A to Z Challenge: S is for Sue Hillis

Today is Day 19 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

S is for Sue Hillis

Now I know many of you have probably heard of this designer.  I love the wide arrange of patterns that Sue has, from the funny and/or sarcastic to beautiful arrangements.  But on the off chance that you haven't heard of her yet, I'd like to share a few things with you.

I have a few Sue Hillis pieces in my stash, most of them are Christmas.  I seem to gravitate towards all things Gingerbread House themed, so I was really lucky to get a copy of her Gingerbread street chart last year right before Christmas.  I think it will go really well with my Shannon Wasileff Gingerbread SAL when I finish that (maybe Christmas this year?).

I also picked up this chart at the same time, Calories Don't Count at Christmas.  Since I'm a big sucker for sweets during Christmastime, this fit right into my life.  I mean, candy you got in your stocking really shouldn't count against the diet, right?  I also  really like all the little candy and sweet motifs and things on this one as well.  This is a good chart to show an example of the more funny side of Sue's designs.

I also got this set of charts, More Bah Humbug.  Now, I'm not a bah humbug kind of person, but for some reason these ornaments just tickle my funny bone.  In case it is too small to see properly, each ornament sized design features a Christmas motif where something has gone wrong.  The lights/ornament are broken, the gingerbread man is over-baked, etc.  One of the blogs I follow (sorry, can't remember which one now, if it was yours leave a comment so I can give you a link!) stitched up all these and the ones from the Bah Humbug chart last year around Christmas and they turned out so cute as little ornaments.  I especially like the broken lights and broken candy canes designs in this set of patterns for some reason.  The yellow snow one is a little too weird for me, so I don't think I will ever end up stitching that particular motif though. 

On the wish list side of things, Sue Hillis also has several pirate designs, which are all quite tounge in cheek and funny.  She has two Christmas-y ones that are my favorite though.  Yo Ho Ho Ho has a pirate-y Santa with a candy cane peg leg and Shiver Me Timbers has a pirate themed snowman.  I have a friend who love pirates (Johnny Depp was her not-so-secret celebrity crush for years, although he's been replaced by Chris Hemsworth in her affections now), and I think either of these designs would make great Christmas gifts for her.

Moving away from Christmas, Sue has a few "closet" designs that are neat.  I like this one, Witch Hazel's closet.  Again, another Halloween pattern, isn't that funny.  But I love how her little witch socks are sticking out of the drawers.  And the cute little purple witchy bloomers.  If I was a witch I bet you this is what my closet would look like.

Another holiday pattern, this one from a series of apron designs.  This looks like the only "current" apron design right now based on what I can find (not that I looked that hard, I'm in a hurry to get this posted today), but I've seen others on eBay before so I'm thinking maybe they're just out of print?  But this Easter Bunny's apron is really cute.  I love the baby bunnies sitting waiting in the pockets and all the Easter egg decorating things in all the pockets.  Adorable.

But Sue doesn't just have holiday designs, and in particular I like this one.  This is the Seven Menopausal Dwarfs.  And although I haven't reached this lovely stage of my life yet (thank goodness, since I'm still in my 20s) I think these could also be re-titled the Seven PMS Dwarfs.  My brother and dad so do not appreciate when these show up during that time of month.  Am I right, ladies?

Anyway, that's it for another long designer post. Come back tomorrow for T.  We're nearing the end now!

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker
R is for Rules

A to Z Challenge: R is for Rules

Today is Day 18 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

R is for Rules

Today is a pure wish list post, and as such is rather long.  You've been warned.  

R is for rules, and specifically the Christmas Rules design by Lizzie Kate.  There are actually a series of (six?) charts from her "double flips" series, which means you actually get two charts for the price of one.  I really love all the individual Christmas rules in this series, and I think they look absolutely adorable all stitched together like this.  I think I especially like the "listen for reindeer" rule; there's something so whimsical about it.

And while we're on the subject of Lizzie Kate...

There's also a matching set to this one called Halloween Rules, which I like, but I like this series called Boo Club more.  These are just 1 word Halloween phrases with a cute little picture by them.  Actually, there's a Christmas version of Boo Club too (can't think of the name right now) that I do have in my stash, but the Christmas Rules pattern is still on my wish list.

There's also a series of one word patterns called Living With Charm that I also love.  These patterns were actually my introduction to Lizzie Kate.  One of the cross stitch forums I visit had a member who was stitching them, and stitching them together into one piece, and I just fell in love with the effect as a whole.

Now, I can appreciate single Lizzie Kate patterns too.  I love this one called Cat Lessons for People.  Those of you who are cat lovers will totally understand it.  She's also got one called Kitty String that's nice and simple, but I think if I had to choose one cat themed LK pattern, this would be it.

As I mentioned on "A" day in this challenge, I have a weakness for alphabets, and LK has a lot of them.  And although I admire a lot of them, I've really admired seeing this Christmas ABC chart being stitched up by several members during the Crazy Challenge back in January, and it's just kind of grown on me.

Of course, not to be outdone, my love of alphabets is also mirrored by my love of monthly patterns.  So I absolutely adore the Lizzie Kate Year of Blocks Flip Its patterns.  I have about 3 of these now, but someday hope to be able to collect all 12.  I also want to be able to stitch them in the recommend Weeks Dye floss someday, which is normally out of my budget, but I think in the backgrounds on these blocks it really makes such a difference.

So now that I've finished gushing about all things Lizzie Kate, and boring you with another long post, I wish you happy stitching for the rest of the day!

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker

A to Z Challenge: Q is for Quaker

Today is Day 17 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

Q is for Quaker

I'm not really sure how to describe Quaker patterns if you don't already know what I'm talking about.  The best I can do is these samplers tend to be made of up many different small to medium geometric motifs.  The tend to come in either monochrome or simple color schemes.  I would describe them as tending to be more on the country or primitive style.  Of course, that's by no means a complete or hard and fast definition, so don't take my word for it.  :)

I tend to dislike Quaker patterns for the most part, perhaps because I don't really like most country/primitive patterns in general, but I do have one Quaker pattern in my stash (shock and horror).  In fact, Halloween Quaker is one of my Turtle Trot pieces for this year.

So knowing this post was coming up, I pulled the piece out and gave it a bit of an update.  Here it is now:

This is a slightly modified San-Man Originals pattern that you can download for free from Cyberstitchers. You may notice mine already looks a little different than the model picture.  There were a couple motifs I didn't like, so I moved things around a bit and changed the charted colors slightly.  I don't know if this pattern appealed to me because it was a Quaker designed by one of my favorite designers or what exactly drew me to it.  It definitely could have been the cat.  I have a weakness for all things cat, especially a SMO cat.  Although the designer must have at least something to do with it, because if I ever do another Quaker, it will probably be this Valentine's Day one (also by San-Man Originals, and also free for download from Cyberstitchers).

For this one, the draw definitely is the birds.  Or the chocolate.  Or both. 

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins

A to Z Challenge: P is for Pumpkins

Today is Day 16 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.  Since Sundays are exempt from the challenge, this will be my last post for the week until Monday comes around.

P is for Pumpkins

Today's post is another pure wish list post.  Which might be a good thing, since I seem to have been long-winded with my entries this past week.

So P is for Pumpkins, specifically the Pretty Pumpkins pattern (say that three times fast) by Glendon Place.  Again, for someone who doesn't like Halloween all that much, I really seem to gravitate towards Halloween patterns.  Hmmm...

This pattern initially went totally over my radar, but I saw someone in a online cross stitch group I visit stitching it up last year and I just fell in love with it.  Something about those patterns on the pumpkins make all the difference.  I really love how they custom matted the model too, although if I do ever get the chance to stitch this, I will definitely not be able to afford to do it that way!

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls

A to Z Challenge: O is for Owls

Today is Day 15 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

O is for Owls

Not really sure why, but I am totally obsessed with owls right now.  Not so much your traditional, realistic owls, but I love those cutesy, stylized owls that are so popular.  Which is good for me, of course, because it makes finding charts much easier.  

