Finished Works – Page 27

A Tribute to Katie

November 19, 2015 By patgeary

We recently had to say goodbye to our sweet girl Katie. I wanted to stitch something special in her memory and decided on Lizzie Kate’s chart Dogs Leave Pawprints. My plan is to stitch the design, then send the stitched piece and a picture of Katie to Jill Rensel for framing. Jill and Amber work a special kind of magic in framing special pieces.

A Tribute to Katie framed by Jill and Amber

And our sweet girl.

Fabric: 25ct Lugana probably mushroom

Threads: Weeks Dye Works

Bright Leaf
Charcoal
Deep Sea
Kris’s bon bon
Liberty
Moss
Sky

Started stitching: November 19 2015

Finished stitching November 21, 2015. Now I just need to sew on the dog bone charm and it will beready to pail off to Jill and Amber to work their magic.

Dogs Leave Paw Prints by Lizzie Kate.

Robin’s Song by Little House Needleworks

November 3, 2015 By patgeary

I ordered Robin’s Song by Little House Needleworks some time ago. I’ve had it kitted up with fabric and floss ready to stitch. Then I discovered Blackbird Designs and lots of projects went into the “to do someday pile.” Because I am having trouble with my eyes, I decided to dig out some of the ones I really wanted to stitch and work on them while I can still see well enough to do so.

I’m stitching it on a piece of 16ct Toasted Almond from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie using Gentle Arts Sampler Thread and Classic Colorworks floss. Started stitching October 29, 2015

Design Size: 189w x 93h
Finished Size: 11 3/4 x 5 3 1/4

Floss Used: (DMC Alternates given)

GAST Brandy
GAST Old Red Paint
CC La Tierra
CC Tufted Yellow
CC Mossy
CC Roasted Chestnut
CC English Ivy
CC Straw Hat
CC Caterpillar

Finished Stitching: December 6 2015

Robin’s Song by Little House Needleworks

Casting a Spell Sampler

October 8, 2015 By patgeary

Casting a Spell us one of the newer booklet of charts from Blackbird Designs. It is meant to be stitched as a sewing box with two extra pincushions. The model was stitched on 30ct Confederate Gray by Weeks Dye Works with Gentle Art Sampler threads (or DMC 839, 3371, 3826, 829).

I am not real fond of finishing off little pillows or even of Halloween but I had seen the piece stitched as on all-in-one sampler by Carla Coburn on the Fans of Blackbird Designs Facebook Group. I liked the idea! I selected a piece of 16ct Chocolate Milk Aida from Hand-dyed Fabrics by Stephanie and used an assortment of threads – DMC and Gentle Arts Sampler threads.

You can read more about stitching Casting a Spell Sampler by Blackbird Designs on my website.

Forgot to note when I started stitching but somewhere around August 15 or 16 but finished stitching: October 2, 2015. Now to wait for a frame sale.

October 2020: After five years of sitting in the “to be finished someday” drawer, I finally ordered some fabric to finish Casting a Spell as a wall hanging. Fabric is Moda Fabric ~ Trick or Treat Smell My Feet by Sandy Gervais.

Casting a Spell and fabric. — Casting a Spell and fabric

And I finally finished assembling the stitched piece as a wall hanging as well as painting the dowel rod and ends black and hanging it on the front door.

Casting a Spell finished as a wall hanging.

Quaker Garden by Blackbird Designs

October 8, 2015 By patgeary

Loose Feathers pattern #19, Quaker Garden is another very sought after chart that has been out of print for quite some time. While I kept seeing pictures of the finished piece, somehow I really did not yearn to stitch this. But as I kept looking I decided yes I would. I had a chance to buy the chart, floss, and fabric at a very reasonable price so did. I now have two of this chart, one out on loan, one I am using. The second one will go out on loan as soon as I finish.

I don’t stitch on linen so selected 16ct Wren Aida by Picture This Plus. The only specialty stitches are Smyrna crosses that work well on this fabric.

Started stitching October 6, 2015.

Progress October 23, 2015 – had to do some frogging last.

Quaker Garden by Blackbird Designs

Finished but not yet framed.

Quaker Garden by Blackbird Designs

Framed and ready to hang.

Quaker Garden by Blackbird Designs – Framed

With Needle and Thread by Blackbird Designs

August 31, 2015 By patgeary

This Blackbird Designs cross stitch book is chock full of projects – there are eleven in all! Designs include everything from the alphabet to birds to floral motifs. Projects range from pillows to wall hangings to sewing boxes!

The book includes charts and instructions for all 11 projects and is 48 pages. The book finishes with a conversion chart and source list. And, of course, the book is now Out of Print and much sought after. A stitching friend offered to loan me the book so I took her up on it.

I picked three of the projects from the book that I wanted to stitch – My Quaker House,My Pink House, and, Let Heaven and Nature Sing.

All of them called for Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts Sampler Treads overdyed floss so I order the colors I needed to stitch all three projects.

My Quaker House

I decided to stitch My Quaker House on 18ct antique while Aida since it only had regular x’s and Smyrna crosses. I started stitching on August 20, 2015 and took the final stitches on August 31, 2015. Such soft, pretty colors. Here is the finished piece.

Framed Sept 18 2015

My Quaker House by Blackbird Designs framed

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

Let Heaven and Nature Sing is another of the designs from With Needle and Thread. I selected 16ct Aida to stitch it on as it is easier for me to see. Recommended threads are Gentle Arts Sampler threads and Weeks Dye Works. Started stitching this one on September 10, 2015.

Fabric and floss for Let Heaven and Nature Sing

And the finished piece.

Let Heaven and Nature by Blackbird Designs

April 24, 2022 – After sitting in the drawer for 6 1/2 years, it is finally framed and will join the others on my Christmas wall in the Craft Room.

Bittersweet September Ladies Prim Society

August 14, 2015 By patgeary

Bittersweet September by Blackbird Designs was one of the Ladies Prim Society patterns for 2013. After stitching Bittersweet Lane I wanted to stitch Bittersweet September as a companion piece. Not being a member of the Ladies Prim Society, my only hope was to find someone who was willing to sell theirs at a reasonable price or loan me the chart. Luckily, I was able to find another stitcher willing to loan me the chart.

Never heard of the Ladies Prim Society? It is an exclusive club through Dyeing To Stitch, featuring Blackbird Designs and Heartstrings Samplery. Every 8-10 weeks they send a complete kit including any finishing supplies needed to the members of the group. The kits usually cost between $35 and $40 and are NOT available except through the club. However you can find them listed on EBay, usually for a pretty steep price.

I chose to use 28ct antique white Monaco along with the recommended Gentle Arts Sampler threads to stitch this piece. I had to enlarge parts of the chart because the alphabet was stitched with 1 thread over 1 small square. It also called for satin stitches along the too border.

Started this project on August 3, 2015.

Progress on August 11, 2015

Progress on August 14, 2015

Next year I may just have to join the Ladies Prim Society although I don’t stitch on linen and I usually frame my pieces rather than finish them as small pillows. Almost finished one.

Bittersweet September Finished

Now to frame the two Ladies Prim Society pieces.

Finished and Framed

Bittersweet September by Blackbird Designs

Bittersweet Lane – Ladies Prim Society

July 4, 2015 By patgeary

Bittersweet Lane by Blackbird Designs was one of the Ladies Prim Society patterns for 2014. Never heard of the Ladies Prim Society? It is an exclusive club through Dyeing To Stitch, featuring Blackbird Designs and Heartstrings Samplery. Every 8-10 weeks they send a complete kit including any finishing supplies needed to the members of the group. The kits usually cost between $35 and $40 and are NOT available except through the club. However you can find them listed on EBay, usually for a pretty steep price. I was lucky enough to find another stitcher who was willing to sell one of the kits for what he paid for it. I jumped at the chance.

Two of the kits I had seen and wanted to get at least the charts for were Bittersweet Lane and Bittersweet September. Bittersweet Lane is pictured below with all of the supplies that came with it which include the linen for stitching it on, the required floss, backing fabric and trim to finish it off as a pin keep or small pillow.

I don’t like stitching on linen and I wanted to frame the finished piece rather than make a pillow out of it. Since the chart includes full cross stitches and Smyrna crosses, I decided to use a hand dyed 16ct Aida Heritage from Picture This Plus. Below are my supplies for stitching this piece.

Started stitching July 4, 2015.

Progress so far:

Progress July 22, 2015

Bittersweet Lane by Blackbird Designs

FINISHED! July 29, 2015

Bittersweet Lane by Blackbird Designs for Ladies Prim Society

Finished and Framed.

Bittersweet Lane by Blackbird Designs

Secret Garden by Blackbird Designs

July 2, 2015 By patgeary

Secret Garden Necessity Box and Strawberry which is #20 in the Loose Feathers series is one of the charts (including fabric and floss) which I recently purchased from another stitcher. I don’t stitch on linen so I switched the fabric out for 16ct white Aida. I did use the included floss (Weeks Dye Works Turkish Red). These two pieces would be beautiful using any of the bright colored over dyed threads. It was a fairly quick stitch as I started June 21 and put the last stitches in this morning July 2nd.

For right now, it will go in the drawer of finished stitching but still to be finished until I decide what to do with it. On to the next item in my stitching rotation.

November 2019 I have had three of the Sudberry Key Racks for many years and decided this would fit perfectly. So i finished the red one and then decided to stitch a second one.

Secret Garden framed in the Sudberry Key Rack

Secret Garden stitched with Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Ocean floss

Awake the Dawning Day

May 22, 2015 By patgeary

Awake the Dawning Day by Blackbird Designs has been kitted up with floss for some time while I tried to decide what fabric to use. Someone in the Fans of Blackbird Designs Facebook group suggested Picture This Plus Chime which I ordered in 28ct Lugana.

I am using a combination of the recommended threads with some DMC.

Design Size: 84w x 186h
Sampler Size: on 28ct 5 7/8 x13 1/4

Recommended Threads:

WDW Raspberry
WDW Pebble
WDW Mulberry
WDW Scuppernong
WDW Williamsburg Blue
WDW Red Pear
WDW Purple Haze
WDW Gold I am using DMC 729
WDW Moss

Started stitching May 13, 2015

Awake the Dawning Day by Blackbird Designs Progress: 5.30.2015

Progress June 13, 2015

Awake the Dawning Day by Blackbird Designs

Just put the final stitches in Awake the Dawning Day. Finished stitching June 20, 2015.

Awake the Dawning Day Finished

Finished and Framed.

Awake the Dawning Day by Blackbird Designs

Moonlit Garden

April 6, 2015 By patgeary

When I first saw a picture of Moonlit Garden by Blackbird Designs posted as a stitched piece, I fell in love with the warm Autumn colors which are my favorites. I soon found it it was one of the much sought after out of print designs by Barb Adams and Alma Allen, the two women who are Blackbird Designs. I posted on the 123Stitch Message Board and looked on eBay but the price was always way to high. Once I joined the Fans of Blackbird Designs Facebook group, another stitcher offered to loan me the chart to stitch. I was ecstatic. It recently arrived in the mail along with Tulip Manor which I have already finished stitching. I ordered the floss and some fabric and now am ready to start.