Autumn Designs

With fall just around the corner, my thoughts have been drawn to autumn designs lately. There are several I would like to stitch and the problem is deciding which to do first.

I will be starting November Sampler by Prairie Schooler

And I have Blackbird Sampler by Bent Creek all kitted up and ready to go...someday.

Here are some other fall designs that have caught my eye:

Harvest House by Praiseworthy Stitches

Rest and Be Thankful by Cross-Eyed Cricket

Crows and Pumpkins by Annie Beez Folk Art

And the last one is Scatter Pumpkins by Shepherd's Bush

I have never stitched Halloween designs, but I enjoy looking at the designs and the WIPs and finishes of others. Well, have fun with your autumn stitching!

Summer Snapperland Finished

This morning I put in the last stitches on Summer Snapperland by Bent Creek, finishing that last block on the left. The crabs and the seahorses are my favorite parts of this design.

So here is a picture of the whole Snapperland at last. I made some color changes to fabric and threads. This is stitched on Zweigart 32 ct. natural linen and I exchanged GAST Blue Jay for the GAST Brethren Blue, and DMC 783 for the GAST Mustard Seed. I also made the little grassy bushes with GAST Dried Thyme instead of GAST Old Hickory because I wanted greener plants.

I have the patterns, including the free chart for the border design for the Autumn Snapperland, so I'll be getting to that one eventually.

I also finished the next section of the Lizzie Kate Christmas Double-Flip Its, so that makes 8 down and four more to go.

It is getting more and more difficult to get a good picture of the entire project, but here it is.

Happy stitching everyone!

Around the World

I spent a lot of time surfing stitching blogs last night, and there were so many beautiful projects out there, I decided that it was time for another Around the World post.

First stop is in Spain (I think?), region or town unknown, to El Blog de Estrella where you can see her stunningly beautiful finish of Plight of Fancy by Long Dog Samplers. It is quite a different thing to see a stitched finish of a Long Dog instead of the computerized images on their designs. The colors on this one are so vivid and bright, and the photography is superb as well.

Next we travel on to Italy and stop at il mercoledi to gaze at Mariangela's three lovely finishes. She has finished My Quaker Garden and When This You See, both by Blackbird Designs, and a red monochrome design by Dany. It always amazes me to see how popular Blackbird Designs are all over the world. They show up everywhere.

A short hop over the Alps into France and we'll dash to des fils defilent in Paris to look at Ktia's unique and gorgeous finish of the Mary Wigham Reproduction Sampler in blues and tans. I have seen many different SALS for this one...French, Spanish, German and even Russian. I really like this blue and tan version.

Now across the ocean sea we travel, to the city of Montreal in Canada to a blog in Russian called My Workbasket to look at a gorgeous tea cozy that Amaryllis (I think...awkwardly sounding out the Russian letters) made from the new Tea Party design by Victoria Sampler. She even changed the saying to Russian. I love it!

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the short tour.

Summer Snapperland

I have not stitched much over the summer, which seems, sadly, to be a pattern for me. But anyway, I have fallen back into it now and I am nearing completion on the Bent Creek Summer Snapperland.

Here is a close-up of the right hand side which I recently completed

I am also stitching on Lizzie Kate's Christmas Double Flips. I have finished through the seventh block, and so I have 5 more to go.

Tomorrow I should get a good part of the next block on this piece done, as I will be stitching on it for the Saturday Night SAL on the Only One Ewe forum.

Stitch-A-Longs

I have debated whether or not to make this post now. My husband and daughter have gone on a trip and they have taken my camera. I am able to take pictures with my son's camera, but it is not nearly as good as the one that has gone overseas.

But I have some ongoing SALs and I really don't want to wait another week until they return to post updates, so I will just make do. Thus said, please forgive the dark, blurry photos.

A few months ago, I joined a French forum, Les Copines, so I could participate in some of their SALs. So far, I have signed up for 3: Lizzie Kate's Christmas Flip-Its, Bent Creek Summer Snappers, and Madame La Fee's Gingerbread Cookies. The first two are ongoing, and the last begins near the end of April. With these SALs, everyone agrees to stitch on the same part of the design on a schedule, usually an objective every two weeks. I have found these to be enjoyable so far, and I like having the discipline of a schedule.

Here is the March update of the Christmas Flip-It Bits (this picture was taken before my camera left the country)

And here is Summer Snappers after two objectives. There is a new objective every 2 weeks. I promise that I will have a better picture next time.

And then I have stitched some on Mon Beau Chalet, I have not quite caught up to my March objective as I got a little off-schedule while I was stitching only HAED designs for a month (uh...I claim temporary insanity).

I return now to my stitching, and wish everyone a wonderful week!

Finally an Update

At last, I have a little time in which to make a post. February and March are always extremely busy months around here, and when it gets like this I seem to choose to stitch rather than blog. But things seem to be slowing down some around here now, and next week it should get even better.

I have been stitching in this lost time, but it has been mostly on my HAED designs. I was motivated to get back to stitching on Santa's List, my Christmas HAED WIP, by an informal HAED SAL organized by Cindy F. Then I received a message from Denise on the HAED Forum that she was getting the Christmas SAL there restarted. I was already working on Santa's List, so I joined that one as well. Then I was delighted to find that Cindy and Wendy started a blog for HAED stitchers called Our Friends HAED SAL, which I also joined. When I finished my first page on Santa's List, I still wanted to stitch on a HAED, but I was ready to do something different. So I pulled Fairy Village out of the drawer, and then later retrieved May I Have This Dance as well. I have enjoyed getting back to stitching these designs. Progress is slow, but I enjoy watching the design emerge onto the fabric. Here are some updated pictures.

First is Santa's List by Ruth Sanderson. I have finished the first page.


Next is Fairy Village by Lisa Victoria. I have about 2 and 1/2 pages done.

And finally, here is May I Have This Dance, which I am still stitching away on as of yesterday. I have almost finished 4 pages, but only one of them was a full page. I have approximately 11,000 stitches completed.

I have stitched a little bit on some other things, keeping up with a couple other SALs, but I am going to save those for another post, or this one will become rather unwieldly.

happy stitching everyone!

The Blight Has Struck

Everyone here in the Bungalow has been sick in the last two weeks. It is the dreaded flu...and a very potent version of it as well. My daughter is the last to succumb, and she has had it the worst of all. After just three days, she has a "really nasty nasal infection" according to her physician. I so look forward to it being gone, gone, gone.

Let us get on now to more pleasant topics. I finished the February portion of the Lizzie Kate Christmas Double Flip-Its. I changed the pink color in the stocking to a gold one so that the finished picture will better match my Christmas decor. This continues to be an easy, enjoyable stitch, which is a good thing because I stitched it while still feeling quite under the weather.

I also started work on the next pattern in my LHN Dear Diary Sampler. This is the section for Emmaline Whitcomb in Santa Clara. I can't wait to stitch the house.

Well, everyone keep well. I would rather have a visit from the dreaded frog than this horrid little bug. If everyone keeps healthy, I should be back to the HAED SAL next Friday. I will also be getting back to checking up on everybody's blogs.