FAB finishing!

i received the fateful call from my lns this weekend telling me that my stitched holiday gifts were back from the finishers! 

cut to me...waiting promptly outside the shop at exactly 9:59 am to see my beauties!

i love LOVE (did i mention love?) these! special shout out to my homegirl vicky de angelis for introducing me to brenda hart's ribbon technique for the strap handles. girlfriend recently got some tote bag finishes back, found here and here. 

i might have gone a little overboard with the photo sesh...but tis the season right? here's round 2!

i'm so glad i stitched 2 of these for myself, there's no way i could part with all of them! i'm also glad that i forced myself to use different background stitches for each...it gives them their own personality and that extra special touch 

(especially those beaded crustaceans!)

if you haven't already stitched a million one of these for yourself or a loved one, do so immediately! 

you can see my journey with these cuties from start to finish here. 

an evac finish....

though it took longer than it should have due to the hurricane, i managed to squeeze out another finish, the final tote bag!

my little lobster that i have affectionately named isaac.

i got this to commemorate our trip to providence this past spring.

i love the beads and how they add so much dimension and sparkle. from now on, all crustaceans should be beaded, n'est-ce pas?

i also picked up this little gem while at the french knot. 

since i finished something from the stash, this was a small token to reward myself. there's infinite possibilities for decorative stitches and is a great size for traveling. 

we start the long drive back to new orleans today! have a great holiday weekend!

well it's official, i'm evacuating...

to my parents' home in fort worth. this weekend saw tropical storm isaac take a turn straight for our coast, and since i'd rather not stay and take my chances, i'm hitting the road! my evacuation stitching bag is stocked and cricket's diaper bag is packed. 

prior to our hurrication, i did manage to finish this...

i love love love it!

the flowers are my favorite. colonial knots in neon rays. 

blogging may be few and far between for the next few days, but i will do my best to keep you posted! texas here we come!

lazy stitching

i've been lazily stitching away on my tote bag. no deadline, no pressure...and it's been perfect. i am typically so OCD about finishing projects, so i've given myself permission to be lazy. 

will i stitch this weekend? probably. but i'm not going to put extra pressure on myself. 

here's where i am currently am (i finished a little more after this photo). since this is mine, i went with my fave background, le pavilion diamonds. the yellow flowers under the chair will be last. 

i have some ideas on how to tackle the poinsettia leaves this weekend. i am SO ready to move on to more exciting areas!

hope your weekend is wonderful and filled with fun! we're going to be on pins and needles with the impending doom of hurricane isaac. cross your fingers!

a break from the leaves

instead of fretting about the leaf dramz for another night, i picked up this old friend. i need to clear my mind, take a pause, and focus on something else for a while. 

since the adirondack chair is my tote bag, i'm not in a hurry to finish it before christmas, but it would be an extra bonus if i did. i lurve the diamonds for the background!

here's everything that's going to the finishers this weekend. i'm making a detailed list of which river silk goes with which canvas for the hanging straps. i'm printing off a few images for reference so they know what i want. 

i'm really happy with how these turned out and can't wait to see them finished! the small sizes on these make them addicting to stitch. 

perhaps this weekend i'll check in with my lady, but i'm merrily plugging along on the remaining bags!

is it a bird? a plane?

no...it's super stitcher!

stitching faster than a speeding bullet and laughing in the face of christmas deadlines

muah ha ha......

but in all seriousness i think it was the "dance moms" marathon that pulled me across the finish line last night.

the double brick stitch was fast...it was the beading on the crab that was my kryptonite. 

now off i go with my trusty laying tool and needle minder, solving my abundant needlepoint stash problems one canvas at a time...

fabulous finishing...

don't you just love getting those phone calls saying your finishing is ready to pick up?!

michelle at acadian corner always does a brilliant job with framing, it takes all the stress off of me because i know my work is in the best hands. 

sorry for the craptacular quality of my pictures. i've come to terms with it. don't cry for me argentina. 

this is country cottage needlework's "beach cottage." it's a birthday gift for my aunt, who is the one that introduced our family to the beaches of sanibel. she loves to go shelling and i thought this would be a cute token of appreciation for sharing her love of the ocean with us. 

this is jbw designs' "french country pig" and i'm not quite sure what i'll do with him. this was the first cross stitch piece i ever attempted (so please forgive me) and i went back and forth over whether or not to frame him since i knew i can do better.

i'll probably end up giving it as a gift for someone, and then doing it in a different color scheme for our house. i am in love with every single french country piece by jbw designs, and i love the small size of them. since i'm not a huge fan of hanging the framed work on the wall, the smaller size allows me to put the frame on an easel and move it wherever i want!

