patgeary

Friends With You from My Heart is True

June 28, 2016 By patgeary

My Heart is True is a 32 page book by Blackbird Designs and Nicoletta Farrauto. The book has 9 projects to make and give (or keep) as gifts.

I was really only interested in stitching one of the projects, Friends With You Project book. Rather than stitch it as a project book, I chose to stitch it on 16ct cream Aida to finish as two small pillows for my long basket. The project book is pictured below.

I had purchased a set of floss from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe called Picket Fence Collection (pictured below) and decided to use these to stitch with. This was my first time of really changing all the colors suggested by the designer.

Part 2 – Stitch Count 75w x 90h. I started stitching this on Jun 13, 2016 and finished on June 20, 2016. For the most part this was stitched while my husband was in the hospital. Colors Used include: VM Dried Purple Plums, Carries Creation Blueberry, Crescent Colors Peanut Brittle, Crescent Colors Pea Pod, and

Part 1 – Stitch Count 77wx 91h Colors Used include VM Garden Phlox, VM Garden Ivy, VM Garden Mint, VM Cherry Blossom, Antique Violets, VM Rose Bushy, Crescent Colors, Peanut Brittle.

Friends With You – Part 1

And the finished pieces. Thank you Joy of Finely Finished for the beautiful job you did on my stitched pieces.

The Woodland Collection floss give-away, enter now!

June 26, 2016 By patgeary

Nancy of the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has been busy dying floss for her latest offering, the Woodland Collection. This set includes 12 skeins, 20 yards each of Wild Strawberries, Blueberries, Elderberries, Wild Grapevines, Hickory Nuts, Wild Acorns, Wild Honey, Wild Grapevines….etc.

There is LOTS of variegation in half of these colors. Like the shading in the wild grapevines in the woods, all different shades on the vines. And the same with wild berries as they start to ripen. Many different shades in one bunch. All boxes have 12 skeins, 20 yards each. You can ENTER to win a box of these beautiful colors as well as purchase a set. I can tell you from first hand experience that ALL of her colors are lovely to look at as well as stitch with.

With this set Nancy will give 3 extra skeins as a gift for the give-away. AND…..the first 10 sets sold get Elderberry, Mixed Berries and Wild Blueberry. 60 extra yards! Those are the three skeins shown at the right in the above picture. The next 20 boxes sold get 2 of those free skeins and the next 20 boxes get one free skein.

So head over to Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe to enter. You must be a follower of her blog and you must post a comment to enter. The drawing for the winner will be held on July 14th.

Good luck!!

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Giveaway

May 16, 2016 By patgeary

Nancy Turner of the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having another giveaway. This time it is for her Southwest Floss Collection which is a Limited Edition. You can see it pictured below.

All you have to do to enter, is visit Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe and post a comment. You MUST be a follower of her blog to win. Click to follow by Faithful Friends. If your name is drawn and you are not on the list she will have to draw another name. If you post on Facebook, your stitching group or blog you get 50 more entries. Not hard to enter for a chance to win some of her beautiful floss.

The Southwest Collection includes 12 skeins with 20 yards in each skein. Colors include: Chili Pepper, Hot Pepper, Paprika, Desert Sky, Brick Oven, Copper Kettle, Golden Maize, Southern Sky, Desert Sand, Tortilla, Gristmill and Cilantro.

The drawing will be June 2nd so hurry and enter and tell your friends to enter. You must check back to see if you are a winner and you must follow her blog! Southwest Collection boxed set – Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Giveaway.

Just so you know how much I lover her floss, I also have the following boxed collections:

Auntie’s Flower Garden
Kansas Wildflowers Collection (new just ordered)
Victorian Christmas Collection
PRIMITIVE Earth tones Collection
Numerous individual skeins of various colors

You can never have too much of this beautiful floss!!!

Home for the Holidays by Blackbird Designs

May 15, 2016 By patgeary

Home for the Holidays is the long awaited Christmas Book released during the Nashville Marketplace in 2016. The book includes three old out of print charts: reprints Christmas Garden, Blessings Be Thine and ’Tis the Season plus 5 new stocking charts They are Poinsettia Stocking, My Heart is Home Stocking, Gift Basket Stocking, Holly and Ivy Stocking, and Decorating the Tree stocking. Also includes are charts for The Meadow and Home for the Holidays. The book is 39 pages and includes finishing instructions for the stockings.

I had already stitched the three largest projects: Christmas Garden, Blessings Be Thine, and ‘Tis the Season, so decided to give one of the Christmas Stockings a try since I have NEVER stitched on of the Blackbird Designs Stockings. I chose the first one, Poinsettia Stocking and selected a piece of 16ct Ivory Aida as my fabric. Rather than the called for threads, I chose three colors from the Victorian Motto Sampler threads line – Variegated Cranberry, Olde Cranberry and Old Red Rose. I was very happy with the way it turned out. I started stitching on May 10th and finished on May 15th.

I bought some of the recommended finishing fabric, Joyeux Noel Pearl by French General. We’ll see if I try to finish it myself or send it off.

A Bunch of Smalls

April 22, 2016 By patgeary

A few months ago I saw a beautiful basket display posted in the Dyeing to Stitch Facebook group. It was the Primitive Handwoven Long & Skinny Basket from 1803 Ohio Farm Baskets filled with small pillow finishes. I knew it was something I really wanted to display the small pillow type finishes I was planning on stitching. I ordered it and it finally arrived. After unpacking it and placing it on top of the piano, I began to fill it with a couple of the small designs that had already been finished.

Primitive Handwoven Long & Skinny Basket by 1803 Ohio Farm Baskets.

I’ll take some pictures as I progress with filling it. The next one I am stitching if Bluebird by Blackbird Designs. My progress so far.

Bluebird by Blackbird Designs

Bluebird finished stitching 4/22/2016. I stitched a backing for this with my maternal grandmother’s name and her birthdate.

Bluebird by Blackbird Designs

And beautifully finished as a small pillow by Tammie Latimer.

Bluebird finished as a small pillow

Back of Bluebird.

Rose Garden

And the next one is Rose Garden, another small by Blackbird Designs. This one will be in honor of my mother. I am stitching this one on 14ct Rose Fiddlers Aida with Gentle Arts Jakey Brown. Started stitching April 22, 2016

Rose Garden by Blackbird Designs

Finished stitching April 28, 2016. I added my mother’s initials and her date of birth. Mom loved roses so this was the perfect one to stitch in her honor.

Rose Garden by Blackbird Designs

And beautifully finished as a small pillow by Tammie Latimer.

Rose Garden finished as a small pillow.

Peace Rose

Peace Rose is another of the Reward of Merit Pinkeep series. I stitched this one in memory of my paternal grandmother, Sammie Lipscomb Bayless with her initials and year of birth. It was stitched on a piece of 16ct mystery color Aida I had in my stash. I used the recommended threads. Started stitching May 6th and completed on May 10th.

Peace Rose by Blackbird Designs

And Peace Rose finished as a small pillow in honor of my paternal grandmother Sammie Bayless. Thanks Joy of Finely Finished for the beautiful job of finishing this small projects.

And look at the basket now!

Basket of Memories

Liberty Rose by Blackbird Designs

April 16, 2016 By patgeary

Liberty Rose is a chart that was released by Blackbird Designs as a class project at Old Mill Stitchery in October 2015. It is now Out of Print but hopefully will be released sometime in 2016 to the general public. I went looking to see if I could find it and the chart was generously donating to the BBD Lending Library. NOTE: This project is included in the book, Sweet Land of Liberty which has just been reprinted (April 2020).

Although the chart calls for the design to be stitched on two separate pieces of 32ct linen and then stitched together, I chose to stitch it on 16ct Milk Chocolate Aida from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. I did use the recommended floss which is Week Dye Works Pink Sand, Oak, and Graphite. The design calls for 1 strand of floss stitched over two threads. I opted to use two strands.

Started stitching April 9, 2016

And the finished piece ready for framing. Finished stitching April 19, 2016. I used my husband’s and my initials and the year we were married.

Liberty Rose by Blackbird Designs

UPDATE: June 2019

I finally sent this one off the Vonna Pfeiffer, The Twisted Stitcher, for finishing. I decided on a flatfold and just love the way it turned out.

Such Friendship by AnnieBeezFolkArt

April 1, 2016 By patgeary

I cannot remember where I first saw this piece but decided I wanted to stitch this for two of my friends. It comes as an instant download pdf which you can then print. Buy Such Friendship.

Such Friendship Cross Stitch Chart Piloow cushion pattern x stitch primitive decor vintage decor vintage embroidery decor

Stitch count: 78W X 82H
The model is stitched on 32ct. Flax Belfast Linen using a variety of sampler threads over 2 linen threads. 2 specialty stitches are featured with easy to follow stitch diagrams.

I don’t stitch on linen so selected a piece of green Aida from my stash and used the called for threads.

After I completed the stitching I stuck the piece in a drawer because I was not sure how I wanted to finish it. Fast forward to March 2016 and I decided to try a new finisher Vonna Pfeiffer – The Twisted Stitcher. I had three projects I wanted her to finish. After a few back and forth emails, I mailed them off to her. More back and forth as we discussed her suggestions.

I had first thought to have Such Friendship finished as a cube but Vonna suggested I try a flatfold. I am so glad I did. Below you can see the front and side view of the piece after she worked her magic.

Front of Such Friendship

Side View of Such Friendship

I can’t wait to get these back from her. They should arrive sometime next week. Now I am ready to stitch a second one for another friend.

In Friendship’s Way by Blackbird Designs

March 25, 2016 By patgeary

Last year’s Nashville Market (2015) included the book In Friendship’s Way which included a number of delightful designs by Barb Adams and Alma Allen, the two ladies who make up Blackbird Designs. There were several designs in the book I wanted to stitch so I ordered the floss for stitching:

Honeycomb Basket
Welcome Dear August
The Winter is Past
Button Box

I even ordered the boxes for finishing a couple of the designs and another stitcher sent me the baskets needed for completing Honeycomb Basket.

Fast forward a year and I am now getting ready to stitch some smaller projects so picked up this book and the floss.

First one I will be stitching is Welcome Dear August in memory of my Daddy, Adrian Lee Little. I’ll substitute Adrian for August and add his birthdate. I’m going to finish it as a small memory rather than the box pictured on the front of the book.

And my progress as of today March 25th 2016.

Finished stitching Welcome Dear August on March 30, 2016

Welcome Dear August by Blackbird Designs

Welcome Dear August from In Friendship’s Way by Blackbird Designs

Welcome Dear August finished as a small pillow.

And from the same book, The Winter is Past

The Winter is Past by Blackbird Designs.

Supplies for stitching The Winter is Past.

Started stitching March 31, 2016 and finished April 6, 2016. I made some minor changes filling in the top left side border and using the alphabet and numbers for Welcome Dear August to add my husband’s mothers name and birthdate.

Winter is Past by Blackbird Designs

Winter is past finished as a small pillow.

All the Pretty Flowers by Heartstring Samplery

February 28, 2016 By patgeary

I had been seeing all the beautiful releases received by members as part of the Ladies Prim Society and thought I would like to join. When membership in the club opened for 2016, I decided to go ahead. I just received the first release for 2016 – All the Pretty Flowers by Heartstring Samplery which is pictured below.

It came as a complete kit, including 32ct linen for stitching the design, the floss needed plus the backing fabric and trim. I really do not like stitching on linen and 32ct is small for my eyes and it feels stiff. I will probably switch out the linen for one of the hand dyed 16ct Aida fabrics I already have. Once it is stitched, we will have to see how good my finishing skills are.

Started Stitching March 12, 2016 and finished stitching March 18th, 2016.

All the Pretty Flowers by Heartstring Samplery

And the finished small pillow.

All the Pretty Flowers finished as small pillow.

Handprint on My Heart by Heartstring Samplery

February 18, 2016 By patgeary

Handprint on My Heart by Heartstring Samplery was first released as a kit as part of the Ladies Prim Society. It has now been released as a chart and available to everyone. The verse reads “You’ll always be with me, like a handprint on my heart.”

I decided I would like to stitch this in memory of my oldest son who had died just after his 50th birthday. I had a piece of light blue Aida which I decided to use and the floss I used was Seafoam from Victorian Motto Samplers. The back of the piece has his initials and the year he was born.

I was very happy with how the finished piece turned out and have sent it off to have it finished as a small pillow. I think I will be a memory basket of small pillow type finishes for folks I love and miss.