The Stash Fairy paid a visit

Yesterday I got an envelope from 123stitch.com and a small box from Barnes and Nobles. Last Saturday the 5th I received a box from Barnes and Noble. Of course there were charts in them. Lots of dragons and other mythic and amusing subjects. Today I received another envelope from 123stitch.com, it had the one chart that was back ordered in it. Yesterday I received a second box from Barnes and Nobles and it had the stitching cards book in it. I just love getting stitchy stuff in the mail! It makes my whole day!

Zombie Cross Stitch
Published by Metro Books

12 designs created by Kristy Kizzee & Erika Kern

The zombies arrived on Saturday. I got this to stitch the zombies for my daughter as she loves horror movies (same as me) and zombie movies are some of her favorites. She's always cracking zombie jokes, so I figured she would get a major kick out of these designs. They aren't top notch but I think their quirkiness adds to their appeal, it at least makes them more amusing LOL

Cross Stitch Greeting Cards
Published by David and Charles

70 Cards Designed by Joan Elliott

I ordered this at the same time as the zombie kit (both from Barnes and Nobles book store)  but for some reason they were delivered separately. This arrived yesterday. There are a lot of cards in there that I just love so I am going to try to stitch a few cards to send out this upcoming Christmas. The only card charts I had until I got this book were the ones that came in my UK stitching magazines.  While stitching the card for breast cancer fundraiser I realized I was really enjoying stitching such a small design as there is a lot of instant gratification. Until this point I did not think I would like stitching cards, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I do enjoy it, so I went ahead and ordered this book. The cards inside are beautiful!

These two sets of leaflets arrived yesterday as well. Stoney Creek Mythical Fantasies and Dragons and Wizards.

The picture on the right are The Cross Eyed Cricket's The Cricket Collection's My Brother's Dragon. There are 3 charts from X's and Oh's, small dragon designs. Upper right is Shake It With Pride, Lower left is Wine Dragon and lower right is Share Your Heart.

There was one more dragon chart that was on back order. I saw it on someone's blog and just fell in love with it, so I ordered it.

This was the chart that was on back-order, it arrived today. It is called Chinese Dragon by Pinn. The colors in this are stunning! I saw this design being stitched on Claudette's blog "Bap Attack".So I ordered the chart. I really like it. 

I found it very interesting that they put information about the legends of dragons in China. Supposedly the dragon stands as a symbol for the great unity of the Chinese nation. It says some Chinese considered themselves as descendants of a dragon. The dragon was the symbol of the emperor, yet people used to worship the dragon because they believed it would bring the timely winds and rains for their crops. The dragon was seen as a symbol of harmony. Not a great deal of information, but certainly the little bit there was  I found to be quite interesting. I like it when chart books come with little bits of information like this one did. The pattern book Ancient Egyptian Cross Stitch by Barbara Hammet had a lot of information about ancient Egypt to go along with the beautiful patterns that were in there. 

Well my back is killing me now and I am exhausted so I am going to bed. night!

Card Progress

Here is my progress on the Delft card I am stitching for Carolyn's cancer fund raiser. The flower is done except for backstitch. All that is left is three more "stems", the border, and the backstitch on the flower. I am hoping to finish this tomorrow. I would keep stitching tonight but my back is real sore due to thunderstorms moving through the area and I am tired, so I had to stop.

I really like the way it looks and I think it will make a beautiful card. The flash on the camera washed the colors out a bit, but it still looks pretty good.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments, I really appreciate every single one! :)

Stitching On A Wednesday

I have been stitching. On the Cross Stitch Forum I volunteered to make at least 1 stitched greeting card. One of the members has joined Relay For Life and would also like some stitched greeting cards to sell to raise additional funds for cancer research. Since I will have to send the card overseas (to the UK) I have to finish the 1 I said I would make (and hopefully a second one to go with it) by June 21st at the latest, to ensure she will receive it by the date needed. So I put Frogging Around on hold, went through all my UK stitching magazines because they contain the only greeting card charts that I have, and found a chart I liked. It is one of 4 from a series called Delft Cards". They were published in Cross Stitch Collection, March 2010 issue. I love this magazine as it always has at least 3 charts (or more!) that I want to stitch in every issue! I am hoping to get 2 of these cards done on time. Here is a picture of the one I've started already. I would say it is just a tiny bit away from half-way done already, and I've only stitched for 4 hours on it, so it shouldn't take much longer.

Delft Cards
14ct Aida using DMC Floss

My sister-in-law also wished to stitch a card. So she picked a chart from Jean Greenoff's "New Cross Stitcher's Bible" and started stitching. This is only her third stitching piece and I have to say she is doing a fantastic job! Her stitches are nice and even, well shaped, and great tension. Here is a picture of the front of her card so far. This is only about a few hours stitching time so far, she stitches quickly too!

 


Tudor Rose
by: Jane Greenoff
DMC on 14ct Aida
Stitched by: Stephanie C.

I am very impressed with how neat her back is already! The rose has 3 colors in it and the leaves have 2, but even with those color changes in such a small area, her stitching is still nice and neat! There are no knots, tangles, or hanging threads. Everything is nice and neatly tied off underneath stitches already placed. The back of my 3rd ever piece of cross stitch was never this neat! Stephanie is a great stitcher already! I am so very proud of her and how quickly she learned.

Tudor Rose stitched by Stephanie; back side.

Here is the promised update picture on Frogging Around. I love the way the variegated corals look on the words. As I said earlier, I set it aside to do the card so I haven't gotten anything else done since my last entry, but I did promise a picture. This picture is also the first one that shows the fabric color so well.

Frogging Around by Jessica Willis Burr
28ct Jazlyn Irish Fields by Enchanting Lair
Stitched by: M. Hull with DMC Floss

Again, thank you all for your help on finding a thread that would work for the words. I love the look of this thread even though the flash washed it out a bit in this picture. The words show up real well and the variations of the corals and pinks add a delicate flowery touch to the piece that I really like.

When rearranging my stash I found out that I have 2 of the same Dimensions Gold kit so I decided that it may be time to make a list of what I have so I won't duplicate them and thus waste money. So I made a list of all my charts, kits, and leaflets (not counting hard cover books, digital freebies, or magazines) so that I won't accidentally buy a chart I already have. It was a lot of fun to pull out all my charts. I rediscovered a bunch that I really want to stitch, and some I didn't realize I had because they were given to me as a gift from my mother-in-law a few years ago. I have 249 charts, leaflets, and/or kits. I haven't included my freebies because I haven't printed them all out. According to my computer there are 599 files in my cross stitch folder (not counting my folder for finishes). This, however, counts each folder name as a file and I give every designer their own folder so I always know who designed the freebie. There are 162 folders. I am quite surprised at how many freebies I have! Many of them are small charts. There are also 2 folders for digital magazines (The Gift Of Stitching and Blackwork Digital Magazine). Maybe it is silly of me to create an inventory of my patterns, I don't know. I am not meaning to brag or anything, I'm only babbling about it because of how surprised I was to find out how many I actually have. I wasn't expecting it to be that much! Now I will feel guilty every time I purchase a new chart because of how many I have already and I know I can't possibly stitch them all in my lifetime. But oh man they are so much fun to look through. While doing this I found a few charts and kits that I know I will not stitch. They are all in excellent condition, the kits have not even been opened. I will post a new page on this site listing those items for sale or trade. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow. Maybe one of the items I list will be something you would like to have. 

Well that's it for me on the stitching front. Thank you all for coming by and leaving comments, I really do appreciate every single one. They always make me smile :)