European Goldfinches

I have an exciting finish! I had to go back into my older posts to find out when I started this piece. It looks like somewhere around the end of April or beginning of May in 2012. I worked on it for quite a bit and then we ended up having a whirlwind move to Delaware in 2013, and I put it aside until recently.

 I love birds, in fact I call myself a crazy bird lady! :o ) I really enjoyed stitching this piece and I have already pulled out another bird chart from Crossed Wing Collection, and I have started stitching it.
I stitched it on 32ct Platinum linen. I am going to frame it. I am hoping to find a frame at the thrift shop and do it myself. 

I am going to give the pattern away. It is a bit wrinkled and not pristine, but definitely perfectly able to be used again. Please leave a comment and let me know if you would like a chance to win the chart. I will pick a winner in a week to 10 days. 

Happy Stitching,
Heather

Stitching again

After a very long break, I thought that I would try to revive my blog again. I have been sharing a little here and there on my Instagram, but I decided this would be better and I will have a more accurate record. 

I have been stitching on and off for the last few years, but a few months ago I was bitten hard by the stitchy bug.  I am going to try and go back and catch up with what I have stitched since the last time I was blogging. 

I have been mainly working on my European Goldfinches by Crossed Wing Collection for the last month and I am just about to have a finish! I am so excited about that! 

Like many others, I have really been inspired by Flosstube, and it has really helped to ignite the stitchy bug! My favorites are:
Priscilla and Chelsea
Lorna the Ladybird Stitcher
Cross stitch with Luda
Stitching Mommy
Cindy's Cross stitch 

Simply in Stitches 

Life update :

We are still in Delaware, although we moved in 2016 down to Dover. We are loving being closer to the beaches and have really enjoyed our time here. 

I am going to keep this short and come back soon with a post about a recent trip to Stitch by Stitch in Cape May,  New Jersey.

Happy Stitching,
Heather

European Goldfinches by Crossed Wing Collection

(Sorry for the rubbish photo, it's been raining almost non stop for the last few days. We've gotten 4 Inches!)

July Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks

Summer by Lizzie Kate

Liberty and 4th of July by Lizzie Kate

January stitch from stash

January: $ 25 budget
Spent: $ 17.20
Balance: $ 2.80

Hi everyone! It's a beautiful sunny day! It's cold, but at this point I can handle anything as long it's sunny. :-) Can you tell that I have been struggling with the winter blues? ! :-)

Not a whole lot of stitching going on this month. I have been working on my Momma Cardinal ornament and a Valentine's piece. In fact the pattern for the valentine's piece is one of the things that I spent money on. I bought another chart, but it is a gift for a friend and she reads the blog, so I will have to wait to show you that. :-) I would have finished the valentines piece yesterday, but then we decided to pull out a puzzle and work on it together. Well, let's just say that I am a bit obsessive when it comes to puzzles. :-) So, not much else got done yesterday afternoon and evening. But we did make lots of lovely memories together. :-)

I hope to control my obsessive tendencies and finish the piece and finish it and my February Calendar girl before Sunday. I'm going to be giving away the pattern for both of them, so if you are interested in either of these, check back in a few days. :-)

I have pulled out a pattern that has been in my stash for many years, and I am working on finding all of the DMC for it. I love everything about tea and have wanted a tea tray for a long time, so I am going to stitch this and purchase the tray that it fits in. I am hoping that darling husband will get it for my birthday in February, but if he doesn't I will just save for it. :-) Hopefully in my next stitch from stash update, I will have made a nice start. 

Well, there is a puzzle calling my name, so I had better finish up some chores. :-)

Happy Stitching!

Love, Heather

 

Mama Cardinal by The Victoria Sampler 

 

Joyful Journal: February by Heart in Hand 

 

 My current project bag by Impie, Hattie and Bea

 

 

My puzzle obsession :o)

 

 

My next stitching project by Sudberry House 

Happy new year and a WIP of a different kind

Happy new year! I hope that this year is the best one yet! :-)

Have I ever told you that I am a crazy bird lady? Well, I am! :-) As I am writing this, I can look out my dining room window and see several birds in queue, waiting for an open space at one of the feeders. Now, that all of the leaves are gone, I can catch glimpses of other birds down at the end of our yard in the wooded area. We are blessed to have lived in some of the best birding areas in the world. The American Birding association moved their headquarters about 5 blocks down the road from us. When we lived in the country of Panama, we saw Toucans quite frequently! I love birds! :-)

I have bird tea things, a table cloth, pictures, figurines, stationery. ...etc. :-) You get the picture, I am sure. :-)

So, I had been thinking that every crazy bird lady needs a bird Christmas tree! Right? ! We had a smallish Christmas tree that we were not using and I already had quite a few bird ornaments and our family tree was getting really full, so it was meant to be! So, my stitching goal this year is to make as many new bird ornaments as possible. :-)
I am keeping it up through January, since it is more wintery and It makes me smile every time I see it. :-)

Without any more rambling, here are some pictures of my bird tree. :-)

Stitch from Stash update #12

It's just me and little man today, hubby and daughter are out Christmas shopping and then going to see the new Hobbit movie, so I thought that I would pop on here and give my final update for this year's stitch from stash.

