Another Cottage and Sarah Loves Tigger

I sure love embroidering cottages!  This one was just as fun as the other ones I have done.  I used a wide assortment of threads as usual, including DMC, Cosmo Seasons and Valdani.  Every thread used is a variegated or over-dyed except the bright yellow one in the center of some of the flowers and the French knots over toward the right side, that is a DMC Craft Thread.  

I decided to cover the house with vines, I hadn't thought of that idea before, it reminds me of pictures of vine covered English cottages that I've seen.  

A couple of close ups of the flowers.  What cottage scene doesn't have a lot of flowers?  You can't have too many, I think!

Now, a couple of kitty pictures:

This is Sarah and Tigger.  In case you don't remember, Sarah is one of our newest kitties.  We adopted her and her baby, Pepper, last spring.  Well, Sarah has decided that she's in love with Tigger.  She wants to snuggle with him as much as possible and loves it when he gives her a bath.  She thinks he's just the best thing ever and I think maybe he loves her a little bit, too.

It's so sweet to see these two together, I think they are going to be Best Friends Forever!

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!

Patchwork Bag Set

It's been a while, but I finally have something done to show you!  I picked out some of my favorite fabrics from my stash and made a nicely sized bag that I can use as either a purse or a stitching bag.  In the middle is a tiny basket of flowers embroidery.  The pattern for it is yet another one from the Flickr group Hoop Love Vintage Transfers.  I don't know how I lived before I found that place and its huge supply of vintage patterns!

This embroidery only took maybe 2 or 3 hours to complete.  I used some of my favorite Cosmos Seasons variegated threads and the brown thread for the basket is a DMC variegated.

There's a large patchwork pocket on the back as well as two small side pockets.  And since I already had some extra patchwork squares cut, I decided to make a little pincushion and needlebook to go with it.

I got the little pom-pom trim on sale at Jo-an Fabrics and thought it would look nice around the edges.

Here's the inside of the needlebook.  I just love these fabrics and the nice thing about patchwork is having so many favorite fabrics all together on one thing!  The vintage doily underneath it is one that I was lucky enough to find at a yard sale one summer.  

Thank you for stopping in, it was nice visiting with you!

Some Recent Embroideries

When I happened to run across the pattern for this vintage design, I knew I had to have it.  I was thrilled to find that it was available to buy from a seller on Etsy.  I used a variety of variegated flosses, mostly DMC.

It looks like a cheerful place to live, doesn't it?

I didn't stitch it exactly like the original, but I think it still has a definite vintage look to it.

Now, here are a few of one of my other favorite subjects for embroidery;  baskets with flowers.

 This embroidery was done with a selection of Needle Necessities threads that I have in my collection.  This is a brand of floss that is no longer available, although the company was bought by Threadworx and I believe they reproduce pretty much the same colors themselves.

More baskets:

If you haven't guessed it yet, I love pink and blue!

Except for the black on the butterfly, I embroidered this whole design with Caron Watercolors.  I just started using these threads recently and I love them!  They are nice and thick and come in a myriad of colors.

Last basket, this one was done with Rainbow Gallery's Rainbow Tweed.  It's a soft and slightly fuzzy thread that works well for embroidery.  I really love working with various types of threads, I think it makes embroidering just that much more exciting when I can experiment instead of always using the same old thing!  How about you, do you like to try different threads that are new to you?  If so, I would love to hear about your thread experiences!

Thank you for stopping in for another visit, I appreciate it!

French Sampler and Farewell to Sweetpea

This wonderful sampler was a UFO that's been in my sewing room closet for a few years.  I've pulled it out more than once to work on it but for some reason I always got tired of it.  I think maybe because of the intricate border, it was a bit tedious!

Then, a few weeks ago, I made up my mind to get it done, and I'm glad I did!  The chart came from this great magazine that I bought several years ago, I don't know if it can still be found, but if you can find a copy it would be so worthwhile, it's full of lovely French sampler charts.

I bought it at Nordic Needle, but I'm pretty sure it isn't available there anymore.  Here's a few more pictures of the sampler.

The sampler was done on 25 count Lugana over two threads with the recommended DMC threads.

I started a Christmas break off from work on the 20th and I have to say that the way this vacation started out, it can only get better.  The first two days we had a power outage from the winter storm Draco, and when did they start naming winter storms?  We had never had an outage that lasted that long before and since we don't have a fireplace or a wood stove it got very cold!  

Harley and Tigger keeping warm during the power outage.

Then, after enjoying about half of a day with heat, lights and water, my husband, Tom, starting feeling very badly and I had to take him to the ER.  It turned out that he had a peptic ulcer, so he had to stay in the hospital for two days.  He was able to come home on Christmas day which was the best present I could have asked for!  His ulcer will be treated with medicine and he's feeling fine now.

Now, the sad part of this post.  Our Sweetpea, who was 19 years old, had not been enjoying her life very much for a while now,  so we decided it was time to send her on.  She was actually born here on our property in a shed when a sweet gray barn kitty from one of the local farms decided to have her litter here.  The mother, who we named Alice, eventually went back to her farm and we took most of the kittens to the farm, too.  But our daughter, Jessie, decided that she wanted the little tortoiseshell kitten, so we kept her and named her Sweetpea.  

Jessie, eventually got married and moved away and by then Sweetpea was really more my cat.  I was her favorite person and the only one who could hold her without getting a dose of her tortie attitude!

But we have 7 other cats to hold and hug and that helps enormously.  She had a long life and was very loved!

This was the last picture taken of her.

Sweetpea

April 7, 1993--November 16, 2012

Thank you for visiting once again!