The Cat's In The Bag

May I present my latest finish, the cat with an attitude, Olga!

Plum Street Samplers Olga
stitched on 32ct Zweigart Silvery Moon
using CC, GAST & WDW floss

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this little beauty. I'm pleased with the colours changes I made to the design. Following my WIPocalypse post, I ended up frogging out the large pumpkin. I wasn't happy with its colour scheme and replaced that minty green with a GAST Limited Edition floss. I also decided not to add the vines on the pumpkins. I did actually stitch them on the small one but they really couldn't be seen so I pulled them out.


As I mentioned in my last post, my new start is With Thy Needle & Thread Birds of a Feather. I actually started this one in the fall but I hadn't got very far before I discovered that I'd turned the fabric in the wrong direction when I started and was going to run out of room. So last night I frogged out what little I had stitched and restarted. There's not enough to post yet but hopefully I'll have something to show you next time.


In addition I made a new start on another small, iStitch Designs Sew A Brown Bunny. I had an overdye pink floss that I thought would work but I didn't like the effect once I got started with it so I stuck with just a plain pink. I'm liking this much better.

Carol has designed some really lovely little stitches so if you haven't given any of hers a try before, go and check them out. They're quick stitches and reasonably priced. She'll send you the pdf which I just love because then you can get started on things right away.


The mailman has brought me some new stash additions this week. What a great way to start a week! First up is my giveaway win from Pickle Barrel Designs. Another blogger introduced me to her designs and I'm so glad that they did. Nancy had a giveaway in February to celebrate the release of her new design, Love Letters. Isn't it cute! She sent me the kit which also contains the necessary Sullivan floss. This will be the first time I give these floss a try. Thank you so much Nancy for this wonderful gift! 


From Theresa at Shakespeare's Peddler came some more goodies which were actually bought with some of my Christmas cash. During the month of January, she offered a kit special for Blackbird Designs Christmas Garden with the fabric and silks. I also received a kit for A Wassailing. This kit was specially designed for the Williamsburg, VA retreat. Theresa had a few left over and offered them on a first come, first serve basis. I spotted this offer early, put in my request and was lucky enough to receive one.

I also received some charts last week from one of my favourite designers, Midsummer Night Designs. I've only stitched one of her designs, Forget Me Not but there were several others that I wanted to stitch in the future but just hadn't gotten around to ordering. When I went to order one recently I discovered that they're very hard to come by all of a sudden. It looks like she might have quit designing and a lot of her charts are just not out there now. Does anyone know what happened with this designer?
When I managed to find a few I snapped them up right away. 

I think Peace Inside will be my first choice to stitch.


Not much else going on. Hubby is sick with a cold and has stayed home today which is almost unheard of so I know he must be feeling pretty miserable. So far I've managed to escape the bug. It's another glorious, sunny day and I'll be heading in to join my stitching group later this afternoon. I hope you're all getting a taste of this wonderful spring weather!

March WIPocalypse - Olga Has A Head!

The full moon has rolled around again so it's time for a WIPocalyse report. I added another start to my list to remind me of the season of Lent. 

La D Da Psalm 103
stitched on 28ct Blended Needle Parchment
using DMC floss

La D Da Psalm 103 was a quick stitch. Now I'm hunting for a suitable frame for it. I cut my fabric a little short,especially top and bottom, so I'm hoping I don't run into any problems with framing.
Following this finish I moved on to Plum Street Samplers Olga.

Olga has gained a head since my last posting. Isn't she just the cat's meow!? I love the expression on her face. She's got that look. You know, the one that says," Don't even think about it!"
That little appendage beneath her belly is actually the stem of a pumpkin resting at her feet.
There really isn't a whole lot of stitching remaining in this piece so I should have it finished off in a few days. Famous last words, lol!


Besides these two I also managed to finish two smalls, BBD Breath of Spring and PSS Got Luck. You can see pics of them on my previous post.


I'm pulling fabric and floss today for another small stitch. I have both an Easter and a St. Patrick's Day one in the wings. Haven't decided which I'll start first. Once Olga is complete I'm planning on moving on to With Thy Needle & Thread Feather Your Nest. It's a great spring start! 
Hope you are enjoying a good week and that there is some time to put needle to fabric.

A quick update

Just a quick update to show my progress on Olga and Breath of Spring. I kind of got sidetracked this week when I went ahead with the start of Psalm 103. So I didn't pull out either of these two stitches until Saturday night. 
First up is Olga.

