Embroidery, Stash and New Cat Tattoo

Hello, everyone!  I don't have any cross stitch to show you, I'm still working on my Jenny Bean's Creation Sampler, but I have done a few pieces of embroidery.

These designs are all from the Vintage Garden book that I told you about on my last post.  These things go a lot faster than cross stitch and I really enjoy doing them.  I also made a new stitching bag using an Aunt Martha's transfer of morning glories.

Please excuse the less than pristine condition of the bag since I have been using it the last couple of weeks. 

I've also had a chance to add to my stash; during spring break my hubby offered to take me to a nearby town where they have a wonderful Ben Franklin Crafts and a Hobby Lobby.  At Ben Franklin's I found this wonderful selection of co-ordinating fabrics. 

And from my favorite stash source, Anita, I was sent these two JBW Designs charts that I can't wait to start!

And here are some pearl cottons for emroidery and some of the newest DMC Color Variations threads.  The flowered fabric peaking out from under the doily is another pretty one from our trip to Ben Franklin's, I love the colors on it!
And now, my newest tattoo, I think it's my favorite one yet!

It was done by Erik, who did my other tattoos and I think he outdid himself with this one, I absolutely love it!  I found the image of the kitty which is an old Victorian picture and asked if he could put some pink roses under it.  The kitty was pictured with a sort of tasselly bow around her neck, which looked ok, but I really wanted some roses instead.  I think that the pink in the roses looks nice with the blue of the kitty's eyes.  I now have a cat on each arm!  Now I'm going to end this post with another kitty picture.  If you have a cat, have you noticed how they are always sitting or laying on whatever little object that you happen to throw down?  I had left my stitching hoop on the couch and then later on I looked and there was Trixie all curled up within the circle, I thought it was such a typically cat like thing to do!

Thank you for visiting this blog again, and for leaving such thoughtful comments on the last one, I appreciate it so much!

New Bag with Vintage Embroidery

I've made a new purse to add to my collection, maybe I should start calling this blog the Bag Blog!  But I love having lots of purses and bags to use.  The pattern for this pot of flowers design is from a new book I got recently and I love, love, love this book!

It's by Nori Koenig and you can find it at Amazon.  It's full of beautiful old floral designs with a pattern for each one of them.  The book shows a photograph of each original antique piece so you can see the colors that were used to embroider them.  Then in the back of the book there are black line patterns for you to trace and transfer to your fabric.  I counted 53 of them!  If you have any interest in doing vintage embroidery I believe you would love this book, too.  I'm sorry if I sound like a commercial, but when I find something that I really love, I just have to tell you about it!  Here's a closer picture of the one I chose for my bag.

I used all DMC floss, plain black and DMC variegated colors for the rest of it.  I wanted to use thread colors that would have been available at the time these were first embroidered.  It was such fun to stitch!  Here's the back of the bag:

This is a double pocket panel with patches of rose fabric for decoration.  There are also small side panel pockets of the same rose fabric for cell phone, etc.  I got this fabric and the wooden rose buttons on the front from Anita.  I've got another order coming from her soon with new stuff from Nashville and I can hardly wait!  I've also been working on some cross stitch, a Shakespeare's Peddler design called Jenny Bean's Creation Sampler.

It's charted for Gentle Art threads but I was in the mood for silk so I changed it over to Belle Soie and Gloriana silk floss.   It's only about halfway done, I'm anxious to get down towards the bottom where there is a nice Adam and Eve scene.  I just love Theresa's designs, don't you?  And now I have a question for all of you nice blogging people;  have you been having any difficulty with leaving comments on other people's blogs lately?  On just a few blogs, when I try to leave a comment, the comment box will come up, but for just a second and then it disappears.  No matter how many times I click on it to bring it back, it just goes away again before I have time to add a comment.  Sometimes the blog itself will only show up briefly and then it goes blank and stays that way.  It's very frustrating, and I've been wondering if it's happening to anyone else?  So, if I had been in the habit of commenting on your blog, but haven't recently, please know that this is why and not that I don't find your posts just as lovely and interesting as always!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog again and thank you for each wonderful and thoughtful comment that you left for my last post!  I'm going to leave you with a picture of my latest tattoo, just a small one this time.

 This bee represents my husband, Tom.  I wanted to get it because we have always been in the habit of calling each other "Bee", you know, like in "honeybee."  So now I think of him whenever I see the bee on my arm. 
Thanks again for visiting!

Old Mill Embroidery

Here's what's been keeping me busy the last few weeks, I've really enjoyed stitching this!   I'm always thrilled to find a vintage pattern like this one.  I love the old country scenes more than anything.  I found it on one of the Flickr embroidery groups, can't remember which one, though.  I used a lot of Gentle Arts and Valdani threads plus a few odds and ends I had laying around.

This is a slightly closer view, do you see the nest with the baby birds in the tree?  They have their little beaks open waiting for Mama Bird to come back with a worm.  If anyone would like a copy of this pattern, let me know and I will email it to you.  Now, for a bit of cross stitch:

You can find this free chart from Lori at Notforgotten Farm.  She provided a DMC color code but I decided to use Carrie's and Dinky Dye's silk in just four colors.  Thanks, Lori, I've always loved your designs!

The lovely red that fills the house is Carrie's Quaker Red.  Some time ago, Anita slipped a skein of this into one of my orders from her as a free gift and now I've put it to good use.  Thank you, Anita!  

Thank you for visiting once again and thanks also for the sweet friendly comments you left on my last post.  I always enjoy every one of them!

Peppermint Ornament

Merry Christmas, everyone, I hope you are having a good one!  I don't have any of my own projects to show you today, but I wanted to show you a beautiful little ornament that found its way to our mailbox all the way from Spain.

It was made and sent to me by Margaret as a sweet thank you for my sending her an embroidery pattern.  It's perfectly stitched and beautifully finished and I absolutely love it!  It completely made my day finding that little unexpected package when I went out to check the mailbox, thank you, Margaret, I will treasure it always!

We had our Christmas celebration yesterday, it was the best day for everyone to get together.  Here's our daughter Jessie and her husband Joe having a bite to eat.  I wanted to show how Joe is no longer in his wheelchair all the time, he's mostly using crutches to get around.  It's been a long recovery since his accident last summer, I want to say thank you again for your good vibes and prayers, I truly believe they have helped.

I will end this post with a couple of kitty pictures:

Cricket, helping me make up the bed a few mornings ago.

Harley, doing his silly, flipping upside down flirtiness.  He's adorable and he knows it!

Thank you for the comments left on my last post.  I appreciate the compliments on my stitching and my new tattoo.   It was mentioned that it must have taken a while to get it done, it did take 3 hours; it is fairly intricate, but it was worth it, and I'm really enjoying having it.  I seem to have been bitten by the tattoo bug, I have more planned and can hardly wait to get them, I will show them to you when I do!  Thanks again for taking the time to look at my blog!