HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!!

It has been a while since I have come to blog, but today I come to say that I am alive and well. Life has gotten in the way of my blogging and just now I have been able to get started again.

This afternoon was dedicated to my going through countless cross stitch magazines in hopes of picking out many of my 2008 projects. So far there are a few which I hope to start and finish in 2008.

Still, no matter how many patterns and magazines I have, I still purchase more and that makes it a bit harder to choose which ones to stitch. On New Year's Day, one of the LNS' near me will have a sale and I will be there looking to see what to purchase. It is very exciting for me because our stitching community has gone years without an LNS.

I am sure that some of you are wondering how my stitching is going. Unfortunately, I made a stitching error on Provence Sampler and had to unpick many of the letters (let's face it, about 13 letters had to be unpicked). So, that project is going very slowly. I did manage to finish a NOEL for Christmas, but I did not sew it into anything, so it stays "unfinished" until I decide if it will be for a pillow or bellpull.

On the crochet front, I crocheted a beautiful brown toned scarf for the holidays. I wear it with pride. Like I have often mentioned here, crocheting for me is much faster and I happen to love seeing all of the progressing labor. In one weekend I can crochet a scarf, whereas it takes me months or years to finish a cross stitch picture.

I want to wish all of you a wonderful and happy 2008.

May your stitches be plentiful.......

A WIP Pic of Provence Sampler

I promised a pic and it is my hope that you enjoy it. As you can imagine all my stitching hours are devoted to "Provence Sampler" c. Butternut Road.

Summer is flying by here and all sorts of summer stitching ideas have popped into my head. So many creative projects on the wings and two dedicated hands to stitch them.

Wiahing you a pocketful of stitches......

Stitch by Stitch, Row by Row

that is how my sampler grows.....

Here is my update on Provence Sampler c. Butternut Road. I have continued stitching the Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z on the second row. Continued with the E, F, G, H, I, and J on the first row. The second row of dashed lines is completed, all 54 of them and I completed 37 dashed lines on the first row.

Of the second set of letters, I stitched the A, B and J. So far sooooooo good. My estimation is that I am at least 20% into this project.

My goal is to finish Provence Sampler by the end of August 2007.

Picture will surely follow soon.

Off to count the stitches......

Christmas in July

There it is!! My first small. I have not decided what I will finish it as, but I feel great that Christmas 2007 will at least have a handmade decoration.

Cool, snowy stitches.......

Stitching update

After spending a few hours reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I continued stitching on "Provence Sampler". So far, I think I may have about 5% completed. My progress consists of stitching half of the top row and the top A, B, C, D, and P letters. It is coming along very well.

Time to count the stitches....

In less than an hour and a half.....

I, along with countless other Harry Potter fans, will acquire and start to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's a very exciting time!! Maybe after reading it and finishing Provence Sampler I may stitch a Harry Potter sampler.

About to read and stitch......

A New WIP

Finally, the decision to start "Provence Sampler", c. by Butternut Road, was reached. Now, it's a WIP. I managed to choose 32ct Wedgewood Lugana as my fabric and one of the DMC blue Variation threads in place of the colors used on the model. Prior to starting I basted my fabric so it would not unravel. That, folks, is the extent of my sewing ability. My hope is that my hands will made speedy work of this artwork. Since I do not rotate projects, I need for it to go fast.

As I stitch, I am thinking of Christmas and the need to choose an awesome Christmas pattern for 2007.

Stitchin' and thinkin'........

Another small finish

Today I completed a Christmas Heart from June 2007's edition of The Cross Stitcher magazine. It is a cute chart and I will use it as a Christmas ornament. I will start thinking of how to "finish" it for then.

One stitch at a time.....brings my smalls total to 2 and my medium total to one.

Happy Fourth of July

Wishing all my friends a HAPPY FOURTH! Stay safe!! Most of all ENJOY!!!!!!

Goals, Goals and more Goals

Do I have them? Of course not! Yet, I feel I must not wander through my stash unfocused. Today's purchase of the three stash items gave me the incentive to hunt for the 10/25/50 Stitcher's Challenge and I found it here. Now that I have read it and understand it a bit better I have to think about it. For now, I can honestly say that I don't think I would survive to 25 let alone 50 so let me venture onto 10 projects to start.

These days I am focused on samplers and blogging. Yes, it has not gone unnoticed by me that I have blogged more in the first three days of July than ever. I really enjoy blogging and writing in hopes that you are stopping by and reading my adventures.

As I type the thought strikes me that I am not looking to decrease my stash, but to increase the amount completed projects each year. Last year was bad... zero. This year has been better ... one. Did I see you laugh? I am laughing too!

What I think I will do first is go through a few of my stash items and post the ten cross stitch projects I wish to complete this year. As I stitch them, I will add them to my completed project list. Right now that is my best plan.

Stitching dreams....

"Resistance is Futile"

Today I found out about a LNS that opened a few weeks ago near me. Since I live in "LNS barrenland", I had to go and see what was going on.

I must say that there is a certain magic when you can actually see and touch needlework items that you are interested in purchasing. So as I looked and searched the Borg's famous mantra rang through my head, "Resistance is futile... resistance is futile." What was I to do???? What any addicted needleworker would do SHOP!!!!

I purchased 3 charts. First, Bent Creek's "Wedding Row", then Twisted Threads' "To Laugh", and Mill Hill's "Haunted Halloween". All in all I was a good needleworker and supported my LNS. Now, to stitch these awesome finds....

Happy counting!!!

What is going on with me?

This is my third post in two days. I must be doing something right :-)

I finally decided what my new WIP will be ... tah dah ... a couple of Holiday smalls from the June 2007 issue of The Cross Stitcher Magazine. My goal is to stitch the Christmas Tree and the Christmas Heart. Let's see how I do.

On the left side of my blog, I have started a Completed Works list. With time I hope to learn the blog program so I may have a stunnning blog that will show off lots of my hard work.

Happy Fourth to all!

Can you believe it???

I am posting twice in one day lol :-)) Oh well, I am trying to catch up.

A few minutes ago I decided on what my next project will be. For the next few days I will be stitching "smalls". My thought is that if I do a few small things then my motivation will improve for the bigger projects.

If you are like me, you read blogs by other stitchers. An item that I have seen in a few is the stitcher's challenge where they set up a number of projects that they will stitch out of their stash before going to purchase more. Well, that is the idea that I have taken from the blogs.

Thinking in that way, I will search my stash and pick out some items that I will stitch prior to purchasing more stash. That is going to be very hard. There are a few items that I am really interested in buying and I purchase magazines for my collections. As you know, there are times that if one doesn't buy the magazine on the newstand when it is there, the odds are that it will be sold out and not even on eBay when you want to buy it.

So, I will put a lot of thought into this and see if I am going to go "on the wagon" completely, or if I am going to ride a few stops.

Stitching the night away.....

My first 2007 XS finish!!!

There it is centerstage! I am so excited that it is finished!! It took a bit more time than I thought it would, but it was worth every minute. The heart design is by a wonderful French designer, Isa Vautier.

Now, I am off to figure out what to stitch next. Believe me, it is not like I have nothing to stitch. There are stacks and stacks of magazines with rows upon rows of books waiting to be seen. Then there are the charts and booklets that have gone unnoticed for years. I must go through all the wonderful older designs for I find that the older designs are especially beautiful. When I go through the my stash, it feels as if I am going shopping .... but cheaper....lol.

It is a wonderful feeling to start the second part of 2007 with my first finish.

Wishing you beautiful stitches!!

I'm back with a WIP

I am so glad to be blogging and stitching again! For our viewing pleasure, I have uploaded a picture of my latest WIP. The designer is a very famous (I guess) French designer, Isa Vautier. There are many things of her designs that fascinate me.

For some reason, I am enamored of her heart designs. The floss that I am using is DMC 115 ... I love that color .... on Ivory 28ct. Jobelan (which happens to be my favorite fabric).

My hands and eyes are trying to finish stitching this beauty within the week. Hopefully a framing sale will provide the presentation necessary to do the piece justice.

Wishing you lots of stitching moments!!!!!

I'm here... I am here

I know, I know, it has been a looong night. Sorry about that. The days have flown by and I have not had a chance to download and upload the pictures that I wish to share with you.

Good news!! I have been stitching and am extremely pleased with my results. The needlework is coming to life and brings me much joy.

Soon, there will be a picture of my new project and the progress that I have made.

Lots of happy thoughts going your way....:-))

My Brazilian Disney Magazine Collection

As I was putting my magazine stash in order, I thought it would be nice to share a picture of more Disney Magazine stash. These are wonderful magazines from Brazil. The characters that are graphed are not readily found in the United States.

By now you can see that I enjoy collecting Disney cross stitching items. Once I have more time I will continue sharing pictures of more of my Disney stash.

Today, I crocheted more Granny Squares for my navy/green scarf. Temptation got the best of me and I returned to the shoppe and purchased more lavender and grape colored yarn. That will be the yarn I use for my next crocheting project, once I figure out what it is and which stitch I will employ.

Tomorrow my post will consist of sharing pictures of all the Granny squares I have created for my newest two scarves. Hope you will come back and share those with me.

Good night.....

Christmas in March

Well, this year is off to a flying start. I can't believe that it is March and that I am still not cross stitching or crocheting as much as I wish. There is no time for me to get into a slump because I have stash to last me for lifetimes. So to this end I am going to post here, for the world to see (okay, only you for now) my cross stitching WIP... (work in progress, for the newbies... I was one too).



CHRISTMAS CHICKADEE (copyright V. Phiffer) I started this November 2006 and I will have this stitched for Christmas 2007. There are a few ways that I am thinking of finishing it and framing of course is one of them.

Thoughts of a SAL have been floating in my mind. Maybe I will start one with a friend or just stitch a bit each day by myself. That will be another post, I guess.

