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Friday, February 14, 2020

February/Love
Jo's Valentine Hop 
Styling with Stitches
Friends who Stitch
Sneak Peeks
What's Stitching


Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Hope you get to spend time with special people in your life.  It's a great day to show love and kindness to others.  Sometimes a smile can make another's day.  So, sending smiles to all of you from Stitching Friends.

Our theme this month is Love.   We have joined Jo's Valentine Hop and will share the valentine we received.   Next, comes our February Styling with Stitches projects with a love theme.  We are happy to have Friends who Stitch back.  Our third new feature of this year is Sneak Peeks.  And lastly, we have some news in What's Stitching.  So it's a packed post that we hope you will enjoy.

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Jo's Valentine Hop


We received this lovely greeting in the Valentine Hop.    What a beautiful heart our secret stitching Valentine made for us.  Thank you so much.  Please let us know who you are.  If you would like to follow the hop and find out who our mystery Valentine is go to Jo's blog.   There will be a list of stitchers to go visit.   Also, we sent a mystery Valentine too and we will find who it went to as we hop around to fellow stitchers blogs.  It should be fun!


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RJ's Styling with Stitches Project

I made a Valentine bowl filler with a stitched pocket.   "Heart of Hearts" by Abby Rose was given to me for my birthday by my good friend Robin.   I had never stitched an Abby Rose pattern before so was happy to do so.   This pattern is so lovely with so many hearts forming one big heart in the prettiest of colors.  

A French General fabric picked up all the colors in the stitch.  I added some cotton lace trim, ribbon and a heart charm for the finishing.

I filled the pocket with a Valentine, a favorite candy bar and a flower for a special someone.  But, think of it filled with a small pattern, a piece of linen and a package of needles for a neat gift any time during the year.   What a great project to make for a stitching friend.


The flowers are all made of heart shapes

Filled to the brim with Valentine goodies!

Sitting in the Greenhouse
Heart of Hearts
by Abby Rose
40 ct. platinum linen
called for over dyed floss

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Mary's Styling with Stitches Project

My stitch is Prim Stitchers Heart designed by Sub Rosa.  When I first saw this stitch, I knew exactly how I would use it. It would be a photo album cover  for RJ and I would add  photos of the stitches that she has gifted me.  And, she could add photos of all her other projects she has made as a record of her stitching.

I purchased a photo album at Michael's and covered it with pretty fabric from Hobby Lobby.  Covering the album with fabric went surprisingly easy.  The difficult part was cutting and shaping the heart.  If I tell you I spent hours on that, would you believe me??? I wouldn't, but I did!!    With all my fussing with the heart the linen started to fray....so, I used Dritz Fray Check and that stained the linen!!   I added some lace to distract the eye from my lopsided heart but that was not a success either.   So, RJ, please excuse all the imperfections and know that it was made with lots of love for a stitcher that has the biggest heart of all. 


I changed out PRIM for RJ's initials

Closeup of the pretty fabric

Prim Stitcher's Heart
by Sub Rosa
40 ct. Newcastle linen
called for floss
Weeks Pebble for  scissors

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Friends Who Stitch

We are so happy to have our friends Robin and Marilyn back with us this year to show their pretty stitches.   This feature is open to anyone that stitches but does not have a blog.   Just send us a photo and we will be happy to showcase your stitch here.

Robin sent this pretty framed stitch which is perfect for this time of the year.  It is called Reunion of the Hearts by The Trilogy.

Marilyn shared these adorable Valentine stitches for us to enjoy. 

Thank you ladies for being a part of our Valentine post.  I know everyone will enjoy seeing your beautiful work.

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Sneak Peeks

This is our third new feature this year.   Sneak Peeks joins High Fives and Question of the Day as little extras we will add to our posts.  We will be showing some of our new stitches in progress that you will be seeing later in the year finished.



                                                                  
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What's Stitching


Winner of the Snowman pattern is June from England.  She has a lovely blog that you can read here.  Congratulations June! Have fun stitching the sweet snowman.

We are happy to have Faith join us with our SAL "A year in Celebration".  Feel free to join us anytime during the year as we stitch one a month.  Maybe you would just like to stitch a few (like birthday months of family members).  Anytime you want to join in you are WELCOME.  Just send us an email.

We were asked how we would answer the question of the day in the last post. Well, like so many of you it is almost impossible to choose one designer to stitch for the rest of our lives as we love so many.  But, if we absolutely had to we both agree it would be Brenda Gervais from With Thy Needle and Thread.  We fall in love with her designs almost every single time a new pattern comes out.

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We enjoyed visiting with you today and really appreciate your comments. A neat new feature is coming in the next post that we think will be fun.  
Hope to see you again at the end of the month.  We will be by to visit your blogs and to see all of your new stitches and other projects.   Stay warm and keep stitching during these cold days !!!

                                                            Stitching Friends


              “A friend is what the heart needs all the time.” 
                                                 Henry Van Dyke

Monday, February 3, 2020

January Stitcher's Choice
Question of the Day
SAL update
Give Away


Welcome to Stitching Friends.  We are so happy you came by for a visit.  This post is our January Stitcher's Choice which lets us pick anything we want. Hope you enjoy.  We added our second new feature which is Question of the Day.  And, we will be announcing our newest SAL. You are invited to join us.

Are you having snowy days by you?  Mary has had some in New York but of course we never get to enjoy it in Florida.  But, it has been colder than usual which is ok with me.   I'll be happy stitching snow!

And don't miss the give away at the end.  Good luck to all who enter.


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RJ's project

My French village got put on hold last year due to illness so this year it is my number one challenge.  I was able to finish the train station and the needlework shop to join the flower shop from last year.  I used different fabrics from the Petites Maison de Noel collection, yo-yo's, a herringbone stitch and covered buttons.  Now three are done and twelve left to sew.

I did something to my right thumb (it kind of pops out of the socket and really hurts when I bend it) so trying to finish these took forever.   Hand stitching was a nightmare but I was determined to get a couple of these done and I did.   My doctor says I may need an operation (fingers crossed that won't happen)!

Added the name of the town Avignon to the train station.  

Love this sweet train station taking me to Provence!

Changed the name of the shop to Broderie which means needlework.

Love the spool on the top of the shop!

Needlework shop, flower shop and train station
from Little House Needleworks Hometown Holiday
40 ct. vintage country mocha linen
over dyed floss and DMC
fabrics from French General


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Mary's project

The Snow is Coming Down by The Trilogy was gifted to me by Meg of I Live to Stitch blog and I thought it would be perfect for a January stitch .Thank you Meg!   January is usually a snowy month in NY but not this year.  I hope to get some soon!

I found this wooden décor at Michael's after Christmas Sale for 4$ and thought it would be perfect for this stitch.  I calculated which size of linen would work and 32 ct was  a perfect fit.  I replaced the clip on the frame for a yo yo and snowflake button. After trying out numerous trims I settled on the pom pom's as I think it looks like little snowballs.

Stitch matted on foam core with batting


Sweet Snowman

The Snow is Coming Down
 by The Triology
32 count cream linen
called for Dmc 

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Question of the Day

This is a new feature like high fives that we did in the last post.   It should be fun to hear the answers so we hope you join along.  Give us your answer with your comments.

If you could only stitch one designer for the rest of your life who would it be?



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SAL update

We will be starting a new SAL in February.  It is a set of 12 stitches called a Year in Celebration by Hands on Design.   We will stitch March during the month of February and then continue stitching April in March and so forth until all 12 are done.  These look like quick stitches and DMC floss is listed as an alternative to the over dyed floss listed as well.   We would love for you to join us for all twelve months or any months you like.  Just let us know by email if you would like to be part of the fun.  Please feel free to join at any time during the year.




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Give Away

Mary is giving away her pattern that she stitched her project with.  Our sweet friend Meg sent it and asked for the chart to be passed on to others.  So if you are interested in stitching this lovely pattern just let us know. 


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Thanks for joining us today.  We really appreciate your visits and comments.  You can count on us to stop by your blog to see what you have been stitching too.   And, if you have a blog that we don't have on our sidebar please let us know.  Stay warm and keep stitching! 

                                                   Stitching Friends