Lori (thornton37814) whittles down the cross-stitch stash in 2016

I'm Lori. Marianne mentioned this group on the 75 group so I decided to come over here and visit. I have a lot of cross-stitch stash that I want to conquer. We used to have a wonderful LNS (local needlework shop), but the owner retired a little over a year ago so my best options are in nearby Sevier County. I purchased fibers and fabrics (and patterns) for several projects back when One More Stitch was open. Oh, how I miss that shop! I found one UFO (unfinished object) in my stash when I decided to resume cross-stitching before Christmas. I'm working on it and will be taking it on the plane trip with me tomorrow (along with the cheapest pair of needlework scissors I own -- I don't want to lose the Dovo ones). I'm currently working on a couple of projects with two more projects coming up soon. I may not always be able to post photos of projects that I'm gifting until after they are gifted.

Here is a recently completed ornament:



I finished it with a backing over mounting board and wine lace edging.

Pretty!

Hi, Lori!

>3 dkhiggin: Thanks!

>4 scaifea: Hi, Amber!

Hi Lori. Nice to see you here.

A lovely piece!

Lovely little pattern there! My local embroidery shop went down to really limited hours, but so far seems there to stay. There's an amazing combo yarn and embroidery shop I visit on vacation that I'm just in love with, and seems rare to find both things in one shop.

>6 dudes22: Hi Betty!

>7 avaland: Thanks!

>8 mabith: I thought I was going to get to visit a needlework store when I was in the Raleigh area, but I discovered it only has online sales. I really wish we had more physical ones. I guess I should county my blessings that we have Dixie Darlin in Pigeon Forge and Needlecraft Cottage out in Wears Valley. The latter one is really hard to find anything in so I don't go there often, and the last time I went, it had a sign it was closed and would reopen at a certain time. After I got through touring Cades Cove, I stopped back. It was past the time, but still not open. I don't know how they stay in business. I think there is a small store in one of the "malls" in Gatlinburg. It mainly caters to the tourists. The one in Pigeon Forge arranges displays to cater to the tourists, but they do have more specialized stuff. I've also heard there is a nice one in Johnson City. It may have yarns too.

It's hard to feel like I'm really supporting the store at this point. I own all the colors of DMC embroidery floss (in the regular line), the independent store doesn't sell rolls of Aida (I cannot be bothered trying to iron out creases anymore), and I create my own patterns so I'm not buying those. There's actually a second store in my area (supposedly) that I need to check out. My completest heart really wants to collect all the colors of Kreinik's metallic thread.

If you're ever in New Bern, North Carolina Weaver's Webb is the lovely store. Plus it's right in the middle of some gorgeous old houses.

Back when I was still doing cross stitch, there was a wonderful, if small, store about 20-30 minutes away. I noticed a while back that they closed and, except for the large chain stores, there really isn't anything around here.

>10 mabith: I want to go to New Bern sometime. I go to Raleigh quite a bit but I've never made it to New Bern. I'm partial to the over dyed flosses from Weeks Dye Works, Sampler, etc.

I have to buy online always. There aren't any shops here that specialize.

Hi Lori. Good to see you here, and I'll be looking to see news of your projects.

It can be awfully hard to support the shops with all of the great online options--very similar to supporting a local bookshop vs. just getting the darned thing from Amazon. We have a very nice little quilt shop in my (new to me since October) small town. I think they make most of their money from selling sewing machines and offering quilt classes. I think that's probably true for most of the quilt shops that are still around.

>9 thornton37814: You were touring Cades Cove? That's someplace I would love to visit. I imagine you know Durwood Dunn's book, Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community, 1818-1937. I read that book because it was reminiscent of what happened to my Campbell family when they put in the damn Watauga Dam in northeast Tennessee. When I was reading Dunn's book, I was surprised to find several people mentioned that I knew from family stories in the Watauga area.

>12 thornton37814: New Bern is a really lovely city, the old neighborhood has so many gorgeous houses. I didn't use any non-DMC thread for a long time, since I sell cross-stitch patterns online and try to stick to the most commonly available type in the US. I kept buying pretty ones when I saw them though, and finally decided not to worry so much about it with my patterns.

Since then I've fallen totally in love with this women's hand-dyed silk embroidery floss:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SpiralDyed

>13 judylou: I really like shopping for things I want to stitch in a store. I'm okay with getting the fibers, fabrics, needles, etc. online if I have to do so, but I'd rather do it all in person. I guess Dixie Darlin will be my "go to" store.

>14 labwriter: A lot of people moved on westward from the Watauga settlements. I am very familiar with the Cades Cove book. I go to Cades Cove at least once a year. It's so close. The Needlecraft Cottage is in Wears Valley which is "on the way" to Cades Cove from my house. I went to Cades Cove back in the fall during our fall break. I always love it. I also like the Roaring Fork area which is closer to Gatlinburg, a little less touristy, not quite as many buildings, but still shows a lot of what life was like then.

>15 mabith: I love hand-dyed fabrics and fibers. That store does have some nice ones! Hopefully I'll make it to New Bern some day.

I need to iron and frame this, but it's done otherwise!

Sweet!

Cute!

Very nice! I haven't done any cross-stitch or needlepoint in ages.