guess what else got finished this weekend?

this guy!

i did the kennan stitch for the background, tent stitched the sand dollar (with a few french knots in a darker shade) and then beaded the middle. i wanted to give it some depth and i've been adding 3 dimensional touches to each one. 

this is awful color quality but you can see the sand dollar a bit better. 

i'm still plugging away on the next tote bag so i can get these to the finisher. and then it's quality time with the queen!

switching gears

i had mild heart palpitations yesterday when i realized it was august 1! the holiday finishing deadlines are officially upon us so i switched gears from the nutcracker back to my tote bags. 

my apologies for the crappy lighting!

i finished the padding and river silk for the straps, and moved on the background. i chose to go with the kennan stitch just to mix up the variety of all the different bags. i was able to finish the entire right side and move to the middle before calling it a night. 

i'm confident i can finish this baby up this weekend while also devoting more time to the nutcracker queen. 

stay tuned... 

another finish!

i'm happy to report that the second tote bag was completed last night while watching "to catch a predator". quality programming i tell ya. 

i'm going to go back and add in a few stitches to the edge on the top right corner to fill it out, but this still qualifies as a finish in my book!

progress also continues on francesca. i completed all the purple areas (including crown and shoes) and then followed up with the navy blue outline around the edges. next up is the lining to her fur coat and starting on the gold work. 

i know it doesn't look like much, but i like getting all the small details out of the way so i can start on the really fun stuff. 

i bought some fun beads for her dress and the poinsettias and can't wait to start the velvet lining of her coat. moving right along!

hope you had a wonderful weekend. we are deep in the throws of hurricane season here, so it's been raining non-stop followed by steamy humidity. yum.

this little piggy

...is on its way to memphis where amy and her girls are going to provide stitch and thread selections! i purchased this beautiful patti mann ornament almost a year ago and immediately knew i wanted amy's expertise in selecting stitches and threads. there is so much potential and i can't wait to see what the golden strand girls come up with! 

the verdict on francesca's bustle? (yes, i named her this weekend) it's a yes! i finished up the right side before the weekend and after my thread-extravaganza at the lns, i'm ready to continue on the rest of her! i picked up some really amazing ideas for her dress and am itching to put them to use.

1 down, 5 to go! i finished up the first of the linda lahm tote bags on saturday. of course my eye is drawn to the area where i had to tent stitch around the name, but i'm pretty happy with how it turned out. even though it's a small area and there's not a lot of room for decorative stitches, i tried to make it as fun as it would let me! i padded and stitched the beach ball with neon rays to give it the shiny plastic look, then added memory thread for the bucket's handle. i really enjoyed working the background in the brick stitch, sometimes getting back to basics gives you the most beautiful results! 

i'm plugging along on my next tote, and will switch off between those and my stocking. it's a really nice medley and i'm super motivated with so many different projects going on simultaneously!

blah weekend

pardon my rant, but i pulled up to my lns on saturday morning, ready to collect my remaining threads and beads to continue moving forward with the tote bags, and they were closed due to illness! they've already been closed the past month because they're moving locations, and now this!!! 

i know i should be grateful that i have such a great local shop to get supplies, take classes and have finishing services, but i couldn't help but be in a bad mood. i had been looking forward to it all week...it was keeping my mind preoccupied what with babe leaving for austin. 

i had to make due with what i do have in my stash, so i continued padding and ribbon-ing the tote bag straps for 2 more bags. 

i'm in love with the electric blue / turquoise color on the crab tote. it was painted as black, but on the website it was this color. i'm glad i went with my gut to change it, it brightens the whole thing up!

i would love any suggestions for background stitches. there's 5 of these, so i want to mix it up.

hope you had a great weekend, it's just me and cricket for 6 whole weeks...yikes!

river silk is my best friend

our needlepoint beyond class for kelly clark's spring crazy quilt has been put on a brief hold since my lns is moving locations. it comes at the perfect time however, because i wanted to get started on my tote bags. it always seems like the christmas finishing deadlines get earlier and earlier, so i want to be prepared! 

because i can't get to my lns until saturday to pick up thread and beads, i went ahead and started on the "straps" of the bag. i padded it with cotton floss in the corresponding color, and then wrapped the 4 mm river silk ribbon around it to create a gathered, ruching effect.

you can faintly see the "sanibel" that i lightly penciled on as well. i am in love with with this effect and have to give vicky de angelis a big thank you for the tip!