Lantern Lane! ~ November 30, 2018

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I can't believe today is the last day of November!  Where has the time gone?  Here in my neck of the woods it's a stormy, rainy day...perfect for some stitching!  Which I did!  My quilt machine has come home from the spa and I just couldn't wait to quilt up a little something Christmas!  It was a long overdue cleaning!  I threw on a quilt of mine that had been waiting for THREE years to be quilted!  Now I just have to figure out which Christmas fabric to bind it with!

I also had another sitchy finish!

Last Autumn there was a stitch-a-long on Instagram for Lantern Lane by Little House Needleworks...I ended up finishing everything on New Years Eve, except part of the ivy border...I ran out of the green variegated floss I was using from DMC.  Then, as it is for most projects, it got shuffled to the side...I even picked up the green floss a few weeks later, and still didn't finish it!  So, after finishing Santa's House I was going through my kitted projects and found Lantern Lane.  Get this...it took me all of an hour to finish stitching the upper border!  I could have had this finished in January!  Oh well...it's finished now and it looks awesome hanging on my wall!  I found my frame at Michaels and attached some gingham ribbon from my stash, to the bottom.  I think it's stitched on 28 count Evenweave that I tea/coffee dyed with DMC Threads.  

Well that about wraps it up from my little corner of the globe.  I hope you have a great stitchy weekend, making all the things!

Happy Stitching,

Olivia 

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A Prairie Schooler Christmas ~ November 27th, 2018

Good Morning Friends!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and lots of good eats!  Our Thanksgiving was a good one, my grandma came over and we had a wonderful time!  When Black Friday dawned, I was home and putting up my Christmas decorations.  I'm almost finished with the decorating, I just have two areas that I need to finish a table runner for.  All-in-all I think it came together nicely and creates a cozy place. 

Over the weekend I finished a little something!  I started working on Santa's House by Prairie Schooler right after I finished Cinnamon Stars and on Saturday evening, I finished it!!

While stitching Santa's House I kept seeing it mounted in a Christmas wreath.  So on Sunday I trekked into Michaels and picked up the supplies I would need.  In the week leading up to my finish I haunted Pinterest for ideas and it kept pointing me to Priscilla's blog, Priscillas2000.blogspot.com, where I saw so many wonderful wreaths that she's made using her finished cross stitch pieces!  With so many ideas swirling in my head, I tackled the task at hand and created my first cross stitched mounted wreath!  I don't think it will be my last!!....I'm so pleased with how it turned out!! 

I stitched Santa's House on 32 count Whisper Lugana, with all the called for CC threads.   You can find both the chart for Santa's House by Prairie Schooler and Whisper Lugana at 123Stitch.com. 

That about wraps it up for me!  Hope you have a great stitchy week!

Merry Christmas,
Olivia
xx

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Cinnamon Stars! ~ November 21st, 2018

I just love when I have a stitchy finish!  This past week I put the last stitches into Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Samplers and I am completely smitten with it!  I only wish Thanksgiving wasn't tomorrow so I could enjoy it a little longer, before putting it away for next year.  I stitched Cinnamon Stars on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha with a combination of GAST, CC and DMC Threads.

Since my last blog post went up, I've been working on adding some new project bags and grime guards to the shop.  The project bags are a brand new addition that I hope will sell well.  I'm always a little nervous about adding new items because I don't know how well they will sell...so for now I'm planning on making ten and seeing how they do. 

My plans for the rest of the week is, to eat lots of turkey and decorate for Christmas on Friday!  I thought about decorating early this year, but just couldn't do it...Thanksgiving needs to have it's special day surrounded by all things Autumn.  So Friday...Christmas boxes will be hauled in and decorating for the Yuletide Season will begin!

That about wraps it you for me!  Until next time...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you Bountiful Blessings on Thanksgiving and Always,
Olivia

2018 Autumn Home Tour

I thought it might be kind of fun to do a Autumn Home Tour since so many popped in to see my Halloween one! 

 I've had so much fun thinking of ways to decorate my side table...it's probably my favorite piece of furniture!  The light was glaring off of my newest find...a turkey platter!  I found it at the Goodwill for a $1.74!

A little freebie cross stitch I did a few years back...I mounted it into a wooden hoop from Michaels.  It was designed by Plaid Crafts and is called Give Thanks.

The cute little Thanksgiving Pilgrims and Indians came from a garage sale for .75 cents!  Bok Bok was a freebie from Plum Street Samplers and its clipped to a pumpkin frame I bought from Kohls a few years ago for a buck!

You can definitely tell the light is changing as the Autumn season goes on...this pictures were taken in the early afternoon and they still seem so dark.

Another freebie! I love to collect turkeys for Thanksgiving and this little guy was one of my favorites to stitch!  I found this online a few years back, but can't find it to share the link...I'll keep looking and if I find it, I'll make sure to add the link.

That about wraps it up!  I know it was a little on the small side and not as grand as some I've seen...but I like my little Autumn collection and can't wait to continue to add more as time goes on. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today! 

Happy Autumn Friends,
Olivia

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Over Here In The Land Of Autumn...November 10, 2018

I know it's been a few weeks since my last blog post...

I would like to say that I've been very productive, but it's mostly been slow progress on all my projects and working on items for my Etsy Shop.  Right after Halloween I ended up with a bad case of Allergies that slowed all my progress and I lost a few days, which put me a little behind on client quilts.  But next week I hope to catch up and finish the last 2 that came in towards the end of October.  Then I plan on quickly quilting three Christmas quilts of my own that have been waiting patiently for well over a year. 

Last week Allison and I painted a little Ohio Star Barn Quilt Block!  I'd been seeing them pop up now and then on Pinterest and Instagram and thought it might be kinda fun to see if we could create one ourselves.  I'm so in love with vintage Christmas decorations, so we chose a light pink and dark teal to make our Ohio Star out of.  I think it turned out pretty good!  It was a great little project to pass the afternoon working on.

I've also been making progress on Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Samplers.  I think in my last post I had about half the house finished.  It's been a lot of fun to work on and I'm excited to hopefully have it finished in time for Thanksgiving.  I'm using a combination of DMC Threads, Classic Colorworks and Gentle Art Sampler Threads.  One small change I made was to a few of my pumpkins...The bottom row had several pumpkins that were charted in a color that matched my background fabric, so I changed them to GAST Fragrant Cloves.  I also changed the fence color to CC Bamboo.  I hope tonight to finish the sunflowers and begin working my way around the stars which surround the house.  I'm stitching Cinnamon Stars on 32 count Vintage Country Mocha Lugana.

I thought I had a little more to share, but that's about it!  Next week I'll pop back in and do an Autumn Home Tour.  It's not as grand as my Halloween Home Tour...but I have a few fun corners of Autumn goodness! 

Until next time!
Olivia

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Some Progress and a Finish! ~ October 30, 2018

Happy Halloween Stitchy Peeps! 

I can't believe how quickly October flew by!!  Here in the PNW we have been enjoying Autumn weather and today the valley is blanketed in a thick fog layer...but I don't mind a bit!  I wish Fall would last a little longer than it does. The landscape looks so pretty with all the trees changing colors and I'm not looking forward to months of bare trees, with gloomy skies.

Here in my little corner of the world, I've been busy working on various projects and I had a little stitchy finish! 

This one was a little freebie by Lizzie Kate called Moon Over Blackbird...It was such a fun little stitch and very refreshing to finish something quickly!  If you've been following my blog for a bit, you'll have seen me working on Oct 31st and my struggles to finish it before Halloween.  I worked on this for about three nights all told, but you could easily finish it in a day if you wanted to....it's a very relaxing and fun little stitch.  I stitched my piece on 32 count Raw Natural Linen with all DMC threads.  With the chart you have two options of finishing the bottom with acorns or flowers and I decided to stitch the line of acorns across the bottom.  I used sticky board to mount my finished piece to and used a piece of coordinating homespun to back it with.  It fits perfectly in my clipboard stand, which you can still purchase at Michaels.  So cute!  Love how it turned out!!

If you would like to stitch Moon Over Blackbird, you can find the link here to Lizzie Kate's blog and the chart.

So where there's a finish....

There's a new start!  This one is Plum Street Samplers, Cinnamon Stars!  The perfect fall stitching project!!  I'm so hoping to have this done in November and definitely before Thanksgiving. I'm stitching it on my favorite 32 count Vintage Country Mocha with a mixture of Gentle Art Sampler Threads and DMC. 

This past week I also made two more Monster Trick Or Treat Bags for my two adorable nephews...

I asked Elijah what color he wanted his monster and he told me his favorite color is red!  I named this one Bob!

