Friday, October 07, 2011

Come Dance With Me

...the happy dance! Happy happy dance dance!

Because last weekend, while relaxing up in the woods, I put the last stitch and last button on Lizzie*Kate Christmas Rules. Yay!
And a closer look...
(Couldn't resize this one the same as others)

This project was a pleasure to stitch. I think I really needed some fun colors and light sentiment to help put me back on track. Lift me out of the muted color zone I'd been in for quite a few months. This is stitched on the recommended 32 count Light Mocha Belfast with the recommended Crescent Colors and Weeks. The only change I made was substituting CC English Ivy for the WDW Bullfrog since the skeins of Bullfrog I had were a rather terrible green.

I've pulled my Drawn Thread Almost Halloween out of the basket and have been slowly frogging and restitching it again. Yea, I know. Not terribly fun but I am much happier with the coverage of two threads versus one. Here is a photo which is deceiving. It looks like I am finished but I am frogging as I go so "ween" is getting frogged.
Of course, with the frogging, this means that I've run out of one of the colors since I purchased this as a kit but I think I have a friend helping me out with the last little bit I need to finish the orange bits in the "ween" part of Halloween! Stitching buddies are the best! It shouldn't take me much longer to finish. I do need to figure out what I did with the black buttons for the spider's bodies though. It looks like a melee happened in my stitching /storage closet. It's a miracle I can find anything in there!

I am really enjoying the seasonal stitching at the moment and I think I will run with it til the end of the year. I am pondering making Plum Street Samplers Hallow Eden and Shepherd's Bush Sadie Stocking my next projects. I've never stitched on 18 count linen or with perle cotton so that might be an interesting "experiment". I wonder if I even have size 24 needles and a threading thingie.

Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful birthday comments and wishes. I realized I must have been out of it on my previous post since I didn't even title it. That's very unlike me. I always try to come up with something even if it's boring as all get out. My birthday was lovely. And to make it even better, I won Anne's giveaway! Woo...happy birthday to me!

I also received a couple of coveted Jardin Prive charts from KarenV, a Halloween chart from CarolR and Carol sent me this lovely little Halloween pinpillow and goodies.
Thanks Carol(s) and KarenV!

I am still in the midst of catching up from being away. That's what happens when you return to 150 personal emails, 250 blog posts in your reader and 95 work emails. And I was behind to begin with. But I am catching up...slowly but surely.

I will do a separate post about my getaway weekend and still need to post about my urban hike.

Until next time...

33 comments:

Lee-Ann said...

Looks great, I have that in my to do pile, but I have just finished stiching 2 SB stockings- Harry & Elisabeth.
They work up fast but have a lot of stitching in them, about to attach the charms then sew together.

Lois said...

Love the finish and your DT piece is looking good. The stockings do work up quickly but it does feel a little strange working on the fabric at first.

Christina said...

I placed an order for DT Almost Halloween after seeing it on your blog. Don't think it will be finished in time for Halloween this year though! I will definitely take your advice & stitch 2 over 2.
Christmas Rules looks fabulous finished.

Anonymous said...

Great finish Valerie! I think the fabric we discussed will be perfect for it :)

Almost Hallowe'en looks great - I did think of stitching it myself at some point, but thought I probably wouldn't get around to it. Seeing yours might have changed my mind though. Love all the cute motifs ;)

Great pillow from Carol, she did a lovely job. Glad you had a good birthday :)

Hazel said...

Great finish! Lovely gifts from friends too. Sounds like you had a good one. xx

Jackie's Stitches said...

Congratulations on your finish! I love the bright happy colors too. You seem to be in a good place about restitching the DT piece. I like it when I feel good about something that could be a real disappointment. Enjoy your weekend and I'm looking forward to hearing about your urban hike!

Lisa said...

Christmas Rules is wonderful - night bright colors! Congratulations on your finish!!! Happy dance is in order. I look forward to hearing about your getaway and your hike!
Take care.

Margaret said...

Yay on the Christmas Rules finish! It's so pretty! Love the colors! And Halloween -- you can definitely see a difference in coverage so all that hard work will be worth it in the end. Glad someone can help you out with the threads you need too. Nice pressies you received! Glad you had a great time away. Hope the catchup isn't too bad.

