Tiffstitches a Blog!

There's a few giveaways here, and it looks as if she has a great selection of products! First, some floss here, and it looks gorgeous! You have until May 30th to enter.  Then a $25 gift certificate to her ebay store, and again she's giving us until May 30th.  AND a Mother's Day giveaway as well! This one ends on Mother's Day of course.  Enjoy looking around her shoppe! ...

April was a pretty productive month, I had 2 finishes! So now I have 5 finishes out of 12, so I'm a little bit ahead. Shall we re-cap? Again, this is for Lady Kell's X-Stitching Xmas Challenge. My first finish was a rose coaster in DMC perle and DMC metallics on 8.5 count waste canvas on to ivory felt. I broke 3 needles and it's not an experience I wish to repeat. I think it was the thickness of the threads that caused the issue, but needless to say I will not be using waste canvas again soon.  My second finish...

Here she is! The finishing touches have been added, she was ironed for maybe an hour, although it felt longer.. and she's 100% complete and framed!  I also have some close-ups so you can see the detail. With the mat we were able to leave the glass in, as you can likely tell by the glare, and I think it looks really good this way.  Here are the promised close-ups.  As Joyce suggested, I stitched the strings for the mandolin right before she was stretched and placed on the mounting board. I think it worked really well. They're nice and flat without needing...

I started this subversive band sampler by Lady Kell of Kincavel Krosses last summer. It was for a thank-you for a friend that helped me out a lot when my car broke down 40 minutes from my house. I was away from home for a while and never got the piece entirely finished, and wasn't worried about it too much, knowing I would get back to it eventually. Recently I heard my friend was in the hospital for treatment and evaluation of a possible stroke! So I started back at this piece immediately and finished it up. I just need to...

 Hosted by Lady Kell at Diary of a Domestic Goddess No finishes this past month for Xmas X-stitching, but I did get a lot of work done on Angelic Melody. Let's start with her.  So she's well on her way to completion. It's possible even within a few weeks. The wing is all half cross-stitch and as you can see in the next picture, it's only the top banner that is practically untouched.  I've been backstitching and cording, etc. as I go so I don't have a ton left to do at the end. I'm going to leave the strings on the...

One of my favourite blogs, Random Ramblings, posted about one of her friends de-stashing and getting rid of a lot of wonderful stash. I picked some gorgeous blue fabrics and an Irish Sampler pattern.  If you'd like to see what else she has for sale, here's the original post from Random Ramblings.  I've been doing a fair amount of stitching lately as well. On the CSF someone brought up stitching 10 hours on something, then switching to another project. I've decided to rotate my projects over stitching sessions. I really need to finish Angelic Melody, so I've been stitching on it every other day...

I completed a small coaster for my Grandma using LK's St Patrick's day chart. I used navy 14 count aida and backed it with a spare piece of the same. Most of the colours are just DMC, but I did use WDW Purple Haze on the bottom right section and WDW Dutch Iris on the lower bird. I hope she likes it! I did mail it out about a week ahead, so with luck it arrived before March 17th.  I have an Easter one by another designer I'd like to start and right now I'm going to start on Lady Kell's Quaker...

So I didn't get my pre-IHSW blog post written. We had some friends down this week and I hardly had any stitchy time! I had even forgotten it was IHSW until I saw Joysze's post this morning. I did have to work all weekend, but of course some stitching was done. I rented Tintin on Saturday and Cowboys and Aliens on Sunday. We'd seen them both in the theatre, but both worth another viewing. Saturday I worked on my HAED, this can be like a game since I don't feel I accomplished much. Can you see the difference?  I've decided to try and...

I was marking my fabric when my finger just slipped, Now my pattern is torn and my fabric is ripped.  My thread is all knotted and my needles are bent, My get-up-and-go just got up and went.  But I've got a sampler for a wedding to do, It'll only be late by a year or two. The baby sampler for my sister is done, Her little baby has just turned twenty-one.   The WIPs are getting dusty, but my bobbins are wound For my new project needs this floss I just found.  I was on a little walk, when just my...

A new LNS is open only a 5 minute drive from work! It's called The Whistling Duck and did have another location previously, but they've been in transition for over a year and I had no idea they'd be re-opening so close! This location is excellent, in a plaza near the UPS store, Bead Crazy, Amarah's (chocolatier), Plato's Closet, and the Route 99 restaurant. I've been in every few days over the past couple weeks and there are always other customers, so I think they will do some very good business in this location.  I happened to notice their sign as...

This month brings another finish! I was able to find another LNS, and I really need a separate post to gush about how exciting that is, but the important point is they had both WDW Ivy and Autumn Leaves to allow me to finish this piece.  as you can tell I haven't ironed it yet, but I did thumbtack it to the wall and it makes me happy to look at it completed. I was really feeling bogged down by the number of WIPs I had going, so having another completion feels really, really good. A friend mentioned since it's on...

