Mayyyyynia?

Hi all! I'm back with my monthly update. I think monthly updates are working much better for me now. I tried to get it in around the 15th, but this month has been a bit crazy (aren't they all?)

Anyways, it's May[nia] and I decided to start 2 new projects! Go me! :)

First is Little House Needleworks' Gingerbread(wo)man. If you've been here for... 2 years, you'll know I made this for my husband in 2014 with plans to make one for myself as well. I'm finally getting around to starting mine! Here's my progress:

I think it's coming along nicely. I really only work on it when I don't feel like doing something that requires my Lowery. We're going back to Pittsburgh for a week soon so I'll probably bring that with me.

My first start (gingerbreadman was actually the second one, I just talked about it first) was my first MIRA! YAY!

It's Roses of Provence. I love love love the colors. My only complaint is there's a lot of color changes. I think I might learn to park for this lady... thoughts? Is she worth it? Should I keep up with my cross country stitching of her? I'm torn on it. (don't forget you can click the picture and zoom in) It's on a very light version of Rose Petals from Crafty Kitten (It was an opps I got on her facebook page several years ago).

I did find this cute little thread holder at Walmart:

It only holds her floss right now. Adorable! Do you see the 7 skeins of white for her dress?!?!

I worked a bit on my Plum Pudding:

Funny story (not really) when I took it out to work on it there was a GIANT SPIDER on it. Even though I keep it "safe" in a pillow case when I'm not working on it. SOOOOO I decided I needed a better storage thing for it, so I whipped this guy up:

It's lined in flannel (because that's all I had that was large enough). It fits my 17x17 qsnap which was the point. Hopefully no more spiders on my work. UGH. *shudders*

I barely worked on Passport:

I did added some stitches and backstitching to this freebie:

I think I might have shown this before, but it's my "current" WIPs basket. I have more that I don't consider to be UFOs but aren't "current" WIPs either.

Annnnd last but not least, y'all might remember the stitch along back in 2014 for the Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Town? Well, I hated part 3 with the bakery so I just lost all interest. I finally recharted the bakery into a house and am making some progress:

I love the color changes (like my teal & purple houses). Do you see the cat I added?!?! I think I'm going to give him some eyes, maybe some whiskers too! I'm still figuring out the house... and there was a witch charted, but I kinda don't want to stitch her either, so it's still a work in progress ... charting as I go along!


OOOOOOOOh and I have an FFO! I know my friend doesn't read my blog so I feel like I can show this even though I haven't given it to her yet (excuse the glare at the framing shop):

I'm so pleased with how it turned out! And it was super reasonably priced. I'm kinda in love with it. I'll totally be taking more projects to this framing shop. I think they did an excellent job.

I bought some stash, butttttt what I bought is for my mom and I'm fairly sure she does read my blog, so I'm not going to spoil it! Goal is a September finish (her birthday is in Sept) but I want to finish one WIP (a decently sized one... like Halloween Town) before I work on that so it could get pushed to Christmas... not totally sure yet. I feel like I need to find some "manly" patterns and make something for my dad... any suggestions!?

How's everyone's May been? Productive I hope!

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March Update

First off, Happy St Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish (or maybe I am for just today?) but I do have a table cloth that's got clovers on it, so I totally count that as holiday decor!

I haven't gotten much stitching done recently honestly. We've been busy making friends and going to the gym. Tonight we're headed out to a Meetup.com event for board games. It's being held at a local cider place. Maybe we'll make some friends there.

I finished the R I was working on for a friends wedding. I've just charted their last name for below, I'm not sure how I want to represent the date yet though.. write out the month or just use numbers? Thought?

I started the Dimensions Peacock kit (sorry it's sideways):

I switched out the fabric for a sky crystal linen that was a gift a Christmas or two ago:

I won't have to do all the background now! Which also means I'll have a ton of teal/blue thread left.

I also pulled out my Glendon Place Tiramisu pattern for a few nights:

It prompted me to order some fabric form CraftyKitten for the Cherries Jubilee pattern too (Tiramisu is also on a CraftyKitten piece, Plum Pudding is not) ... I still haven't finished one but I'm already planning on the third one to start. I make a mistake and it ticks me off so I stop stitching on them. Mostly because I have to fix the mistake in these patterns since they are so symmetrical.

