Strolling with a Stool......(151)

To close out my Stroll through May, I have an older piece form 1996---Carrot Patch by Heart in Hand. I have it mounted in a wooden stool that was made by East Side Mouldings.....yes I've always loved their frames and this stool was a cute idea! I really need to find some other designs that I can switch out monthly or maybe seasonally.

So ends another month through my Stitch Stroll. I hope you are enjoying it..there's lots more to come and I am amassing such a wonderful journal of my stitching pursuits.

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship! 

Stasi

A Lady's Collection....(150)

Love, love, love this piece I'm sharing today....the colors, the designs, the delicacy!!! This was an on line class I took from Bright Needle in 2007 through Elegant Stitch and is called  Lady's Collection. The needle books consist of three "pockets" that the actual needle holders slip into. It was stitched over one and is definitely one of my all time favorite projects!

Fronts

Backs

 The scissor pocket....

Front

Back

 I sure miss Ann and Liz from Bright Needle...how about you?

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted  threads" of friendship!

Stasi

Americana Sewing Case...(149)

Happy Memorial Day! I thought I'd "Stroll" on by today with a patriotic piece, Americana Sewing Case by Merry Cox. This was stitched in 2009 and is so sweet. 

Front

Back

Inside

Side

Side

 Please remember all our veterans today, the service they offered....the sacrifices they made.....

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

A Preface to a Shaker Sampler....(148)

Today's Stroll piece is a preface piece from a class with Betsy Stinner in 2007, Shaker Sampler. We were lucky to have Betsy come teach twice at Twisted Threads and I managed to get the preface pieces done, but never did the full projects. 😔 Again, I think this will make a nice pincushion at some point.

 Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

A Little Heart.....(147)

Made it to NC safe and sound. Today we'really hitting the White Squirrel Festival in Brevard.

Today I'm strolling with an old Shepherd's Bush freebie, Shepherd's Heart. It was an Ornament of the Month club piece at TT back in 2000.

 Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

Alphabets on Linen (146)

Today's Stroll piece is Alphabets on Linen by Cedar Hill. I have always loved this piece... a simple design using cross and eyelet stitches. When this chart came out we had a number of our customers at Twisted Threads stitch it with overdyed threads, each totally different and lovely. I stitched my version, in 1995,  on a 28 count linen with Caron Collection Wildflowers Fiesta (this is till one of my favorite colors) and double framed in an East Side Mouldings frame.

Thanks to Becky G. we have an answer about my little bird food jar. It appears the spout was  soldered on; she figured out the company name and I googled a photo. Somebody definitely was thinking back then. Now I Iove it even more!!! Thank you Becky--you are a master sleuth......stitching friends are the best!


 



We are leaving this morning for a visit to our daughter's in NC. I will try to continue "strolling" while gone but if the internet is persnickety, I'll catch up when I return.

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship.

Stasi

Hand in Hand....... (145)

Up today is a design from Sisters and Best Friends called Hand in Hand...Heart to Heart. I stitched this in 1998 and it was a freebie chart utilizing a small knit/crocheted glove. 

The other week we went to a flea market and I found this item I thought would be perfect for adding crushed walnut shells to my pincushions...it is!! I'm just curious if this is the original lid or if someone soldered the funnel tip to the lid. Seems weird a company would cover up their name, but perhaps there was a label too. I tried to google but didn't come up with anything since I can't read the name. Anybody has any ideas, please let me know.

  
My gifts are all stitched and so I've moved back to my stitching. The last couple nights I've been working on Threads that Bind.  Again I have run out of thread on a kit--so frustrating!!! I am very careful with my threads, especially from a kit, for this very reason. Luckily I had a red that matched well....hopefully I'll squeak through with the rest of the fibers.

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

Poke the Needle (144)

Todays Stroll piece is Queen Bee Needle Poke by Notforgotten Farm. This was a club piece from Lori's Little Stitches Handwork Club in 2016. I am not a member but luckily found the complete kit on the second hand market...and boy was I happy!!! You know I love me some bees!!!!

After seeing Patti's completed piece on her blog, Winding Vine Wanderings ,
I changed things up  bit. I stitched the bee in DMC 3371, instead of the rust color, and added an entry to the hive. I also added a pocket on the back to hold a pair of scissors, since I had plenty of the wool fabric, and attached three brass bees.

 So, Monday I was stalking the mail man all afternoon. I knew I should be getting a special kit from Elegant Stitch but when I went to get the mail, after I saw him drive by, it wasn't there. 😞 (I'm told that's a disappointed face emoji)  When my hubby went to lock up that night, thankfully, he noticed a box on the front porch. (It rained off and on all night and I hate to think what might have become of the box!) I am so tickled with what was inside--it's a collaboration kit from Elegant Stitch and Hands on Design. I had noticed a post on FB by Cathy from HOD about this new kit she had designed for Lois. Well, after watching the 30 minute floss tube video and hearing the kit was limited, I immediately called Lois and managed to snag one. The piece is called My Stitcher's Heart and comes with a papier mache box (which we will decorate), a scissor fob, pincushion and waxer bag (key waxer included).

So the plain box will go, unbelievably, from this

to this.....

Here are the other projects that came with the kit.

And the stitching and finishing supplies.

 Definitely the whole package!!!! I can't wait to get started.....can you tell I'm excited??? But, realistically, I am going to hold off...too many irons in the fire!!!


 Sorry if I rambled too much--thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

Rainy Days and Tuesdays........ (143)

Days like today, it seems so trivial to be posting about my stitching when terror has struck....again.....parents have lost their children.....young innocents have been traumatized .... and we are all wondering "WHY"!!!! I could go on but I won't; I know you are all feeling the same sadness and asking the same questions. My thoughts go out to all affected by this horrific tragedy.

