Stitch til you Twitch

So I went a little crazy.

It all started the day I stumbled across this on Pintrest

Does it make your heart flutter when you look at it? It does mine! At first I thought it was done on pegboard but after visiting the site, I found out it was a rug made by an artist and cross stitched on wool padding. It's also horrifically expensive, at least for my budget.

That didn't stop me from loving it however.

Fast forward a few months and we are cleaning out my grandma's house to get it ready to sell. My grandpa, who has been gone for 15 years, was a cabinet maker, and while we were working in his barn/shop out behind the house, I found this piece of peg board and I knew instantly what I wanted to do with it.

I dry brushed it with some mis-tint paint from the hardware store to make it look like linen, then got to work. The entire family worked on this project. I would sit in front of the board putting the needle through, then my helper in the back of the board would push the needle back through the hole that I indicated with my finger.

I feel pretty impressed that all three of my teenage boys took time to help me with this, and even my husband. I have great men in my life!

The only problem? It's huge. 4'X5' and I can't figure out what I'm going to do with it now. I sure do love it though! The neatest thing about it is how it changes depending on what angle you view it from. If you catch it from the side it's very saturated and vibrant. As you move around to the front, it's more washed out and water colorish. Give peg board cross stitch a try, it's so much fun, I am trying to figure out where I could possibly hang another one =0P

I'll admit it, I'm a geek

I know it's not fashionable, or cool, or in style, but I have to say, I love to cross stitch, I always have. I haven't done anything in cross stitch in years, but when I went in to my local thrift a while back and they had a HUGE stack of old Cross Stitch magazines, I had to take a peek and see if there were any worth buying.


I ended up buying six issues and have found quite a few things that I really love, and some that I may even get around to making.

(Click to enlarge)

For now, I am going to start with this sweet little pumpkin. I have a little, tiny, square picture frame to frame it with and I think it will make a charming addition to my fall decor.


I think next might be this...

My 500th post

Wow, I can't believe it's my 500th post! I normally don't check that page on my blog but for some reason my cookie kicked me out and I had to log in and it said I had 459posts. My how time flies!

I guess I should have a give away eh?

Standard rules apply...
leave a comment on any (or each) blog post this week- 1 entry each
post about my give away on your blog- 1 entry
For each person that comes from your blog and leaves a comment saying they were referred by you- 1 entry
Sign up to follow my blog, or tell me you are already signed up- 1 entry

Tomorrow I will figure out what I am giving away. I would have done it before now but I just didn't realize that I was near 500.

And for now, to help you salivate, here is a little something I stitched up today, possibly for a swap....possibly for a give away...hmmmm we shall see!

Patriotism and a pig in a blanket

My sister gave this little muslin pig to my mom, who has a serious pig collection going on. I thought he might be a little cold, so I made him a blanket.

I also made a little patriotic mini quilt to hang on the knob on the bird house for patriotic type holidays.


Disclaimer, I made both of these last year, but never got around to sharing them. I just stumbled across the pictures and thought I would share while I knew where to find them =0P

Number one is done

I decided to save myself the frustration and just did it with fusible web and blanket stitching. It's still cute and I don't have to repent for swear words like I would if I had tried to do it needle turn lol

Second Thoughts

So, if you read my last blog post (Or maybe the one before that) you will know that I am really wanting to make an appliqued quilt. I focused on finding some great applique patterns on the shop hop and I am excited about the ones I found.



However....
I started this cute little stitchery from a Bareroots pattern and since I wasn't paying attention, I started to applique the scalloped background. I have been gritting my teeth and stitching for two days now and all I can think is...How did I EVER think I could do a whole quilt this way?


I look at this and all I see is what a mess it is. I am so unforgiving and critical of my own work.


And after two days of gritting my teeth, I went back and looked at the pattern and to my chagrin discovered that the blasted scallops aren't appliqued at all, they are EMBROIDERED! I could have saved myself a ton of grief if I had looked at the pattern more closely. *sigh* I am such a moron sometimes LOL

PS I am not doing the whole quilt, just this one square.

PPS, I may not ever take the quilt patterns out of the package. Yikes.