Two finishes - and a Hi

Hello!!
Let me start with, yes I'm alive and doing well. :)
Thank you to everyone who has sent me little messages or emails to inquire. I owe a couple of you responses back but don't want to be hasty in writing them which is why there has been a delay.

So life without Stitch From Stash...
I can't even tell you what a great burden it has relieved off me to not be worrying about sending out reminders, writing newsletters and all the rest. As many of you know I moved into a new position and team at my job. Same place, new people and stuff. It's going well. A bit overwhelming but that's always the case. As such I haven't done a ton of stitching. But over holiday break I did get to spend some well needed time just watching Supernatural (I'm on Season 3 now!), video gaming on our new PS4 and reading. Of course watching Supernatural is stitching time!

Finish #1
This was an absolute pleasure to work on. Yes I know you're thinking, really Mel another Mill Hill? I'm addicted, what else can I really say?! LOL!
I worked on this on Christmas Day before putting in my turkey and in subsequent days after, completing it just before 2016. A nice relaxing and fun way to close out the stitching year.

Gingerbread House by Mill Hill

Kit on perforated paper, mill hill beads, DMC threads 

Finish #2
Unlike the Gingerbread House... I did not love this piece. As you all know I adore Jeannette. Truly adore her. But this piece and I did not get along. Likely because I had thread outage issues as I changed the count to 28 (from 32) and then wanted to go with double coverage (over two). The morale of the story here is to make sure you read ALL the instructions. I kinda dived in and screwed myself. But alas, it's mostly done. I changed quite a few colors due to my thread issues. However can say that the pattern does have some colours different from the picture on the cover of my version of the pattern. It's not totally complete as I want to add some charms and stuff. But for the time being I need to move on.

Take Time to Read by Jeannette Douglass
28ct natural linen, silk threads from thread pack

I'm hopeful that there will be more recent updates than between November and now. That is much too long!
Will have a couple starts soon, plus still working on Alice HAED (mini) and the Mirabilla Mermaid.

Happy Stitching! 



Rosewood Manor - Support

Many people have asked me about Rosewood Manor and I didn't want to get any facts or whatnot wrong. 

Luckily many of shops have shared the same message Karen at Rosewood and so I feel ok with sharing it.

Message from Karen Kluba of Rosewood Manor: 

"Hello, I'm not sure how many of you are aware of our daughter Rachel's very serious accident late this summer.  She lives in England.  She and her two sons 7 & 6 were visiting us here in Michigan for about 30 days while the boys were off school.  Her husband had come over for the last 8 days of the summer. We had a fun summer which ended in tragedy just two days before they were to fly home.  We are all devastated.

 

"After a month in hospital here in Michigan she was flown via medical transport over to England to a hospital there.  She has sustained a TBI-Traumatic Brain Injury.  She is now in a center for enablement - receiving rehab in Oxford, England.  We are all hoping and praying for a miracle, that she can overcome this, but it will all take time - lots of time. The doctors feel that her sister, her father and I, should visit to help with her rehab as often as possible.

 

"I designed a leaflet to raise money to help our family be able to fly over to visit her in hospital in England.  It is called "Crazy Socks"-the explanation of the title is on the back cover of the chart." 

Been thinking about getting a Rosewood Manor pattern? 

Now is the perfect time. 

Photo shown is the second Rosewood Manor I bought in support of Karen it's called "Autumn Quakers". 

First was featured last blog post called "Inspiration". I also own a few more my Rosewood that I unearthed to make sure I didn't buy duplicates. 

On an unrelated note. My stash needs a serious organizational rework. More on that to come soon. 

Thank you! - Stitching Front Update

Wow, there is nothing else I can say but wow. Thank you isn't enough for the outpouring of support you have all given me in closing down SFS. Just thank you.

I am answering every message and comment I have received personally. However it's taking time. So please don't think I didn't get your message or care if I haven't responded. I am flooded with amazing emails and comments from people at this time. But I will be answering EVERY SINGLE ONE of them.

On the Stitching Front
I'm getting quite close on Take Time to Read. But running out of thread has really made life difficult. My TTtR will be quite unique as I am not necessarily using color for color match. But so far the entire piece is still in silk and that is my commitment to the project is that I don't compromise the delicate silk look that Jeanette intended.

I started a new Mill Hill kit. Just an itty bitty one. Instead of taking from stash I was bad and took from "newly ordered" items. Will share some photos soon!

Did you see the new Mirabilia witches!!! OMG am in love, and in trouble. Lol. I also adore Willow Queen that Mirabilia just released.

But instead of going for any of those; in light of the tragedy and suffering that the family of Rosewood Manor has been experiencing, I purchased a few Rosewood Manor patterns to help generate (albeit small but something) some income for Karen and her family. One of the patterns I bought is the gorgeous (yet big and detailed; say epic anyone...) piece shown called "Inspiration" from Rosewood Manor. I love that it's based on a quilt that was based on an 1800's stitched piece. Who could ask for more history and inspiration all around!

I also want to thank all the shops (including my online preferential shop) for their support and sales in this difficult time for Karen from Rosewood Manor and her family. It's an amazing community that the Internet created for stitching and I'm ever grateful to be a part of it.

Happy Stitching!
Mel.