And the Winners are.....

Hi Everyone,

I am going out of town unexpectedly so I thought I would do this a little sooner than 4 p.m.

The winners of the designs...Love and Kindness are:

Christie G, Carthage
Kathy, Pace
Deb, Odenton

Please e-mail me with your address so I can mail out your designs!

Keep watching my blog... I may have another give a way later in the week!

Gayle, Abby Rose Designs
gaylereger@aol.com

Abby Rose Designs...New Blog Design...Giveaway!

Last week I promised to do a design give-away in celebration of my new blog design...and of course to get some new followers!  So I have decided to give away three sets of my first two designs in the L'il Abby Series. The patterns that will be given away are:  Love and Kindness.  This is what you need to do for a chance to win.  Leave a comment with your first name only and city that you live in.
On June 17th at 4:00 p.m. central time there will be a random drawing and three of you will win.  I will post your name and city and you will have 24 hours to contact me to receive your patterns. Please pass this along to your friends!  I'll be doing a few more give-aways again next week.  You can also follow me by e-mail or sign up as a follower to be notified of the next Abby Rose Giveaway!  Happy Stitching!


          

Come Look At My Brand New Blog Design!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I am so excited to post today because as you can see...I have a brand new redesigned blog!  This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time.  When I look at it now I think it truly reflects me as a stitcher.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

To celebrate my new blog I will be doing a few give-a-ways next week.  Please keep checking back and hopefully you will be a winner of a few of my designs!

Before I forget....because I'm so crazy about my new blog...that's all I can think about, I wanted to post my 7th design in my L'il Abby's series.  The title is "Gentleness".  For those of you that are stitching the series as one... we are down to the final three.  Gentleness has been released and is available at your local needlework store  The final two will be released in mid to late July.  Send me pictures, I would truly love to see your work or your interpretation of my designs.  I love seeing how some of you change the colors to match your décor or colors that are your favorite.

I am also working on a design that will be similar to Home is Where You Hang Your Needlework and Bless this Home that I think you will want to add to your collection, especially if you have been stitching these.  I'll give you a sneak peak in a few days.

I also have a limited addition kit that I am planning to send to the St. Charles Market in August.  I have been working very hard on this kit to make it just perfect.  One hint...it is a pin pillow and the kit comes with hand dyed (by me) linen, overdyed vintage ribbon (overdyed by me) and decorative stick pin for your pillow (made by me) and all the overdyed thread needed to stitch the design.  It has been a labor of love putting this kit together but I have enjoyed every minute of it.  I will keep you posted on where and when you will be able to get it.

Things are warming up here in Texas...afternoons are too hot to do much of anything but stay in doors and stitch.  So I guess that is what I will do this weekend...finish up some pending designs.
I hope you have a great weekend!  I will close with a picture of "Gentleness" and a reminder to check back next week for my blog make-over give away!


Happy Stitching!

L'il Abby's "Gentleness"  #7 in L'il Abby's Series

Gayle...Abby Rose Designs

Number Six!....Three more designs to go in the L'il Abby's Series!

L'il Abby's

 

Good Morning Everyone!  We are now up to Number 6 of the L'il Abby's Series with Number 7 to be released in a week or two.  I have had so much fun designing and stitching this series.  This is a photo that Faye Riggsbee, the Carolina Stitcher sent me.  She has been stitching them as one....  Aren't they great?  I can't wait to frame this one.  I've been stitching them individually and either framing or having them finished as small pillows.

  

I'll be back later this week with a photo of the newest design...Gentleness!

Hope you have a great week!  Gayle, Abby Rose Designs

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