Finished stocking

Happy Christmastide!

Such a busy time, I'm sure you are all just as busy too!

I did manage to do the finishing on the stocking on time.

My new son-in-law was simply thrilled, which of course made it all worth it!

His reaction was very sweet and gratifying!

 I love this stocking so much, and plan to make 2 more of Mary Beale's sampler stockings this year, one for my husband and one for myself!

Here it is with my other favorite stocking-my daughter's.

I made this for her when she was little, and I have always loved it so much. I don't know where the pattern came from-possibly one of those Vanessa Ann books, remember those anyone?

So the two stockings went to their new home this year, and I must say I will miss my daughter's. It is one of the things I have  treasured every year when I unwrap it for Christmas.

Sigh!

xx
~Annie

Merry Christmas to All!

On this very Christmas night...

Peace to you and your loved ones.

xx

~Annie

What I get for trying to be organized

A lot of guff from my family! 

That's what I get!

I bought a new dry-erase month at a glance calendar with magnets on the back that I can tack on my refrigerator. It has a space for my schedule and for "their" schedules. 

You should have heard the laughter!

 OK, I am not known around these parts for being organized, but when I do try I think I should be at least encouraged! 

Right? 

Yes I should!

 

I carefully filled in all of the activities for this week and hung it up. And so far, I like it! OK, I didn't fill in the dinner menu-I mean you can't expect me to commit a week in advance, can you?

So this morning I went in the kitchen to get my coffee and "glance" at my new calendar, and this is what some Wise-enheimer added,

Ha Ha Ha! Everyone is a comedian!

xx

~Annie

Sampler Stocking finished!!

 

Sampler Stocking VIII

Mary Beale Designs

25 ct. Dublin linen

 

I hope I will be able to find good fabrics to finish it with. 

Our fabric choices have really been limited in the last couple of years.

 In the past I used a decorator weight moire'  taffeta to line my stockings, it was wonderful. And a velveteen for the back. 

Well, we'll see what I can find!

xx

~Annie

Sandyhook

My heart is broken.

St. Michael the archangel defend us in battle.

Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,

And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,

By the power of God,

Cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits,

Who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

xx

~Annie

Sampler Stocking~so gorgeous!

I am loving this project-it is turning out so pretty!

Isn't it just gorgeous!!!

I am down to the heel now.

I love working on 25 ct.

It is a breath of fresh air after working so many projects on 40 or 36ct.

I hope to have it finished this week. 

xx

~Annie

For Sale at the Merc!

For sale this month at TDIPT Mercantile:

All Hearts Come Home for Christmas.

My sample is for sale.

Sold! Thank you!

The free chart for this is about to expire Dec.10th, so if you are interested you need to print it out now. Here is the link.

Sajou Merry Christmas with vintage and antique button border.

This has a ribbon hanger(not shown).

Hope you are having fun decorating for the holidays! I just got my tree up last night. I like a real tree but my hubby doesn't. So we bought a pre-lit tree a couple of years ago and now the lights wont light. So we had to buy lights and restring it! Ah well! such is life!

ha! Ha!

I'm working on some dolls as well. One is for Prims magazine. I have to have her sent out on Friday, and my hubs in on vacation all this week, yikes! I will post a few teaser pics later this week!

Merry Christmas!

xx

~Annie

Framed!

I actually finished this piece some time ago, 

but I just now got around to framing it.

 I framed it myself with a frame I bought at Hobby Lobby. 

It is pinned into foam core all around the edges and laced in the back. 

The whole project cost me $12.00:

 $10.00 for the frame and $2.00 for the foam core.

Yay! Another piece framed and finished!

xx

~Annie

P.S.~ see my Scarlet Letter Challenge here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a blessed day!

Annie Beez Samplings

Check out my cross stitch page(tab above) for a new post about a possible 2013 WIP-ocolypse!

xx

~Annie

My completed ornament

I ended up changing out the Antique Rose for Manor Red(crescent colors) and I used Desert Mesquite for the border instead of Evergreen.

I trimmed it with ruched ribbon.

