Studio Notes: September - Repost from Substack

Hello again!

This month I’ve been splitting my time between the loom and newly: the easel. I have been weaving new pieces to enter into the North Carolina State Fair next month and diving into my first soft pastel painting class. It feels good to stretch in two different directions at once, one thread by thread and the other stroke by stroke.

On the loom:
I’ve been working on Halloween hand towels and a table runner. The rhythm of weaving feels familiar and grounding. It’s the kind of slow work that makes me forget about time passing and de-stresses me from my day job shuttle throw by shuttle throw. Photo below for a little peek.

Halloween Ghost Towels on the loom

At the easel:
Soft pastels (not to be confused with oil pastels that are all the rage right now) are brand new to me, and I love how immediate and messy they are. It’s a completely different energy from weaving or even watercolor: quick, bold, colorful. My hands are always smudged and there’s pigment in places it doesn’t belong but it’s worth it. Here are two of my very first pieces from a week long class I took at the John C Campbell Folk school earlier this month along with the pastels I bought (with a coupon!). This is my third time going to the folk school and I love it more each time I go.

My first first pastel paintings

There’s something exciting about letting these two art styles coexist. The color choices I’m making in pastel already feel like they’re influencing what I want to weave next. I don’t know if these two crafts could be any more opposite from each other: math and planning heavy weaving to artsy and flowing soft pastels. That might be one reason why I enjoyed the class so much, it’s just so different than the types of activities that usually occupy my days.

I’ll be sharing more photos from all creative worlds as I go. For now, here are a couple of snapshots from the studio in September:

A selection of finished soft pastel paintings

Studio Helper

Mornings at the Folk School

Purple Greyhound Painting in Pastels - my first attempt at a more “real” animal instead of a super stylized version

Thanks for following along with my experiments and meanderings. Handmade life is never just one thing and that’s what keeps it alive and interesting.

-Danielle

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Halloween Madness

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful October 1st. The Halloween season is fast approaching (though I've had my Halloween decor up for a few weeks now) I did reach my goal of finishing Happy Halloween before today!

Happy Halloween - Silver Creek Samplers - JSC Halloween 2013

I finished all the stitching! I also "signed it" after I took this picture (in the bottom right corner, DNA 2014 in the same color as the N). Now I have to decide how to finish it. I was originally thinking a flat fold like the one further down in this post, but I don't know if I could do it justice. Then I was thinking about framing it, but it's 6 x 7 inches. So while I could put it in an 8 x 10 frame, I would want a mat too and I don't think that's enough room. Dilemma! Let me know what you would do in the comments!

My super awesome friend (Kathleen, no blog) came over last night for a crafty night! She is working on a baby blanket that she is crocheting and then doing cross stitch on! It's actually super cool and I had never thought about doing that! We might make this a weekly or bi-weekly thing! Which would be super cool.  We would both be motivating each other.

I was able to get a lot done on my finishing. Keep in mind that both of these are only partially finished. The Jolly Jack needs cording around the edges to make it look neater (I'm thinking of making some in orange colors) and the pillow needs stuffing. 

Jolly Jack

Lizzie Kate - Flip It Halloween

I'm not totally pleased with the A frame flat fold, but for my first time I think it was pretty good. And I had to sew the ric-rak on by hand for the pillow and I think it turned out super well! Once I have both totally finished I'll probably share them again. They are both so cute. I'm so excited to actually finish-finish things! I don't have a big drawer filled with unfinished but totally stitched things. I do have a drawer with unfinished cross stitching though. Everyone does. Right?!

I also bought some more Weeks Dye Works thread for some additional small patterns in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2013 magazine. And a pattern just fell into my cart. I have no idea how that happened! The pattern called for some Just Another Button Company buttons so I bought two in case I decided to make it twice, once for myself and once for my MIL. We'll see.

123stitch.com order

Oh for my Ocober Mini Madness I think I'm going to work on those various Halloween pattersns I mentioned earlier. :) I don't know if my finishing of that Lizzie Kate counted, but yeah, I'm ready!!!

How are you coming along with your Halloween stitching (if you do any)? And what are you thoughts on finishing my Happy Halloween? Let me know in the comments!

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Threads and Halloween

I think this is going to be a shorter than average post (for me anyway). I got my threads in from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe!

I cannot wait to try them out, as soon as I finish my current project (or this weekend...) I'm going to find a pattern to use some of them. The colors are so rich and the most wonderful thing about them is that they are in 20 yard skeins. There's a ton of every color. I think I'm going to need all of the colors that she makes.... Nancy also included two freebie skeins which was so nice and generous. I highly recommend her shop!

