The Queen is Done

 I got the thread I needed to finish Amy Mitten's Queen. I only had her hands and a few other stitches to do. 

Now I have measured to see how much the blackwork I need to stitch on each side to fit the top of the casket. I need essentially 45 stitches (over two on 36 count linen) on each side of the queen.

These are my blackwork resources.

But I have two more books on the way. 

I ordered an out of print book by Jane Zimmerman. I read about Jane Zimmerman on Gay Ann Rogers's blog when Jane died recently. I found a sampler she did that has just what I want.

The band I want is the black and gold one that is next to the last band. I hope it is about the right size. Actually I hope the pattern for this sampler is in the book I ordered. Fingers crossed!

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Happy Mail

 I got a couple of kits in the mail. They are kits from the latest issue of Inspirations Magazine. These are beaded little coin purses with a zipper around the edge.

This is what is in the kit.

The secret of these kits is that you stitch on the fabric pattern. I have some larger beading kits that look hard so I thought I would try a smaller easier kit first. There are four choices of color, I picked these two.

I actually found some more of this fabric on an Etsy seller's site called kimonomomo and couldn't resist ordering some. I blame the chemo, it makes me want to order stuff.

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Guild Kit

 I got this kit in the mail from our guild. This is the program for our August meeting. One of our members designed this and made up the kits. 

It is a little hard to see but this is a scissors fob with that has a clip (it may be called a lobster claw?). Then there are beads and charms with a tiny pillow, more beads and a mini tomato at the end. I stitched the little pillow and I have to iron interfacing on the back before lacing it together. I started the mini tomato.

It is filled with crushed walnut shells. Cute!

I guess I should wait for the meeting before finishing it.

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New Start

 I started Becky Hogg's fish.

It's going well. I am couching passing metal thread on the lower half of the fish. 

Walking is done. Time for lunch.

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How's the Queen?

 My Amy Mitten queen portrait is so almost done! I really like this.

 I ran out of the thread for her hands. So I ordered some from Canada. I just have to wait for it to get here.

 I have gathered a few books looking for a blackwork border that I like and will fit in the space I have. I ordered another blackwork book yesterday but then I got a message it was out of stock. I found that book on Amazon so I ordered it even though it was more expensive.

Going out to lunch with a friend. Thursday is an all day chemo day. Ugh. 

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Hope

 I finished Drawn Thread's Emily's Hope. This was a quick stitch.

I think I would like to frame this. 

It was lovely walking this morning. I had a couple of questions about my DMC Cabinet. I got it from Love Crafts. The wood looks very nice, I like the quality of the cabinet. I calculated that the floss which costs .60 each at Hobby Lobby is worth 300.00.

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I Always Wanted One of These

 I always wanted a thread cabinet. One retreat I used to go to had restored old thread cabinets that were kind of pricey. I never bought one there. I was watching a FlossTube video and the lady showed a cabinet that she just bought. She told where she bought it so I checked it out. It was a store I had never heard of but was here in the US so I jumped at the offer of a DMC cabinet. I got it this week. 

I think it is beautiful.

Guess what is in the drawers? Of course it is DMC floss - 500 skeins! (I think, I didn't count them)

The top lifts up. There are dividers for the drawers. Some like to bobbinate their floss. Not me. I haven't opened the floss yet. This is so cool.

I'm a lucky duck.

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New Kit

 I have been mulling over ordering this kit for a while. I decided to go ahead and order it. Mainly because it says "Hope".

I have always liked Drawn Thread patterns. 

 

I started it yesterday and got the "p" done. It will be a quick stitch. It has some specialty stitches to keep it interesting. 

I stitched Drawn Thread's "Love" and really like how it turned out.

Going out to lunch!

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Amy Mitten's Queen

 I made some good progress with Amy Mitten's Queen.  I measured how tall the casket was and figured out where I needed to put the bottom edge of the design.

Not a lot left to do and she will be finished. I've ordered another book of blackwork designs in my quest to find a design to put on either side of the queen I figure that I need to stitch 45 stitches on each side to fit the entire top of the casket. I ran out of thread to finish her hands. But I can finish everything else. I think she is gorgeous. 

Off to a test today. 

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Frida

 I finished stitching Dreaming Frida. 

I'm hoping a friend of mine will make this into a bag like the photo on the front of the pattern.

I really enjoyed stitching this. 

I really want to stitch her cousin, Dreaming Girl. There are a lot of other things I should be working on so we'll see what wins.

I've done my walking for the day. Time to play.

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Tomayto

 I joined this needlework group so I could order this kit.

So cute!

A lot of work went into this kit.  It has all the stuff you need to make it. I like the red linen. Love the leaf waxer. How nice to have the threads all together and with a fob that tells you what project the threads go to.

Of course I'm tempted to start it!

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Monogamous

 I have been a monogamous stitcher for the last few days. I've only worked on Dreaming Frida. I finally made it to her face which is the most interesting part of the design.

I bet I can finish her today. Knock on wood.

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Crowning Glory

 My BFF alerted me to a class being offered by Sassy Jacks. I signed up and was lucky to get in as there were only a couple of spots left. It is a Zoom class. I got the kit in the mail this week. The Zoom class is in early August. It is a pin cushion with a crown on it. I have a thing for crowns. There is also a box that will be covered and lined with paper. It is a very nice kit. Somebody d lots of work to make it easy for the stitcher to put it together. 

I actually started and finished the stitching yesterday. Yes, I would love to continue and try to put it together. But I'm going to try and wait until class time.

I just discovered that the pattern for cutting the paper is on the back. Even a bottle of the PVA glue is included along with a brush for putting the glue on. See the crown waxer?

Now back to Dreaming Frida. 

Happy Saturday!

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Book

 When I stepped out my front door to go walking this morning, I saw two boxes already delivered. One of the packages was an out of print book that I ordered. I've been looking for blackwork designs to go on either side of my Amy Mitten Queen. 

This book has a lot of patterns. Some of the patterns are cross stitch and some are all backstitch. I have looked through and found patterns that will work well.

I can't figure out how to rotate the photos. Rats. But you get the idea.

The other package I got was a kit. I'll show you tomorrow.

Happy Birthday BFF!

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New Start

 I bought three new charts from The Silver Needle. 

I love the dreaming Frida bag design and want to make a bag for my granddaughter. But my granddaughter is a California girl so I'm trying to decide between Frida and the dreaming girl. Maybe I want a bag for me and a bag for her.

I am having fun stitching Frida. I need some floss colors that I don't have. I think a trip to Hobby Lobby is in my future.

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Finish

 I finished off the Winter Strawberry.

Top of the strawberry:

I made some progress on the strawberry needleroll. I had to work out how to do the stitch used for the strawberry which involved having to frog the strawberry three times before I was happy with it. 

I've been kitting up some new projects that I want to start. I'm back to walking today after taking two days off.

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Stomacher

 I added some embellishments to the queen. I am loving how she looks. This is before:

This is after:

I originally put french knots on the edge of her collar but they didn't show up very well. So I replaced them with petite beads. Getting close to the bottom!

I also replaced the gem in her hair.

The sun has come out! I need some sunshine.

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A Lovely Sunday

 What a nice Sunday I had! I was able to walk in cool weather as the rain held off. I watched the men's final at Wimbledon. I also watched a Theresa Kogut flosstube. She is going to Tulsa this week for the Silver Needle Retreat. It is nice that people can travel and attend events again.

 I also  watched a FlossTuber recommended by Cathy Boyd, Almondmnms (I think). She talked all about Stitch Con in Cincinnati. That sounded like a huge get together (300 people?!) with lots of shopping at Keepsakes. I've been to that store so it was fun to see it again. The smalls exchange looked really nice. Then DH brought me home a huge cinnamon roll from the Farmer's Market. That is always a highlight of my Sunday. 

In the afternoon I got to Zoom our sampler guild meeting which was a talk about Scottish samplers from Amy Mitten, one of my favorite designers. It is always fun to talk stitching.

And to top everything off, we watched the UEFA final between Italy and England. 

I was stitching on something easy. It is Winter Strawberry from Summer House Stitche Workes. A friend gifted me with the kit. It must have been a class or a club kit. I'm almost done.

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On A Saturday

 I went walking first thing this morning. Morning is when I have the most energy and it is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow.

I got this Japanese embroidery book on Etsy.  It is a combination of ribbon embroidery and regular embroidery. Most of the book is showing how to do different stitches.

There are some designs in the back of the book. I love an alphabet with flowers.

Have a fun weekend.

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Miscellaneous

 I wanted to mention what is in the book cover I just finished. It is a mini book of The Nutcracker. The project is a Christmas ornament. I gave my granddaughter The Nutcracker and grandson got The Night Before Christmas mini book last Christmas (since I didn't get this done in time to use it). Also I went through an entire spool of Gilt smooth fine passing #4 on this project. And that is not an easy thread to work with.

The pictures are nice. 

I wanted to finish this project before I would let myself order this year's ornament. Last night the new ornament was posted and ready for pre-order! So guess what I did? Yup, I ordered it. 

This will be fun to make!

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