First finish of 2012

YES! I finished my stockings !!! At last should I add !!! I was really getting of the last stocking : you know the one I kept for the end, the one that has lots of green in it ... And to make it worse, those green were not even nice green !!!

So I stitched it on a 28 ct opalescent white fabric ( for the Christmas feeling !!! ) . I stitched it from november 27 th 2011 to january 31 st 2012.

I like it but I'm glad I'm done ! Did I choose a new project? You bet ! I can't stay without stitching for a long time. I had planned on buying the newest Lanarte ( the summer bouquet ! The one I fell in love with) but they are not released yet and it feels like a torture ! So I dug into my stash and found that Marjolein Bastin kit. It looks like a little bit like the summer fruit I stitched in 2010. I had so much fun stitching my summer basket. Check the picture below: autumn harvest.

The colors are really beautiful and listen to that : only 3 green !!! Yes, only 3 green !!! Isn't it amazing? I couldn't start it right away as I got a bad surprise when I opened the kit: there was a problem in the middle of the fabric. A thick line like a fabric scar and I couldn't use that nice fabric ( an antique white Monaco) . I contacted Janlynn and they should send me a replacement fabric but still, I had set my mind on this kit and didn't feel like choose another one. I'm lucky I had a Monaco fabric in my stash so I cut one piece to match the one I couldn't use anymore and on thursday, I was ready to start. After a few stitches, I realize I did make the right choice !!! I'm sure at the end, it's going to look like my summer fruit that really look like a painting! Lanarte do great job at charting Marjolein Bastin's art .

Thanks for stopping by

I'm in love !!!!

It took me some time but I finally found a website that has the new lanarte kits from their spring catalog ! I have to say if I was disapointed in the past because their kits were not as beautiful as the old ones, I have to say that this time, they did really well !!!

I'm totally in love with this new Marjolein Bastin kit, summer bouquet :

The colors are so beautiful and we can see that Lanarte did a great job at charting Marjolein Bastin great art work. I can't wait to buy this one . Hope it won't be too expensive because I really really love it !!!

I also love two other kits and I'm pretty sure they are from Marjolein Bastin too : Wild flowers:

The colors are so bright. I love happy colors : they make me want to stitch until the end of the night !!!

Look at the colors of poppies:

Just by looking at the picture, I already want to stitch them.

There is another Marjolein Bastin, little bird:

The colors are not as bright but it's a nice picture and maybe in real, the colors do pop up a little more.

They also have a stunning lady, lady of camellias:

Isn't she beautiful? I may buy this kit too one day !!! They have another lady if you like to stitch beautiful woman protrait: Gipsy woman.

Of you prefer some flowers, they also new designs:

You may like to stitch some animals and I think those chicken are very well done !!!

You can see the other kits HERE .

Don't you think they really have a great spring collection this year? I'm glad they went back to work with Marjolein Bastin paintings: she's such a talented artist . I think her summer bouquet will become a future classic. So what do you think: do you like them? Which one is your favorite?

I have to add that I wasn't paid by Lanarte or didn't receive a free kit to do this review ( unfortunately !!! LOL ) As you know, I'm just their anonymous number one fan !!!!

My WIP 2011

Thanks everybody for your kind words: seems like you didn't forget me after all.

Today I want to show you my latest stitching. I've owned that kit for almost 10 years: I had bought it at Michael's on sale after Christmas. I always loved the colors and you may remember colors are the key to make me finish a project. That's why I always choose carefully

what I'm stitching. I know, you want to see so here we go: Yes it's a Christmas design !!! You may recognize an Ursulla Michael design.

I've started it in december 2011 and here is my yesterday's progress:

As you can see, i've stitched almost all the stockings. I still need to stitch the last on the right. There are lots of green in that one so it's not a surprise if I kept it for the end, right? I also need to do some backstitching on most of the stockings. I'm stitching it on an opalescent white lugana 28 count and it's really nice to stitch.