I also ordered a Halloween colored finishing pack from here:

I'm pretty excited about these! I have at least 3 things to use this on right now. I also think I'm going to get some of her other bundles. She included a bag of brown buttons for free too! She's such a sweet lady. :)

And here's my progress on the Happy Halloween by Silver Creek Samplers that I'm making:

I managed to finish the N last night. I haven't started adding in any of the colors yet, but I'm itching to put in the pumpkin jack o'lantern on top of the N though, so I might do that tonight.

I'm not sure what I'm going to go work on after this. I'm starting to get into the Christmas stitching mode, not Christmas decorating or anything. I made a list and I have 4 babies to make ornaments for and 2 sets of parents plus my cousin. AND I was planning to make a gingerbread ornament for myself like I made my husband... Anyone else stitch gifts for Christmas?

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Sneak Peek

And there goes another week! This is crazy! Fall is almost here. How early is too early to decorate for Halloween?!?!

Speaking of fall, here's where I'm at with Jolly Jack. It got put on the back burner for the weekend while I finished the stitching part of my swap gift.

He's turning out so well! there are two more birds, more branches & leaves to go. Plus some random bits and bobs around. Still less than 3/4s done, but we're slowly getting there! I did some more last night while my husband was at PT. I have a star now too! And some leaves and branches. :)

And here's the biggest picture I can show you for now, my instagram swap gift. :) Find me: xstitchhaven. Don't forget you can click the picture and see a larger view!

Look how fuzzy that Wisper thread is!!! I am so glad I waited to go to my LNS before finishing. I love love LOVE the way it turned out! :) The teal is Weeks Dye Works Blue Topaz and the fabric is Silkweavers Tropical Breeze. My husband told me he's amazed how much work I put into something that I'm "just going to give away". I am 99% sure that my swap partner will appreciate it as much as I do. That's why it's a cross stitch swap. We all know how much time & effort goes into this and who is better to appreciate something than another stitcher? My mom is going to help me finish it since my sewing machine is at the repair shop (not to mention I have no idea what I'm doing!). I'm hoping for tomorrow but we'll see, time permitting. My husband has PT so he'll be taking the car. . . 

And last but not least my FOTM from Steph's Fabby's. This was really hard to photograph, but I think it's pretty true (purples, blues & pinks). It's called Soaring Dragonfly and I ordered an extra large piece since I knew I was going to love it! :) I have no idea what I'll stitch on it, but something whimsical I think. I'm open for suggestions!

I should have a piece from Crafty Kitten coming soon, which I think I'll do something Halloween on (me, Halloween, I'm sure you are shocked). It's a nice dark gray-ish color. :)

It's amazing the difference in quality of pictures now that I guilted myself into using my Nikon and just a tiny amount of editing (mostly to try to get the colors to show up better really).

Halloween Town Clue 3 comes out tomorrow! I'm excited, poor Jolly Jack will probably get pushed back again so I can work on that one! :)


Who else is excited about the third clue?!?!

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Time consuming hobbies

Hi all! Where has the week gone? Oh yeah, I was in Des Moines, Iowa for work all of last week, then came back and went up north to my in-law's cabin for the weekend, went to a stitching shop (I totally didn't take a picture of my haul, I'll do that for next week!) & met some friends, then came back for my husband's birthday and went to a local farm for dinner. Then this week I've had two job interviews (phone ones, but still). BUSY. I love it, but hate it at the same time. When to do laundry?! Or more importantly, stitch?!?!

Here's some of the scenery up north:

and our view for lunch:

I'm very lucky to live in such a beautiful state. These were taken on the Allegheny River, the dam is Kinzua Dam.

Another thing that put a damper in my cross stitch time was that EA Games released the Sims 2 Ultimate Edition for FREE on Origin. Needless to say, that sucked me back in. Why are all of my hobbies so time consuming?! I may or may not have been up playing Sims 2 until midnight on a work night.

Anyways, here's what I've been working on.

Chatelaine, I managed to do some of the backstitching. I love this piece, but I have so many things going on that it's never a priority.

I also worked on my Jolly Jack:

 I took it with me last night to my husband's physical therapy session (1.5 ~ 2 hours), so you'll see a nice huge (to me anyway) update next week!

I also just remembered I promised to show what I was stitching at the airport:

I forgot to edit this picture, and it's a little blurry. Sorry!

Does anyone else have other time consuming hobbies other than stitching?!

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Fabrics!

I might be in a different state right now, but I'm a dedicated blogger! I present today's post!

