Once Upon A Time - Border Done!

Yay! The border is complete on the Once Upon A Time Sampler!

I love the way this is looking so far! Next I'm going to start on the January block. I may not have January and February done before March comes out on 3/1, but I have no doubt I'll be fully caught up by the end of March. Wish me luck!

Until next time!~
~ Katy

Lots of Border

So this week on my Once Upon A Time Sampler, I've been focused on the border. I finished all of the main outlining in Marine and am now going back with the Plum to fill in the details. I figure that should be done by the end of this weekend and then I can move onto January's square. Here's the progress for this week!

(Ignore the REALLY bad lighting on the first picture, please)

Fingers crossed I can finish the border this weekend. I am part of The Frosted Pumpkin SAL group on Facebook and seeing everyone's progress makes me super eager to get started on my blocks, but I know for my own sanity, I need the border done first!

Until next time!
~Katy

Once Upon A Time

So I got started on the 2014 Once Upon A Time Sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery over the weekend. I'm working on the border first, then I will do January and February, hopefully before the month is over! I don't think it should be too much of a problem as the border is going pretty quickly. I also think that having the border done will make it much easier to focus each month on just stitching that portion of the sampler rather than building the border as I go.

I'm really enjoying this piece so far:

I had the recommended fabric in my stash for this piece, but it was too boring for me, so I decided to us 28 ct. Jobelan in Sunset from Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie, which I'm just in love with. I also had made the promise to myself to not buy any floss for this piece since I have such a huge stash. Well, when I did a floss toss, I realized I only have maybe half of the called for DMC floss for this piece, so I'm making substitutions galore! Those floss changes are going to be my way, besides the fabric, of making this piece unique to me. For example, all three of the colors used for the border at this point are substitutions from Mo's Floss. Mo is a sweet woman who runs a one person shop with hand dying flosses and she sells them for fantastically reasonable prices in comparison to other dyed threads. The flosses used so far in this piece are her Tin, Plum and Marine flosses. Considering how many substitutions I'm going to need to make, I'm sure I'm going to be able to dive into my stash of Mo's floss to make the appropriate changes:

My Mo's Floss Collection!

Until next time!
~ Katy

Goodbye Rapunzel, Hello Once Upon A Time

So much for updating twice a week! Ha!

I've put a lot of work into Rapunzel this past week and I'm thrilled with the progress:

I'm still adoring stitching on her but I'm putting her away for a bit for a new start. Yes, I know, I said no new starts until I finished a WIP, but this is an annual sampler with a new portion released each month from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery called the 2014 Once Upon A Time Sampler. January and February have already been released and though I have the chart pieces, I haven't started them yet because I've been so enamored by Rapunzel! I'm going to put Rapunzel away for now, go through my stash (because I refuse to buy anything for this sampler, I have a ton of stash, substitutions always work!) and start working on the piece. I figure once I have each month's section done, I can pick up whatever else I want to work on that month until the next month's release comes out. With any luck, this will be a certain finish by the end of 2014 (and I'm really bad about finishes!)

More to come when there are progress pictures! Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~ Katy

Friday Update

I think I'm learning as I continue to make my stay at home mom routine that twice a week posting on the blog of my updates on stitching is a good schedule for me - once going into the weekend, and once after the weekend! I definitely don't feel the pressure to post daily like I once did especially if I don't stitch everyday, and it's fun to see how far I come along in a piece over several days!

Rapunzel has stayed in my hoop this week. Don't see her being switched out anytime soon, I'm just in love with this piece, though I will admit as I am starting to visit other blogs again I have several WIP's that are starting to call my name again. So we will just have to wait and see how long she keeps my interest!

Here is Rapunzel's progress for the week:

The skin 1x1 went very smoothly and I love the way it looks on her! I don't do any backstitching until all crosses are done, but she definitely has a face now!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm!

Until next time!
~ Katy