Lots of Pretties!!!

Hello everyone and hope your having a good week so far. I have lots of stitching stuff to share with you. I've made some very good progress on sewing. And I've received some beautiful gifts. First - I made a pillow with my Delft Blues Tiles sampler. I am so proud and pleased with how this pillow came out. I added buttons on the side of the pillow. I wanted there to be a crown - in honor of where Hetti lives in the Netherlands. At the time we stitched this sampler, Queen Beatrix was in reign. Since the end of April this year, she abdicated the crown to her son, now King Alexander. So Hetti I added the crown thinking of you because you designed these tiles and sampler.  I thought it was very appropriate, and the crown reminds me of Hetti:)

This is the sampler I finished from Creative Work Shops with Hetti! You can find her blog HERE.
These photos I took outside and for some reason it looks all light blue. The fabric I sewed with is Light blue Dupioni Silk and a light brown.

I am proud of this pillow because I made sure the grains of the silk fabric all went the same way. I quilted the light brown silks on the top and then the bottoms of the sampler. Then I added the strips of light blue silk on each side. And I ironed on fusible interfacing on every silk piece. SO thankful I did because working with silk it tends to unravel on the edges. I had no problem with that and I like the firmness it gives the pillow.

I think this is my first SAL that was a whole year in the making that I finished. Yes I do believe it is:)

When I was at the Quilt Show in Brentwood, there was a vendor who sold Dupioni Silks. The lady's name is Shomi. And her business name is "Designer's Needs". I had met her once before last year at a Quilt and Sewing show in Pleasanton CA. I had purchased from her some beautiful light lavender dupioni silk and I used it on the lining of "Bunnies in the Garden" set I made by Ellen Chester's chart.
I've noticed that many charts of smalls for cross stitching have been using dupioni silk in their finishes. Shomi had full yards and Fat Quarters for sale. This time I bought 1 full yard of the light blue and the rest of the silks I got were Fat Quarters. I am in LOVE with her silks. They are kind of thick but not too thick and not thin.  I talked to Shomi. I asked her if she shipped not only in the USA but also if she shipped to Canada, England, New Zealand and Australia? She said YES!!! Lots of her clients are in Australia and she ships anywhere in the world. Isn't that great?

This photo shows the beauty and sheen of the silks as they look in person.

 

 Now I don't have any stores in my town or near me that sells dupioni silks. My local Joann's doesn't have these silks. I thought that the prices for dupioni silks from Shomi were very good. And for small finishes I think fat quarters are great sizes. Shomi is listed on Etsy. Now I didn't see any listings of her silks in Fat Quarters sizes. But I'm sure you can email her and ask her if she will sell you the silks in fat quarters if you like. I bet she does and will.
You can find Shomi at Etsy HERE.

 THANK YOU BEA!!!

I participated in EMS scissor case exchange. This is what I received from Bea or "Beaj" on the EMS forum, she had my name for the exchange. I'm so glad she did too.  I LOVE my scissor case and fob that she stitched for me. Bea lives in Canada and she included for me a beautiful brochure that's about her area. I also got some pretty heart charms, a skein of the new DMC #127 made in a limited edition for Just Cross Stitch Magazine - 30yrs Celebration.

Bea made me not only a gorgeous scissor case but also a beautiful scissor fob with my initial and a darling Bee stitched on the left side. I will always know that this is from Bea. Get it? Bee and Bea!

Here are the reverse sides. Can you believe the beautiful designs. She stitched with a variegated DMC Spring color.  It's sooo pretty.

Now for the same exchange I had Celine - or "Pamacedi" on EMS forum. Celine lives in France. She has received my parcel to her so I can share with you now:) The design I stitched is from the book "My Heart is True" by Blackbird Designs and Nicoletta Farrarito, the name of the design is "Garden Gem". 32ct Flax Linen and DMC threads. I used a blanket stitch all around the edges of the heart. I made my own cord for the fob.

I lined the inside of the scissor case too.

The back. I used Anna Griffin fabrics.

of course I made Celine a small pouch of matching fabrics to keep her scissor case and fob in.

Some extra goodies for Celine

My progress for Bothy Threads Monday SAL Cut Thru.  I couldn't recall if I shared with you Tinkerbell on the box so I included another Tinkerbell for you. Below I opened the box so you could see the little buttons inside. By the way, my Mom loved keeping all the price tags on her pieces. She always enjoyed reading how much they were when she collected them and also it gave her an idea of how old they were. Some of her Tinkerbell stickers don't have a UPC code. And she loved seeing the Disneyland park labels. So if in the future you see a price tag....I can't remove them. That would be such a huge sin:)

Progress on "A token of Love" - I stitched the gold wreath in the middle, my initial "A", a small motif just left of my initial, the blue bird, the small acorn and a small leaf.

Almost done, just not yet.

