Farmstead Christmas

I recently finished stitching Farmstead Christmas by Plum Street Samplers. Stitched on 32 count "cauldron" linen by picture this plus with DMC threads.

I just love this design! 

I started stitching a small thread fold  kit by Mary Garry's Sewing Cabin called Milkpaint Sampler. This is a kit offered by Kreinik. This was so generously gifted to me by another stitcher. 

I have framed our Anniversary sampler, not sure if I had previously posted a picture of it framed, so here it is! Looks so pretty above our fireplace ❤️

To my surprise I recently inherited a sterling silver thimble that belonged to my great Aunt Catherine. You can imagine how thrilled I was! I never met her in person, but I feel honored to now own her thimble and to know she was a needleworker too. It is engraved, and very, very old... Vintage! 

I also inherited one of her Duchess wood embroidery hoops!

I stitched a small scissor fob for another friend going through breast cancer. I keep her in my prayers for healing and health.

I crocheted a red lap blanket for my daughter in love for Christmas. She loved it! ❤️

Our church crochet ministry made many blankets for veterans. I felt so honored to be a part of this project! I was happy I was able to make some of the blankets too. Here are some pictures of all our blankets for the veterans displayed on the pews in our Catholic Church.

Here is one of the blankets I had made:

All the many blankets!

We have some news! We have added to our family. We headed down to the shelter and adopted a cattle dog mix. We named her Ginger and she is a very sweet dog. We have been adjusting to having a dog in our home, as well as she has been adjusting, she gets lots of love!

Here is our sweet Ginger:

We had a wonderful Fall season, and a great winter season so far! We have been quite busy. We celebrated our daughters 21st birthday, took many walks on our Trail Of Blessings on our property, lots of visits with our backyard neighbor's horse "Cherry"!,  took a mountain trip, a beach trip, day trips to antique shops, picked out some great pumpkins at a local Farmstand, took a trip to the stitch shop in SC with friends, our Son and his wife came home for Thanksgiving, we are truly blessed indeed!!

Here are just some of the many pictures I took all through the season!

Cherry with "our tree"!

Home❤️

I'm at the Stitch N Frame shop in SC... Can you just see the happiness on my face?! lol 😀

A collage of the inside of the stitch shop. Can you see why I'm so happy to visit?! Glad it's not too far from home, about an hour. I have plenty of friends that way, so always a wonderful trip!

Me and my daughter had so much fun picking out our pumpkins!

Andy our bird:

Our Son came back from a long deployment. We missed him so much. I made sure our time together for Thanksgiving was just wonderful! It was so good to have him and his wife home with us. We had a big feast! I prepared lots of delicious food too.

Our little family, we are blessed!

Our beautiful Christmas tree...

Of course I made all my special cookies!

I baked some other goodies recently too...

Andy was happy that Santa brought him millet!

Andy weighing in on things and saying it's been a pretty good year! ....

I've already started my list of to-do's for the coming year. I would love to stitch The Lord's Prayer. 

For today though as I type this, I lay in bed with another severe headache.

It's so difficult to plan things when my headaches take over.

Tomorrow is another day. 

I wish you all a New Year filled with all good things and many Blessings!

Louise xx

Ira Ray Crow joins the Mrs!

I have finished stitching Ira Ray Crow. I'm so excited to have this couple done. What a cute pair they make for the Fall season! Ida Mae has been waiting on him for a very long time now. They are finally joined together, as they should be. 

So cute! :)

Here they are, I'm in love with them and very pleased!

I've stitched them on 25 count potato lugana with DMC threads . 

These charts by The Goode Huswife are long out of print, and I have passed my charts on. You can sometimes find them in eBay, or etsy.

I did some sewing yesterday, I took a couple of charm pack squares of fabric and sewed them together to start a quilt top. So easy and the results are fantastic!

I like a simple looking quilt verses the fancy ones.

I tend to like traditional old fashioned styles.

I also gravitate to certain colors, especially red, white and blue!

Here is what I have done...

I will have to either add more squares or sashings , as it is not big enough for my needs. It was fun to put together though! 

I think I need to do a bit of house work today, but lunch is up first. I wish you all a blessed day!

Louise xx

Ira Ray Crow

Well, I've decided that Ms. Ida Mae has been waiting way too long for her husband to arrive, so it was time to stitch him up!! 

He is such a fun stitch! I love these designs by The Goode Huswife. I am stitching him on 25 count potato lugana, just as I did for Ida Mae. They will be a matching pair :) 

I put out some of our Fall decor, although it's still in the 90's this week... Will it ever end?!! I hope the cooler weather arrives soon!!! I found this pretty Autumn cross for our front door...

More decor for the porch...

I made some pretty wreaths for our back porch too....

Looks so pretty from the inside as well!

I think I will be sewing up some new pillowcases today. And working on this scarf for our church ministry...

Thank you for stopping by and I wish you all a wonderful day filled with many

Blessings my dear friends!

Louise xx

Caron Cakes!

The Caron Yarn Company is celebrating

100 years, and have created Caron Cakes for this exciting event!

It is exclusive to Michaels craft stores at the moment. I had to go there to see what the buzz was all about and I'm so glad I did!

The yarn is so beautiful and soft!

It comes in so many pretty colors.

It is a blend of 80 percent acrylic, 20 percent wool.

It is hand wash only, lay flat to dry (which could be a drawback if you want to make a really big project)...

I did purchase some, the color I chose was cherry chip! Such pretty pinks and a brown color that transition so nicely from one color to the next .

I decided to make a double crochet lap blanket for myself for road trips. I always like to keep a Blanket on me in the car , especially when the air conditioning can become a bit chilly on long trips. 

I used just under four of these Caron Cake skeins for this project. *****(Approximately 3 1/2 skeins!)*****

They are $7.99 each at regular price... But there were sales, and you can also use those 40 percent off Michaels coupons! I made a couple of trips and took a friend with me to buy two at a time with two coupons! 

I am very happy with my new blanket,

It came out so pretty! 

It's so nice to have one just for "me" for a change. :)

Here are some pictures to show you just how pretty this new yarn works up!

Such yummy colors indeed!! This will also be the perfect little couch blanket to snuggle up with a cup of tea or cocoa on chilly nights. I'm so glad I made this!

My completed blanket measures 42w x 45 1/2 L (inches!)

***Edited to add directions for this 2 double crochet design blanket I made with Caron Cakes Yarn, as I have received many requests! :) ********

****please use hand written notes at the bottom! I chained 112 to make this lap blanket, along with a size "K" hook

I've not started either of those two cross stitch designs from the previous post... I changed my mind (surprise surprise! Haha!) 

I have chosen a Notforgotton Farm design called "Spring Farm" to stitch.

It just called to me suddenly.

I am stitching it on 32 count vintage country mocha linen with DMC and Victoria Motto Sampler Threads.

I am trying something new for the first time. I am stitching with one strand of thread instead of two.

I am loving it so far!

It is so fine and small looking, it's hard to fully describe how beautiful it truly looks. It seems like the coverage is ok for now, I believe because the linen count is small enough.

Thought you might like to see my embroidery scissor collection! Some ginghers, some of them are scissors that I inherited from my late uncle. He used to tie fly's for fishing. Although not considered embroidery scissors, I think they might be even better, and sharper too!!

My finds at goodwill the other day...

A spotted hen for .25 cents, and two bunny tea light candle holders for just a dollar each! 

Their is a bit of a chill in the air today, and so glad for it!! It has been way too hot here in NC! Looking forward to cooler weather and the Fall.

I baked an apple pie for my dear husband last night...

My daughter wants to try pumpkin Cheerios... So I will be on the hunt for that this week. I will also be baking today for the bake sale at church to help with their fundraiser. Perhaps I will make chocolate chip cookies.

I am now making scarves for our crochet ministry. These scarves go to ill patients in the hospital. It is such a nice feeling to know we are doing something to comfort those in need. Here is my latest scarf..

I made a purple one before this one... They work up pretty quickly using the "V" stitch ...

I am happy that today I am feeling well. I have been very ill lately suffering weekly migraines and have been absolutely suffering for days on end. 

I don't know what each day will

Bring but try to remain positive and know God is with me always.