Side note, I hate scroll frames. They just don't have enough tension in my opinion, but I did do some digging and trying different things and determined the best way for me to get tension was to do an S type roll, where it's over the top on the top and goes under on the bottom. I found the tension much better that way. Does anyone else have any suggestions for tension?! I have two of these frames that I never use because of the tension...

I also bought a magnifier/light! So here's a picture of my stitchy spot:

You can see my Lowery frame and my new light. It's great, I tried 3 other magnifiers before I bit the bullet and ordered this one. It's not the most attractive thing ever, but it allowed me to work on my Ink Circles Damask Square pattern so much more easily!

I also made those pillows this past month! They even have zippers. They go well with our sofa's blue velvet pillows that we had bought at Tuesday Mornings to go with the carpet we are now using in our living room. New place meant we had to rearrange our carpets to fit different spaces, our blue one is our largest and no longer fits in any of the bedrooms. I'm planning to make two more pillow covers at some point. I still need to buy two more pillows.

I worked on my Damask Square yesterday, it's on 40 ct crystal silkweavers fabric with Peacock Weeks Dye Works floss (1 over 2):

I've decided I love stitching with just one strand of thread, there's no worries about laying the threads right, they don't get tangled! It's so much easier with the magnifier though. I'm still young, but I'd like to be able to still see 40 years from now thanks! I also pulled out a hoop to use last night for this and I remembered why I hate hoops, those marks! It was only in the hoop for like an hour but left a nice ring... I'm going to have to find more random pieces of my q-snaps for this... I bought a 14in one but it's really just way too big. I should have bought another 9x9 instead.

How's everyone elses' stitching been going!? Is everyone ready for Spring? I sure am!

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May Update

I haven't been super busy but I have managed two more finishes for 2015 as well as working on my Glendon Place Plum Pudding & a new Ink Circles design. Hopefully no one minds my switch to a once a month update. I just can't find time to update every week anymore.

Here are my two finishes:

I have two more in the series to compete. I'm unsure if I will want to frame them separately or all together in one frame, but I'm planning to find a spot for them in the kitchen.


Here's my new start, Damask Square by Ink Circles:


It's on 40count sparkly fabric from SilkWeavers with Peacock floss from Weeks Dyed Works. It's sooooooo tiny I can only work on it in good light, with my reading glasses on for short periods of time, but it's going to look so great when it's done. I'm almost a fourth of the way done. :)


And last but not least, Plum Pudding update:





What's everyone else working on? Have any bug summer stitching plans??

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Glendon Place Stitch Along Check In

Sorry guys for being MIA lately. I started a new job and it's been taking up more time than the old one. I've still been stitching and even finished a piece! I'll eventually post about it, but I just wanted to get this quick update out.


Here's where I'm at with my Glendon Place Plum Pudding:

It's coming along slowly, but then again I had put it away for awhile to work on other projects.

How's everyone else? What did I miss??

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Updates and a New Start

Hope everyone's January is going well. This should be a semi-quick update.

I've been working on the Glendon Place's Plum Pudding, here's were I'm at as of Sunday.

Glendon Place - Plum Pudding

Glendon Place - Plum Pudding

Glendon Place - Plum Pudding

I ended up needing to do some frogging because one of the blocks was over a page change. At least I noticed before I went ahead and did a bunch more! Plus one for me!

I started this cute Lizzie Kate pattern, Winter Wishes. I like to have something small that I can take with me places, like the sofa, to the chair, over to the bed. You know how it is.

Lizzie Kate - Winter Wishes

Lizzie Kate - Winter Wishes

No firm plans on what I'll do with it when it's finished though. Maybe I'll try my hand at another flat fold! I made a 123stitch order and in it will hopefully be a snowflake charm it put on the little house. The Lizzie Kate one was $11! Instead I bought the Mill Hill version where I got 4 snowflake charms for like, $4. Hopefully they'll be a good size!

Also, my friend came over and we exchanged Christmas presents. She made me this awesome pillow with my last name on it. She crocheted the white background then cross stitched the purple. Isn't it super nifty?!?! I love it.