I finished up Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Town part II:

I purchased Frosted Pumpkin's Spooky Sampler awhile back and during the Picture This Plus sale on Friday I picked up a few options for it, Crystal Haunted & Crystal Echo, I also purchased Heather and Mirage (all 1/4 yards). I'm thinking one of the crystals will be good for it. I haven't done any patterns on sparkly fabric yet!


My July FOTM from Steph's Fabby's came over the weekend as well:

I've got several different colors from her now. I'm going to have to start finding projects for them. I'm turning into a fabric hoarder! I've been getting the 13x18 size (I think that's the one? it's the smallest one offered) but I think maybe I should jump up a size. That way I wouldn't have to worry about it being too small for any random project. I don't know. :)

I really really wanted to pick up my Chat on Thursday night, but I got home and promptly fell asleep! I feel like an old lady, not 27 years young. It's okay though, because I did get a tiny amount done over the weekend. Here's a before picture:

I think that's going to be it for now! If you follow me on instagram (@brendaxstitchhaven) you'll see a sneak peek of next week's blog post and see what I've been working on at the airport!

Do you bring projects when you are traveling?

Also, this was scheduled for Wednesday and it uploaded to Tumblr just fine (how did that happen?!), but it's not appearing on the blog, BUT I got a comment on it... Anyone else having weird issues with blogger?

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More Halloween Stitching

This week has gone by quite quickly and I can't really say why.

I've been busy stitching up the Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Town, so I'm going to blame that! I watched a ton of Grimm episodes (season 2, don't go spoiling it for me) while relaxing on Sunday and I'm a bit over half way done with the second clue now:

It looks so pretty in the sunlight! I'm glad I took a picture out on our balcony. It really shows how bright it is. I decided the change up the house to be purple, it was going to be the same color as the Bride of Frankenstein's face, but I really didn't like that.

I really can't say how much I love the fabric I'm using. It's the Tempest from Steph's Fabby. It's so nice and soft and a wonderful purple/pink color. I really do recommend her fabrics!!!

Any suggestions on what to do with this piece when it is finished? I think it's suppose to be a wide pattern, so maybe a lumber shaped pillow? I don't really want to frame it for two reasons, one, it's expensive and two it'll only be out at Halloween anyway!

Before the second clue came out, I did a bit more on Jolly Jack:

It's on Permin linen. Has anyone used it before? It's reallllly stiff, which I wasn't expecting. I had the fabric in my stash from the eBay haul of mine. :)

Picture this Plus's annual sale is on Friday! I've already filled my cart with opalescent fabrics (which I've never used before, and I've never used a PtP fabric either). I have three for sure (all Halloween colors, Echo, Fog & Haunted), but I'm debating getting the supplies for Glendon Place's Plum Pudding as well (fabric Sprite, Dinkie Dyes & beads). I have no intention of starting until I finish my current piece though. Decisions decisions!

I'm traveling next week for work, I think I'm going to bring another Mill Hill kit, but not the same kitty one I have been doing. I really don't like having to work with beads on the plane/in the airport. I'm afraid I'm going to lose them all. I'm thinking one of the Tiny Treasure kits I have. I have a cute little 4" hoop just for them!

What has been keeping you busy? Have you started any Halloween projects yet?

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Halloween in July?

I was reviewing what I had done since last week and I am sensing a theme. Halloween! I am pretty sure that the Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Town is what kicked it off this time.

I started & finished a Lizzie Kate Flip-It, it's on a piece of fabric I got in that grab bag and random floss I had around the house already (Weeks & DMC). I really like how the Weeks floss turned out in the pumpkin. I'm thinking about making it again for my MIL because it only took 3 nights and she likes Halloween.

I would like to make it into a cute little pillow with half of it being a Halloween fabric like I've been seeing on the internet. I stink at sewing, so I think I'll convince my mom to help out. :)

I pulled out a design I had started last year around this time, it's from Holiday Cats (ebay link):

And while I am sooo close to finishing it, my motivation is low. I'm not sure if it's because it's been really hot in my hot (my air con isn't working), it's on black fabric, I had to frog an entire leaf when I picked it back up or what, but I put it down again. It's at least still out for me to pretend to work on...

I started another Halloween project since my Halloween Cat wasn't working out. I just bought the pattern in Denver, it's All Through the Nights' Jolly Jack:

I really love the shading on the Weeks Sweet Potato floss. It's such a fun orange color! :)

And last but not least, I ordered the 3x5 inch Floss-A-Way Bags from amazon and redid my special floss storage. I got the index cards and the plastic box at the dollar store. :) All of my DMC, Anchor & Cosmo gets wound onto bobbins, but the special stuff doesn't.

