March Smalls

 I've been trying to get this post up for a couple of days now. It seems I have issues uploading my photos from both my phone and my computer! It's been extremely frustrating trying to get anything done.

At this point I have one of my finishes that I can show you. This is one that I had already kitted up earlier in the year and put aside. Not knowing what I wanted to do this month I decided to go with the obvious. This design is from the 2017 series of Fragments in Time by Summer House Stitche Workes. It's number four in the series.

I've stitched a couple of others from this series previously and gifted them to friends but this little one will be made into a pin pillow for me. I don't have the entire series of eight designs. I think I just picked out the ones that appealed to me and ordered them but they do make great gifts!

Okay so I thinked I've worked out all the bugs with my photos and have managed to get them all where I want them. Amazing!

My second small finish for this month was done in anticipation of spring and the upcoming Easter weekend. Spring Rabbit and Cart is a design by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives. It's a sweet little finish and it also will be sewn into a pin pillow and added to my bowl of spring finishes on display.

I'll also share with you a few pics of my Easter/Spring displays.

Definitely more room to add a few more finishes. I really don't have a lot of Easter/Spring decor.

I'm not sure if I'll get a small finish stitched for next month. It's tax season and I start working on our taxes tomorrow morning. Plus I'm really into working on some lovely bigger designs right now. You'll see some pics on my WIPocalypse post in a day or two. See you then!

March Smalls

We turned the page on the calendar before I realized that I had yet to post my small finish for the month of March. This is a sweet little design by Pheasant Street Samplers called My Sewing Tools which I picked up last year at the Prim Stitchers Society Retreat.

I haven't decided on a final finish yet. Perhaps a needlebook? I didn't start this until quite late in the month but it stitched up quickly.

I'm already working on April's small. After arriving home from church following Easter services yesterday I sat down and stitched more than I think I had all last month! I've chosen a sweet little design by SubRosa to finish as a birthday gift for my childhood friend. It's appropriately called Happy Birthday. Here's a sneak peek of it.

I love the colours used in this design and it's also stitching up very quickly. Although Easter has come and gone, I'm in the mood to stitch another small design to add to my Easter/Spring display. Looks like I'll have plenty of time this month for another stitch! 

My eldest son is visiting with us for a bit. His girls are still in school so they remained home at their mom's place. It was great to have all three of my sons and my daughter-in-law join us at Easter this year!

I hope you all had a joyous Easter celebration. He is Risen! Alleluia!

April's WIPocalypse

Happy Spring everyone! I'm also hoping everyone is enjoying a lovely and blessed Easter weekend. Things will be rather quiet here this year as I recuperate but we can always celebrate later.

One thing that I have had as I recuperate is lots of stitching time. It's a bit sporadic though since I can't seem to settle on some days but I am making progress and have a new start to share with you.

 
 This is Blackbird Designs Button Box from their new book In Friendship's Way.  I've decided to put it on hold for now though until some new floss arrive. I'm not happy with the dye lots that I have for the Old Brick (used on the flower on the right) so I've placed an order for more and hopefully the colour will be what I'm looking for. This particular colour is used quite a bit throughout the design including the bricks on the house. 

In the meantime I'm just starting to pick up again on BBD My Dear. You may recall I started this a few weeks back but I wasn't happy with some of the colours in this one too. So I've been through my stash and I'm trying out a few different combos to see what works. Wish me luck!

I did have two finishes recently. One is Country Rustic Primitives He Is Risen which I'm holding back as my Smalls SAL for this month. I'll post pics on the 25th of this month.
In addition I finished off this sweet little piece as a housewarming gift for a friend.
This is Threadwork Primitives My Work.

Finishing on this will take place later when I'm more comfortable sitting at my sewing machine. I'm also considering adding my initials to this right above the flower on the left. I'm checking out various alphabets to see if I can find something that will work in that space.

My friends and family have been very good to me following my surgery. I've received many lovely gifts and lots of visits which really help to pass the time. This week I received another lovely handmade gift from my stitching buddy Theresa. She made me one of her fabulous pinch pockets and personalized it with my initials. When I opened it I found a skein of DMC hiding inside! She used a lovely fabric for the lining and the backing.

She also sent me a BBD chart, Dear Friend, as well as a lovely cut of linen which has been hand dyed by Dames of the Needlework. I'm saving the linen for a Halloween project that it will work perfectly for.

I've also received more than 6 different flower arrangements! Several have already dropped their flowers but there are a few remaining to brighten up our home. Just look at the colours of these bright daisies! They've brought a touch of spring indoors.

 Then my youngest son Chris dropped by yesterday with his girlfriend and they brought me this gorgeous rose and a pot of Muscari, also known as Grape Hyacinth.

 I am so very blessed to have so many people who care for me. Thank you to each and every one of you who have made my recuperation so much easier. Hugs!!

I hope that all of you are as blessed as I am and that you and your families have a very lovely Easter!

 

Easter Greetings

A most Blessed and Happy Easter to all my blogging friends and family!

I'll return in a day or so with an update on my stitching progress of late.

Easter greetings and Spring Quakers

So the weather isn't quite what we'd hoped for(lots of rain), but Easter weekend has arrived and the temperatures are definitely feeling more like spring. Easter Sunday promises to be a glorious day. I want to take this opportunity to wish all my stitching and blogging friends a very blessed Easter . For those of you who are not Christian, I wish you a beautiful spring long weekend spent with family and friends. Here at our home, my DH and I will be joined by my two younger sons, and some friends from my husband's choir. BBQ leg of lamb is on the menu so we sure hope that weather turns sunny as predicted.

I haven't felt like stitching on anything other than Spring Quakers this week. The colours are so rich and inviting and once I'd picked it up I didn't want to put it down.

I'll let the pictures speak for the results of my efforts.

When it comes to my progress on the Wedding Sampler, I've decided to change my colour on the floss since it just didn't suit the design. I'm now waiting for some floss I have on order in several different shades for a floss toss to see which will look better. I'll post pictures on my choice once it arrives and I've made up my mind. In the meantime I haven't touched anything else. I do have another start in mind but I think I should finish off Sweet Berries first. What's the new start you ask? It's called Live, Laugh, Love by Primitive Bettys. The pattern includes a recipe on how to hand dye your own linen. I'm thinking I just might give it a try!

Now I've got to get moving on cleaning up this place and start putting together some of my meal for tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend, take some time for yourself and keep on stitching!