Stitchy Project Bag!

Hi ya'll! Probably didn't expect to see me back so soon. :)  I have a couple things to show you (instead of my usual 0 progress).

First off is some stitchy progress:

Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - Pumpkin Passport

Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery - Pumpkin Passport

I made a few changes to the pattern, nothing too serious though. I changed the girls hair to some Weeks Dye Works cocoa (I think) to match my own a bit better, I'm also a fan of purple so the shirt needed to be updated. I also think I'm going to make the bridge gray instead of the "sand-ish" color that is charted and maybe use con krenik in the Eiffel Tower.

I'm still behind, but that's okay it's not a contest and I have alllll year. :)

Also, I made that navy Q-Snap cover! It was my first one, my mom made the cream-ish ones for me, but I needed a weird size for the Pumpkin Passport project. I think it turned out super well, I'm going to have to make more of them! 

I have a friend getting married the first weekend of June so I'm stitching their initial:

I'll add their last name and date too at the bottom I think. I love how it's turning out. This is the second time I've used this alphabet and I still think I need to make one for myself.... One of these days.

I saw these cute project bags on a Facebook group and they were selling for $45! I like to spend money on stitchy things, but that was a little steep so I decided to try my hand at making one. While it's not perfect, I actually like my version better than the example I was working from (my zipper is hidden, quilted the front in a diamond pattern and added a binding all the way around are just a few of the things that I added).

I'm super excited about how it turned out. You can see that there's a pocket for your scissors (I added interfacing so it would hold up to throwing your scissors in there) along with the pattern and floss. The other side is for my q-snaps. It's currently holding an 6x9 frame. I have a couple changes I'd like to make for my next attempt (including buying a rotary cutter so I can cut in a straight line...). I'm definitely going to make another one and I'm debating making a tutorial as well. I'm by no means an expert but it was really not very difficult, and it only took two evenings (or prob a Saturday afternoon). Would you be interested in a tutorial?

Thoughts? Would you spend $45 for a stitchy project bag or would you rather make it yourself?!

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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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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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New Year New Starts

That's how it goes for you too right? New Year = New Starts!

I'm starting off the year strong. My last start of 2014 turned into my first finish of 2015! I decided to cross off one ornament on my long list (which can be found here), Peppermint Latte by Casey Buonaugurio Designs (you can find it in the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue).

It was done on a mystery piece of pink linen. After I took the first two pictures I realized that I forgot the bottom line, so the final picture has that! I like how it turned out! I'm going to add it to my to-be-finished pile (there's only 3 pieces there right now). I would like to go find some fabric for it, I don't really have anything suitable in my stash.

I tok one final picture of my Tirasmu before putting it away for my Plum Pudding start:

I started my Plum Pudding by Glendon Place for the SAL that Neil and I are hosting (you can still sign up here).

I was debating back and forth on the fabric choice. My Tiramisu project is on Jazlyn and has a much thicker weave to it, while this Lugana is very open. I was thinking that they would look weird side by side, but, who knows if I'll even be displaying them side by side, so I'm going to keep on with this. It'll be the same dimensions anyway. Which is what I actually cared about. The colors are so difficult to photograph. They are totally dependent on the lighting, and it's been gray clouds here for days, and probably won't let up until March!

I have also borrowed some hardanger books from the library. I thought it would be fun to try! Here's the books I got:

And here are my first two designs. Let's not talk about the counting mistakes I made on the kosher blocks that I didn't notice until way later (the white bits)... I think it's pretty fun and I am going to order some Caron Waterlilies threads (the ones that are equivalent to the DMC perles, I keep forgetting their names) to have fun with.

The JoAnn's near me really didn't have any options, so I got 2 purples, one green and white to start off with, I've found a few patterns I like so I'm thinking I'll start with the non-cut work ones and then try some cutting too.

That's it for today! Anyone else starting off into new hobbies for the new year?

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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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Mega Madness!

I joined an October "challenge" hosted over at Pull the Other Thread. The goal is to work on some mini's. Rule 1: You must post on your mini progress once a week in the month of October. It doesn't matter what day so long as you have 5 posts by the end of the month. I think I can handle that. I post on a weekly basis (Wednesdays), and this will hopefully get me caught up with some ornaments. 

The following are some options I think:

- Back to my biscornu (front is below)
- Little House Needleworks ornament(s) (options: Winter Forest, 6 Little Cardinals, Gingerbread Village,    Gingerbread Man) 
- Mill Hill Kits (I've already started two of them)

I didn't work too much on my Halloween project, I did add some more letters and started some colors:

I mostly worked on this little biscornu in the car on our drive to the other side of the state to visit some friends:

I'm using all Victorian Motto Sampler threads and they are a pleasure to work with. I think I'm going to go broke purchasing things from her. I haven't decided on a back pattern yet, but I think I'll get around to that in October and it might end up a gift to someone for Christmas. We'll see.

I also got a lovely "surprise" in the mail. Another blogger (Kate) was destashing and I requested a few Cross Stitcher issues (Oct & Nov 2011) so they came in the mail yesterday:

 

I think I'm going to make a deer in the Nov 2011 issue for a friend's child, and maybe some of the purple ones in the Dec 2011 issue.

Yesterday I was able to go to JoAnn Fabrics and pick up some backing for two of my projects plus some orange thread.

I'm hoping to have a "Finishing Friday" some day soon! I am making the Jolly Jack into a standing folder thing. It'll be my first time and I'm kinda worried about the cardboard stuff I bought. I think it's going to be too thick. I'm going to use this tutorial from the Twisted Stitcher. Does anyone have any experience with making them? If you have any hints, I'm all ears! 

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Threads and Halloween

I think this is going to be a shorter than average post (for me anyway). I got my threads in from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe!

I cannot wait to try them out, as soon as I finish my current project (or this weekend...) I'm going to find a pattern to use some of them. The colors are so rich and the most wonderful thing about them is that they are in 20 yard skeins. There's a ton of every color. I think I'm going to need all of the colors that she makes.... Nancy also included two freebie skeins which was so nice and generous. I highly recommend her shop!

I also ordered a Halloween colored finishing pack from here:

I'm pretty excited about these! I have at least 3 things to use this on right now. I also think I'm going to get some of her other bundles. She included a bag of brown buttons for free too! She's such a sweet lady. :)

And here's my progress on the Happy Halloween by Silver Creek Samplers that I'm making:

I managed to finish the N last night. I haven't started adding in any of the colors yet, but I'm itching to put in the pumpkin jack o'lantern on top of the N though, so I might do that tonight.

I'm not sure what I'm going to go work on after this. I'm starting to get into the Christmas stitching mode, not Christmas decorating or anything. I made a list and I have 4 babies to make ornaments for and 2 sets of parents plus my cousin. AND I was planning to make a gingerbread ornament for myself like I made my husband... Anyone else stitch gifts for Christmas?

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Fabrics!

I might be in a different state right now, but I'm a dedicated blogger! I present today's post!

I finished up Frosted Pumpkin's Halloween Town part II:

I purchased Frosted Pumpkin's Spooky Sampler awhile back and during the Picture This Plus sale on Friday I picked up a few options for it, Crystal Haunted & Crystal Echo, I also purchased Heather and Mirage (all 1/4 yards). I'm thinking one of the crystals will be good for it. I haven't done any patterns on sparkly fabric yet!


My July FOTM from Steph's Fabby's came over the weekend as well:

I've got several different colors from her now. I'm going to have to start finding projects for them. I'm turning into a fabric hoarder! I've been getting the 13x18 size (I think that's the one? it's the smallest one offered) but I think maybe I should jump up a size. That way I wouldn't have to worry about it being too small for any random project. I don't know. :)

I really really wanted to pick up my Chat on Thursday night, but I got home and promptly fell asleep! I feel like an old lady, not 27 years young. It's okay though, because I did get a tiny amount done over the weekend. Here's a before picture:

I think that's going to be it for now! If you follow me on instagram (@brendaxstitchhaven) you'll see a sneak peek of next week's blog post and see what I've been working on at the airport!

Do you bring projects when you are traveling?

Also, this was scheduled for Wednesday and it uploaded to Tumblr just fine (how did that happen?!), but it's not appearing on the blog, BUT I got a comment on it... Anyone else having weird issues with blogger?

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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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