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

A Wee Bit Frustrated

Last night, I picked up Tuscan Greetings to work on.

This is one of my smaller pieces, and it was supposed to be one of my easier pieces. It would be...if I hadn't figured out while working on it tonight that I've screwed up majorly in the counting somewhere along the way. Significantly enough I'd have to rip out nearly half if not more of my stitching to fix it. UGH!

In an attempt to look on the positive side, because of the way this piece is designed, I am hopeful that I caught this mistake "early" enough that I can just do a lot of adjusting along the way as I continue the piece to make it work. I'm not ready to give up on it yet, especially since I know that I am likely the only one who will know the mistake exists when all is said and done. This is where I was able to get to last night:

Can you figure out where the mistake happened? I'm already starting on making adjustments. Hopefully this will all work out at the end. Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

Tuscan Greetings

Yesterday I spent some time working on the last of my 'small' pieces in my rotation, Tuscan Greetings:

Yes, yes, another Italian themed piece, are you surprised? This is going to be personalized with our family name and when it's done, I plan on hanging it by our front door.

Here is where it stands as of yesterday:

We have a very busy day ahead of us as a family with two soccer games and my daughter has a Girl Scout Cookie Booth after her game. Oh yeah, and it's Valentine's Day too! I almost forgot! I probably won't be able to stitch much until this evening, but I'll definitely stitch something!

Quick update on the thread issue from the last post - MCG Textiles emailed me yesterday and let me know they put the correct color in the mail to fix the error in my kit! Yay! That's what I call good customer service!

Off to the craziness!

Until next time!

~Katy

A Trip Through Italy

The past couple of days have been filled with trips through Italy!

On Sunday, I spent some time working on Italian Vista and went from this:

To this:


As of 3/3/1.3

And then yesterday, I worked on Tuscan Greeting from the CJC and went from this:

To this:

As of 3/4/13

I'm worried I might have miscounted on the inside portions of this and will need to do some frogging, but I was too tired last night and kept confusing myself, so I put it down and will look to see if I did indeed make a mistake or not the next time it comes up!

Until next time!
~Katy

Theme-A-Licious - Jardin January Mid-Month Check In

 

This year I decided to take part in the Theme-A-Licious SAL, and today is the mid month check in for January! Because of how my rotation schedule works, I am planning on using this SAL to review pieces I work on each month and figure out what I've done to fit in the monthly theme. This month's theme is Jardin January:

Jardin January

The holidays were a little stressful...let's relax in a nice garden. Work on any piece with flowers or gardens.

So far this month, I've worked on the following pieces with flowers/gardens in the piece (even if I haven't gotten to that part of the piece yet!):

Butterfly Rose Cross by Heaven and Earth Designs (flowers are part of the piece, just haven't gotten to them!)

Wedding Sampler by Carolyn Manning

Tuscan Greeting by Dimensions (another where I haven't gotten to the tranquil garden part yet, but it fits!)

Winter Flowers Ornament by Turquoise Graphics and Designs

  

Fall Fairy by Dimensions Gold Collection

Garden of Joy Ornament by Turquoise Graphics and Designs

 

Sweet Pea Fairy by Joan Elliott

Butterfly Fairy by Joan Elliott (perhaps no flowers or gardens in the piece, per se, but where else would you find a Butterfly Fairy?)

Wow! I didn't realize how many from the Crazy January Challenge would fit this theme! Based on my rotation schedule, I should have one more addition to this list plus an update on one already on this list by the time we have our final check in on January 31st! How did you do on the theme this month?

Come back later tonight for the update to my final new start for the Crazy January Challenge! Just need to put the kids in bed so I can start stitching!

Until next time!
~Katy

Crazy January Challenge - Tuscan Greeting....And Stash!!!

Today's start for the CJC was another one of my smaller projects, a kit called Tuscan Greeting by Dimensions:

I didn't get a lot of stitching done tonight because my in-laws are in town for the very last of the Christmas festivities, but a few stitches (even if they're all half stitches) are always better than no stitches!

It's a start!

In other fun stitchy news, I have been having fun getting wonderful stash goodies in the mail! Look, look! A few beautiful patterns from Lavender and Lace and Mirabilia and gorgeous fabrics!

Stash!!!

I'm in love with the fabrics and am quickly becoming a hand dyed fabric addict! Look at these beauties! This one is Midnight Tryst on Opal Lugana from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie:

Love it!

And these beauties are from Under The Sea Fabrics and are (clockwise from top corner) Limited Edition Mayan Apocalypse on 28-count Cashel, Midsummer Night on 28-count Lugana, Limited Edition Fiery Skies on 32-count Opal Belfast and a gorgeous misdye of Cosmos on 32-count Belfast:

So pretty!

I have absolutely nothing planned for these fabrics yet, but that's okay...I'm loving the collecting right now!

In-laws will still be in town tomorrow, but I think they'll be occupied with the kiddos so hopefully I can get a lot more stitching done on my next CJC start, which is also an HAED! Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy