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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Back from Japan

Hello lovelies! I'm back from Japan and have finally gotten over the jet lag from the return trip. They are 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and wow did I feel every minute of that on our return trip. I've slept so much in the last week since we got back it's crazy! I managed to pick up a cold while we were there too so I'm pretty sure that did not help the situation at all.

I thought I was going to get some small stitching done. Nope. Not one stitch was put in. However I did manage to read 4 books and start another. Yes. 4 while on vacation. It was so much easier to just pick up my kindle rather than take out all my stitching. In case anyone was wondering I read the following:

1. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
2. The Winter People by Rebekah Purdy (I got the wrong book, I meant to read, The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon, whoops)
3. The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell
4. The Girls With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
5. Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I found all of these by looking at Goodreads.com's "Best Books of 2014." I liked some more than others, but I didn't put any of them down after the first couple pages, which I will do if I'm not into a book, there are too many books to read and I'd rather not waste time on one I don't care for.

While I was away, my "Stashmas" gift came in the mail. I belong to a group that does an exchange every year called Stashmas. I was terrible and my gift didn't get sent out until I got home. Basically I ordered a big order from a new to me company and it never arrived. Now I'm dealing with my credit card company trying to get my money back. I am so disappointed. I had heard good things about them from the stitching community and my husband ordered from them for my birthday and had no issues. I've been emailing them and getting no responses. I ordered on October 7th so you would think that 2 months would be sufficient time but apparently not. I think I was in such a rush to mail out the gift of mine that I didn't even talk a picture. I had ended up ordering replacements from 123stitch.com because they have never let me down. 

Here's what I got: 

I'm a huge Little House Needleworks fan and I have had this on my wish list for awhile! She also sent me the two skeins of overdyed floss and the button that goes in the middle!!! I love it and I cannot wait to stitch it. It's probably going to have to wait until 2015 though.She also sent over an adorable ornament!

I am almost done with the second little bear, I've ran out of motivation for him. How silly because he's soooo close now!

 
I started a new project that I am hoping to complete by Christmas. It's going quite well so far. I might be able to make it twice! It's Fleur de Lys Tree by ScissorTail Designs. I'm using Dinky Dyes, Evergreen.

While in Japan I stopped at a store called Yuzawaya (www.yuzawaya.co.jp Japanese only) and picked up a bunch of Cosmo floss and a biscornu.

The store was like a JoAnn Fabrics, with less fabric and more crafty supplies. It was on the 7th floor of a department store type building. I would call it a mall, there are so many malls in Japan. SO many! It was a little hard to find, mostly because we don't speak Japanese and we went on our first day there. I don't have any pictures from inside, I clearly wasn't thinking about blog posts while I was there.

They had DMC, Cosmo and Olympus (I bought some coral colors of this, I'd never heard of it). They didn't really have very many kits or anything though. The biscornu kit is from Cosmo as well though. I thought it was cute! They had tons of cute needle felted animals too. I probably could have bought the entire store, but it was day one and I didn't want to lug everything around in my suitcase. We tried to keep all of our shopping until the end which is only kinda a good idea.

I was also able to find a Japanese needlearts magazine at a bookstore attached to a subway stop,
Stitch Idées:

It's filled with tons of cool ideas, I'm kinda in love with these little pin cushions.

And there are some Christmas designs.

The charts are all pull out ones. It's different, but the quality of this magazine is amazing. It's like a book with the paper quality. I need to find all of them now! ;) It was only 1,200 yen which according to today's exchange rate, $9.92 (usd). All the ones I can find on eBay are about $17 + shipping from Japan. Not as awesome. I should totally have done more shopping while there (maybe seek out a used bookstore or two)! I suppose this just gives me another reason to go back!

Also, last, but not least by any means, I received a RAK (random act of kindness) from Andrea over at her blog, The Craft Room:

Isn't it beautiful?!?! I'm so excited, the finishing is so lovely and the pattern is awesome! I love how there's snow on top of the letters too. What a cool detail! Thanks so much Andrea! It's going to look awesome on my tree... as soon as I put it up! I seriously just took my Halloween decorations down this weekend. I mean, I was gone for half of November... I heard she also MADE the card that it came with!!! That's so awesome and I love it too!

