Back to the Italian Vista

I would love to be preparing to board a plane that would fly me halfway around the world and to the beautiful Tuscan countryside......I can just imagine me sitting on a porch, glass of wine in hand, enjoying the peace and solitude of the beautiful countryside......

Since I can't have that anytime soon, I'll escape with my Italian Vista WIP! Not quite the same thing, but hey, a girl can dream!

I haven't worked on Italian Vista in awhile while I did the WOCS projects, so I was happy to pick it up again today. With the Olympics on (which I watched despite already knowing the results...thanks CNN), I think I made some good progress tonight!

Start of the night:

As of 7/22/12

End of the night:

As of 7/31/12

Thanks to those who left comments and messages about my little stumble down the stairs. I feel much better today...sore, yes, but nothing broken and nothing that a few days and a glass of wine or two won't help! Ha!

I'm off to bed, so I hope everyone has wonderfully stitchy dreams tonight!

Until then!
~Katy

Word of Advice

In case you were ever wondering if it was fun to fall down half a flight of stairs......I'm telling you now......it's not.....ow......

My klutzy self slipped on our stairs, which made me slide/bump/crash down about 7 steps until I hit the ground, and it feels like  a mack truck has run over me. So needless to say, no stitching for me tonight...

I did make some progress on a few things yesterday, though.

First, I picked out the fabrics for Knotted Heart and Have A Heart and put both in the mail yesterday to be added to their respective quilts. What do you think?

Have A Heart With Fabric

Knotted Hearts With Fabric

 I also got the badges done on the front part of my daughter's Daisy vest...one of my followers asked about a "sew your own badge on" badge. Trust me...once these girls hit Brownies when they're in second grade, I'm putting needle and thread in hand to teach them how to cross stitch and stitch on their own badges!

Front Is Done!

I have about four or five badges left to sew on the back. I had planned on doing that tonight, but that didn't happen......maybe tomorrow......

I also picked up The World of Cross Stitching Issue 192 and The Best of Kooler Design Studio while I was out getting the fabric......I don't subscribe to any magazines currently, and The World of Cross Stitching is a UK magazine that I cannot justify the price for a subscription. I figure I can peek in it when I see it at a store and if there are at least three patterns in the magazine that I can see myself doing, I will buy it at the store. That definitely happened this time as there are several projects I can see myself doing! And the Kooler Design Studio Book is just a treasure trove! There are very few patterns in the book I didn't like!

Hopefully I'll feel more like stitching tomorrow...I really wanted to get my daughter's vest done and work on Italian Vista tonight, but it just wasn't happening. Maybe tomorrow will be better! I can hope!

Until then!
~Katy

Have A Heart - Complete!

Wow, this one took no time at all! Between chores and such yesterday, I settled in and watched the Olympics and got this project done before bed yesterday!

Have a Heart - Complete!

Sorry for the not so great quality of the picture. Today, I'm going to head out to get the fabric for both this and Knotted Hearts and then swing by the post office to put them in the mail. I'll try to get another picture of each with their respective fabrics before I send them on their way!

Today I probably won't work on my WIP's as much, primarily because I need to work on my daughter's Daisy Scout vest. She has a troop event next Saturday, and I want to get the badges she received at the end of the year put on her vest before the event.

Here's her vest:

The front of her vest currently

The back of her vest currently

 And here's what I need to put on!

She's earned a lot of badges!

Once I have this done, then I will definitely be diving into Italian Vista again! Working on these other two projects has made me miss it!

Until then, happy stitching!
~Katy

WOCS: Have a Heart

So now that I'm done with Knotted Hearts, I decided to go ahead and tackle the other WOCS piece I signed up for, called Have a Heart. The link for the chart can be found here. This is another quick and easy project, and with the Opening Ceremonies on tonight for the Olympics, I made myself comfortable to watch the show and got started!

I'm using variegated cranberry (DMC 107) for this piece as the entire quilt will be done in shades of pink and red. Between this and Knotted Hearts, I'm having lots of fun using the variegated colors!

Here is my progress as of tonight:

As of 7/27/12

I think I'm going to be watching a lot of Olympics this weekend, so I should be able to get this project done relatively quickly. I do plan on swinging by the craft store this weekend and grabbing fabrics to go with both Have a Heart and Knotted Hearts and hopefully I'll be able to send them both out at the same time for their respective quilts. There is a new theme to sign up for that was just opened tonight (birdhouses!) but it's not due until September, so I have some time to decide on a pattern and work on it, though I do plan on going back to Italian Vista once Have a Heart is done!

Hope you all have a fabulously stitchy weekend!

