13th ( and last) Finish of 2017 Celtic Butterfly!

Hello!  Thank you so much for staying with me with all of my year end posts!  You read that right my 13th finish was indeed my last finish of the year.  I found Celtic Butterfly on Daily Cross Stitch.com. It is stitched on 14 count white Aida for the WOCS World of Charity Stitching yahoo group.  I started it on December 13, 2017 and finished it on December 16, 2017.

Here is how far I got on the first day of stitching...

This is the needle minder I bought from Gina’s Unique Boutique on Etsy for my Girl With a Pearl Earring WIP.

I really liked stitching some very small designs lately!  They finish up so quickly and it’s nice to think of all of the pieces stitchers have donated made into a quilt for someone in a nursing home.  

This is stitched in variegated cotton floss in Smell My Feet by Fiberlicious that I received in her Halloween Mystery Box last year.  

Thank you all for reading my blog and I wish you all many blessings in 2018!  Happy New Year!

11th Finish of 2017 Reflections of Paris

Hello!  These posts will be coming to an end soon but here was my 11th Finish Reflections of Paris by Ink Circles.  It is stitched on hand dyed fabric by Youthful Hands in 14 count Aida with all DMC Black 310 cotton floss from a cone I previously bought from JoAnn Fabrics.  It was started on May 1, 2016 for Stitch Maynia and finished on September 6, 2017.

I am pretty sure this was my progress the last time you saw it...

At first I wasn’t sure how to decide what parts of it he buildings to stitch...

But then but then I decided to start with The Eiffel Towers...

And then stitch all of the L’arc de Triomphes

And then The Notre Dame Cathedrals..

                                     

You get the picture;) ...

Here is my overall finish!  

I really enjoyed working on this.  It was nice to not have to stitch one stitch a time like in my previous variegated floss finishes and it was great only having one color to work with.  How many more finishes do you think I have???  Stay tuned to find out...Happy Stitching!

10th Finish of 2017 May The Luck

Hello! I hope you are enjoying my finish yearly review here.  Finish #10 was another Stitch Maynia 2016 start.  This is May The Luck by Love Thy Thread and I started it on May 27, 2016 and finished it on August 11, 2017.  It is stitched on 14 count Opal Aida in Mo’s Sale in Irish Proud variegated silk floss.

I think this was where I was the last time you saw it...

The needle minder is a Leprechaun hat from Gina’s Unique Boutique on Etsy.

I was a little nervous about the shamrock only having 3 leaves instead of a lucky four leaf clover and briefly thought about trying to change it and then I came to my senses!  

Here are my progress photos...

Here is the finished piece!  This is for a dear friend of mine but I have unfortunately not yet found the perfect frame for it.  I enjoyed stitching this design with the floss I chose.  This is my second finish ever with silk floss.  I only have a few more finishes to show you before 2017 ends.  See you soon!

9th Finish of 2017 Patriotic Heart Taiwan

My 9th finish is one of my smallest and may look a bit familiar as I have stitched the flag of three other places I have lived ( first DR Congo, Norway, and Germany for a friend).

This is stitched on white 14 count Aida with 3 strands.  This is adapted from the Patriotic Heart series by Kincavel Krosses. I started it for Stitch Maynia 2016 on May 24, 2016 and finished it on August 12, 2017.

 I think this was how far I was the last time I showed this piece...

This is what I would take with me while my daughter attended Gymnastics class on Saturdays.  I only really worked on it during her class so it inched along at a slow pace.  I based it on the USA Patriotic Heart for the red part of the Taiwan flag. 

It was so much fun when I finally made it to the blue part of the flag!  For the white sun of the design it took me a bit of time to design something that looked the best that could fit into the area I had to work with, but I am happy with my final design!  

Here is my finish!  I still need to FFO it into an ornament shape along with the first Patriotic Heart I made for DR Congo.  I have a few more finishes to show you before 2017 ends.  See you soon and Happy Stitching!

8th Finish of 2017 Floss Daily

Hello again! The clock is ticking and I only have a few hours to share the rest of my 2017 finishes.  My 8th Finish was Floss Daily by Wee Little Stitches on Etsy.  I started this for Stitch Maynia on May 21, 2016 and finished it on July 25, 2017 (less than a week after my previous finish).

