December Stitchy Gifts 🎁

What a truly lovely surprise to receive this darling pin pillow from dear Stasi @Bee-mused and Bee-Stitching! It's always a treat to be gifted something unexpected AND, of course, handmade.

So thanks again so very much, Stasi, this will always have a place on my craft table. 🥰

Karen gave me these goodies for Christmas, including a gift certificate to The Stitching Post. There were delicious cookies she made too, but they're gone now! And the box is cute, I'm sure I can find something stitching related to put in it.

Nathan didn't know what to get me for Christmas, so I showed him my 123Stitch wishlist to pick something from. Sweet, he picked three!

My Salvaged Stitch friend, Deanna, had these in a box of goodies someone gave her. She thought of me, so I got them!

I think the only ones I'll be likely to stitch are the bears and maybe the sewing one. Does anyone have any interest in the others?

So December was a great stitchy month, the next post will be about some adventures!

Fully Finished Gallery ~ July 2023 🖼

Welcome to Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery SAL for July. Living on the edge, I finished two today!

Be sure to have a look and see what others have finished this time.

I finished this cute Mill Hill to hang, or use with a magnet.

In June, I won Felicia's giveaway on her Instagram account, Mouse Potato Designs. I was able to choose a pattern from Carolyn @kiralynsneedlearts and this is what I chose. I thought it was so sweet!

I changed the green parts to a periwinkle/purple, I wanted some more colour to mine. I already had the paint for the frame, so here it is.

Now for this finish.

I bought the "big" cactus from a friend who sells at the farmer's market in our area - The Salvaged Stitch.

I was given the precious little pattern by Rachel herself! It was a consolation prize from a delayed guess on her Blogoversary giveaway. The pattern is from Fuzzy Fox Designs. And the best part? Her name is Astrid!

I've been meaning to stitch her and decided this would be a different finish.

So thank you so very much, Rachel. This was a fun, quick stitch, I love it!

Now to catch up and see what the others have finished.

A "kind" surprise! 🐝

A lovely surprise, I won Felicia's @Mouse Potato Designs June giveaway on Instagram!

You can also find her website here.

It was a chart from Kiralyn's Needlearts on Etsy.

She has so many sweet designs, it was hard to pick one.

But I did find one I really liked and this is what I chose, isn't it adorable?!

As soon as I'm finished with my Mill Hill, I'm starting this one. I just need to decide what fabric I'm going to use.

I can't remember if I've asked this before, but do you use Instagram? If you are and I'm not following you, let me know so I can fix that!

I'm astrid.dragonstitches if you'd like to find me.

More Happy Mail 🎃 and a little hodgepodge

Another treat! I won this fabulous chart from Meg @ Live to Stitch. Please take a look at her blog to see her awesome finish! It's at the framers now and she should have it back in October, lucky her!

And such a pretty card too. 

I'm going to wait until January to start, maybe I can get it done in record time like she did! Does anyone else have this pattern and not started it yet? SAL maybe?

Here's the hodgepodge...

I found this fabulous piece on marketplace this summer after I saw one that Karen had bought at a yard sale.

Can you believe she only wanted $12 for it?! I gave her $15 because I felt guilty for paying next to nothing for it.

The only problem was one of the wood pieces on the back was broken, but a friend who does woodworking fixed it for me. I love it, but still have to decide what treasures I want to put in there!

"You can do anything, but you can't do everything."

Written by Shirley in Maryland - cool!

I've got a box started to bring to one of the retreats I'm going to next month. These were the leftover magazines and patterns from the church picnic this summer. I also started cleaning up in my craft room and added a few more things.

How cool is this? I saw this in a shop and it's really cross stitched! They had other patterns, but I liked this one the best.

Happy Mail! 😊📪

And not just one, but two pieces of Happy Mail!
I won a giveaway from Lija AND Vickie, double the fun!

I received this adorable bag from Lija @ Stitching in Crosses and More...
It could be used as a makeup bag, but I don't want to get it dirty so I've decided to use it for my stitching goodies - scissors, needlecase, and ort container, it's perfect! Isn't she sweet? Thanks again, Lija, I love it!

FYI -The pattern is the Summer Witch freebie from The Snowflower Diaries.

I then received this fab pattern from Vickie @A Stitcher's Story. I'm just not sure if I should stitch it now, since it's September, or wait until the new year for next August. Thanks again, Vickie, such fun!