So, I wonder....(since this blog is pretty much about me and my stitching or lack thereof, I guess I am allowed) how it is that there are some stitchers that can stitch 100's of items a year and I barely get one stitched? Hmmmmmmm. Sometimes, I think I am bad because I don't stitch as much as I want to. I find other things to do such as read stitching blogs and stitching magazines. There is so much inspiration around me in those venues that I am awed and transfixed on the beauty of those creations that I just stare and do not stitch. I must wake up!!!! Start up the battery and STITCH!!!!!

Oh well, this year is a new start for me. I will stitch more, report progress more, stitch more, report...stitch ... report. You get the idea.

Off I go to make sure that the picture posted.....

Thanks for reading.

I think I have done it!!!!

If I did this correctly you should see a picture of my Disney magazines inside my blog post.



I love these magazines because they are easy to read and they have the most adorable characters in them in every issue. The babies and the children on the covers are cute too!!

Let's see if I can do it again!!!!!


These are the granny squares that will be part of my new scarf. I am already working on a green/navy combination which I think that looks better than the navy/gold. I like that because it makes me feel that I am becoming better at crocheting. I think that I am choosing better colors that define my tastes and as long as I like my newest project better than my last, I will feel that I am progressing.

Today I purchased a few baby blanket crochet patterns. I couldn't resist them because they were so cute. I will make one or two as gifts and then adapt the pattern to make adult sized blankets :0).

I also saw a few wonderfully handmade crocheted scarves this weekend. They gave me a few ideas which only means that I must learn more patterns and more stitches. I think that I will enjoy myself alot.

Well, now that I know that I can take pictures and post them, I will continue to do so. Hopefully you like my pictures and continue to visit me often.

Off I go to take more pictures......see you soon!!!!!

I think I have gone mad!

Mad for crocheting scarves. I must say that I have spent much of my day crocheting "Granny Squares" in both gold/blue and blue/green. So far I have crocheted 11 squares and I see no end in sight... well until I finish both scarves and then proceed to another crochet design.

I have also looked at many blogs today and I am amazed at the content of most of them. They are truly works of art and I am humbled. Hopefully, I will be able to learn alot from them and create a few of the pieces for which there are lessons and show my creations here.

One of the things that I managed to do was upload two pictures today. There is still much to learn and I will most likely edit the pics so that they will be part of a post. My plans for the rest of the evening are to crochet more granny squares and take pictures of them.

Well, off I go to crochet some more. Have a wonderful Sunday evening!

Roses and Valentines Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and I saw many beautiful flowers being delivered. That made me think that I love flowers and that I should cross stitch a few flower pieces. My favorite flowers are pansies and violets. I love their faces and I just enjoy their colors. I think that the ones I like most are purple and yellow with the black face. That is until I see the light blue and yellow with the black lines and faces. I do enjoy them so. Another of my favorites is the rose. I adore pink, yellow and candy roses especially when they smell like roses. Sometimes the rose smell on roses is rare. Aren't flowers beautiful? They brighten the world with their color. There are some cross stitch designers design flowers beautifully.

Kooler Design Studio's Barbara Baatz designs incredibly breathtaking flowers. I enjoy her depiction of tulips and roses. Sometimes I think that one can actually smell them if one tries hard enough. I have been lucky enough to have stitched a rose from The Silver Lining. Although I can't remember it's name, I can tell you that it is a peach colored rosebud that is so detailed, it looks alive.

In a few days, I will start uploading pictures for your enjoyment. Hopefully, I will be able to add a few features and links on my blog. I do want this blog to grow and help me not only stitch better but become more computer literate.

Till next time....... take time to smell the roses........

Welcome to Between the Stitches

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to Between the Stitches! This is my first attempt at blogging and I am excited to be here and share my stitching with you.

Between the Stitches is primarily a stitching blog. Most if not all my entries will be about stitching. Cross stitching is my favorite way to pass the time along with knitting and crocheting. During the Winter, I have crocheted a few scarves and have knitted one. My cross stitching has suffered a bit and I have not done as much cross stitching as I wished. Hopefully, that will change in 2007 with your support.

Before we get to be fast and furious friends there are somethings that you need to know about me. I adore needlework magazines and I love to travel. In fact, if I can travel and get needlework magazines at the same time I become the easiest person to live with. Any needlework magazine makes me happy. Because of that, I have an incredible collection of cross stitch magazines and I am starting both a knitting and crocheting collection as well. If I were to count how many cross stitch magazines I have, I am sure that we would be counting upwards of one thousand (1,000) that is not an exaggeration, remember I told you that cross stitch magazines make me happy. That does not include my cross stitch charts or books which total themselves in at least another thousand. So, I am what many would call a cross stitch magazine addict. Oh well, there are worse things to be called, I guess.

Through this blog, I hope to share my stash acquisitions, stitching endeavors and marvellous stitching links to items that I enjoy along with links to my friends stitching blogs. I promise to update my pages regularly with articles and pictures.

Together, we can see what develops!