Sara said...

Happy Dance to you :)
Christmas Rules is gorgeous, and Halloween is looking even more awesome with it's new coverage :)

Carol said...

What a great finish, Valerie!! I know just what you mean about stitching with certain colors giving you a lift... And I totally agree with you that the two thread looks much better on the Halloween piece.

So glad you liked my little Jack-o-lantern pillow--I had fun making it for you. So sorry it didn't arrive in time for your birthday last week...

Good luck working through all those emails and blog posts :)

Rachel S-H said...

Happy belated birthday!

Anne said...

Dancing with you Valerie!! Christmas Rules looks great!! Too bad you have to do all that frogging. I personally don't see anything wrong with the coverage, but like you said, the picture is deceiving.

Hugs!!

Myra said...

Feel the earth shaking? That's me dancing with you! LOL I just love your finish - those colors are just so happy. Nice gifts and stitchy wins you received too - isn't Carol's stitching just gorgeous?

barbara said...

Yippee - hooray! Congratulations!!

Theresa said...

Congratulations!!!!!! What a wonderful finish!!!!! Sorry about the frogging, I'm glad you're much happier with it now~~~ Such wonderful gifts you got from Carol(s) and Karen!!! That little pillow is adorable~~

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

A great gorgeous finish! Have you seen that ornament hardware from the same people that made the headstones hardware? Perfect for this one? :)

I must admit your Hallo looks much better than Ween...ha ha...hope you get the threads to finish with :)

Dani - tkdchick said...

Wooo Hoo! Fantastic Happy Dance. That Halloween piece is just lovely!!!

Blu said...

Gorgeous finish! And so early too!

Halloween is looking good. The coverage with two threads looks fuller than with one. The ghost looks much better than the skeleton!

Catherine said...

Whoo-hoo on your finish!!! It looks great.
Great goodies too!

Sally said...

I love your Christmas Rules finish Valerie. Also love your DT Halloween piece. Sorry to hear you had to frog it.

What a cute gift you received from Carol:)

Julie said...

I've enjoyed a lovely catch up on here Valerie

Belated birthday wishes to you, so pleased you had a wonderful Birthday.

Christmas Rules is stunning and your Halloween project is gorgeous, a nice gift from Carol, i do like the PS charts and really must make more of an effort to stitch some.

Pumpkin said...

That's wonderful Valerie!!!! CRules looks fantastic!

Sounds like you got some lovely goodies for your birthday :o) Carol's gift is lovely! Her stitching is amazing.

Michelle said...

Congrats on the fun finish!!! Love it! And what great birthday gifts too. Sounds like you had a good one! You'll be done with your Halloween piece too in no time!

Giovanna said...

Congratulations on the lovely finish! Love the Halloween project too - I hope it won't be too much of a pain.

Berit said...

Lovely! Maybe I need some of these bright colors in my stitching, too. Hurmn.

I am glad you are really enjoying your seasonal stitching. :D

Shelleen said...

Congrats on finishing Christmas Rules. Love the Halloween piece too.

Carol R said...

Great finish of Rules Valerie. Love love your Halloween project - not seen that one before - shame about the frogs but you seem to be getting there again.

Melanie said...

Congrats on finishing Rules!! It looks wonderfully cheery with all those bright colors. I never ever get tired of looking at this piece. (I suppose I should stitch it for myself at some point, yes? lol)

So glad to hear you had a nice birthday week. :)

Daffycat said...

*squee* Your Rules finish is awesome, Valerie! It is very cheerful!

Darling goodies from Carol and Karen. So glad you had a good birthday!

Veronica said...

Congratulations on finishing Christmas Rules! Such a cheerful design. Love it! Halloween is looking good too. I need to catch up on my Google Reader too. I currently have 500 over unread posts... And I wasn't even away.

Hugs,
Veronica.

Sharon said...

Gorgeous finish! One of my favorites. Lovely gifts!

Joysze said...

Congrats on the finish..... it looks fantastic!!! :D

Why are you frogging Halloween? Did I miss a post somewhere about the reason? :S

Meari said...

Nice birthday gifties. :)

Congrats on your finish. Happy Dancin for you.