I have to admit it : I forgot to show one finished last time. Well, it's not completly finished as I didn't add the beads ... yet ! Let's face it: I've never beaded and even though everybody says it's easy, it does stress me out a little bit and I have nobody to show me how to do it so it's anunfinised fairy for now ...

I took a better picture of Friendship grow to show you :

Isn't it beautiful?

Of course, you can enlarge each picture if you want to have a better view.

Thnaks again for stopping by my dear stitching friends !!!

Did I stitch in 2011 ?

Hi my ( lost ? ) fellow stitchers.

First I want to wish you a happy New Year. I haven't blogged in a long long time and I'm hoping to go back to ( maybe) daily blogging in 2012 ... We'll see if I can do it.

I'm sure you're wondering what I stitched in 2011 so here are some pictures ( I got lots of computer problems lately so I lost some pictu

res and took those from my facebook albums.) :

I started the year by stitching a Lanarte ( what else, right? )

Nesting box with pink roses:

After that I completed the kit I had showed you in a previous ( old ) post:

Friendship grow by Sunset. I know there were a lot of green BUT I really enjoyed stitching that one. It's really beautiful.

Then I decided to get crazy but I didn't know how crazy it would be because it took me 6 months to complete this Lanarte kit.

Summer bouquet stitched on the fabric from the kit.

After I completed my insane project ( that was is secret name !!! ) I finished my on the go project ( mainly because I was tired of big projects and I didn't know what to stitch next.)

Vera the mouse by Lanarte stitched on a solo by Silkweaver.

Of course, I finished it quickly so I chose another small kit to feed my stitching craving:

Hideaway by Sue Hillis ( Heritage stitchcraft) stitched on the fabric from the kit.

I finished it fast and I decided to stitch another Lanarte but I was not ready for a big project yet so I chose this small Lanarte kit.

Lanarte 34231 stitched on the fabric from the kit.

And then I fell in love !!!!!!! I saw the picture on the cover of a magazine and I had to get it AND stitch it fast !!! lol You may remember I have a weakness for the Somebuuny to love characters and that one was perfect. I did change the colors for the hat, gloves and boots to make them more chritsmassy and it totally worked !!! It looks better than the original design !!! I was so afraid I'll mess it up but I'm pretty proud of myself! My first attempt at a color conversion did work !

Making friend by DMC for the World of cross stitching.

I didn't manage to finish my current WIP before Christmas ( mainly because I had lots of down moments during Chritsmas ) so it will become my first finish of 2012. I'm already thinking of my next one and don't be surrprised of I go back to a Lanarte ( what else ? !!! )

I didn't stitch a lot during 2011 but my insane did take most of my time ... So what did you stitch?

Hi there

I've been a bad bad blogger lately ( ok, it's been months !!! ) I guess I had lost my mojo or lost myself somewhere in the World Wide Web ( aka Facebook ... ) I had up and downs. We also got a sad summer as we learned that one of our friend's ex killed their son one morning. She had her only child when she was 42 yo, he was like a miracle baby and the guy killed his son just to get back at her because he was mad she left him four years ago ...

On stitching news, I did finish friendship grows:

I decided to not stitch the saying and I can say it's one of my favorite piece so far. It's nice when you finally stitch a design that you've always loved.

Then I decided to dig in my Lanarte ( what else ) stash and stitch whatever would attract me ( no matter the size of the design - yes, sometimes I'm crazy like that !!! LOL ) So you wonder

what it is , don't you ? So without further ado:

Now, you understand why I call it my insane project !!! I've started it on march 15 th and I'm still working on it : of course, as it is 20"X30" ( or 50X60 cm). Here is one of the lastest picture but I'm a little more advance than that. ( I haven't uploaded all my pictures yet. )

I can't wait to finish to start something a little smaller but I can honestly say that I am not suffering too much stitching that one. I did suffer much more for my Fuchsias. And you saw all that green ( ), well, don't fall off your chair BUT this time it didn't bother me too much !!!! I know !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!!!!!!!!