Starting off July 🎶

Ok, who doesn't know what this means?

Hint - getting ready for concert at FedExField in DC with Karen!

Yes, it's the Rolling Stones! 😝

Oh my goodness, the last time I saw them in concert I was newly pregnant with the Gmen in 1997. It was a cold night and I needed to drink hot chocolate to keep warm and then kept having to get up to go the toilet!

Just a little scary looking on the big screen...

...but they still sound great!

My summer display, just right for July 4th.

Those Gmen causing trouble with fireworks.

I celebrated by finally drinking my birthday beer!

And I have a finish, sort of. I just need to add a charm and decide how I want to fully finish it. I changed the colours a little bit and added beads for the stars.

I won this on Vickie's Blog as a give-a-way and now it's my turn to share. I know it's after the 4th, but does it really matter?!
Please leave a comment if you're interested and I'll pick a name next Monday, July 15th.



Just for fun, some oldies!

The People Chose 🧜‍♀️

Hmm, this sort of looks like drowning people looking for help! I'm sure the mermaids are there to save them.

For more mermaids, head over to see Jo @ Serendipitous Stitching. 

Are you ready for mine? I've got plenty to share with you.
This beauty is in my craft room side window, I love her!

Mermaids hanging out.

I think I need a bigger display area.

And now for the stitching!
Gifts from friends, DJ made me the one on the left and the bottom, and Vickie on the right. Aren't they all wonderful?!

A collection of patterns I have yet to stitch.

More treasures to stitch.

And more.

And then I remembered these!

This is one I made years ago for my sister-in-law, she loves mermaids too. Of course they all needed to be blonds!

My other sister-in-law also loves them, so I'd like to make one for her and her girls, all three brunettes.

Stitching accessories.

I'm still working on Sirena.

Emerald Mermaid, another one I need to finish.
This is one I stitched over two, but then decided the skin should be over one so I started to change it. OMGoodness, what a PITA! Have you done, or ever seen, just the face done over one?

I did finish this one, except I still need to place the shells. But that means I need to find my safe hiding place for them!

I just realised that I have two of these, is anyone interested in a give-a-way? Let me know in the comments, I'll pick a winner in a week.

I'm afraid to look at the other blogs, I'm sure I'll find something I don't have and will probably want!

Next month - Finishing

The Growing of the Blogs has begun!

"A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face."
~ Maya Angelou

Thanks to Vicki @ 2 Bags Full, for organizing this Grow Your Blog party!  
 

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Astrid, and I love dragons!  And mermaids!  And cats!  And polar bears!  And that's it... for now!

My DH and I have been married for 18.5 years, together for 23+.  We have identical twin boys, the gmen, who are almost 16 and are just learning how to drive - very scary!  Nathan is our seven year old and keeps us all on our toes.  Our furbabies are Ming and Max, and they are very loved!  We are in the process of rebuilding our home, but that's another "blog".

I was born in Wales, but moved to the States with my parents and older brother when I was two years old.  Thus, the love of dragons!  Growing up, we would travel to Germany (Mom's family) and Great Britain (Dad's family and friends) every two years for the summer and a couple of times I went on my own.  The last time I was in Wales was for my Pop's funeral, about ten years ago.  I know things have changed, but I would love to take my family there one of these days!

This blog was originally supposed to be just about stitching, but then I found more "stuff" to write about!  I'm hoping to get my mojo back to start this little guy from HAED.  I just got some new fabric today, I didn't like what I originally used - luckily it was only a few lines.  The artist is Randal Spangler and he's supposed to be at a craft show I'm hoping to go to tomorrow, too cool!  (Really, it's been freezing here!)

My latest big finish was my Trick or Treat Fairy, I just need to get her framed.

So even though this isn't a requirement, I will be having a give-a-way.  What you ask?  I have no idea!  But I do have a great LNS nearby, I'm sure I can find something fun.  And if you're not a stitcher?  No worries, I'm sure I can find something else just for you.  Just leave me a comment telling me your favourite dessert.  Why?  Because I want to know if I'm missing something good!  I would have to say my favourite is lemon meringue pie, yum.  
The winner will be picked on February 15th - along with all the other blogs participating.  Be sure to check them all out!  I can't promise I'll be able to look at all the blogs this weekend, but I'll definitely start.