How do you store your floss? Do you have a lot?

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We're Back!

Hello again everyone! We're back from our mini vacation. I'm always sad to come home, but I missed my cat & my bed. :)

We went to Denver, CO to visit some friends and I'm very happy to report the friend who just had brain surgery is doing wonderful! He was looking so good we were really impressed. He has to go back down to Huston, Texas for radiation for 6 weeks, but all in all they were able to remove 95% of the tumor and are very hopeful for his recovery. :D

In other news, my husband & I went to two stitching shops while in Denver (and like 7 breweries). First up is "A Stitching Shop" in the Lakewood area (Morrison Avenue). We went on Thursday after we arrived because they were only open until 5. Well, I called around 4:10pm to double check that they were open and the lady said "How late do you want me to be open?" and I thought that was wonderful. I mean, I was on my way before they closed, but I didn't want to impose if she had somewhere to be! As it turns out we stood there chatting after I checked out for another 45 minutes at least! It was a great time and I HIGHLY recommend checking them out. She's working on listing her 40,000+ items on their website and per usual she can order anything you may want.

They tote themselves as the "Thread Mecca" in Denver and it is 100% true. They had everything! Some things I'd never even heard of. :) AND she carries Cosmo floss (for those of you who do the Frosted Pumpkin's patterns you'll know what I'm talking about). AND she mails!


Here's my haul from A Stitching Store: 

I purchased:

• 1 Lizzie Kate Flip It (with charm) #F17
• 1 Mill Hill Reasured Diamond Bead kit (Royal Plum)
• 1 Glendon Place pattern: Plum Pudding
• 1 4" hoop (my mom has mine, so I just bought another)
• 1 Thread Heaven
• 7 skeins of Weeks Dye Works
• 3 skeins of Variegated Cosmo thread
• 18 skeins of Cosmo thread (for a Frosted Pumpkin pattern & some purples & greens)

The second shop we went to was FanciMats as it sounds, they specialize in custom framing but they are also a cross stitch shop. I didn't like this shop as much for a few reasons, there's nothing bad, just my personal opinion! First, it's pretty small, not tiny, but not even close to as large as A Stitching Place, which is not a bad thing! But secondly, the lady wasn't very nice, she wasn't mean, but I relaly had to track her down when I wanted to check out and she barely said hi. I'm a chatter, and I understand that others aren't, but if you own a store you would think that you would be more chatty if only to encourage more purchasing. Oh well. A huge perk is the ice cream store next door (and there's a knitting shop if you're into that too!)

Here's my haul from FanciMats:

• 4 skeins of Weeks (for the pattern purchase, she didn't have all the colors needed though)
• 1 Jolly Jack pattern
• 1 bundle of scraps (a nice variety of fabrics, colors & shapes)

All in all I got a ton of things and I'm totally ready to complete some ornaments!


I also brought a Mill Hill ornament kit with me to work on. It's a good thing I did because the president came into Denver when we were scheduled to leave so that disrupted all air traffic and we couldn't leave until 8:45 for a 6:20 flight.  Needless to say we didn't get into bed until after 2am. I'm lagging behind this morning!

Here's what I managed to get done:

It's my frist time beading basically. I've done some small designs with a few beads years ago, but I haven't' done anything since then. It's kind of exciting!

I almost missed the best part! I met another cross stitcher (from a forum I belong too) when I was up in Fort Collins. We met over coffee and seriously chatted for 4 hours. It was pretty great. If anyone has a chance to meet another lover of cross stitch in their travels I highly recommend it! It was a very nice experience and if I go back to Ft Collins we will totally meet up again!

How was everyone's fourth weekend (for those of you who are American)?

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Halloween Town Start

Hi everyone! I have started the Frosted Pumpkin's Mysterious Halloween Town and never realized how slow I'd feel after joining instagram (brendaxstitchhaven). So many people are such fast stitchers, and have so much time on their hands! I have a full time job and husband and we were unusually busy this weekend.

Here's where I'm at so far:





Reasons I'm not further along number one, we were looking after a friends cats (she has three):

Look at that face! You just have to hang out with them and pet them. :)

Two & three: We went to my husband's cousins' gradation party (where I took my stitching) and we went to a special event at our local movie theather. Busy busy.

And finally four: I goofed up the fence and I'm trying to decide if I care to fix it or not....

My co-worker's baby is due today and I finally decided I should start working on her baby sampler.




Now, question for all of you, which fabric should I use: Pewter, Natural or White? The little boys' bedroom is navy with orange and lime accents (hence my color choices).

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Halloween Town!

