Once Upon A Time Sampler - May Edition

I'm so sorry for the delay in posting the adorable update to the Once Upon A Time Sampler! I've been a bit under the weather most of the week and haven't felt like blogging or stitching, but hopefully I've turned the corner and can get the latest block finished quickly!

May's block is Jack and the Beanstalk. Isn't it adorable? Jack with his red hair reminds me of my son (he turns 4 on May 7th), who also has red hair. In fact, he was the first part of the block I stitched:

Now whenever my son sees this little guy, he excitedly says "Mommy, that's me!" This is the overall progress I've made so far. It's not much but it's a start!

I know the lines look a little bit curved/not straight in the picture, but that's just due to the tension in the hoop. They are actually straight.

And as if this wasn't enough, The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery announced that they will be hosting The Mysterious Halloween Town Club, another monthly pattern club that will run from June 19th to September 18th. The color palate and the sneak peek were too much to resist, so I've totally signed up for this one too!

Until next time!
~Katy

New Start

So I worked for a few days on American Flag Quilt Sampler, and while I love this piece and adore seeing other people's progression on it, it seems to be one of those pieces I'm only able to do in short spurts for some reason. This is especially true when the urge for a new start strikes! So here is where American Quilt Sampler was left when I put it away for now:

The next installment of the Once Upon A Time Sampler is due out in a few days, but in the meantime, I gave into my urge for a new start with another Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery creation, this time selecting there Halloween Spooky Sampler! This is what the example looks like:

Of course, I had to make some substitutions, and here is my floss toss for the piece:

The fabric I am using is 32 count Jobelan in Bewitched from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie, and except for black and white, the flosses are all from Mo's Sale. This time around, I am using Darkness, Brownie (silk), Waterlily (silk), Rose (silk), Candy Corn, Sun, Flesh, Golden Sun (silk), Leak (silk), Grassy (silk), Mona (silk), Eggplant (silk) and Regina (silk). It's becoming a habit with pieces from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery to make these substitutions - it just seems like they make pieces that are much easier to make substitutions for!

I did make a little bit of a start yesterday. It's not much, but it's a beginning!

Until next time!
~Katy

Winter Flowers Ornament - Completed!

Well, I got the last of my beads in the mail yesterday and finished up the beading for Winter Flowers Ornament last night! Yay!

Winter Flowers Ornament by Turquoise Graphics & Designs

Started: 1/9/13

Finished: 4/17/14

Stitched on 32-ct. off white linen

While I was waiting for the beads to arrive, I picked up American Flag Quilt Sampler by Rosewood Manor. I love this piece and have seen it on several blogs and was inspired to pick it up again. When I last worked on it, the piece looked like this:

And after working on it for a few days this week, this is where it stands now:

I'm going to keep working on this piece for the rest of the month and may continue it next month too. We'll see!

Until next time!
~Katy

Ack! Out of Beads!

So I was right in that the beading was going to take more than one session to do, but I didn't think it would be because I was out of beads! The pattern called for one pack of each color beads, which I got, but apparently it wasn't enough for the plum. So, I am done with all beading except for what I'm missing:

So I've placed an order for the missing beads and as soon as they come in, I'll finish up that beading! I'm going to have to look through my WIP's to decide what to work on in the mean time and again after the beading is done. So many choices!

Until next time!
~Katy

Winter Flowers - Stitching Done

Today I finished up the stitching portion of Winter Flowers:

The beading is just left for this piece now. I don't think I'm going to finish it one sitting due to the sheer amount of beads that are left to put on this piece. As a matter of perspective, you see my piece above which is all the stitching. Here's the image from the magazine of the completed piece:

Like I said...lots of beading to go! Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

Winter Flowers Ornament

Since finishing Garden of Joy earlier this week, I started working on it's sibling, Winter Flowers, also by Turquoise Graphics and Designs. When I last worked on Winter Flowers in March last year, this is where I left it:

And here is where Winter Flowers is after working on it for a few days this week:

There will be even more beads on this piece when I finally get to that point. I can hardly wait!

Until next time!
~Katy

Garden of Joy - Complete!

Well that beading went a whole lot faster than I thought it would! I had never beaded a piece before and I thought it would take me a long time but it really went very quickly. So quickly that I got all of the beads done last night and completed the piece! I love how it turned out!

First, a close up of some of the beads:

And now the completed piece!

Garden of Joy Ornament by Turquoise Graphics & Designs

Started: 1/11/13

Finished: 4/6/14

Stitched on 32-ct off white linen

I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to finish this piece yet. I think I'll wait until I finish the next ornament, Winter Flowers, also by Turquoise Graphics and Designs, and decide what to do with both ornaments at that point. Speaking of, time to get started on that WIP. Let's see if I can finish it this month too! I'll post back this week with my progress!

Until next time!
~Katy

OUAT - April Block Done!

I finished up the April block of my Once Upon A Time Sampler yesterday! Isn't it cute?

Here are all of the months so far:

And here is the piece in it's entirety!

So once again, this piece is getting put away until the next installment in May. I'm going to get back to Garden of Joy to finish up the beading on that piece. It's my first time to bead a piece, and I'm both nervous and excited. Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

Goldilocks Day Four

I finished one and a half bears yesterday on the April Square of my Once Upon A Time Sampler:

I should be able to finish the baby bear and then do the mother bear today and be done for the square for the month! Fingers crossed, tomorrow I'll be showing you the finished April block!

Until next time!
~Katy

Goldilocks Day Three

A bit more progress into Goldilocks:

All that I have left to go at this point are the three bears themselves! I'm going to see how far I can get today, but without a doubt I will have this block done before the weekend is over. Have I mentioned how much I love this piece?

Until next time!

~Katy

Goldilocks Day Two

I was too busy yesterday to get to do much stitching yesterday, but I was able to get two more small parts of the block completed:

I hope to get more done today during this wet, rainy gloomy day between load of laundry. Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

Goldilocks Day One

So I eagerly got started on the April block of the Once Upon A Time Sampler yesterday. I decided to start with Goldilocks herself and I think she's just adorable:

Hi Goldie!

Of course I'm continuing my habit of using flosses and silks from Mo's Sale, and for Goldie, I made a new substitution. I decided to keep with the theme of using silk for the hair of the girls and used one of Mo's newest silk colors, Golden Sun, for her hair. I think it's just perfect!

Goldie isn't the only thing I stitched in the block yesterday. Here is all of the progress from yesterday:

I love how fast this stitches up and after a long break between March and April blocks, I'm once again in love with the fabric choice (28-ct. Jobelan in Sunset from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie) and am so so pleased with all of my thread substitutions from Mo's Sale. Let's see how much more I can get done today!

Until next time!
~Katy

Happy April!

My goodness, this year just seems to be flying by! I can't believe we're a quarter through the year!

With it being the first of the month, the next installment of the Once Upon A Time Sampler has come out and I'm so excited, but first, an update on Garden of Joy:

I am very pleased to say that I met my goal on this ornament for the month after all and got all of the stitching done last night! That means beading is all that is left. I have decided, I think, that this is just too big for me to finish it into an ornament for my tree - it rivals the size of some of my blown glass Santa ornaments in size. I will probably end up finishing this in a frame of some sort instead of an ornament, but we'll see what I feel like doing when I actually am ready to finish it. I'm not exactly known for the finishing of my pieces once I'm done stitching them! Hah!

Garden of Joy has been put away for now, though, so I can work on the next installment of Once Upon A Time. This month, I'm working on Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

I have already decided that I'm making one new additional substitution for the flosses this month. Just like I did silk for the hair of the princess in the February block, I'm going to use one of the brand new silk colors I got from my latest batch of Mo's flosses for Goldilocks' hair. That will be two out of the three girls in the piece with silk for their hair - Snow White has all black hair and I don't have a coordinating silk to go with that!

I can't wait to get started! In fact, I think I'm going to go do that right now!

Until next time!
~Katy

My Weekly Update

Well I can definitely tell it's spring time because the rain has started as have my seasonal allergies/headaches. Fun fun! It's made stitching this week a slow going project, but I have made some more progress!

Progress as of March 28, 2014

Unless I do a lot this weekend, I've pretty much resigned myself to not getting all the stitching done by April 1st, which is fine. Any progress I make will just mean less to do when I pick it up again after I finish the April block on the Once Upon A Time Sampler, which I'm very eager to get back to! I can't wait to see what the new pattern will be and will share it here as soon as I know!

I also wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to my favorite hand dyed floss supplier, Mo of Mo's Sale on Facebook. To say I'm hooked on her floss is an understatement. Her prices are reasonable for both her cotton and her silk floss, her colors are fantastic and unique, her quality is excellent, her customer service is wonderful, and she comes out with new colors nearly every week! She also dyes fabric once a month as well for unique fabric pieces. I just got my latest order from her in the mail (pre-bobbinated because Mo ROCKS like that) and the only thing I'm upset about is that some of these new colors weren't out sooner because I would have incorporated them into my Once Upon A Time Sampler, which is being done almost entirely in Mo's floss. Who knows, maybe I'll include some of these new colors anyway!

Pretty Floss!

Until next time!
~Katy

More Time In The Garden

I've been working on the Garden of Joy ornament off and on this week. It feels like I've had a lot going on as I haven't had a ton of time to work as much on this as I may like, but I am very much enjoying seeing it come to life!

None of the pictures I've taken of this piece really do the colors justice. They are just so beautiful in person! I'm really enjoying working on this ornament. I have a crazy weekend ahead of me potentially, but I'm going to try to get some dedicated time in to work on this and make some more progress. I would personally like to have all of the stitching done on this ornament before the April potion of the Once Upon A Time sampler comes out. That way I can get started on the beading when I finish April. Fingers crossed!

Until next time!

~Katy

Garden of Joy Ornament

So both of the Christmas ornaments I have left in my WIP list are rather bead heavy, but they're absolutely beautiful. Both are designed by Turquoise Graphics & Designs and are from the Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornaments 2012 edition. I ended up playing rock paper scissors and decided to start working on Garden of Joy next.

This is where I left Garden of Joy after I started it for the Crazy January Challenge last year.  I actually never picked it up again after the one day of starting it:

Garden of Joy - Started 1/11/13

Here is the progress I made yesterday:

This is being stitched over two on 32-count cream Belfast. I don't think this one is going to go nearly as quickly as the last ornament. As you can see, it's beautifully ornate and filled with beads, so I imagine it will likely be the project I work on the rest of the month while I wait for April's addition to the Once Upon A Time Sampler.

Until next time!
~Katy

Celtic Christmas Ornament #4 - Completed!

Yay for another WIP marked off the list! I finished stitching up Celtic Christmas Ornament #4 last night but waited to take a picture until this morning to get it in better light.

Celtic Christmas Ornament #4 by The Sunflower Seed
Started: 1/7/13
Finished: 3/11/14
Stitched on 30-count Antique Cotton Linen by R&R Reproductions

I'm going to wait likely until closer to Christmas to actually try to finish this out as an ornament when I can find Christmas related materials more easily in the craft stores. It'll be my first time to complete ornaments, so that'll be interesting when it happens. Hopefully (most likely) I'll have the other two ornaments on my WIP list ready to complete then as well!

I'm not sure which one I'm going to work on next, but I'll be sure to let you know when I do! Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Ornaments

So when I went through my WIP box yesterday to decide what to work on next, I pulled out the three Christmas ornaments from the Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornaments 2012 magazine that I had started as part of the Crazy January Challenge in 2013. All three are small pieces stitch wise, but two of them have beads (my first time to use them) and these will be the first ornaments I have created ever. I'm focused on finishing the stitching and beading now, and at some point, probably closer to Christmas, I'll do the actual finishing.

The first ornament I started working on is  Celtic Christmas Ornament #4 by The Sunflower Seed, which is being done on 30 ct. antique cotton linen from R&R Reproductions. Here is where I left it when I last worked on it last year:

As of March 14, 2013

 And here is where it is as of this morning:

I finished all the silver in the piece and added more of the border. I know it looks a little crooked, but that's just the way the linen is resting in the hoop, the stitches are actually straight. There are only three different colors in this, so once the border is done, I'll add the last color. The beading for this one comes in the finishing, which is partially why I chose to do this one first. It'll be a quick stitch and one more knocked off of my WIP list and onto my finishing list!

It's Spring Break this week so I'll be doing lots of stuff with my kiddos. We'll see how much stitching time I get in!

Until next time!
~Katy

My Witch's Brew - Completed!

Yay! I finished My Witch's Brew!