What do you think?

xx

~Annie

All Hearts progress

Here is my progress on the freebie ornament(see post below). I love the Gentle Art sampler threads so much. I'm sorry the pic is dark,  I took it at night.

It was under my lamp too, so it has sort of a yellow-y cast. I will get a better pic of the finished piece..

I have sold Louisa. She was on TDIPT last month. The buyer asked me to add hair all the way to the back in case she wanted to display her with her bonnet off. I love the way she turned out!

A lot of times if the bonnet is sewn on, I only put hair in the front where you can see it. But I like the way she looks, don't you?

xx

~Annie

Christmas Ornament Floss Toss

Here is my floss toss for the freebie Chrtistmas ornament. I want mine to look old, so I chose 35ct. straw linen (not sure of the maker, this was in my stash),  Gentle Art Sampler Threads and Weekes Dye works threads.

 Here are my selections:

DMC 349...GAST Antique Rose

 DMC 839................Weekes Bark

DMC 3052......GAST Evergreen

DMC 3774...........Weekes Mocha

DMC3827...............Weekes Gold

DMC ecru...GAST Roasted Marshmallow

Note that the conversion for DMC 3774, which is Desert Sand vy lt, I changed to a much darker mocha color. Otherwise it is basically ecru next to ecru! I often get into this trouble when designing because my program monitor does not show the DMC colors true. Hope this doesn;t cause anyone fits, just consider yourself a model stitcher! LOL!

xx

~Annie

Christmas Ornament Freebie!

Here is a free chart for you! Thank you all for your comments and for reading my blog! I enjoy every single comment and cherish the friendships I have made through this blog!

 

 Download here!

Eyelets are stitched with 2 strands of 3774 Desert Sand vy lt OR #12 perle cotton in ecru.

This free chart will be available here to download for a limited time. 30 days to be exact! After that you will have to email me for the chart.

  If you stitch it PLEASE send me a picture, 

I would love to create a gallery of your beautiful work! 

Enjoy!

xx

~Annie

Soccer season is over, so I finally got a free weekend and it was 

LOVELY!!!

I had ample time to stitch:

I worked on Mary Beale's Sampler Stocking.

I finished page 1!

I also worked quite a bit on Quilty Neighborhood, but I can't show you that yet!

I FINISHED a needle roll!! This has been in my basket of smalls that I keep handy for when I just have a few minutes here and there.

Garden Needle Roll~Shepherds Bush

And I finished a pretty little Christmas ornament. This is an original design. I am waiting for some silk ribbon that I ordered to make the hanger, but here it is so far:

Hope you all had as lovely a weekend as I did.

 And for those in the Northeast who have been so devastated by hurricane Sandy-you are in my prayers every day!

xx

~Annie

New offerings at TDIPT! And more!

For those of you hoping for a new doll, I DO apologize! 
I just couldn't get one done this month
with all of the unrelenting sports(Isabel) and being so sick.

But I do have some lovely snowmen up for adoption.

So click on over to 

TDIPT Mercantile

and snatch these right up!

I am READY for the Christmas season, are you?

I LOVE to decorate for Christmas.

And this year with most of the kids out of the house I am going to really cull through all of my accumulated Christmas decorations and purge everything that is broken or that just doesn't sing to me.

I want to do a vintage white and sparkle theme this year. 

Yes, that what I'm going to call it...

Vintage White and Sparkle!

I just made that up right now! Ha!

Picture little glitter houses with bottle brush trees, 

lots of white sparkly garland, a beautiful feather tree,

 german blown glass ornaments...yes!

And of course, a sampler tree!

Filled with all of the needlework ornaments I have made over the years!

Add to all of this lots of beautiful silver vintage looking mercury glass-LOVE it!

Won't it be pretty! 
Are your Chritmas decorating juices flowing yet??

xx
~Annie

Pinkes Samlper progress and some BIG news!

Quick stitchy update.

I worked on Pinkes Sampler over the weekend.

This is such a pretty sampler, 

I can't wait to get to the whitework part.

