Adventures of a Crazy Cat Lady.

Espeon Finish and Pony update!

2012-02-26T08:32:00.003-08:00

I got Espeon finished yesterday! When stitching these, the colours look really out of whack, but then I have my nose right in it. Looking at it from a distance they look okay.

With that said, I'm not sure I like the colour choices on this one, but it's done and as long as my friend likes it, I'm going to leave it as is. Only Eevee left to go now! HOME STRETCH!

All this pink on Pinkie Pie is going to be the death of me!


She looks cute, but really, she's trying to kill me.

And I still have her tail to stitch in as well. :( My friend Ryan streamed Bioshock while I stitched on Pony, so that's how much I got done from the beginning of the game to the end. I think tomorrow he's going to start Bioshock 2. Tim (who I am making the pokemanz for) is streaming Darksiders for me while I work on his stitching. After Darksiders he has Batman Arkham Asylum and Silent Hill to play for me.

I sure have them trained well! :) And that is it for now! Looking forward to my 2 days off, just need to get through today!

Back to work with me~

2012-02-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Busy day today, but I don't start til 3:30~ and go til 10pm tonight. I still have a few hours to get some stitching in! Today it's Pony. I can't wait to finish the pony and 2 pokemon and get back to my regular stitching plans!

I ordered something a couple weeks ago when I was looking at puzzles for my Brother's GF on the Mary Maxim site. It's a knitting pattern holder. Looked neat and was only 16 dollars. My ~big plan~ this year is to get out more with my stitching and this looked like something cool to keep my pattern in while I was out. I'll let the pictures do the talking!

I am pleasantly surprised with this. It's a little heavier than I thought it would be, but that shouldn't have been a shock because well, it IS a magnet board in there. The magnets are super strong which I really like. Nothing worse than weak magnets. I didn't know it had a pocket OR a pen holder when I ordered it, but I like those too. Overall, it was a great purchase for those stitchers on the GO! Which I hope to be this year. lol.

So my birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and I'm trying to decide what to get myself. My original plan was to just get stuff from Amazon.ca. Books and movies/tv shows. Then I made the mistake of looking at a stitching shop online and now I sort of want the limited edition Miribilia fairy kits, Christmas Fairy and Halloween Fairy. They are 40 dollars each, which isn't TOO bad considering kitting it myself would probably cost way more. I DO want to stitch them, and it probably won't be this year, but they're limited and that's what is bugging me. If I don't do it, I'll regret it when I can't get them anymore, right?

I'm totally justifying this right now hahaha. What would you guys do?

I guess I need to stop wasting time and get stitching! I hope everyone is having a great day!

This is my weekend

2012-02-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

Yahooo! After 5 episodes of the Tudors and one episode of Hoarders, I finished Flareon!

2 more to go! Going to start on Espeon tomorrow I think. For the rest of the night I am going to work on Pinkie Pie and watch more Hoarders haha. :)

Happy Friday!

2012-02-17T13:01:00.000-08:00

I guess technically today is my "hump day", rather than Wednesday since this is the middle of my week as far as work goes.

Here is some progress on Pinkie Pie, she looks a lot less creepy now that she has her eyes! Still not looking forward to filling in all that pink, though :)

Next up, I received some mail this week from Evalina! I won one of her 12 days of Christmas giveaways. I can't tell you how much of a winner I feel right now hahaha.

Best part is I love chickadeeees!

Ok so, I love chocolate. LOVE. I can't express how much I LOVE chocolate. But my love of chocolate isn't so great that I will stand by and let the chocolate industry use child slaves to farm it. That is not cool. The World Cocoa Foundation isn't doing enough. We as consumers are not doing enough. Big companies have had over 10 years to fix this problem and yet nothing has been done. That left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Normally I don't join crusades, but this is really bothering me how we as consumers keep buying from these multi million dollar companies while they profit off the backs of child slavery. (Yes I know other industries also do the same, and I'll weed those ones out of my life as soon as I do more research!)

So anyway, what could I do? For one I stopped buying chocolate.

.... and I lasted about 3 weeks before I was dying. This has to be a real medical problem. Actually I think it had more to do with PMS from hell coming back haha.

And then I went to the internets! Fair trade can't be that hard to find, can it? Turns out it is closer than I thought! Here are some handy links for those interested in sticking it to the man and buying fair trade!
Divine Chocolate For USA/UK/world
For those in Canada, Camino and Ten Thousand Villages

I went to Ten Thousand Villages in town and was pleasantly surprised. They carry both brands of chocolate. I also bought Camino hot chocolate which I haven't tried yet BUT I WILL SOON! The Divine chocolate is very very good. Okay so they do cost a bit more. For a comparison, a Hershey bar of the same size as a Divine bar costs about 1.50-1.90, Divine costs 4.90. Camino hot chocolate is 7.00 a tin, for the same size in another brand about 4-5 dollars.

But for me, the increased cost is worth it. :)
Ok going to get off my soapbox now! :D I hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

Busy busy busy

2012-02-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have a full day of clients today which makes me very happy! So what has happened since I last checked in?

I've been working slowly on Flareon. I need to pick up the pace on these but since I tend to stitch them while watching Tim stream, lately it's been sloooooow. He's playing Kingdoms of Amalur, and while it looks like a really fun game to play, it's not so much fun to watch. Here is what I've done at any rate:


It has that angry rabbit look right now

I started Pinkie Pie this week while my other friend Ryan plays Bioshock 1. Sometimes I spend way more time watching games being played than playing them myself. :D


I may or may not get sick of the colour pink

Once I get the outline done I can mindlessly fill in the rest. It's reminding me of a paint by number or colouring book right now, and I like it! Using a Monaco fabric that I picked up at Michaels. It's a bit stiffer than what I'm used to, but it's still nice.

When my mom said she had a thrush, I thought she needed me to take her to the doctor. Apparently it's also a type of bird and we have a couple hanging out around our bird feeders this year! I've never seen them around before, and they sound sort of pretty.


Hi I'm a Varied Thrush and I've come to eat your seeds!

I've ordered my cats a new scratching post. Instead of you know, saving the excess money I made the last couple weeks, I've decided to spend it on the brats instead. There's a very local carpenter that makes them to order. Once I get paid he'll deliver it and the pet stairs I ordered for the dog. Emma is having problems getting on to the bed so I'm having him make her some stairs to help.

It's huggggggge! (that's what she said) and 120 bucks is a steal for one that big. In stores I'd be paying double or more for the same thing. I did have some changes made to it, like sisal on the front legs instead of carpet, no dangle toys, and the top bed was to be made bigger since I have two cats that would probably fight over who got to sleep there. now they both can! Pretty excited about it and I know my boys will love it. :)

That is it for now! Happy Stitching! :)

Whew!

2012-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

I've had one busy week so far. I do believe I've been watching one too many Hoarders episodes and decided that unless I purged NOW, I was on my way to being on an episode. I might have been over exaggerating all this in my head, but I couldn't take the risk. I ended up tossing and donating at least 50% of my things. I have only what I wear in my closet, purged the linens, and got rid of all the junk in the junk drawers. The spare room is now empty. From having 5+ storage boxes filled with THINGS, I'm down to 2. It's oddly satisfying. I loaded up Mom's vehicle today with everything and we took it all down to Value Village. ALL GONE!

Work has been oddly busy too the past couple weeks. I guess one of the workers is sick with some illness, and another broke her ankle? Whatever it is, I am really glad for all the extra work. I feel sort of bad that I'm only getting work because of their misfortune, but that's the nature of this business for us casuals. We are like vultures circling around waiting for someone to get sick or hurt, and we profit off it.

I found a cross stitch I did ages ago and Mom wanted me to frame it and send it to family on Vancouver Island, but after I washed it and framed it, I couldn't part with it LOL. I really like it, and can't believe I forgot about it!


Yeah.. couldn't send it lol. So cute!

I sent all the pictures I had on my walls to Value Village, so now I have room for my cross stitch!

My friend Tim is streaming Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning which looks pretty good so far, and I'm plugging along on his Pokemon while I watch. Here is the WIP of Flareon:

No progress on Follow Me this week, or Cougar. :( Priority right now is Pokemon/My Little Pony/Follow Me/Cougar in that order!

Anyway that's it for now. I'm off to work soon! :) Take care!

Ah another Saturday!

2012-02-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

I haven't been too productive this week, mostly due to playing too many games *cough Minecraft and WoW* I did do a bit on Follow Me though!

I really really like working with that Belle Soie silk. It's so nice and barely tangles at all. I also got my order from 123 Stitch that Tim put in for me, so I guess I better curb the gaming and get the other 3 Pokemon done for him.

Paladin is heading off to California when I finally get my stuff together. I'm also sending a cross stitch buddy the remainder of my Valdani threads that I used for Sunflower Fairy so she can do her own. There's enough left to do another!

Work has been keeping me a bit busy too this week. I had a couple new clients which is always sends my anxiety in a spin lol. Most of it's from not knowing exactly where they live. I use google maps and street view to help me prepare for the trip so I have some idea of what I'm looking for. Of course, trying to find people's houses in the dark makes it a bit more difficult. So small tip to everyone - have your address out where people can see it clearly! :)

Pinkie Pie is also on my list now to do, once I figure out the colours. There are 5 shades of pink that I need to figure out. The rest of the colours are easy. Last time I was at Michael's I grabbed a whole bunch of pinks in different shades to try and match with the pattern I have lol.

Totally just went off my To-Do list already haha. I like stitching for other people I guess!

Anyway that's about it for now. I leave you with a picture of Emma doing what I want to be doing right now, but I have work soon and can't!

plugging along

2012-01-31T10:51:00.000-08:00

No pictures today! I've been working on Follow Me, and I even put a few stitches on Cougar. That had me thinking. Cougar has been a UFO for at least 5 years, possibly more. When I was putting the stitches in, it felt different than what I remember. I do believe that when I bought cougar, it was really close to the time I started using Linen/evenweaves rather than aida. Probably not the best project to start on for a linen novice. It was also my first time in a real LNS. (which sadly is no more.) I'm much more confident on the linen now and really feel I can get this thing done so long as I keep working at it.

I also used to tape the edges. Cougar is all taped up and I'm cringing at it hahah. I stopped doing that ages ago!

Since I made the goal of no new stash (must.. resist..maybe something for my birthday? that's OK right? RIGHT?) and no finishing this year, I am getting a rather neat pile of rolled up stitching. For some reason I think that is really cool and I like looking at it when I open the drawer. I never thought I'd be the type to have finishes laying around, but here I am!

Well I better wrap this up, I'm taking Mom out to go for a bit of clothes shopping. Oh yeah, I totally have a rant about that. Why do clothing places think that the heavier you weigh, the taller you must be? And I mean this is from stores that make their money from clothes meant for larger women, so they should KNOW their clientele. 20 years ago when I bought pants, I was considered regular height. Now I have to shop in petites and I'm still 5'5" tall. That's not petite. I didn't suddenly shrink. rabblerabblerabble!

Take care!

Paladin finish!

2012-01-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

Yay Paladin is finally done. On Thursday I was super stoked to work on him thanks to everyone's motivation! Friday was a bust, thanks to MINECRAFT. I had full intention to work on it but Tim logged in earlier than he normally does and we ended up playing til I had work. Work was a full 6 hours packed with back to back clients. Then I came home and played MINECRAFT again til after 1am. Really cuts into stitching time so I don't recommend getting it hahah.

This morning I finished up the last bits I had. And would you believe I stitched and frogged the top part of his head 3 times? I did. I also made the mistake of watching/listening to NY INK on TLC and there was this really happy story about this girl who got implants in her ears that enable her to hear after 29 years of being deaf and I ended up crying through that. I'm a total sap.

I guess I should show paladin eh?


don't mind the cat butt

Happy Dance!

Another weekend flew by

2012-01-25T22:48:00.000-08:00

and I feel like I've accomplished nothing. For stitching anyway. I did do a lot of cleaning and laundry and spent a lot of time with my mom. I also got sucked into playing Minecraft for hours on end. What's fun about Minecraft is that you can make things with cross stitch patterns! My friend and I made this Pony from a pattern I found:

On to the updates! Paladin is really close to being done, and I keep waffling on working on it! mm waffles.

And I did a teeny bit more on Follow Me

That's about it for now. Hopefully by next update I'll have that darn dragon DONE! :)

Follow me

2012-01-21T16:12:00.000-08:00

I started Follow Me by Primitive Needle today. I couldn't stand having it in my to-do drawer any longer, not with my new Hardwicke Manor hoops sitting idle and that really yummy Belle Soie fiber sitting there. It is amazing to work with, and so soft. Too bad the stuff is like 7 dollars a skein. Wayy too expensive for this gal, if I had to use more than one colour, that is. I'm using the same fabric I'm doing Paladin on, Stormy Gray 28 count evenweave. I figured since it was supposed to be like a tombstone, it should be on a gray fabric. :)

I actually meant to save this project for October, but yeah. I'm glad I'm doing it now haha. Who knows, I might just stash it away til then now that I have gotten my new start fix in! That is the 8.5 inch hoop there. I'm really glad I bought them. They feel so nice!

Weezi wasn't ready for his close up apparently. Either that or the Ott-Lite was too bright for him haha.

I hope everyone is having a great Caturday! :)

I wanna be the very BEST

2012-01-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

Well remember all those Pokepatterns I found? I stitched up Umbreon!

Isn't it cute? That's one down, 3 more to go! Next up are Flareon, Evee, and Espeon.

I have a gripe with Michaels. You see, I was there the other day, and their thread section left a lot to be desired. I ended up having Tim order the rest of the thread that was needed to finish his pokemon because they were out of like all the colours I went there for. Grrr.

I also got my Hardwicke Manor Hoops, and I lubs them. I'm also very impressed with Traditional Stitches. They're based in Alberta (yay Canada) and Janice answered my questions I had about the hoops in a very timely manner, AND shipped them within 24 hours of ordering. She also packaged them very nicely. Overall I won't hesitate to do business again with her. As for the hoops, I got the 6 inch (5/16 width) and the 8.5" and 10" (5/8 width). The 10 is for cougar pretty much once I've dug her out of the craft storage.

I haven't been neglecting paladin!

In retrospect, I should have sucked it up and found where I made the error, because trying to work around it is driving me crazy (very short drive...). I'll be glad once it's done.

That's about it! Happy Stitching :)

Weekend!

2012-01-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

It's my weekend, yaaay. We had a bit of a snowfall overnight, which I can now enjoy. When I have to drive in it, I'm a complete mess anxiety-wise.

My vehicle is hiding behind our Christmas tree. I like having a potted one like that, we can bring it in during the holidays, and put it out for the birds to play in the rest of the year!

Here is my progress on paladin. Pre-Tudors. I'll be watching that all day while I stitch haha.

So here is the website to all the pokemon patterns. I had my friend pick out three that he liked. Espeon, Evee, and Umbreon. I'll be stitching up those three for him, and he picked out one more that he's going to attempt to stitch himself! That's right, he's going to learn to stitch! When I'm finished and ready to mail them to him, I'll also be sending fabric, the threads, needle, and hoop to get him started on his project. I also have a small DMC kit (very small) that I got from signing up for some cross stitch club they had a few years back to help teach other people to stitch that I'll send along as well.

I am a horrible teacher, but he's a smart cookie so I'm sure it won't be that hard. :D Once the snow clears a bit I'll head down to Michaels to pick up the supplies I need for the ~~three~~ four!

I hope everyone is having a great day. :)

I'm pretty awesome

2012-01-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

I was fooling around with blogspot settings the other day and disabled the comments link. Thankfully my friend Amanda emailed me about it lol. Whoops!

Still chugging along on paladin, but no pics just yet. I am a bit off on the pattern but I'm working around it. :)

I found a bunch of pokemon patterns (uh oh) and I know who is perfect for them. Which then led me to search for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic patterns.

I'm in trouble.

Late Night STITCHING like a boss.

2012-01-11T00:26:00.000-08:00

I had no time to stitch today after taking Mom out to her doctor's appointment, then took her to Costco and Shoppers Home Health and everywhere else she wanted to go. I did get Chinese food for lunch! omnomnom.

When I said getting Paladin halfway done the other day would be a stretch? Well it was. I finally hit the halfway mark just now.


This is what a dragon's butt looks like.

I'm off the mark somewhere in the pattern, but I'll just fudge my way through it because I am NOT going to look for where I made a mistake. I tried looking, I really did. I gave up and decided I can fix it somewhere else in the pattern rather than fret about it. Tomorrow (or I guess technically later today..) I'll start on page two.

That is it for now. I'm going back to watching my friend play Fallout New Vegas! :)

It was ~magic~

2012-01-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I took over some of my finishes to my favourite client to look at. She really makes me feel like a superhero stitcher. How can you not feel proud of your work when she's gushing over every little stitch! I love it.
Afterwards we moved into her living room, and I spotted her embroidery hoop. I picked it up and immediately fell in love. It was obviously old, and very very very well used. The wood was warm and smooth and so inviting to touch. (MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER, PEOPLE. (Only room for mine in this gutter haha)) This is something that only years of use would accomplish. It felt ~magical~

It was at that moment, with flashes to my plastic hoops and Qsnaps at home, that I didn't feel right using them.

I have decided that for my birthday this year, I am going to get a Hardwicke Manor Hoop, and maybe one day after years of use, my hoop will feel just as magical. :)

I also think that it's time to bring out an old BAP/UFO. All this talk about it has me wanting to work on it again. It's Cougar by Sue Coleman, picture seen here:

He's so pretty, but so BIG. I feel overwhelmed by him.

That's how far I got. I'm really starting to feel motivated though to work on him again, so I think that once I am done Paladin, I'll get this guy out and into the TOP DRAWER (used for projects that take longer, where Paladin is now). Second drawer is used for my smaller projects.

That is it for now my friends. Time to grab some food, put on the Tudors, and get stitching! :)

Buzzzzz... a finish!

2012-01-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

Buzzzz finished up super fast, or the fact I worked on him all day yesterday into the wee hours of the morning. I love the little buttons. It does look washed out, but I blame my phone. Sometimes it takes really great pictures, other times it does not. Anyway, here is Buzzzz by Bent Creek!

It's back to work on Paladin. When I last left the dragon back in November, he looked like this:

I've gotten a bit done already today while watching the Tudors.

I'm hoping to get a real big chunk of this done today. Aim is half the dragon done, but that might be a bit of a stretch! I hope everyone is having a great day. :)

Finish for Ham

2012-01-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

Finally got Ham's stitch done today, hurray! I really like Lilac by WDW, so pretty!

I'll get a little frame for it. I'm sure she'll love it. :) I also got started on Buzzzz by Bent Creek. Been itching to make that for weeks now haha.

I'm using African Daisy 28 count jobelan and I love the colour! Good choice for Buzzzz I think. :D I'm missing Oatmeal thread so I'm going to have to find a suitable replacement in my stash for it. Also, here is my "work" drawer

I think after Buzzzz I'll continue on with Paladin. He's starting to turn into a UFO and I can't have that!

This is going to be LONG. (That's what she said)

2012-01-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

I have a lot to say today! I haven't done much stitching as I'd have liked. Dec 31st started out like any other day, I felt fine except for a bit of a tummy ache. I went to work and about halfway through my night ache gets worse. Of course I'm with a client. Something is definitely not right so I tell the client I have to go and race out of there. I call the office and tell them I feel really sick and booked the rest of the night off. Just as I get home the barfing starts. BLAH I tell you! I call the office again and say hey, I'm throwing up and everything that goes with it (BM, chills, etc). I had to book off Jan 1st too, which is a stat holiday, which means I have to go get a doctor's note for it. Great.

Jan 1st I don't feel much better but at least the throwing up has stopped, but I attribute that to not eating or drinking anything. I find a walk in clinic open and go get my note. I hate going to the doctor. It always takes like an hour to see them, for 5 mins of their time. My head is aching, my back is aching. Everything is aching and I'm hungry but too scared to eat! Monday I felt much better, but I still had the headache and a really bad back ache.

Tuesday I feel almost like myself again. Mom and I went out in the morning to do some errands. I had to fax in my sick note, go to the bank, and then we went shopping. I had to take back to Michaels some ribbon I bought. It was supposed to be on sale, but I ended up paying full price for it (who really pays full price for ribbon. Full price was 7 dollars!) I get my money back on those and pick up a couple plaint brushes I forgot to get when I bought the ribbon. I basically got this stupid idea that I need to make Pikachu christmas ornaments, so I have all the materials now to do it!