"God Bless You" if you have made it this far in my post. I'm So EXCITED:)))))))))) This Saturday & Sunday I get to take a classes taught by Ellen Chester in PERSON:)))))))))))))))))))))))))) I get to meet Ellen in person....This will be my very first stitching class in person. I am bringing my camera don't worry. So my next post will soo ROCK!  With Love and MY Appreciation - Annette

Quilt Show & stitching progress

 This last weekend I attended a quilt show presented by Delta Quilt Guild. The show was in Brentwood California. And no not Brentwood Calif down south. But the town - Brentwood here in Northern Calif. Yes California has 2 towns named Brentwood (the zip codes are different). This was the first show the guild put on.  It was great to see beautiful quilts and that the show was close to home. I did take a few photos to share with you of some of the quilts. But first:

 My progress this Monday for Bothy threads Cut Thru Monday - Fairy Hill.  I stitiched the butterfly(I think or its a fairy dress) on the tree and completed all of page one of 9, which ended right below where Tinkerbell is sitting. To get to see the other stitcher's progress for this SAL, you can visit Debbie's blog  HERE and on Linda's blog HERE. It would be great if you would like to join us too:)

 "A Token of Love" by Barbara Bernard 

32ct Belfast white Linen

 I started "A Token of Love" beginning of last year. Haven't touched it until last week. Now that I've been completing some wip's, this project was waiting for me. Last week I completed the light green motif to the right. Now I'm filling in the top Quaker motif. Hope to get this done in a few weeks (one can hope).

Below are photos I took at the quilt show to share with you:
Jackie (Jackie's Stitches blog HERE) this is for you----

 When I saw this quilt - I got so excited and couldn't believe it. I knew I had seen this on Jackie's blog. Jackie also stitched this gorgeous quilt. Just by chance I recalled seeing on Jackie's blog her quilt see stitched and knew this was the same pattern. So Jackie I thought of you:) OH MY GOODNESS Jackie. Seeing this quilt in person was amazing. My photos don't even come close to doing it justice. If you haven't been to Jackie's blog please do so, on her last post she shows photos of her finished remarkable quilt. You can click HERE.

 Secret Garden

 "Goose Tracks in the Pumpkins" A class that was offered at Queen Bee's Store in Antioch, Calif.

 

"Athena's Block of the Month" This quilt took 8 years to complete. All hand appliqued and hand embroidered. Button hole stitch was used around each piece.

 

 "Delaney's Peacocks" Laurel made this quilt for her daughter Delaney. She loves Peacocks, chose the fabrics and together - mother & daughter selected the pattern.

 "A Conway Album" made by The Delta Quilters 2012 Opportunity Quilt. There are 1000 pieces hand appliqued. Many women stitched worked on this together.

 "Memories of Sisters Oregon"- So cool how the mountains were pieced. This was a challenge by Delta Quilters 2012. Janet Wilson won. The challenge was that you had to purchase a Fat Quarter Fusion Fabric in the color of stone, then draw one paint chip color block from a bag.  the challenge was you might find new colors you hadn't thought of using. You had to use the fat quarter of fabric and 2 of the colors from the drawn color swatch. WOW!

Patriotic

 Darling Princess quilt

 The background fabric has crowns and princesses. The background fabric reminded me of Bothy Threads designs.  I have something else to share but this post is loooong enough.
Hope you enjoyed all the photos and Thank you for your visit.
With Love and my Appreciation - Annette

Hetti's Delft Blue Tiles and Update #5 Bothy Threads Cut Thru Monday SAL

Hello Everyone and I hope all you Mom's had a beautiful Mother's Day. I sure did. I was taken out to lunch, saw a movie - Iron-man 3 (well my husband and son wanted to see it. It was a great movie to see on the huge screen) and Pizza (delivered) for dinner. All this was celebrated on Saturday but in honor for me for Mother's Day.  Being spoiled and spending the day with the men in my life was wonderful. 
Moving onto needlework for the last week:  Fairy Hill - Bothy Threads Cut Thru Monday SAL...
if you would like to see everyone's progress for this SAL, go to Debbie's Cross Stitch Blog HERE. There are so many incredible designs that everyone is stitching - they are beautiful and FUN.

 New Tinkerbell for this week (well its another one of moms collection).

 before (last week)

 After -  Progress for this Monday

 Got lots of fill in stitched on the bottom around the tree roots - took a long time to do. Funny how it doesn't look like much but I did spend hours stitching all that stone color, the yellow bits to the right of the tree roots, I think is gold because that's a silver pot next to them. Another mushroom has been added and more of the blue and white stripes. Sorry the photos I took at night (just a bit ago).

 Hetti's Creative Workshop - Delft Blue Tiles 2012

I am sooooooo HAPPY I FINISHED Hetti's SAL from last year. By the way the SAL is being continued for 2013. So if you like to stitch them take a look HERE. The link is direct to the correct page on Hetti's blog. So there's no having to go there and scroll down. I linked it direct. But you should afterwards click on the heading on her page and look at her main blog page. She has TONS of freebies and they are WONDERFUL designs.

