It's raining, it's pouring...

We are having a rain and thunder storm today in a very big way.  We haven't had a storm like this in a very long time.  The day really isn't fit for anything other than stitching.  But I'm also keeping the lighting low (headaches) and don't really feel like thinking or counting all that much.  I need a more relaxing form of stitching for a day like this.  And for me, that means one thing ~ plastic canvas.  I recently purchased an Autumn plastic canvas banner project from Herrschners.  It's this one.   I started on it one night last week and I'll work on it some more today.  I love how quickly most plastic canvas projects come together.  And it seems that in the world of stitching, it is most unappreciated by many.  But it's end results can be so very pretty and some projects I've seen are just as detailed as other types of stitching, complete with specialty stitches.  

But this one is easy and fun and will be super cute when done.

Here's my current progress.

Some of the background, one pair of ears, and one fall leaf, lol.

So this is what I'll be working on today.

The past two days I've been working on my "secret" project.  It's secret because it's a gift for my daughter, that I'm hoping to have finished and framed by Christmas.  I'm not sure I'll make it, but I'm trying.  It's Rapunzel, which she loves and I can't wait to give this to her.  Here's where I finished last night.  The past two days I've worked on finishing the castle and sun area and some of her hair up at the top.

Don't let this piece fool you.  It's not as simple as it looks.  It has almost as many three quarter stitches in it as it does whole stitches and the fabric I chose is that soft-as-butter kind that does *not* want to split for those kinds of stitches.  So it's slow going and time consuming, but I'm doing it.  I can't wait to see her face when she gets it.

Well, that's about all for me today.  I'm going to go dive into those owls and see how much I can get done on this super wet, dark day.  

It's kind of the perfect type of cozy for stitching.  ;0)

Stitchy updates, finishes, and pictures...

Remember when I shared with you this little stitch I was doing for my charity's animal shelter project?

Well, I turned it into this...

It was fun and I'm growing more confident in these types of finishes.

I also spent some time the past few days making some other kinds of pretties.

This is a little pumpkin pin cushion ~ very much just a rough draft of what I have in my head.  But a cute start at least, lol.

And two ornaments.  These can easily be put on my tree, but since they aren't too "Christmassy," I can leave them out year round as decoration.  Right now they are nestled in my grandmother's china cabinet.

This one is 3 inches around.

And this is a larger 4 inch one.

All the embroidery from the past few weeks got hand washed and is now hanging to dry.  I'll iron them tonight and then mail them off tomorrow.  They are going into a raffle to help a cancer patient with expenses.

 And yes, I am certainly still cross stitching too.  :0)  This is Teresa Gil's pattern, Edwardian Beauty: Elizabeth.  I am so close to finishing the stitching on it and that is super exciting because it will be time to deck her hat out in silk ribbon roses, beading, jewelry and lace on her dress.  I love it!

Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have the cross stitching done on her and can then move on to her embellishments.  I'll share lots of pic here when I get to that point!  :0)

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, I met my stitching deadlines!

And......relax.  All of my current deadlines for this month's charity stitching have been met.  I enjoyed the things I made (especially this butterfly napkin set) but I'm glad to be done because I'm itching to get back to my own projects.  

This set is going to a raffle to help a cancer patient with expenses.  I do need to wash them and I am a tad bit nervous about that.  I'll put fusible webbing onto the back and hope and pray for the best!

This one is my favorite.  The flower petals are done in the "strawberry stitch," which was a new stitch for me.  I use a split stitch on the stems and satin stitching on the leaves and some of the butterfly sections.  French knots and backstitching finishes out the butterfly.  All of these same stitches, except the strawberry stitch, are repeated in each of the napkins.  I really love how they turned out.

You've seen these two already.  :0)

And then this little guy finishes out the set.  

I'm tired, I may take a couple of days "off."  We'll see.  I usually do right after I meet a deadline.  But usually by day 2 my stitchy bug is yelling in my ear to get back to it.  So we'll see what happens, lol.

Plans for my Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe threads

Let's chat a moment about those threads I won recently from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  I knew they were going to be pretty, but what I didn't know ~ only ever having seen them in pictures ~ was 1) exactly how *much* thread I would be getting and 2) how luscious and thick and yummy they would be!

I took this picture to share with one of my groups on FB.  I put my hand next to the threads so you could see the scale.

See what I mean?  That is *a lot* of thread!  And the quality is awesome.  Here are some more pictures so you can see the colors.

From left to right: Autumn Leaves Variegated, Copper Dark, and Copper.

Squash, Autumn Orange, and Burnt Orange. 

 Antique Pumpkin Light.

Now as for the others in the package, I already know what I'm going to do with them. I'm going to use them in the JOY sal that I'm doing with some friends.  The colors lend perfectly to this project.

These colors, again, left to right are: Autumn Leaves Gold, Golden Acorns (has a beautiful variegation,) The Best Orange, Autumn Red, and Dark Brown.

Truly, I'm dying from the pretty.  She has a Halloween set of threads that I'm currently drooling over.  I just may have to treat myself some time soon.  :0)

(The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe did not ask me to review or post about these threads.  This post is my own personal opinion I wanted to share with my bloggy friends.)

Let me share with you...

...what I posted today on my charity group's page.  Today is a very special day...

