To the Beach Freebie - FINISH!

So last time I mentioned a project I'd worked on earlier this summer.  I thought I'd share this finish today and show you all the goodies I made to go with it.

First, a little back story.  I took a Saturday road trip early this summer to The Finishing Touch in Louisville, Kentucky.  I just love Saundra, the owner, and Carol, fabric cutter extraordinaire!  As a parting gift, Saundra gave me the "To The Beach" freebie by Hands on Design.  I have a great affinity for Cathy Habermann designs and I couldn't wait to stitch it.  Let's check it out.

Design:  To the Beach Freebie

Designer:  Hands on Design

Fabric:  40ct. Vintage Pearled Barley

Floss:  GAST as charted

Started:  6/12/16

Finished:  7/4/16

Completed: 10/9/16

I knew from the start I wanted to finish this as a tin topper.  I intended to take it with me as my travel tool box on my trip to Myrtle Beach for the PALs Retreat in October.  I had heard that Hands on Design might be one of the vendors and thought it would be fun to show Cathy in person but she wasn't there.  Want to see the inside?

I decided to put a sheet magnet in the lid for needles and such.  I also padded the bottom and added cording around so the needles wouldn't get lost in the gap.  I also made a matching ORT catcher using the same fabric and some coordinating fabric.  Then I decided those naked scissors needed a fob.  All scissors need fobs, right?!

Design: From the chart On Beach Time

Designer: Hands on Design

Fabric: 40 ct. Vintage Pearled Barley scraps

Floss: GAST and DMC

Started:  10/9/16

Finished: 10/9/16

Completed: 10/12/16

And if you are going to make a fob, why not a two sided fob!  I used the finishing instructions from Jeannette Douglas' chart called "Friendship Sweet Bag."  She suggests using two quarters to give the fob weight.  Now this finish could not be easier and it really gives a nice look and feel.  I also just had to add a couple tiny embellishments too where the twisted cords meet.

These are two things that also live inside the tin.  I love those LoRan threaders and always pick one up when I see them.  I'm pretty certain I have one in every project bag.

Now the other "tool" you might recognize from a trip to ULTA or Sephora!  It is one of those spoolies they give you to test mascara!  It works wonderfully as a "boo boo" stick.  Now I can't claim this as my own brilliant idea.  I heard my blog buddy, Vonna, from The Twisted Stitcher blog/FlossTube mention it.  She's really the brilliant one.  Go get yourself some of these 'cause they are awesome and best of all, free!  You're welcome!

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So there you have it, a fun finish I thought you'd enjoy seeing today.  Every time I use this sweet set I think of being at the beach.  The beach soothes my soul and I absolutely love being there.  Too bad I live in the land locked midwest.  LOL!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'm off to a guild meeting and all day stitch tomorrow.  I'm hoping to make some progress on "Heaven Above" and I couldn't resist a new start last weekend so I'm going to work on that too.  More about that another day!  Thanks for visiting.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

What I've been working on...

I've had some requests to see my progress on a couple things so I thought I'd pop in and share.  The first one is Speak to the Earth.  Here's where we were when you last saw it.

As of 3/6/16

As of 5/12/16

Now the truth of the matter is that if I would just buckle down, I could realistically get this one done without too much trouble.  Um...yeah, I have no excuses.  Moving on...

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As of 3/6/16

Design: Pomegranate Pincushion

Designer: Hands on Designs

Fabric:  30 ct. Aztec Red

Floss:  As charted

Started:  1/1/16

Finished: 3/12/16

Completed: 3/26/16

Okay, this one I completely forgot I even finished it until I looked a couple posts back.  I'm a shameful blogger in more ways than one.  Ahem.   Seriously, I really enjoyed this finish and it wasn't nearly as difficult as one might imagine it to be.  I do have the linen and fabric to make the pocket...at some point.

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Design: From "Tokens of Love: Quaker Pinballs" book

Designer: Erica Uten

Fabric: 40 ct. Linen linen

Floss:  DMC 221

Started: 4/9/16

Finished: 4/30/16

Completed: 5/8/16

This one I made as a thank you for Mary Uhl Brooks who graciously shared the Quaker samplers with me at the Westtown School back in May.  I'll have to write more about that trip later.  Needless to say it was a morning I won't soon forget.  If you find yourself near Westtown, make plans to see the needlework.  You'll want to call in advance but it's very much worth it!

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As of 6/26/16

This one I'm calling a "do-over."  I'd started it originally who knows when, I'm thinking maybe 2011.  I could be wrong.

All I know is the fabric I'd originally used was definitely not made for cross stitch and I don't know what I was thinking.  I also don't know the designer on this or if there ever was one.  You see, I saw this in a friends sun room and fell in love.  She received it as a gift.  We don't know if it was a commercially made pillow or if someone actually stitched it.  All I knew was I loved it and charted it from the picture I took that day.

The original was done on large count fabric.  I suspect from looking at my picture, it was Tula.  That's what I'm using now.  The peeps have given me such grief over this one since I usually like to work on 40 ct. and this is 10 ct.  What can I say, I liked the chunky look of the original and that's how I wanted this one to look as well.  I plan to finish it into a pillow too.  It's going pretty fast.

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I've also started and finished a couple other things but can't show them until after this weekend is over.  I'm going to try to have a finishing day real soon so I can clear out some of the backed up stuff in the box o'shame.  I'm sure you all have one of those too where finished stitching waits to be completed.  LOL!

I hope you've enjoyed this quick little check-in.  I really wanted to make sure I documented these things.  I really didn't realize how much I relied on this blog to help me remember the things I've stitched.  I've got some more catching up to do!  If you've read this far, thanks for still being here after my long absence!

More later,

The Inspired Stitcher

It's all about the progress...

How did a whole month pass?!  Wow!  I can account for the past two weeks but I have no excuse for the two before that.  Our house has been cursed with the creepin' crud that seems to be going around lately.  DH gave it to me (he's sweet that way dontacha know) and I've had it for two weeks.  Yikes!  Thankfully the cough is gone for the most part and most of the congestion is too.  So I decided since I felt spunkier than I have in a good while, I'd pop in here for a progress update!  Go grab a cuppa.  Here we go!

Progress as of 9-6-15

Progress as of 3/6/16

Excuse the wrinkles.  I took it's glamour shot straight off the q-snaps.  I can't believe the last time you saw this one was last September!  As you can tell, I've worked on it a bit since then and I'm getting really close to the finish on it.  I'm hopeful it will be soon.  I just love all the little animals at the bottom.  There have been a couple peeps who have finished theirs.  I'll have to get a snap of all of them together when I finally get mine done.

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Progress as of 7/11/15

Progress as of 3/6/16

Okay, I'm almost embarrassed to show this one.  The last time I shared progress was back in July.  Really?!  Oh good golly...can we say slacker?!  Anywho, you can tell I have worked on this one quite a bit since then.  I'm almost to the point of finishing page two!  Next up will be the words in the bottom section.  I love words.  I also love all the little spots in this one too. And the night sky and well...pretty much everything about it.

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I've also had a couple new starts I haven't shared here yet.  It's funny, I used to be a "one-at-a-time" girl and that went out the window now didn't it.  LOL!

Progress as of 3/6/16

This was my January 1st start.  I'm doing it as a SAL with a certain someone who reads this blog.  Winks!  I haven't worked on it much since the middle of January.  I'm sure my SAL partner already has hers done and is just being polite by not telling me.  I'm really looking forward to doing the finishing on this one.  I think it's going to be interesting.  I'm loving the red fabric! It's 30 ct. Aztec red in case you were wondering.

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Progress as of 3/6/16

This is my second new start this year.  I picked this one up on Valentine's Day, right before I got sick.  It's charted as the letter "E" but I plan to lob off the top and the middle parts and turn it into an "L."  I'm stitching it on 30ct. Morris Blue with the called for floss.

Our friend Leslie of Under the Sea Fabrics has one someone made for her and it inspired me to do one for myself.  This is my first Nora!  I figured I should stitch one since I'm going to the Mirabilia Minions Retreat for the first time this year.  I'm looking forward to it!

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So there you are folks, even though I have been absent in this space I really have been stitching.  Between being sick and work still being crazy, I haven't had much time to pop in here to catch you all up.  I do, however, appreciate all the emails checking in on me.  I've tried to make the blog rounds and visit when I could.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit with me today.  I appreciate each one of you!  I hope your day is good.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

P.S. Is anyone else sad that tonight is the last episode of Downton?  Can't wait to see what happens!

