Primrose Maiden

Would you believe we are anticipating an ice storm tomorrow?  This weather just goes on and on.  So meanwhile, I stitched something to make me think of warmer days.  This design is "Primrose Maiden" by  Laura Rimola, The Little Stitcher.  It can be found in the April, 2015 issue of  Just Cross Stitch Magazine. I finished it up into another little pouch for a spring tension hoop.  This one is for the 4" size.  The last one was the for the 6" size.  It's stitched on scrap piece of 36" ct hand dyed linen.  I had that rick rack already so I made use of it as well.  Not much else stitchy going on so I took several photos to flesh out the post.  

My sewing machine seemed to have a mind of its own today.  Mine is an old machine with a knee-activated start and stop control.  I don't think they use those much anymore, but they were very popular in the Stone Age when the machine was new.  Today it seemed to get stuck and keep going after I released pressure.  I had to pull it back by hand to stop the machine.  Only happened when I was running the machine at high speed.  Kind of frightening the first time is occurred -- like some weird scary movie.  This may be a sign that it's finally time to consider an upgrade. 

Hare's Lucky Day

There are so many designs I want to stitch, but I hesitate to stitch them because I can't think of a use for them.  Or sometimes I'm saving them for just the right purpose, and that purpose never seems to show up.  "Hare's Lucky Day" by Plum Street Samplers, a freebie you can find here,  is one of those designs.  No one I know had the right combination of kids to make this an appropriate design for them.  So finally, I stitched it up anyway.

I have a number of those spring tension hoops stored in a tote bag.  They are forever getting entangled with each other, so I decided they needed separate pouches.  Any old zip lock bag would do, but stitcher-tunity visions started appearing before my eyes.  So I sewed this design up into a little sleeve that just fits the 4" hoop with a snap closure to keep it in place.

I thought the hares were supposed to be white, so I had cut a piece of my favorite go-to fabric for white, 36 ct Summer Khaki Edinburgh, before I noticed the hares are supposed to be light brown.  I just changed them to DMC 3865 and I was good to go.  I added a little extra gold DMC on the kids' clothes as well.    Plus I changed the Mom's dress to a darker green for better contrast.  Looked a little plain at the end so I added a couple of heart buttons .. after all, yesterday was Valentine's Day.   The rest of hoops are jealous now, so I'm sure I will make more of these.

 

Truer colors:

Back of sleeve:

Inside with snap showing:

Stay warm everyone... it's wicked cold in these parts!