Yesterday was my birthday, I had a fabulous day. Gary, Isabel and I went to Milwaukee to watch the Marquette  girls quarter final soccer game-it was freezing but so much fun. They have a great team-so energetic! They won 5-1 against U-Conn. Lucas works at the field, so when he was done after the game we all went out to dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant. It was so good to see Lucas, he is in his senior year, working at the field and also doing an internship, so we haven't seen much of him lately. I miss him. Its hard on us moms when our kids can't come home on their college breaks!

AND THEN.....

When we got home the newlyweds invited us over to their apartment where they had birthday cake, some gifts, and the greatest news ever...

Chelsea is expecting!!!

They just found out-did 3 tests to be sure-so it looks like she will be due the end of June!

Whoopie!!!!!

I am doing the happy dance here!! I am a "baby" person, so this is the best birthday gift I could ever get!!

xx

~Annie

Silk Ribbon dolls reticule

Here is a quick pic of the dolls reticule I promised earlier today. 

It is for my doll Lily, which is a pattern I have been trying to rework. It is one of my earliest patterns, and the doll hair I used then is no longer available. I have tried to recreate the hairstyle using hair that is available today but I am not having much luck. Now I'm considering re-releasing the pattern with a bonnet. Seems like kind of a cop-out, but like I said, the hairstyle is almost impossible with what is available today.

Here she is:

 This is with the old hair, which was an awesome spun wool which was curled in a coil, and was all in one long piece. So with the new wool. which is shorter pieces, I could do a bonnet with a little hair showing at the top. I don't know, perhaps I'll keep exploring the yarns available out there.

xx

~Annie

A Happy Sunny Day!

I am feeling SO much better!

The doctor gave me an antibiotic AND a steriod and I am finally getting over this thing.

 I have now actually had 3 good nights of sleep!

Hurray!

Since I have been doing all of this needlework while I've been sick, I put all of my original cross stitch charts into a slideshow.

I have also been working on some commissions, and I have to show you a sweet little reticule that I made which is silk ribbon on a gorgeous piece of moire taffeta.

Stay tuned...

xx

~Annie

Keep on keepin' on!

Still sick here.

 Can you believe it!

 Its been like 4 weeks.

 But I finally broke down and went to the doctor.

 I know I know...why wait so long.  But I am one of those who hates going to the doctor! Anyhow, they put me on an antibiotic and a steroid, so this aughta do it!!

Meanwhile the studio girls sit around patiently waiting to be put up for adoption.

They never say anything, but I think I've detected a few annoyed glares as I have gone by!

But even though I don't feel too great, I hate to be unproductive. 

So I finished Child of Spring.

This must be my oldest WIP, started around 1993 or so!

 But its not a WIP anymore!!!

Child of Spring

22 count Hardanger fabric

Victoria Samplers

this is the top

this is the middle

This is the bottom

I love the hardanger hearts~can you see the beads? 

This is a very subtle design. I loved all of the pulled thread stitches, 

they are so beautiful.

So even though sick, at least something was accomplished! LOL!

 Almost 20 years! hahaha!

xx

~Annie

Never say never to those Works in Progress

Happy Friday everyone!

I am still sick with a virus that just won't go away, so I'm working very slowly here! During my resting times(too often) I have been doing some needlework. I have been renewing my love for specialty stitches. I pulled out my oldest WIP. 

Don't laugh!

This is a birth sampler I started for my oldest child, Chelsea! She is now almost 26 years old and is the one who just got married! 

LOL!!

...embarrasing...

Yes, that date DOES SAY 1987.

I know...

...pathetic...

BUT, I am enjoying the fine stitches, I had it in my stash, and you know...better late than never!

xx
~Annie

New project for my new son in law!

I have started Mary Beale's sampler stocking for my new son in law! Shhh! Don't tell him! I am loving this project, because it is on 25 ct. which is huge for me! It is going so fast, its wonderful to be able to see it so well! LOL!

Here is my progress, I started this Friday night, but mostly worked on it on Sunday night, because Isabel had a volleyball tournament all day on Saturday. I took it with me but didn't really work on it. I found out it is dangerous to have your head down during volleyball warm-ups!

I'm loving it!

XX

~Annie