Vacation Update

Well, I'm back from vacation! We had a wonderful week long vacation in Colorado! We went to Denver first, then Boulder so hubby could do the Ironman (he finished! Yay!), and then finished the trip in Breckenridge. We did so many things and had so much fun, it was a really great time, though I'm glad to be home!

I did complete a lot of stitching during my vacation, though. I did have two finishes, one the night before my vacation, one on the way to the airport on our last day!

Wine Glass by Mill Hill

Started: 5/15/15

Finished: 7/28/15

All Things Noah by Dimensions

Started: Sometime before 2001

Finished: 8/5/15

All Things Noah was my oldest WIP and my first project for Alphabet ABC's for Stitch Maynia this month! I'm so excited to have it done!

I also worked on several other pieces this week!

Spirit of Cross Stitch Angel by Brooke's Books:

St. Peter's from John Clayton International:

Stardust Fairy by Joan Elliott:

Stitching ABC's from Design Works:

Storytime Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery (OMG Phantom of the Opera! LOVE!!):

Walking Through The Stars Zodiac Sampler from Cloudsfactory:

Lots of great progress, lots of fun, but now it's time to get back to the real world!

Until next time~
Katy

Jeweled Apple

I have a finish! Down to 58 WIPs! Woo Hoo! I finished Jeweled Apple by Mill Hill!

I am waiting to cut it out until I have some proper backing for it, but it is done! Yay!

Until next time!
~Katy

The Silver Needle and A Finish!

Hi everyone! Did you miss me? Let me warn you in advance, this is going to be a long and picture filled post! Ha!

This past weekend, I went with my husband to Tulsa, Oklahoma for a mini weekend vacation. He was riding in the Tulsa Tough bike races (two 100+ mile races in two days for him! Have I mentioned my husband is crazy? HAHA!), but I was most excited to get a chance to go to The Silver Needle in Tulsa!

Let me just say I know what Heaven to a cross stitcher looks like now! Ha! I'll let the pictures tell the story first.

4000 square feet of stitching goodness! It was overwhelming, honestly. From all of the patterns and fabrics and flosses and silks and the MODELS! Oh my goodness, there were models EVERYWHERE. If a space wasn't filled with something to buy, it was filled with a model. I could have spent so many hours there and never have seen it all. The staff was incredibly sweet and friendly, too. Some of my fellow Stitch Mayniacs and I are already plotting out a road trip in the future to go back! And I could have spent a lot more money than I did, but I did walk away with some stash. How could I not??

Aren't they lovely? They are...

1. Queen of the Needle by Just Nan - not at all my normal style but it was screaming for me and I love it! You all know sometimes you just have to listen to the piece calling for you the loudest!

2. Fairy Tales by Mirabilia

3. Queen of Freedom by Mirabilia

4. Miss New Year's Fairy Kit by Mirabilia - I already have Miss Valentine in my rotation and The Easter Fairy in my stash. Three down, three to go!

5. Peacock Alphabet by Just Nan

6. ABC's of Parenting Kit by Lizzie Kate - I'm seriously considering doing this one for the A to Z challenge next year.

Shopping and adding to my stash weren't the only thing I did this weekend! While hubby was racing, I was stitching! Friday started the week long Orange is the New Black SAL with the Stitch Maynia group. The "rules" were that you had to stitch on something that had orange and/or black in it, whether it was fabric, floss, whatever! I haven't gotten to watch the new season yet because hubby likes the show too, but I did stitch! I decided to work on Floss Daily by Wee Little Stitches and since I was on vacation, I only worked on this piece this past weekend instead of my normal rotation and I was able to finish it!

