A Finish !

Here he is! I finished Miles from Lizzie Kate. He is so handsome, don't you think?

I had a hard time choosing the fabric to finish it. I like this one, but is a little too busy.

 

The original finish from Lizzie Kate was a stuffed stand up. I was not sure that mine was going to turn out that nice.

I finally chose a brown fabric and finished it "cube style".

I stitched Miles on 14 aida oatmeal using DMC floss. I made several changes on the colors.

I also made changes regarding the button embellishments.  The button pack for the pilgrims is a bit pricey. To make it more affordable, I got only the most important buttons on e-bay. Took me I while to find the ones I wanted, but was worth it.

 

I just love how he looks. Now I am working on his friend Priscilla.

I want to finish her very soon. We will see.
Lots more going on here. I finished Brenda's magnet board.

 

I recycled an old frame painting it white. We got a metal sheet at Home Depot, and they were kind enough to cut it for us.

I covered the metal with home decor fabric from Joann.
I also made the lace magnets. Grandma Maddie gave Brenda the butterfly magnets.

 

And we finally did it! We got a KitchenAid mixer!

 

I have a friend who named her mixer. We decided to name ours too. Brenda picked the name:
Huckleberry! Now I need to make a cover for Huckleberry. I already pinned some ideas.
Another lovely thing I got.

 

This cute cart from Ikea is very handy, to organize my sewing stuff. When I am sewing, I just roll it to the kitchen.  It makes a big difference, having everything close by.

I have some other things to share, but I will save it for another post.
I wish you are enjoying your summer.

Have a wonderful week!

Ana Paula

A Robin

Hello!
I have a small finish to show.

The light is bad, and I wish I had stitched it on darker blue fabric, the white branches would show better... This is a pattern from Christiane Dahlbeck.
I made several changes, because of the aida fabric. The design has half stitches that would only work on linen. Very different half stitches. Well, I will have to live with it.

I wanted to use a small frame for this design. Could not find anything that worked at Michael's.
But I found this  laser cut frame at the wood aisle. I think it was about two dollars, no more than that. I spray painted white,  and because it is a flat frame, I had to do a little trick to finish the ornament.
I wish I had pictures.
I got a piece of white cardboard just a bit bigger than the frame opening and put it on the back of the stitched piece, folding the edges of the fabric to the back of the cardboard and gluing it with Tacky Glue.
After that,  I put a thin line of glue around the back of the opening of the frame and carefully pressed  the stitched piece against it.
To finish the back I glued white felt on the back of the cardboard.
The finished ornament has to lay on something to stand, but you can make a stand to the back using cardboard, or even glue a ribbon to hang.
I hope my directions are clear enough.
I just love this little frame, is so delicate! I think I will have more finishes like this.
It was the first robin I ever stitched, and I want to stitch some more. I love robins, never saw a real one, but I think they are just adorable, specially the European one.
The robin on The Secret Garden movie (I love it!) and Beatrix Potter's robin on her Peter Rabbit story
are my favorites.
Since I only have sparrows here in my courtyard, I got the robin figurine on the picture above at a gift shop in San Diego. He is darling!
Anyways, that was my first robin cross stitch, and the first ornament for my cubby shelf from my previous post.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Ana Paula.

Summer

We are having a stay cation this summer just doing local trips.
We also joined the summer reading program from our local library. We just finished it.
I will share some pictures of our little adventures. First, a Fourth of July celebration and breakfast at church.

Some days later we were invited by friends  to go to the Paul Getty museum in Los Angels.

On the way back we stopped by the LDS Los Angeles Temple to see the newly remodeled visitor's center.

Of course we had a day at The OC county fair. Brenda got a new "carriage".  It helped a lot, since walking the whole day can be difficult for her.

Fair food can be  weird like bacon dipped in chocolate and fried butter. The corn looked good, but we got  fennel cake with strawberries and went to a restaurant after the fair. A lot healthier!

At the crafts building they had some lovely things.
Beautiful quilts.

I love redwork. And Swedish weaving.

My favorite quilt was the one hanging on the middle. Amazing work!
Now the cross stitch. This one really looked like a painting.

More beautiful pieces.

I liked this one... so cool!

We also spent some days in San Diego where Brenda among  many other activities, built a sand castle with grandpa.

