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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Spring updates!

Hi all! Today is a gray and rainy day, but yesterday the sun was shining so I managed to take some decent pictures!

I guess I've been busy since my last update (the pictures tell me so) but I don't feel like I've had much stitching time. We've just been so busy! My husband is away for work this week, so last night I made dinner, did my nails, watched Mr Selfridge & stitched. Not all at the same time clearly, but I did get some more progress on Plum Pudding then you'll see below. Not a ton, but I finished another motif.

First up is The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Pumpkin Passport:

and slightly closer:

It's cute, but I get bored working on it. I did see someone on Facebook omit some of the busy-ness and I liked that a whole lot more, so I might do the same thing.

I can't remember how far I was on the Peacock last time, but I think I filled in a bit more of the flower since last time:

It's a Dimensions Gold kit, so there are tons of blended threads and fractional stitches. It's going to look amazing when it's done.

I also started a freebie by Durene Jones (you can find it here). I was in a spring mood, I was hoping to finish by Easter but that didn't happen.

It's super cute and Durene has so many cute free patterns. She releases new ones every Friday on her facebook. I'm stitching it over 2 on 28 ct fabric that I had in my stash. It's a pale blue.

Last but not least, Glendon Place's Plum Pudding:

My goal for this past weekend was to finish the dark purple petals in the center, which I did manage to do! It's on 28 ct antique white fabric with the called for dinky dye threads.

Now I'm going around in a circle and trying it that way. I think I should start in the middle of a pattern instead of the top left, it's more gratifying to me to see it take shape that way.

I ordered Feburary's Fabric of the Month from Crafty Kitten for my Cherries Jubilee pattern and it came this past week!!

I didn't do a floss toss (I forgot) but one of my favorite things about Crafty Kitten is that she'll do custom sizes. This is a 20 x 20" cashel linen. I think it'll look awesome.

I also received a RAK from a friend in CO (no blog though).

I love cats AND she noted that I could probably finish it in one evening which is perfect for my attention span! Oh how she knows me well. It even came with fabric and the trim!

How's everyone's spring starting? Getting lots of stitching or is it slowing down with the warmer weather?

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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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January Blues... Purples!

Hi all! This should be a pretty short update. I have not gotten much stitching done this past week because my wrists/hands have been hurting. This has happened before, so I'm not terribly concerned about it, but it is putting a damper on my stitching abilities. I think I might have a touch of carpel tunnel, but not really because my pinky fingers are affected as is my entire hand. I am not sure, maybe it the two handed stitching. It is a bit different on my wrists. If it persists I'll go to the doctor, but hopefully it goes away soon because my husband and I are planning a getaway to Texas in two weeks! We are both quite tired of the weather and are looking forward to some sunny skies. We've never been to Texas so I'm looking forward to adding a new state to our list!

Anyways, to the stitching!

I worked on Plum Pudding some more. Most of this was done on Sunday afternoon. I am almost the entire way through a page. I did overlap onto the next one if the motif did. That whole variegated thread thing!





And I worked on my Lizzie Kate Winter Wishes:





That's pretty much everything. I told you it was a slow week! Until next time!

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