Placement Chart for L'il Abby's Love, Kindness, Patience, Joy and Peace!

L'il Abby's on Placement Chart

If you are using the placement chart that comes with Chart 1, here are 5 of the designs added.  Four more to go and the next 2 will be available in late April.  Thanks to Faye of Carolina Stitcher for stitching these up for me !

Happy Stitching!  Gayle

Joy And Peace...New L'il Abby's

L'il Abby's Joy

L'il Abby's Peace

I guess they sound like Christmas Designs...but they're not!  It's just the names of the next two L'l Abby's to be released this week.  If you have been following along with the series, we are now up to 4 and 5.  I had planned to hold out and release one a month but since everyone seems to be enjoying this series and asked for more, I will release them a little quicker than I had planned.  They are easy to stitch...a couple of evenings or a long weekend and you will have one finished.  To show you the many ways you can finish these, I have had a couple finished by Faye, the Carolina Stitcher...and oh what a beautiful finisher she is.... and  I have had a few framed, and then of course, if you purchased number one, Love, there is a placement chart inside so you can stitch them all up as one design!
All are on 30 count linen....that I hand dyed with coffee.  It is so simple.  If you happen to have some left over white linen from another project, try your hand at dying your own.  It is fun and really doesn't take a lot of time and will save you precious stitching funds!  This is what I did to dye my own.  I have a flat plastic container with a lid that you use to store items in....like blankets, or shirts or flat stuff.  I use this container for all my dyeing processes.  I usually use left over coffee from the morning.  The longer it sits the better...I use the grounds too, so don't throw them away.  First, I lay my linen flat inside my container, then I rub the coffee grounds into the areas that I want to have a stained look.  You should try to use a random pattern...it looks a little more natural.  Do not put the coffee on the linen first!!!  For some reason, the stains from the coffee grounds will not take if the coffee has been applied first.  Don't know why, but I have tried it, so I know!  Allow your coffee grounds to sit on the linen for an hour or so, just to get a good stain.  Then pour enough warm coffee, not hot, it will damage your linen, to cover your linen.  Then put the lid on and let it sit for at least an hour.  The longer the darker the linen will become in the process.  Now, rinse...not too much, or you will rinse out your hard work.  Hang to dry...then give it a good ironing.  I use sizing when iron, I like the stiffness it gives the linen and it helps to iron out all the wrinkles.  That's it....not hard.  A couple of weeks ago, I tried my hand at aging my linen with walnut shells.  I'll show you my experiment on another day....It was different!

To stitch L'il Abby's Joy, you will need the following:
30 count linen
Stitch Count is 75x75
GAST thread in the following colors:
Pecan Pie, Corn Husk, Garden Gate, Carriage Black,Faded Rose, Harvest Basket, Old Hickory, Country Redwood, Piney Woods, Victorian Pink

WDW thread in the following colors:
Baked Apple
Whiskey
Confederate Gray   
and good ole DMC white

To Stitch L'il Abby's Peace, you will need the following
30 count linen
Stitch Count is 75 x75
GAST thread in the following colors:
Pecan Pie, Corn Husk, Garden Gate, Buckeye Scarlett, Pomegranate,Faded Rose, Old Hickory, Age Pewter, Wood Trail, Piney Woods

WDW thread in the following colors:
Bull Frog, Onyx, Whiskey

* Many of the colors used run through the entire series!

Thanks again to everyone who has purchased an Abby Rose Design!

Here's a picture of my little precious Coco...who is always by my side!

Happy Spring!  From Coco!

Spring Break!

Hi everyone! It is finally starting to warm up around here!  Yes this week is Spring Break in South Texas.  I live near South Padre Island and every year thousands of high school and college kids head south for some sand and sun!  Mother Nature has not been extremely kind this year because I haven't seen the sun in days...it rained yesterday but one good thing...it has warmed up!  I'm not so sure I would put on a swim suit and dive right in to that cold ocean but I am not a 20 something spring breaker!

I have had many requests to release more of my L'il Abby's a littler sooner than I had anticipated.  I think you have found out how quick and fun these are to stitch.  So I am preparing the next two for early release.  Check back soon for photos and they should be available to you in a week or two!

Hope you are having a great week wherever you live!  Spring will be here for all of us soon!

Gayle
Abby Rose Designs

Just Released!

L'il Abby's From Abby Rose Designs

 

 

Just released at the Nashville Market! My new designs, called L'il Abby's. They are about 75x75 or 5 inches by 5 inches.  As the previous post indicated, they can be stitched as one if so desired.  My friend Faye, you may know her as the Carolina Stitcher, stitched these together as one with the border pattern that is provided in chart one.

The first three have been released:  Love, Kindness, Patience!  You can now find them at your LNS.  There are a total of nine and additional designs will be released starting in March.  Keep checking back and as I release each one, Faye will stitch another to the model.  Thank you Faye...your finishing is beautiful and so is your model stitching.
If you need someone to finish a project for you, you can check Faye out on her blog,  Carolinastitcher.blogspot.com

Hope it is warming up where ever you are...Looking forward to Spring!

Happy Stitching,

Gayle

New Designs To Be Released at Nashville Market

Good Friday Everyone!  I hope it has started to warm up wherever you are today!  It has been a good winter for getting cozy and stitching.  We are heading into a warm stretch for a few days and then I guess it will get chilly again next week.


I have wanted to do a series for quite a while.  There are times that I like to work on big projects and some times I want immediate gratification...a small project.  I guess we are all like that from time to time.  That's why I put together nine designs that can be stitched as one large project or you can individually frame them or make them in to ornaments or pillows.  Each design is 75 X75 stitches about 5in x 5in, on 30 ct. linen.  My new series is call L'il Abby's...because they are little!  There will be three released at the Nashville Market and then one a month until we reach nine.

L'il Abby's Love

Isn't it beautiful?  The finishing was done by Faye at Carolina Stitcher.  She has agreede to stitch the entire series as one large design.  We will show you her progress each time I release another design in the series.  My photography just doesn't do it justice.  The finishing was gorgeous! If you would like Faye to finish yours....you can visit her blog at carolinastitcher.blogspot.com.  She has a wonderful blog and lots of finishing ideas. 

The first three will be displayed at Norden Craft's Room at the Nashville Needlework Martket in February.

L'il Abby's Kindness

Li'l Abby's Patience

 All are designed on 30count, white linen hand dyed with coffee.  The process is rather easy and if you have left over white linen from another project, you can easily dye it to stitch these cuties.

Hope you have a great weekend!  Happy Stitching!

Gayle

New Series

Good Sunday to everyone!
It has warmed up some here in south Texas!  We had about 3 days that were in the 70's and 80's...more like our seasonal temperatures.  It has been chilly for the last month and a half...not anything like the rest of the country has endured!  But cool for us!  Tomorrow it is going to get chilly again so I am going to just work on my designs and stay warm.  Not complaining...we are blessed.

I am working on a new series that will be released at the Nashville Needlework market in February.  I don't have pictures yet since they will be off to the framer and finisher tomorrow.I designed this series so it could be finished or framed individually or stitched as one piece.  The pieces are just 5 inches by 5 inches or 75 by 75. A quick stitch as a weekend project.  I will release the first three with the chart placement design in the first packet and then release the remainder of the series (9 pieces in all) one per month.

I am looking forward to this evening as I am a Downton Abbey fan!  Last week"s first episode of season wasn't as exciting as I hoped...still wishing Matthew hadn't been killed off...but hoping new and interesting plots will develop this season.

And thank you everyone for the kind comments I have received on the release of Blue Manor.  My inspiration came while re-watching previous seasons of Downton Abbey.  I loved working with those colors...they were so soothing!  Another thing I have been doing lately is coffee dying my own linen. I usually use a 30 count linen...no eye strain with that count for me.  I purchased several yards of white linen last summer and hand dyed about a yard of it myself.  I use a large flat plastic storage tub to dye larger pieces.  This is what found works best for me.  I brew good ole Folgers about twice the strength as coffee you would drink.  While the grounds are still warm...I rub them into the fabric for a staining effect.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes, then go back and pour the warm, not hot coffee ( it will shrink your linen) over the entire piece of linen, then put the lid on the tub and let set for about an hour. I take it out and rinse with cool water to remove the grounds.  The more you rinse the lighter it gets so don't rinse out all of your work!  The remainder of the grounds will come out after it is dries. I then iron it with a hefty amount of spray sizing.  I've been getting the results of probably an equivalent to R&R's Creme Brûlée. Another hint...when you rub the coffee grounds into the linen, do it before you add warm coffee. For some reason, if you do it the other way around you won't get the staining effect!  I also purchased some walnut grounds and I'm going try those soon!

Anyway...if you have some extra white linen try it. Less expensive and you don't have to wait for your hand dyed linen.

Hope you have a greet week!

Happy Stitching!

Gayle

Another Year! So Many Ideas...so little time!

Hi Everyone!
Hope your new year has been great so far! Over the Christmas holiday, I took a much needed break and spent some down time just reading some needlework blogs.  Oh, the talent we have out there!  Some of the things I saw were just wonderful...and I always wonder how these ladies and gentlemen are so inspired.  We they inspired me and I am now working on a new series to come out in the next month or so.
I have so many ideas that I just can't get them stitched as quickly as I would like...so I am now looking for a couple of model stitchers.  If you love to stitch and don't mind stitching on a "kinda" schedule, please e-mail me a sample of your work.  I will furnish the materials and pay a small stipend. You can e-mail me at gaylereger@aol.com for more details.

Don't forget to look for my new design, Blue Manor.  I had such a great time stitching this piece.  I hope you will too.  Another quick peak....

Happy New Year!  And thank you for all your support in 2013!
Gayle
Abby Rose Designs