I know that along with very bad days, I will be blessed with good ones too.

I think today I will get out some of my Fall decorations, as I just cannot wait, and it's my favorite time of year!

I wish you all a blessed day ❤️

Louise xx

Farmhouse Christmas

My newest finished piece. Farmhouse Christmas by Pineberry Lane. Stitched on linen I bought off a bolt at Joanns fabric store which I coffee and tea stained. I used Victoria Motto Sampler Shoppe Hand Dyed Floss. The colors I used are Flag Pole Brown, Grand Old Flag(red) and Antique Stripes(cream).

I told my dear husband I wanted a farm...

He told me to make a list! (Now I'm wondering if he is serious)!! He just might be! 

My mind is wandering, chickens, ducks... Oh my!! Squeeee!!!

I know one day this will happen... In my heart I have been a farm girl my whole life. I want to see this become a reality

Before I am too old.

❤️

If you dream it, wish it, believe it,

Pray for it,

It can happen, I know God can make it happen.

He knows what has been in my heart since I was a little girl. 

I have faith... Maybe, perhaps...

One day ...

Louise xx

The sewing method

A while back I made a video of "The Sewing Method" of cross stitch.
This is a way I do much of my stitching that may have sections of solid color.
This method can only be done when using solid colors of threads, such as DMC.
You can not do this method using overdyed threads, as they are not even in coloring.
 For overdyed threads you must complete one "x" at a time, so this method would not work.
When using this "sewing" method of cross stitch, you stitch the (lower leg) of the cross stitch, going from left to right along a row, then you stitch the (upper, top leg) of the cross stitch going from right to left. It really is a simple method once you get the hang of it, and decreases your stitching time greatly!

To start, you put your needle in the lower left hole of a stitch, then to the top right, and so on..across your row, left to right to the end of the row...then, as you come back, you put your needle in the lower right, then top left holes..and so on, as you go across right to left in your row. I hope this all makes sense for you, and helps you in your "sewing method" ventures!

Louise's Sewing Method of Cross Stitch CLICK HERE!

I thought I should share it with you all .
Enjoy and Happy Stitching!
Blessings!

 Louise xx

Love Never Fails

I am so excited to finally have our anniversary piece finished! This is a very special piece and I have been working on it since February of this year.

This is titled "Love Never Fails" by Barbara Ana Designs. Stitched on 32 count antique Ivory linen with DMC threads. I have changed the design up a bit to make it more personal for us.

In place of the cats, I put bunnies, for my love of rabbits. A pair of scissors and a needle for my love of needlework.

For my husband, an anchor, as he had served in the U.S. Navy. Another anchor for him, because he is just that, the anchor of our family.

The years at the top represent the year we got married and the present year.

In the bottom boxes, our birth years.

Small hearts with first initials for our Son, his wife (our daughter), and our daughter.

Two small crosses represent the babies we did not get to meet here on earth but will one day in heaven!

A compass to remind us that whatever lies ahead of us, our love will always guide us...

I am completely thrilled with this piece! I have plans to frame it in an oak frame and it will be hung in a special place in our home...

Thinking on what to stitch next!

In the meantime.... I have also completed another donated blanket for veterans through our church ministry.

Love the red, white, and blue!

May the recipient feel all the love, prayers, and warmth out into each stitch as I made it for them ❤️

Our crepe myrtle tree has finally blossomed in front of our porch. It is so beautiful to look at, along with watching the hummingbirds, while I sit with my tea and projects.

I have pulled out some charts I would like to start soon...

One is this one, called "Land of the Free" by Willow Hill Samplings

The other design I would love to start is called "Time and Season Sampler" by Moira Blackburn

What to do... What to do..!!!!

Perhaps I shall start both at once! I know, that's possibly a bit too much overwhelming perhaps.. I don't know?

I am just so excited with the possibilities of new starts!

I suppose I have come down with startitis! Heehee :P

Well, besides all this good stuff, there is laundry to do, food to be made, housework to get done... Oh my...

Never seems to be enough hours in the day... Or nights. Why do we need sleep anyways?! There is stitching and crafting to be done!

Happy Saturday all!

Blessings❤️

Louise xx