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

Blue Manor--Final Design for 2013

Hi Everyone!
I guess everyone is making their final preparations for the holiday!  We have been experiencing unusually cold temperatures here in South Texas.  It makes it seem more like Christmas when it is chilly outside....but this poor transplant from the east coast has turned into a sissy and has a hard time dealing with the cold!  So I've been stitching a little more lately.  I think I mentioned in my last post that I have been re-watching previous seasons of Downton Abbey, preparing for the first episode of the season...I believe on January 5th.  My new designs was inspired by all that episode watching over the last few weeks.  I hope you like it.  I'm packaging right now and hope to have them to Norden and Hoffman Distributing within the next week.  It should be available for purchase at your local needlework store in a couple of weeks.

I've had a great time designing this past year and thank you for purchasing my designs.  I have seen my sales grow over the year and appreciate all the encouragement and e-mails that I get from all my new friends.  And remember if you ever have a question about a pattern, please don't hesitate to e-mail me.  I try to always make sure charts are correct but things do get by me as hard as I try....

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you all!

Gayle....Abby Rose Designs

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you are enjoying your day!  I am thankful for so many things...a warm place to live...too much to eat...a great family...my health...a wonderful job...my design company....I could go on for pages.  I'm especially thankful this year because last year I had health issues around this time and was about to endure surgery.  This year the holidays will be even sweeter!  It's good to reflect. It makes you humble...that's not a bad thing!

This past week Faye from the Carolina Stitcher posted a new finish for my latest design, Merry Christmas Too Thee.  She was the also the original finisher for the pillow. She made the cutest ornament and you've got to see it.  carolinastitcher.blogspot.com.  I'd post the picture here but I'm having technical difficulties :).   Faye's work is beautiful and we'll be doing some things together again soon.

I'm finishing up my new design....poor thing doesn't have a name yet.  I've been re-watching the earlier seasons of Downton Abby so it reminds me of that era. And a couple of weeks ago I purchased another antique sampler and have already charted it.  Just need to stitch it up.

It came from an estate in Connecticut and has it's original Birdseye maple frame.  The glass is still intact and it appears to be the old waves type of glass.  Although it is not dated, my guess would be around 1830's.  It seems to have some of the same motifs and type of linen as my earlier sampler Ann Merchant.

My latest Trunk Show with The Crafty Ewe in Ohio just ended and my babies arrived home a few days ago.  Thank you to Carol for taking such good care of them.  And thank you everyone who purchased a design chart!

I'll be posting again soon with a peek of my newest design.  Happy Thanksgiving....and I hope you saved a little time to stitch today.

Gayle

Even Designers Frog!!!!

Hi Everyone! 
This weekend I planned to stitch.  Sometimes life gets in the way of stitching and that is what has happened to me lately.  As much as I LOVE stitching, designing....it is not my full time job.  In my other life I am an Executive Director for a non-profit.  I LOVE it too!  So some times I don't get to design and stitch as much as I'd like to....Back to the planning to stitch this weekend....  I live in South Texas and it is HOT most of the time.  So to my further enjoyment, we had a small, I'm going to say cool front, not cold front.  But it did get into the upper 50's at night :)!  Anyway, Saturday morning I got up with big plans to finish half of my new design and then it happened!  I noticed the top part of my border seemed to be out of wack. After further review, I realized I would have to take out most of the top portion of the border.  So I frogged and frogged.....finally finished.  Now to start re-stitching....re-stitched the top, then off to the left side, stitched half of that border.  It was late when I finished on Saturday night...my eyes were tired.  Sitting in one place with minor breaks for a practically a day is hard work!  I thought I'll finish this to tomorrow.

Sunday morning....the sun is shining, it is cool and I finish up  a few things around the house and get ready to tackle my new design.....I pick up the piece and realize that I have stitch the entire border in the wrong color of green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Needless to say, I spent the afternoon frogging again.....I couldn't live with the new color green!  When this piece is complete and framed, I know I will forget the pain it has caused me.... because this is not the first time I have frogged! 

Hope you have a great week!  Maybe next post, I'll be able to show you some fruits of my labor. 

Gayle