Parterre de Fleurs Finish :)

Pattern: Parterre de Fleurs by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast linen by Zweigart
Threads: Belle Soie 'Noir', Crescent Colours 'Secondhand Rose', 'Weeping Willow', Gentle Art 'Lemon Drops', and DMC B5200
Start/Finish: 4/22-5/6/2018

Good evening everyone! I hope you had a good weekend. My weekend was so-so. I went by the oil change place to get my car's oil changed and its coolant refilled. I came away with notes about needing new tires, a possible oil gasket replacement, and the coolant hoses looked at.

Sigh......so I'll have to take my car in on Saturday to get new tires and the oil gasket looked at. If they can get that done, I'll see about getting the coolant hoses, etc. looked at for a leak. Seems like a lot, but doesn't really surprise me because it's a 12 year old car. LOL

So after all that 'good' news, I went by Hobby Lobby and bought threads for a new cross stitch project and I broke my diet by getting a Frappuccino; my feelings needed it even if my tummy didn't.

I came home and sat down to bobbinate threads and go through my stash to see what duplicates I had. That took all day and part of this morning, but I liked the fact that I had all my threads organized. All my duplicates are in a bag. I plan on pulling them out and seeing how many I have of each color and making a list for the bag for future reference.

This afternoon I finished up the Parterre de Fleurs design! I had to change out the Bamboo color with DMC B5200 as the Bamboo threads were blending in too much.

I had two colors of Secondhand rose so I alternated on each side of the fabric. The lighter Secondhand rose had more variation in it compared to the darker shade.

I was hoping to get started on the CCN Cakes, but when I looked at the fabric I had the other cakes stitched on, I noticed that I would only have maybe about two inches left on the bottom of the fabric. That's too close for comfort so I went through my stash to see if I had any more 32ct Belfast cream linen and sadly I didn't have enough.....since I used it for the Parterre de Fleurs design.

Hobby Lobby has stopped selling a lot of their Zweigart and Wichelt fabrics so I'll have to order some Belfast online.

Well, that didn't stop me from starting a new piece or at least planning for it. I found a cute Alice in Wonderland PDF pattern on Etsy. So yesterday I got the threads I was missing and today after bobbinating and finishing up Parterre de Fleurs, I got the last of my 32ct Belfast out, ironed, and prepped.

It calls for a lot of DMC threads....about 30+, I really wish I had one of those large DMC thread rings so I could put them on there by color and number order instead of my normal project bag which is stuffed to the gills with all the threads. LOL

I hope you have a lovely week!

Until next time ^___^

Parterre de Fleurs and a visit from a frog!

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are having a great Sunday. No rain today, just sunny skies and a pleasant breeze. Makes me wish for a house with a screened in porch.....but then again I remember my allergies and it probably wouldn't be the best idea. LOL

I was hoping to make more progress on Parterre de Fleurs, but I got hit by the notorious stitching frog this afternoon. After I had stitched the flowers on the top, I went over to the right and started counting from my flowers to the bee wings and guess what?!? The entire row of flowers on the right side were stitched wrong.

Sigh.....how could I get an entire row wrong? The pattern. Usually Jardin Prive patterns are great, but this one, not so much. Since the flower motif repeats itself around the bee motif, the pattern only shows the bee motif, the bottom row of flowers, and the backstitch line on the bottom part.

What kind of craziness is that?!?! Ugh.........I had followed the bottom half of the pattern for the side when I should have followed the measly two rows on the side that the pattern provided to tell me where to put the flowers.......which I had assumed was the same as the bottom.

Jardin Prive needs to do better than that. Don't make people guess where two of the flowers on a row go because of two rows of two stitches......

Blah..!!!!

Anywho, after I was done frogging, I backstitched the entire border around the piece.....take that frog!!!

Hopefully I'll be able to finish up this design sometime this week. We'll see.

In other stitching news, I went through my stash to pull out threads for the Country Cottage Needlework Cakes patterns. It has been a WIP for quite a while so I thought I'd finish it up this year as my Frolicking Friday project ;)

On Friday night, we met up at Candace's house to celebrate our friend Bonnie's birthday. We had pizza, a turtle (chocolate and caramel) poke cake, and way (WAY) too many homemade chocolates.

I think she liked her gifts though she is preoccupied at the moment, for good reason. She and her family found out that her father has brain cancer so he starts radiation this week. I hope the treatment goes well.

I think they are trying to keep things as normal as possible, which is a positive thing to do. They were planning on going downtown today to take the duck boat tour around town and on the bay.

Please keep her in your thoughts! Have a great week!

Until next time ^____^

Back again from the abyss and stitching start

Pattern: Parterre de Fleurs by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast linen by Zweigart
Threads: Belle Soie 'Noir', Crescent Colours 'Bamboo', 'Secondhand Rose', 'Weeping Willow' and Gentle Art 'Lemon Drops'
Start: 4/22/2018

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are enjoying a lovely Sunday. It has been raining for a good portion of the day today, but we got a little bit of sunshine for about an hour or so before it clouded over again. The wind is howling as I write.

So where have I gone you ask? Well, I'm assuming you asked, LOL maybe no one has asked. You never know with the Internet world. Anywho, as I mentioned to Angela at Thoughtful Ramblings, I have let my work life influence my personal life, which has left me angry and depressed.

It hasn't gotten any better at work with a supervisor that doesn't know what she's doing more than half the time. But I've finally gotten to the stage where I don't care as much and just want to get through August when I'll have been at my workplace for 10 years so I'll be vested for retirement. After that, if things aren't looking up, I plan on looking for another job.

I don't want to look for another job as I consider my workplace coworkers (minus two individuals) to be a great bunch of people, but no one is speaking up about the hostile work environment we are in. On top of that environment is the fact that my supervisor and our main boss are doing things that aren't ethical according to our policies.

And yes, I could just ignore it, but I think that if you work in a field where ethics are important to the future of your institution and the field itself than you should abide by them. And I know I could possibly end up in another institution that is doing the same thing, but a girl can hope for better things, right?

Sigh.......ok, off the soap box! On to happier things, like cross stitching!!!

So I haven't been idle as evident by the posts below this one with my finishes so far this year :) Today I went through my stash and picked out Parterre de Fleurs which is a pincushion cross stitch design by Jardin Prive.

Looking through my DMC floss, I only had two of the required flosses and then I noticed while reading the instructions that the designer only included one set of DMC colors instead of giving you a range of colors to make each side of the pincushion different. It mentioned to just pick your own colors.......(o_0")

So looking around the Internet, I found a blog from a French stitcher who had stitched the design with one color of variegated thread for the flowers. I liked the idea so I went to my drawer of hand dyed threads and found several skeins I could use in the design. I ended up choosing Crescent Colours 'Secondhand Rose' for the flowers. I'm not sure if the variegation will show up.....but I'll try my hardest. I am even stitching each cross completely before moving on to next X.

In other news, my sister and I are going to San Diego this summer for Comic Con. We were able to get tickets for one day of the convention. I know that sounds weird, but if you know anything about the convention, it's hard to get tickets and the four day pass sells out pretty fast so the only thing left are single days. We were able to get Thursday before it sold out.

So we will be flying into the Ontario (California) airport and spending a few days with Amanda until we drive down to San Diego and spend the rest of the time there. We will be flying out of San Diego since the airport is around the corner from the convention.

Earlier this month, my sister and Amanda went through the hotel lottery to get a hotel in San Diego as a great many of them are sold out including outside the city.....not to mention sold out Airbnb places. I couldn't sign in to participate in the hotel lottery as I was at work, but guess what?!??! Amanda got the main convention hotel!!!! I think the convention gods smiled on her or maybe it's because it's the Year of the Dog...whatever it was, I'm glad she was able to get the hotel. It's insanely expensive (almost twice what it normally costs), but it means we don't have fight people for parking and if any of us has a bunch of merchandise, we can drop it off at our room and go back into the fray! LOL And who knows, we might see a Hollywood star or two since the stars stay at the main hotel.

Anywho, I hope you have a great rest of your day. I'm trying to catch up on all my blog reading and commenting ;)

Have a great work week!

Until next time ^____^

Eiffel Tower Finish!!

Pattern: Eiffel Tower by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct oyster linen by M.C.G. Textiles
Threads: DMC 152, 223, 3012, and 3781
Start/Finish: 11/5-12-10/2017

I finished my Eiffel Tower design last night before dinner. I was stitching like a madwoman as I really wanted to finish it up before today. Not bad for working on and off of it for a couple of hours each day....except for the days I was being a bum and playing video games or watching movies ;)

Compared to the original color scheme, I like my colors a lot better. Not that varying colors of brown are horrible, I just wanted something soft and calming.

Hmm.....now I just gotta see what I want to stitch next. I haven't made any Christmas gifts this year, my heart and mind just isn't in the mood right now to do so. You gotta be in a cheerful mood to make gifts for the holidays otherwise it's a thankless task.

I think I'll probably pull out my CCN cakes and stitch on one of those or I might start another design. I'll have to dive into my stash and see what calls to me.

Until next time ^___^

Eiffel Tower - Jardin Prive stitching

Pattern: Eiffel Tower by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct oyster linen by M.C.G. Textiles
Threads: DMC 152, 223, 3012, and 3781
Start: 11/5/2017

Good evening, everyone! Thank you for your lovely comments on my previous posts. I bit the bullet so to speak today and bought a new laptop. My old one still works, but I haven't used it in ages because it is still on XP......yes, really, I just typed XP. I'm hoping now that I have a new laptop, I'll be able to blog more. Trying to write blog posts on my phone or my Kindle Fire is a chore....and no one likes to have their blog be a chore instead of something fun, right?

Last Saturday, I started something new from my stash, Eiffel Tower by Jardin Prive. I wasn't able to find the crème colored linen I was looking for, but I did find an oyster color of linen, which works nicely. It isn't as bright as pure white linen.

I am using the same color palette for this design as I did for Jardin Prive Marquise design. I love the pinks and green with the dark brown.

I had the day off today from work. Slept in until 8:30, my brain wouldn't let me sleep longer. (sigh) Ate breakfast, stitched a bit, and then went out to do some shopping. I was hoping to get to try one of the new Starbucks frappuccino flavors, but the line inside and outside the store was crazy because it was the BOGO hours. I'll have to try another day when it isn't crazy ;)

Tomorrow my sister, mother, and I are going to Gulfport to the Celtic Music Festival and Scottish Highlands Games. No, you didn't read that incorrectly. I mentioned a Celtic festival in Mississippi. It should be an interesting experience. Apparently it has been held for 30+ years. Who knew that MS had such a group.

I hope everyone had a good Veteran's Day.

Until next time ^____^

Marquise - Jardin Prive - Another Happy Dance!

Pattern: Marquise by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 28ct evenweave antique white linen by M.C.G Textiles
Threads: recommended DMC
Start/Finish: on and off since 7/13/2014 - finished on 12/28/2014

I was determined to finish this design in December. So when I wasn't finishing cross stitch designs for gifts, I was stitching on this design. I loved stitching on this design. The color palette was gorgeous.

As of now, this design is destine for my box of unframed/unfinished cross stitch patterns, but I hope to frame it one day. I know that Jardin Prive has other Quaker type patterns, but I really, really wish they would design a companion piece to the Marquise pattern! Oh, well......

Until next time ^___^

Weekly Stitching Progress

Jardin Prive Marquise progress

Pattern: Marquise by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 28ct evenweave antique white linen by M.C.G Textiles
Threads: recommended DMC
Start: 7/13/2014

After finishing the July OUAT block this morning, I was debating between cross stitching on a new project or working on a plushie. The cross stitch won out!

I love the soft palette of colors used in this design. I've had this pattern in my stash for a while so I'm glad to finally pull it out and get started on it.

Until next time >____<

Dans Mon Jardin biscornu

Design: Dans mon jardin by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast
Threads: DMC
Start/Finish: 8/14-19, 22-27/2011
Finished: as biscornu on 8/28/2011

I put the last whip stitches on this biscornu a little while ago. This was a fun design to stitch and try my hand at making a 15-sided biscornu. The only downside was the bumpiness of the design even though I trimmed the edges inside.

In other news, I had pre-ordered the JSC Halloween Collection book from Down Sunshine Lane last month and I received it in the mail on Friday. I was excited to get a book from JSC full of Halloween designs, but when I received it I was a little disappointed. The last section of the book is the 'best of the best' past Halloween ornaments from JSC magazine. I would have rather seen more new designs and left that whole section out. People who buy the Halloween magazine issues when they come out every year usually keep them for future use so I didn't see the point of the 'best of the best' section.

I was also disappointed in a lot of the larger designs. Maybe I'm just biased because I'm not a fan of designs on Aida or that involve a lot of backstitching as it makes the design look 'amateurish.' But that is just my opinion.

I will be stitching some of the designs from the book so no worries :)

Until next time ^____^

A finish!

Design: Dans mon jardin by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast
Threads: DMC
Start/Finish: 8/14-19, 22-27/2011

I had four squares to finish when I got home this morning from grocery shopping. I just finished up stitching the last squares while watching Persuasion and then Star Wars: A New Hope. The picture doesn't do the squares or fabric justice. Now I have to put it together, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow for that.

In other news, I stubbed my toe this morning.....OUCH! At least it didn't break, but it looks so sad with its purple bruise!

Until next time ^____^

Dans mon jardin

Design: Dans mon jardin by Jardin Prive
Fabric: 32ct cream Belfast
Threads: DMC
Start: 8/14/2011

A small start this afternoon while watching episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and waiting to put another load of laundry in the washer!

I won't be stitching on this one anymore today. My eyes need a rest from 32ct linen. I've been working on 28ct linen so long, I've forgotten how small the stitches are on 32ct. I really don't know how some of you ladies and gents work on higher count threads than that! Egads!

Until next time ^____^