August Post/Vacation
Winners announced 
Styling with Stitches
Sal update
Freebies

Summer is nearing an end and I can only hope cooler weather is coming.  Mary has already had some lovely changing weather which is so nice for her hikes.  This has been a busy month for both of us but I think things will be slowing down real soon and we can get back to our regular schedule of posts.

Mary celebrated a fun birthday in August and my husband and I got away for a great anniversary celebration and a college reunion during the month.  Mary has been spending lots of her time at Met games and photography outings and I have been heading to the beach every chance I get.  Hope you all have had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to the fall months ahead too.

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Winners of the Give Away

We are very happy to announce that Arlene at Nanaland has won the box of stitching goodies and Manuela at Manuelas Flowergarden has won her choice of a PDF pattern.  Congratulations ladies!!! 

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Styling with Stitches
This month our theme is vacation and our styling with stitches projects will be about the beach and a national park.


RJ's Yellowstone Project
You probably all know how much I love Yellowstone National Park.  It is one of my very favorite places to visit.   If you would like to see a detailed post about our trip you can find it here.  Just scroll on down to the Yellowstone post.  One of our favorite photos from that trip was a Momma Bear with her little cubs. They were coming out of a brook and we were so lucky to get this photo.

Well for Christmas this year, my son painted me a Momma bear near a brook.  I just loved it and decided I needed to frame it and somehow add a stitch.   Our sweet friend, Robin gave me a good way to attach the stitch to the frame. Her idea was to get hook and eyes, some twine and hang it at the bottom.  Thanks so much Robin...it worked!

Mike's painting at Christmas

First, I framed it with a barnwood frame from Hobby Lobby during a 50% off sale.  Then I bought some barnwood planks with a 40% off coupon to attach my Yellowstone stitch.  I decided to do a simple stitch so I didn't take away from Mike's painting.  I thought just stitching the letters in a nice font would work well.   I actually took most of the letters from another pattern I have but had to make up three letters.

I found a great tutorial for framing a canvas painting here.  It is really easy using S brackets.   George drilled holes in the barnwood plank and then we threaded the dark green twine and tied off with knots.  It is then attached to the back of the frame.  I wanted to play around with adding different things to the sides of the stitch but with the hurricane coming I just tacked a small twine bow on the right side for now.

Love the barn wood frame around the  "bear by the brook".

The Yellowstone stitch is hanging from the frame with dark green gardener's twine.     Can you tell which 3 letters I had to make up?    Would you add anything to the sides of the stitch?

Stitch added to Frame

40 ct. vintage mocha linen
Juniper floss by Weeks
Letters from Sweet Southern Home
Border from Santas and Samplers
Barn wood frame from Hobby Lobby 

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 Mary's Beach Project

I chose Wild Salt Air by Hands on Design for my beach project this month.  I thought it would go well with the beach stitches that I completed last summer.  RJ suggested displaying it on an Adirondack chair and I loved that idea.  I was fortunate to find the chair on clearance at Michael's.

I left off the border and I changed the row of waves to an extra row of fish. I love how colorful the floss choices are.  This has been a fun group of charts to stitch that I think you would enjoy too.  Next year, I hope to add the rest of the patterns that came with Wild Salt Air to my beach collection.

Sweet stitch sitting on an Adirondack chair !

Here is the original pattern so you can see the changes I made.

Wild Salt Air
by Hands on Design
called for floss
28 ct. mushroom laguna 1/1
Chair from Michael's

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SAL Update
We have not updated in awhile so we thought we would show you where we are at present.  Meg is taking a little break but will join us next month.  The Schoolhouse series by With Thy Needle and Thread has been a very enjoyable SAL.  The colors were so soft and the designs are so pretty.

RJ's Sal Update
I have the five main stitches done now with all the alphabet completed.  I truly enjoyed this series. My favorites were L to P and R to V.  I still want to add the strawberry to the group.  Now to sew them up!!!

A to F

H to K

L to P

R to V

And W to Z!

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Mary's Sal Update

I have thoroughly enjoyed stitching this series. I have had little stitching time this summer but with shorter days coming I will have more stitching time and am looking forward to completing this series.   I have 4 alphabet patterns completed so far. These are my 2 latest finishes:

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Freebies
We found a set of adorable freebies this month.  If you like the beach as much as we do, you will love this set of three.  They are from The World of Stitches.  You can find the charts here.

Think of the fun you can have using the called for floss or mixing it up with your choice of colors. And, they look like quick stitches too. 

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Thank you so much for coming by to see us today.  We truly appreciate your visits and your kind comments.   You can count on us to come see what you have been up to and what you have been stitching.

Say a prayer that the hurricane goes out to sea before doing too much damage.  The gas stations are already out of gas and the stores are running low on food. 

Next month our theme will be friendship and our posts will center around friends.  Hope to see you then.