We went to Petsmart and it was really hard to resist the urge to buy Emma a pink jacket. THEY WERE ON SALE OK. I don't know how I managed to leave the store without one. I did, however, make a hefty purchase there. Have you guys heard of the FURminator deshedding tool? It claims to reduce the amount of hair your pets shed. I wasn't going to buy it, but the fact I have little white dog hair on EVERYTHING (even in MY HAIR) gave me pause to look at this a little closer. I watched the video demonstration (hopefully with my mouth closed, I can't remember) and turned the package over and over in my hand. This brush is 60 dollars. That's a lot of money. And cross stitch things I could be buying. I did have some Christmas monies leftover. Well I bought the dumb thing, took it home and tried it out on the dog. And..

a lot of hair came off my dog. You have to be careful not to scrape your pet, but she seemed to like how it felt, and all this hair was coming off of her. Since she's a small dog, I didn't have to spend much time combing through. I left it at that. Wasn't til a few hours later when I was in my chair with her beside me that I noticed when I pet her, no hair was coming out. This is unheard of. I've tried different combs and brushes before, but it always felt like a never ending battle. I could brush and brush brush all day and still she'd be shedding all over the place an hour later.

At this point I am super excited and decided my next best idea would be to chase down the cats. Weezi was ok with the combing and it did the same job on him, lots of hair came off, minimal shedding later. Koneko on the other hand, wasn't going to have any of this so I've resorted to catching him off guard and getting in a few swipes here and there when he's not looking.

My friend in AUS has been streaming Deus Ex: Human Revolution for me while I was sick/trying to stitch. The game is over (what a great game, too.) and I am completely in love with Adam Jensen now. Here are pictures of my new Husband to Be

Just look at that glare. /swoon

Don't mind the half cyborg thing. He's really sensitive under all that bioengineering. Excuse me I think I need a moment. Why yes, Adam, I'll run away with you.

Ok! He's streaming Fallout New Vegas for me now which is pretty good too, but it doesn't really have a main character with a lot of personality. I like the story though.

Oh yeah, and I managed to take a picture of Ham, the 24 year old cat!

He's really scruffy looking haha. After I took the picture he got up to beg for treats. What a guy. He doesn't work for free, apparently!

And to remind myself I don't need any new cross stitch things this year, I went through my emails with all my purchases last year. I spent 480 dollars on Stash last year before shipping. shipping takes that total up to 528 eeek. I should do 2010 too, but not right now. I don't want to see how much I spent then lol.

Hopefully the rest of my year is better than the start of it!

This is how "exotic fibers" get into my work

2011-12-29T23:46:00.000-08:00

I was trying to stitch, but somehow this ended up on my lap and my stitching away from me.

Can't believe the year is almost over!

2011-12-28T13:22:00.001-08:00

The time seems to be flying by so fast. I don't even know where my year went. :( Christmas has come and gone, and my body decided to give me the PMS from Hell again so it's not been a very enjoyable one. I'm still not over it. I seriously just want a hysterectomy, but I'm too young and everyone thinks I'll want kids some day. I don't want kids, and I'm tired of my girl parts making my life horrible whenever it decides to feel like it. :(

I started one of the Britty Kitties, which I have decided to give to a client of mine who has a 24 year old cat named Ham. He's really cute, but the past couple weeks he's been slowing down and not eating as much. I mean, the cat has lived way longer than most cats, so him passing away at some point isn't exactly a surprise. But it will devastate her. I always make sure to fuss over him every time I visit. He gets fresh water, creamo, and Whiskas Temptations (or what I like to call, Kitty Crack), and lots and lots of petting. He's missing some front teeth so his lips curl in, and when you pet him enough he starts to drool all over the place haha.

So yeah, I'm making that for her because at some point he's not going to be around and I want something for her to remember him by :) I changed the kitty colour from black to orange to match what he looks like.When I get a bit more stitched in I'll take a picture.

I went to Michaels today because I got it in my head that I want to make Pikachu christmas ornaments. I now have all the materials to make 8 of them! That should be fun. Of course I forgot to pick up some paintbrushes. I'll figure something out!

Anyway I have work tonight and then it's probably straight to bed with me and the hot water bottle. Take care everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

2012 Projects!

2011-12-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! I have fallen off the face of the Earth! Ok so I haven't, but I also haven't really been stitching too much the past couple weeks and don't have much to show you on Paladin. I have been working on him, just not enough for a TA-DA picture. :)

I did however, take pictures of my stash for next year, in their ziplocks and all. I know, I should be a professional photographer. (yeah I couldn't keep a straight face either.)

First up is Britty Kitty Stocking. I keep wanting to change the cat on the foot to a dog, since I have 2 cats and a dog, but I don't have a britty dog pattern in my stash that would go there. I'll survive, I guess. Anyway, this stocking will be done on 28 count Queen Anne's Lace with all the fibers and buttons it calls for. It'll be the first project of the year as it will be a SAL piece! I can't wait to get started. Needles ready!

Next up is Follow Me by Primitive Needle. It was the pattern I just HAD to have. I haven't decided on the fabric yet, if I'll use stormy grey or something darker. I do have one skein of the Belle Soile silk with it. I love touching that silk. Pretty sure it's going to be all grimy and frayed by the time I get around to stitching with it.

And then there are more Britty Kitties. I and II to be exact! These will probably be spaced out through the year. I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I'm thinking of a collage of frames with them in them. I think that would look nice. They'll also be done on 28 count Queen Anne's Lace.

Let's see. How about some Buzzzz by Bent Creek. I am horrified of bees. I've jumped out of my vehicle before at the sight of a been inside. In my defense, I ~am~ allergic to their sting. Not to the point that I would DIE if I got stung, but enough to freak me the heck out. Here's to hoping I can get over my fear of bees and stitch this cute little one up. Maybe I could leave the bee to the last and stitch it with my eyes closed? I have 2 fabrics waiting on this one, and I might get an opinion later on which to use. Babbling Brook (blue) or African Daisy (yellow). I'm leaning towards the yellow, but we'll see when I do my floss toss later!

I have a 2011 Santa to make as well! I already bought the frame for it, to match the 2010 Santa. It'll be done on Summer Khaki with the required DMC threads.

And flip Santa around and we have Summer Splendor by Little House Needleworks. It'll also be done on the Summer Khaki. I have all the threads now for it. Might end up saving this one for Summer. I know. Original.

Next up will be Letter S by Nora Corbett. I've actually had this one in my stash for awhile, since last March I think? Might have been a birthday present to myself. Something like that. There is a floss toss somewhere back in the archives. I'll be using a pinky pink fabric. Raspberry Lite. Which will have me humming Raspberry Beret by Prince every time I think about it. I'm doing it now. AAAAAAAARGH. She wore a raspberry beret, the kind you find in a second hand store. a raspberry beret, if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more. Darnit. Worst part is I have a body wash called Raspberry Sorbet. Now you know what I sing in the shower.

I have Messenger by FireWing Designs. I picked out Threadworx Leather and Lace, which is sort of a dark brown and white fibre. Still waffling on that. I have a 28 count fabric in Desert Stone that I am thinking of using for it. It's a dark brown. We shall see!

More Christmas stitchings! by Stitchy Kitty I have Christmas Kitty Moon. I even bought those round metal plate things that you put your stitching on one and a backing fabric on the other, then glue together. sort of a cheater's way of finishing, but it looks cool. I'll be trying those out this year with this pattern. For such a small pattern, there are loads of embellishments. The fuzzy stuff and krenik and rainbow gallery something or other. Using the recommended fabric (millennium blue) and fibers. I've tried to stitch this pattern twice before. Once on a jazlyn opal fabric that had me raging so hard that I threw it out in a fit of anger, and then again on a white evenweave but it looks so blah that I never finished. I have the blue so hopefully third time will be the charm! (seriously, who gets angry at fabrics? ME)

And there you have it folks! These are my 2012 goals, and barring some gaming disaster (Diablo 3 and Warcraft Mists of Pandaria coming out next year kind of disasters) I should be able to get them all done.

My biggest goal for next year is to pay off my student loan. I have about 3500 left on it. I really want it over and done with, because 2013 I'd like to get a new car. My work requires a good car, and I'm sort of sick of paying 75+ dollars every two weeks to fill mine up. The stitching goal is no new stash next year (unless it's gifted to me) to save money.

Doesn't stop me from going all crazy NOW with my money. I did get a Nintendo 3DS in PINK!!! which I am really excited for. I traded my old one for Mario Kart 7, I have Nintendogs+Cats which came with it, and I bought Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I know that for Christmas I'll be getting 2 more games, so that should do me too for next year. :) I'm set for gaming and stitching. Now it's time to save save save!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and an awesome New Year!

Gift!

2011-12-10T09:22:00.001-08:00

I have a friend named Megan who lives in Japan and she always sends such nice cards each year, this year I received a surprise! This is a little felt pouch, making me wonder what could be inside!

Yes I had already opened it lol. I couldn't wait to find my phone for pictures :D ANYWAY. I found this inside! /drumroll

Isn't it so cute? Going to be very fun to make!

I've always wanted to make her something, but because she's not actually from Japan (she's working there) I always figure that if she ever decides to go home, she doesn't really need something else to pack. I think that I'm going to do it anyway! I have a project in mind already! (and thankfully I have all the materials for it haha)

On the stitching front, I haven't really done anything. I feel like I'm waiting for the new year. I'm itching to start all my kitted up projects, but holding myself back til January lol. I keep opening up the drawer to admire all the kitted projects. I know, I'm weird. Thankfully I'm in good company as I'm pretty sure every one of you do the same :)

Crazy!

2011-11-30T23:31:00.001-08:00

Oh look at me, resting on my laurels after last week's stitch-o-mania with not one, but two finishes! And I haven't touched a thing since. Ok so World Of Warcraft might have my attention with the new 4.3 patch that came out on Tuesday. Oh how sometimes I hate having 2 hobbies that love to conflict with each other!

And of course, Nintendo is finally releasing their 3DS in PINK so I'll be saving up my pennies to get that. I refused to buy it til it came out in pink, and now it is. Ocarina of Time and new Mario Kart, here I come!

While I was out with my Mom the other day, I came across this mug.

I had to have it. I didn't even care that it was 12.99 - a most horrible price for a mug. There was only one, and my Mom was saying something about "it's almost Christmas... " but I wasn't listening. It took all of my willpower not to do a horrible rendition of Xena's battle-cry in the store as I rushed towards this most marvelous mug. I hope nobody was watching me.

Buzzzz finally came in the mail today, which had me wondering why it took 26 days to get here when the other shipment only took 14. Maybe our sled dogs were napping, or something. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to do it on African Daisy (yellow) or Babbling Brook (blue) Jobelan. I really like both the fabrics, and I think it would look great on either one of them. Oh! You know what I absolutely love about 123Stitch? That they serge the edges of the fabrics. Such a small thing that makes a huge difference.

Anyway! That's aboot it from me for now! Happy Stitching. :D

Shopping !

2011-11-25T14:46:00.001-08:00

I asked my Brother for Gingher scissors for Christmas. Michaels have their regular chrome plated embroidery ones with the tin for 29.99. Since he is clueless, I took a 50% off coupon there today to buy them for him to give me LOL.

When I got to the register, they came up at a clearance price of 13.99. I asked her if the stork ones would be on sale too? She said she didn't know so I ran back to get them. They came up regular price BUT I still had the 50% coupon hahah.

I gave him the sale ones to give me later, and I now have a pretty pair of Gingher Storks to add to my collection! :D

Sunflower Finish!

2011-11-23T11:59:00.001-08:00

And She is done :) Started around May 30th, Finished November 23rd. Used all materials it called for.

Another off the 2011 Bucket list. I almost feel accomplished. :D

Wine a Bit Finish

2011-11-22T21:13:00.001-08:00

And it is done! I have a couple people who love their wine and thought of them when I was making this pattern haha. I don't know who I'll send it to. :)

I also spent a good part of the day with Sunflower Fairy, who is coming along very nicely. I even did some of the beading. I'm still undecided about the beading around the skirt bottom as I sort of like it the way it is. We shall see. :) It'll be nice to get her done as she has been a WIP since May 30th!

I'll be focusing on her now until she is finished, and then it's on to Paladin.

I'm also excited about next year as I just may have my first SAL! It will be the Britty Kitty Christmas Stocking, so if anyone else has that pattern in their stash, Evalina and I will be doing it next year. Put in your material orders now! :D

That is it for now, Happy Stitching everyone :)

Yay for Stitching!

2011-11-21T17:58:00.001-08:00

I've been puttering around all day and have actually gotten some stitching done! I also went through my stash and kitted up next year's projects. While I'm not joining in on the Crazy January Challenge, I do have a list. What's funny is that I'm only 5 projects off the challenge. When I first made this list, there was only 7, but it has ballooned to 10! My list is in no particular order.

Messenger by Fire Wing Designs
Summer Splendor by LHN
2011 Santa by Prairie Schooler
Letter S by Letters by Nora Corbette
Follow Me by Primitive Needle
Christmas Kitty Moon by Stitchy Kitty
Britty Kitty Christmas Stocking by Brittercup Designs
Britty Kitties I & II by Brittercup Designs
Cat Lessons for People by Lizzie*Kate
Buzzzz by Bent Creek

This may even be 2 year projects lol. I am paying off my Student Loan next year, so no stash/no finishing (oh I'm itching at the credit card already hahaha)

So here is my photo updates. First up is Wine A Bit by Lizzie*Kate. I'm hoping to get it done tomorrow!

I also worked a bit on Paladin:

aaaaaand a good chunk done on Sunflower Fairy. I am so close to being done this one!

I also feel like a real needleworker now. I bought my first pair of Ginghers! The Just Nan needleslide was also too cute and I decided I needed that too.

Back to the scissors though (That sounds like a movie that NEEDS TO BE MADE), I love them. I love the feel. The weight. The smooth cutting action. I'd sleep with these scissors if I could get away with it. Maybe when they are duller. Yes..

Ahem. And I forgot to mention I bought myself a new TV the other day! My 19" Sony Bravia in White and Pink just wasn't cutting it anymore and I upgraded to a 32" LG. It's soo nice! With that came a really nice garage sale find TV armoire. The thing weighs about 400 pounds being solid wood, and it was only 50 bucks!

The only problem with the new armoire was that it was taller than the last one, and there happened to be a loose tile in the ceiling. I then noticed I was missing a cat. Weezi decided going between the floors was the best idea he's EVER had. I had to use the duck jerky to get him to come down. Thankfully all I have to say is "duck" and he comes running. What's really sad is that I can make the CAT come to me but Emma doesn't listen to me at all! My old cat Tomis learned how to shake a paw, sit, speak, and beg on command. Emma? can't (or won't) do a damn thing. :D

That's about it for now :) Happy Stitching!

The gal who put the boob back in the boobtube!

2011-11-15T17:09:00.001-08:00

I love technology. I embrace it. I love having a million gadgets for everything you can think of! I also buy my Dad gadgets because he love them as much as I do. I even have an e-Reader for books, in pink of course!

And as much as I love my pink e-Reader, nothing beats that new book smell. Or even that old book smell. One day all our reading materials will be electronic. From novels to newspapers to magazines, if you want to read, you'll be doing it on an e-reader, a tablet, your phone, or your computer. Until that last day, I'll be buying physical books while I can! My order from Amazon came in today. I made sure to get nice thick novels for the winter. I'm going to need them.

Helen of Troy and Elizabeth I by Margaret George, and Cleopatra: a Life by Stacy Schiff. I love me some historical fiction! Oh, and don't mind the DVD hahah. I don't have great taste in movies. :) "I'm Elvira, but you can call me... tonight"

I haven't really don't much stitching. Like the weather, my mood has been cold and dark lately. Work has been super stressful, mostly because I take it hard when a client and I don't get along. Even if it's not my fault. >< Whenever you have to work with people, it's inevitable that there's going to be people you don't get along with, no matter how hard you try to please them. This is just one of those cases. Doesn't stop me from feeling bad about it, though!

Maybe once I get some of my stash shipments in I'll feel more motivated, but until them I'm not going to stress about it. The great part about stitching is that it'll always be there to pick up when I DO feel like it!

That's it for now, folks. Happy Stitching!

Raise your hands

2011-11-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

If you have spent more time SHOPPING for cross stitch stash than actually STITCHING what you have?

~raises~ I've been doing just that this past week. My order from SBaB is on it's way (FINALLY. Only took almost a month!) and I have not one, but TWO orders from 123Stitch going (one on the way, one I put in this morning >.>)

I've told myself that I am DONE. Everything (and more) of what I want to do next year has been ordered. Now it's time to work work work these hands and create all these things.

Anyway I am going to cut this one short because I want to actually do something stitchy today. :D Have a great day! :D

Happy Hallowe'en!

2011-10-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

I've eaten wayy too much chocolate :) Things have been super busy around here with work. whew! Nice to be busy. I haven't gotten in as much stitching as I'd have liked, that's for sure!

So you know that pattern I was drooling over last post? I ordered it, and the Belle Soie silk thread to go with it. I'm guessing I only need one skein, but if I need more? It'll give me an excuse for another order hah! AND in typical fashion, my order ended up being more expensive. I bought a pair of Ginghers. It'll be my first pair. I justified that by telling myself that it'll be my Christmas present. I don't exactly have anyone who would buy me something like that, and also it had to be ordered online and my family don't do the whole online thing like I do.

Emma is freaking out over the fireworks currently being set off. The other house dog, Lady (who belongs to my mother) is also scared of the sounds so she's fretting about in her "bedroom". Poor gals :( Technically there shouldn't BE fireworks going off as they are illegal, but people smuggle them up from the States or buy them from dodgey vendors here.

Since we've already had our thanksgiving, my Christmas shopping officially starts on November 8th (payday woo!) I take the easy route and buy 90% of the stuff from Amazon.ca. Free shipping and I don't have to get out of my pajamas. That's a serious bonus right there. DOWN WITH CLOTHES. UP WITH PAJAMAS (or is that supposed to be miniskirts?) Thankfully I only have a couple people in my family to buy for, and they like books and DVDs! :D

That's about it for now. I hope to have pictures of my WIPs soon! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Hallowe'en. Take care! :)

I fell in love

2011-10-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

For some reason, lately I've had this urge to stitch something a little morbid. Maybe it's the season getting to me. Then I saw this pattern at 123Stitch! Follow Me by Primitive Needle. I'm waffling right now about it. At first I was thinking I'd get the pattern and all the materials it calls for. I added that up and it would be over 30~ odd US dollars. For one pattern, one piece of fabric, and one silk skein.

I really don't know about you guys, but that seems rather excessive. I'm no stranger to paying an arm and a leg for supplies, but that seems a bit much. Now I'm thinking I'll just get the pattern and the silk, taking it down to about 17 US.

I know I can't ask you guys what I should do. Enablers. All of you! I'll think about it some more, but that pattern is calling to me!

My Blizzcon weekend came and went and I didn't get much done as I was having too much fun watching the Costume/Dance competitions, and keeping up with the WoW and Starcraft Tournaments. I did pull out Sunflower Fairy and as I was stitching, I kept getting more and more frustrated with the fabric. I've complained before about it being 32 count and hard to see, but this is just.. really discouraging. I'm using what it called for - Copper Penny 32 count Linen by Wichelt Imports. The Valdani threads like to twist a lot, too, and no amount of untwisting is making my stitches look any better. Everything just looks uneven and sloppy.

There. I said it. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself, but I shall soldier on. And never work on that sort of fabric again. 28 count Jobelan ALL THE WAY. This happened once before when I bought a small piece of jazlyn opal. It looked so cute and sparkly and bluish. Working on it was a nightmare. I ended up tossing what I WAS working on because of how frustrating it was!

I kitted up Wine a Bit by Lizzie*Kate and it's currently in my project bag ready to go. I'll be taking it with me tomorrow as I'm going with Mom to the doctors and I'll need something to do while I wait. I have a guildmate in the wine making business so I was thinking of sending it to him, or failing that, I know other people who do like their wine. :D

Still no update on my order :(. The money sure got taken out right away though. lol.

Oh and I'd like to welcome new followers! Thank you for the comments, I really appreciate them. I'll try to do the same but I can tell you now I'm a complete scatterbrain. I read all your posts, and then have this really cool reply ready to go and completely forget to actually REPLY!

Confession!

2011-10-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I have a confession to make.

I hate waiting for out of stock items.

Really hate it. When I buy from Amazon, I make sure I see that the item is in stock, otherwise I don't want it. With my OLN, I can't see that, and so here I am 12 days later waiting for an out of stock fabric. It's totally irrational too, since these things are for next year so it's not like I need them right now.

Oh well, I'll get over it!

I haven't done much stitching. I can't even remember what I did on my days off? I don't know what happened with work but I'm getting full days of it. Being casual it can be pretty hit or miss. Some days I only have one client, others I'm swamped. Lately it's been the swamp. Not that I'm complaining, no. The extra money will come in quite handy for more stash.

You didn't see that. Here is my little bit of an update on Paladin.

I should have a couple good stitch days in coming up. Friday and Saturday I have off, so I can watch Blizzcon online. Really geeky, I know. I stream it on my computer, load up on munchies, and stitch while I watch/listen to what's going on. Can't wait! I hope to have a nice chunk of either Paladin or Sunflower done to show you guys. :)

Take care!

I love my Saturdays

2011-10-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

I also love this sort of weather. It's cold out but sunny, and the leaves are starting to change. Ahh fall. They're predicting a really cold winter this year on the Wet Coast. The coldest in 20 years but we shall see!