The yellow monster is Liam's and is nearly as tall as he is!  But I figure he can grow into him....I named Liam's monster Harold!

Both boys loved their monsters! 

I've continued to make more progress on my Autumn Love quilt.  I just have the squirrels, acorns and pumpkins to stitch down.  I haven't started this week's block yet or worked on the pieced blocks, but I will begin making those after I finish working on a clients quilt.  My goal is to have the top finished before December.  I don't know that I'll meet that goal...but I'm going to try my best!

Well I guess that's a wrap for my stitching....

I wish you a very Happy Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by!
Olivia

A Very Late Stitchy Update ~ October 21, 2018

Hello Peeps!

It's been a few weeks since my last update and since then, I've been doing lots of Stitchy Things...if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen that I finally finished my Oct 31 stitch by With Thy Needle and Thread!

I made one slight change though...I decided to leave off the bottom portion which was full coverage grass and the wording 'Oct 31st'.  There were a couple of reasons why, the first was because I was becoming increasingly burnt out on this project and didn't want it to become a forever WIP...the second reason was that I discovered if I left off the grass, she would fit in an 8x10 frame.  I used a variety of floss on this project ranging from Gentle Arts, Classic Colorworks and DMC.  The stitched piece is actually two rows bigger than it should have been...all-in-all it was a hot mess project with lots of it Frogged and restitched.  I stitched her on 32ct Vintage Country Mocha Linen that I picked up from 123Stitch.com.  I am very happy to have it finished!  Happier still that it didn't become a forever WIP!

I've also been working away on my Autumn Love blocks...I'm still behind a week, but I'll get there..

I have 3 1/2 blocks to hand stitch, but all except the house block are either finished or needing hand stitching...

Last Saturday was my quilting groups annual Quilty Halloween Party!  It was a lot of fun!  My nephews even joined us for the party! Our challenge this year was to create a Trick-Or-Treat bag...it could be any type of bag, so long as it was a bag of some sort.

I decided for my bag to make my sweet niece a Trick-Or-Treat bag and this is what I came up with..

I named her Madge!  Didn't she turn out adorable!  I still need to get this sent down to Vegas and plan to have it in the mail on Monday!  The pattern was a freebie tutorial by A Crafty Fox called Trick or Treat Bag Pattern.  I added a little gingham bow to Madge for a cute finish! 

I also finished a couple of Christmas Table Runners for the shop!

Two Wintery/Christmas Tree runners...

and a narrow Christmassy runner with golds and reds!

I hope they will find new homes this Christmas and brighten up someone's table!

Well that about wraps it up for me...I hope it won't be two weeks before I have an update!  My stitchy plans are to continue working on Autumn Love and my cross stitch plans are to transition to Thanksgiving! 

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today!  Please follow/subscribe so you don't miss a post...all the links are in the sidebar! 

Happy Stitching!
Olivia

BOO! ~ Weekly Stitchy Update ~ October 8th, 2018

Howdy Peeps!  I hope you've had a great stitchy week and have worked on all the things.  This week has been more of a work-in-progress week for me and that's okay!  I think those weeks just happen every now and again. 

  I continued my progress on Oct. 31st by With Thy Needle and Thread...

I would have been a little farther along but I miss counted a row and my witch had a funky hip...so I spent part of Friday ripping out my stitches.  But over the weekend.....I was finally able to make it up to Portland to meet some of the PNW Stitchers at Acorns and Threads!! My first time at a needlework shop and it was amazing!!  I got to meet Pretty Southern, Stitchywitch 42 and Bendy Stitchy of Flosstube fame...it was such fun!!  Everyone was so wonderful and it was just the best time hanging out with fellow cross stitchers.  I really hope to go back again to another meet up!  On top of all of that it was so fantastic to see all the beautiful threads and charts that I've only ever seen online...it was a cross stitchers paradise!

I also worked some more on my Autumn Love applique quilt blocks!  They still need to be hand sewn and some embroidery added...but at least they are glue basted down.  I hopefully will get a little time to finish working on these...I'd really like to have them finished by my next blog post, but I'm not sure that will be possible...maybe two of them.  There are two new ones to also work on and I really need to start thinking about making the pieced blocks...the end of the sew along looms and is coming up really fast!

Well that's really all I've got this week...it definitely was a WIP kinda week!  Fingers crossed for some finishes next blog post!

In the meantime...I hope you have a very happy stitchy week and thank you so much for stopping by!

