The World's Postage Stamp and Tuscan Greeting

The pieces I've been working on the past couple of days both have a very international feel to them and I have the urge to travel abroad again. Maybe someday!

The piece I worked on for Wednesday was The World's Postage Stamp by Soda Stitch.

This is just a fun piece that made me miss many of the places I have been to that are represented in the stamps. Here is where I stopped on Wednesday:

This is being stitched on 32 Jobelan in Meadow from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. Those background squares really are a tedious process!

Thursday saw me working on Tuscan Greeting from Dimensions.

I cannot tell you the number of errors I've made so far in this piece. I'm trying to fudge/fix them as I go along, and I think it's working okay for now, so hopefully that will continue! Here is where I got to on Thursday:

Can you tell where the errors are? I sure hope not!

Today is also TUSAL reporting day! Yay! My bowl is very full for this year. I don't think I'm going to be able to fit it all into one ornament!

Until next time!
~Katy

Mixed Berry Cheesecake and TUSAL

Yesterday I worked on Mixed Berry Cheesecake from Glendon Place.

It was really nice to work with the Dinky Dyes silks again. They're so soft and so lovely, I just love it! Here is where I got to yesterday:

It's difficult to tell in this picture, but this is done on a 28 Cashel Linen in Bashful from Picture This Plus, which is a really light, subtle pink. Can't wait until it comes up again!

Today is also TUSAL day! My ORT jar is filling up fast!

So many pretty colors!

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Countdown and TUSAL

I had a hard time finding my stitchy bug yesterday. I've noticed that tends to happen after I finish a piece, I need almost a day to recover, so to speak, before picking up the needle again. Not sure why that is...

I did settle down last evening, though, and went ahead and picked up Christmas Countdown to work on.

I was able to work on this piece without having much stitching mojo going on because I'm still working on the border, which is a pretty easy, mindless stitch, and I'm really happy I did because not only was I getting my mojo back by the time it was time to go to bed, I made some good progress, too!

I was able to make it to the top left corner and round it, plus add some more red along the top. Yay!

It's also time to show off my ORT's for this month's TUSAL report!

My ORT bowl is definitely full of all sorts of pretty threads! I love the colors of all of my projects mixed into one!

Until next time!
~Katy

Stitch Maynia - Edwardian Lady and TUSAL

Day Seventeen saw another Joan Elliott design (can you tell yet that I'm a big fan? Heh). This time, it was Edwardian Lady.

I liked this pattern so much I had two in my stash - which reminds me, there is still time to sign up for the giveaway! The drawing will be this Friday, my 35th birthday! Anyway, back to progress. This is where I got to yesterday:

I'm doing this on a beautiful sky blue 32 Jobelan in Calypso from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie. It really is stunning in person. She was a joy to work on today and I can't wait for her to come back up in the rotation!

The reason I had a duplicate of this pattern was because I thought I already had the 1920's Flapper that completes this foursome of beautiful ladies (Medieval, Edwardian, Victorian and Flapper), but alas I do not. If I did, she would have been in this rotation too since I'll have the other three started by the end of this month. That one's just going to have to stay on my wishlist for now!

Today is also the day to report on our TUSAL for the month, and here is my very full TUSAL bowl!

I wonder if I'm going to have too many ORT's for just one ornament this year. We shall see!

Until next time!
~Katy

Anne of Green Gables and TUSAL

Yesterday, I fully planned on taking my break from my A to Z challenge and working on my next piece in my rotation. I found out, though, that Jonathan Crombie had passed away and my plans changed. Jonathan played Gilbert Blythe in one of my favorite movie series from my childhood, the Anne of Green Gables series. He was my first fictional character crush and he passed far, far too young!

So, despite my already massive list of WIP's, I was compelled to start this piece in honor of him. This is Anne of Green Gables by Soda Stitch.

This is my first pattern to work on from Soda Stitch, and I fell in love with it only a few stitches in! Because I was not planning on starting this anytime soon, I didn't have all of the colors in my stash (they've been ordered!), but I was able to make some good progress yesterday:

I'm stitching this on 28 count Jobelan in Vanilla Mist from Under The Sea Fabrics. It looks like a blue spring sky filled with white clouds, which I think will be perfect for this piece! I have added this to my regular rotation and am already looking forward to the next time it comes up to work on!

Yesterday was also the scheduled day for our TUSAL report, but I didn't want to clutter up my A to Z challenge post, so here are my pictures of my ORT's for the year!

Until next time!
~Katy

Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey, TUSAL Time!

I had a lot of fun working on last night's project - my son's Doctor Who Clock from Cloudsfactory!

