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!

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!

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!

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.  

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!