New Stuff

Ivy Stitching is now Mom of 5 Daughters!

www.momof5daughters.com

is where you can find innovative Swedish weave patterns and truly enjoyable crochet patterns!

www.momof5daughters.blogspot.com

is where you will find all sorts of wonderful, interesting ideas and things.

So, note the change: ivystitching.com (doesn't exist anymore) it is now www.momof5daughters.com

New Apple Tablecloth pattern is here

I love this project.  It was fun to stitch and I love the finished tablecloth.  It is going to be displayed on my kitchen table.  I'm not sure why I have such an attachment to this project, but I do.  It might be the colors of the yarn.  As I get older I find myself liking the color red more and more.  I also have a fondness for the checkerboard look. 

Other changes on Ivy Stitching.  The prices of patterns have gone up, but now shipping is free, so you actually save money when you order a pattern (29 cents to be exact--is that enough to buy a gumball?). 

Another change is that the "Apple a Day" motif pattern has been taken off.  It seemed redundant with the "Apple Tablecloth" pattern.

There you have it, lots of great additions and changes at Ivy Stitching!

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

An Apple a Day!

The last few weeks have been joyfully busy!  The biggest and best joyful busyness is from two new grandchildren born to our family.  My daughters (and their husbands) and babies are healthy and doing well.  What a blessing!
I hope everyone had an inspirational and uplifting Easter Sunday yesterday.  Now that Easter has passed (move over Easter Eggs), there is a new design pattern to explore.  It is called "An Apple a Day" and I have a special liking for this pattern.  I can't explain it, but I just love it.  There will also be another pattern up and coming with this apple design on it.  This will be one of my favorites of all the Ivy Stitching patterns -- again, I can't explain why, it just is.

More on the way . . .

Now that March madness is winding down and now that the weather is getting a little bit warmer, my thoughts have turned to gardening.  I think about planting things and growing things.  I have been able to work in my mother's orchard.  It is mostly apple trees with a couple of pear trees, plum trees, and peach trees mixed in.  I've been raking the pruned branches and leaves and old fallen fruit-- basically cleaning it up for this new spring/summer season. 
So, because my mind has literally been in the apple orchard, it makes sense that the newest project I'm developing has to do with apples!

At first I had planned to make this pattern as another motif (design only) pattern, but I loved it so much that I had to make myself something with this apple design on it. 
To make a long story short, I will be doing a design/motif only pattern with this and a project (tablecloth) pattern with this fun apple design.
I can't wait to show it to you, but I will have to wait because it is not ready for photographing yet!

Well, watch out for Friday, and don't let anyone do any April Fool's day jokes on you!

Finally moving forward :)

Well, yes, it has been awhile, and a lot has transpired. 

So much was happening in my family that I had to put all else on hold.  The holidays came and immediately after Christmas we moved to a wonderful small town that I adore.  This meant not just putting Christmas stuff away, but packing our whole house and Ivy Stitching business too.  It also meant changing schools for my kids and all kinds of fun stuff (not really fun, but actually rather exasperating stuff).

Now that some of the dust has settled, I've been able to do two new patterns!  These are patterns for a specific design that can then be turned into whatever kind of project you choose. 

I'm really excited about this idea.  I have had several requests for certain designs from guitars to bibles to basketballs etc.  Now I have finally decided I'd do it.  The first motif or design is a heart and a home.  I have entitled it "Home is Where the Heart Is" in honor of a dear friend of mine.  The newest motif/design pattern is for Easter eggs (just in the knick of time).

I will still be working on my normal Ivy Stitching patterns for a specific project.  In fact, I'm still working on the neighborhood afghan.  It is just taking so much longer than I thought it would.  Oh my goodness, I love it though.

Oh, I just remembered, it is St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Latest Swedish Weaving project . . .

After lots of changes and un-doing and re-doing and un-stitching and re-stitching, I now have the next row figured out to my liking.

This photo shows the work in progress with lots of dangling sections of yarn.  I have used several different colors for this project that you may want to limit to 2 or three.  I just have a weakness for lots of colors.

So far the colors I've used are:  2 shades of brown, 2 shades of green, pink, lavendar, smoky blue, yellow, and tangerine.  Yes that is 9 colors!  Like I said most people will probably limit this to between 2-4.

I think this will be so adorable when it is all done!!!

The Newest Project

Always something new.  This new project will be taking Swedish weaving to places it's never been before.  But, I guess that's nothing new for Ivy Stitching patterns.
What is absolutely new with this new project is that I will be blogging about it throughout the process.   I will keep you posted on the progress, joy, and work (and many headaches and redo's) of creating Swedish weave designs and patterns.

The new project already has a name even though it is still very much -- in the works.  It is "Home is Where the Heart Is".  The pattern is dedicated to an amazing Swedish weaving friend of mine who lives in Maine.

I'm really excited about this project.  Even though it doesn't look like much yet, it will be loads of fun to do.
So, here is your first glimpse:

The green piece of monks cloth is my designing scrap.  It gets stitched and then the stitches get pulled out over and over and over again.  This process of figuring out a design is not pretty and it is repeated countless numbers or times.  Then, of course, there are many little sketches on paper of ideas and such before the scrap stitching.  So the white monks cloth is what I will be working the final draft on.

Here is the beginning border of the afghan or blanket.  I'll tell you right now, it took 10 lengths of yarn (yes 10!!!) for the row that you can see that I'm working on.  That will be fixed for the pattern, because just pulling and pulling yarn through the floats is not my idea of a good time!

I love the look of checker board.  My love for it came from the artist Mary Engelbreit (ME).  I love her stuff.  I usually receive a Mary Engelbreit calendar each year for Christmas and they are my favorite ones!

Okay, check back and see the progress on this exciting "Home" project.

'Til then, happy weaving!