Bovinia

Hello Friends!

Isn't this cow the cutest! I just love her!

This piece is the epitome of turning lemons into lemonade because I totally screwed this up. I had the fabric in the Q-Snap all ready to start stitching, except I didn't realize until halfway through that I was actually stitching it vertically instead of horizontally which meant I was gonna run out of fabric on the right-hand side. I got very frustrated and nearly threw it out when I realized I could just stitch up to the cow and re-stitch it another day. Phew!

Since the piece ended up being more of a square shape, I was able to mount it on this white-washed wood pallet that hangs from a twine cord. I mounted it to my favorite black and tan homespun to give it a little bit more of a primitive feel and then added some twine around the edges to complete the look.

I didn't want to add a bow -- or at least not JUST a bow, so I decided to add some polka dot ribbon and some matchy-matchy flowers I pulled off a branch I had in my stash. 

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Bovinia

Designer: Plum Street Samplers

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 3011, 3371, 221, 3721, 223, 224, White

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Bless Our Home

Hello Friends!

Just put the finishing touches on this Bless Our Home piece. I went back and forth -- for far too long -- on whether or not I should add something to the bottom. I originally was thinking of using some of the brown ribbon from the bow on the bottom and adding either cover buttons or cranberry flowers to the edges, but every time I held it up, I'd put it down. I think I'm going to stay with the less is more approach.

I love stitching this piece and every time I do, I always change the house from yellow to blue (no clue why). I also love the cranberry accents so I wanted to make sure I used some matching trim for the edges and then add a pop of that color in the bow as well. 

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Bless Our Home

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 3781, 926, 3790, 745, 3045, 3051

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Is It Coffee Yet?

Hello Friends!

Just finished up this cute coffee piece. I'm not really sure what you would even call it but it's a galvanized tin that stands on its own, so I think it would look cute as shelf-sitter or tabletop decoration. It has a loop on the top, I'm assuming that you can use to hang the piece, but it's pretty solid, so I think it'd be better just standing on its own on a counter or in a hutch.

I changed a few colors on the chart (see below) mostly just because I wanted them a little darker. The stitched piece is mounted to some chocolate brown fabric and mounted to the front of the block. I edged the piece with white twist cord and then just added a brown bow with a heart center.

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Is It Coffee Yet?

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 931, 3031, 580, 920, 452, White

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Two More Valentine's Day Finishes

Hello Friends!

This morning I finished two more Valentine's Day pieces. The first was this cute little tart pan. 

I found a set of these vintage tart pans at a local shop here in Phoenix. I'm always excited to find vintage pieces like this because they add a little something special to the stitching. The tart is slightly smaller than my usual tarts (roughly 4.5 inches instead of 5.5) and because they're actual tart pans, there's no hanger, but it would look so cute in a dough bowl or propped up in some kind of Valentine's Day display. I kept it simple, just opting to mount it to the inside with some braided trim. And then I just added a pretty red bow and a floral center.

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: 2014 Valentine Freebie

Designer: The Stitcherhood

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 814, 498, White

The second finish is this basic mounted flat ornament featuring a Lizzie Kate piece.

The hardest part of this finish was finding coordinating fabric in my stash. It's not perfect, but it came close. The stitched piece was mounted to the fabric and I edged it with some pretty red fancy trim. Then I added the white ribbon hanger and red bow, but I felt like it needed another pop of white, so I added a white flower to the center.

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Love Flip It

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 498, 3354, 471, 3740, White

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Welcome, Valentine!

Hello Friends!

The Valentine's Day finishes just keep on coming this year! I hadn't realized I had so many cute patterns to stitch up until I reorganized my stash a couple weeks ago, so some of these I'm stitching for the first time -- including this one by Needle Bling Designs.

I had this really cute heart wall hanging in my stash and I've always known I wanted to use it for Valentine's Day but never found the right design. This "Welcome" pattern was PERFECT as this piece would look cute hanging from a door anyways. I mounted the stitched piece onto some coordinating red fabric and then edged it with some white fancy trim just to make it pop a little. Then I added some pink flowers to the corners to call out the pink from the design's heart. Super cute. I just love this one!

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Wee Welcome's - February Heart

Designer: Needle Bling Designs

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 962, 471, 498 and White

The next Valentine's Day finish was this cute little ornament.

It's finished similiarly to my Farm Fresh ornament which I love so much. The back is a white-washed wooden cut-out that hangs from a twine cord. Since it's on the smaller side, I didn't have much room to add any coordinating fabric behind the stitched piece -- and I'm not really sure it needed it anyways, so I just made some coordinating cording and added that instead. Then I added a bow and heart center and slid it right off the finishing table.

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Heart of Love

Designer: Bent Creek

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 777, 776, 3731, White

And then I finished some ornaments for my stitchy friend, Robin. I always have a hard time sending her pieces back because they're stitched so beautifully, but the piece in the center, stitched on that blue is one of my favorites she's ever finished. The colors look so amazing together. 

Top Left: "Be Mine" by Hands on Design, stitched on 32 ct linen
Top Right:  "Love" by iStitch Designs, stitched on 32 ct winer's brew linen
Center: "Christmas Fruit Ornament" by Barrick Samplers, stithed on 32 ct antique blue lugana
Bottom Left: "Be My Valentine" by Sandra Longan, stitched on 32 ct flax linen
Botton Center: "L-O-V-E" by Hands on Design, stitched on 32 ct antique blue lugana
Bottom Right: "5 Cent Kisses" by Flowers 2 Flowers, stitched on 32 ct vintage country mocha linen

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Tarts

Hello Friends!

It's been a Valentine's Day Finishing-A-Palooza in the studio these past few days. I don't think I've ever stitched and finished this many, but I guess I just got on a roll this year! 

I just put the finishing touches on these two Valentine's Day tarts -- one flat, and one mounted. I love how they both came out! 

I panicked when I first went to FFO this piece because I thought my measurements were wrong and it wouldn't fit, but it's JUST right. This was a pretty straight-forward finish -- a simple round flat ornament with some batting. I just had to add the twist cord and button center.

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Find Your Way to Love

Designer: Bent Creek

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC Ecru, White, 498, 814, 930, 931, 3031, 420, 3787

For the second finish, I went with a mounted look, choosing some coordinating fabric for the background and adding the bow and heart center. I subsituted all colors (see below).

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Heart of Love

Designer: Bent Creek

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 777, 776, 3731 and White

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Day Basket

Hello Friends!

Just finished up this cute Valentine's Day basket as a custom request from one of my favorite customers, Patty. 

Patty also took the time to send me a few photos of some of my finishes she's purchased as displayed in her home. I always enjoy seeing things I've made being enjoyed by others, so it really made my day when she sent these over. Thanks again, Patty!!

I had this basket in my stash, and I really like that it's not very deep so you can display cute Valentine's Day items inside it without having them be covered up. 

The pattern I used is from Heart in Hand and I pretty much substituted all of the colors for deeper reds and pinks. The stitched piece was matted with some coordinating red fabric and then mounted to the front of the basket. I turned some cute polka dot ribbon into a bow, mounted that to the left corner and added a white heart as an embellishment. 

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Believe in Love

Designer: Heart in Hand

Fabric: 28 ct tea-dyed evenweave monaco

Colors: DMC 814, 498, 3731, 3326 and White

Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Day!

Hello Friends! Happy New Year!

After a very crazy, busy couple of months, I really enjoyed spending the last few weeks slowing things down and relaxing with friends and family during the holiday season, including spending a a couple weeks in Kansas City. 

But... these last few days of the new year, I've gotten back into the swing of things by stitching up a bunch of winter and Valentine's Day-themed pieces which I'm really looking forward to finishing up over the next couple of days.

Today I finished up this "Snow" pattern from Shepherd's Bush. It's a really cute pattern and I always enjoy stitching it this time of year.

I used a white-washed wood frame that hangs from a metal cord for the base and then mounted the stitched piece to some coodinating blue fabric. The stitched piece was edged with some winter white twist cord and then I used some flocked greenery, a bow and a snowflake as embellishments.

Though I kept the color scheme very similar to the original, I did make some color changes (see below).

STITCHY DETAILS:

Pattern: Snow

Designer: Shepherd's Bush

Fabric: 28 ct blue evenweave monaco

Colors: 3799, 3052, 814, 924, 932, 223, 310 and White

Thanks for stopping by!