Despite loving the current weather, you know what I did all morning? Sat my butt in the La-Z-Boy and stitched on Paladin while watching crappy TV. :D I'm also on Ventrilo with some gaming buddies. It's like Skype but no video, and you push a key to talk. I guess I could set it up so I don't need to push a key to transmit, but I don't think they need to hear the occasional mouth breathing from me, or yelling at the pets when they decide to jump in the middle of my stitching. I also tend to swear at the TV when something dumb happens. :)

Anyway here is my progress on Paladin!

I also managed to get Emma to sit still for 2 seconds for a picture. I was about to show said picture but then I noticed all the open Nestle Liquid tea boxes in the background, and an empty glove box on the floor. So I guess I'll have to tidy up a bit and THEN try to get her to sit still again! :D I love year long projects like that, don't you?

I have 4 hours of work tonight, and then it's straight to bed with me. I have to be up at 5am-ish for 7-12 shift, and then again from 6-9pm. Long day ahead, but I have time in between for a nap!

Take care! :)

New start

2011-10-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! After my big finish I decided on a quick and easy Signet dragon by Fire Wing designs. I've already done Warrior this year, and 3 of the 4 little ones. This one is called Paladin. Earlier this year an online friend of mine whom I've known for ages moved into his very own apartment, and while he was taking pictures, I noticed that something I made ages ago was on his kitchen wall.

I sorta laughed at how simple and small it looks now, and earmarked Paladin for him, but first I had to finish what I was already working on!

I chose a fabric from my stash called Storm Gray, and I'm using Threadworx in Lava Rocks. Any picture you might see of this fabric does not do it justice. It really looks like a stormy sky. Absolutely love looking at it! Here is a start to it:

And I wonder why I get so much cat hair in my stitching that I have to pick out.. :)

That's about it for now. Less chat, more stitch!

Happy Dance.

2011-10-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

She loved it! And it fit perfectly in her Baby Signs classroom. That makes me a happy panda. :) So here are a couple pics!

I'm very happy with how well it stitched up. There are a couple goofs in there, but I leave them in because I don't believe anyone or anything should be perfect. :) Since it was a kit, I used the Crescent Colours threads that came with it. I used a 28 count jobelan fabric in uhm. I think it was Chai Tea. very subtle colour changes in the fabric.

So there you have it, mystery project unveiled! :D

A note

2011-10-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update since I should be in bed, as 5am rolls around really fast! I finished the Lizzie*Kate earlier today and framed it. I'm working out the details to visit friend on Monday so I'll hopefully update then when she has it. I am so happy it's done and I can't wait to give it to her.

To the Canadians out there, Happy Thankgiving! I'll be having the turkey dinner on Monday as it's my day off. Just need to get through my split shift tomorrow! I have my eye on the pie :)

whoo whoo

2011-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm very close to finishing the Lizzie*Kate, and I'm getting excited about framing it and taking it over to my friend's house. I don't know if she reads my blog, but I'm sorta hoping she doesn't so that this is actually a surprise! (if you're reading this, act surprised!!!!) It's such a perfect project for her. I haven't seen her in ages, either. Mostly because she's busy with babies, and I'm well, a total recluse. Once I have it over to her I'll be able to post a proper picture. :)

I have my shopping cart filled over at Stitching Bits and Bobs with my order which should be put in around Friday. I've been modifying it all week, lol. I may have another pair of scissors in there, and another kelmscott needle minder..Yeah. can't help myself. There needs to be a support group for that. All I can find are enablers. :D

My search for a flower frog is proving fruitless. Of course I have a certain one in mind, which I can't seem to find around here. I can online, but I don't buy off eBay or etsy or well, anywhere else for that matter. my online shopping consists only of SBaB, 123 stitch!, Amazon.ca, and Blizzard Entertainment lol. When I did my Fort Langley antique store crawl a few weeks ago, all I found were the lids, no bottoms. Not even one that stands on it's own. Actually that's not true, I did find a really pretty green one that could stand on it's own, but there was a huge crack in it and I wasn't willing to live with that. There was also a jasperware one, which is like wedgewood, but I have my sights set on one with a pink glass bowl, lace edge, and white frog on top.

I'm really the most annoying person like that. Once I get the idea in my head, nothing else will do. Like that stupid fish bowl. (which btw, I still love looking at. my fish are so cute!) and those little ceramic birds..

ahem. That's it for now! Going to get a bit more stitching in before I head off to work for the evening. :) Happy stitching!

I need to work on my picture taking skills.

2011-09-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Funny how finding time to stitch is easy when you're not constantly sleeping (or working!). Been chipping away at Sunflower while uhm.. watching some of the Cali vs Murray trial. I duno about manslaughter, but the guy's gross negligence certainly didn't help. I don't think he set out to intentionally be malicious, and that MJ was probably close to death as it was. What the doctor did after the fact may have saved him, but in this case, what he didn't do lead to him not being able to be resuscitated at all. Sad case. I don't know if I could really be a juror. All the blah blah blah without being able to stitch or do anything would drive me bonkers.

So on to the bad pic of Sunflower!

I did manage to go through my Stash with help from my cats, of course. I narrowed it down to:
Mira's Letter S for which I have all the materials for,
Cat Lessons for People if I haven't done it this year (have all materials),
Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa (need fabric),
some of the Britty Kitties I, II, The Britty Kitty Stocking (need fibers, buttons, and fabrics), even though I don't know how I am going to even finish the thing,
the Christmas Kitty ornament by Stitchy Kitty (need fabric and button),
Messenger by Fire Wing designs (need pattern and fiber).

I'll be putting my order in when I get my HST rebate cheque in October for the rest of the fabrics and fibers I need for those, and then I shall be set!

I still have some smaller patterns too that I recently bought, Summer Splendor by LHN and Wine a Bit by Lizzie*Kate which I'll also get around to doing at some point, too!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the creators of puppy pee pads. Emma absolutely refuses to go outside when it's raining. Or snowing. It's been very fall type weather with rain, and here she is standing at the door looking out, then looking at me with this DO I HAVE TO look on her face. I tell her that she is a dog and indeed must go outside to do her business. So she goes out and I close the door. I kid you not, not even 1 min later she's jumping incessantly at the door, ruining whatever finish it used to have on it. I ended up buying a 150 pack of puppy pee pads because it feels like it's going to be a long and cold winter.

I wonder who has who trained?

Waking up is hard to do!

2011-09-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

For some reason the sore throat and general malaise that I had in August came back and I'm just getting over it again now. Since it happened twice I went to the doctor but she didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. It's super annoying because all I've been doing is sleeping! I even took off the second half of my Sunday shift because I was feeling so crappy.

I learned fast that I'm bad at deadlines, so that deadline of having ABC done by October went out the window. Whoops. Maybe by November? :D I am working on another WIP that I haven't touched in awhile, and that's Mirabilia's Sunflower Fairy!

It looks like I missed a spot on the wing with the dark blue line, but it's there. I went and looked after I took the picture because I thought I skipped it lol. Loving the colours.

One of the Blogs I follow was talking about doing a challenge next year to use what she has, and it really got me thinking that I might do just that. I'm sure we all have a ton of stash that we probably should be working on rather than buying more. At least I do. :)

So far this year I've done not too bad on my bucket list. Once I finish ABC of parenting and Sunflower here, I have 2 projects left on the list. Paladin by Fire Wing Designs, and Rules for Cat People by Lizzie Kate. Of course throughout I've also done a bunch of the Signet dragons for friends, and the halloween ornament which were not on the list. :D

I think that in the next couple weeks I'm going to go through my stash and decide just what I want to work on next year. I usually do a big stash buy in December/January of fabrics which I'll have to do again since I'm running low again. We'll see! I'll narrow it all down to basics and try to use what I have.

I switched out my summer bedding to the fall/winter. Fleece sheets, extra blankets, and a darker duvet cover because my darling Emma likes to run in from outside and immediately jump on the bed. When it's dry out that is not a problem. I had this idea in my head that I'd get this girly dog and name her Emma. What I ended up with is a dog who likes to kill wildlife, roll in it's guts, and find the most muddy part of the yard to dig in. At least she's named Emma?

Anyway that's about it for now, I have a desire to go through my stash!

Feels a bit like Fall now

2011-09-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Lots of rain and clouds and wind. Really starting to feel like fall.

I tried my hand at a flat ornament today after quickly stitching up Frightful by It's DaffyCat. I just used what I had on hand, and I don't really have a fancy edger tool since I want to make a few things to practice on before I splurge on tools.

Anyway! Here S/he is!

It's being squished by my Egyptian Mythology books at the moment to make sure it stays flat while the glue dries. For a first attempt I think it's ok. I could have been a bit more precise with the measurements, but I couldn't be bothered finding a ruler lol.

Things I need for next time: RULER LOL! and a cutting mat so I don't go and mark up my Alex unit, and patience. :)

/wave!

2011-09-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

My weekends are usually super busy with work, and today I am working a split shift so I don't have much time to do anything since I usually nap between shifts hah!

I do however, have a couple of links I would like to share that have come into radar the past week or so.

Nazis, needlework, and my dad is a very interesting read, about how a POW in WW2 passed the time in very interesting ways. I was never much into learning about anything to do with the Wars, but then I started working for people who had been in them. Through personal stories of others, both from the German POV and the Allies, it's made me appreciate and want to learn all I can about the people.

Something I didn't know was that my Great Grandfather served, and was actually at a very famous Battle of Vimy Ridge. Not only did he survive that when so many perished, he saved a man who never forgot it. He was buried under mud after a mortar landed close by, and my Great Grandfather dug him out. My Grandma has the newspaper clipping the saved man wrote years later. Unfortunately my Great Grandfather died from illness when he was 28, only a few months after my Grandma was born. Great Granddad, I salute you. :)

Next story I just heard about but has been around forever probably, is Fine Cell Work. It's a program aimed at inmates to help rehabilitate them, PLUS you can buy some of their handywork. Amazing, really! I know cross stitching has helped me through some times in my life when I really needed something to focus on. There really is nothing more calming for me than a needle and thread and the ability to create something beautiful.

I don't have any progress pics to show at the moment as work has me busy, so I just wanted to share those links for now! Take care everyone. :) Oh and forgive any typos, I'm not wearing my glasses right now. :D

Ahoy!

2011-09-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished second Dragon that will he heading towards New Zealand in a couple days when I decide to leave the house for something other than work.

You may notice he is missing something. Yeah. I ran out of thread. BUT I think he looks okay without it. :D I'm pretending it's somewhere infront of him, just out of our vision. Yep. I have to iron them both, get them in the envelope and then convince myself that putting on a bra and going to the post office isn't really like heading into Mordor.