I think that's it for today! I'll be back tomorrow with a Glendon Place specific update. :)

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MMMM V

Sorry it's later than normal, but here's my last posting for the Mega Mini Month of Madness Smalls edition! The month has gone by quick quickly per usual. My birthday was yesterday so all month long I've been getting little presents from various people.

My MIL gave me money (best gift ever) so I went out and purchased some Drawn Thread kits! I got Full Moon & Haunting Halloween.

You can purchase them both here: Halloween Shop. I purchased the full kit for Full Moon, but thanks to my husband's gift card to 123stitch, I purchased the Haunting Halloween pattern over on there. Both of these patterns came with their own pieces of fabric which is super great as well (though I'm sure I could have found something in my stash).

I also got the kit (minus the pattern, bought that on 123stitch as well) for The Holly and the Ivy. I think my parents will love it. But who knows, maybe I'll want to keep it for myself? I love these kits because you get everything for less. Those silks by the skein are pretty pricey, so I think it's totally worth it to just buy the kit in this situation.

I've really have to start my ornament stitching. I have 4 "babies" whom I want to stitch for. I did already pick out which patterns for each kid, so that's a start right?!

I have almost finished the back of my swap ornament. I swear, the second you put a deadline on something, it gets regulated to the bottom of the list. I just don't want to work on it anymore... I will get it done though. I seriously only have to add the year to the back... then stitch it up!

I did pull out my Glendon Place Tiramisu again:

I really do love stitching this. Those Dinky Dyes are awesome. I'm just slow... because I have like 8 million other projects!

For those of you who are also doing MMMM how many designs did you finish? I got 3 done, 2 from the start and 1 half way done at the beginning of the month.

Until next time,
Brenda

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Halloween Town!

The Mysterious Halloween Town SAL from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery starts tomorrow (not Tuesday like I thought, whoops). I'm all ready! Are you?

Fabric is "Tempest" from my fabric of the month club, Fabrics by Steph. I am still debating on if I should go grab the Cosmo floss when I'm in Denver or not... Decisions decisions! I might just buy some of their other patterns and buy cosmo for those because I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop myself from starting now since I do have all the DMC needed.

I also reached a small milestone on my Glendon Place Tiramisu I finished one page!! Only 5 more to go. :)

I really do love working on this, big blocks of color and silk thread! It's just very large for me. Other than my Chat (which I haven't worked on in... a long time) it's my largest project. :)

Anyone else out there getting excited for the Mysterious Halloween Stitch a Long?!?!

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WIP Wednesday June 11th

I picked up my tiramisu again! I am so close to finishing page one. I think I have about 100 stitches left, maybe no even that many. Then I will officially be 1/6th of the way done! Look for pictures shortly.


I haven't worked on the snowman for my MIL lately, but I did get the cat in:

I've done a tiny bit more since I took this photo, I have a bit of his (or her) orange coat in too. I really don't think I'm going to finish it in time for her birthday. It's hard! A bunch of fractional stitches, may colors, I think my fabric is 32 count, so squeezing those stitches in the middle is difficult. Yeah, I'm just making excuses now.


I am trying to finish up May's ornament of the month (yes, really, Mays, not Junes):

I'm thinking about putting my husband's name at the bottom and the year. Hopefully going to make one for myself too, unless I find another ornament pattern that I like better for myself.

Next post look for my floss toss for the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Mysterious Halloween Town which starts on the 17th. I'm very excited. I love love love the fabric (FOTM from Steph's fabrics). It's a nice shade of purple and anyone who knows me will know I love love love purple. :)

Until next time!

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ATC Exchange

Hello all! I just received my ATC exchange (from a forum I belong too) and it's the cutest thing ever:

 

The theme was desserts and we each said what kind of desserts we liked best (I said Tiramisu; ice cream; baklava; cheesecake; gingerbread) and our match got to pick what they stitched to send!

I convinently had this little white frame that fit my ice cream sundae perfectly!

 

I think I'm going to take it to work with me to brighten up my cubicle a little bit.

Here's what I sent (cupcakes were top on her list!)

This was my first exchange and I am quite excited with how it turned out!!!  Have you ever participated in an exchange?

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