Since I was last here......

Hello fellow stitchers,

How has your summer been in your neck of the woods? I have been enjoying the month of August so far since it is my vacation time! The summer here is hot and humid and it makes you wish you could spend the whole day at the beach under the trees.  Just two more weeks to go and my vacation will be over and then it is back to work.  Oh well, I suppose the bills have to be paid and I have to eat so off to work I go in September.  No, I haven't gone to the beach as yet but have been spending some cherished time catching up on some much needed stitching and finishing.

In my last post, I mentioned that I would have been practicing how to make cording and so I have some results to show.  I had this pattern in my stash from the Workbasket which I stitched sometime ago but only now got around to finishing it.  I decided to finished it in an oval shape and trimmed with cording. I am very please with out it turned out, only next time I will have to use thicker pieces of cardboard as the ones I used were too soft.  All in all I thought it came beautifully.

 Design: Blueflower (Freebie)

Designer: The Workbasket

Fabric: White 28 count evenweave

Thread:  Specified DMC Threads

Trims: Homemade cording, blue satin ribbon

Finished as a:  Wallhanging

Last week my friend Beverly from Trinidad and Tobago paid me a visit on her four day vacation to my island, Barbados.  We met and I took her on a tour of one of our "must see" attractions - Harrison's Cave. She is my stitching buddy and I was very glad to have her visit my island. We did lunch and shopping in Bridgetown. As a token of appreciation, I stitched her a little keepsake of her visit here.

 Design: Friends

Designer: Cosmic Handmade

Fabric: Gray 28 count evenweave Jobelan

Thread:  Specified DMC Threads

Trims: Matching Homemade cording, backing fabric

Finished as:  A Standup

I made it into a Standup for displaying which is very similar to a flat fold. I bought a Standup kit from Stoney Creek 

 The instructions are very easy and I am very pleased how it turned out. Beverly liked it very much as well.  I am seeing a few Standups in my future as I already have a few patterns I want to display.

Well, that's it for now. Bye, and thanks for dropping by!

A little stash, a new sewing machine and exchanges!

Hello fellow Stitchers

I hope that you had a lovely weekend and you were able to get some stitching done.  My weekend went well and now it’s that time once again to share a bit of stitching news with all of you to let you know what I have been doing over the past weeks!  At the beginning of the year, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t be purchasing any more stash until I at least used most of what I have here. With the tough economic times around, I thought it was the proper thing to do.  Well, sadly that promise was not kept and so I am now the proud owner of three patterns which I just had to have from some of my favourite cross stitch designers!  Well that is my excuse and I am sticking with it.  I bought Spring Has Come by the Prairie Schooler, My House  by Little House Needleworks and ‘Tis The Season by JBW Designs. I also bought me a wonderful gadget to make me some cording, a mini drill aka a corder!  Oh and I also bought some cross stitch fabric which is on the way as I speak, lol. I am hoping to start ‘Tis The Season by JBW Designs soon as it will be a part of my Christmas stitching.

There, now that I got that off my chest. I made my first set of cording with my mini drill and also some to use on my HoE Summer Exchange.  It wasn’t perfect but I know I can do a lot better with lots of practice so that is what I will do during my vacation.  I have so many projects to finish that will require cording so here’s hoping I will be perfect by the end of my vacation.  Wish me luck!!

 

My cording maker and my cording efforts

I also bought a sewing machine since my Brother machine decided not to cooperate with me on my last exchange and I had to hand sew my project.   I saw a Singer sewing machine which was going for a steal!  I could hardly believe it was going for that price, and looking so modern!  I remember my Godmother sewing on a Singer eons ago.  She would be really happy to see this new one with all the special stitches.  My, how things have changed!  I am just hoping that it is as good as those old singer sewing machines!

A modern looking Singer sewing machine

 I got word that my partner received her HoE summer exchange from me!  Roberta,  who was my partner, said that she liked my fob/cushion especially the sunflower since it remaindered her of her sunflowers on her back deck.

Design: Summer is in the air

Designer: Michelle M. Lash (Brittercup Designs)

Fabric: 28 count cream eavenweave Jobelean

Threads: DMC as recommended

                 Trims: Cording                       

Finished as: FOB/Pin Cushion

I received my summer exchange from Dawn last week. I absolutely love her little pillow, it is soooo cute! She chose to stitch "Summer-licious" by Lizzie Kate. Thank you Dawn, you did a great job. Here take a look. 

So now I'm off to finish my "Friends" exchange which should posted out this week.  I am on a roll!

Thank you all for taking the time out to visit and do have a terrific week! Cheers!!!

Breaking the long silence!!

Hello dear friends and fellow stitchers, its been such a long while since I posted anything on my blog!  I'm not proud of that by any means, however I’m back to share some of what I have been doing over the past months.  I’ve been doing some cross stitching but still need to do some finishing.  I am also stitching my Christmas ornaments and am pleased to say that I am one month ahead, yeah!!  During my long absence, there was a Spring Exchange with my group from Hooked on Exchanging (HoE).  My partner was Marie P and I choose a motif from Signs of Spring from the Prairie Schooler Book No. 163.  It was a fun stitch and I was pleased with how it turned out considering there was a lot of frustration on my part putting it together.  My sewing machine broke down which meant I had to stitch it by hand.  Marie seems pleased with what I made for her and I breathed a sigh of relief thanking God that she liked it.

Design: Motif from Signs of Spring

Designer: The Prairie Schooler

Finish: Pincushion

Fabric: Creame Jobelan Evenweave

Cotton fabric for backing

Trim: Olive green satin ribbon

I received my exchange from Linda O.  She stitched a sweet “Lizze Kate” design made into an ornament.  Thank you Linda!

With that done, I’m off to start my next exchange – HoE summer 2013 Exchange.  It should be fun stitch again. Along with that I will be doing my Christmas ornaments and hopefully some finishing to show off.

Bye for now and happy stitching!!

Sandrajay

Strawberries and Cream and other Finishings

Here in Barbados we don't grow strawberries but it was a pleasure to stitch this one.  This was also the first time I stitched a strawberry ornament.  This is a freebie offered by Janie Hubble Designs in her June 2011 newsletter.You can click on the link and sign up for the newsletters.  I found this to be an interesting and different pattern to stitch.  I also like the addition of the beads - all in all I liked this pattern very much.

Design:  Strawberries and Cream (Freebie)

Fabric: Jobelan 28 Count Evenweave

Thread: DMC 962
Trims: Beads, cream and pink ribbon

Finished as: Strawberry Pin Cushion 

Designer: Janie Hubble Designs

Next, I stitched and finished this freebie pattern as a tag which can also be used as a floss holder - just replace the ribbon with a floss ring.

  
Design:  Cute Birds Motif (Freebie)

Fabric: MCG Textiles 32 Count White Linen

Thread: DMC
Trims: Blue ribbon

Finished as: A Tag/Floss Holder

Designer: Manka Mintia

As mentioned in my previous post, I participated in the HoE Fall 2011 exchange.  My partner for that exchange was Michelle. I stitched the Fall motif from the pattern Measure of a Year by Prairie Schooler.

 

  

Design:  Fall Motif (Measure of a Year)

Fabric: Jobelan 28 Count Beige Evenweave

Thread: DMC recommended
Trims: Orange ribbon and Pins

Finished as: Pin Keep

Designer: Prairie Schooler

I received my Fall (Autumn) Exchange for 2011 from, surprisingly Michelle!  We had each others name for this exchange.  It took a really long time to get here that I was a bit worried that it would have gone missing in the mail but it arrived safely.  She stitched me Just a Little Autumn by San-Man Originals.  Thank you Michelle and sorry that's a bit late in posting but as the saying goes better late than never.

Thank you for visiting and have a great weekend!