A freebie finish

"Self-Isolating Bat" by Night Spirit Studio

link

This was one of the many free patterns offered by designers as part of the #bewellandstitch initiative.  There are a lot of sweet little designs out there!  I stitched this one on a piece of Hand-dyed by Stephanie "Oberon" evenweave, instead of the black aida used in the pattern.  I even had some black aida, but I didn't like the feel of the fabric or the way the coverage looked.  I also added little beady black eyes!

I have an idea for how I might finish it, but I need some plastic vampire fangs...

People's Choice SAL - Freebies

When I saw this month's theme was freebies, I decided to jump on board Jo's "People's Choice" SAL.  Confession: I may be a hoarder of free patterns.  :/  LOL  I have a portable external hard drive loaded with them, over 1000 files!  I'm pretty sure many of them are no longer available online (freebies were taken down, websites moved, the designer is no longer in business....who knows), and they aren't taking up any real physical space, so I just can't bring myself to get rid of them.  I collected all the Dragon Dreams freebies before Jennifer took them down and moved to a Facebook group....I have things in French, Russian, and any number of other languages....it is really crazy.

I did a quick search of my blog by tag, and found 24 freebie finishes!The first one was Solaria Gallery's "Stitching the Standard."

(While Solaria's webpage is still out there, it doesn't look like the designer has released anything in about 3 years, and none of the links on the freebie page work.)

I often find that freebies are great for ornaments and baby gifts.  One that I haven't seen anyone else link to yet are Marnic Designs "Mother and Child" series - I did this one for a friend several years ago.

I added the baby's name and birthdate to the back.  This is a styrofoam cube finish - I believe these little designs fit the 3" cubes that you can find in most craft stores, so there is no styrofoam cutting or fiddling necessary.


 Although I often say that I don't like primitive designs, I've collected several "prim"-inspired free patterns!  One of my favorites is The Little Stitcher.  I've finished her "Tea Time" design, "Mother of the Harvest," and "Vintage Witch."

 

I did like what Jo said in her post, about not grabbing "free" patterns from Pinterest.  While I admit to searching Pinterest every now and then - sometimes because all the hits I get in a search are from there - I do try to find the designer's own site or blog to download a pattern.  Too many times I've found things that looked like they were free, but really weren't! 

Please feel free to click on my blog's "freebie" tag to see more of the free things I've stitched, and if you are looking for the patterns yourself, let me know.  If the site is still active, I'll happily pass it along.

A 4th of July finish!

Lizzie*Kate's "3 Little Words" freebie
stitched on 28-ct. evenweave, my own floss choices

I finished this little piece up today, after my daughter asked me last week "why I didn't finish one thing before I started another."  Hmmm, busted...  LOL  This was one of my Stitch Maynia starts.  I had hoped it would fit in the picture frame you can see in the top of the picture, but the frame is just about a half-inch too small.  Ah well.  It is still a sweet little piece!

March Smalls SAL post

Yup, I love smalls.

Here is this month's (finished!) finish, a freebie from Stone Street Stitchworks.  I stitched it over-one on some 28-ct. evenweave using a cotton variegated floss from my stash ("Candy Floss" by Sugar Maple Fabrics - SMF disappeared several years ago, so who knows how long I've had this floss!).

I found this little 3-D plastic heart at one of the big-box craft stores, and after seeing Vonna's finish as half of a snowglobe, I thought I'd try that with a heart.  I sprinkled a few beads and some coordinating paper heart punch-outs inside, glued my stitching to a mat board back, and added some rattail cording and ribbon for trim.  It isn't perfect, but for a first try, I like it.

Smalls SAL - December

One last finish for the year!

This was a freebie from Modern Folk Embroidery.  I stitched it on some 28-ct. natural evenweave, using a mystery variegated floss from the stash of a stitcher who passed on...my father got all her things very cheaply at an estate sale.  I love the way this looks, and I hope she is smiling on it, too.

I really love the Smalls SAL - although I missed one check-in, I had at least 12 small finishes this year as a result of my participation.  I had about 20 finishes in all, but none of them were terribly "large."  Smalls are fun, too!  They give me more creative finishing ideas than big things.  It seems to me that with all the time that goes into large finishes, they somehow "deserve" framing...

