Friday, April 16, 2021

Grey House by Threadwork Primitives - Finish

 Hello my Friends! I know, once again, that I've been remiss in writing a blog post...there just has been so much going on and not enough hours in the day! 


Yesterday I had a fun little finish! I've been working on Threadwork Primitives, Grey House as my morning stitch and finished it yesterday morning! I so enjoyed working on this one!
Once it was finished, I painted a wood frame that I picked up at the thrift store awhile back. I used Folk Art Paint in black. As I was waiting for the paint to dry, I took the stitched piece and laced it to a piece of mat board, that I covered in batting. 
Before I added the stitched piece to my frame, I roughed up the paint a little bit with sand paper..it gives it that rusty/crusty look I like. Then I put it all together! The finish was exactly like I imagined and Grey House now hangs in my living room. 

I stitched it on a piece of 32 count Light Cappuccino by R&R with the called for DMC Threads, 2 over 2.

I also decided to leave the date as charted ;)

Happy Friday!
Olivia xx






Monday, March 22, 2021

Let's Try This Again....

I realized yesterday that I haven't blogged in almost a month! All it takes is something to derail a good plan, for me to get off track. So lets try this again..I'll also set an alarm on my phone(because I forgot too last time;)) 

Spring started on Saturday! The early Spring flowers are pushing their way out and it's a treat to see them again! I walked around my beds over the weekend while taking Freddy for a walk...there is a lot of work to be done.  The weather hasn't been very cooperative, we've had days and days of rain and our Spring Break(which is this week) isn't look to great. So hopefully in April I can get out and work my beds..and pick up flowers from the nursery to fill the pots!
Over the weekend I finally decided to work on my Jane Austen Quilt! I dabbled before this in cutting out the diamonds needed and luckily I hadn't cut out many, because I quickly discovered I'd done it wrong. LOL! My plan is to cut out the quilt over this next week and once done with that part, I'll begin assembling. The quilt is a little more labor intensive and will take lots of concentration...but that's okay, I'm going to enjoy spending time with Jane and watching my favorite Jane Austen movies while I work! My favorite is 1995 Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth. 
Jane Austen Coverlet Quilt by Riley Blake Designs

Last week, the hubby and I did a little Antiquing. The first time in over a year! We were only able to explore for about 45 minutes, but it was totally worth it! I scored some vintage sewing notions and my love of finding antique tomato pincushions has been born! I also found an antique ceramic crock that I have been searching for. 

I couldn't resist putting a cut picture of Freddy in! He sits in the chair next to me while I sew and looks at me just like this as I work....such a cutie!
I finally worked up the courage to fully finish Sally Spence by Birds of a Feather. I finished it in 2019 and she's just been hanging out in my box of finishes ever since. Originally I had planned to have her professionally framed, but after finding the perfect frame on Amazon..I finished her myself! She now hangs in my dinning room.

I stitched Sally Spencer of 32 count Vintage Country Mocha with the called for threads, 2 over 2.
That about wraps it up for this post! I have a finished quilt to show you next time, just have to grab my quilt holder and head outside to photograph it. 
Freddy on our morning walk today...we jumped outside in between rain showers. 

I've got my phone alarm set for Thursday for blogging...hope to see you then!

 

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

It wasn't my fault ;)

 Hello Stitchy Friends!

Okay, I know I'm late in getting my blog posts up...but in my defense, we lost power for 7 days! It was all due to a nasty ice storm that swept through our area. It made a huge mess! Even now there are still lots of people without power. So I'm going to try and get back on track again! 

Once the power came back on, it was all about catching up with household chores...but once those were done...I fully finished Addie Sutton Sampler by Country Rustic Primitives. I had a frame that was just the right size, but not the right color and gave it a fresh look! I painted it with some Folk Art Paint in black and once it was dry, I took a piece of sandpaper and roughed it up a bit. Once my frame was ready, I dipped my stitching in a bowl of coffee to dye it and then baked it in the oven until it was dry. 

I stitched Addie Sutton on 32 count Confederate Grey by Weeks Dye Works with all the called for DMC Threads. I really love how it turned out! It now hangs in my entry way, under a primitive wood candle scones. 

The quilt that is in the background was made out of 2 1/2 inch Civil War Reproduction squares, and I adore it! I quilted it with swirls and paisleys in the thread color Mother Goose. 

Until Next Time!



Thursday, February 11, 2021

Just A Few Things I'm Working on....

Okie Dokie, I'm back! Right on schedule like I promised;) So I thought I'd show a few things I've been working on over the past few weeks.  It's not everything, but I thought since it was getting late in the day for me, I would grab a few pics...and blog a bit!

So 2021 has shaped up to be the BOM Year! I have 3 currently going and I love them all!! This first batch of blocks are from the Forever More BOM by Heartspun Quilts - through the Fat Quarter Shop. It's the first time I've participated in a BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop and so far, so good! I was able to get all of January done and just today, February's blocks arrived!
The next BOM is the Temecula Album Quilt and I was able to finish the 3rd months blocks! I have all of the blocks for every month, as it was gifted to me! I just absolutely love it and can't wait to have it finished! I'm trying to work on each month about every other week and shooting for a summer finish.
Next up is a cross stitch project! This one is a cute little sampler called Addie Sutton by Country Rustic Primitives. I'm stitching it on a piece of 32 count Confederate Grey linen, although I have a feeling that it's actually a 28 count.  My piece is way bigger that it should be(I'm almost done with it now...this picture was take earlier in the week). I'm using all of the called for DMC Threads.
My weekend stitch, since the beginning of 2021, has been Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings. It's very slow progress! But this weekend I'n hoping to finish the 2nd block in the series and begin the next one....fingers crossed. I'm stitching it on 40 count Vintage Country Mocha with the called for DMC conversion listed on the chart.

This past week I was able to finish my Best Friends QAL that was hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop and Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet. I made mine all scrappy with scraps from my scrap bin...which seemed to only grow! It was such a fun QAL! 

Well that is all the pictures I have to share of my progress. My other projects will be photographed for my Flosstube Video..which I work on tomorrow, so I'll have those to show next week. In the meantime, have a great couple of days!





 

Monday, February 8, 2021

Parson Brown ~ A Finish!

So lets try this blogging thing again....

I know it's been awhile since I last posted. I never intended for it to be so long.  I'm going to try something a little new and set a reminder on my phone to let me know, "Hey it's time for a post!". Then I'll pop on and share about what I've been working on to date.  Hopefully there will be a finish now and again to show! 

Towards the end of 2020, I started a cute little cross stitch chart called, Parson Brown by Notforgotten Farm.  I started it as my morning stitch. My morning stitch is something I started doing in 2019, it's supposed to be a small-ish project that I work for 30-40 minutes each morning. I figure it's a great way to start my day! I usually work on it Monday thru Friday, while my son is getting ready for school. 

Well I'm happy to say that I was able to finish the good Parson and he was my first finish of 2021! 

Over the weekend I went ahead and FFO'd him into this frame I picked up from Amazon. So now I get to enjoy having him out for a few more weeks and then he'll get packed away until next Winter. 

I did make a few color changes....

What I used is listed on the left,

DMC 839 for 300

DMC 3031 for 610

DMC 3781 for 612

DMC 780 for 783

DMC 3857 for 921

DMC 422 for 3033

I stitched him on a piece of 36 count Summer Khaki, that once the stitching was finished, I sprayed with some antiquing spray by Primitive Gatherings and baked it in the oven to dry;)

I'm going to shoot for another post to come out on Thursday...so until then...Happy Stitching! 


Thursday, August 27, 2020

Anniversaries of The Heart Progress

Another block is finished in my Anniversaries of the Heart series! This is Clara Ellen which I personalized with my daughters name, year of birth and the year she graduated high school.  I just love it! I let Allison chose the colors she wanted in her block and I think they really work well together! 
I've been trying to get better about showing my color conversion when I'm finished with each block(I have a few more blog posts to do for the other blocks I finish;)) Here are the colors that I changed ~

Called for CC Avacado - changed to CC Weeping Willow
Called for CC Gingersnap - changed to WDW Onyx
Called for CC Little Brown Hen - changed to WDW Raspberry
Called for CC Olive Branch - changed to DMC 3047 
Called for CC Peanut Brittle - changed to GAST Ohio Lemon Pie
Called for CC Stepping Stones - changed to GAST Fishermans Wharf
Called for CC Sunkissed - changed to a Limited Edition of GAST with no name

Border is stitched with GAST Grasshopper and CC Stepping Stones
2 of the Sunflowers were stitched with GAST Pumpkin Patch and Dark Chocolate the other Sunflowers were stitched with GAST Ohio Lemon Pie and Dark Chocolate

 Before I go, I thought I'd show an over all picture of my progress...One change I forgot to mentioned is that I stitched Allison's (Clara Ellen) block in place of Swan Lake (block 7)...I plan to stitch Swan Lake next..but just felt the need to switch those 2 blocks around!

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Prim Pumpkin Jack

I've been trying to slowly adding prim decor to my home decor over the past few months..So this means lots of Pinterest browsing.  While browsing one day last week, I came upon this amazing pin that led me to an Etsy Shop called Prims By Denise.  While browsing through the wonderful selection of patterns, I found one called Grungy Pumpkin Jack SOL Sitter and fell in love! I purchased the pattern and the next day with Allison's help..we made one!
 Eek! I just love how he turned out so much!! I also picked up a few other patterns, so look for those in the days and weeks ahead!