By the end of this week my cat should finally have a head. I'm glad I went ahead and changed my floss. The colour of the tulip and the quaker motif pops a lot more.


Then there's Breath of Spring.

I'll continue working on this one today until I finish off the second basket. Then I'll switch back to Olga for a bit. 


Does anyone know of any St. Patrick's Day freebies out there that are a quick stitch? I would like to do up some small pillows similar to the Valentine ones I did. 
I have so many ideas in my head right now for new starts. Sometimes I spend so much time obsessing over them and trying to make a decision that I waste a whole afternoon and don't accomplish anything!  I go from computer to stash and then back again.
The Nashville Needlework Market went and put a wrench in my plans because now I suddenly have several other designs added to the mix. I go to sleep thinking about stitching and it's the first thing I think of when I wake. Does it ever end?
Then of course blogging just fuels the fire. I see so many other projects in the works that I'd love to stitch. 
My husband says, "Well then, why don't you just stay away from the blogs?"
Stay away! Is he crazy?!! I can't possibly do that. I've made far too many friends that I love to check in on. Plus I've learned so much from them. If it hadn't been for blogging I wouldn't have learned all the wonderful finishes out there besides framing. He just smiles at me and walks away. I think he thinks I've lost it, lol!


Let's face it, I can't possibly stitch everything that I want to in my lifetime. I wouldn't have enough wall space anyways. So for now I plod along on my WIP..... until the next finish!

Thoughts of Spring

As you can see from my blog, I needed a change. The winter doldrums were settling in quite nicely and I thought a touch of spring was needed. What could be more springlike than tulips and birds?
The past week has been mostly cloudy and gloomy which resulted in next to nothing in the way of stitching. That type of weather doesn't bring out the best in me to say the least! That was until this weekend however, when the sun made its glorious return and two new starts brought my stitching back to life.


In keeping with the spring theme is Blackbird Designs Breath of Spring.

The lovely pastel colours just have that spring feel to them and Easter baskets and bunnies also bring thoughts of spring. I know Lent is just beginning this Wednesday but if I want to have this done in time for Easter, I have to get moving now. I want to finish this one into a small cushion when it's all stitched up.


My next start is Plum Street Samplers Olga. This is such a fun stitch and is moving along fairly quickly considering I just started it on Saturday. 

I've swapped out one of the floss colours because I wanted more of a contrast on the tulip. The original floss was a sort of gold-brown colour but I'm happy with my colour change which I think fits in well with the rest of the design.

I noticed a bit of a flaw in the linen near the top of the alphabet after I'd got started but I have no intention on changing things at this stage. 
Once this is completed, I hope to stitch its companion piece, Boris. 


I had some stitching frustration earlier in the week which didn't help my mood any. I picked up The Good Shepherd once more and discovered that the DMC conversion of the silks was not a good one. I got ready to stitch the deer and he was going to look more pink than beige. Before I went any further, I started checking out some of the other floss colours and found that there were too many differences from the original colours and that the piece was not going to look anything like what I'd hoped it would. Besides that, I wasn't too happy with the linen I was using. The colour of the fabric was fine but the weave of the linen was just too loose for my taste and it was slowing me down.
Do you get the idea that I was becoming a bit disenchanted with things, lol?!


If I'm going to continue with this stitch then I'm going to have to start from scratch with a new piece of material and use the called for silks. Unfortunately those silks just aren't in the budget right now. There are 27 of them needed to finish this and that's just way out of my price league at the moment. I've removed this one from my WIPocalypse list for now. I really do want to stitch it at some point in time, but it just won't be in my immediate future.


Instead, I'll be replacing it with Country Stitches Birds of a Feather. I added this one to my stash when the designs were first released but didn't have the time then to follow along with they Mystery SAL. My friend Trish spotted this one in my stash and fell in love with it.  I had told her I would stitch something for her as a thank you for the use of her sewing machine for my small finishes. She offered to pay for the floss and fabric so as soon as they arrive I'll get started on this one for her.


The sun is so spectacular today and I'm enjoying its warmth at my windows. I don't know why Clarisse isn't sitting at the windows chasing after all the ladybugs it's brought out of hibernation. Instead she's hiding in here! 

I hope the sun makes its way into your corner of the world. Happy stitching, my friends!