Oh and check out the back, how cute!!! I have these little charms, but I haven't used them yet. :)

Another awesome thing that I learned since my last post, there is a community stitchy group here in my home town! I had run across someone's blog who was talking about this great framing shop she found and I emailed her about it (it's actually the framing shop I past almost weekly, I had even told my husband I should try it, how awesome is that?) and she mentioned a stitchy group that meets every Friday! I've been too busy lately, but I think once January rolls around I'll be able to attend. I'm really excited!

This has turned into a rambly post. I think I'm going to close off here for today. I am hoping to go through my vacation pictures soon and might post some next week for everyone! 

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MMMM 2.1 & a SAL

While Pull the Other Thread's MMMM might be over, the lovely Justine over at Justine's Cross Stitches decided to host in November. You have until November 5th (today!) to sign up! This one only requires 4 posts since the sign up deadline is a week into November already. I'm breaking away from the roman numerals and starting to number these posts instead.

I'm really hoping I'll manage to get 4 posts in this month, but honestly, I'm going on vacation for 2.5 weeks later this month and it might be a struggle. I do have a post or two lined up already, I'll just have to add some mini information and status updates to them! There will be a few train rides, so I'm thinking some stitching might be accomplished then.

My husband and I are going back to Japan and this time I'm looking up cross stitch stores. I don't know if anyone out there reading this knows of any stores, but if you do please feel free to let me know in the comments! I think I might have found one in Kobe, but I am not totally sure of their hours. Google translate can only help so much. I am for sure going to the fabric district of Tokyo, so I might find some cool stuff there.

I have finally started my holiday stitching! I'm 79% sure that none of my friends read my blog, so I am not really worried about posting pictures. :)

I started this little guy on Friday and he's been such a quick stitch! He's called "Festive Ted" and he's from the November 2013 Cross Stitch Collection magazine. It's amazing the difference back stitching makes!

The lack of light this time of year is really effecting my pictures unfortunately. My husband did buy me a light box, so I'm going to bust that out soon. The background is actually a lovely pale blue Monika linen I had in my stash. The bear's colors are from Victorian Motto. I think they were... shades of pumpkin maybe and a mix of DMC. I love love love Nacy's threads. They are really a pleasure to work with and I find that they don't tangle as much. Maybe because I don't keep them on bobbins, but in Floss A-Way bags instead.

He's got 3 buddies (Presents, Stars, & Mistletoe) but I think candy cane was the best. He is meant to go in a card, but I thought he would be just as cute as an ornament. I wish all of my projects where this quick!!! I think I'm going to make a buddy of his too since he turned out so well.I still have to add the year and my friends' baby's name, but it's done for now! 

I'm also getting around to stitching my swap gift up with the beads. I really don't think I'll ever do this again, my needle isn't small enough and picking up each silly beads is super annoying. I need one of those tacky bobs or something:

I have three more patterns picked out for some other people. I am hoping to start working on one of those tonight! I'm hoping to get these four finished by December so I can concentrate on one for my parents and then have a finishing day and crank them all out at once. Fingers crossed! At least I have already finished 7 of them this year so no one will be missing out on a present or anything. :D

Speaking of quick projects, or in this case, not quick for me projects, Neilteil (Stitched Up!) and I are going to jointly host a Glendon Place Amazing Desserts Stitch Along for 2015. You can find all of Glendon Place's "Amazing Desserts" Series here (scroll to the bottom). If you are interested, check out my link in the sidebar: Glendon Place SAL for more details and to sign up! There will be a fabulous prize at the end! The sign up deadline is January 1st. With your first post due by January 15th (but you don't even have to start stitching until April!) Hopefully there will be enough interest in this. If not, Neilteil and I will be doing our own!

I already have the Plum Pudding pattern so I'm asking for the floss, fabric, and beads for Christmas! I've clearly already started the Tiramisu pattern, but I think that would be an unfair advantage, so only new starts are allowed for the SAL (to be eligible for prizes).

Update: Nacy is having a 25 Days of Christmas giveaway, go and enter here! Her fabrics & threads are AMAZING. :)

Who else has signed up for another Mega Mini Madness Month? Who is interested in the Glendon Place SAL?

