" HOLIDAY BLESSINGS "

        I must surely be on " Santa's Naughty List " ! " for neglecting my blog"  and consequently YOU,.....my friends and followers. So it seems natural to make " staying on top of my blogging ", my New Years Resolution !

        Until then, let me wish you all a Multitude of Christmas Blessings!  May the Spirit of Christmas Fill the Hearts of Each of You, as well as your Loved Ones !

Please know how very Grateful I Am for each of you. As some of you know,..( and for others, ..now ya do know ), I am deeply Spiritual. In light of this, please know that I consider each of you to be a Blessing to my life.

                               Have a " Happy, Prosperous, and Safe New Year !

Please stop by the " ETSY " Shop on my blog sometime during the 1st two weeks of January, 2014 !

I will be having a " Customer Appreciation Sale "  which will offer a 25% discount, and a FREE CHART with each order !

I will be sure to post the sale by New Years Eve.

                                       WARM BLESSINGS AGAIN TO YOU ALL!

          " REMEMBER, THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS, LIES IN OUR HEARTS ! "

New Design "Holy Night" ornaments

I finished stitching my new design called "Holy Night"

I stitched it on 18ct Natural linen over (1). I like the primitive look. There are 6 ornaments each with a stitch count of 42 x 42.

I did stitch the 3 Wise men together as a long scene but they can each be stitched as a 42 x 42 stitch count ornament. 

I am working on the directions this evening and to the printer in the morning so charts will be ready to go out by Thursday evening. I hope you like what my fingers have been busy stitching.

Have a good night

donna

I finished my ornaments with stuffing but they would also look great as a flat ornament. 

Thanksgiving Freebie

Hi everyone, I sent out my Thanksgiving newsletters and some people signed up after and some people did not receive them so I have posted the freebie from the newsletter here for everyone!

I hope you enjoy it and stitch it up before the big thankful day!!

Click on these words "BE THANKFUL" and you will taken to the PDF file so you can print from home :)

I did suggest a Weeks Dye works thread for the background (Morris Blue) but you can choose whatever you would like or stitch on an already dyed fabric for the background. . 

 Also the stitch count is 56 x 28 and if done on 14ct Aida or 28ct linen over 2 this would make a great 2 x 4 size that will fit great in a 3 x 5 or a 4 x 6 frame. 

ENJOY

donna

Newsletters Have just gone out!!

A quick note for you that the newsletters have gone out and there is a Thanksgiving freebie that was included. I hope you like it. Check your in-box for the letter. And I am passing on a message from the newsletter to make sure everyone see's it.

OPEN HOUSE POSTPONED.  
Just a huge note that I was planning an OPEN HOUSE for my studio on Nov 30th but I have decided to NOT have it yet. I am going to wait until spring. We have way to much going on at the moment and I need more time to get ready so I figure the long cold winter will give me plenty of time to prepare.

I will give you more info as I plan for it but until now it is cancelled. Sorry if this caused any inconvenience
donna :(

Have a good night 

"Nine Woolly sisters" Tree Skirt/ Penny rug is ready and I have in stock tree stands

I am finally finished with the craft fair at church. It took so much work to prepare for and time. I made so many things that I thought would be for a craft fair. You just never know what will sell and to whom. So my porch is a mess and I still have things in the trunk that I need to take care of.
i cant wait for my Open House on the porch /studio. But at the moment it is a mess.
Just want to share some photos that I have and also to tell you that id anyone lives in the Maine area or NH seacoast I am teaching at Camp Wool this Sunday the Wool Feather Tree class and along with it I am supplying the "Nine Woolly sisters" pattern. So give LeAnn a call and sign up. I am also teaching it at Yankee Cross Stitch on Nov 2 and you can give Erica a call for that one.

. 

My little corner at the fair.

I met plenty of nice people and many of them stitch, so I am hoping we can get together and stitch some time. But now that I am free from that I am finishing my designs and working on my website. 

