Stitching From Stash - Welcome Fall!

It's an absolutely gorgeous fall day here! It's actually more like summer than fall if it weren't for all the changing colours. I've been busy over the past week doing up some of my previous fall finishes which can be seen on my previous post. Now I have lots of lovely little pillows to add to my fall decor!

In keeping with autumn, I've continued to work on my Carriage House Samplings Pumpkin Farm. I apologize for the lighting in the pictures. My camera battery needs recharging and I wanted to get this post up before the deadline.

Lots of autumn colour and fun little motifs to stitch! It's moving along quite well now. It won't be long before I'm on to the border.

I decided to pick out a Halloween start as well which I've had in my stash since last year. I found a fabric that I thought would work but it was 40 ct which I've never stitched on. Well it's about time don't you think? So I plunged right in and here's where I am at this point.

This is another prim fall stitch which I'm really enjoying. I also finished off another small by With Thy Needle & Thread, ABC For Crow Pinkeep, which can be seen on my previous post. It's also an autumn finish.

As for money spent this month, well, I've decided to use this as my exemption month. I saved a little cash stash over the summer and broke down to use it on many of the new market releases as well as some fabric. 
See!

All told, this spree totaled $170.23 which of course is well above my $25 allowance and is exactly why I have chosen this to be my exemption month. I know myself and I know that I will always spend more in the fall than at Christmas. Why? Well it's because fall is my favourite season and I love so many of the designs out there for fall/Halloween. The colours just speak to me. So I'm begging mercy and taking September as my exemption month. I think I've got things out of my system now and can behave for the rest of the year!

Now I'm off to see what the rest of you have been up to. It's also a beautiful summerlike day here so I'm heading out to the gazebo with stitching in hand. Enjoy your day!

Autumns Smalls

Although I actually only managed to stitch one finish for this month's Smalls commitment, I did get a whackload of former stitches finished into pillows. Unfortunately this month's stitch was not done up as the others but it will be at a later date. Here is With Thy Needle & Threads ABC For Crow Pinkeep.

I love stitching anything with a crow in or on it as you can see from my weekend finishing frenzy. 

There are 2 designs in the last picture that were finished up last year but otherwise all the other pillows were done up this weekend. I must say, I really dislike sewing. I have more fun picking out fabrics, trim, etc then I do in the actual sewing and piecing. I now have so many small autumn finishes that I'm going to have to get another bowl for display purposes!

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to this month.

September's Super Moon WIPocalypse

The last appearance of the Super Moons tells me that it's time once more for a WIPocalypse update. We were fairly busy last month so not as much stitching took place as I would have liked but here is a quick update. 

I just pulled this out this morning after a hiatus so there are only a very few more stitches put into this than the last time you saw it. This is Carriage House Samplings Pumpkin Farm. This design was OOP however I see that they have re-released several of the the once OOP designs so it is available once more should you want to stitch it.

No more new stitches have been added to This is the Day since my Stitch from Stash posting in August. I'm hoping to pick this one up again very soon.

I did manage to finish up another small though. This is Primitive Stitchin' Five Lil' Pumpkins.

That's two recent fall finishes and I'm starting up another today! Next start is With Thy Needle & Thread ABC for Crow Pinkeep. All have been fairly quick little stitches and will add to my fall/Halloween decor. All these little finishes make for a mega day of final finishing in my future! Time to bring out the sewing machine!

There has not been a lot of progress in whittling away the larger projects from my initial WIPocalypse list. A few are complete and there is progress on a few more but it is unlikely that I will complete my original list. I never do! I always seem to find lots of other stitches in my stash throughout the year that I want to get started on instead and that's just fine with me.

Fall is starting to make its way to our little corner of the world. Several trees in the village have already started turning and there is a cool nip in the air in the early morning and evenings. The neighbourhood is being invaded by squirrels some of whom are just a little too pesky. Take a look at the antics of this fellow!

See you soon!

August Stitch From Stash

Summer continues to fly by as we come to the close of August. Really? It seems like summer hardly got started let alone is near it's finish! Already I feel the need to stitch some pieces for fall as the cooler days and shorter nights move in. Actually, now that I think about it, all my pieces that I've worked on this month have a fall theme or feel to them.

I mentioned to you last month that I had got started on a new piece from my stash, Pumpkin Hill by Carriage House Samplings. This piece is being stitched for a friend who chose it from my stash as a thank you for all her help in finishing off some of my cross stitch pieces. Here is my progress up until now.

 

Lots of fall colours and motifs in this one! I've also spent some quality time on This Is The Day by Hands To Work Designs. This one is a little slower going since I'm not used to stitching on 36 ct fabric. This designs also has a lot of fall colours in it. I originally started this piece in September 2013 so it's about time I put some stitches in on it.

 

I deliberately left the year of the date of completion unfinished on this one because I really don't know whether I'll finish it up this year or next.

I always like to have a small project to take with me on the road. My recent start is from the November 2013 issue of Cross-Stitch & Needlework. It's called Primitive Welcome and is from one of my favourite designers, Nan Lewis of Threadwork Primitives.

I haven't got too far on this one yet. Another stitch which I completed this month was Halloween Chant by Teresa Murgida and it can be seen here. Most of my stitching took place earlier in the month and all of it was from stash. However.....

 

As you can see from the pics above, I did add some to that stash this month. I ordered a Halloween e-pattern from Etsy @ $7.00 as well as a few of Brenda Gervais' new releases @ $32.00 and BBD Honeybee Hill @ $10.16 for a grand total of $49.16. Mel, this total is before the $25 market exemption for the month. So with my market exemption and my $25 monthly exemption I just squeaked in under budget. 

I thought the Honeybee Hill pattern would be perfect to stitch for one of those shaker boxes I purchases at the antique shop last month. Now to find the time to stitch on it. 

Hope you have all had a good month and that several of you were much better at resisting temptation than I have!

August Smalls SAL

This is a fly by post since I have just returned from a family holiday and have very little time for posting at the moment. August started off very slowly but picked up speed as the days progressed and finally passed by in a blur. There was very little time for stitching but I finished this piece off early in the month because I knew there would be no time later.

Our cooler weather got me into the mood for some fall stitching. This design is by Teresa Murgida and is called Halloween Chant. I loved it from the very first time I spotted it because it was a little different from all my other Halloween charts. It will be finished off as a pinkeep or a pillow using either the background fabric pictured above or the one below.

So which one do you prefer?
Gotta run, see you next month!

August Supermoon WIPocalypse

It's a beautiful evening here as I sit and watch another supermoon rise.The days are growing shorter and I find it difficult to stitch in the outdoor gazebo beyond 8:00 pm. So most of my stitching time occurs in the morning, quite often the early morning. I love this time of day when the neighbourhood is so quiet (with the exception of the birds) and the temperatures are delightfully cool. Quite often I'm out there stitching in my PJs with coffee beside me, taking it all in before the day gets hot and busy.

This month I've been concentrating on two larger pieces. The first is one that I'm stitching for a friend who has helped me with some quilting on my cross stitch finishes. I gave her a number of my charts to browse through and her choice was Carriage House Samplings Pumpkin Farm.

The remainder of my time I've been trying to get caught up on Hands To Work This is the Day.  I started this piece in Sept. 2013 and it tends to get put aside quite often. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the fact that it's being stitched on 36 ct which is not a favourite of mine but I'm determined to get moving on this.

Here's my previous progress:

Where I am at the full moon:

This is actually a truer photo of the colour of the fabric. It's a Silkweaver Solo which I had for several years just waiting for that perfect piece. In the following photo you can see the close up of the boxed in area which was my first attempt at stitching over one on 36 ct.

As you can see I've left the last digit off of the year because I'm not sure if this piece will be finished this year or next. There is still a lot of stitching remaining and I know that it won't be long before I'm caught up in fall, Halloween and Christmas stitching. Once more this beauty will probably take a back seat. I do know that when it is finally finished I will be extremely proud that I managed to tackle and complete it. I know it will look beautiful gracing my wall!

Not much else going on at the moment. My stitching thoughts are turning to fall and I'm currently looking for a small stitch to complete for this month's Smalls SAL. I can't believe summer is coming to a close already!

July Smalls

I forgot all about posting my smalls stitch for this month! I just happened to pass by my calendar a few minutes ago and wondered what I had marked on today's date. Had I missed an appointment? No, but I missed posting my smalls finish. Just enough time left in the day to get it up here!

I stitched two smalls during this past month. Liberty Dwells Here... by Sub Rosa Designs can be seen here for those who haven't already seen this finish. Of course this was in honour of Canada Day and will hopefully grace my decor next year.

The second small was just finished last week and is called Summer Pinkeep by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives.

This one will indeed become a pinkeep as it has been named just as soon as I catch up. I'm just starting to get back to my sewing following my hip surgery. It's not using the machine that bothered me but instead the standing while I cut and pieced material together.
I have a lot of catching up to do judging by the number of finished pieces residing in my drawer!
I did however manage to get two pieces done up which I stitched a number of years ago. These are going to be given as gifts. The first as a birthday gift and the second as a thank you gift.

Both of these pillows are stuffed with walnut shavings, crushed walnut shells and some dried lavender. They smell heavenly!

I really do enjoy stitching these small finishes and now I'm on the hunt for next month's projects.