The Mysterious Halloween Town SAL from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery starts tomorrow (not Tuesday like I thought, whoops). I'm all ready! Are you?

Fabric is "Tempest" from my fabric of the month club, Fabrics by Steph. I am still debating on if I should go grab the Cosmo floss when I'm in Denver or not... Decisions decisions! I might just buy some of their other patterns and buy cosmo for those because I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop myself from starting now since I do have all the DMC needed.

I also reached a small milestone on my Glendon Place Tiramisu I finished one page!! Only 5 more to go. :)

I really do love working on this, big blocks of color and silk thread! It's just very large for me. Other than my Chat (which I haven't worked on in... a long time) it's my largest project. :)

Anyone else out there getting excited for the Mysterious Halloween Stitch a Long?!?!

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Mother's Day Gift

If you've been reading you know that I started my mothers' day gift the Sunday before mothers day and finished the stitching in time (in two days!). Once I finished the stitching part I went to find a frame. I couldn't really find anything square that I liked and would go well in my parents house so I decided to bite the bullet and pay to get it custom framed. Was it worth the cost? I don't know, but it does look really nice. :)

I really should stop taking pictures with my cell phone and take out the DSLR. The best camera is the one you have with you... even though I'm at home, with access to my nice one. Eh. Next time. :)

I gave it to her yesterday and she really liked it, just as I thought she would.

I started a Little House Needleworks design, Gingerbread Cookie. It was suppose to be my May ornament of the month, clearly I didn't get it done in time. I'll just have to finish 2 this month so I can get caught up. It's possible! Maybe I'll find a really small one to do after I finish this one. I'm going to search etsy and hopefully find something kinda nerdy! :)

I also decided that I just had to join the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Mysterious Halloween Town Club. I am quite excited about this!!! It'll be my first mystery club! I was going to purchase the Cosmo floss called for, but the total was like $20 (because of shipping from Canada and I couldn't find it locally) and I can't really justify that when I only needed to buy 2 of the DMC alternatives.... I made an order on 123stitch for the 2 DMC & the 4 overdyed floss and some misc floss I needed for various projects (to justify the shipping cost of course!). The first part starts on June 17th and it goes for 4 parts. The last of which will be released on September 18th. Anyone interested in joining me in a SAL?

I think I've already settled on my fabric. It's called Tempest which was my first fabric from Steph's fabric of the month club, it's a really nice light plum-ish shade of purple. I'll do a floss toss as soon as everything comes in so you can see what it looks like. You never know, I could change my mind between now and the 17th, but I'm pretty sure it'll coordinate well. And since I have so much fabric I really didn't want to have to buy more..... At least that's what I'm telling myself! ;)

Have you ever done a mystery sampler?!?!

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Tiramisu Update/Stitch from Stash

I just realized that I haven't shown my Glendon Place Tiramisu in a long time. I am so very close to finishing page one! It is a bit hard to tell because I didn't strictly stop at the end of the first page if I still have floss left when I was nearly the edge.

Glendon Place Tiramisu

I still have some border at the top to do, I'm really not a fan of stitching the border, I like straight lines better! :) It's slow going because I don't stitch every night and I've been in kinda a rut lately, which makes no sense since I just bought a ton of new projects!

I really should be working on my MIL's snowman, but I haven't really been feeling it if you know what I mean. I have to be in the mood to stitch specific things. Maybe she'll get it for Christmas instead of her birthday (which is next month). I should just try to finish it. I probably could get it done, 3 weeks is totally enough time.... *famous last words*

I purchased some Halloween patterns earlier this month:

Almost Halloween - Drawn Thread

It's Halloween - Drawn Thread

And I cannot wait to start them! But I still have my black cat to finish:

Holiday Cats pattern

I am a serial starter I think. I'm pretty close on this one though. That pumpkin is the largest thing, and it took a long time too! I would like to get it done before October, clearly!


As for stitch from stash. I went over. Again. I thought I had self control. Apparently I don't. I'm going to blame the fact that I didn't have much stash... until starting the stash challenge. I found a LNS and learned that another one was going out of business. I just had to buy things. THEN I found Steph's fabric of the month club, gotta join that, clearly. I think I'm going to back out of the challenge. I'm still going to try to keep track of my spending but I've had my eye on the needle needs stand & frame combo... which would kill the budget for an entire year (plus I want to get the 24" bars for the Tiramisu project). My husband says if it makes you happy then it's worth the cost. We both have good paying jobs and little overhead, so I want to enjoy my hobby now while life is going well because you can never predict the future.


Leave a comment below on how you're doing with the challenge (or why you aren't doing it)!

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