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MMMM III

Mega Mini Month Madness post 3! Mmmm makes it sound like I'm hungry or something! As a reminder this is hosted by Pull the Other Thread check out all the other cool participants too (there's 22 of us total)!

I have two finishes! I'm sure you all are just as excited about this as I am. :D I finished all the stitching on these two pumpkin designs. I think I'm about done with Halloween/Autumn stitching for now. I really need to get caught up of my swap ornament and then ornaments for family/friends for Christmas presents.

Here's the first that I showed progress on last week:

 

Heart in Hand - Pumpkins

The bottom pumpkin looks crooked, but he's really not! When I iron him again I'll stretch him right out.

Heart in Hand - Pumpkins

I mailed this little cute patterns out to a fellow Instagram follower who really liked it. I'm looking forward to seeing her stitch it up! It was a quick little pattern. My favorite kind!! And the little Just Another Button Company raven is an adorable touch!

I also started and finished a little Lizzie Kate design:

Lizzie Kate - Tingles F-143 - Jack O Lantern

Per usual I changed the colors to match what I had on hand.

Lizzie Kate - Tingles F-143 - Jack O Lantern

After taking these pictures, I realized I forgot to add the green button that the pattern came with! Off to do that and hopefully finish these into tiny wall hangings tonight! 

What is everyone else up too? Starting on Christmas yet?

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Sneak Peek

And there goes another week! This is crazy! Fall is almost here. How early is too early to decorate for Halloween?!?!

Speaking of fall, here's where I'm at with Jolly Jack. It got put on the back burner for the weekend while I finished the stitching part of my swap gift.

He's turning out so well! there are two more birds, more branches & leaves to go. Plus some random bits and bobs around. Still less than 3/4s done, but we're slowly getting there! I did some more last night while my husband was at PT. I have a star now too! And some leaves and branches. :)

And here's the biggest picture I can show you for now, my instagram swap gift. :) Find me: xstitchhaven. Don't forget you can click the picture and see a larger view!

Look how fuzzy that Wisper thread is!!! I am so glad I waited to go to my LNS before finishing. I love love LOVE the way it turned out! :) The teal is Weeks Dye Works Blue Topaz and the fabric is Silkweavers Tropical Breeze. My husband told me he's amazed how much work I put into something that I'm "just going to give away". I am 99% sure that my swap partner will appreciate it as much as I do. That's why it's a cross stitch swap. We all know how much time & effort goes into this and who is better to appreciate something than another stitcher? My mom is going to help me finish it since my sewing machine is at the repair shop (not to mention I have no idea what I'm doing!). I'm hoping for tomorrow but we'll see, time permitting. My husband has PT so he'll be taking the car. . . 

And last but not least my FOTM from Steph's Fabby's. This was really hard to photograph, but I think it's pretty true (purples, blues & pinks). It's called Soaring Dragonfly and I ordered an extra large piece since I knew I was going to love it! :) I have no idea what I'll stitch on it, but something whimsical I think. I'm open for suggestions!

I should have a piece from Crafty Kitten coming soon, which I think I'll do something Halloween on (me, Halloween, I'm sure you are shocked). It's a nice dark gray-ish color. :)

It's amazing the difference in quality of pictures now that I guilted myself into using my Nikon and just a tiny amount of editing (mostly to try to get the colors to show up better really).

Halloween Town Clue 3 comes out tomorrow! I'm excited, poor Jolly Jack will probably get pushed back again so I can work on that one! :)


Who else is excited about the third clue?!?!

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Instagram Swap

I'm always surprised when another week goes by and I'm here writing a post again. I hope time doesn't always fly by like this!

After two evenings at PT (my husband, not me) I was able to get the rest of the orange pumpkin done, I still have to do the rest of the cutouts and thee stem before he's done done though:


 
I took out my "big girl camera" for this picture. :) No lightbox yet though! It suppose to say Jolly Jack at the top, but I'm thinking I"m going to leave it out or change it to say Halloween. I'm not sure, clearly I'm not that far yet!

