. The fabric is hand dyed in a very pale blue.

Here is the link for the pattern if you are interested.  

https://www.123stitch.com/item/Joan-Elliott-Frost-Goddess-Cross-Stitch-Pattern/JE259

I can't forget the Tacky Bob to aid me when I am working with beads. I haven't used one before my 

friend tells me they work great especially when stitching with beads so I thought I would give it a try, you know the older I get those bead holes tend to get smaller. A note on the links I am not affiliated with any of the shops or products I just like to share a link for those that are curious.

Happy Stitching.

Last Slow Sunday Stitching for November

Well Thanksgiving came and went in a blink of the eye, and now onto the Christmas rush.  Having an online retail business at this time of year is both exciting and exhausting, not to mention quite messy at times with boxes of inventory coming in and and going out.

Last week there were 24 boxes stacked in my living room, kitchen and hallway, it took two days to label everything and send it to Amazon.

That's some of the boxes waiting to be opened, unpacked, labeled and repacked to send off to Amazon. It may be time consuming but it allows us to have more inventory by not having it all in the house.

My Spirit Bear embroidery is slow going which is fine with me because after days of labeling merchandise it's great to sit down and get in some slow stitching.

I'm currently working on the feathers. I will link up to Kathy's Quilts for some slow stitching here is the link https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/11/slow-sunday-stitching_25.html
On the days when my fingers are a bit sore from holding the needle I work on the granny afghan for my brother in law and I started a little crochet project yesterday that is coming along quickly

Round after round of stitches to begin with

Than a few stitches and a join a few more stitches and another join and more stitches until I get back to the starting point and then I join it all.

Next I work the pattern out and once again I go around and around and around this time with a shell stitch pattern..

then adding a larger shell to give the piece a bit of a flare.  I have a few more rounds to go before I end off.

I hope of you who celebrated had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Slow Sunday Stitching, Inspirations 100th issue and a look at DMC's new Etoile floss

This week I've been busy stitching up the little banner kit my friend asked me to do for her.  I put in the last stitch last night so today I will press it then add  and stitch the fold for the wooden dowel.

The new set of DMC Etoile floss arrived on Thursday and I am over the moon with these new sparkle flosses. They come in a silver tin much the same as the gold tin from the last 35 color collection.  

The new Etoile set comes in 35 colors with a little sparkle to it, this photo shows the skein close up and the fiber content.

They are six strand floss and you can buy the set of 35 or individual skeins.  They coordinate with the DMC 6 strand color numbers the only difference is the letter 'C' before the number.

Late last week the new copy of Inspirations magazine arrived I didn't have time to open it until yesterday afternoon when I leafed among the pages, there are some lovely projects and patterns.

One of the projects that caught my eye is for this embroidered book and bag by Jenny Mcwhinney designs.

 I was over the moon to find all of the patterns for the entire book are in this issue.  Here are just a few pages of this cute book.

I don't know if I would make the book I was thinking more along the lines of making each page and framing them.  They are just so cute.

 I had to take a stitching break to rest my sore finger so I made some progress on the granny afghan throw I'm making for my brother in law.

Holding onto a sewing needle for hours at a time can be irritating to say the least. One of the next projects to embroider are these cute angels from Bird Brain Designs.

Using this snowflake fabric I also purchased from Bird Brain Designs

I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/10/welcome-to-weekly-hand-stitching-party.html

Slow Sunday Stitching and October TUSAL

Oops I missed it again the New Moon for October and I forgot to post my orts for the October TUSAL report, better late then never here are my orts and if you don't know what a TUSAL it's the acronym for Totally Useless Stitch A Long. https://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2018/10/late-orts.html

For more information and to join in the fun of posting orts check out the link and see for yourself.
https://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-totally-useless-stitch-long.html
My orts include bits of blue yarns from two crochet projects I've been working on, the Granny Square afghan throw I made for my sister is completed and she loves it, I gave it to her yesterday when we met to do some shopping.

It's not a great photo but it does show the different shades of blues and gray of the Mandala yarn, I didn't take measurements but it fits nicely on a queen size bed.  I have also started a new afghan throw for my brother in law in the Echo Caves colorway of the Mandala yarn.

I enjoy all manner of slow stitching and besides the crochet I do love hand embroidery, I'm working on a kit a friend bought and asked me to stitch for her, we always trade off each others skills since she doesn't hand embroider I'm stitching it.

I have to admit these are the best satin stitches I have made in a long time seriously I think I stared at them for 5 minutes after I finished them.  This is the kit. I'm linking my post today to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/10/slow-sunday-stitching_14.html

The Fall issue of Wool Works has some lovely projects in it which has peaked my interest in learning to do punch needle work. I love primitive patterns  and over the years I have made a few penny rugs too. The photo under the issue is part of a project I want to make.

So I purchased a starter kit a few days ago mainly because I am too lazy to dig through the bins in my garage to find the ones passed to me by a late friend.

I have never tried punch needle embroidery, I have done rug making using a latch hook and also a punch needle so I'm wondering if its similar method for punch needle embroidery.

Last week at Joann's I picked up the fall issue of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher  and Redwork Blizzard Buddies which is full of snowmen motifs and I just  love snowmen. I'm going to give it a try and if I don't like the punch needle I can always use the patterns for hand embroidery which I have done before.
I did a little online shopping over the weekend, the newest line of DMC Etoile floss has been released so I order a set, it comes in 35 colors with a bit of sparkle packed in a collectors tin you can also purchase the skeins separately. Here is a link if you want to have a look:
https://www.dmc.com/us/thread-5000/embroidery-thread-5001/etoile-embroidery-thread-9000495.html
Here's a link to Stitched Modern's informative post about the using the new Etoile Floss:
https://stitchedmodern.com/blogs/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-dmcs-new-mouline-etoile-sparkle-thread

DMC Etoile floss

Working our way into the month of October the weather has seen a few changes one being hurricane Michael that blew  through the panhandle leaving massive damages, here in my area of Ocala the only sign the weather  had changed was my wind chimes tinkling non-stop for a few hours the day the hurricane hit landfall in the panhandle, we had some light rain the day before but nothing like we usually get during a hurricane.  The day after we had some wonderful cool dry air and temps hanging in the upper 70's for most of the day.  Fall has arrived in Ocala.

I am not affiliated with any of the products or publications mentioned in my post. I include the links for convenience.
I leave you with a little bit of sunshine

Autumn Arrives, Slow Stitching and a Stitch Along

Autumn has arrived last night at 9:54 p.m.  I for one am quite happy to see the summer end this year and hopefully it's taken all the germs that had infected all summer.

Here in Florida our autumn decorations may be just a little bit different but you can be sure we will have a pumpkin or two on display.

I have made more progress on my Greenwoman embroidery piece though you may not be able to tell she is nearly completely stitched.

This has been a challenge for me while I was ill as much as I wanted to work on her I had to pick out stitches I wasn't happy with which led me to put her aside most days and pull out a book or crochet.
I am linking my post to Kathy's Quilts today for Slow Sunday Stitching click on the link to see what other bloggers are slow stitching today.
https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/09/slow-sunday-stitching_23.html

The afghan I am making for my sister using a basic granny square is working up nicely and should be done in a week or so.

I snapped the photo of it folded in half because I was too lazy to open it fully on my bed, the afghan as it is now is on a queen size bed and reaches from the foot of the bed to just where the pillows start. So far 4 cakes of Mandala yarn in Spirit have been used.

The beachy throw I'm making using the shell stitch is progressing as well though not as fast as I would like,  I added a second cake of  Mandala yarn in the Wishing Well color way, this shell stitch uses much more yarn then the granny square.

I have a few new projects I'd like to get started on this week one of them involves using felt in lovely autumn colors along with DMC floss.

I came across some cute little patterns I bought a few years ago and plan to use them for a project as well.

I also have a few designs of my own I'm working on and a few free patterns from several websites one includes a stitch along for a lovely Fall leaf  I printed the pattern out and have traced it onto my fabric and now I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to use the colors listed in the stitch along or change up the colors to my own.  The leaf is quite stunning and a photo and info on the free stitch along can be found here.
http://www.lolliandgrace.com/lolli-and-grace-autumn-leaf-stitch-along-day-one/

I just realized we have one week left for the month of September so I better step up my stitching if I want to have my autumn pieces done this year.  For now though it's time for a cup of tea and I will leave you with a little sunshine.