But the best thing this summer was our  visit to Brenda's leg doctor.
She is doing very well and now she is allowed to use the slide at the playground. When it is not crowded, to avoid accidents. This may sound like nothing for many, but for us it is huge! She is so happy, and we are too. The doctor even recommended walks around the block.
If you want to know more about Brenda's condition please visit The Childrens Tumor Foundation website.
Brenda does her best to follow the doctor's orders, but she is just a seven year old that wants to do all the things the other kids do. It is very hard for her to be "normal" but not to be able to do normal things. She is a very faithful child, and before the visit to the doctor she told me that she wished  the doctor let her to do "one thing"...meaning less restrictions at her play time.  And she got it!  Yes, life is full of little miracles and my little princess believes in it.

Hope you are having a great summer.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

A late cross stitch finish

Hello!
I have a new small finish to share. This is Celebrate the 4th,  a freebie from Glory Bee.
I know, I am very late. But, as my husband said, I am getting a head start for next fourth. :)

I changed some of the colors and because the star button I had was too big for the flag, I put it on the yo-yo fabric instead.

I am happy with the way it looks. I love the pattern. You can find it here . They have some more nice freebies there.
We have been so busy doing "summer stuff", but this is another post.
Thanks for stopping by!

Ana Paula.

Home Sweet Home

Hi! I am so behind on my cross stitching. So many other things going on!
I want to show you today a piece that I made years ago, and found it stored with my summer stuff.

The pattern is from Manequim Ponto Cruz, a Brazilian magazine. There is no indication of the designer, but I sure is an American designer.
The Magazine has the chart for the complete alphabet. I used the letters to spell Home Sweet Home.

I first had it framed, and more recently I made it into a hanging pillow.

Now I need to work on some ornaments and other things.
I just got some new patterns on e-bay.

I was lucky enough to get all the Lizzie Kate Flip it  stamps for a bargain!
Because I am working on other projects,  for now I am not starting these.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

Cross Stitch Spring Sampler

Hello!
I have done lots of organizing and cleaning around our home. It is a never ending job. But I found some time for gardening and  sewing.
Today I have something special to show you, my latest sewing project.
The pictures came out a little odd... I think was the angle, but here it is.

Pretty, isn't it? I love this Janlynn pattern. I had to have it.
No, I did not stitched it, I have to tell you the truth. I have done big patterns before,but nothing as big as this.
I think I  would take the rest of my life to complete something this detailed because I am a very slow stitcher.
Since I wanted this sampler badly, I cheated and got a finished one on e-bay. It came from Canada and is beautifully done by a exceptionally talented cross stitcher.

It is a very exquisite design. A collage style sampler including all the spring holidays, gardening and even spring cleaning.

I tried to frame this the way I always do, getting a frame and a mat at Michael's, but it did not work. I had it for over two years and finally decided to make it into a quilted wall hanging.
It was hard work for me. I really love quilts, and admire people that can quilt especially because I cannot really do it. I wanted to make a fancy wave border and make  seams to machine quilt it.  I did it after several attempts. It was the first time I did a quilted border like this. It is not perfect, but I am very pleased with the results.

I think is great when you go out of your comfort zone and try new things.

Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula

Cross Stitch Lavender Sachet

Hello!
I love lavender. My sister in Brazil loves it too.
I am sending her a late birthday gift, and decided to include a lavender sachet.

The pattern is from Rico Designs. I made some changes. It was charted for Anchor, but I found  a conversion chart for DMC online.

Another change I made: A ribbon bow instead of the cross stitched  from the original.
I used lavender satin for back and lower part of the front. I also used some lace and tiny beads to add a little more to this very simple design.

I added lavender buds to the filling. I am sure she will like it. :)  Smells wonderful.
Now, I need to make one for me too!
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

Cross Stitch Easter Eggs Pattern

Hi!
If you read my blog, you know that I like crafts. Most of all, I love Cross Stitch.

Sometimes I go crazy looking for a pattern. Right now I am looking for this one.
I think this is just lovely! Especially  the sampler style eggs.

I tried to get this a couple of times on e-bay.
An e-bay seller told me it is a Cross Stitch calendar page.
The last seller who had it said it was from a book, but she will not give me any more details.
There is no way I can find out, unless some nice lady out there can recognise this pattern and be gracious enough to give me some info on that.
I am sure someone saw this before. So, if you have any detail on this pattern, please let me know. It will be very much appreciated.
Here is the picture again.

Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.