Another Just Nan finish, Hooray!

I was so happy at finishing the previous UFO of Just Nan's, that I thought I'd give a try and finish this up. It's Just Nan's, "And Many More" needlebook, to match her "20 Flowers". I had started it years ago. I so totally loved the look of this piece, with its many flowers, sheepies, but with so many flowers, so many color changes. Way too many color changes, if you know what I mean. I felt like I spent more time threading my needle than stitching. But, now that it's finished, I love how it looks. And it was stitched totally with silk thread. This is the front, isn't that rose on the flap gorgeous?

And the back, with the over one blue birds, the pretty sheepies, and all those flowers. If you look closely at the backstitching at the bottom, on the hills, you'll see a 'S' and a 'N' hidden, for Silver Needle.

I ordered the finishing kit but didn't follow many of the instructions, preferring to finish by hand, instead of by machine. I did follow the instructions for completing the inside flower, which I thought was a really cute idea. The way you sew the top and bottom flower together makes tiny pockets that can be used for needle threaders, charms, buttons and such.

Our house is home to three pets; a dog named Boo, (a black lab/chow mix) a black cat named Spooky (can you see a theme here?) and the newest member of our family, a grey cat called Shadow. We love all our pets but Shadow is something special. She lives to be loved on. She'll sleep in my lap despite me having a lap full of stitching and pillows. The night she decided to use my chart as her pillow, I just had to take a picture of it. So, here she is, Shadow, my stitching buddy. Isn't she adorable?


Now, if I can keep her from playing with my threads, I'll be happy. Sometimes I wait until she falls asleep before I start stitching--saves my silks. I have several charts with tiny teeth marks on the edges. She loves to cuddle. Next post, I'll try to find pictures of the other two beasts that live in our house and our hearts.

Once I finished stitching and finishing this project, I got started on Little House Needlework's "The Angels Sang" and its about half done. That was the chart that Shadow was sleeping on. I put it aside to start a project for a birthday exchange for next month. Most of the stitching on that is finished, just have to get started on the finishing for all the different pieces.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, and I hope you manage to get some stitching done, in between taking the pies out of the oven, basting the turkeys, and slapping husband's hands that sneak tastes. Until next time, happy stitching.

I have attempted, several times, to edit this post. The last three paragraphs should have spaces between them. Blogger won't allow me to do that, and I don't know enough about code to do it myself in the edit mode. Someone advised me to add the pictures last, and then blogger will allow editing--but when you add pictures last, they all go to the top. I'll try it next time, see if I can manage moving pictures without leaving off much needed code. You'd think that Blogger would make it a little easier to insert pictures, or edit, wouldn't you? Thanks for reading!

I can't believe I actually finished it!

Yes, indeed I did! I finished it all by myself. I simply can't believe that I not only finished stitching this piece but did a decent job finishing it into an ort box. This is Just Nan's TrickorTreat Box, a specialty design she did for the Silver Needle cross stitch shop. Isn't it cute? It's done on linen stitched with lovely spooky shades of silks, a bit of sparkly metallics and finished with two really cute charms.

Here you can see the side with the witch in her striped leggings and a pumpkin with a bat hat. A witches hat charm is the closer. (don't mind the price tag on the candle holder I used to prop up the piece--sorry, I didn't notice the tag until after I uploaded the picture.)

This was my favorite side to stitch. I just loved the pumpkin with the mask, and the spider sitting on his head.

Isn't that cat in front of the moon cool? Spooky? And the ghost holding the monster head? And the bat? Yes, I do love Halloween. This is the back of the piece.

Here is the box open, and you can just barely see the witch hat and the copper moon charms. The witches hat is on a stretchy ribbon and fits over the moon to keep the box closed. But, do you know what's hiding inside?

A pumpkin shaped pincushion. I thought it was a cute idea, and I'm very glad to have this finished. But I will need to keep a close watch on this piece, my eldest son has 'dibs' on all my Halloween stitchings. I'm not sure what he would do with this, but he's been watching my progress with keen eyes.

All in all, I'm happy with my finishing on this. It's not perfect, by any means but I'm still learning all these new and different options besides framing.

In my last post, (which was over a month ago, so sorry but its been a long 30 days) I said that I had planned on stitching another Little House Needlework piece. Isn't this pretty? While I was stitching it, Indiana was having spring weather, balmy and almost summer like. Mid to high 70's. This piece was so soothing to work on--oh, and it's the one that I had to frog the entire left side border. Okay, so the frogging was NOT soothing, but the stitching and restitching was. This is Strawberry House, one of the All Dolled Up series.

I had planned this next one as a welcome to colder weather but that didn't happen. The piece got stitched but I'll always think of being too warm while it was being stitched. This is Holly and Berries by Little House Needleworks. It's a very simple piece but charming in its simplicity. It makes me think of stitching by the fire, with the snow swirling around outside.

Okay, so I guess I need to explain why this past 30 days seemed so long. Hubby was home for nearly three weeks of it. Yup the truck needed fixing, the company didn't want to give him back any of his escrow money to do it so he sold some junk (recycled metal) to buy parts, and then quit his job. Like I said, it was a long 30 days. (He's now working on his second run for a new company after a three day orientation to learn how this company wants their paperwork done.) I had more than two weeks of him coming in with black and greasy hands, bottles of anti-freeze and oil thrown all over our front yard, and the garage light left on for hours at a time. Unless you know big trucks, you'd never believe how much oil and anti-freeze those monster vehicles take.

I have started a new project a few days ago, Little House Needleworks, The Angels Sang. Haven't gotten too far on it yet, but after the month I've had, I needed a new project. Time for me to get back to it. May all your stitches be soothing, and in the right places.