Country Garden Stitchery

I wanted to show the handmade gifts we recieved for Christmas this year. I love to get handmade items for Christmas, especially sewing and embroidery creations. My sister made me this pillow for my bedroom and I love the colors and the patchwork style. My daughter loves to bake and my sister made her this very cute apron. The fabrics are great and my daughter loved them. She loves dots... My stepmother does beautiful quilting and embroidery and I was so excited when I opened this gift, hand embroidered pillow cases. Her stitches are lovely and neat and wonderful colors. She made us a quilt several years ago with burgundy colors and these match the quilt. Very happy Christmas, hope you had a good one too.

I've really had the bug to sew lately and have been making bookmarks. I love to collect bookmarks and now make them. I finished the little Valentine Scottie Dog embroidery pattern and photographed him. I've yet to get the pattern ready, hopefully by the new year. I really enjoyed working on that project, for a big reason - I love pink. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas weekend.

This little mosaic collection of photos shows what I've been working on this week. I am planning a new cross stitch design featuring hats on hat stands with lots of flowers spilling about and I received the floss from DMC this week. I love looking at all the colors together. I sketched one of our flowering plum trees in the back yard that still had four papery thin leaves and a handful of shriveled plums left after our wonderful snowstorm. Sunday afternoon I got out my fabrics to see if I needed anything new and realized I wouldn't need anything new for a long time unless I got busy making something so I chose this little quilt. I have an on again off again interest in quilting. I am thinking it is because the measuring has to be precise or all the pieces don't match, especially triangle pieces and the whole thing looks skewed and I am not a precise person at all, it stresses me I think :) Anyway I decided to tackle this little project using some Moda charm pack pieces I ha...

Thinking ahead a little bit to Valentine's Day I was wanting to do a new design for this holiday of love. A little black scottie dog inspired me surrounded with bright red roses and floating hearts. I had a great piece of the lightest pink floral fabric to stitch him on and am using Gentle Art Sampler flosses, which are some of my favorites. They done in are very soft shades and great color variations. He should be done soon, I really look forward to working on him everyday. I've chosen Mirabilia's letter C fairy to stitch right now since I've finished my Autumn design of hers. Instead of Crescent Colors floss I used Weeks Dye Works floss and matched the colors fairly well. Lots of small 1/4 stitches in this pattern, which I'm not used to. I like simple whole cross stitches, so this is a challenge project for me and that is good. We've had one of the heaviest snowstorms in our area for a very long time and we sure needed it! Since we are not u...

Our artist's co-op had an Art Fair over the weekend and it was wonderful. It was held in the refurbished post office, which was the perfect place. The building has great charm, wood work features, and wonderful light. Several local talented artists participated and we had a great mix of art to display and offer for holiday shopping. Wonderful upcycled art that was very creatively done and so popular. Aprons were a hit and added so much color to everything. The items were all arranged by color and there were so many lovely shades of each color it made the room really lively and welcoming. Lots of paintings and photographs, many of our area from different perspectives. Unique pottery pieces and colorful scarves. Ornaments made of gourds, stained glass and upcycled glass pieces, charms and lots more decorated fun and cleverly made Christmas trees. This was one of the best and most unique shows I've participated in and so enjoyed. What a great time.

Hand dyed silk flosses are irresistible for their colors and softness. The silk absorbs the dyes wonderfully and the colors are incredible. They are great to work with for embroidery projects. Definitely needs pink... I think I will do this for Valentine's Day, I need more decorations for that holiday. How many people decorate their home for Valentine's Day? I haven't, but may start. Inspired by sewing and antique dress forms and a few flowers I decided to begin this pattern. I love the issues of Artful Blogging and Somerset Studio for inspiration. Lots of great color and fun glimpses of personalities and snippets of lives. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

In this design I tried to use wintery January colors and thought of forced tulip bulbs to get some gardening in during the cold months. I also tried forcing paperwhites one year and it worked wonderfully and they were beautiful, but the fragrance was too strong for the house. I couldn't believe how strong it was. Hyacinths are another favorite to force and they are potent too. Fun winter projects - stitching and forcing bulbs... Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I've been inspired by pansies again. It has been a little while since I've stitched with DMC floss exclusively. Great vibrant colors. This is just a peek and will be done for stitching in the new year, for dreaming about the garden with the snow flying outside.

Inspired to stitch summer time designs in winter? I love linens on the clothes line. This is one of my bigger designs and it uses all DMC floss on 16ct. hand dyed yellow linen from Wichelt. I use variegated flosses so much I kind of liked having a basket full of many shades of DMC for this project.

This patchwork pillow project can be done with cross stitch and other types of needlework as well as fabric panels and any other things you can think of. It is great to use up left over pieces of fabric you may have. Trim your design to have a 1" border on all sides. Begin with the right and left sides and cut two strips around 2" or so wide and the same length as the design and sew with a 1/4" seam. Do this with the top and bottom making the strips the same width. Continue to add strips in this manner until you are happy with the size. Put smaller pieces together to make a strip for a patchier affect. After you have your panel the size you want you can add buttons here and there. Add laces and ribbons and attach with novelty stitching with variegated coordinating threads using your sewing machine. Sometimes I add small patches of fabric 1" x 1" or so, pom pom trim, and such to add some more interest. There are lots of fun things in the craft stores to play a...