                                                Stitching Friends

July Post/ Patriotic
Styling with Stitches
Friends Who Stitch


Happy Summer everyone!   We hope you have found ways to stay cool during this heat wave. Luckily, Mary and I have been able to get away a lot this year to cooler spots for vacation stays.   We hope you all have been able to do the same. Due to internet issues, this July post is a bit late but we hope you still enjoy it.  If you have been following us awhile, you know that we do two posts a year with a pinafore and a monthly word play. We each get to do one of each which is a lot of fun. After today, we will have six pinafores and six word plays finished and six of each still to do to complete every month of the year. So we are halfway there!!!

We also have our Friends Who Stitch to share with you.   Both Robin and Marilyn have sent some lovely stitching we know you will love.   This is open to anyone who stitches and does not have a blog.   Just send me an email with a photo and we will get your completed stitch on the next post. 

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RJ's Styling with Stitches

I was so excited when I found out I would be doing the July pinafore this year. I've had a pattern I was saving and really wanted to use.  A few years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Shepherds Bush.   It is everything you have ever heard and then some. I felt like a child at Disney World as soon as I walked in. You are overwhelmed at first because there is so much to see. There are samples of almost all of their patterns finished and hanging in the store.  It is so well organized into sections with themes.  I quickly went to the patriotic section and found too many kits I really loved. My basket was filled in no time with kits, charts, buttons, linen, rick rack, ribbon and gifts for Mary. Good thing I saved for a year and my generous husband bought two of the bigger kits for our anniversary and my birthday.  Good planning on my part!   

For my patriotic pinafore, I stitched the chart Life, Liberty and Happiness.  I have to admit after I saw all that was involved it sat in it's package for two years!  There were 7 specialty stitches that intimidated me.  But, once I got going there was no stopping me and I loved every minute completing this neat pattern.  And in the process, I learned some new stitches which I'll know how to do the next time.  

To make my pinafore I used  tiny stars, ticking and floral fabrics.   I used the triangle trim on the sides because it reminded me of pennants waving which seemed perfect for our patriotic theme.  I usually add a bow at the top of the stitch but this time I added a floral yo yo with a rusted star button at the bottom.    It also has six different adorable buttons added throughout the stitch.  
        

The kit included the hand dyed linen, silk floss, six buttons, floss holder and even a needle!

Can you find the heart, square, blackbird, bee and flower buttons scattered throughout?

The specialty stitches included a hatch, double hatch, satin, herrringbone, back stitching and a long stitch.   Love the sweet child with the flag.    What a fun stitch! 

Life, Liberty and Happiness Kit
by Shepherds Bush
 dyed linen and silk floss in kit
 six decorative buttons in kit
fabrics from Hobby Lobby
tin star found in Texas

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Mary's Styling with Stitches


 July Word Play by Brenda Gervais was another fun stitch. And to my surprise, it was actually fun to finish. I never thought I would use fun and finish in the same sentence as I am certainly unaccustomed to have the finishing process go easily.  And, certainly not without lots of cussing!!!  

This was the first time I ever made a yo yo.  If you haven't tried your hand at them, I recommend this video.   I also learned that yo yo is an American name for Suffolk puffs. 

Another first was covering a button. Arlene from Nanaland recommended the button maker from Hobby Lobby.  She was so correct on how easy it is to do. 

My husband and I went  to Sew Easy in New Jersey ( great shop)  with stitch in hand to find a coordinating fabric.  I selected a floral and my husband found this orange print that he thought went better. Of course I didn't agree, what do men know about fabric!!! Well, much more than I thought as I had to change my mind when the sweet salesgirl whispered to me that my husbands selection was a better choice for my stitch.

Love the colors in this stitch and the perfect fabric my husband chose

Closeup of the herrringbone stitch.  You can find great tutorials on you tube.

I'm in love with the yo yo and covered button.

July word play
by With thy Needle and Thread
Country mocha linen
called for floss
fabric from Sew Easy
covered button maker from Hobby Lobby

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Friends Who Stitch

We are so happy to have Robin and Marilyn join us again with some of their stitching.  Robin has sent two of her beautiful award winning stitches framed.  And, Marilyn has put together an adorable basket of patriotic stitches.   I know you will enjoy both of these great stitchers.   Thanks so much ladies.   We love your work.


Robin's patriotic stitches 

Penny America
by Tree of Life Samplings
Best in show 2013

Patriotic Patchwork
by Blue Ribbon Designs
Best in Show 2012

Marilyn's patriotic stitches

Basketful of pretty patriotic stitches

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We are so happy you stopped by for a visit.   Next post will include our August Styling with Stitches projects and a SAL update.   Plus the winners of our give away will be announced.  We will be by to see all of you now that the internet problem has been worked out.   Until next time, stay cool and keep stitching! 

Stitching Friends

                                                                

Post one/Christmas in July
Grab Bag/Annual Give-a-way
Stitcher's choice/June

Welcome to Stitching Friends!   It is time for our annual big give - a - way. We are calling it "Christmas in July".  It is packed full with lots of great stitching items that we think you will love.  So make sure you sign up.  Details for entry are below.  We also have added a Stitcher's Choice at the bottom of this post that we made for last month but did not get posted in time.