I was at a client's the other day and she had her cross stitch stash out. I was giddy with excitement, and basically threw myself on her floor so I could go through the box of stuff. I really tried not to roll around in it, but even if I had, she would have understood. She had a lot of prairie schooler patterns from the 90s which doesn't sound old until I do the math. She also pulled out all the little ornaments she stitched way back as well. I really wish I could have taken pictures of all of it, but I don't feel right taking pictures as I'm supposed to be at work, plus I feel it's a little intrusive. Then she pulled out the big guns. A box full of silk threads from I don't even know where, or what brand, OR ANYTHING BUT I STROKED THEM LIKE NO TOMORROW. /fanself. We had a lot of fun. I take some of my things over to her when I know I'll be visiting because she's just like me when it comes to fabrics, fibers, and patterns. :)

So I'm happy to be done my little side projects of Dragons, and it's back to Lizzie*Kate. I pulled it out yesterday and admired what I have done, and not worried about what I haven't. I started to stitch a bit on it, but then Weezi decided he had to be on my lap. I have Emma on my left and a 12" square Qsnap infront of me while craning my neck around it to try and see glimpses of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I guess a 15 pound cat that likes to be cradled as if he were a baby isn't much more of a bother, is it? I ended up putting it back in it's drawer so I could cradle the cat and view JRM without hurting myself.

Well I believe that is all for now! I have a full day at work tonight, so I must get ready for that. Happy Stitching! :)

Sometimes

2011-09-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

I wish I could be one of those super prolific stitchers. We all know one. The person who cranks them out like they work in a sweat shop. I think this is why I try to limit myself to medium to small projects. Even this Lizzie*Kate which is something like 12x12" is bordering on TOO large, yet it's not a hard or complicated pattern. It's just. Large. For me. 5 months have passed and I'm still just over halfway done.

And the worst part is I have these grand ideas of all the projects I want to be working on, but don't want to start til at least this one is done. Maybe I should take a page from one of the blogs I follow, and instead of a Wentzler Wednesday, I'll have Lizzie*Kate Tuesdays.

So I offered up Fulgent to my Facebook friends and decided on giving it to a friend in New Zealand. He recently had a son and said it would look great in the nursery. Well he also has an older son around 9 I think, and I can't send something for the baby and not send something for him. That is how my mom raised me. So thanks to her, I'm trying to finish another of the little signet dragons for him. I'm being stupid about that, too. I'm starting to think I won't have enough of the Threadworx colour for it. Patterns say about 5 yards. This fiber is 5 Yards, but it's looking like it's going to cut close. So what do I do? Do I work til the end of the road and see if I make it? Improvise if I need to?

Nope. Not me. I put off working on it, constantly worrying I won't have enough. Reality is I can't order more thread, so if worse comes to worse, I'll frog out the body/tail and redo in a dark colour I already have, so his wings remain purple, or if it's super close, I can find a colour in my stash that is as close to the purple as I can get and finish it off that way and hope nobody notices lol.

I guess I could try a goal approach to the Lizzie*Kate, and say... have it done by Oct 1st. That gives me 17 days to hustle. Let's try that, shall we? And then after that I can do whatever I want. Maybe finish my Sunflower fairy, or do the Wine A Bit pattern, or even start on FireWing's Paladin! Goal for today is to finish the little dragon and get them ready for shipping.

After a nap, ofcourse :)

Fulgent Finished

2011-09-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

Yay. Like with the last one, I skipped out on a part of it because it didn't look "right" to me. But now he is done and I can continue on with other projects!

Fulgent update

2011-09-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

So here is my progress on Fulgent. As I posted before, I had to frog his entire tail, and redo it. I'm using Threadworx in Blue Swirl (11382) which is super pretty.Fabric is an Annabelle in 28 count Ice Blue. I still have his wings to go!

I tend to use a lot of blue lol. Next two dragons will be in purple and red so I'm trying to get away from using blue all the time! You should see my closet. I had to make a real effort to not buy blue clothes this year!

This Dragon is being offered to my Facebook friends, who pretty much just happen to be a lot of Warcraft guildies. I pick dragons for them because most guys tend to want something like this, rather than flowery kittens!

This week I want to get a good chunk of ABC of Parenting done. I really need to finish it and get it on over to Amanda's house. I've had it since April or May. Should be done by now. I'm such a slacker. That is it for now! :)

Attack of the Frog

2011-08-30T03:41:00.000-07:00

I was about to show you guys some pics of a little pattern I'm working on, but I just had to frog like half my work on it. I decided to do a give away of a Firewing Designs signet dragon (one of the light and shadow ones, so quite small) for my friends over on facebook. I goofed up big time and I was so dismayed, I was about to just TOSS THE WHOLE THING OUT, but then I realized that I need the thread, since it's so limited being only a 5 yard skein of threadworx and I don't have any more of that colour, lol. I managed to undo everything I did which was basically his whole TAIL aaaargh.

So here I am after 3am trying to get back to where I was before the big frog-fest!

Stash and flowers!

2011-08-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

I meant to take a picture of these yesterday when we bought them. Mom and I stopped at a flower shop that sells mostly mums this time of year, and at really nice prices. These were 7.50 each for the 10inch pots.

really pretty (and washed out? thanks camera on my phone!) Anyway, they're gorgeous, and big and fluffy.

I also got my stash today! Yippie! I'm glad for the smaller patterns, now I'll be able to bring projects with me when I have time between clients.

The Tudor scissors by Kelmscott Designs look way better in person than in pictures online. A worthy purchase, for sure. :) I showed my mom and she was like, "another pair?". I just said they don't call it a collecting for nothing! :D

wee!

2011-08-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Getting my stitching groove back, and I can thank Jonathan Rhys Meyers for some of it. I just love him in The Tudors, which I seem to be watching a lot of lately. And when I'm in bed for a bit a reading, I'm into books about the Tudors as well. Unfortunately I don't have any pics yet of my progress. I'll have to get around to that soon.

I have 9 days off from work soon, so I'm hoping to get a lot of stitching and relaxing done! Also have a day planned to hit up the antique stores in Fort Langley. I'm sort of in the market for a flower frog for my scissors, and I have this idea in my head that I want one made out of carnival glass, or something unique. Mom's going with me so it'll be a nice trip. I also checked online and there is a chocolate store there AND a candy store. bonus! Can't wait!

I bought the fish bowl for my little ceramic fish, and while not the best picture, here they are in their new home!

They are so cute!

Stash hasn't arrived yet, but I'm hopeful it'll be sometime this week if the Canada Post deities smile upon me. So this is a short post, really. I'll hopefully have some more pictures up soon! Happy Stitching! :D

wat!

2011-08-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

I've been in a horrible stitching slump this past month, and I need to remedy that. Of course that didn't stop me from placing an order with Stitching Bits and Bobs just now. So much for my goal of no new stash til I finished the projects on my list! I ordered the new Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa, Lizzie*Kate's Wine a Bit pattern, and LHN Summer Splendor with all the fibers to go with each. Cept the Santa, I have all the DMC it requires save the 221 (red). I also tossed in Kelmscott's Tudor Rose scissors. I DID keep it under 50 USD (which includes shipping) so I'm counting that as good!

I have a crazy story. I was at Milsean Shoppe about a week or so ago, and I spied these little ceramic goldfish. I left there without buying one, but they had invaded the OCD part of my brain. I started thinking about them all the time. What would I do with the fish? I could get them a bowl, and some sand and other little decorations. I was at Bowring with my mom where I saw the perfect bowl. I didn't buy it then, because I was wondering how the fish would fit in it. But they had this bowl, and decorative sand and whatnot all on sale. Thursday I had had enough. I need these fish. I need that bowl. I will not rest until everything has come together! So anyway, on thursday during a 30 min break between my clients, I went back to the shop and bought the darn fish.

Aren't they adorable? Monday Momster and I are going out to run some errands and do a bit of shopping, where I will get them the bowl and whatnot. I'll update with another pic once I've done that.
I really need to get stitching. :)

Crazy days

2011-06-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

Been awhile, eh? I haven't been stitching too much lately due to a lot of stress from work, and I've also been doing some yard work which is totally not like me at all. :)

I did manage to get a few stitches in Sunflower Fairy, but I don't know if I'm happy with the arms or not. This is my first Mirabilia and I'm not entirely sure how to stitch them in. I'm sure once I get the wings on and the backstitching in it'll look fine.

SO anyway, here is the picture of my small bit of progress!

This Canada Post strike seems to be working in favour of my Stash spending haha. It's keeping me from spending even more money. I'm trying to save it for a new car, so I spent yesterday working out a budget and basically any stash I buy must be spent with money that is not from my paycheque. That means birthday/christmas/government cheques can be spent on stash. Here's hoping I can stick with it! :D

My Mom is all kinds of amazing.

2011-06-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Last night she mentioned something about going to the States today to pick up milk and cheese. I mentioned that if she goes any further, to go to Joanns craft store and look for The Ultimate Joan Elliot Cross Stitch Collection. She said there was a Joanns there, but didn't think she'd be going. Fast forward to this morning, she calls home quite early, but I was sleeping in (Day off, you know!) so I missed the calls. Lets not tell her that I don't have the ringer even on with my phone. :D

She got home around 4pm and asked me what the book was that I was looking for, and I said Joan Elliot and she said "it was 20 dollars?" and I said yes. After some fumbling through her bags, she pulls out what I was looking for! Funny thing is that she only remembered the "jo" part of what I said!

That's pretty amazing for someone who doesn't know anything about designers, to go into a craft store and not know what she's really looking for, to come out with exactly what I wanted. She. Is. Amazing. and I love her very much!

Sunshine!

2011-06-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Today has been a most beautiful day. Being on the West Coast of Canada, we get a lot of dreary gray and rainy days, but today is wonderful! I'm not really a go out into the sun type, but I do like a nice day. I spent most the morning watching trash TV and working on Sunflower Fairy. I also cleaned up the stairwell heading outside of all the leaves and other things that collected there over the winter/spring. I found a huge earthworm hanging out down there, which made a quick disappearance and I can only hope he ran away and that Emma didn't eat him.

Here is todays update on her

There's a purple colour in there that doesn't look like it should be if you're just looking at the Valdani threads, but once you stitch it in, it actually works. Happy with the progress, even if my eyesight isn't cooperating with the 32 ct linen. :)
I leave you with a picture of Emma, after spending a lot of time sunbathing she decided to come in for a bit. I have the basement door open for her to come in and out. I don't have a screen door yet so she also has the duty of making sure the cats don't go out. She knows they need to stay in, so if they venture out into the stairwell, she herds them back in for me. :D

Sunflower again.

2011-06-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

So I can't really work on 32 count fabrics. I should have thought about that before I started. I just don't have the eyesight any more for stitches so small. Well, I can probably work on 16 count AIDA, but this Linen fabric is just waaay too hard for me.

Anyway here is today's small bit of progress:

To the left of the shoulder, there's a small blip in the fabric. That was from Weezi thinking it would be a good idea to try and catch the thread as it was being pulled through. I put him on the floor and told him that this is why we can't have nice things. He just looked at me with a scowl because obviously, it's what cats do.

Meetup

2011-06-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering in this little brain of mine how I'd love to have a Cross Stitch/Crafters group meetup in my area, but I don't know how to go about finding people who would want to do it. I was looking through meetup.com and there is a couple groups, but they are more knitting than anything. I don't mind knitters, but I'd love me some cross stitchers! Plus they are further out than I want to drive.

While Weezi, Neko, and Emma are wonderful companions, they just don't get it when I'm ooo'ing and ahhh'ing over the latest patterns. They certainly don't get excited about my latest purchases in the mail, either.

I was going to see about using meetup to test the waters, but they want $$$ and I'd rather spend that money on Stash.

It's kind of funny. I really try to work on one project at a time, but this one I'm working on which I've been trying to keep a secret (but failing miserably) is getting to me. I go week+ without touching it, and it's important to me to get it done as it's for a friend. I started on Sunflower Fairy and suddenly I want to work on project one again. Maybe I do need a project or two going at the same time to break the monotony bigger patterns can be.

Anyway that's enough ramblings out of me!

Sunflowers

2011-05-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had 2 hours between clients, and it was a gorgeous sunny evening, so I decided to take Sunflower Fairy with me and check out a cafe that I hadn't been to before. They have a really lovely sun room. I ordered a mango smoothie and sat down for some public stitching. That's the first time I've actually done it out in a public area where people can not only look at what I'm doing, but ask about it too. It was fun. :D

The smoothie was so good!

Today It's going to be me, my needle, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the Tudors. Can't think of a better way to spend my day off.

2010 finishes

2011-05-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted a post to put in all my 2010 finishes, so here they shall be.
I don't recall the exact order everything was done in :) I did the Brittercup designs Seasonal Motifs Spring and Summer.

The last one was mailed to my friend Jess in Arizona. The top two I made for my Mom. Next up is Britty Panda. I just did him and not his mother. :)

and one by Just Nan, called Spring Peepers.

I made this for my friend Tim in Australia, It's done entirely with one colour of Dinky Dyes in Shiraz and 3 types of blending filaments. Very Sparkly!

I made these two for my friend Deb in Oregon, A trivet with Donkey Kong, and Val's Stitchin' Stuff pattern. She loves gaming and her cats, so these were perfect for her. :)

With the threads from the Val's pattern above, I got a free pattern from My Aunt's Attic to use some of them up.

ooh almost forgot this Sue Hillis Pattern made for Nick in New Zealand,

Anyway, that was it for last year!

I know I said I wouldn't..

2011-05-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

But I ended up doing another order. See, my fav stitching ONS was having a clearance of their Namaste Buddy cases, and while I already have one, I made up something in my head about needing a second. Plus it's light pink, and I like pink. Of course, I couldn't just order that! I finally got my order today!

I ordered Mirabilia's letter S and all the goodies. The pictures I took aren't the best quality, but whatever.

I have a piece of hand dyed jobelan in raspberry lite, which I did my floss toss on. I'm still not sure if I want it so pink, but we'll see after the next couple projects. I have time to think about it.

I have something!~

2011-05-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

Finally finished Warrior by Firewing Designs. Stitched on 28 count Queen Anne's lace with Threadworx Rocky Mountain. After running out of thread twice and having to wait weeks and weeks for delivery, and then me getting distracted by World Of Warcraft, I have finally finished him! Once he's pressed he'll be sent off to his new home in Hawaii :)

going to be picture heavy~!

2011-04-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

I put together the Alex unit today, and I'm super happy with it.

First drawer I'm using for my current project, which I guess won't be too secret now. :P Oh well!

Second drawer is for other projects, and some stitching aids

Third is for my fabrics!

Fourth is for my pattern binder and other loose patterns

Fifth is for my threads and other fibers

and sixth is for my qsnaps!

and my little vintage table, which I am in love with :D

My cats have already nibbled on the drawer pulls which makes me want to KEEL them! Just kidding, while I am mad, I love them more than a table. I just wish they would keep their lips off my things.

and there it is, I'm all sorted and super excited about being so organized. :D

Still here!

2011-04-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't forgotten about my blog! I just don't really have anything to show right now, since one project is secret, and the other I still don't have the thread for. Hopefully I'll get it next week and will be able to finish Warrior.

Work has really picked up lately, too, so I've been slacking on the stitching. I hate when work gets in the way of my stitching time. :)

Hopefully soon I'll have a better update. :)

the HORROR!

2011-04-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

About 15~ skeins away from finishing the job, the little peg that holds the bobbin in the winder pops out over my head and behind the chair. I grumble and get up, move the chair, and find this

Thankfully it was an extra lol. I also didn't find the peg to my winder, so no idea where it flew off to. I'll have to wait til one of the cats finds it. I'm now finishing the winding by hand, which is not fun! But I'm almost done, so excited. :P

My OCD is kicking in

2011-04-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't done any stitching lately. I have, however, been winding and winding and winding. I'm being completely OCD about this. (and I wonder why I get RSI in my wrist.) anyway! When last I posted, I had almost one box done. Well this is that box.

So pretty. I kept on going, though, and now have box 2 almost filled up.

That's basically all I have from 200~900 done. The rest is now the 3000s. I have one box left to go, and I duno how many more to wind. I did the math and so far have wound 170. youch. I *think* I have 225 individual colours.

I've also been looking for storage for all my things that can sit beside my stitching chair, and I found this Alex caster unit from Ikea that I am going to go buy on the 23rd.

I think that will be perfect for all my Qsnaps and fabrics and threads (oh my!) and the rest of my stitching things. I really need something to sort everything out. I'm hyped up for that. Hopefully once I'm done winding all these things I can stop being so obsessive about it and go back to stitching. :D

That's all for now! :)

Yeah, I'm crazy.

2011-04-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

What a time consuming thing winding thread on to bobbins is! Watching Spartacus Blood and Sand while I do this. :) Right now I'm thankful that I don't have every colour! 52 down, about 150 more to go!

yipee

2011-04-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Stitching Bits and Bobs order came today! Totally wasn't expecting it since the last order took a month to get through customs. But it's here, and I am happy. This is the last of my birthday shipments!

2 Kelmscott needle minders, a Kelmscott thread keep, a Puffin Company magnetic thread keep, and 3 packs of my favourite JJ platinum needles size 26.

I also went to Michaels' today to check out what they did with their cross stitch section, since I heard from another community that they were phasing it out. Well I went to mine and yeah, all the kits were pretty much gone and replaced with scrapbooking crap (yes, crap!). They did still have their DMC floss and accessories like that. I bought 3 threadbox organizers, and lots of bobbins. I want to organize my threads better since right now they're basically in plastic baggies. Of course, I have over 200 to wind LOL. What am I getting myself into?

When I got to the cashier I asked her what was going on in the cross stitch section and she said that they were going to overhaul the whole thing. So there will still be stitching things, but as for kits and whatnot, I have no idea. They're not phasing out the whole thing, though, she said she asked them.

Oh, I'm also trying out a craft glove. I've been having a lot of problems with RSI in my right hand from all the stitching, so I bought a thergonomic (whatever that means) glove. We'll see how that goes.

That is all for now! :)

update on Warrior

2011-04-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

I ran out of Threadworx Rocky Mountain AGAIN. The pattern called for 10 yards. Each skein is apparently 5 yards, and I need one more. I must be doing it wrong. :P That particular thread is on backorder with 123 Stitch. She emailed saying it would be shipped sometime around April 11th ~ and then add on how long it actually takes to get here (2~3 weeks), I won't be working on him any time soon. I took him off his Qsnap frame and will continue to work on the super secret project.

Anyway, here is how far 2 skeins went:

Just the tail left! Then when I am done he's being shipped off to Hawaii. Aloha!

Plugging along.

2011-04-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

I had a cancellation at work today so I got extra time to stitch. Warrior really does stitch up fast, even with the one stitch at a time method. I didn't take a very good picture, but here is today's progress:

I got a lot done! After work tonight I'll probably toss on a tv series or movie and continue. :)

I love how when it rains, it pours.

2011-03-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

I got my next shipment today from 123 Stitch! Now I have everything for Sunflower Fairy, and also more importantly, the Rocky Mountain Threadworx to continue on with Warrior! I don't really like having more than one project going on at once, so I'll continue with Warrior til I run out of thread again, and then plug away at the super secret project. Because I love a floss toss as much as anyone, here is a picture of all the materials for Sunflower!

ooohh. ahhhh. Only thing not pictured is the victorian gold beads, which I have in my stash somewhere. I'll probably start her after my current projects are done!

woohoo

2011-03-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

Finally got my first order from Stitching Bits and Bobs today. Only took a month through the post. That's the longest yet. Unfortunately it doesn't contain the Rocky Mountain needed to finish Warrior, but it does contain the Secret Project kit, so I started on that. I'm using 28 count Hand Dyed jobelan in Chai Tea. I wanted to use Sand Castle but I must have used some of it for something, since a chunk was cut out. oops!

Happy to have something to work on, at least. So I'm waiting now for my shipment from 123 Stitch! to arrive (mailed March 12th), which contains everything for Sunflower Fairy, another order from Stitching Bits and Bobs (mailed March 24th) that contains all my stitching aids and other goodies, AND I may have ordered some more threadworx from 123 Stitch! (mailed March 25th!) the other day so I can continue on with my signet dragons. I'm going to do Paladin in Lava Rocks, and the little signets in various colours I picked out.

I may have also bought Subversive Cross Stitch book when I put in my Amazon order for a book I've been waiting for to come out lol. It's my birthday month, I can waste money if I wanna! Anyway, I'm glad I finally got the first order in the mail today, I was super worried that it got lost. Month in the post was just too long!

Absolutely nothing.

2011-03-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

No shipment from anybody this week, so I've done no stitching. I'm kind of bummed I won't have Mystery Project done for my friend when I wanted it to. On Monday if it's still not here I'm going to have to email the ONS and ask if there's any sort of tracking. Monday it'll have been a month, and that's not right. Usually it's 2 weeks TOPS to get here. Oh wells.

Probably a good thing anyway, as I need to give my wrist a rest. That's it for now!

Finish!

