Another finish and an amazing gift

Housekeeping: a number of people asked me about the dragon piece from last post. My bad for not posting the designer bits Joan Elliott. From her book "bewitching stitching". I got my copy from Amazon.

So believe it or not I actually have another finish. I think in the last few months I have tripled my finishes for last year. :)
I finally got around to doing one of the stockings on the list for this year. This one is for my sister:




I also got an amazing gift from my BFF. She is living in the Netherlands right now so I am missing her tons.
The other day in the mail she sent me this adorable little needle holder that she made:






Included inside one of the pockets to this wonderful gift was her stitching for Renes memory piece!! It's so adorable and tiny and has a place of honor on my stitching table. So thoughtful!



It is the first (besides Evalinas model) that I have seen stitched up and I just love it. Keeping the memory of Rene alive.

That's all for now. I have been stitching dragons again, have another stocking to do up. And as always tons of new charts and projects coming in that are just begging for attention.

Thanks so much for reading. I love and adore everyone's comments.

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Halloween rules finish

For the first time in forever I managed to actually finish a "larger than an ornament" piece in less than 6 months!
This summer I spent a huge chunk of time stitching up Lizzie Kates Halloween rules. It was such a fun stitch. Here's my finish on lime green 32 ct linen with various overdyed threads:



I have a few other things to share. Amazingly two more finishes! Though little ones. Both I did over the summer. (yes dragons has been neglected but I'll get back to it)
Here's a cute ornament from this years Xmas ornament preview from Just Nan. I changed the colours to some silks i had on hand. And you can see that it makes it much less christmasey.




The last finish is one of a three set. The first is a dragon. The next two are a snowy owl and a unicorn (of course can't wait to do the unicorn).



Even more amazing than 3 finishes. I think I'm keeping them all!

I've got a few other things in the works. I know I'm not posting as much but maybe I'll get better as I get back into the swing of things. I picked up the Halloween book from just cross stitch magazine and can't wait to do the geometric sampler in it! My favorite: geometrics and Halloween! If it had a unicorn or dragon it would be perfect. Lol.

Hope everyone is stitching away. And enjoying the colours as the leaves start to change.


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Free Pattern - Rene's Frog

As a graphic designer many people have encouraged me to design my own cross stitch pattern. With the help of a friend who is an amazing artist and a great friend and stitcher to do up the model for me I've finally managed to put one together.

Rene's Frog as Stitched by Evalina

The free pattern you can download below is in memory of Rene LaFrog. Rene was a kindhearted friend and stitcher to the blog community but also one of the moderators on the ILCS Yahoo Group. Over my time with ILCS and blogging I had the pleasure of chatting witih Rene and getting to know her a bit more. While I never met her in person I truly felt as though we knew each other so well. As I know many of us feel about our blogging friends.

The last year of Rene's life was a tough one for her. Not knowing what was happening was scary for her as her body was shutting down and causing her pain and grief. At one point I had sent Rene a newly released Victoria Sampler pattern. She loved their designs and as it was brand-new so I figured she hadn't seen it yet. I was tickled with she received the friendship pattern and was so excited. Her email to me was so cute and thankful. She even said she'd do the project up for me! That's just the kind of lady Rene was. She'd always give back when given to. While I know that only a few stitches went into that project before she was sent for hospice care I will always treasure the memory of bringing her a little bit of happiness near the end of her days with us.

So I put my foot through the door of designing patterns and came up with this cute and happy frog in memory of Rene. Please feel free to download this pattern, copy it, send it to others and share it with anyone you feel would love it. The blog button in memory of Rene that I created in January was so well received by the community and still prominently featured on so many blogs that I thought (and hope) that there are stitchers out there who would want to do a small stitching project for Rene. I'm so proud to release this first design in memory of an amazing lady and friend.

I encourage everyone to use your own colours in this project. Dig into your stash and see what you have. Pick colours and fabric that remind you of Rene.
In addition if you wish just stitch the frog. He could brighten any area with his endearing smile.

A huge thank you to Amy Vickery, the artist that drew the frog for me before it was charted, and to Evalina Marie, a blogger and stitcher I know many of you know. She has been a very dear friend to me these past couple of years and she graciously stitched the model for me and confirmed that the pattern makes sense and is stitchable!

So please, enjoy this pattern. I'm so pleased to share it with everyone.
And finally to Rene, know that you are missed and not forgotten my friend.

Link to download pattern.
(clicking on this link will automatically download a PDF with the pattern enclosed).