Floss Daily by Wee Little Stitches

Started: 5/19/15

Finished: 6/14/15

Stitched on 28 ct. Jobelan in Frosted Pumpkin from Hand Dyed Fabrics By Stephanie using flosses from Mo's Sale

This ended up having over 40 different flosses from Mo's Sale in it! The full list includes:

First Row (l-r): Merida, Omaha, Amy Pond, Rarity, Ariel, Gold, Searching for Elsa and Reef

Second Row: Dorothy

Third Row (l-r): Tahiti, Cotton Candy, Van Goth, Snow White, Rose Tyler, Pumpkin Patch, Hope and Tiana

Fourth Row: Daffodils and Peonies

Fifth Row: Magnolia

Sixth Row: Petunia and Mint Julep

Seventh Row (l-r): Sword, Hibiscus, Fire Pit, Berry, Jelly, Mardi Gras, Emily and Disco

Eighth Row: Pride

Ninth Row (l-r): Western Bluebird, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Iron Man, Hulk, Pinkie Pie, Bell Cay and Kristoff

I had a lot of fun with this piece! It was a fast stitch and I plan on finding a basic white frame to frame it up so it can have a place in my mom cave when it's done!

Whew, I think that's all for now! Time to start getting back into the swing of things!

Until next time!
~Katy

Stitch Maynia - Snowflakes

Woo hoo! Day Eleven was a start and a finish all in the same day! I started and completed Snowflakes by Mill Hill yesterday:

It was really nice to have a quick stitch like this to mark off the list. I have several Mill Hill kits in my stash just for this very reason. I enjoy beading a lot, though this was my first time to use bugle beads in addition to the seed beads. I like the dimension they add!

I'm not sure how I'm going to finish this one yet. It came with a magnet, but I don't really think I'll finish it that way. My husband and I give our daughter snowflake ornaments every year, so I may make this her ornament for the year, or I may just make it a separate decoration. I'll decide closer to Christmas and will wait to cut it out then.

Until next time!
~Katy

Z is for...

I did it! It's here! The end of the journey! Today we meet the last character in our alphabet, Zelena, also known as the Wicked Witch of the West!

Zelena is the older half sister of Regina and was the first of the sisters to study under Rumplestiltskin. She originally wasn't green - she turned that was out of jealousy. She has a fondness for turning people into flying monkeys (Aurora can attest to that), and we thought she was long gone. Apparently we were wrong. I'm not going to go into too much more detail because it's all about the current season and part of it makes me want to yell at the television!

With the completion of Zelena, I have finished the entire sampler! Yay!!

Once Upon A Time Character Alphabet Sampler by Fangirl Stitches

Started: 3/30/15

Finished: 4/29/15

Stitched on 32-ct. Jobelan in Witches Brew from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie

I've had a ton of fun with this challenge and I can't wait until next year's!

If you've missed my previous posts in the A to Z Challenge, feel free to check them out at:

A is for...

B is for...

C is for...

D is for...

E is for...

F is for...

G is for...

H is for...

I is for...

J is for...

K is for...

L is for...

M is for...

N is for...

O is for...

P is for...

Q is for...

R is for...

S is for...

T is for...

U is for...

V is for...

W is for...

X is for...

Y is for...

Until next time!
~Katy

Once Upon A Time - Finished!

Yay!!! First finish of 2015 and done in time to start the Story Time Sampler tomorrow!!

Here is the December block completed:

And here is the completed piece!!!

Once Upon A Time Sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Started: 2/1/14

Finished: 1/14/15

Stitched on 28-ct. jobelan in Sunset from Hand Dyed Fabrics By Stephanie

Floss and Silks from Mo's Sale

I'm so happy with how this turned out. It was the first time I made a nearly complete overhaul and substituted all of the flosses and silks for other colors. My daughter has already begged that this be hung in her room once it's framed, and I'm seriously considering looking into Jill Rensel for framing the piece because I think this unique piece deserves a unique frame. We'll see.

Tomorrow is the new release. I'm so excited!

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

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

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

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

Picture Heavy Post!

A little bit of everything in today's post...first, Italian Vista!

Here's where we were at when we last saw Italian Vista:

Italian Vista - Start of Rotation Week

And here we are today after a bit of work:

As of 12/2/12

I also finally started cleaning out my mom cave. When we moved, I insisted I would get a room all to myself for my things that I can escape to, work on crafts, or at the very least, keep everything organized! Since we moved in back in June, this has been a catch all room for junk, but I started clearing some of it out. I have one corner organized for now...I won't dare show you the rest of the room, but here's what I have at this point!

This is the corner as a whole at this point:

A better shot of the bookshelf. The bottom row of books are filled with beautiful hard leather bound and gold edged classics that I inherited from my grandfather, plus a few other classics. The middle row are my  two favorite series of books that I wanted to keep in hard copy  even after downloading electronic versions. The top row is stash! From the blue binder to the right are all of my materials (at this point) for my Crazy January Challenge. The binders and magazines on the left are other patterns.

Top of the bookshelf with a lamp, one of my penguins, thread stash not being used in any other project right now, and some printed out and divided HAED patterns that need to be filed away:

My stash pot, haha! This pot holds fabrics, patterns, kits, etc., that I'm not currently working on that I can sort through when I'm looking for something.

A better shot of the pot. This is actually a flower pot that my daughter's kindergarten class mod podged last year as part of a school fundraiser entry in a silent auction. I had to have it!

One last thing! Tonight I went to my mom's for dinner, and she has her house nearly completely decorated for Christmas, which I love. Back when my husband and I got married in 2002, we were fresh out of college with basic entry level jobs and no real money for Christmas gifts, so I found an inexpensive plastic canvas kit and made this for my mother for Christmas that year:

Ho, ho, ho!

She has it displayed with her big Santa collection every year and told me again tonight how much she loves this piece. It's usually under glass and propped up on display. Add this to the list of old finishes with no other information, but I love it!

Until next time!
~Katy

Another Finish and Another Giveaway

I did it! Two finishes in two weeks! That doesn't happen often and won't happen again for a long while, I don't imagine, but Tribal Penguin is finished!

Tribal Penguin - 10/28/12 - 11/17/12

I'm really pleased with how this piece turned out and loved working on it! But now, it's time for me to give it away and give the joy of this pattern to someone else! The rules for this giveaway are simple. Respond to this post indicating your interest to receive the traveling pattern and one week from today, I will draw a name to determine the lucky recipient! Easy peasy!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Finish!

First, thank you everyone for your kind words about my new job. I'm very excited about it and can't wait to start! We had a great day at the zoo with the Daisy Scouts, though I am incredibly worn out! Walking over 3 miles while wrangling six Daisies and a 2-year old will take that out of you! My son, the aforementioned 2-year old, walked every bit of those 3+ miles and loved it...and crashed in my arms on the train ride home! But it was a very nice day!

Despite being exhausted, I was able to put in the last of the back stitching and personalization on May Lily of the Valley Teacup! Yay!

 May Lily of the Valley Teacup - WOCS Project - 10/14/12 - 11/10/12

What a great ending to a rotation week! Next week, I'm back to Tribal Penguin...could I possibly get two finishes done, two weeks in a row? Who knows! But I'll certainly try!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Cross Stitch Flashback

My paternal grandparents were massive Christmas decorators. Two or three trees, a massive Christmas village, Santa's galore - you name it, they had it. I attribute my love of Christmas decorations to them as they started ornament collections for all of us and have added to them every year, plus I received a Fontanini nativity set as a gift after my Confirmation. My first cross-stitch piece I ever completed was one I finished for my maternal grandmother (will take a picture next time I'm at her house), but this piece is the second piece I ever finished:

A Christmas Nativity

I couldn't tell you the name of the piece now or who made it. I know it was in a kit, and the frame came with it. It was a huge source of pride for me as a 13 or 14 year old to finish this and give it to my grandparents, who always had it up during Christmas. We're talking nearly 20 years ago now that I finished this piece. My grandfather passed away several years ago, and my father and aunts recently moved my grandmother to an Alzheimer's facility. They are cleaning out her cottage to put things in storage and came across this piece among the Christmas decorations and wanted to make sure I got it back. The frame needs to be fixed and the piece needs to be more securely adhered to it, but this is definitely a special piece to me and will be a treasured Christmas decoration for the rest of my life!

I worked more on the back stitching for May Lily of the Valley Teacup today! I finished the flowers, one of the two green colors for the leaves and stems and started on the second green for the leaves. I think this is going to easily be finished either tomorrow or Saturday!

As of 11/8/12

Oh, one more personal note, my interview session today went very well and I have one more tomorrow afternoon - it will be round seven of interviews and will hopefully be the last!

Until next time!
~Katy