2011-03-23T09:09:00.000-07:00

So this was VERY quick to stitch up, and as you can see, I did have enough Mosaic to finish it. Happy dance. If you looked at the pattern you can see that I left out a part. It didn't look right? to me. Plus I don't think I would have had enough thread to finish it anyway. :D

Hellooooooo Tuesday.

2011-03-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Crisis averted, I think. Since I can't work on Warrior right now, I pulled out some Threadworx Mosaic I had kickin' around and the FireWing Designs little signet dragons. I decided on Umbral, bottom left!

I'm using a 28 count Annabelle in Ice Blue for it. I'm HOPING I have enough Mosaic to finish it LOL. I might be in the same boat as Warrior! They stitch up pretty quick, but I found out right away that even being one stitch off can throw the whole pattern. I had to frog a whole section because of it. :( Not cool!

Monday reporting in!

2011-03-21T20:36:00.001-07:00

Well, I ran out of Rocky Mountain, and nothing in the mail today. I guess I'm stuck til the shipment arrives. Anyway this is how much one skein did on the pattern.

Whole wing done!

That is it for now :)

Another Saturday flies by

2011-03-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Seems my Saturdays just fly on by. I did get a good chunk done on Warrior while watching a Teletoon Retro marathon of She-Ra. :D

Only one problem. Running out of Rocky Mountain. I only ordered one more, but I think I need 2. Blah! That part just there has almost taken one skein of it. Stitching one by one like that uses up way more fiber than I anticipated. I'm happy with the progress, though! I love seeing the colour changes in it.

My next stitch day is Monday, where I'll use up the rest of the fiber, and then pray my orders from Stitching Bits and 123 Stitch have come in. The thought of not having anything to work on is frightening!

That's it for now :)

We are all Warriors

2011-03-17T01:45:00.000-07:00

So I started Warrior by Fire Wing Designs tonight. I'm using 28 count Queen Anne's Lace jobelan with Threadworx Rocky Mountain fiber. Here is what I've got done so far. Unfortunately the lighting isn't that good at 1:30 in the morning, and I'm using my blackberry to take the pics. Anyway, so far!

I'm really digging the threadworx. It's my first time using it. Here is me trying to get a closeup of the colour changes, which I don't think I did too well

I'm doing each stitch one by one as I go along. I thought it would be super slow, but it's actually not that bad. I do have someone in mind to give this to when I'm done and framed it. He reminds me of a Warrior.

My first shipment from Stitching Bits and Bobs still isn't here. Canada Customs can be so slow sometimes, and I'm getting all paranoid about it. What if I don't get it at all? I haven't had a problem with this before, so I don't know why I get all crazy. I just need to be patient. I just really want to get started on the kit I bought for a friend. At this rate I won't have it done for when I wanted it. Oh wells.

Ah well. I need to drag this tired body off to bed. :)

Ho Ho Done!

2011-03-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Prairie Schooler 2010 Santa is done! I started him March 1st, finished March 16th.

He's done on a 28 count Khaki Linen, I forget the exact brand. DMC fibers as per pattern, and a lot of Weezi's hairs weaved in for good measure. I skipped the border. Duno why exactly. I guess I like him as is. He's cute. I don't want to see that much red again for awhile :)

My "weekend" progress.

2011-03-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Monday and Tuesday are my weekend so I try to get as much stitching in as I can! Monday was a slow start as I went out with my Mom, but I got a lot of stitching done in the evening/early morning. I think I ended around 1am. I did not get a picture then as I basically dragged myself to bed at that point.

Today I continued on between loads of laundry and time spent with the Furbabies.

Oh lookie there :D he's almost done! I didn't receive my order yet today, hopefully tomorrow. I did, however, get a bonus in the mail from my Grandma for my birthday, which I promptly spent on you guessed it, more stitchy things. I made this deal that I wouldn't buy any more patterns and fabric/fibers til I'm done the 5 on my list. I found a loophole in that what I ordered today isn't exactly patterns! new needles and needle minders and thread pallets Oh MY! I'll be sure to get pictures of all my incoming stash as I get it.

I normally don't try to work on more than one project at a time, but I think when the new stuff comes in, I'll work on the super secret project and maybe one of the dragons.

Tomorrow it's back to work with me. I'll probably get Santa done at some point during the day, and then I might kit up Warrior. Just have to decide which fabric to use with him.

Saturday!

2011-03-12T15:50:00.000-08:00

I can't think of a better way to spend a saturday afternoon than to be stitching in the La-Z-boy, Emma on one side, Weezi on the other, and watching my friend from Australia streaming games for me. Right now it's Fallout New Vegas.

I always think I'm not doing much in the way of progress, especially when there's lots of one colour. This Santa certainly has a lot of red. But looking back on the pictures, I have!

Todays picture:

He's skiing! Something I've never done, or want to try lol. Flinging myself down a mountain on two tracks of wood with a couple poles doesn't really appeal to me :)

I couldn't do as much as I wanted, as I have to make sure I don't overuse the wrist again. Sucks that I have to limit myself. Anyway! I'm happy with the amount I've done. My next stitch day is Monday. Sundays are just too busy for me to get much of anything besides work done. :)

Ahoy

2011-03-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Didn't get much done on Santa today, as I ended up sleeping most the morning, and have clients early this evening til 9:30 tonight.

With Weezi always hanging out on my lap when I stitch, I'm starting to weave his hair into my work more often lol. What do they call it? Exotic fibers? :D

I finally found an ORT (old ragged thread) "jar" that fits my theme of orange cats. I saw this at HomeSense and had to have it. At first I didn't know what I was going to use it for. I just knew I wanted it. It's been sitting on a shelf all lonely til I decided I needed something for those little threads I keep throwing all over the place. So here it is, Ort and Weezi.

I like how they're both so happy looking.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get more done. Sundays are my super busy days so I don't get much of anything done except work. :) If not tomorrow, then Monday it is!

The past.

2011-03-10T23:13:00.000-08:00

I was with a client tonight who loves all things needlework, but especially knitting. She used to spin her own yarn and even now still has some sheep. She showed me her spinning wheel. She showed me some cross stitch that her and her sister have done over the years, and it got us talking about how they really should teach the needle arts in schools, like they used to.

She told me that when she was in school in Holland, all the girls had to stay behind after school was over to be taught knitting and stitching. She remembers how the boys could go home, and they would mock and make faces at the girls as they were leaving. Kind of a "ha ha" moment for them. The boys were so rude. :)

People just don't do needle arts like they used to, and it's such a shame. I was 16 when I taught myself how to do it. My family and I were getting ready to go camping and we stopped off at a small mall that had a craft store in it. I bought a small kit for something to do. My Grandma tried desperately to teach me how to knit or crochet, but I just couldn't get my head around it. I felt kind of a failure (even though she never thought I was!) so when I saw this cross stitch kit, I figured I'd give it a go.

Don't ask what the back looks like :) But that was my first one. I look at it now and laugh. I can do so much better! Look how bad those eyes are haha. It took ages for me to actually finish that. I think it sat in a drawer for a couple years. I did eventually finish it, and my mom bought me a second kit, from the now out of business Crafts Canada.

Can you see where this is going? :D This one took less time, and after that was done, I made this from my dad. It was from a Mary Maxim Catalog.

I used to work a lot from kits, because that's really all that was available to me. I didn't know of any Local Needlework Stores (LNS). For awhile I even made my own patterns, but it was always on white 14/16/18 count Aida. Wasn't til I joined a Cross Stitch community on Livejournal that I realized there was more to stitching than just kits. You could buy patterns and your own fibers and fabrics. Beads! Blending Filaments! it was amazing. I didn't have to work on 14 count Aida anymore!

I first tried out something other than plain old aida when I went to Michaels and bought 28 count mushroom coloured evenweave.

I *think* the pattern is/was a freebie from EMS but I just looked and it's not there, so I'm not 100% sure. My grandma currently has this one. I used the white/mushroom evenweave a lot in my earlier works, because that's all I could get my hands on. Michael's isn't exactly an LNS.

The only LNS around me is about an hour away, and it's more knit than stitch. I tried having them order me in patterns and threads and fabrics, but it took them like 6 months to get SOME of it in, and the prices were pretty bad. :( A Caron's Wildflowers which is 3.30US they charged 12 dollars for. I felt bad that I couldn't really give them my business, thus making it even harder for them to stay in business. It's tough out there for LNS.

I've come a long way from working just from kits. Now I use mainly hand dyed jobelan, hand dyed threads, and have favourite designers. I think that's enough blast from the past for me! Don't laugh too hard at my earliest attempts :)

and life goes on.

2011-03-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Santa is coming along nicely. The first picture I can't remember when I took it. But this is quite normal in my home. the cat sleeping on my lap while I try to stitch. In this picture Weezi is also curled up in my lap quilt that my great aunt made.

He's one special cat. He and his siblings were found by a Lady up here who hangs around the Cabo San Lucas Humane Society. They were 4 weeks old in a box left to die, because there really isn't enough time or money to save every pet there. She took them to a friend who fostered them down there, and when they were old enough and had all their vaccines/neutered flew them up to Canada. He's my big baby.

I took this picture of the Santa progress just now.

Coming along nicely! I love those scissors. I believe they're by Dinky Dyes. I saw them at my favourite ONS and just had to have them. They go nicely with my Hollywood Pink Namaste Buddy Case.

I also ordered all the materials for Sunflower Fairy today from 123 Stitch! I'm considering it a birthday present to myself. I also added another Threadworx fiber to the order. I have one skein of Rocky Mountain, but I think I need two for Warrior Dragon. At any rate, I have everything I need now for my project list. My order from Stitching Bits and Bobs should be here either tomorrow or Monday. Every time I get stuff in the mail from them it feels like Christmas!

I think that's about it for now! :)

2011 List!

2011-03-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

I was going through my stash today and mentally noting what I'd like to accomplish this year. I have a lot of hand dyed jobelan in 28 counts to work with. Here is a short list, minus one as it's going to be a gift for Amanda and she's on here. I don't want her to know what it is til she gets it!

in no particular order!
Current Project Prairie Schooler 2010 Santa
1. Mystery Project wOooOoooo!
2. FireWing Designs Paladin
3. FireWing Designs Warrior
4. Lizzie Kate Cat Lessons for People
5. And From Cross Stitch and Needlework Sept 2009 Mirabilia Sunflower Fairy (Still need to order materials for it!)

So yeah! That's it for now. Of course, reading so many stitching blogs from my favourite designers isn't helping! My list is sure to grow, but for now, I think that's a good start :) Unfortunately I can't stitch as much as I'd like because my poor right wrist that I use the most tends to get RSI in it, so that limits how much I can do each day. I have to remember to take frequent breaks!