I've been up to no good...surprised?

I've been Facebooking...too much actually to the point where I've let my blog go so badly, that they changed things on me while I was gone. It was like starting all over again. Oh trust me, I have been busy! Signing up boys for football, keeping the kids in line for their grades (which by the way I have all the kids getting a 3.2 or higher on their GPA), so I've been neglecting everything else BUT I do have something to share! :D Yeah me! lol

I've met this wonderful lady named Stephanie Bishop. If Facebook did anything for me it was this. OK, firstly I want to say that I am NOT a paid endorser from Stephanie in any way shape or form. I'm just a very picky stitcher and when I find someone who can do a job, and do it well....well let's say I have no problems telling people about it.

When it comes to stitching my Mirabilia's, anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about them. Nora puts so much talent into each piece, her heart and soul really. I've been hooked ever since I stitched my first one back in the 90's.

With that being said, overdyed fabric at the time was unheard of for Nora's work. I initially discovered Mindy from Sugar Maple Fabrics and fell in love and used her fabric a lot for many of my works. When Mindy went out of business, I was pretty panicky...and in a cross stitch depression to be honest. Mindy had a 'knack' of being able to reproduce EXACTLY what you had in your mind. I didn't think I would find another person like that.

Until I met Stephanie.........uh oh.

A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless because she knows how much trouble she is already in) directed me to Stephanie. I thought to myself  'hey, what do I have to loose? I'll order just a few pieces and see how it goes'. Firstly her communication with you is like you've know her for years. Kind, sweet, pleasant come to mind. I placed an order, told her what I wanted and *poof* there it was not but a couple of days later (now granted we live in the same state so I'm sure that helps)! I was blown away at the colors. Just knocked over. I've found my new dyer. I was so happy, I wanted to drive over to her place and hug her. For someone raising five kids at once, stitching is an outlet for me and I so missed it! Stephanie is just getting started in the biz...but let me tell you, she will have people knocking her over for her fabrics. I'm sold.

I was so excited to stitch on her fabric, told her my intentions, and she asked to use my South Seas Mermaid on her website. I was totally blown away. Stephanie bends backwards to make us stitchers happy, and in the limited world of stitching lately, that is a hard thing to come by. Now, I do use other fabrics (Picture This Plus, Polstitches, Silkweavers) but I will go to Stephanie first because of her customer service and her KAPOW fabric. She is slowly expanding her line...but, give her some time and watch out! She's going to be out of control! :D I just recently received some over dyed in opal....oh dear....hold the phone.

I stitched Mirabilia's South Seas Mermaid in less than 4 weeks including beading. I just couldn't wait to see her done! Yes, my needle was turbo! I've never finished something so fast, I have to admit.

Below are pictures of my start and end product.

South Seas Mermaid stitched on 28 count linen Oceans Tide by Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie

Week one (picture taken indoors)

Week 2

Week 3

Beading has started week 3

(pic taken under my ott light)

All done! (pics taken outside in natural daylight)

Not to brag but I am pretty proud of her. Doesn't she go KAPOW on this fabric???

I took two different kinds of pics, inside and outside so one could see the contrast in the lighting on her fabric. Too cool!

Here is a link to Stephanie's web page: http://www.stephsfabbys.com/

If you have any questions, email her! She is really great and will get back with you! If you don't see if she ships to you location...email her! I'm sure she'll add you on! :) You can also find her on Facebook too! We have a little group there, come join us!

So...what's up next for me??? This beauty...

I pushed my luck (or so I thought) recently when I asked Stephanie to 'attempt to do a custom piece of fabric for me'. See, Nora came out with the Red Lady Pirate and for those who follow me KNOW how much me love me pirate :D. I posted a picture I took of the real sky at work one day and asked 'hey, do you think you could do this?'. She said I was trying to kill her (lol) BUT she didn't say no! And, I have an AWESOME piece of fabric called: 'Pirate Booty'...(love the name). I took this pic indoors and it doesn't do it justice. It's a blue sky, with white and gray overlays to look like a 'storm' is approaching...It. Is. Perfect. I am awaiting for the beads, Caron flosses, etc to show up at my front door but in the meantime I plan on just stitching. I've been wanting to do her for a long time and FINALLY the perfect fabric!

Well, that's about it for now. The kids are almost out of school, summer is sort of here, and the busy times are approaching. Have a wonderful stitchy everyone!

Lori :D