Hugs and Stitches!
~Katy

Knotted Hearts - Complete!

I knew I just needed one more good night of stitching to finish up Knotted Hearts! I really love this design and love how this turned out. It was a quick, easy and fun project to do, and I'm saving this design in my stash for the future. I can totally see using this pattern in all sorts of colors and for all sorts of projects.

But here it is, my first completed project for WOCS!

Knotted Hearts - Complete!

I'm going to wait until this weekend to mail it in so that I can find a good fabric to use with it for the quilt square, but I'm very, very pleased with how this turned out!

Happy Stitching!
~Katy

Just A Quick Update

I really need to find where we packed our camera when we moved, as the pictures of Knotted Hearts just aren't done proper justice on my phone! One more good night of stitching, I think, and I should have this piece done!

As of 7/25

I am really loving how the purple shades go dark to light and back again and how each of the three hearts are unique with their shades. I've tried to just follow the path of the knot so that the colors flow evenly, and I think it looks good! And the purple shades are so much more vibrant in person!

Not a long post tonight, it's late, and I'm tired, but I hope you all have been having as much fun stitching as I have!

Hugs and Stitches,
~Katy

Wow!

Wow! Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and follows! Truly, when I started this blog, I was okay with the idea of no one ever following me because I was doing this journal to document my journey. Having others follow and post such nice comments really makes me happy and want to stitch and share even more! I am admittedly bad about individually replying to comments, but I do read every one and I try to visit blogs I follow (or as I call you all, Stitchers I Stalk, haha) every day if I can!

For everyone who commented about my son, thank you! He's doing much better today after a full day of treatments and staying home. He was even holding his mask for his breathing treatment like a pro tonight and didn't want me to hold it at all! He should be good for going back to school tomorrow! And on another personal note, my hubby got an offer today for a job at a different company that has fantastic potential and growth opportunities for him! He's been working on this for months now, and I'm so happy it seems to be coming to a close with a great new opportunity ahead!

Now, onto stitching, haha. I have to admit, I felt spoiled yesterday with getting to stitch most of the day...it made work today a bit hard to go back to, haha!

I worked on Knotted Hearts again tonight. I'm really liking how it's looking so far!

As of 7/24/12

The requirements for both this and the other project state that we can send in matching fabrics to coordinate with the piece if we wish. I think I'm going to have to take a trip to either the craft store or Joann's Fabrics this weekend with at least the threads for both projects so I can pick out something I like! I hadn't planned on doing that, but I think the more I do this piece, the more I want to make sure the entire square is uniquely me!

Hope you all are having a great day! Talk with you all soon!

Hugs and Stitches,
~Katy

WOCS: Knotted Hearts

So I mentioned in another post that I had discovered World of Charity Stitching and I eagerly signed up! I want to break up my big pieces with smaller, quick stitch projects and this is truly a worthy cause!

Well, today I unexpectedly stayed home with my two-year old son, D, who we found out today has allergy based croup and reactive airway disease, but we have meds and a nebulizer and are all prepared to tackle this head on. While he was resting today, I decided to go ahead to sign up for not one, but two of the active projects going on with WOCS, and I started working on the first one today, called Knotted Hearts. The pattern is a freebie from Stitching The Night Away and it also was a milestone for me. It was the very first time...ever...that I have actually gone into my stash to pick out my own colors for a project...okay, cheesy, yes, I know, but I'm one of those stitchers who will buy everything 'required' for a piece, but not go beyond it. I don't experiment, I don't change colors, I figure someone else has made the decision, so I'll trust their judgement. With these projects, though, I had a true opportunity to make a choice...and I have to say I like it!

I like to collect thread...it's been awhile since I've bought any, but I just love the way it looks all wrapped up in bobbins and waiting to be used...see, isn't it pretty??

Pretty pretty thread!

The other project that I'm doing for WOCS requires a pink or red thread, but Knotted Hearts could be any color you wanted. I looked at the images of squares already turned in, but decided to channel my daughter for both projects. See, my six year old daughter, T, is the ultimate girly girl. She loves makeup and princesses and jewelry and dresses and all sorts of things her tomboy mom didn't love growing up. It's fun experiencing those things as a mom with her, though. And in that tradition and recognizing that pink and purple are by far her absolute favorite colors, I decided to use a variegated purple (DMC 102) and very dark violet (DMC 550) with Knotted Hearts and a variegated cranberry (DMC 107) for the other project.

My pretty and girly threads in honor of my daughter!

So while D was resting today, I started on Knotted Hearts. I got the complete outline done with the dark violet:

This picture from my cell phone -really- doesn't do the color justice

And then started on the inside with the variegated purple:

Pretty purple!