Hands on Design Project Bag...Done!

Folks, we have a finish!  I put the last stitch in this one on Sunday.  I had gotten a good go at it last week since I was so close to a finish and stitching with the peeps last Friday gave me the push I needed to actually make it to the finish line!

But that isn't the best part!  Oh no, I actually completed it into it's bag form.  Now I can use it!!  More on that in a minute.  First, I have to tell you how I solved my dilemma about the motif I mentioned on TUSAL day.

I wasn't wild about the motif between the words "sampler" and "motif" as it was charted.  Something about it just didn't strike my fancy.  I tried to chart my initials and even another spool of thread for that spot.  As I was sitting there pondering what to do, I looked at my latest SANQ issue sitting beside me and noticed the motif between the arrows above.  Jackpot!  It fit perfectly.  I ended up putting my initials on the lower right corner so they are still on it just not in a prominent spot as I'd first envisioned.  That's the beauty of stitching, you can change anything you want because it's yours!

Design:  Love My Stitching

Designer: Hands on Design

Fabric: 28 ct. white Monaco

Floss:  DMC as charted

Started: 4/6/15

Finished: 5/31/15

Completed: 6/3/15

Here's the finished bag!  I really like these finishing fabrics.  I still can't believe I got so lucky to find the actual fabric the designer used for the outside.  In case you are interested, the outside fabric is by Riley Blake Designs' line called Polka Dot Stitches in the print called Polka Dot Doily Blue.  I lined it in a polka dot print by Mary Koval from the line called Cat in the Manor that has an aqua and white dot on red.  A perfect match!

The finished size of the bag ended up being 10.5" wide by 12.5" high.  It's a little bit bigger than the ones I've made before.  It is also padded on all sides and has a chart pocket inside that runs lengthwise across the back of the bag.  The finishing instructions are by Sew Much 2 Luv and came with the chart which I thought was really nice.  They were pretty easy to follow too.


I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Stasi from Bee Mused and Bee Stitching who inspired me to pull this chart out and actually stitch it!  I saw hers a while back and just had to do it too.  I also wanted to be able to take this with me to Russellville next month since I bought the chart there last year at retreat.  I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy using this bag!

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So there we are friends!  Thanks for stopping in today and sharing my happy dance.  As always, I appreciate your visits and kind words.  It's so fun to share my stitching with you all.


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

New Start Progress - Hands on Design

Last night was our guild's monthly stitch-in.  It was fun to get together with the peeps for the evening to sit and stitch.  Since I'd worked all day and was pretty tired, I decided to work on my new start I mentioned in the TUSAL post the other day.  I knew stitching on 40ct. was not happening.  Oh the hazards of banging away on a keyboard all day long staring at a computer screen.  LOL!

Here's a progress picture taken at the end of the night.  This was the perfect stitch for me since my eyes were already tired.  It's worked on 28ct. even weave with three colors of DMC.  It was such a change only working with a small selection of colors.

Here a link to Hands on Design's blog.  I just love her stuff!

 
This is what it will look like when it's all stitched.  I was even lucky enough to find that actual aqua print!  In case you are on the hunt, it's by Riley Blake Designs.  The fabric line is Polka Dot Stitches and this particular print is called Polka Dot Doily Blue.  If you type in any of that into a Google search you should come up with something.

I will say a lesson I learned from my quilting days, if you don't buy a fabric shortly after it comes out you may not ever see it again.  Knowing this, I feel extremely lucky to have found the aqua fabric.  I'm less concerned about the lining fabric but am leaning toward a small red and white polka dot or maybe a gingham.  We'll see what I can find.

There's an element of this particular bag's construction that I really like.  It has an interior pocket that runs the entire width of the bag on the inside back for your chart!  How stinkin' cool is that?!

This bag is also going to be a bit wider than the bags I've made in the past.  It will be closer to 14" wide.  I'm thinking I may try to make it a bit taller too to accommodate my 11" q-snaps.  As you can tell, I'm already getting excited to finish this one so I can actually use it!

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Well folks, that's all I have today.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I can see it from here!  Thanks for stopping by today!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher