Hello All!  I've been super busy the last few days with back to school plans.  Hopefully, next week I'll get enough stitching done to post a pic.  In the mean time, I'm holding a contest on my FB page and the winner will receive a hand-dyed eighth of Mermaid's Sea Lugana.  The address is https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/Undertheseafabrics/

TTFN!

A Small Finish and a Big Start! :)

Hello All!  I'm getting settled and dyeing fabric and stitching again!  Yay!  I finished my Round Robin block this week.  Silver Moon Tea for Renee's Round Robin

I love that all of her beads are opaque.  It made beading her more interesting.

I did a poll last month to decide on what project I was going to start next.  The numbers were really close and Crystal Symphony was the winner by one vote.  Then, of course, I changed my mind completely about the color scheme and I'm still finessing it.  So, I'm starting Enchanted Mermaid, the second place winner.  I am converting her colors to purple and her hair to a light red.  Here is a floss toss.

The fabric is one I dyed myself and that my friend, Cassie, named Mermaid's Seas.  I love how the purples and the hair colors pop.  I'm also converting all of the beads and treasures to Delicas and Swarovski crystals.  In then end, it was actually much cheaper to go that route.  I will of course post the conversion when she is finished. 

If you are on facebook, please check out my facebook group I've set up to show and sell my fabrics: Leslie's Fabric for Sale.

TTFN!

A Stitcher's Journey Parts 3 and 4: Greetings from Virginia!

Hello All!  I've finally made it to Virginia.  It took me 6 days total and I managed to visit 8 different cross stitch stores across 9 states as I travelled.  I had a lot of fun but it is good to be stopped for awhile!  I tried to post while I was stopped in South Carolina Monday night but the hotel wi-fi was acting up.  So this is going to be a LONG post filled with a lot of pics! 

The first (and only) cross stitch store I made it to Monday was Abecedarius in Marietta, Georgia.  The owner was very nice and had many Mirabilia models on the walls.  Unfortunately, she is recently recovering from an illness and was not very well stocked with Miras.  She had everything else though! Here are a couple of her models that she let me take pics of.

Crystal Symphony and Madonna of the Garden.  Her Crystal Symphony has really amped up my desire to start her and since yal voted for her as my next start, I'm hoping to get to work on her next week :)  She was working on Santa when I was there and he was almost done!  It was nice to see a mostly completed WIP of him!

Because she didn't have many Mirabilias, the only one she had that I didn't was Peony Garden so that is what I bought.  I'm thinking about changing the colors in her... hmm...



Tuesday morning I got up bright and early (well.... 10 am...) and went to my first shop in Mauldin, South Carolina called Panda's Crossing. 

It is just south of Greenville, SC and I LOVED this little shop!   The Beads!  She carried so many beads!  Miyukis!  Delicas!  Mill Hills!  Tohos!  I was in a bead wonderland!  And that is before you see the spinner racks of Mirabilias and other charts and the shelves of hand-dyed fabrics!  I could have spent my whole trip budget there!  She had a lot of models and my favorite was the bell pull she made from Mirabilia's Snow Days.

I ended up buying a lot of beads and the chart for Woodland Fairy.  I got 2 tubes of Miyukis, 3 bags of delicas, and one bag of petite Miyukis.  I also bought ten 3 3/4 inch tic tac top tubes.  I love these tubes for storing my beads and I was excited to find some.

The second place I stopped Tuesday was Stitch and Frame Shop in Rock Hill, SC.  This store was in an adorable little house!

I was super excited to see a finished Mermaid of the Pearls as she was charted.  I've only seen pics and my own finish which is NOTHING like the chart!

I ended up buying L*K's Bacon bits and a card of petite treasure braid.  It seems like every shop I went to was out of Bacon bits so I grabbed it when I saw it!



The last store I went to was Spring Robin in Saisbury, NC.  The owner, Robin, was very sweet but we got there 5 minutes before she closed and I didn't have a chance to really look around and I felt a little guilty when I didn't buy anything.

Here is the final pic of everything I bought this trip.  I won't need to buy any stash but DMC for awhile!

So now I'm settling in and can get back to stitching!  I finished the stitching on my Silver Moon Tea RR and I'm working on the beading now.  In a couple of days I should have a picture of actual stitching to show you!  Thank you again for following me on my journey!  TTFN!

A Stitcher's Journey Part 2: Greetings from Florida!

Hello All!  Yesterday we drove from Louisiana to Florida, where we will stay for the weekend.  I can't believe how much I missed The Husband and I'm looking forward to three days of the pool and the beach and some local shopping.  On the way here, I stopped at two cross stitch shops.

The first one was Acadian Corner in Metairie, LA.  The shop is wonderful and sweet with a lot of models and different fibers.

As my in-laws live in Metairie, I go to this shop every time we go visit.  They carry a lot of Mirabilia charts (my fav!) and there are a lot of models of different Miras on the wall.  I ended up buying an eighth of 32 opal Belfast, three packs of beads, and two cards of Wisper in lavender.

I'm so excited about the lavender Wisper because I was looking for just the right color Wisper for my Enchanted Mermaid purple conversion.  I even bought two just to make sure I had enough!

The second shop I visited was Threadneedle Street in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  The owner was super sweet and she carried a lot of Miras as well. 

The owner told me she had the new Mira Santa as a WIP and she had a lot of models on the wall.  I especially love this pillow she made from Under the Friendship Tree.

I ended up only buying two  patterns.  I could have spent my whole budget though!  I bought Queen Mermaid and Touching the Autumn Sky. 

I don't think there are any cross stitch shops near the beach we are staying at but I'm going to look!

TTFN!

A Stitcher's Journey Part 1: Greetings from... NOLA!

Hello All!  I'm driving across the southern US moving from Texas to Virginia and I'm hitting all of the stitchy shops I can find!   I've started a google map of my journey and you can see it by searching for A Stitcher's Journey in google maps.

I'n armed the a GPS and the Fiber and Fabric Maniac's guide to travel.  I'm in hot and humid Metairie, LA whihc is a suburb of New Orleans.  This morning, I will continue travelling onto Ft. Walton Beach, FL  for the weekend with The Husband.  I haven't gotten much stitching done, but I have been visiting stitchy shops!

I started at Stitches From the Heart in San Antonio.  It's a huge shop (recently expanded) and carries a lot of fibers.

I didn't really buy much but I  did get a pack of  size 26 Bohins and a skien of the new Belle Soie silk Aqua Velva.  This shop carries a lot of hand-dyed fabrics including WDW, PTP and SW.  They also have a ton of models hanging on the wall to entice you. :)

I also stopped at 3 Stitches in Spring, Texas.  The google maps makes finding this shop a little difficult because it places it on the other side of the road.

I've ordered online from this shop many times so I was super excited to finally make it there.  It is small, but larger than it looks from the outside.  Yal, she had hand-dyed fabric on the BOLT!   I would have gotten in so much trouble if I didn't dye my own!  She carries a lot of different fibers, including silks I've never heard of!  She had one thing I've been searching for in person, Petite Silk Lame from Rainbow Gallery.  I bought five cards and a tape measure so I didn't get in too much trouble.

I was really pleasantly surprised when all of my threads were wrapped neatly in tissue paper and put in this lovely reuseable shopping bag.  A lovely shop and finding the threads I was looking for made it worth the comments from the employees.  Several asked "You know this is a counted cross stitch store, right?"

I wish I had some WIP pics for you but moving has eaten up all of my time so I haven't stitched much.  I did teach my sister in law to stitch and she's working on a second project: Waterlily by Nora Corbett on my 32 ct. Ice Princess.



It's very exciting seeing someone else's work come to life on one of my fabrics!  I'm working on creating a sister blog about the fabrics with purchasing information.  For now, you can see them on facebook here.  TTFN!