It feels sooooo Great to have finished this project. I plan make a pillow with this sampler.

Here is a list of  the threads I used:

DMC - 801 Dark Brown

          - 931 Dark Blue

          - 4010 Variegated light Blues

Caron - Wildflowers - 225 Walnut (lighter browns)

                                  - 230 Azure Skies (Bright light Blues) 

Thank You so much for visiting me. I enjoy reading all your comments - I LOVE BLOGGING:)

Our son is finishing his college term this week (finals week). Only 1 1/2 yrs to go till he graduates. Nicholas is studying to be a Graphic Designer.  He already is one:)

With my Love and Appreciation - Annette

Bothy Threads Cut Thru SAL Update #4 & An Ellen Chester finish

Lots to share with you this week. Today I went downtown to Queen Bee Quilt Store and the owner told me that they is going to be "Downton Abbey" fabrics. Her rep is going to keep her informed when they are released. I love that series as do many of you. I can;t wait to see what they will look like. It's been much cooler weather here in Northern California. Yesterday it rained but we still turned on the air in the car. Kind of weird weather going on. Good thing the cars did not get washed. Their clean shine would not of lasted. Here is my progress on Fairy Hill for this Monday evening SAL:

 This Tinkerbell came from Disneyland Park collected by my mom.

Not too much progress. I did get some more strips and cupcakes stitched.

 Love those cupcakes. Usually I get more stitching done but had too many interruptions. I'm very close to completing the first of 9 pages.

 32ct Flax Linen

DMC threads

I've been wanting to stitch this and now its done. I'm going to finish it as a flat fold. This design was created by Ellen Chester's  - "Flowers for my Friends". The chart so far is not for sale. This was Ellen's donation to help in the relief for children who were victims of the 2012 earthquakes in Italy. All proceeds from the sale of this chart went directly to La Lucciola, a therapy center for children. I had donated and received this design with many others in a packet from Nicola in Italy. I am a huge fan of Ellen and her designs.

 I've been getting the hang of rotation with my wips and this is my newest addition. I love this design. I plan to change the background of black (I'm thinking) to a blue or green. This kit came from England from www.yiotas-xstitch.com. Their website has tons of beautiful designs & kits that I have not seen here available in the USA. When I got the kit I really didn't know what to expect. But I loved the design so much I had to have it. In the kit it has ALL the threads pre-wounded in bobbin cards - waay classy. And the threads are all by Madeira. I've not stitched with these threads ever before nor have seen them in person. So this is a first for me.

 Look how pretty these threads arrived. I'm going to use my Crop-a-dial tool to punch a hole in the bobbin cards and add these on a floss ring.

In this kit I got the 16ct Aida fabric, needle, all the threads and of course the wonderful extra sized chart that I can easily see.  You see mom and I use to collect unicorns loong time ago. Way before they became more popular in the 90's. I love the shields in the trees too in this design. I so can't wait to start this project....and from ENGLAND:)))))) It will become part of my rotation. Do any of you have any of Yiotas's kits? There are some Christmas kits on their website I love too.You'll be seeing my progress of this very soon:)
Thank you for visiting me and hello to my new followers. Thank you for joining me.
With my Love and Appreciation - Annette

Bothy Threads Cut Thru SAL Update 3

It's the last day of April. Tonight is (a legend) the Fairy's Ball. At midnight on April 30th which is May 1st, it is said that the Fairy's have a Ball to welcome Spring. 
Yesterday (Monday) I was to stitch on my Bothy Threads on Monday. Well....Thank goodness I stitched some on Sunday. Yesterday was 95 degrees here in Northern California. Our central air conditioner didn't work. Called our friend who came over and we ended up needing a new board part. Anyways it's still not fixed as of today. The new board is in, we know the cooler part works (when jumped by crossing some wires, what you are not suppose to do) but still is not working. So last early evening (our days hottest hours) I fled our VERY HOT HOUSE (fans were on in every room but only to blow very hot air around). Yep I went to visit my Nannie (grandmother 99yrs old) her home was COOL. I don't do well with heat when I cannot get cool.
So here is my progress and where I stopped for this week on Fairy Hill.

 Another one of my moms Tinkerbell's:)

 There is the blue thread stitched (that I decided to use after asking you for your advise). This photo doesn't show it very well. But in person it does looks good.

 Why the fabric looks Grey instead of Blue in this photo?????

The lighting I guess - lol.

Left  heart is stitched in DMC 3807 (Is what I decided to use instead of 793) and Right heart is the called for thread DMC 793 in the pattern. 3807 is what I'm using. Thank you to every one for your suggestions regarding the blue thread. I truly appreciate it very much.
Today was much cooler than yesterday. 85 degrees and lots of winds. I am also stitching on 2 other projects. Mom's sampler and one other I hope to share with you next time. Welcome to some new followers, and thank you to all for leaving comments.
With Love and Appreciation - Annette