I think this was where I was the last time you saw it...

I loved stitching this due to the fun fabric color and I finally got to try out my small collection of hand dyed variegated floss!

I didn’t like that the color I used called Rapunzel for the wording didn’t stand out very much from the fabric color so I ripped it out and tried another color.

Here most of the bobbins are filled in with my floss stash from Mo’s Sale and Fiberlicious.

This is the order I used the floss in for the pattern.  All of the floss on bobbins is from Mo’s Sale and the others were from my Fiberlicious Halloween mystery package from 2016.

This is the finish!  It was actually my first time using Kreinik for the metallic needles.  The fabric is Plum 14 count Aida by Stitchnmomma.  What do you think?  I really recommend this design to everyone because it stitches up quickly and has so many possibilities for you to change the colors and make it your own! See you soon...

7th Finish of 2017 Let’s Be Proud!

To continue my year in review of finishes, my 7th finish was Let’s Be Proud by Ursula Michael.  I started this piece WAY back in 2016 for Stitch Maynia on May 5, 2016 and I finished it on July 19, 2017!

Here is what it looked like the last time I showed it here.

This is my Michigan needle minder from Minding My Minders!

And here are some progress photos...

Here it is with all of the stitching finished!!

I did a few changes from the original pattern. I added some stars to represent the northern part of Maine and I added a few stars to represent the Upper Penninsula of Michigan which was unfortunately missing from the design.  I plan to share the rest of my finishes with you before 2017 is over!

3rd 4th 5th and 6th Finishes of 2017!

Hello again!  The next four finishes I have lumped together because they were all end of the year Teachers Gifts for my children's Pre-School teachers.

I was inspired by the mascot on their school t-shirt seen here.

And I found a similar Tiger design on DailycrossStitch.com.  Here is my first start...

But I realized that on the 14 count yellow Aida this was going to be WAY too big for an ornament finish like I had envisioned.  Then I got the great idea to just do the Tiger's face and then add the year and the Teachers names!

This was my 3rd Finish.  I started it on May 1st and finished stitching it on May 15th.

This was my 4th Finish.  I started it on May 14th and finished it on May 16th.

For my 5th finish I was starting to run out of time so I chose a smaller apple design from Daily Cross Stitch.  I started it on May 16th and finished it on May 22nd.

My 6th finish was another apple :)  I started this one on May 19th and finished on May 22nd.

For the apples I used hand dyed cotton floss from Mo's Sale.

I was able to finish them into ornaments just in time for the last day of the school year in May!

Here are the fronts...

And here is a view of the back teacher themed fabric.

The Teachers loved them and they were fun to make as a small thank you for all of the time spent helping mold my children's education :)  I have a few more finishes to show you so I will be back soon.  Until then...Happy Stitching!

2nd Finish of 2017 Darth Vader by Natali Needleworks

Hello and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!  I am desperately trying to catch you up with my finishes from 2017.  My second finish of the year was way back in April.  I started Darth Vader by Natali Needleworks on Etsy on April 2nd and finished it on April 30th, 2017!

My husband is a big Star Wars fan and I had been planning to make this for him for awhile.  I had originally ordered some hand dyed fabric from the now closed Dye Stitch Love.  This is the piece I ordered called Full Moon 18 count Aida.

Now we all know that hand dying fabric is an art and not a science but I was really sad when I received this fabric.  The photo on the website was more of a smoky white and black which was exactly what I was looking for.  I took a photo with the Black 310 DMC that is about 95% of the design, and I didn't think it would contrast well with that fabric.

So I decided to try one of my favorite fabric and floss dyers Nguyen at Fiberlicious. And she really came through in a big way for this project!  Here is the fabric I purchased from her "Ashes to Ashes."

With more lighter white areas I felt that the Black floss would pop more.  Here are some of my progress photos of this design...

And here is it completely finished!!

This is the needleminder I used of Princess Leia from Gina's Unique Boutique.

When I returned to my hometown this summer I was able to take this piece to be professionally framed at Wheaton's Frame Shop, and here is the FFO Finished project!

I hope to update you with the rest of my 2017 finishes before the end of this year!  Until then...Happy Stitching!