As one of my friends on the Cross Stitch Forum mentioned, it's easy to blame the Crazy January Challenge for my startitis.  That's right, I have a new project started. In my defence, it will be part of Lady Kell's Xmas Xstitching Challenge and a gift for my Grandma (I think). Of course, I already had a couple other things in mind for her that are half started, but no matter!  This one is entitled Homeward Trail in Winter from the January edition of CrossStitch & Needlework. I'm using a 28 count fabric that I've lost the tag too. It might be Jobelan? It was a...

My wonderful DH was going to be near my new favourite LNS and was able to pick up some of the threads for my Xmas tree. Unfortunately they didn't have anything for my 2012 Sampler, and only 2 each of Ivy and Autumn Leaves by WDW. He was able to order WDW Bethlehem, but the clerk told him the horrifying news that this store would not be stocking WDW anymore!! NO!!! I finally found this place after searching the WDW website for a nearby place that carried their threads, and now they're not stocking them anymore.. argh! I've emailed the owners...

Time for this month's update on my Xmas challenge. I really hope I can actually meet this one, we'll see what comes up during the year. I was already slowed down a bit by another gift that was mentioned in the last post, but it maybe only took a week all told. In no particular order, here's what I've accomplished so far.  Xmas tree by skitzzzz I'm really loving this project, I just ran out of thread! Otherwise I think I would have finished it first. I'm using WDW Autumn Leaves and Ivy working 2 over 1 on 14 count gold...

Last night I watched our blu-ray version of A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More and managed to finish my gift. I didn't work as hard on it until the last couple days since it will be received on Saturday (Feb. 4) now instead of this past Sunday (Jan. 29). It was fun to stitch this one, and Kell's charts are always fun to stitch. Also, I had my DMC colors wrong, it was 106 and 67 that I used. I actually used up a whole skein of 106. Without further rambling..   It's 2 over 2 on 28...

As mentioned yesterday, I worked on the gift for my co-worker who's abandoning us next week. Again, the finished project will look like this. I'm stitching on 28 count white monaco, despite the fact the picture looks grey! I completely forgot to write down my colours again, but I believe it's DMC 57 and 67. The outside will be all in 57 and the inside will be 67. I didn't have a ton of time to stitch because of work (naturally) but I think I put a good 6-8 hours into this so far. I was watching DH play Zelda Skyward Sword,...

I'm a bit late with my initial post for IHSW this month. We're hosted by Joysze of Random Ramblings and there's a record 163 stitchers signed up! I'll have to do some "stalking" of blogs later, but first I need to post my own entry.  I don't think I'll be able to stitch on Angelic Melody, instead I'll be working on Lady Kell's fantastic Don't Make Me Kill You sampler. It can be found on her Kincavel Krosses page. There's a ton of other fantastic designs, so check it out. A good friend is leaving work next weekend so I hope I can get it done by then. If...

I did take that break from Angelic Melody to relax over the last few days before the New Year. I worked a bit on The Good Life kit but mostly I relaxed after the frantic stitching before Christmas.  Angelic Melody latest progress. The newest stitches are the cording on her dress and the green riboon and of course more filling and more backstitch!  The Good Life update And on to progress/plans for Kell's Xmas Xstitching Challenge 2012. I started her 2012 Band Sampler and I'm using WDW's holiday threads, I think Bethlehem by their colour guide, but I need to find where I put...

So I did not get Angelic Melody completed for my MIL this Xmas. I'm not sure if it will be for next year or just as I finish it. My progress to date as of December 24th will be below. I haven't worked on it since because I needed a break from it for a while!  DH says it will be a masterpiece when completed. He's the best. :D ...

At the start of 2011 I signed up for the Crazy January Challenge after hearing some other members of the Cross Stitch Forum (CSF) talk about joining in. I started 15 new projects successfully the first 15 days of January as follows: 1. 2011 sampler by Kell (DONE) 2. Super Mario sampler by carladee (DONE) 3. spiral fractal by skitzz 4., 5. 2 flower coasters free chart by the Cross Stitchers Club (DONE 1) 6. Yellow submarine chart from Pinoy stitch 7. one ornament from Snowflake Elegance Ornaments Gold Collection by Dimensions 8. Angelic Melody Gold Collection by Dimensions 9. Tiger by Janlynn...

Since I failed at the Crazy January Challenge in 2011 I've decided to tackle something new for 2012. Kell of Kincavel Krosses is hosting the X-Stitching Xmas Challenge 2012. If you don't celebrate Christmas, that's okay, any winter holiday will do. The goal is to complete 12 projects that you will be giving away around December 25, 2012. The first Saturday of each month will be X-Stitching Xmas Saturday when Kell will post her progress and we'll all try and comment and link back to our own blogs.  I love creating something for family members and friends that appreciate it, and I usually give...

This weekend I will finally join the Internation Hermit and Stitch Weekend. One of my few weekends off work and I need the time to try and finish my mother-in-law's Christmas gift, Angelic Melody. I've been following the IHSW all year, but I've never had the opportunity to participate until now. It's definitely needed since I still have over half of the stitching left to do on this project, not to mention all the backstitch. I think there are a few places I can skip the backstitch would should save me some time, but there is still a lot to get...