Stitching Update

I have been making Christmas ornaments since the beginning of spring.
I know it's not the right season, but I like working on them because they are small enough to be portable.
I take my stitching bag outside every afternoon and stitch away while I listen to my favorite podcasts.
Here is what I've made so far:

I also have a bigger project in the works.
I will spend more time on it once the summer heats confines us to the house (which should be very soon).
After my “vision scare” last year (long story short: I needed bifocals), I decided that I wanted to make a framed cross-stitch for each of my children while my eye-sight is still good enough.
I already made four that I love but they’re all flowers and birds…very feminine.
And I have three boys.
So I put together some examples of more masculine designs and let them choose from them.
I didn’t plan it that way, but it looks like we have a boat theme going on.
I'm currently working on the "Peaceful Silhouette" kit.
It's the biggest one in shades of brown and sepia.
The petite Gold kits usually take me about four months to complete.
So....all three of these should take me over a year.  Oy!

Until Next Time,

Ta-Dah!

I finished this last weekend.  It took about three months.

Here are the weekly progress shots I took along the way.

April Smalls SAL check-in

This month I finished stitching a Santa ornament. This is from a Dimensions kit that includes six ornaments. I'm currently working on a reindeer from the same kit.

I'm making ornaments for each of my children this year.  Three down, one more to go. :)

For more info on this SAL, click here.

March TUSAL Update

Wondering what TUSAL is? It stands for "Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long" and you can find out more about it here.

My jar is now half full.   At this rate, I might have to empty it before the year is over.  ;)

I finished a project this week!  I love finishes, don't you?
This is "Monarchs" by Bucilla.
This isn't the best picture, but I'm too lazy to take another one.
I snapped it immediately after finishing.
As you can see, I hadn't even taken out the gridding yet.

It only took me a month to finish.
I am shocked!  lol
I think that's the fastest I've ever completed a project.

The background is supposed to be back-stitched, but I decided not to do it because I like it the way it is.
Those butterflies gave me so much trouble!
The black back-stitched lines in the middle, to be specific.
I followed the pattern, but they just looked wonky.
I ripped and re-stitched them at least three times.
I'm still not entirely happy with them, but it is what it is.
I really love the background, though.

I am not currently working on anything, but I am getting two projects sorted, gridded, and ready to begin.  Hopefully I'll be able to start tomorrow.

Until Next Time...

March WIPocalypse update

I'm a day late this month.  It was a busy weekend, so I didn't have time to post.

(You can find my WIPcalypse goals here.)

Here is my progress for this month:
Monarch kit by Bucilla (don't get me started on how much I hate Bucilla kits!)
I started this last year, but laid it aside until recently.
This was my starting point on Feb. 28:

  

And this is where I am currently:

I also stitched another Christmas ornament.  This is for my son.  He loves Adventure Time, so I made a Gunter ornament for him.

March 16 – Topic:  Show us your favorite places to stitch.

Here is my stitching spot.  It's a very old Lazy Boy recliner (about 15 years old).  It's well worn loved, and so comfy that I hate to buy a new one.  

You can see my armchair stitching caddy on the left side. My daughter made it for  me (she's 13) with a little help from my mom . It holds my pattern, thread, highlighters, and ort jar.  It's perfect it and I love it. :)  

The "clothesline" on the wall holds all of my finished pieces that I haven't framed yet.  There are also a few gifts from my daughter on it too.

You can't see it in the picture, but there is a small table on the left.  I keep my laptop there.  I usually watch Netflix on it while I'm stitching.  When I'm not watching Netflix I like to listen to my radio.  There's also a basket full of more stitching supplies on the left, but it is super messy at the moment so I chose not to add it to the picture.  ;)

Here is a close-up of my armchair caddy.  You can't see, but there's also one long pocket on the other side.
You can find lots of patterns to make your own  if you do a quick google search.

February Smalls SAL

 I am working on ornaments for each of my children.  This one is for my youngest.  He loves Adventure Time, so I made a little Gunter ornament.  Sorry about the ugly black box- it's hiding his name. ;)

Since the last check-in I also finished my last ornament.  This one is for my daughter.  It was my first time finishing an ornament this way.  It was definitely a learning experience, and it's far from perfect. Hopefully the next one will be better and easier.  :)

February International Hermit & Stitch Weekend

I have a finish this month!
This is the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Autumn Sampler.  Kawaii isn't really my style, but I fell in love with this pattern.  I love all the different squares, and I adore the color palette.

I started this pattern in October of 2013, but I laid it aside for awhile to work on other things. I started working on it again at the beginning of this year. I was half finished with square 12 at that time. I think I averaged about 2 squares a week.

This was my starting point at the beginning of this weekend:

And here is the finish!  It looks a little wonky because it hasn't been ironed yet.

I am so glad to be finished with it!  There are a few mistakes here and there, but I really like the way it came out.  :)

First Completed Ornament

One of my goals for this year is to make Christmas ornaments for my children.  This is also my goal for the 2014 Smalls Stitch Along.  I plan to make one each month, so I'll have 12 new ornaments for the tree this year.  I already have the first 4 patterns picked out.  I just need to buy the floss for all of them.

 I finished the first one yesterday.  This one is for my daughter.  The black box is hiding her name.

I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it yet, but I'll post a picture when it's done.

IHSW post

 I did a decent amount of stitching, all while watching Sherlock Holmes (both Benedict Cumberbatch & Jeremy Brett versions).

 I was hoping to get more done than this, but I had so much trouble.  First I had a problem with the fabric fitting into the frame.  I miscalculated and started too close to the edge.  :-/   I don’t think it will affect framing it, but it was a pain trying to stitch without the frame.  I ended up adding a bit of duct tape to lengthen the side so it would fit.  I know that's not the best thing to do, but it worked like a charm and didn't unravel when I removed it.

Then, I was almost finished stitching the bottom square’s border when I realized I had stitched the top one wrong.  It was over one row too far on the right. I only noticed when I couldn’t get the bottom border to line up correctly. I then had to frog the right side of both squares and start over.  Argh! 

But I am happy to have finished two squares.  Only eight more to go!  :

WIPocalypse Post

The projects I am focusing on right now are the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Autumn & Summer samplers. 

This was starting point at the beginning of January.

I added three more squares to the Autumn Sampler. 
I also outlined all of them (after this photo was taken).

I didn't work on the Summer sampler at all.


January  16- Topic: Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!
There's not much I can say about myself.  I'm 39 years old.  I homeschool three children (one has already graduated).  I've been married for 19 years.   In my spare time I like to read, stitch, and watch Netflix.  :)

You can read my stitching goals here.

Stitching Goals for 2014

• finish Autumn and Summer Samplers from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I’ve already done about 2.5 of 5 rows on both of them.
• finish Bucilla Monarchs kit  (already in progress)
• start and finish Dimensions Gold Collection Petite’s Bird Poste
• finish MST3K piece
• make at least four xmas ornaments before December (one for each of my children)
• frame finished pieces

Progress Report:
* finished Monarchs kit

* finished Autumn Sampler

* made 4 Christmas ornaments
* finished MST3K piece

Cross-Stitch Projects Completed in 2013

IHSW

It's time again for the International Hermit & Stitch Weekend!

I'll be working on this autumn sampler from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

This is my starting point for the IHSW.

I will update this post when it's over.  

P.S.  This is my 100th post!

Edit:  Here is this weekend's progress, one square added to the sampler!

TUSAL and a Finished Piece

Here is my TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long) update for this month.

I've added quite a few orts to my glass since last month.

I also finished another cross-stitch piece.

This one took about 2 weeks to complete.

You can find the free pattern here.

IHSW & Wipocalypse

This weekend I started and stitched all of this:

 It's called Pumpkin Hollow.  It's a free chart from this site.  

It's hard to see in the top picture, but it has the year "2010" written in it. 

Here's a picture with the flash, so you can see it better:

Since taking this picture, I filled in the numbers, changing it to "2013."

Also, since last time, I finished this piece:

I didn't work on anything in my "to-stitch" pile. 

Instead,I found new patterns.  lol

I guess that defeats the purpose of WIPocalypse, doesn't it?

Until Next Time...

In My World this Week

* My baby turned nine years old.
Time goes by way too quickly.
Watching them grow is both exciting and heart breaking
at the same time.
This year will be the last one that I have a child in the single digits.
Right now he is getting dressed for his party.
He is getting a dinosaur cake decorated by his sister, and a
bunch of Adventure Time toys.
I think he's going to be happy. :)

* Ordered my oldest son's high school diploma;

 made plans to take senior photos and order announcements.  

(We aren't having a ceremony or anything, 

just letting everyone know he has graduated).

I can't believe he's at this point already.

Just yesterday he was my baby going off to pre-school.  :(

* I got stung by wasps and skinned both my knees.

* Made a useless trip to a nearby city.  

We were going to go bowling for my son's birthday, but they were closed,

in spite of a big ole sign that says "Now Open at Noon Everyday!"

* I finally realized why Jd. (my 9 year old son) gets upset when someone calls him a sore loser.  

He thought it meant they were calling him a loser. 

 I explained the difference to him and he said,

"Oh, yeah.  I guess I am a sore loser."

* We cleaned up the front yard a bit.  

Thew out some dead plants, trimmed some branches, cleaned under the carports, etc.

A lot of my flowers were finished for the year, and the yard just needed attention.

I still need to put out a few autumn decorations, but it's better than it was before.

Finished a project:

This little guy got a haircut:

Bought some vinyl:

And also got Hank Williams' "You Win Again" stuck in my head all week.

This weekend is going to be very rainy.
It's also this months IHSW, so I plan to spend all weekend
curled up with my stitching and Downton Abbey, season three.