Today's Stroll piece is The Bunny Needlebook Cover by Handwork. I stumbled across this last year during the move and completed the stitching; then it sat until I uncovered it the other day. It fits a 4X6 notebook which I have yet to buy. I hope that little bunny brings a smile to you face today. And, I hope you can find comfort in your stitching today--I know I will.

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

A Stroll Finish...... Mexican Reticule Part 1 (141)

Soooooo, yesterday I put the proverbial 'cart before the horse' and posted Part 2 of the Mexican Reticule before I posted Part 1 (that's what I get for trying to be organized and typing up my post early knowing I would be short on time this weekend). I'm surprised no one noticed my mishap, or perhaps you are all too polite to point it out. Sooooo, here is the post that should have appeared yesterday:


  I had a good finishing session on Friday and completed some outstanding projects. Today, for my Stitch Stroll piece, I'm going to share Maria Katarin's Mexican Retcule. This was a class I took last June with Betsy Morgan; I was hoping to get it finished to take this year for show 'n tell in June. Definitely not my usual color palette but I love the bright colors and interesting stitches/patterns on the back. I'll be sharing the smalls tomorrow, but here is the main piece.

Front

Under flap

Back

Aztec Stitch

 Isn't this stitch intriguing? It's much easier than it appears and we got to do a trial run before we attempted it on the real thing. There is a piece of pink dupioni silk behind it. My one regret with this piece is that I didn't put more interfacing in it to give it more body---it's a little "wimpy". But hey, it's only going to lay in my display case anyway!!!

 Betsy is a fabulous teacher, so if you ever get the opportunity to take a class with her, don't let it pass you by. I'm counting the days until June when I take my next two classes with her. 

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship! 

Stasi

Mexican Reticule Part 2 (142)

Here are the smalls I promised, in the previous post, from Maria Katarin's Mexican Reticule. There is a thread winder, ruler and scissor fob; the ruler is actually accurate!
When I went to the Dyeing to Stitch retreat recently, I stumbled across the scissors and they work perfectly with the bright colors.

We're off to visit a Civil War site in Petersburg, VA today. Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

A Mermaid's Tale Part 2 (140)

Good morning! We got an early morning walk in already and are gearing up for the day. On our walks we often see this......

......it is amazing how humongous these root balls are! The soil is very sandy and when a big wind/storm blows through, these trees just tip over. To give some perspective, that root ball is probably 10-12 feet high/wide!!!

On to my Stroll stitching....here is part 2 of A Mermaid's Tale by Sherri Jones. Up today are the smalls; left to right are a pin keep, pincushion and scissor fob.

Fronts

Backs

Sitting in the bottom of the purse, I've added a vial of sand from Ocean City, Md (where I took the class), a large pearl and a mermaid's tear (this was given to me by a friend and I think it's seas glass).

I have been getting some finishing done and will start to share that tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship! 

Stasi

A Mermaids Tale/Tail.......(139)

And another Friday is upon us--we have a number of baseball games this weekend for my grandson and.......hopefully some finishing!

The sleeping on our porch has been interesting...there are a LOT of weird animals that go bump in the night. It's been taking awhile to adjust to all the odd sounds, but they all seem to 'shut down' around 11:30, like a switch was turned off!!! I am amazed at how comfy the air mattress is! Alas, we dismantled this morning due to impending thunderstorms tonight. 

Today's Stroll piece is a Sherri Jones class I took in 2014 called The Mermaid's Two Tales. I'm sharing the main purse today and the smalls tomorrow. This was such a wonderful class and Sherri gave us some background on mermaids and the symbolism of their split tail.....something to do with houses of ill repute...google it for fun!

Front

Back

Bottom

Interior with thread winders that are under pinkeep flap

Pinkeep

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!  Oh, and we have a bluebird nesting already in our birdhouse!!!

Stasi
 

Still Stitch Strolling in May.....(138)

As promised, here is the second "oldie but goodie" bell pull. Again, it was stitched in 1984 but I don't remember the name of the chart or designer. I can picture the front of the chart, but that's about all. It looks like I split the aida threads to "lay" the bargello work and it turned out pretty darn good!!!  (Updated--after a google search, I found the chart and it's called Keepsake Samplers --- thanks Maria S of Ontario and Joanie)

Hope you are keeping cool wherever you are.....90's here today....YUCK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

An Oldie but Goodie......(137)

During our recent move, I uncovered a pair of old bell pulls I had made in 1984. I don't remember the names or designers, heck it's been over 30 years!!! I'll share one today of the Four Seasons and one tomorrow. Both are done on Aida (I didn't start to stitch in linen until 1995) and they're as pretty today as they were then. I have a shot of the overall piece and then a close up of each season---see I liked "bees" and "alphabets" even before I knew I did! :)  (Updated--after a google search, I found the chart and it's called Keepsake Samplers --- thanks Maria S of Ontario and Joanie)

A little side bar....I stitched these when I lived in Bethlehem, PA. I lived there from 1983-1990 and never had a stitching buddy. Now granted, my girls were school age then and time for needlework was sparce. The irony is I  now have a number of ladies I've become friends with, via Salty Yarns, that are from the Bethlehem/Allentown area. It turns out we all even shopped at the same store, Stitch n Count. Heck, one of them even lived down the street from me but wasn't stitching at the time. I am so blessed to know them now, but oh do I wish I had known them then!

I have always loved the idea of a sleeping porch where you could have "beds" that fold up against the wall and drop down when needed.  In lieu of that, we have a queen sized air mattress---you've come a long way baby!!! We've blown that up (via an electrical outlet) the last couple nights and slept on our recently screened in porch. I'm not sure how long we'll keep it up as it gets hot and humid, but that air mattress is comfy!!! I guess this is our version of "glamping"!!!

 Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi