Wonderful Wednesday 65 - Six Little Stitches

Once again in a botanical mood, I am loving this sweet Floral Leaf Heart pattern by Six Little Stitches. The soothing colors and the beautiful simplicity of the design really call out to me.

12 Months of Christmas: Swan-a-swimming

Here I am with #7 Swan-a-swimming from the 12 Days of Christmas patterns by Mmmcrafts, for our 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong! This stitch was great fun, and I was once again using bits and scraps, as this was before my new order of Benzie design felt arrived. In some spots, I got a bit... creative. :)

Here I am, just starting out with the stitching, once again relying heavily on my OttLite lamp for all those early morning/middle of the night stitching binges. This is only a bit of the chaos - I find when I am working on these ornaments I have a huge mess of threads, sissors and felt around me. It's kind of like cooking, where I really must clean up as I go along, or the mess starts to discourage me! :)

Here is my swan with a bit more progress, and you can see a stealthy way I used felt scraps here - I knew the inner back wing would not be visible, and my yellowish felt was almost gone, so I just used a small scrap instead! I could get away with it because I have a nice heavy interfacing.

Here I am, sewing down the flower detail on the wing - this is one of my favorite elements of the design - so easy to stitch, and such a lovely look to it!

Here's the back - I'm not a huge fan of the colors I chose, but I do love the front, and let's face it, that's what will be seen most!

And here she is, all stitched up! Someone with eagle eyes on Instagram noticed that I modified the water - the pattern called for a thin line of stitching, a water line, if you will. Instead, I layered the felt in 2 colors to achieve a similar effect, without the stitching. I like my result, what do you think?

JOIN THE 12 MONTHS OF CHRISTMAS STITCHALONG!

This stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet where you are tracking your progress. And don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html.

Next up is Maid-a-milking! Please join us - let's stitch!

Previous Stitchalong Posts

#1-2: Partridge and Pear; Turtle Dove

#3: French Hen

#4: Colly Bird

#5: Gold Ring

#6: Goose-a-laying

Wonderful Wednesday 64: Hawthorn Handmade

Loving this beautiful Wildwood Embroidery Kit by Hawthorn Handmade - from the description, this kit includes: pre-printed fabric, 6 shades of DMC thread, embroidery hoop, needle, stitch guide, printed card pattern, and gift box. For a kit to include all of that, it looks to be a wonderful deal!

Wonderful Wednesday 63: Lolli & Grace

It's been awhile since I've posted a Wonderful Wednesday, but this beautiful pattern by Lolli & Grace on Etsy couldn't be missed!

Being on chemo, I've felt myself frequently enter a state of mind I jokingly call "survival mode" - but the joke isn't far off from the truth. What it is, is a paring down of everything I do on a daily basis, until I am left only with the things that bring me joy. Sort of like housecleaning, but the house is my soul, I guess. :)

This embroidery reminds me of everything hopeful in the world, and it's something I keep reminding myself of, as often as possible.

I think we're all in a bit of survival mode in different ways, every day, aren't we? If so, I hope this beautiful pattern brings you joy - thank you Lolli & Grace for designing it!

Vote!

Download free pattern

Hi all - here's another friendly PSA to get out there and vote - for many states, TODAY is the last day to register to vote, if you're not registered already. There are plenty of sites to check your registration status, and if you're undecided (or decided), I urge you to read all you can about your candidates and make the best, most informed decision you can make.

NEVER DOUBT that your vote matters. NEVER DOUBT that it is your responsibility to vote, as a citizen of this country. NEVER ALLOW anyone to convince you your vote doesn't matter, that the odds are against you, that it's not worth the bother. NEVER TRUST any group that seeks to silence the votes of any citizen.

Ugh, sorry for the caps, it's just become so much clearer to me, just 2 years after I created that cute little Vote pattern, just how important it is to vote. We have a stake in our country, we have a stake in our future, but we will lose it if we stay home and don't exercise our right. Our democracy is fragile, and it takes work - our work.

Ladies and gentlemen, please - let's get to it and vote!

12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong: What felt am I using?

Here's a brief, image-heavy post on the felt I just ordered to stitch the 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong! I've already tantalized people over on Instagram with these images, but I'll go into a bit more depth  and description here.

This is the Mmmmcrafts Felt Bundle #2 from Benzie Design, specifically designed for the Turtle Dove and Maid a Milking patterns. I adore this felt - it's not 100% wool, but a wool and rayon blend that is thick, but not too thick, keeps its shape really well, and as you can see, the colors are just glorious:

I also ordered this lovely Bejeweled felt palette from Benzie Design - although not specifically designed for the 12 Days patterns, I love to wing it with colors and try different combinations. I'm excited to see what I can do with these shades!

Beautiful colors, huh? And you even get a peek of my ratty carpet behind my white posterboard background, because I'm just keeping it real for you. :)

I also wanted to add that although this post might look like an ad, it is not - I was not compensated in any way or asked to post about Benzie Design - I just did it because I love their felt so much, and I ordered and paid for these bundles myself. At $10 each, I think they're a wonderful deal.

The same goes for this stitchalong - I paid for all the patterns myself, and am only doing this stitchalong because I love Mmmcrafts patterns so much.

Here's a sneak peek of my next post in the stitchalong, coming soon - Swan a swimming! I think it's my favorite stitching I've done in this series yet!