The girls on Instagram decided to hold a little cross stitch swap. I'm pretty excited about this one and the Christmas one I'm doing on another website. I'm debating posting it here. I don't know who follows both my instagram and my blog. I don't want my swap to know! Here's a sneak peak I already shared on instagram which won't do any harm. ;) I'm also going to go buy some Wisper thread. It's suppose to be fuzzy! I think it'll add a great dimension to the piece and I'm also going to personalize it. Then get my mom to sew it into an ornament. I took my sewing machine to be serviced over the weekend and it doesn't sound like I'll be getting it back for like 3 weeks.

I'm using Weeks Dye Works Blue Topaz and a 32 count Silkweaver linen in "Tropicial Breeze" that I had in my stash. It looks so awesome in real life! I got the pattern from one of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament editions. I think it's from the 2008 one (from that eBay haul I had).

You can also see my preferred stitching highlighting method. I use an app on my iPad called GoodNotes to highlight across. I do have to scan in my charts and then delete them when I'm done, but the ability to zoom in makes it 100% worth it.

I also worked a bit on my Chatelaine. Just some of the decorative stitches which is why I do not have an update picture. Slow going. I have too many projects on the go at once, it's hard to decide what to work on. Who else has that problem?!

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Halloween in July?

I was reviewing what I had done since last week and I am sensing a theme. Halloween! I am pretty sure that the Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Town is what kicked it off this time.

I started & finished a Lizzie Kate Flip-It, it's on a piece of fabric I got in that grab bag and random floss I had around the house already (Weeks & DMC). I really like how the Weeks floss turned out in the pumpkin. I'm thinking about making it again for my MIL because it only took 3 nights and she likes Halloween.

I would like to make it into a cute little pillow with half of it being a Halloween fabric like I've been seeing on the internet. I stink at sewing, so I think I'll convince my mom to help out. :)

I pulled out a design I had started last year around this time, it's from Holiday Cats (ebay link):

And while I am sooo close to finishing it, my motivation is low. I'm not sure if it's because it's been really hot in my hot (my air con isn't working), it's on black fabric, I had to frog an entire leaf when I picked it back up or what, but I put it down again. It's at least still out for me to pretend to work on...

I started another Halloween project since my Halloween Cat wasn't working out. I just bought the pattern in Denver, it's All Through the Nights' Jolly Jack:

I really love the shading on the Weeks Sweet Potato floss. It's such a fun orange color! :)

And last but not least, I ordered the 3x5 inch Floss-A-Way Bags from amazon and redid my special floss storage. I got the index cards and the plastic box at the dollar store. :) All of my DMC, Anchor & Cosmo gets wound onto bobbins, but the special stuff doesn't.

How do you store your floss? Do you have a lot?

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We're Back!

Hello again everyone! We're back from our mini vacation. I'm always sad to come home, but I missed my cat & my bed. :)

We went to Denver, CO to visit some friends and I'm very happy to report the friend who just had brain surgery is doing wonderful! He was looking so good we were really impressed. He has to go back down to Huston, Texas for radiation for 6 weeks, but all in all they were able to remove 95% of the tumor and are very hopeful for his recovery. :D

In other news, my husband & I went to two stitching shops while in Denver (and like 7 breweries). First up is "A Stitching Shop" in the Lakewood area (Morrison Avenue). We went on Thursday after we arrived because they were only open until 5. Well, I called around 4:10pm to double check that they were open and the lady said "How late do you want me to be open?" and I thought that was wonderful. I mean, I was on my way before they closed, but I didn't want to impose if she had somewhere to be! As it turns out we stood there chatting after I checked out for another 45 minutes at least! It was a great time and I HIGHLY recommend checking them out. She's working on listing her 40,000+ items on their website and per usual she can order anything you may want.

They tote themselves as the "Thread Mecca" in Denver and it is 100% true. They had everything! Some things I'd never even heard of. :) AND she carries Cosmo floss (for those of you who do the Frosted Pumpkin's patterns you'll know what I'm talking about). AND she mails!