"Ok my lovlies ~ today is a very special day. Today this group turns 2 years old! In that time, we have gone from about 5-6 members to 45. We have used our talents to help out the Ronald McDonald House at Vanderbilt Children's hospital, a habitat for humanity family that had several small children and the husband was a disabled vet, a homeless shelter where our items were to be used by those leaving the shelter and starting over setting up house, a hospital nursery that serves an indigent population and we provided layette items for moms and babies, and now we're helping out the Central PA Aid for animals where our items will be raffled off in order to help them stay open and care for the animals they have in residence, and the Sierra House which helps those in need of housing, education, and community services. Now I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty darn good for a small group of ladies simply putting their talents to use. Never have a doubt my dears, that even if in a small way, you have helped to change the world for the better! Thank you so much for being here and being a part of this. ((proud hugs))"

I'm so proud of my members and what we have accomplished in such a short time.  Stitching is such a wonderful thing ~ and all the more wonderful when those stitching extend their talent to others.  

Happy Day!!  :0)

Progress, finishes, and deadlines approaching

I've made some good progress the past few days on my charity projects.  For my charity's project for Central PA Aid for Pets, I completed these two hand towels.  Both of these towels were donated by another stitcher.  Sometimes people want to help the charity out, but don't have the time to stitch for us.  So they will donate stitching items instead.  I've received towels and many bibs over the time we have been open.  They are all put to use and I also always try to inform the person who donated when their items are used and what they are used for.

For this same project, I also finished the plastic canvas wall hanging.  I'm going to go shopping this weekend and find either some black/red gingham or plain black or red ribbon to sew a loop onto the back for hanging.

And last but not least, I finished this sweet little cross stitch.  I'm going to get backing material for it this weekend and stitch it into a little pillow ornament.

The next project we are doing, I'm not as under the gun on a deadline for.  We will probably wrap this one up in January.  It is for the Sierra House in East Orange, NJ.  It's a half way house and my stitchers are working on everything from items for the house itself to baby items to be given to moms who live there who have small babies.  I designed these coasters myself.  It was simple, but fun.  I put algerian eyelet hearts in the center of each.

The next project isn't for my group, but for someone else.  It's a raffle to help a cancer patient with expenses.  I've already shared the cherry napkins and the one butterfly napkin I finished.  But now I have two of the butterflies done and I have two more to go, which will be a different pattern than the first two.  For those, I'm still very much working to get them done by the deadline which is coming up very soon.

I'm ready to get back to my own stitching.  I have projects that need my attention and also some extra little things I want to do for Fall and Christmas.  But it will be about another week to week and a half before I can do that.  I need to get these deadlines taken care of first.  :0)

Happy stitching everyone!!

I won the Victorian Motto Autumn Floss Collection!!

How very exciting!  I was going through stitchy blogs tonight that I subscribe to, looking to see what everyone is doing.  I went back to the Victorian Motto Sampler blog to see the flosses she's showing now and to check up on the give away I had entered.  And then I discovered that I had won!

This is so very cool.

I mean, of course I had hoped that I would win but one never really expects to happen, do they?  But it did and I think I squealed and clapped like a little girl, lol.

Just take a look at these beauties ~~

Oh my goodness.

How lovely.

So thank you and a big shout out to Nancy at the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe blog for holding her generous give aways!  :0)

A little stitch here, a little stitch there...

This is always a very busy time of year for me where stitching is concerned.  For some reason, the charity stitching always picks up in the Fall and I find myself with a few different deadlines.  At the same time, Christmas stitching comes into play and there is still my regular stitching rotation to try and attend to at least every now and then.  

Right now my focus is on two charity projects that have deadlines this month.  So once these are done, I'll be able to branch out a bit more.  But at the moment, these are my focus.

For my charity, The Legacy of Dorcas, I'm working on animal themed items for an animal shelter.  This one is barely started, but it will be a quick stitch.  Can you even tell yet that this will be a cat, lol?  I'm going to finish it into a pillow ornament.

  

This is another cat piece in plastic canvas.  I'm finishing up the background now and I hope to have it done later today.

For the other charity group I'm helping out, I've been working on the butterfly napkins.  Here is a close up of tiny little buttonhole stitches.

And one of them completed...

I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.  This embroidery was a lot of fun.  I used back stitch, buttonhole stitches, satin stitches and french knots.

Hopefully in about a week I can show you all the charity items - completed - before they get sent on their way.  :0)

Finished the cherry napkins

I have finished this set and am ready to start the second.  I'm anticipating many more colors in the second set as they are butterflies.

As you can see I used the circular/spiral method taught to me by another embroiderer.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

The butterfly set will all be done in the same color scheme, but I changed up the patterns on this one.  Two are different but with the same colors being used, they will obviously be a set.  This is going to be fun.

Here they are stamped and ready to go.  Two large butterflies and two other different designs that will coordinate.  I'm under pressure at the moment with my deadlines.  I've got these that must be done by the 25th of this month and also the animal shelter project for my charity that has to be done by the 28th.  My needles will have to be flying!!

For both sets of napkins I used transfers from the McCall's book that I got off of the freebie table at the Nashville retreat.

Ok, I'm off of here for now ~ I've got deadlines to meet!  :0)