Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mod Ornaments Lesson One

The Mod Ornaments Mystery has started and I am embarrassed to admit that I am the class truant already!  I do not have mine started yet, so I'll have to show off my friend Connie's instead:

She's almost completed Lesson 1, so I really have to get going!

Here are the detail photos from lesson one that Sandy Arthur posted on her blog:

Don't you just love that bling?  You know I do!  Stay tuned for an updated post when I get mine stitched, hopefully over Thanksgiving weekend.  Happy Stitching! 

Cats and Birds Make For Some Great Finishing!

Cats and birds go together like oil and water, but together they do make for some pretty creative and fun finishing to show off this week!   Here are three of my Holiday Birds series canvases finished into a very one of a kind vertical garland:

Pretty nifty, right?  That is the kind of outside-the-box thinking that you get from the creative mind of Sue Parsons at West Coast Finishing, who came up with this clever way to combine two "landscape" shaped ornaments with one "portrait" shape.  Thanks so much to Pat Thompson who stitched this trio and shared her photo, great work Pat!

And another amazing finish of a relatively simple and small canvas belongs to Diane Gasior, who stitched my "Peek-a-Boo Kitty" and sent it to Mountain Shadow Studio for this incredible piece:

Look at these great details:

Hand painted details on the finial and a perfectly matched lamp work bead for the topper-- that is some top-notch work from the team at Mountain Shadow, love it.  It is a perfect complement to Diane's lovely stitching-- I am crazy about that background stitch!

And here is a photo of Diane's inspiration to stitch this design-- her daughter's cat, Ramona:

Look at that sweet face, isn't she a beauty? She reminds me so much of my own sweet Pooh Bear, who inspired me to paint the canvas design.  Cats are obviously very good muses!

As always, if you have any EyeCandy of your own to share, please do send me a photo so I can brag about you here! :)  Thanks for looking, see you back soon! 

Hey Y'all, Class This Saturday at 3 Stitches!

I'll be at my local needlework shop, 3 Stitches in Spring, Texas this Saturday from 9am to 11am with one of my Texas ornament canvases, "Hey Y'all", and y'all are welcome to sign up to either take the class or simply order the kit and stitch guide if time or location won't allow you to be there.  Just give the shop a call at 281 320 0133.  Hope to see y'all there!

Back From Austin!

Well, I've been back a couple of days actually, but am just now getting caught up!  My trip to Austin with my ANG group (the Lake Houston chapter) was fantastic.   We were hosted by Colleen at her shop, The Needle Works.  Not only was she on hand for help with our canvases, she even cooked for us too-- talk about a full-service shop!  I had a great time visiting with and meeting some of our more far-flung members and actually got a good bit of stitching done too.  I only started one or two new projects, worked on my ANG program project and most excitingly, finished my canvas for the Stitching Games, woo-hoo!  Here it is:

I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  I hope to post it again here soon, only finished.  I'm planning on my favorite, a boxed stand up with a huge bow-topper and crazy feet.  Also, I will write up a stitch guide for it and share it here with you all, hopefully by the end of the year.