Thinking of Christmas gifts I decided to make up some quilted needlework cases with matching scissor fobs. These are really handy if you like to travel and stitch and/or like to work on small projects that take little supplies. Pockets for scissors, threads, beads, etc. and a pin cushion. I was really in a red mood I guess.

I spent the afternoon sewing yesterday, the mood finally struck. I decided to make patchwork pillows from some of my latest needlework projects. I collect small snippets of fabrics, buttons, laces and such and they work great for these pillows. I like to visit quilt shops for the fat quarter sections. These are really easy to make, great for a quick simple project. Please check back during the online retail needlework show as I will have a new tutorial up on how I made the Christmas tree embroidery pillow. Oh, and hope to see you at the retail show too, http://needleshowretail.com/index.html

These are my two latest patterns I displayed at the online needlework show. Lots of visitors and it is always fun to hear from stitchers around the country and see what they like. I am very glad cross stitching is still loved by many as it is a very favorite of mine. It is one of the most enjoyable crafts I know of to work with great colors. I really love color.

I was inspired to design a little pink ribbon embroidery pattern in honor of breast cancer awareness month. This stitched up in no time. I put a patchwork fabric frame around it and think it would look great as a block in an all pink quilt, if only I liked to quilt... I am accumulating lots of these little patchwork quilt blocks with embroidery designs in them.

I am very anxious to buy pumpkins, but I'll wait a touch longer until October arrives. In the meantime I guess I will focus on my pumpkin needlework and starting getting it out to decorate. Can't wait to roast pumpkin seeds.

I am very excited that I finished my "Touching the Autumn Sky" Mirabilia cross stitch pattern over the weekend. Whew, took a long time. I can't even remember when I started it. I'm looking for just the right frame now. I have completed two of Mirabilia's patterns in my cross stitching career, the other one is "Under the Friendship Tree". I really like her patterns of children. I have started the letter "C" of her letters series, however I am using Weeks Dye Works flosses instead of Crescent Colors. Looking forward to see how that turns out.

I would say pumpkins are one of my very favorite things to stitch. I love this time of year too, especially October when the pumpkin bins are full at the store, the kids are running through the pumpkin patch to find just the right one and then they begin appearing on porches and doorsteps with goofy or scary faces illuminated with candles. Lots of fun. I also really like orange and purple together...

I think the ladies can work in the pumpkin patch too, so I designed a lady scarecrow. However she turned out to look pretty friendly so she may not be scaring too many... I added some clay buttons from "Just Another Button Company" too - love their buttons. Have a great weekend!

I was very busy over the weekend sewing and made myself a very nice large tote. I found this decorator fabric remnant at a new little fabric shop on Saturday. I love Cindy Taylor Oates sewing patterns, very easy to follow and have a successful project when I'm done, no hair pulling frustration moments at all with her patterns. This tote bag is from her "Easy Zipper Bags" pattern booklet. Very happy! I have also been busy working on converting a lot of my needlework patterns to PDF files and some of them are now available in my Etsy Store. Really a handy idea for those who like needlework patterns, no postage cost or wait! I love to order them that way myself. Have a great week.

I really enjoyed this little embroidery pattern. It stitched up very quickly and I used a beautiful hand dyed silk floss with some wonderful autumn colors. I can see it in a little pillow with maybe some tea stained laces and vintage pearl buttons. I like to make the pillows with the envelope style back opening so I can interchange with the seasons.

I have been finishing my needlework designs with some of the gorgeous fabrics I have found on my quilt shop browsing of late. I did have this one framed, but have too many frames now, so I decided to put some fabric around it. It really livened it up I think. Can't decide whether to make it into a pillow or maybe a small wall quilt. I have a few of those and they really make the house cozy. I am almost finished with my Mirabilia "Touching the Autumn Sky" and hope to have it on here soon to show!

What a great combination, truffles and silk. I used hand dyed silk flosses in colors of chocolate, caramel, and rose cream - sounds like truffles doesn't it. I stitched on some great subtly printed ecru fabric. I found some fun dot fabric and others to coordinate. This design is from my "Sweet Treats" embroidery booklet. I think I will make it into a colors of autumn candy shop wall quilt.

I finished my second Christmas cross stitch pattern. A set of three little gifts inspired by French stitchers - lots of little shapes to make up a big shape. I used variegated hand dyed silk floss from the Thread Gatherer, Kreinik braid and a few pink beads. I love pink for Christmas, what do you think? Happy 4th of July!

I am very excited about making this market bag. I bought the magazine "Bags, Pillows, and Pincushions" by Better Homes and Gardens. It is full of fun projects and this market bag was one of them. I had a charm pack of Moda's Aviary fabrics and put them to use for the bag. It went together very easily and I decided to put a loop and button closure on it. Will use it for my trip to see a Shakespeare play next month in Lake Tahoe, "Much Ado About Nothing."

I finished a little Christmas cross stitch design. A little snowbaby. I used Weeks Dye Works flosses and some wonderfully glittery pink floss from Kreinik. Antique white beads for the snow. I've been thinking about putting a bunch of my designs into a quilt that hangs on the wall. Sounds cozy to me.