But in the mean time I have added some tree stands, tree skirt patterns and tree directions to Etsy.https://www.etsy.com/shop/ByTheBayNeedleart

Have a good night

donna

And the winner is..... for the "9 Woolly Sisters" tree skirt @ a Halloween freebie posted on blog!!!!!

And The winner is Kathy . Yeah for Kathy :-)  please email me your mailing address and I will get it out for you on Saturday. I am still typing the directions but all will be finished soon. 

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT LEFT ME A MESSAGE. I APPRECIATE YOUR KIND WORDS. 

I have my new design on Etsy and they are being shipped out today for the automatic shops. 

I have the 12 Stitch An Inch Halloween designs in one chart pack. And since I did not have time this year to make a free pumpkin head like I usually do I am giving you one of the Stitch An Inch designs from this chart pack. 

So here he is 

Click on his name "HERBIE" to be taken to the PDF directions for him 

So a quick update that I will be vending at a local town event that we have here in York Maine. It is called 

Marketfest and I will be in the church building. So I have been busy making things for it but please know that I have not forgotten about my "Birds Of A Funky Feather" or the "Nantucket Village Series". They are by my side on the couch and I am still stitching. I have also been giving classes and they are going well, hubby is back in the hospital :-( , and we move along one day at a time. 

I am off to finish cleaning my office, typing directions, and paying bills. Ugh!!. 

Have a good day and enjoy "HERBIE"

donna

Crazy About Wool Blog Hop, free tutorial & having a free giveaway too.......sign up

Hi everyone, I need to say that I miss you . I have been very busy and have some things to share. 

I am opening up my Studio/Shop for a Holiday Open House on Saturday Nov 30th from 9:00 to 4:00. 

I will post more about that this weekend and I will be attending Market-fest in York Village  Maine on Oct 18 and 19th. I also have more classes that I will be teaching at Yankee Cross Stitch and Camp Wool. 

But for now this is what I have been doing. 

I have 2 designs finished. A local watercolor artist Kathy Carter painted 2 doors for me.  I had them printed onto fabric, which I then embellished. I will be giving classes on these in my studio for embroidery.

 I also dabbled myself in some painting and painted a fall water scene. 

And Then I embellished it with flowers and grasses.

Actually this scene is an after thought because I made a tree first and it needed a fall background. My tree is 3 dimensional and here it is. 

AND HERE IT IS ALL TOGETHER!!

I am so excited about it. I will teach this piece at Yankee Cross Stitch, at my studio, and our local EGA chapter called "SOME"   . If you live in the Miane area you should join our chapter. Always having fun and getting together.

I am also teaching the wool feather trees again and this year I have made a miniature tree skirt to go along with them. Last year it was the clip on birds.

Here is a picture of tree skirt. I will release the pattern next week.

There seems to be a bit of wool stumpwork with those sheep :) 

There are nine little sister sheep and 3 poinsettias

AND NOW TO THE POMEGRANATE TUTORIAL

I made these 4 little fruit from some wool that was over-dyed. I cut out a six inch circle for each one. I did this by tracing a saucer(a plate for your tea cup) onto the wool with a marker. 

This is the 6 inch circle. Then go in about 1 inch and mark another circle this will be your gathering line.  

Before I made the running stitch for the gather I cut little triangles out to make the top of the fruit. 

Make your gathering stitch with a brown 6 strand embroidery floss or a pearl cotton. After you make this stitch, pull the thread and fill the fruit with fiberfill  (stuff as firmly as you can) pull the opening closed very tightly and then keep wrapping the extra floss around the top making a thick top like the real fruit. Secure your thread with a knot and tuck the thread into the top of the fruit so it will not show. 

see the thick brown section of floss

I made 4 of these fruit. On one of then I added a section of beads on the outside to look like the fruit ripped open and the seeds poured out. I added these beads on before I made the gathering stitch.
To finish it off I went out side and gathered up a branch from the yard. Mounted it onto a board that I had already covered with black wool. I then cut out some small green wool leaves.  To make these take a piece of wool 1 inch x 2 inches. Then cut around the edges to form a long leaf.  I made 10 of these.
I hot glued the branch to the board. Placed the pomegranates where I thought they would look good. Hot glued them down  I then added the leaves with hot glue around the tops of the fruit and a couple of leaves down the bottom onto a branch.

I would like to thank all of you for visiting my blog and Denise from Pieced Brain for making this fun "Blog Hop" . Please check back for more fun stitching and if you leave me a message I will add your name to a giveaway that I will have for the "Nine Woolly Sisters" tree-skirt PATTERN. 

I will have this drawing on Saturday evening and post the winner on Sunday 

Have a good day, and don't forget to check out the other blogs in the BLOG HOP that are listed at the top of the sidebar 

donna

Class @ Yankee Cross Stitch.....sign up soon

This is a class that I will be giving at Yankee Cross Stitch in North Hampton NH. It will be on Sat Sept 21st from 10:00 to 1:30pm. The cost is $35.00 and if you sign up by the end of the shop day on Sept 11, Patriots Day you can sign up for $30.00. This class will teach you wired leaves, how to make a slip and the wrapped buttonhole stitch.  All supplies are included. Please bring your own 6" embroidery hoop and small sharp pointed scissors. If you want to sign up please call Erica @ 603-964-9434
Hope to see you if you are in the area.

the winners are....... new Etsy code until Monday at midnight

YEAH!!!
The winners are Rita,  Phyliss, Tatkis, and Pat. So if they would email me their mailing addresses I can get those out to them next week.

And for those shopping on Etsy,  my disc.code expired midnight last night and not through the day so I added a new one that will expire Monday at midnight
It is still for 20% and the code name is NEWLIFE2
I am working on my new projects and they will ready to share next week, I cant wait!!!!!
Have a safe weekend
donna

giveaway quick notes.....

I will have the drawing for the 4 free charts on Saturday. So if you want to try your luck please leave me a message and I will add your name to the hat.

Giveaway.....updates......last 3 days for Etsy sale

I have been stitching so much lately. Hubby was in the hospital for another 5 days and I was cleaning and stitching the time away. I have some projects to share but I am waiting until I frame them. I am so excited to show you, I hope I can wait.
But this giveaway is for "Early American Garden". I made this chart with 2 designs in it. One is for the stitched model and the other is for the computer image. Here they are!

This one has palm trees with lighthouse islands in the back. 

Stitch Count 100 X 68 Design is approx. 6.25 X 4.25

Model stitched on : 32ct “Water Lilly” linen , over 2 linen threads

14ct Aida or 28ct linen (over2) 7.14 X 4.86

16ct Aida or 32ct linen (over2) 6.25 X 4.25

18ct Aida or 36ct linen (over2) 5.55 X 3.78

Floss Listing

DMC

Ecru

498

503

728

730

732

734

760

829

830

831

832

833

3371

Frame Purchased at Michaels Craft Store. Fits great in a 5 X 7 if stitched on 32ct linen or 16 ct Aida

Since I just love this one I am going to giveaway 4charts. Yeah!! , so 4 people will be the lucky winners. And just a side note that you can change the color of the flowers (Pick 2 shades )to match your home decor. :)

A BIG Reminder that the Esty coupon is good until the end of the month AND THAT IS IN 3 DAYS

Just type in the coupon code NEWLIFE in the Etsy order (not in the Paypal). You must add this code in the Etsy check out for it to work. I cannot give a disc after :(

This good for 20% off for the next 3 days

I just caught up with adding more to Etsy so check it out. Here is a sample

plaque

plaque

plaque

directions

directions

models

model

model

bloomin ort pincushion

bloomin ort pincushion

pincushion

bag

Check Out Etsy and remember your sale code. 

Have a great rest of the week

donna

And the winner is .............

Toby just hanging around :)

I picked a name with my eyes closed and I picked April from Alabama. Congratulations April, I will get them out to you on Monday. April has stitched for me before and she is a great stitcher!!
So for everyone else please don't give up because I will have another giveaway next week and thank you for all the kind comments. They make my day :)
I didn't make it to the printer today so I can not add the wool bird directions to Etsy yet, but I will on Monday

have a good night
donna