October Smalls SAL

I've been a busy little stitcher this month!  I finished the mermaid freebie, Cowboy Dreams, and now this for the Smalls SAL...

This is The Little Stitcher's "Mother of the Harvest" freebie, stitched on a very pale green linen with DMC flosses (since my computer is still out for repair, I only have this cell phone pic, which doesn't show the color really well).  I think I will finish it as a small pillow, with the fabric in the pic and button embellishment.

In other stitchy news, I caved and signed up for Ship's Manor's Beautiful Sea Quaker SAL - I bought Erik's threads, too.  It was a great deal, and while Quaker designs aren't always my thing, the colors in this were just lovely.  Here's my start:

And I'm envisioning it stitched to the mermaid I finished earlier this month, maybe as a banner of some kind?  Here is the mermaid along with my floss  toss.

I'm hoping it could look like she has kind of "risen" out the sea below!

Mermaid Freebie Finished

Freebie from Aliolka
stitched on 28-ct. white evenweave
mermaid and fish - Crescent Colors "Bejeweled"
waves - Ships' Manor oops floss
sun - Six Strand Sweets "Peach Brandy"

This was a fun little stitch!  And it only took me about a week to finish.  Now I need to get back to "Cowboy Dreams," as well as pull fabric and floss for ornaments.  I was called for jury duty next week, so I think I will kit up some smalls to toss in my bag and stitch while I wait (assuming I have to appear...won't know for sure until I call on Sunday night).
I also impulsively joined the Ship's Manor "Beautiful Sea" SAL.  Having seen the flosses, I got a crazy idea for finishing both it and the mermaid together.  We'll see how long that takes me...

Another Mermaid

This is the little mermaid pattern I started the other night - a freebie.  There was no color key, so I'm using: Crescent Colors "Bejeweled" for the mermaid (and the little fish on the right), Six-Strand Sweets' "Peach Brandy" for the sun, and a "mistake" color from Ship's Manor for the waves.  I'm debating whether or not to do her hair in brown, or keep going with the Bejeweled.  (The fabric is white, just so you know...I blame indoor cell phone photography.)

Stitching to Wear

About a week ago, I found this little pattern amongst my freebies ("Flora Vine" by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum) and decided I had to stitch it.  And then I got the crazy idea that by stitching it over-one it would fit in one of those little pocket watch frames that have been all the rage....  

So here is the finished stitching.  I didn't have any of the flosses called for, so I improvised....and the beads were my own addition.

And as I was looking it, inside the little pocket watch, I thought, "this is......uninspiring."  So I hunted around online for other ideas until I stumbled on Lynn B's "cross stitch necklace tutorial."  For about $4 worth of supplies from Hobby Lobby (I had a coupon!), this is what I created -

Pretty, no?  It isn't perfect, but I think it works!

Stuck in my head

Finished this last night....promptly downloaded a certain song by Styx to add to my iPod playlist.  :)

This is the Hands On Design pattern that I linked to in yesterday's post, with several changes (mostly, I didn't have any of the flosses called for, so I improvised).  I think my favorite is the blue I used for the water - it is from the stash of old random threads my father found at an estate auction a few years ago.  Using up things that I have "inherited" like that always makes me feel that I am a part of something bigger, you know?  I can only hope that someday my remaining flosses, fabrics and doo-dads will be useful to someone else in some way.
Soon I will have this finish-finished into something...useful...as a gift.  More to come, after some gluing and Modge-Podging!!

Exchanges sent and received, plus a finish

Phew, I've been busy since I came back from Cape Cod!

First, I finished this little basket for Edgar, as part of the ABC Exchange over at HOE.

This is "Eliza's Pyn Pillow," a freebie from With My Needle.  I stitched it over-one on a 28-ct. linen from my stash, using my own choices of over-dyed flosses (I'm pretty sure the blue was my old stand-by favorite, The Dye is Cast's "Bluebells").  I finished it as a basket top.  To give you an idea of how big it is, that basket lid is about 3 inches in diameter.  I put a little cushion inside, so it could be used for pins (or other things!).

(Muriel wanted to pose with it....I'm afraid she ended up hogging most of the pic!)