This piece is just fun, and my son was so excited to see me pull it out which makes it even better! I was able to finish the TARDIS and start on the Gallifreyan symbols behind it yesterday:

I wish the picture could capture the really beautiful sparkle of this 32 count Opal Lugana jewel from Under The Sea Fabrics. Because I'm using 99% silks from Mo's Sale for this project and because of the fabric type I'm using, this piece definitely moves at a slower pace for me because I want to do it right and prevent frogging as much as possible (well, I always want that, but I'm even more focused on it for this piece!), but it really is a lot of fun to stitch!

Today is also the TUSAL reporting day for March! How time has flown! Here are my TUSAL pictures for this month (apologies for the crooked pics!):

I think I'm going to have to squish down my ORT's to make sure I don't run out of room in my jar before the end of the year!

Until next time!
~Katy

Floss Filled Fun (And A Little Stitching)!

This is going to be a very floss filled post, but like any avid stitcher, I'm happy to be showing off more stash!

I threw my back out yesterday bending over to pick something up off of the floor, which was less than pleasant. I'm moving better today, but I'm still really slow. Stash mail helped cheer me up, though!

First, I am an avid fan of Mo's Sale hand dyed flosses and silks. I have used several of them in various pieces, and I have an almost complete collection of all of her offerings. I'm playing catch up from a few months when I wasn't on her auto-order list, but I'm getting there! Yesterday, I got my latest stash of what we fans call "Mo Mail"!

Here are the stunning silks (they're even more gorgeous in person):

 

 Mo even had some extra silks available in the Golden Sun color I'm using for my Zodiac SAL, so now I'm not worried I'm going to run out this year. Yay!

And here are the amazing flosses (also more gorgeous in person):

If you are looking for a new, unique source of hand dyed floss and silk, I totally recommend Mo. She is an absolute doll, her products are of beautiful quality and her prices can't be beat!

This wasn't the only mail I got yesterday. I also got the missing floss for The Little Mermaid! Yay!

Today also happens to be the February TUSAL check-in day. Here are my pictures for the month!

You can definitely see the layers growing of the different colors from the different pieces. I've "squashed" the ORTs down for this month and am ready to add more!

Oh yeah! I did actually do some stitching yesterday. It wasn't as much as I would have liked because I was in so much pain yesterday, but I did put some time in on Angel of Compassion:

Here is where I was able to get to yesterday before the pain was just too much:

I completely finished the second column (so much kreinik!) and that top row now goes all the way across to the edge of the first page. I also put in a few stitches of the confetti on this page in the third column. I'm playing around with trying to do more cross country stitching in this rather than column by column. We'll see how it goes the next time I pick this one up.

Here's hoping for less pain and more stitching success today!

Until next time!
~Katy

January TUSAL and Story Time Sampler

Today is the first TUSAL check in for 2015! This is the Totally Useless SAL hosted by Daffycat where we get to show off our lovely ORT's each New Moon, and you can join in at any time! Here is my contribution for the month:

I add ORT's to my jar all year long and empty it in early December when I put them in the ornament for the year, so really, this is an ORT collection for both December and January, but I've done a ton of stitching! Love all those pretty colors from Once Upon A Time and Story Time Sampler, especially, right on top!

Speaking of Story Time Sampler, I finished the frames and have moved onto the banner!

The banner I'm not as excited about stitching as I was the frames because I'm not a huge fan of one color/big blocks of stitching (which, considering some of my WIP's, makes no sense! Ha!), but it will look great when it's done! I'm using Natural Tea from Mo's Sale for the main background of the banner. Once the banner is done, then I will tackle Alice!

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

February TUSAL and New Rotation Week

Evening, all! Hard to believe it's time for another TUSAL report again! I have changed up my TUSAL jar for the year. I found this crystal bowl when I was putting my Christmas china away and putting my 'standard' china back out for display in my china cabinet. I have lots of beautiful crystal pieces but with young kids, I can't display them much. This piece, though, sits right beside my stitching seat and the kids leave it alone and it's such a prettier TUSAL jar!

Anyway, here is where we were at last month's TUSAL:

Old TUSAL jar

And this month's (the new jar is a little harder to have perspective with from this angle):

New TUSAL jar

And from the top:

Pretty!

And tonight:

Lots of room to expand!

Tonight also started a new rotation week! I'm back on another CJC piece this week and I am working on my Wedding Sampler by Carolyn Manning! Here is where I left the piece after it's CJC start:

Wedding Sampler - Start of Rotation Week

And here it is today, after me being up at 3 AM due to a massive lightening show that I couldn't fall back asleep from and spending some more time stitching tonight:

As of 2/10/13

It's amazing how much progress you can make in the wee morning hours undisturbed...I plan on making lots of progress on this piece this week!

Until next time!
~Katy