My Needle's A Smokin' !!

My needle has just been smokin' this week. I managed to get in four more finishes from 11-18 to 11-23.

I decided that I liked "If God Brings You To It" so much that I needed to make one for myself.

Design: "If God Brings You To It" (11-18-2009)
Designer: Sandy In Montana
Stitched on 18ct. Fiddlers Lite Aida using Caron "Wildflowers" thread in Raspberry Sherbet accented with Jesse James Co. buttons and handmade cording.

Then I had to make a couple of magnets for my mama's 82nd birthday on Thursday the 19th. Yes I was born exactly two weeks to the day before her birthday, how's that for a birthday gift that keeps on giving.

Design: " If God Brings You To It" (11-20-2009) & "I Love You" (11-21-2009)
Designer: Sandy In Montana
If God stitched on 18ct Fiddlers Lite Aida using Caron "Wildflowers" Black Cherry and accented with Jesse James Co. buttons and hand braided ribbon trim.
Love stitched on 14ct. plastic canvas using Caron "Wildflowers" Lilac, DMC ecru and white and accented with Jesse James Co. buttons.

Then I felt the need for another Christmas ornament for the tree. I have to say that I truly love the way this one turned out.

Design: "The True Heart of Christmas" (11-23-2009)
Designer: Sandy In Montana
Stitched on 25ct. cream linen using Caron "Wildflowers" Royal Jewels accented with Mill Hill beads in Rainbow, 4mm Round Bicone Swarovski Crystals and a 5mm Swarovski Crystal Butterfly. Trimmed in burgundy satin cording. This has cross stitch, back stitch and over one stitching.

Two More Magnetic Finishes

I stitched up a couple more magnets. These went to the same person that I made "#1 Reason Not To Clean" for. She liked that one so much that she requested these for family members, and yes I'm getting paid for them.

Design: "If God Brings You To It"
Designed By: Sandy In Montana
Stitched on 18ct. Fiddlers Lite using Carrie's Creations in Teal Mist (right) and DMC Color Variations in 4240 (left) with a bunch of Jesse James Co. buttons, a little gold metal star and some hand-braided jute trim. The saying was her choice, I just charted it out.

Our 2009 Christmas Ornament

I finally got around to designing our 2009 Christmas Ornament for the tree.
I've fallen in love with these mini needle roll ornaments, so it was only natural for me to make one more. I decided that holly leaves and poinsettia's were a good combination, although it took me quite a while to get the leaves just right.

Designer: Sandy In Montana
Design: Holly Christmas 2009
Stitched on 28ct. white Lugana by Charles Craft using Caron Wildflowers in Holiday and DMC Color Variations in 4045 & 4210 and Mill Hill petite beads in Red Red & Victorian Gold.

Happy Birthday To ME!!

Yesterday was my birthday.
My DH suffering from a cold still managed to bring me home a cake.
He's such a sweetie.
I made us steak and shrimp for the birthday dinner.
DH later complained that he really wanted to take me out for dinner. I told him our dinner was better than the local diner anyway, so not going out was no biggie. Then he complained that the cake was just a little cheapie. I told him I didn't care about that either, it was CHOCOLATE and I'm OK with that. He did give cash for stash last weekend, since he never knows what to get for me, and my mama called to wish me Happy Birthday so it was a great day! in my opinion.
Now to decide what to spend the cash on?

Memory Ornament for DH's Dad

I finished another memory ornament, this one is in memory of my DH's dad.
I chose to design pine bough's and pine cones for this one as his dad worked for the National Forest Service for many years and also had a logging business back in the 50's.

Before finishing.

Design: "In Loving Memory" (Mountain Rustic version)
Designer: Sandy In Montana
Stitched on 32ct. Raw Linen by Zweigart using DMC in 500, WDW in 1269 - Chestnut, GAST in 0110 - Dried Thyme and 1110 - Sable & Delica Beads in 127 - Gold Luster. Tied with dark brown 1/4" satin ribbon, twisted cord hanger made from DMC in 500 & 898, ends are Hem Stitched using two strands of DMC 898.
Overall finished size is 4.5" long by 4" around.

Memory Ornament Chart

Here is a chart for making the "In Loving Memory" needle roll ornament. I chose not to list the colors I used so that you can make this a custom piece using your loved ones favorite colors. The black dots are for french knots or beads. The long black lines are for name and date placement only, do not stitch them. The alphabet is for personalization and is not part of the design. This chart uses a Half Diamond Eyelet.
This site has great instructions for doing specialty stitches: http://www.fidella.com/webstitch/needle_stitch.html

(just click, print and stitch)

All I ask in return is that you stitch this up and post a picture on your blog or photo album so I can see how yours turned out.