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