Two of my favorite owl patterns in my stash are the two new Owlets kits from Mill Hill I got for my birthday (thanks again Kathy & Brianne!).  These cute little adorable babies are just so sweet with their decorated eggs and sleepy eyes.  These look like they will be even more spectacular in person.  The colors and the beads really stand out when you're looking at the stitched models, which unfortunately I didn't capture much with my photo here.  I really like Mill Hill kits, so I look forward to stitching these. 

I also was able to get my hands on a chart by Ursula Michael (one of my favorite designers) called Halloween Hoots last year.  Sadly, it was after Halloween so I didn't feel like pulling it out, although I hope to start on it for this year.  I think my favorite owl of the three is the orange vampire owl on the right.  He looks so mysterious and mischievous.

There's a matching design called Holiday Blues for winter that's on my wish list.  I'd love for Ursula to do an owl design for every season!  I also like how the Holiday Blues chart can easily be used for Christmas (the "joy" aspect) or just left up for winter in general.  Love those little cuties bouncing all over the letters. 

I also have a lot of owl charts in my stash thanks to charts from Dailycrossstitch.com.  These patterns are fun, easy, and usually pretty quick to stitch up.  The biggest problem I've had is finding the time to do so!

By the way, if you like the style of these charts, and you like freebie patterns, make sure you do check out www.dailycrossstitch.com.  They offer a different free chart per day, and some of them are really great.  You just have to make sure you check back every day so you don't miss one.  Of course, if you do miss one, they go on sale in the store for only $1.00 the next day, so even then that won't set you back much.

So now I've given you brief glimpse into my owl stash, of course you know I have more owl patterns in my wish list.

There's a series of patterns you can purchase from Etsy featuring owls called Hooties.  I love just about all of them, but I am particularly drawn to this one, called "Chic Smart".  Out of all of the Hooties charts, I'm not sure why I like these ones best.  Perhaps it's because I'm a nerd and always will be.

I mentioned Holiday Blues by Ursula Michael earlier.  She also has an owl pattern called A Few Hoots.  It features a family of owls sitting on a tree branch with the greatest caption: "Families are like owls. Mostly sweet with a few hoots."  I have a few hoots in my family, that's for sure, so I'd love to stitch this one up someday.

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark

Stitching Updates

You know, the A to Z blogging challenge has been killing me.  Not so much the blogging part, that has been fine.  But I've had so many more wonderful blog posts to read this month with everyone posting once per day that I'm super behind on reading/commenting on everyone's blogs.  Just when I was getting caught up too!

Anyway, on to the world of stitching progress.  I was able to get a bit of progress done on my spring Egg Topiary square while I took that unexpected road trip last week:

I ran out of green while on the road, so that's why the green egg on the left is only partially complete.  Sadly, I didn't get as much done as I was hoping to.  But with one more big push this weekend I think I might have a finish to show you on Monday. 

I've also started a new pattern yesterday called Friends for Life from an old issue of CrossStitcher.  Here's what it will look like when finished:

And here's where I am now:

Doesn't look like much yet, since I've only done 2 shades of yellow in the dog's face so far.  This will eventually being going to Love Quilts for a quilt, provided I'm able to finish it before the end of the month.  I kind of forgot about it until recently organizing my stash.  Oops! 

Free Pattern Friday: May Lily of the Valley

It feels like I'm always saying this, but I can't believe how fast April has flown by.  Mostly becasuse projects that are due at the end of the month aren't done yet I guess.  But since it's the 3rd Friday in April,  it's time for May's Flower of the Month series by EMS that are part of the 2015 SAL I'm hosting.  If you want to come join us there's still time to sign up, all the signup info can be found here.

May's flower as designed by Ellen Maurer-Stroh is Lily of the Valley, which will be our first white flower.  According to Google, this flower was chosen as the May birth flower because that is usually the only month it blooms in.  This flower has been used in bridal bouquets dating all the way back to medieval times, which has contributed to it's traditional meaning of chastity, purity, humility, and sweetness. 

So now you can have a sweet time stitching this free cross stitch pattern, and go download the PDF from the EMS Designs website if you haven't already. 

Happy stitching!





If you ever come across one of my posts that contains a chart that breaks copyright law, please email me and let me know right away. In picking and posting my free cross stitch pattern posts, I make every effort to ensure the designs I share are legitimately free charts.