March WIPocalypse

It's been a wonderful month and spring has arrived on our doorstep. Or has it?

This is what I woke to this morning. Scenic but not really what I was wanting to see! Another 15 cm (6 inches) is expected on Thursday along with freezing rain. That storm will start tonight. Hopefully that will be the end of it!

I have concentrated on two stitches this month. Blackbird Designs Bird in Hand and Rosewood Manor Dreaming of Tulips. 

Bird in Hand was chosen by my granddaughter to be stitched for her birthday. 

This is a progress pic but I am actually finished stitching the whole piece. I will post a picture of the finish next week for my Smalls stitching post. I only have to finish this off now as a pillow. My granddaughter has even picked out her backing fabric!

Dreaming of Tulips is a wonderful stitch! I love Karen's designs. Completing each motif feels like an accomplishment.

What I love about Karen's designs is that not only is the whole design wonderful but you can take portions of the design and stitch them as small finishes. I'm stitching on pages 2 and 3 of this right now with 3 more pages remaining.

That's it for now on the stitching front. I've been home now for 10 days following a great vacation in Cape Coral, Florida. My mom and step-dad rent a home down there and I flew in to visit them along with my sister and her boyfriend. 
Here are some pics of our week together.

 

I loved the break from all the cold. We had marvelous weather and now my youngest sister is down there with her family enjoying the same. I only wish that I could do this every winter!

I'll be back at the end of next week with my Smalls post and hopefully another new start. See you then!

Pretty in Pink - February WIPocalypse

For February's WIPocalypse and just in time for Valentine's Day, I have a finish -The Pink Sparrow Sampler.

While I was laying this out for the photos I found some pretty pink buttons that I thought looked nice with it. I had been pulling them out for another finish.

I didn't realize I owned that many pink buttons!

I finally finished stitching the tree on This Is The Day and then I added the little sheep. They don't look much like sheep to me though. They look more like goats. I'm still not convinced with the colour of them either. It's the called for floss but I find they don't stand out enough. I tried tossing a more white floss on the fabric but then it just seemed out of place with the more primitive colours of the design. So I'll leave them as is for now and see if they grow on me.

I completed a Threadwork Primitives Valentine freebie which I featured on my Smalls SAL post.

I also completed two smalls for this month's commitment which I'll be posting on the last Wednesday of the month. Here's a sneak peek of one of them.

Snow is exactly what the weatherman brought our way for this Valentine's Day. We were expecting only 2-4 cm (1-1.5 in) but it seemed there was quite a bit more on the ground when we woke and as the day progressed the forecast changed. Now it appeared we were expected to get 20-30 cm (8-12 in). As it turned out we did indeed end up with the 30 cm and the last time I checked it was still snowing lightly. See for yourself!

It may be hard to tell in these photos but the banks of snow on either side of the drive are now close to 5 ft tall.

This is the snow outside our back door. You can see my hubby's footprints where he tracked around the gazebo as he removed the snow from its roof.

Even the birds' home is leaning with the weight of the snow! 

Clarisse took it all in from her window perch on the back of our loveseat. It appears that all that snow hasn't fazed her a bit!

I was going to start With Thy Needle & Thread's Snow Day as my next start but I think I'm just about snowed in now. Instead I'm going to get started on another of Brenda's designs, The Strawberry Hill Sampler. Looking ahead to thoughts of spring!

I hope you are all enjoying your start to the weekend and that you are enjoying a lovely Valentine Day. I intend to prop myself in front of the TV and continue watching the Olympics coverage. Go Canada Go!!

First Snow

It's arrived! The first of the white stuff. Here's the view out my window when I opened my blinds this morning.

This is just a quick post to show off my latest finish. My little Tra La La Duo de Noel ornament was a very quick stitch and I plan on doing the second of the charts next. This afternoon I will be finishing this off into a small pillow ornament at my Wednesday afternoon stitching group.



Tra La La Duo de Noel finished as an ornament
on 32ct Sassy's Sugared Cocoa
using DMC floss

Now I'm off for a quick lunch before I head out stitching. I'm walking so I have to dig out the winter boots once more. Hope I can find them!



A finish for my giveaway

I finished stitching my little chicks on Monday and today I spent the morning getting them all finished up. For those of you who guessed Prairie Schooler, you would be correct. They're from book 107, Just Hatched. I thought I had some 32 ct fabric for stitching this but alas there was nothing but 28 ct so the egg is a little larger than I'd planned. As for the egg shape, my finishing skills leave a lot to be desired. What I lack in finishing I make up for with enthusiasm. I'm thrilled to be sharing something I stitched with one of you. If I could I'd make an egg for each and every one of you. You have all blessed me with your friendship, insight and skills. Thank you all so much!

BTW, I have no intention of sharing just how long it took me to complete this today. Can someone please tell me how to finish off the ends on this kind of trim!? Just suffice it to say that during the process there were several words that need not be spoken here that passed through my lips, lol!

In any case I'm learning as I go and hope that whoever wins my little chicks will be forgiving.

In addition to my own giveaway I've got together some items for the TUSAL giveaway over at Daffycat's blog. I picked a few more fabrics as well as finishing off a small pinkeep. It's from a freebie offered by Donna at By The Bay Needleart.

Now I just have to get everything into an envelope and mailed. This promises to be a very exciting draw at the end of the year to which so many people have donated items, both handmade and otherwise.

I've managed to finish off Maison No 4 this week with the exception of the outside border on 2 sides. I didn't calculate very well and consequently ran out of floss before I'd finished stitching. So now it sits on hold until another skein arrives which I purchased online. I'll post a final pic when that happens. I've spent a couple of evening stitching on Cast All Your Cares but a good portion of that was spent frogging so I won't have an updated picture of that until later this weekend.

I know several of you have commented on the snow you received on the weekend after such a promising leadup to spring with all the milder temperatures. Our snow had pretty well disappeared until that time as well. The first days of spring brought some pretty heavy snow which fortunately has now disappeared. Here are a few pics I took from the window during one of the snowfalls.

I love how the little sparrows have huddled under the boughs of the tree next door.

Gotta feel sorry for all those little critters who are once more out and about and then get whammied again!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Happy Stitching!