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Boo Pillow Finish

Over this past weekend I spent a little time fully finishing this little guy named simply..Boo! It was part of a much larger chart that is a freebie by La Comtesse and you can find the link HERE. I decided to only stitch the top part and make it into a little small pillow.  I'm trying to be better about making smalls to display around my home.  

I stitched Boo onto a piece of mystery linen with Gentle Arts Sampler Threads, Blackbird.  Then I fully finished it with some Civil War Reproduction fabrics I had in my stash and added a small rusty safety pin just for fun!  I just love how it turned out!

Friday, August 7, 2020

Olga's Tart ~ A Finish!

I'm back! So this week I had two fun FFOs! This one is the second one..Olga's Tart by Plum Street Sampler!! I've had Olga finished for years and she has been hanging out in my box of finishes.  I think the main reason why it took me so long was because I wasn't sure how to finish her completely.  I stitched Olga on a piece of 28 count linen (I think) that I picked up from my local Michael's. I had only ever stitched on Aida, so stitching or buying linen for that matter was a brand new to me.  And to top it all off, I was also only just returning to the world of cross stitch after a 16 year absence.  So there was so much to learn!

I remember stitching Olga with the recommended DMC and a few weeks back I gave her a dip in some tea/coffee to age it up a bit. I finally decided to FFO her on a pedestal I picked up somewhere along the way! 
I cut out a piece of mat board and glued two layers of batting onto it, then I laced Olga into place...
Once she was finished...I mounted her onto the pedestal that I'd painted/antiqued earlier in the day...I attached some black mini pom poms around Olga and attached her to the top of the pedestal.  It's hard to get a perfect picture of the whole finish.  I love how she turned out and I'm excited to have her ready for my Halloween decor this year!
 Before I go..I thought I'd show you my beautiful Black Eye Susan bush that is growing in the front flower bed.  This is the second year for it and man is it gorgeous!  I just love it.  

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Good Morning! It's been awhile...

I know it's been a wee bit since I've last done a blog post...all I can say is I blame it on life;) I decided about a week ago that I needed some small cross stitch finishes. Not only to help me feel more accomplished(since I seem to only like giant cross stitch projects ;)) but to make a few seasonal smalls to display around my house! The first one that called to me was Christmas Wishes by Tina Woltman!  I received the most amazing box of charts from Dora a few months back and this was one of them! I loved it the first time I saw it and wanted to stitch it!
So last week I grabbed a piece of mystery linen, some threads and began stitching! It stitched up super fast! I used a variety of floss Gentle Arts Apple Cider, Blackbird, Snowball, and Classic Colorworks Cherry Cobbler as well as some of the called for DMC. 
I finished it as a simple pillow with red ticking fabric, a prim style safety pin and added a double wrapped piece of jute that I then tied in a bow. I just love it! Simple and Prim!

Before I go, I thought I'd share the sunflowers that have grown over the past month..they are just gorgeous! My garden didn't do very well this year, I'm so bummed about it...but then the weather hasn't really been the greatest this summer.  So I'll start planning for next year and try again!

Friday, June 26, 2020

Constitution Quilt ~ Finish


Hello Friends! I know it's been a few weeks since my last post...I've been working on lots of stitchy goodies, but have forgotten to drop in and chat about it;) About a month ago, I started my Constitution Quilt by Primitive Gatherings out of the book Stars and Stripes Gathering. I bought it as a kit from Primitive Gatherings and all the fabric is from their fabric line Stars and Stripes Gathering. 
I worked on my Constitution Quilt in the evenings over several weeks...those log cabin blocks look super fast, but they take a bit of time to construct. 

I quilted it with a crazy all over motif once the top was finished!
I absolutely love how it turned out and it's the perfect quilt to have hung up throughout the summer!

Monday, June 1, 2020

Queen of Freedom Finish!!


Last week on Memorial Day I finished my Queen of Freedom by Mirabilla!! She was an absolute labor of love and I'm so excited to have her finished!! 
I stitched her on 32 count Vintage Sahara with the called for everything! Now I just have to get her framed! Originally I was going to hopefully have her framed by the 4th of July, but with everything still being shut down due to the virus...I think it'll most likely be later in the Summer before shes hung up on my wall.  

I just have to be a little more patient ;)

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Quarantine Mystery Quilt Finish!!


Or Everything But The Kitchen Sink as I like to think of it! I finished it the day before yesterday..after many sweaty hours of unpicking...re-attaching..and then unpicking! But finally it was done! I did make one small change to the middle block..
I wasn't loving the finally mystery quilt block release. I just felt like with the one larger star motif in the middle, that mine needed something to stand out...so after flipping through all my quilt books, I found the perfect block in Lori Holt's Vintage Christmas Quilt book. 
I feel like the quilt is growing on me now that I've had a few days to ponder over it. I was really close to throwing it in the trash after the 400th time of unpicking a section...it wasn't my finest moment.  But I think once I have it quilted, the memory of those final moments will be a far memory, and I will fall in love with my quilt;)