In honor of St. Patrick's Day

Tangled Shamrocks by The Sweetheart Tree

Stitched on 28 ct. Antique White
Crescent Colors Erin Go Emerald and Four Leaf Clover, GAST Pine
Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads in Bottle Green (45270) and Ice (42010)
Charm included with Chart

I've had this chart in kitted up and in my stash for over a year now, maybe two. I fell in love with them when I saw them, but somehow never got around to stitching them. I decided I was going to stitch something Irish in honor of St. Patrick's Day this year, and I did finish up this one before the holiday. Yay me! I'm currently working on what I dubbed the companion piece, A Celtic Challenge, also by The Sweetheart Tree. It will definitely be done before NEXT St. Patrick's Day.

Conveniently, this is also an excellent answer to Lee's Stitching Bloggers Question of the Month:

Do you have a favorite Irish or Celtic stitched piece? If you don't, what about a piece that represents your heritage? Or maybe a family tree style sampler? Think about it, then tell us the story of your piece and show us your photos, if you have them.

As I've mentioned, I'm 1/2 Irish and may have had an agenda in mind when Lee and I were discussing the SBQ via email. I have several Celtic pieces in my stash, but this is one of the first I've actually finished. The big one that's sitting in my stash is Butternut Road's Celtic Banner. I have the fabric and the specialty threads for it, but have yet to kit up the rest of it. I need to get on that - it was a birthday gift two years ago from my in-laws and there's not a stitch in it....

But back to the piece I DID finish - this is me being all artsy with my macro setting:


Ohhhhhh.... Ahhhh..... I am so fancy. I do like this picture because you can see the silvery color of the Ice beads. The original design called for white beads, but I thought I'd gussy it up a little and go with a silvery color, pick up on the silver of the charm in the middle.

And while I was being all rebellious with the bead changes, I decided to get super crazy and change the COLORS of the floss too. The original design called for DMC threads, but that didn't fit in with my plan to be super clever and use threads with names that coordinated with the Celtic / Irish theme (yeah, sometimes I REALLY overthink things) , hence the Erin Go Emerald and Four Leaf Clover. The Pine has no specific meaning, it just looked really nice with the other two greens.

If you are wondering about my conversion, I used the Emerald for DMC 500, the Pine for DMC 501 and the Clover for DMC 503, or basically how they lined up from light to dark in both color palettes.

Overall, I LOVE how it came out, and am excited to finish up Celtic Challenge. This piece was a super easy stitch, but I noticed on the Celtic Challenge chart that there are some tricky areas where you really have to pay attention to where you're stitching (and stitch some parts over 1 so things line up). That one will take me a little longer to finish, but the plan is to finish finish both pieces as little pillows for our guest room. I don't want to go all "theme-y" with it, but the walls are currently painted green and I have black and white bedding in there, so I want to display some of my Irish pieces (I have a couple framed Irish themed prints / sayings). Once I finish these up as pillows, I think they'll be perfect for hanging off the closet doorknobs - dress them up a little. But until then, it's back to the FUFO drawer for this piece.

Fair and Square Received!

Michele emailed me on Saturday to let me know that she received my Round #9 squares and that she really liked them! (I'm so glad - I was a little nervous stitching for someone else, but now that I've seen how much fun the F&S is, I've signed up for 2 more rounds!)

This is what I sent Michele:

Manuela's Sunflower by Chatelaine Designs
Stitched over 2 on 32 ct. Bone evenweave with DMC and GAST threads
Signature Square from Bread Cloth leaflet

The original pattern called for a green border, but since Michele's favorite color is red, I had to change it. I was concerned it might look funny at first, but once it was all stitched up, I was really pleased with the color change. And the sunflowers on the signature square came from a bread cloth leaflet I had. All in all, I think the squares came out great, and I'm so glad Michele likes them!

I also sent Michele a matching scissor fob, complete with a sunflower charm. When I saw the little packet of garden charms, I knew the sunflower one would be perfect for her. I had these beads in my stash for a little while now - I was inspired by some pieces I had purchased as gifts for my 2 interns when they finished the program. I got them each a set of earrings and a matching illusion necklace, and I liked the pieces I bought so much, I ordered beads for myself. (Of course, I have yet to make any jewelry for me from them, but they sure did come in handy for this project!)

Other than that, DH and I had a busy weekend. His 96 year old grandmother was hospitalized on Friday with complications from spinal fractures and a blocked esophagus, and had a procedure done today. Needless to say she hasn't been in the best of moods and it's been tough on my MIL, so we drove home on Saturday morning to give her a little bit of a break. My BIL, SIL and the kids came in as well, so it definitely cheered Grandma up, and gave my MIL a much needed diversion. Grandma's procedure went well today, so we're hoping she will get a little better every day.

Beaded Things

As I've been doing my blog reading, I've noticed quite a few of you like beaded fobs and such, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite links for beading supplies. I've purchased from all of these sources myself on many occasions and would absolutely not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Their prices are excellent, their customer service outstanding and their products are all high quality. Fusion Beads has an especially nice idea gallery - I've drooled over more than one goodie there.

Also, I recommend signing up for their newsletters if you're interested in beading, as you will get regular coupons and specials available only to subscribers.

• Artbeads.com - Offers free shipping and a great selection of silver beads


• BrightlingsBeads.com - Free Shipping, good prices on Swarovski


• FusionBeads.com - Super cool gallery and inexpensive Swarovski mixes (I love buying these for a variety of projects)

How much do you LOVE these from Fusion Beads??? Wouldn't they make the cutest ends for a fob? You have to check out the site - they have some really cool variations on Christmas trees.