Olivia

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2018 Halloween Home Tour

With everyone showing cute photos of their Spooktacular Homes all decorated for the season, I thought it might be kinda fun to show you mine!  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I really enjoy making quilty/stitchy things for my home.  A few spooky things I collect are witches and of course...pumpkins!  I've been collecting my Halloween decor for about 18 years, I started when my oldest was a baby.  I should also tell you that my decor isn't on the grand and elaborate scale, when compared to some awesome Halloween Home Tours on the internet...mine is small potatoes.  But that's okay, every piece has a great memory attached to it and that's pretty awesome to me!

 The quilt in the background is Hocus Pocus Ville by Crabapple Hill and was the first Halloween hand embroidery project I worked on.  It's one of my absolute favorite quilts!

I love to collect witches!  I think they are all so sweet...even the less attractive ones:)  This cutie I couldn't resist last year when visiting Bauman Farms,  I had exactly enough cash on me to buy her at the time!

This year I made more of an effort to add some seasonal flowers and leaves to my decor.  I think it's helped brighten everything up and they can all be used in November for Thanksgiving!

One of my newest decorations is a 3 tiered tray!  I've wanted one for about a year now and on a recent trip to Hobby Lobby this one came home with me!  It was on sale for 50% off and only cost me $20 dollars!  I'm looking forward to decorating it for each season and holiday!

 I've only recently started having and decorating a Halloween Tree.  I think this is the 3rd year?  So my tree doesn't have a whole lot of ornaments yet.  When lit, the tree is such a cozy little addition to the room...love it.

If you read my last blog post, then you'll recognize this decoration!

 This one was a fun little stitch from last years Primitive Hare stitching club(don't remember what the club was called), the chart was called....Eat at your own risk.

My holiday tray all decked out in Autumn fun!

This one is also a Crabapple Hill design...don't remember the name.  It's not the best photo of it, the afternoon sun was bouncing off the car parked out front.

Some of my Halloween quilts!

Can't forget my front porch! 

My home stays a Halloween work in progress up until October 31st.  I've got a couple of quilts that will be added this year just as soon as I sew on the binding and quilt the other one.  I also have a couple of table runners to quilt, a few more pumpkins to make and some (hopefully) finished cross stitch pieces.  There is always something to make/do!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek inside my Spooky Home!  Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss a post!

Happy October!
Olivia
xx

Happy October!! ~ Weekly Stitchy Update ~ October 1st, 2018

I've always felt like October was the kick-off of the Holiday Season!  The next three months are full of merriment, joy, good food and happy new memories.  I love it!  It also doesn't hurt that the days are getting cooler, the trees are changing and the house glows inside with sparkly festivity for Halloween!  Did I mention I love it?!  

This past week I spent a little time working on various projects, one of them is the Scarecrow Block for my Autumn Love Quilt.  I think he turned out pretty darn cute!  He's very labor intensive...all told I worked on him for about 3 days.  Not 24/7...but close! LOL!!  I do love how he turned out and I'm looking forward to seeing him in the completed quilt.  I'm still two weeks behind the sew along,  so hopefully tonight I can begin pulling the fabrics to complete the week 6 blocks...at least I think it's week 6.  

I had a fun finish this past week!!

I completed Hello Fall by Plum Street Samplers!  The only change I made was...I decided not to stitch the wording, I felt like it would fit a little better in the space across the front of my wooden box.  I mounted it on two pieces of sticky board, attached washers and popped it onto the magnets already on the box.  Then I arranged Autumn leaves and flowers in the box!  I used a combination of Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Classic Colorworks and DMC. 

I also added a bunch of Scrappy Pumpkins into my Etsy Shop!

They were all made from pieces of unwanted quilt blocks!  I wanted something a little different from the regular pumpkin colors you see and tried for a shabby chic look.  I love them all and even managed to keep a bunch for myself for Thanksgiving decorating. 

I also had a new start!!

This weekend I started stitching on Oct 31st by With Thy Needle and Thread.  I know this one will take me a little while to finish...it's got a lot of fill in stitching!  I just hope to have it finished before Halloween.  The pattern is so cute and I love the Victorian look of the witch.

That's all I got for this past week!  I hope you've been able to get lots of stitching in and are sewing everything that makes you happy!  Make sure you subscribe, so you don't miss a thing...all the links are in the sidebar!

Stay Spooktastic Peeps!
Olivia