Here's my haul from A Stitching Store: 

I purchased:

• 1 Lizzie Kate Flip It (with charm) #F17
• 1 Mill Hill Reasured Diamond Bead kit (Royal Plum)
• 1 Glendon Place pattern: Plum Pudding
• 1 4" hoop (my mom has mine, so I just bought another)
• 1 Thread Heaven
• 7 skeins of Weeks Dye Works
• 3 skeins of Variegated Cosmo thread
• 18 skeins of Cosmo thread (for a Frosted Pumpkin pattern & some purples & greens)

The second shop we went to was FanciMats as it sounds, they specialize in custom framing but they are also a cross stitch shop. I didn't like this shop as much for a few reasons, there's nothing bad, just my personal opinion! First, it's pretty small, not tiny, but not even close to as large as A Stitching Place, which is not a bad thing! But secondly, the lady wasn't very nice, she wasn't mean, but I relaly had to track her down when I wanted to check out and she barely said hi. I'm a chatter, and I understand that others aren't, but if you own a store you would think that you would be more chatty if only to encourage more purchasing. Oh well. A huge perk is the ice cream store next door (and there's a knitting shop if you're into that too!)

Here's my haul from FanciMats:

• 4 skeins of Weeks (for the pattern purchase, she didn't have all the colors needed though)
• 1 Jolly Jack pattern
• 1 bundle of scraps (a nice variety of fabrics, colors & shapes)

All in all I got a ton of things and I'm totally ready to complete some ornaments!


I also brought a Mill Hill ornament kit with me to work on. It's a good thing I did because the president came into Denver when we were scheduled to leave so that disrupted all air traffic and we couldn't leave until 8:45 for a 6:20 flight.  Needless to say we didn't get into bed until after 2am. I'm lagging behind this morning!

Here's what I managed to get done:

It's my frist time beading basically. I've done some small designs with a few beads years ago, but I haven't' done anything since then. It's kind of exciting!

I almost missed the best part! I met another cross stitcher (from a forum I belong too) when I was up in Fort Collins. We met over coffee and seriously chatted for 4 hours. It was pretty great. If anyone has a chance to meet another lover of cross stitch in their travels I highly recommend it! It was a very nice experience and if I go back to Ft Collins we will totally meet up again!

How was everyone's fourth weekend (for those of you who are American)?

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Halloween Town Start

Hi everyone! I have started the Frosted Pumpkin's Mysterious Halloween Town and never realized how slow I'd feel after joining instagram (brendaxstitchhaven). So many people are such fast stitchers, and have so much time on their hands! I have a full time job and husband and we were unusually busy this weekend.

Here's where I'm at so far:





Reasons I'm not further along number one, we were looking after a friends cats (she has three):

Look at that face! You just have to hang out with them and pet them. :)

Two & three: We went to my husband's cousins' gradation party (where I took my stitching) and we went to a special event at our local movie theather. Busy busy.

And finally four: I goofed up the fence and I'm trying to decide if I care to fix it or not....

My co-worker's baby is due today and I finally decided I should start working on her baby sampler.




Now, question for all of you, which fabric should I use: Pewter, Natural or White? The little boys' bedroom is navy with orange and lime accents (hence my color choices).

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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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Mother's Day Gift

If you've been reading you know that I started my mothers' day gift the Sunday before mothers day and finished the stitching in time (in two days!). Once I finished the stitching part I went to find a frame. I couldn't really find anything square that I liked and would go well in my parents house so I decided to bite the bullet and pay to get it custom framed. Was it worth the cost? I don't know, but it does look really nice. :)

I really should stop taking pictures with my cell phone and take out the DSLR. The best camera is the one you have with you... even though I'm at home, with access to my nice one. Eh. Next time. :)

I gave it to her yesterday and she really liked it, just as I thought she would.

I started a Little House Needleworks design, Gingerbread Cookie. It was suppose to be my May ornament of the month, clearly I didn't get it done in time. I'll just have to finish 2 this month so I can get caught up. It's possible! Maybe I'll find a really small one to do after I finish this one. I'm going to search etsy and hopefully find something kinda nerdy! :)

I also decided that I just had to join the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Mysterious Halloween Town Club. I am quite excited about this!!! It'll be my first mystery club! I was going to purchase the Cosmo floss called for, but the total was like $20 (because of shipping from Canada and I couldn't find it locally) and I can't really justify that when I only needed to buy 2 of the DMC alternatives.... I made an order on 123stitch for the 2 DMC & the 4 overdyed floss and some misc floss I needed for various projects (to justify the shipping cost of course!). The first part starts on June 17th and it goes for 4 parts. The last of which will be released on September 18th. Anyone interested in joining me in a SAL?

I think I've already settled on my fabric. It's called Tempest which was my first fabric from Steph's fabric of the month club, it's a really nice light plum-ish shade of purple. I'll do a floss toss as soon as everything comes in so you can see what it looks like. You never know, I could change my mind between now and the 17th, but I'm pretty sure it'll coordinate well. And since I have so much fabric I really didn't want to have to buy more..... At least that's what I'm telling myself! ;)

Have you ever done a mystery sampler?!?!

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Tiramisu Update/Stitch from Stash

I just realized that I haven't shown my Glendon Place Tiramisu in a long time. I am so very close to finishing page one! It is a bit hard to tell because I didn't strictly stop at the end of the first page if I still have floss left when I was nearly the edge.

Glendon Place Tiramisu

I still have some border at the top to do, I'm really not a fan of stitching the border, I like straight lines better! :) It's slow going because I don't stitch every night and I've been in kinda a rut lately, which makes no sense since I just bought a ton of new projects!

I really should be working on my MIL's snowman, but I haven't really been feeling it if you know what I mean. I have to be in the mood to stitch specific things. Maybe she'll get it for Christmas instead of her birthday (which is next month). I should just try to finish it. I probably could get it done, 3 weeks is totally enough time.... *famous last words*

I purchased some Halloween patterns earlier this month:

Almost Halloween - Drawn Thread

It's Halloween - Drawn Thread

And I cannot wait to start them! But I still have my black cat to finish:

Holiday Cats pattern

I am a serial starter I think. I'm pretty close on this one though. That pumpkin is the largest thing, and it took a long time too! I would like to get it done before October, clearly!


As for stitch from stash. I went over. Again. I thought I had self control. Apparently I don't. I'm going to blame the fact that I didn't have much stash... until starting the stash challenge. I found a LNS and learned that another one was going out of business. I just had to buy things. THEN I found Steph's fabric of the month club, gotta join that, clearly. I think I'm going to back out of the challenge. I'm still going to try to keep track of my spending but I've had my eye on the needle needs stand & frame combo... which would kill the budget for an entire year (plus I want to get the 24" bars for the Tiramisu project). My husband says if it makes you happy then it's worth the cost. We both have good paying jobs and little overhead, so I want to enjoy my hobby now while life is going well because you can never predict the future.


Leave a comment below on how you're doing with the challenge (or why you aren't doing it)!

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Monogram Framed!

It's been way too long since my last post. Sorry about that! Life keeps getting in the way. I did finally get my cousins' monogram framed for her wedding. I really hope she likes it!

I mean, I like it, but you never know with other people. :) Sorry the picture isn't of wonderful quality, but I was kinda rushing to get it framed and wrapped and everything. ;)

I'm still waiting for my Mother's Day gift to be finished. I am getting it custom framed and it's almost $90. :( It better be amazing! I've never had anything professionally framed. I usually buy a pre-made frame and order some mats and put it together myself, so I think I have super high expectations for this.

Are you working on anything rush wise? Presents maybe!?

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Spring?

The sun is shining this morning, makes me think that spring has finally arrived, however, it is only 27 degrees outside. I think we are still waiting. A little less patiently though.

This will be a pretty short update, I got a lot of stitching time in this weekend, I have a friend who stopped over on Saturday night on her way cross country (she is moving from the North East to the... Mid-west (is Colorado still the Midwest?)). She didn't arrive until about 3am so I had allllll day to stitch. :)


My husband has been wanting a Megaman cross stitch for awhile now, so I started and completed this for him:

It turned out quite small, the frame that I have for it is also pretty small, but still too large, so I think I am going to stitch another megaman in a different pose and then put it in the frame to fill it out a bit more.

I finished the snowflake from my last post:

I also started this for my mother in law's birthday in June:

Can anyone guess what it is? I think you can tell now, but maybe not!

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