A new year of small stitches

I've lost track now of how many years I have participated in the Smalls SAL but I believe this is my third year. It has done wonders in encouraging me to stitch all those small projects I kept meaning to get done but which always got put to the side. 

Following all of my Autumn and Christmas finishes I have been looking forward to starting off the new year with a change and hopefully a leaning towards spring.
My first small finish for this year is Country Rustic Primitives Grow Old With Me designed by Jenny Hoffman.

I love Jenny's sweet little stitches and they make such lovely pinkeeps. The finishing on this one is not complete but I am hoping to incorporate some sort of lace into the finish. I have a few more Valentine smalls that I want to finish up in the next week or so. Then I'll do the finishing on all of them at the same time. Jenny's sister, Shelly Auen, is also a designer and I've just started one of her Valentine smalls as a companion to this one. They will make a lovely addition to my bowl of smalls and I hope to have a pic of the latest one soon.

Here's some of my Valentine smalls that I have out on display.

The two at the back are designed by my friend Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives. 

 The above two are also designs of Jenny Hoffman which I stitched last year for the Smalls SAL.
The two below were designed, finished and gifted to me by my friend Theresa Meloon of Dulaney Woods Treasures who produces some awesome primitive finishes. 

 I hope all those of you who were impacted by the recent blizzard have managed to dig yourself out and weathered the storm without any damage of sorts. This one managed to bypass us and to date we have had only one significant snowfall which I think is a record on its own for our area. Happy stitching and I'll see you next month!

A new year and another WIPocalypse

This year I have decided not to make a list of proposed finishes because it seems that with the exception of one or two I don't bother sticking to my list. I always start out well but then switch gears and start stitching on other projects than the ones I chose initially. There are just too many new releases and other projects calling my name. However I have left a few starts unfinished from last year which I'm trying to get done at some point within the coming year. These include Plum Street Samplers Autumn Fraktur, Stacy Nash Thistles and Spells  and Carriage House Samplings And Heaven And Nature Sing. I started all three of these last fall and just didn't get in as much stitching time as usual. Plus I just didn't feel like doing needlework for a number of weeks perhaps because I'd been ill for much of the season. In any case I got myself in gear and started off with PSS Autumn Fraktur. To my surprise I had it finished off within a couple of weeks!

Here's a before and after pic of it.

 Before

 After

I have quite a few Halloween finishes but very few autumn ones so this will be a welcome addition in my home next fall. I love the rich colours in this one.

Next on the agenda..... Stacy Nash Thistles and Spells Pinkeep

Here's where I left off:

Progress as of yesterday:

I figure there is only another day or two of stitching left on this. After completing the monument at the upper left all that remains is the vine border.

That leaves CHS And Heaven and Nature Sing. I love this one and would be a lot further along if it hadn't been for running out of a crucial floss. I'm using Hand Dyed Fibre's Silks in Kodiak Brown. This particular colour was available in 3 varying shades. I say "was" because this floss is no longer being produced or sold any longer. I figured that with what I had left it would be close for finishing but it's very difficult to determine when the thread is on a spool. So very soon into the stitching of the deer I resorted to another plan to save on thread. I stitched the first portion of my crosses with a similar brown and then crossed in the other direction with the Kodiak Brown. This was going really well until I ran out of the Kodiak brown just short of finishing up the last leg of the deer.

  I still have one antler left to finish up in the same colour. The lettering in the piece was also to have been stitched using this but I had already decided on an alternate colour for that. What to do, what to do?

After putting out a call for help to some of my fellow stitchers, I have located a spool of the correct colour which is on its way to me as I write this. I can't thank my fellow stitching friend, Kathy Born, enough for her help in this! So hopefully this will be back in my rotation in a couple of weeks.

Just after Christmas I received a call that a frame I had ordered for one of my stitches which was on back order was now in and the piece was completed. Although it wasn't up in time for Christmas Day, it's one of those pieces that can remain up all year if desired and it's still up on my dining room wall at this time.

Here is Plum Street Samplers Promised Lamb.

 

As of today I've started another small piece for my Smalls SAL this month which should take only a day or so to complete. Pictures will follow on my next post. 

I hope that all my friends who are in the path of the current winter blizzard are safe and warm. It's a perfect time for stitching!

 

WIPocalypse Year's End with some Smalls

Wow, 2016 is almost here! Another full year of stitching is complete too. I've spent what little time I've had the past month stitching on all my small projects. I completed 4 new smalls but only managed to do the final finished on one of the four.  Here they are!

 Notforgotten Farm Sleigh Bells

Threadwork Primitives Let It Snow

Stacy Nash Snowed In

Sub Rosa Designs Christmas Blessings

 The Stacy Nash piece was a Christmas gift for a friend who hinted very strongly that she would love to have one of my small tin finishes, lol! She got her wish!

There has been no stitching put into my two larger pieces recently but I will return to them once the holidays are over.

I did receive two lovely gifts from some stitching friends. Pat sent me the prettiest floss keep along with 2 Christmas colours of floss. The floss keep says Stitch Every Day. She is so thoughtful and I loved it.

Theresa made me the sweetest little stitched stocking. It looks right at home on my twig tree.

As you can see from the first pic, she also sent me 2 skeins of Valdani floss, a pair of scissors and some lovely antique buttons. I am so very blessed to have such great friends!

Earlier in the month I took one of previously stitched Little House Needlework ornaments and finished it off for one of my husband's choir members. Dan is an avid admirer of needlework and has a couple of antique pieces in his home. He told me how much he admired my work and that some day he hoped he could have a small momento of my needles at work. Here is what I gave him. I'm so glad that he liked it and I promised another next year.

 Little House Needleworks Bringing Home The Tree

Another of my previous finishes finally met up with the framer and came home in time to grace my wall for Christmas. This is Plum Street Samplers Mary's Sampler, a mystery sampler from a couple of years ago.

That pretty well wraps things up here.  My family are all arriving here tomorrow to celebrate our belated Christmas. I have spent all day preparing food for the meal despite being knocked out with another cold. I certainly hope that this year brings me much better health than last year. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and nothing but the best for 2016!!