Over the weekend I received my exchange piece from Mylene.  I don't have the card she sent with me right now, but I believe she said this is a freebie.  You can't see the back, but there is a scissor pocket there, and hanging from my sewing machine is a matching fob.  Everything is lovely!  Thank you, Mylene!

(Muriel: perhaps if I sit here on the sewing machine, I can convince my hostess to do a bit more sewing.  Look, she is coming over to move everything!  Wait, she's carrying the cover for the machine.  Drat.)

 And finally, I finished the Mermaid Sampler.  I really love this - and you should have seen my daughter's eyes light up when she saw this picture.

The glass mermaid was one of my purchases in Cape Cod, at the Heritage Museum's gift shop.  She is just so delicate - the stitching she is posed with is no more than 3 inches wide, to give you an idea of her size.  The sampler is stitched with the kit materials, although I DID make one tiny personalization.  I added an aquamarine bead to the center of the mermaid's crown...

Hopping Along

"Tulips with Bunny" by The Snowflower Diaries
stitched on 25-ct. baby lotion lugana

My substitutions:
Six-Strand Sweets "Strawberry Jam" for the dark pink
Six-Strand Sweets "Organic Strawberry" for the light pink
GAST "Scuppernong" for the green
GAST "Peacock" for the blue
Blend of DMC 3781 & GAST "Maple Syrup" for the brown
I used the blue for the letters, because I thought it showed up better on the pink fabric...oh, and I reversed the empty stitches on the vase so it looks (IMHO) like a heart!  And finally, I added one of the bird beads from DH's grandmother's necklace.  The fabric I used for the bottom and back of the pillow is a rosebud print left over from my daughter's quilt.  I was going to put this in the basket of seasonal smalls on my kitchen table, but right now it is the only one, so it looked rather sad there...LOL

(I just noticed...I forgot to stitch the bunny's eye!  Oh well, I'll call it "rustic.")

Freebies worth sharing

(Not that there are freebies NOT worth sharing...but I was especially smitten by a few of these!)

The Snowflower Diaries - Some really cute designs!  I've already started the "Tulips with Bunny" pattern.  Of course I had to swap most of the flosses, since I don't have any of the Nina's Threads hand-dyeds and have no more stash budget to order any, but I was able to come pretty close (I think!) with my collection of Six-Strand Sweets.  (tangent: it amazing how long I've had those SSS threads.  I won them years ago, from The Gift of Stitching...and I think now both TGOS AND Six-Strand Sweets are no more.)  I'll share a pic when I'm done!

At least I....learned?...something

I posted a couple days ago about trying something different with The Little Stitcher's "Tea Time" pattern.  You see, in her post she made it into a pocket to carry a single tea bag.  This seemed silly to me.  If you are going to carry tea with you, wouldn't you want to carry at least an extra serving or 2?  Just one is terribly impractical.  So I found another pattern for making a "tea wallet," and my creative wheels started turning.  Sadly, my creative wheels have good intentions, but sometimes forget to check for gas stations along the route....  Here is what I ended up with tonight.

 Yes, it looks pretty cute.  However...1) I cut my stitched fabric with the design in the center, forgetting that in the wallet layout, there is a FOLD there.  I thought I could "easily" rectify this by just making it a single pocket wallet instead of a double like the pattern, but the edges still didn't line up quite right.  As you can see from the second picture, I fixed this as best I could by tacking on a piece cut from the other end.  2) The pattern for the wallet was designed for a serger, which I do not have.  I was rolling right along until I got to the final step, which was finishing the sides.  With a serger, no problem.  With only a sewing machine, and a cheap one at that, the many layers of fabric created by the pocket were a nightmare.  At first I tried a double-turned hem, but that was NOT happening -- so I had to rip out an entire seam and come up with something different.  (Instead I turned both unfinished edges in and then folded the pocket -- still a mouthful of fabric for my little machine, but she powered through.)  It is FAR from perfect, and still looks wonky to my perfectionist's eye.

As I was getting started with this "simple" project, I remember thinking "ooo, this is cute and fun!  Maybe I'll make another one or 2 to sell on eBay or Etsy!"  Having finished it....that probably isn't going to happen.  But, I DID learn a few tricks in case I decide to try again...