Since I actually have to be at work the rest of this week and can't just stay home stitching (hubby is staying home with D for one more day tomorrow), I figure I can have this done by the weekend to ship out in time for the deadline, and then I'll tackle the other project too!

I'm really liking how this is looking, and the pretty purple ORTs for my TUSAL jar make me smile too!

Until next time, keep stitching!
~Katy

International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

So this weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend and even though we were very busy yesterday and I was feeling very icky today (darn allergies), I definitely made some progress this weekend on Italian Vista!

So as a reminder, this is where I stood as of Thursday night:

Italian Vista as of 7/19/12

And here is Friday...

As of 7/20/12

Saturday...

As of 7/21/12

And today!

As of 7/22/12

I think I made some good progress, I'm excited! I still have a long way to go, but I'm loving this piece. Italy is one of my favorite places in the world. My husband and I spent a semester there in college and went back for a week before we had our daughter, and I would love to retire there someday. I'm already scoping out my house to figure out where I want to put this when I'm done!

This piece will likely be put on hold for a short time, though, as I have recently discovered World of Charity Stitching, and there are two quilts that are currently being worked on that I'm thinking of contributing squares for. I just need to print out the patterns tomorrow, go through my stash, and see if I can whip the two pieces out by their deadlines! I really think that mixing things up with doing a few smaller, quick finishes here and there will help ensure I don't get burned out on my big projects like my other WIPs. I'll definitely make sure to share when I have pictures!

Until next time!
~Katy

TGIF!

Yay! It's the weekend! By the time Friday evening rolls around, I am so ready to go home, be done with work for another week, and I just want to relax! I plan on picking up my stitching again tonight after the kids go to bed, but I did make some more progress on Italian Vista yesterday...

Progress as of 7/19/12

Friends of ours are coming over for a play date tomorrow, and we are going to dinner at my parents' house tomorrow evening, but other than that, I think I'm going to do a lot of stitching this weekend! I hope this weekend is a relaxing and fun one for you too!

Hugs and stitches!
~Katy

July TUSAL

So one of the common posts I started seeing on lots of blogs I was visiting was something that everyone called TUSAL...I must admit, I was completely confused. I saw pictures of different containers holding scraps of thread, and though I'm not as seasoned a stitcher as many out there, I thought surely I should know what a TUSAL is. I looked it up on Google, tried to find out what it was, and just kept finding picture after picture, with all of them called TUSAL...

And then..I found it! I found the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long hosted by Daffycat...TUSAL! It all made sense! And I immediately joined in! Now, admittedly, before I found TUSAL, I always threw away my scraps of thread when I couldn't use them anymore...but after surfing lots of blogs, I found some truly beautiful collections of thread and realized that this could be a constantly growing piece of art in it's own right!


I think I will use this post to compare progress in a month's time frame, both on my TUSAL and whatever WIP I've got going on. This month, I've primarily focused on Italian Vista. Here is where I stand at this point:

As of July 19, 2012

And here is my TUSAL..And since I've only started really stitching again in the past couple of weeks, I don't have much to show...but it's a start!

July 2012 TUSAL

 Now, time to go stitch some more and add some more ORT's to the jar, and perhaps surf some blogs to see other TUSAL's a well!

Keep on stitching!
~Katy

Hello!

Hi! My name is Katy and welcome to my little corner of the web! I've started this blog with no expectation of followers, but instead to be my little journal of my favorite hobby - cross stitch!

A little about me...I'm 32, married to my college sweetheart for 10 years, I work full time and have two kids, my 6-year old daughter T and my 2-year old son D, which means my stitching time is pretty limited to evenings when the kids are in bed and sometimes during the weekend, but it's definitely my way to unwind!

I have been stitching since I was in middle school. My first truly completed projects (that I don't have pictures of) were a trio of crosses for a medieval history unit, and the bug's been with me ever since! I also completed a pattern for my grandmother, which still hangs in her own craft room at her home to this day!

I don't stitch all the time. In fact, part of why I started this blog was because the bug has just hit me again after about a year off. I spent a lot of time of recent weeks cruising a lot of blogs and getting a lot of ideas, but I most wanted to have a place where I can keep track of what I've done, when I've done it, even if it's a long time in between posts. With the bug in full force right now, though, I don't imagine that this will be a slow blog for awhile!

 I do have a small and growing stash, a few completed pieces, a few works in progress, and lots of things I want to do. My favorite subject to stitch is Christmas, but I'm open to almost anything - whatever I like, works for me!

I'm looking forward to building this blog and keeping track of my favorite hobby and sharing it with whomever out there is interested!

Until next time, keep stitching!
~ Katy