You made a comment on another thread about knitting socks, or rather about learning to cast on this year. Presumably in hopes of knitting something? I hope you'll give it a try. Do you have a local yarn shop where you might be able to learn the basics? In any case, just holler if I can help you get started.

ETA: just came across mention of the craft event at your church (over on Meredith's thread). What a great idea!

>18 dkhiggin: Thank you!

>19 scaifea: Hi Amber!

>20 lauralkeet: Yes. We are having "Crafty Chicks" later this month. You get to do 3 classses. I plan to do "Intermediate Crochet" because I've been told I'm too advanced for Beginner because I can already do a chain stitch! (I can actually do decently with single crochet as well. I start having issues with double crochet although I kind of know what to do there. Then I'm going to do "Beginning Knitting." The other ones being taught are "Beginning Canning," "Cake Decorating," and "Bath Oils and Salts." I think I'm going to choose "Cake Decorating" because I don't have a problem with canning, and the bath oils and salts look easy enough to follow from the ones I've pinned at Pinterest. The person who would normally do the cross stitch one is going to be out of town. I could have probably taught it but I really wanted to take some of the others.

I found this in the closet in my craft room. I think it belonged to my grandmother.



ETA: My first cousin has confirmed that it belonged to my maternal grandmother.

I cleaned and sorted in my craft room today. I ran across several projects that are completed but need to be "finished" in some way such as framing. I also found several WIPs (works in progress) so I guess I'll try to start back on those and finish them by rotating them in with other projects I want to do. I may finish a small ornament later this evening.

If I remember correctly, this one was from one of the needlework magazines.

This is one that I did to go in my Living Room. It needs to be framed with a dark rustic frame.



It has a stain on it which I hope will come out!

This is one of the churches in Sevier County. It has a stain that needs to come out too.

Because I love cats so much, I'm especially fond of the Britty Kitties designs. This is one of them.

I always love Bible-themed designs, and I loved this one when I spotted it.

So many beautiful projects.

Good luck with the stains! If you can't get them out you could always do some purposeful tea dyeing? I especially like the church and the cat.

>29 judylou: Thanks!

>30 mabith: I'm hopeful they will come out. I've been researching it online. I'm thinking the white vinegar method sounds promising.

This was one that I found that was nearing completion. I finished it yesterday. The pattern has backstitching on the main design that I did not do. I think I've decided I like this one better without it. I showed it to some of the Embroiderers Guild members at church, and they agree that they like this better than the photo with the back-stitching on it in the pattern. It's a case that they put so much in that the design looks "too busy" with it.

Lovely projects, Lori. I've only done a few small cross stitch projects. It's nice to know I can do it if I find a need but otherwise it's not my thing. Do let us know how your classes turn out.

>33 avaland: Crafty Chicks got cancelled at church. Registration was low because weather impacted the two Sundays before registration closed, and it just wasn't worth keeping it open. People in our church always tend to wait to register until the last minute. Turnout was quite light on that last Sunday.

That's always so disappointing when that happens. I live in a rural area where you might not have too many people interested in a particular topic, and then if the weather is bad, you've had it. You can only hope the organizers will try again.

>34 thornton37814: aw man! That's a shame. I was eager to hear how your knitting class went.

That's too bad! I hope you'll get to have the class one way or another. Are there any craft programs at your local library?

>35 SassyLassy: They will, but it gets harder to do these things with travel schedules in the spring and summer.

>36 lauralkeet: I was looking forward to learning the fine art of casting on.

>37 mabith: Actually I know the embroiderer's guild meets at our church now. They tried to meet at the library and something didn't work out. There is a yarn shop over in Rogersville, I think, so maybe they have classes.

Lori, I popped over to your profile page on a whim and noticed that we have a lot of New England history books in common (which seems unusual). Is that related to your interest in geneology?

>39 avaland: It is. I love my New England ancestors. I had to build up my own collection because most of the libraries in the South don't really have much on New England history.

Back in the 1970s or 1980s, my mom crocheted several dolls for me. I decided to get them out of the storage box in the garage to photograph them and offer one each to my nieces and grandnieces.

Those are adorable!

>42 dudes22: I loved them. I just don't have room to display them. Now that mom is gone, I thought my nieces and grandnieces might enjoy having something she made. I will make sure to photograph each one up close before parting with it, but if they all choose one I'll still have at least 2.

>41 thornton37814: That looks like the Strawberry Shortcake gang. *sighs* I love my childhood cartoons.

>41 thornton37814: Your mother did lovely work; those are very nice, and each is so unique. Do you know if they came in a kit? It looks like the heads and hands are all the same; it makes me think they're crocheted over a form of some type. They're all just so very sweet.

>44 lesmel: They may be. I just know that they were part of a series by Dumplin Designs in their Lollipop Lane series, according to stuff I found on Pinterest. I think I came across the patterns when we clearing out the house and have them, but I'm not sure which box they are in.

>45 Lyndatrue: Each pattern was a leaflet. They sold the heads and stuff at Walmart. The ones I had were (photo 1) Chocolate Chip, Cherries Jubilee, Sherbet Ice (photo 2) Orange Marmalade, Raspberry Fluff, Plum Preserves (photo 3) Bubble Gum, Grape Jelly, Peppermint Stick (photo 4) Watermelon Slice, Blueberry Cupcake, Oatmeal Cookie.