Two more small finishes

My Autumn Exchange piece arrived safely in North Carolina, so now I can share the pillow I made for Diana.

This little design is from a Sam Hawkins book, "Cross Stitch Seasons."  I was pretty pleased with my "9-patch" finishing, too!  The blue fabric was something I picked up in the remnant bin at the quilt shop, and the orange corner pieces were leftovers from my stash.  I thought they worked quite nicely with the stitching.  I also included a vanilla soy candle and a little metal pumpkin ornament.

And I also finished the freebie I teased you all with earlier! 

 

It was "The Spooks are Out!" by Waxing Moon Designs. I don't know if it is still available anywhere - I don't see it on their website now. It is stitched on some 25-ct. Driftwood linen I found in my stash cabinet, and I used the DMC floss substitutions provided, except for the pumpkins. Those I stitched with a DMC variegated orange. I thought the wrapper said 4821, but I can't find that color (or number!) in any online color listings. Hmmm. I picked up the floss in a clearance bin at Hobby Lobby, so manybe it was discontinued or renumbered?  Oh, and the cat's eyes are beads from an old assortment pack I found.

Another late WIPocalypse post...

But not TOO late -- only a few days!! (Hey, for me that is an improvement.  LOL)

Here is my latest progress on "Labyrinth."  I'm trying, but I keep getting distracted by smalls.....

Like this one -

Does anyone recognize it?  This is a freebie, and I'm guessing many of us have stitched/have it saved somewhere.  (I have no prizes, you just get the privelege of saying that you know way too much about cross stitch designers and freebies!)

 

And finally, my mom brought out the framed LHN "Reading" piece. 

I can't get the color to look quite right on my camera/computer...grrr.  But the mat is a periwinkle purple, kind of like the girl's dress and the text.  I'm not sure if it is exactly right now that I see the whole thing and not just a corner, but oh well.  The frame itself is sweet and perfect!  And as I mentioned before, I don't think I'd use this framer for anything else, after learning he uses sticky board. 

A euphoric finish

Just a quick little project for a friend...

Mosey 'N Me's "Ewephoria" freebie, turned into a birth sampler.  It was surprisingly easy to change the word "ewephoria" into "Ingrid," too!  LOL  I used a 28-ct. evenweave scrap from my stash, and a bunch of the old flosses my dad bought at an auction in the spring.  I used Whisper for the sheep -- he really does show up pretty well IRL.

Baby Cube

This is the baby gift I stitched up over the weekend - a freebie from Marnic Designs.  I modified the colors a bit, and finished it on a 3-inch styrofoam cube.

And a close-up of the top -

I forgot how much fun it can be to make these little cubes!

My heart is in Australia!

My Heart/Valentine Exchange arrived in Australia yesterday...what great timing!  (Can I take credit for planning it that way?!?  LOL)

I stitched Passione Ricamo's 2011 Valentine heart freebie on a piece of 32-ct. Tarnished Silver Lakeside Linen, using 2 colors of DMC and a few beads for sparkle.  My partner asked if I'd used an over-dyed floss - nope, just DMC 815 and 304!  The red fabric is the backing of the little pillow.

And here is the whole package I sent - a little tea towel, some ribbon, a cherry lip gloss and some M&Ms!  (plus a skein of pale pink HDF silk floss that missed the picture somehow)

As for me, my own stitching mojo has majorly stalled.  And yes, I know I was going to do a giveaway.  I even drew a name, and was all ready to post something....when I decided I should paw through my stash and FIND the pattern (I'd just pulled the pic from an old post).  Wouldn't you know, the pattern seems to be missing.  :(  My pattern database SAYS it should be there, but it just isn't.  So please forgive me for not following through on my giveaway?  I promise I'll try to come up with something to make up for it in the future....

Dashing through the snow!

And if the arrival time of this little guy is any indication, he really may BE one of Santa's reindeer... I mailed him Friday and he arrived at Meari's house today!

Rosewood Manor's Christmas Freebie 2008
stitched on 28-ct. natural linen with DMC
beads added to wreath and in place of stars, some motifs left off to make ornament a bit smaller
red and gold fabric used for back of pillow