My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Started: 11/18/12

Finished: 3/9/14

Stitched on 16-count Aida in Crystal EEK! by Picture This Plus

Granted, I finished it during a bout of insomnia, but hey, a finish is a finish! I'm not sure how I will completely finish the project - most likely a to display this during Halloween. I'll probably wait until closer to that season to see if I can find something that strikes my fancy and when I have it all finished up in that way, I'll share it with you!

This finish also means that after I take my daughter out for our mommy/daughter day on Sunday, I can go through my WIP's and pull another one out to work on. I'm extremely tempted to do a new start, seeing as I finished this one, but I currently have 21 projects going right now and I want to have no more than 20 WIP's at a time (at least for now!). That means two more finishes before I can start a new project. I have several other small projects that I will likely pick from to try to knock some of those out quickly since most of my big WIP's have a long way to go. We'll see what strikes my fancy when I go through the WIP box.

Until next time!
~Katy

Pretty Pumpkins

So going into the weekend, I have finished the bottom portion of the border for My Witch's Brew, which included the last two pumpkins in the piece. Aren't they cute?

Now I'm working my way up the left side and I plan on just going up, over and then down and hopefully everything will match up just as it's supposed to! It's pretty simple stitching, and I'm hoping it will go quickly. Fingers crossed! I would love to end this weekend with a finish!

Until next time!
~Katy

That Was Fast!

March sure stitched up fast! That's probably because I wasn't doing the entire border and two months all at once! Hah!

Here is the March block on it's own. I love the way that Mo's Apple Cider floss looks in the little pig's brick house!

The first quarter of the year is done!

But we have quite a bit to go!

Can't wait for April's block! In the meantime, I'll go back to My Witch's Brew and see if I can finish it up this month. Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy

Once Upon A Time - March Day One

So I think I made some good progress on my first day of working on the March square for the Once Upon A Time Sampler:

I love how my little grey wolf turned out! He's so adorable! I don't think this square is going to take a long time to stitch up, and after a very busy week and weekend, I'm taking it easy today. Let's see how far I can get!

Until next time!
~Katy

The Three Little Pigs!

March's pattern for the Once Upon A Time Sampler came out and this month I'm stitching the Three Little Pigs:

I've been running around a lot today so I'm hoping I might get a chance to start this tonight. If not, tomorrow I plan on staying home almost all day, and I'll definitely get a good start on it then!

For now, My Witch's Brew is being put away. I didn't make a ton of progress on it since I only had a couple of days before this came out and yesterday was filled with family activities, but some progress is better than no progress, right?

Here is where it was when I picked it up a couple of days ago:

And here it is as of today:

Once I finish the March square, I'll pick it up again and maybe I'll be able to finish it this month. Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy

My Witch's Brew

So I needed to pick something to work on for the next couple of days until the March installment of Once Upon A Time comes out. I was a good girl and looked through my WIP's rather than starting a new piece (and I have a TON I want to start). I have several smaller pieces in my WIP list from when I did the Crazy January Challenge last year, but I decided to pick up My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner of The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe to try to finish it. All I have left to do on it is the border and it'll be done!

I'm stitching this on 16 ct. Aida (which I'm realizing I'm not a huge fan of working with anymore) in Crystal EEK! from Picture This Plus. Here is where the piece was the last time I worked on it:

Last worked on 12/8/13

And here is where it was after a little bit of work on the bottom part of the border last night:

I'm going to work on this today and tomorrow when I can and will post an update on Saturday after the March square has come out. I have the funeral for my grandmother tomorrow (part of my really bad week last week), and there is going to be a lot going on, but I'm going to keep this piece out so that when I finish the March square of OUAT, I can pick this up and try to get it done.

Until next time!
~Katy

February Done With Days To Spare

Yay! I finished February's block today with a couple of days to spare! This makes me excited since the next piece will come out on March 1st and this means I can stay on top of the sampler and hopefully get it finished on time by the time this year is done! Yay!

Here is the completed February block, whose theme was Princess and the Frog:

In addition to the flosses from Mo's Sale I had already used, I added Funny Raspberry and Coconut to this block. Coconut is actually part of Mo's silk floss collection and was my first time using silk floss. I thought it was only appropriate that the princess have silky hair!

Here is January and February together:

And this is the full sampler at this point, all of which was completed this month:

Since I don't expect that the March block will take me the full month, I'm going to go through my WIP's to find whichever one is closest to completion to see if maybe I can mark a WIP off my list in March as well. Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy