New Photos for a New Year

Happy New Year to all! I hope all of you had a great Christmas and a super start to the New Year. Ours was a lot of fun spent with family and friends. We sure missed our Colorado family though. They did not make it here this year.

My finishing business was slow over the holiday so I managed to get some stitching and finishing done for myself. Then I worked on a list of unfinished projects I hope to do this year. I will save the list to show for my next post.

Here are a couple of finishes I did before Christmas.

P.B. did a beautiful circular pumpkin design and asked me to do a pincushion. This was a special Christmas gift for someone.

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Tinsmith’s Wife sent a stitched snow globe. She finds the loveliest patterns!

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Personally, I managed to finish my project from the Waterfall Glen EGA group.  It is a Catherine Theron “Winter Strawberries” needleroll.  The area that says “Scissors” and “Needles” is done over one on 32 count linen with variegated silk floss. The small pincushion in the center is also done over one. The edges and center lines between the strawberries are done in Palestrina knots. The inside is lined with Dupioni Silk.  The pattern called for linen needle pages and a scissor fob, but I chose not to do that.  No fob and wool for the needle pages.  It is about 8 inches long when opened and about 2.5 x 3.5 when closed. It was a project that I was not fond of after I began it, but it did turn out to be a quite nice small needleroll.

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Then I saw Plum Street Sampler’s pattern for “Merry One” and “Merry Two” and bought them up as soon as I could. They just caught my eye and I delighted in stitching Merry One right away. It is stitched over one on cream 25 ct. Irish Linen (which I sprayed with my antique spray).  It turned out about 4 x 6. The pattern came with white chenille trim, but I used some green that I had and I love the way it turned out!  Merry Two is completed, but not “finished” yet.  Here is my finish for Merry One.

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HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY a little early.  With Valentine’s Day coming I did a couple of special stitched pieces.  I wanted a big red heart to remind me of the lovely big red heart candy valentine boxes that my dear husband gave me when we were dating.  I found this pattern and I “finished” it into a lacey big red heart in memory of that special time. I did it on 40 ct. Aztec Red over two.  It turned out to be about 5 x 7.

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I also found this cute pattern for a “Valentine stocking” and created it with a real red velvet backing. It was done on 36 ct. Lambswool over two sprayed with antique spray. Then I stuffed it with “Merci” chocolate candies. YUM YUM. It turned out to be about 2 x 7.

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It was such fun having time and energy to do some of my own stitching. It makes me want to resolve to do more this year!

I hope everyone out there finds LOTS of time to do whatever it is their heart desires for 2016.  For now, happy stitching!  Amities……Averyclaire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Business and Some Old Finishes

NEW BUSINESS: Just recently I began a small finishing business for your projects. There is a new page which you can look at on the top of my blog called Finishing Services and another for Finishing Estimates.

Here are a few items I finished in the past couple of weeks.

An elegant Needlepoint Ornament for The Southpaw Stitcher which is dressed with a red velvet backing.

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Briar Rabbit looks quite handsome finished as a flat-fold with his regal gold cording.

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The small project bag I made (6″ x 7.5″) can hold threads and small items for stitching. The inside is a pretty as the outside. This bag and the next larger one are both lined and interfaced with a stabilizer.

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The larger red paisley project bag (11.5″ x 13.5″) will hold most size patterns and stitching in progress. I love the charms I found for the zipper pull. The needlework is antiqued with instant antique spray. These project bags can be made any size and can be made with your needlework on the front or plain. I plan to make several for myself!

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OLD FINISHES: An old FINISH from my PhD list (projects half done) (and number two monkey on my back) is my 101 x 101 inch red and white quilt. HAPPY DANCE!! If you recall on one of my previous posts I showed this quilt stuffed under my home sewing machine. I managed to quilt around all the blocks and sashing, then I did the quilting in the sashing and cornerstones. At this point I began to free-motion quilt the blocks…DISASTER!!! The quilt was simply TOO heavy, TOO bulky, and just plain TOO big for me and it broke my sewing machine. So I found a long-arm quilter who agreed to finish it even though I had it half done. Finishing the 404 inches of hand sewn binding was quite satisfying. I was able to check it off my PhD list without all the nightmares trying to stuff it into my machine. I will NEVER attempt to free-motion another LARGE quilt on my home machine. To be perfectly honest, I think I am sorry I participated in this block of the month.  It turned out to be very expensive and now I really don’t like it.  C’est la vie!  Although it fits my full size guest bed nicely (draping way down like a “bedspread”) and it even fits my king size bed (albeit it could be somewhat wider). It will be good for a change of decor from my other quilts.

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My number one monkey the King Sized Red/Green/White Triple Irish Chain is making steady progress. There are only one and half rows left plus one of the four borders to go. My Friday quilt friends haven’t been here for most of June due to vacations or commitments for all of us, but I did do a LOT of quilting on my own to speed up the progress. WHOO HOO…the end is in sight, literally!

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Happy Summer…keep cool while stitching! Amities, Averyclaire