I finally got around to making up some of my stitching pieces into ornaments and a pillow. I am so happy with how they all turned out. :-) I once ruined a piece completely while trying to make it up, so I have been a little hesitant. I decided to just put my big girl panties on and get it done!
:-) :-) :-) The funny thing is that I can sew fairly complicated items. I have made two period correct Regency gowns and undergarments. I am just one of those people who need step by step instructions. :-)
One of my goals for next year, is to try and learn different finishing techniques and being better at making up all of the pieces that I have waiting in my stitching bag.

I am so excited that I made it through the entire year of the stitch from stash challenge. I have already signed up for the next one. I am really going to try and spend as little as possible in the next challenge. I have so much amazing stash that I want to stitch.

So without any further ramblings here is my update. I had $71.42 carryover and adding this month's budget of $ 25 that gives me $ 96.42.
I spent $ 6 on etsy for an older pattern that I have been searching for and $28.20 at the Strawberry Sampler for 3 skeins of over dyed threads and 3 patterns. :-)
So, I ended up with a balance of $62.22. I think that is pretty good ! :-)
Well, lots of wrapping to do and a few knitted gifts left to finish. I will be back soon with a post on a different kind of WIP. :-)

Happy Stitching!
Love, Heather

 

Be Merry by LHN

 

The fabric that I used to finish Be Merry

 

 

The Christmas tree is taken from the Snowglobe ornament from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

 

 

The fabric that I used to finish the scissor fob.

 

 

Joy and Peace by LHN

 

 

The fabric that I used to finish Joy and Peace.

 

 

My mom stitched this years ago and decided it needed to be mine. I finally got around to making it up into a pillow. I love it!!

 

 

I love this bird fabric that I used to make the pillow. 

 

Button up Birdies #1 by  Victoria Sampler 

 

Noel ornament by Log Cabin Needleworks

I made this one for my Momma for Christmas 

Stitch from Stash update #6

Hi! Just popping in here to post my update for this month. It has been such a lovely month!:-) We have been crazy busy with company, traveling and spending as much time as possible outside that I haven't been able to stitch very much. I am almost finished with my August cottage. Hopefully this week. 

We are busy getting ready for a backyard barbecue birthday bash tomorrow for my daughter. She is going to be 22 in a few days and we were moving on her birthday last year and so we are giving her a nice party this year. :-) Her birthday seems to be the time when things go wrong. Poor dear!  :-) Her 8th birthday,  her daddy was deployed to the Middle East, her 10th birthday was spent in the waiting room of the ER while her older brother was having an anaphylaxis attack from having accidentally gotten peanuts at her pool party. Shortly after her 12th birthday she was so excited about her baby brother being born that she was running in a parking lot and was ran over. Thankfully it was just her foot and leg. And then on her 18th birthday,  I had just been released from the icu after a brush with death. :-) I think she deserves a good party and birthday this year. :-)

We just recently returned from 4 days in Boston. We had to go for a work conference. It was amazing and we can't wait to go back for a long visit! 

Well onto the budget part. This month Mel surprised us with an extra $50 dollars to spend. I decided to take advantage of this offer. :-)

I ended up getting August by Cottage Garden Samplings and the necessary threads and fabric. Two Jane Austen patterns from The Primitive Hare and a beach themed pattern from my LNS. So my total for the month is $ 62.48. That means I used all of my $25 budget and $37.48 from the bonus $50. So next month I will have my carryover of $65.90 from the previous months and my July allowance. I hope I have that right!  :-)

Well back to cleaning and preparing for tomorrow. I will leave you with some pictures from our month. :-)

Happy stitching!
Love, Heather

 

My progress for the month

 

 

Atlantic Ocean at Cape Henolopen State Park

 

 

Laughing Gulls, a new bird for me.

 

 

My sweet husband and two of our children on Father's day.

 

 

Boston Public Gardens

 

 

Make way for Ducklings statues. One of our favourite books.

 

 

 Boston clam chowder, this is in the clam chowder hall of fame. I didn't know such a thing existed. :o) It was fantastic chowder! YUM!!!

 

 

A beautiful pond in Connecticut! 

 

 My souvenir from Boston. :o)

 

 

A view of Connecticut as we were driving. We fell in love with Connecticut and hope to go back soon! 

Stitch from Stash update #5

Good morning! I hope that you all had a lovely weekend! It was beautiful here in Northern Delaware. We have friends visiting from Arizona so there has been lots of sight seeing. Philadelphia, Washington D.C, Ft.  McHenry, Brandywine Battlefield and today they are off to Gettysburg so I thought I would pop on here and give my update.
 

I did really well this month. I only bought one skein of CC thread. So my grand total spent for May is $2.20. I had $43.10 carryover and adding this month's budget of $25.00. That leaves me with $65.90 carryover for next month. :-)

I haven't had a lot of stitching time this month. We have been enjoying being outside as much as possible. :-) We went to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge on mothers day. I love to bird watch and so I was in bird heaven. We went up to Hershey Pennsylvania and met up with friends for lunch. And company for 2 weeks but, I did manage to get some done. I pulled out of my stitching bag my last cottage of the month that I have not finished. It is August. I had started it last July, but then I got busy with moving and it got put aside. I am almost finished and I will continue with it until I am done. :-)

I have made two color changes. It was just a little too blue for my taste. :-) So I changed the house color to CC Key Largo, and the words to CC Ripe Melon.

Well, I hope that you are all having a lovely day!

Happy stitching!
Love, Heather

 

August Cottage when I picked it back up.

 

 

This is how far I got with my stitching this month.

 

 

A Great Blue Heron at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.

 

 

Afternoon tea with two of my three children on Mother's day.

 

 

A fun day was had in Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

On an adventure.

Hi! I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted. So much has happened since then. The major thing has been a new job for my husband. We have gone from living in south eastern Arizona to Northern Delaware. Well, technically we are in an rv park in northern Maryland right now looking for a place to live. ; 0)
We have been here 4 days now. So far we love it. ; 0) It is VERY humid and hot. The hot part we are used to but not the humidity.
Anyway, on to the stitching part. I kitted up a few things to work on before I packed all of my stitching treasures up.I decided that I needed to have some stitching therapy today (living in a 27ft travel trailer with an active 8 year old boy will make you need therapy! )! ; 0)
So, I pulled out my Victoria Sampler Christmas Robin ornament. There are a lot of Robins around our trailer. We are really enjoying watching them. Well I had better finish since I am posting from my phone. I hope that you all are having a lovely day.
Love, Heather

Some more stitching.....

 Here is May Cottage from CCN and the next picture you can see it in context. This is the wall above my piano in my sitting room, which is the first room that you walk into in my home. ;o)

 Here is the progress that I have made on European Goldfinches by Crossed Winged Collection.It is coming along nicely. I am really enjoying this one, I am stitching it on 32ct platinum linen with the recommended DMC threads. I have put it aside for now while I am working on June Cottage. I will pull it out again soon.

 Here is my before picture of In the Garden with Jane Austen.

 And this is what I stitched on Friday afternoon while I watched the first 2 chapters of the '95 A&E Pride & Prejudice. (I love that movie!!!)

I finished April showers by CCN on Tuesday evening. I am going to try and stretch it today and hopefully be back tomorrow to show y'all! ;o)
I hope all the mommas who read my blog had a lovely Momma's day on Sunday. I had a lovely one!! The only sad part was that my oldest couldn't come home! :o( I got some lovely stash and will show that with my next post.
I had better get busy and get some work done before it heats up! It is supposed to be 99 today! ICK! ;o)

Happy stitching1
Heather

Catching Up

Sorry that I have been gone so long!! I can't believe it has been almost 3 months since I last posted. YIKES! Lots going on mainly company and sickness but I won't bore y'all with that! ;o) This post is mainly going to be pictures of what I have been stitching on these last 3 months and then I am going to try and post more regularly. ;o)

 March Cottage of the Month by CCN on 28ct Lambswool Linen with recommended threads except the pink which I used a DMC variation.

 March Flip it by Lizzie Kate finished into a little pillow with some scraps leftover from a skirt that my daughter made. ;o)

 April Flip it by Lizzie Kate not finished into a pillow with scraps from my fabric cupboard! ;o)

 April Cottage by CCN stitched on 28 ct Lambswool Linen using the recommended threads.

 Here is where my April Cottage is hanging with a lovely African Violet. The colours match beautifully! ;o)

 My new start! This is European Goldfinches by Crossed Wing Collection. I am stitching it on 32ct. linen. I remembered the name until I started to type it and then it flew out of my brain. I will look it up and post it next time.;o) I am a little obsessed ( or as my little one says "bazzest")with this project right now. I am loving every stitch of it!! I took this picture two days ago intending to blog that night and I have made quite a bit more progress since then! ;o) Sorry the picture is so dark.

This is another one I have started in March. I had hoped to finish it and have it hanging in my home for April and May, but other the April cottage, May cottage (which is finished I just need to stretch it!), and European Goldfinches have just got in the way of working on this! ;o)

Well, I wanted to thank everyone for commenting on my post last time. I am sorry I didn't email you back. And I also wanted to welcome my new followers!!

I hope that y'all are having a lovely spring! We are enjoying warm weather and our beautiful flowers. We already have baby tomatoes and baby squash! The rest of our veggies and herbs and growing nicely.

See you soon!!
~Heather