WIP/To Starts

I realized that it had been a while since I showed you what I'm working on. So, here you go! :)


This is Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart. Since my family doesn't know I blog (heehee) I can tell you that this is for my Aunt Paula. She's my father's sister, and the one who really taught me to adore over dyed cotton and linen fabric. (That's right Daniel, blame HER for the fact that my hobby cost as much yours, and that at the end ofthe day I can't drive mine to the store. It's all Paula's fault, hahahaha.) (I should mention here that Daniel always mentions Paula's parting advice to him when she moved away "Don't always let Claudia get her way" whenever he says no to something, so I have to mention when the Great Paula isn't perfect.) I've enlisted my grandmother's help to figure out all sorts of names, initials and dates for the personalization. At this moment, my only plan is to make sure that her immediate family members are represented on their birth months. (Ie, my father was born in November, so I'll use his information for that month.) I'm stitching the whole thing on a 1/2 yard of 30ct Irish Cream by R&R Reproductions. My LNS didn't have enough of the Old Town Blend, so I dragged DH along with me, since he's my color expert. The color in the photo above is pretty true to the actual color of my piece. DH has promised to make me a scroll frame big enough for this piece. (Which is good, because my scroll frame is promised to another project.)


This is Ink Circles' Fleur de Lis pattern. I'm stitching it with the recommended Carrie's Threads. DH and I got married in New Orleans last October, so I'm hoping to have this done in time to be on our Christmas tree. I was a lot further along, but then realized I had miscounted, and spent an evening unpicking about half of the purple. This is being stitched on a piece of 32ct Cream linen from Charles Craft. (I have a TON of that particular linen, so it's my go to for all small projects.)


I'm also working on Plum Street Sampler's The Queen's Sampler. I'm using the Elizabeth motif, and will have it finished into a thread keep. However, I had been stitching it over one on 32 ct Cream linen (yep, Charles Craft, you're so smart to have guessed it), but I realized that I was going to lose a LOT of detail in her dress. So, I scrapped it, and started over on the same linen, but over 2. I don't have a photo of this today though. I'm using Belle Soie silks in Icing, Butterscotch, Carrot Cake, Poison Apple, Black Crow (or Old Crow, I can't remember) and Beanstalk. I Love love love Belle Soie.



This is to be put under the needle sooner rather than later as well. It's By the Bay's 13th Colony Bay. I'm going to stitch them on 3 different pieces of linen, but then use some decorative stitches to rejoin the linens before framing it all as one.

And for my knitting.... This is Serena's scarf. It's for my niece, and it's 100% garter stitch. Now that I've learned continental style knitting, It's just FLYING along. I'm using Noro's Aya yarn. I think the photo below shows better the colors. I just love it, and I hope she will too!