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Annual Give-a-way

Blogging gives us the opportunity to meet so many kind and helpful stitchers and we wanted to show our appreciation to all of you.   We are starting the month of July with two annual give a ways for our followers.  One is a collection of stitching and finishing items SANTA happily found for our US followers.  The other give away will be for our followers outside the US who will win a PDF pattern of their choice from any PDF designer on Etsy.  We would love to send the box outside the US but shipping costs prevent us from doing so.

All that is required to enter our yearly give-a-way is to be a side-bar follower and to leave a comment letting us know if you wish to be entered and if you are within or outside the U.S.  

If you have a blog and  tell your readers about our give-a-way, we will enter your name twice in the drawing.  Winners will be announced on our first post in August.

The drawing includes everything you see except the basket that they sit in.  You will find seasonal charts, scissors, needles, pom pom trim, lace on a wooden spool, sled for a stitch, a bag of charms and buttons, needleminder and beautiful fabric for each season.
  

We have included seasonal charms and buttons for you to use as embellishments on your future stitches.  Most of these charms can be found at Bohemian Findings on Etsy.                   

We think you will love this cute little needleminder from the talented Michelle Palmer.  Her drawings are the sweetest and will look great holding your needle.
                                   

We fell in love with this pretty French linen and hope you will like it too.   The give a way also includes elegant lace on a wooden spool and fun pom poms to add to your stitches.                                 
 

Three of our fabrics are from Moda and the other from another favorite line that were all found at a quilt show.   There is a pretty quarter round for every season.  You will enjoy them, a cute pair of scissors and two Pat Carson needles in an adorable magnetized sewing tin.                 

And lastly, we have included a pattern for each season.   You will enjoy having Hello Spring by Hands on Design, Season-Summer by Lila's Studio, Autumn Acres Farm-a-collaboration with Priscilla and Hands on Design and Twilight Santa by Foxwood Crossings for Winter.  Twilight Santa includes an adorable wooden sled to showcase your stitch.

                                                                        

For our outside the US followers, we have some examples of Sub Rosa's beautiful charts that you can find on Etsy here    You choose a chart and we will purchase it for you.  Or, you can pick from any other Etsy seller who sells PDF charts.   So have fun and find one you love.   Here are just a few to tempt you:  

This one is adorable for all stitchers.  We are ordering this one for sure.

How about a strawberry pattern for the summer months?

We know we have bee lovers...isn't this one sweet?

Or how about a new holiday chart?

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Stitcher's Choice
We were unable to get our June Stitcher's Choice Post done in time so we thought we would add it to this post.   We followed our "Christmas in July" theme and made some Christmas stitches for our projects. 


RJ's Stitcher's Choice

I have finally started to finish my French Christmas Village ornaments.  What took so long you ask?  Well, I just could not make up my  mind on how to finish them.  Should I use the same fabric on all 15 of them or mix the fabrics up?   Should I do them all in the same finish or mix them up?   I played and played around with ideas and finally decided on using the same finish for all but doing a different fabric on each one.  The fabrics all come from one group from French General called "Petites Maisons de Noel".   Here is the collection I will be choosing from: 

Well things weren't working out too well as I finished my first ornament.   My small jingle bells did not arrive in the mail and I didn't like the ribbon. I wanted to run out to the store but we were having a huge storm and were advised to stay home.  

It is kind of done but I will change some things later.   I will add a ribbon tie and bow with tiny jingle bells at the top.  And, instead of a button on the yo yo I would like to try a jingle bell there too.   So far, I put the herringbone stitch on the ornament and a  yo yo with button .   More to come later with added changes.

Herringbone stitch and yo yo added

Florist
Hometown Holiday series
by Little House Needleworks
40 ct. country mocha linen
called for floss

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Mary's Stitcher's Choice

My Stitcher's Choice is "Santa's List" by Country Cottage Needleworks.  To assemble this fun stitch, I cut a piece of matboard to the size of the opening, covered it with fleece, and then placed the stitch on the matboard.   I left about a half inch of extra fabric that was wrapped under the matboard.  Then, I glued it to the frame.

I did not care for how the edges looked so I hand sewed cording to the stitch while it was in the frame.  That little frame spins around so it made for quite the sewing challenge.  A little checked bow adorns the stitch.

Cute swivel frame I found in Michaels

Santa's List
by Country Cottage Needleworks
40 ct. country mocha linen
called for floss
frame from Michaels

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We hope you liked our give a way and will be signing up.  As always, we thank you so very much for coming by to visit with us today.   Your visits and comments mean so much to us.  We will be by to see all of you and what you have been up to.  This was our "Christmas in July" themed post but next post will be dedicated to our patriotic stitches.   Have a lovely week and keep stitching!


                                                            Stitching Friends


                                                                          ☆☆☆