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

Bad, Bad Blogger...

I've been such a bad blogger of late...not due to a lack of things to post about or a desire to post, but more a lack of energy! Of course, I'm saying that at 12:09 AM when I should be sound asleep in bed, but I'm wide awake...so time to get caught up!

I haven't been stitching every day, but I have been continuing with the March Madness theme this month (a full update on that to come on Friday, hopefully!), so I have lots of different pieces I've been working on!

Since my last update, I worked some more on the border for Christmas Countdown and went from this:

to this:

As of 3/9/13

Then I moved on to American Flag Quilt Sampler and went from this:

To this:

As of 3/12/13

Then it was on to Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love:

which grew to this:

As of 3/13/13

And then finally there is Celtic Christmas Ornament #4, which started here:

and ended here:

As of 3/14/13

Not a bad bit of stitching progress if I do say so myself! I've also discovered a new vendor on facebook who is making some really beautiful hand dyed floss for incredibly reasonable prices! I mean, look at all of these beauties!

Floss!

Really, this picture doesn't do these gorgeous threads justice! Do I have pieces for them right now? No, but I love having them for my stash! Head on over to Mo's Sale on facebook (you'll have to join a group) to see these colors and more!

I also late on posting my TUSAL this month, but here we go!

Last month:

This month:

Last month:

This month:

That's a lot of thread! I love seeing all of the colors build up bit by bit!

Whew, now that is a pretty extensive update! That's what I get for not blogging more regularly! Hopefully life will slow down a bit and I won't get this far behind again!

Until next time!
~Katy

Crazy January Challenge - Celtic Christmas Ornament #4

This is one of three Christmas ornaments I'm working on as part of the Crazy January Challenge. I've never made an ornament before, but after getting the 2012 Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornament edition, I couldn't resist! This one is Celtic Christmas Ornament #4 by The Sunflower Seed:

Pretty!

Just three colors of thread in this ornament, including my first use of true overdyed floss. I'm using the same fabric as called for in the pattern, but mine is not nearly as yellow as this picture is for some reason. No matter, I'm having fun with the sparkly kreinik thread!

Sparkles!

I have a lot of pieces using a lot of kreinik with this challenge and on the whole, I like working with it and the pretty effects it creates! I have a feeling this should be another relatively quick stitch that I should be able to finish this year and hopefully I'll have it hanging on my tree this coming Christmas!

Until next time!
~Katy