This is the piece I entered into our county fair this year.  It was my first fair entry ever!  I was very nervous and anxious as there were other beautiful pieces entered.  It turned out I won the blue ribbon for first place!!  This is called Celtic Christmas and was designed by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum.  It's stitched on 28 count white Monaco fabric.  There are also a ton of seed beads on this piece.  Now I have my eye on our state fair!!

My Latest Project Completed!

The "Fairy Queene" is finished. It took about four months but it was worth it. It features two colors of Mill Hill Beads and DMC Light Effects floss. It measures 8 x 17 inches. Surprisingly, this is almost all full cross stitches--very few fractional stitches at all! Now, what will be my next project?

My Newest Christmas Design

This is called "Irish Christmas Visitor". It's 8 X 10 and has lots of beads (of course) and Kreinik metallics. I am of Irish descent so I try to find and stitch as many Irish/Celtic designs as I can. I even used the small Celtic crosses in the corners in greeting cards. This was stitched on aida but someday I hope to re-work it on 28 ct. Irish linen. The curtains at the window were done in a technique I had never done before. It was similar to "tweeding". The bottom part of the stitch was dark blue. The top part of the stitch was white. I really enjoyed stitching this one! From the designer: While the Irish don't have a tradition of a gift-giver or a Santa Claus, they have a number of customs related to the Christmas season. On Christmas Eve, a lighted candle is placed in the window, a loaf of bread with raisins and caraway seeds (soda bread) and a pitcher of milk are left on the kitchen table, and the door remains unlatched to extend hospitality to the Holy Family or to any traveler who might be on the road. Immigrants from the south of Ireland brought the idea of holly wreaths with them to the United States; therefore, holly appears on the border of this design. Also, what tribute to the Irish would be complete without shamrocks, celtic crosses, and an Irish harp? This Santa also carries a golden cage with a wren inside because on Dec. 26, young boys go from house to house carrying an artificial wren, singing a simple verse, and expecting a gift of pennies for "Feeding the Wren," a custom similar to our "Trick or Treat" on Halloween.

Stashes and Storage

I started out buying cross-stitch kits. It finally dawned on me that I could save the patterns to re-work at a later date. My pattern stash took off from there. I started buying just the charts after that. The floss stash followed. If I was going to buy just charts, I needed to buy floss. I bought a few skeins of DMC cotton floss every time I went to the craft store. I finally ended up with the entire collection. Then I realized I would need something to stitch on. The fabric stash was born. I didn't really like working on aida cloth and was delighted to see linens and evenweaves. The color choices then were very limited but I didn't care. Now that I had three stashes, what was I to do with all of it? I tried several methods of floss storage. I finally ended up using the bobbin method as I can store the whole collection in three craft boxes. The patterns and charts are in file folders in a plasic carrying case. The fabric is rolled up in their original containers and kept in craft drawers. I have an under-the-bed container large enough to hold all the split-rail dowel rods and spacer bars. I also have a bead stash kept in bead containers. I also have storage for my needles, scissors, magnifier, and thread conditioner. I keep an inventory of everything on my computer so it's easy to pull up and see what needs to be re-stocked.

Celtic Christmas

This design is by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum. It's called "Celtic Christmas". It's on 28ct evenweave. There is also lots and lots of Kreinik metallics and Mill Hill Beads. I haven't gotten it framed...yet. I love all the designs from this designer.

Ever Changing

I am a self-taught cross-stitcher. I started out doing stamped embroidery and cross-stitch on pillowcases. That evolved into needlepoint. I didn't like any of those forms of needlework. Then I bought a small counted cross-stitch kit. The instructions didn't tell me how to center the project on the fabric. I tried counting aida squares but it didn't work. I was so frustrated, I gave up and actually threw the whole thing away! I shudder now when I think of it. It was years later when I tried another small kit. This one was more helpful and I learned how simple it was to get the project centered. Along with the kit, I bought small embroidery hoops to hold the fabric. Even though the project was done, I realized I could save the pattern in case I wanted to stitch the design again at a later date. That would mean buying floss. So I started buying DMC cotton floss. This meant I had to have a way to store all the floss. That how my floss and chart stashes started. Then I discovered there were fabrics other than just aida cloth. That's where my fabric stash started. I have since pretty much given up on aida cloth and much prefer evenweaves and linen. My favorite is 28 count. So now I have patterns and their storage, flosses and their storage, and fabric and their storage. As the stashes have grown, so has the accessories inventory. Now I have frames, floor stands, lamps, scissors, needle threaders, thread cutters, thread conditioners, magnifiers, and beads. Talking about beads will be a whole post unto itself!! So that's how it started and continues to this day. I have joined a couple stitcher's groups and will dicuss them in future posts.