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

Happy April!

My goodness, this year just seems to be flying by! I can't believe we're a quarter through the year!

With it being the first of the month, the next installment of the Once Upon A Time Sampler has come out and I'm so excited, but first, an update on Garden of Joy:

I am very pleased to say that I met my goal on this ornament for the month after all and got all of the stitching done last night! That means beading is all that is left. I have decided, I think, that this is just too big for me to finish it into an ornament for my tree - it rivals the size of some of my blown glass Santa ornaments in size. I will probably end up finishing this in a frame of some sort instead of an ornament, but we'll see what I feel like doing when I actually am ready to finish it. I'm not exactly known for the finishing of my pieces once I'm done stitching them! Hah!

Garden of Joy has been put away for now, though, so I can work on the next installment of Once Upon A Time. This month, I'm working on Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

I have already decided that I'm making one new additional substitution for the flosses this month. Just like I did silk for the hair of the princess in the February block, I'm going to use one of the brand new silk colors I got from my latest batch of Mo's flosses for Goldilocks' hair. That will be two out of the three girls in the piece with silk for their hair - Snow White has all black hair and I don't have a coordinating silk to go with that!

I can't wait to get started! In fact, I think I'm going to go do that right now!

Until next time!
~Katy

My Weekly Update

Well I can definitely tell it's spring time because the rain has started as have my seasonal allergies/headaches. Fun fun! It's made stitching this week a slow going project, but I have made some more progress!

Progress as of March 28, 2014

Unless I do a lot this weekend, I've pretty much resigned myself to not getting all the stitching done by April 1st, which is fine. Any progress I make will just mean less to do when I pick it up again after I finish the April block on the Once Upon A Time Sampler, which I'm very eager to get back to! I can't wait to see what the new pattern will be and will share it here as soon as I know!

I also wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to my favorite hand dyed floss supplier, Mo of Mo's Sale on Facebook. To say I'm hooked on her floss is an understatement. Her prices are reasonable for both her cotton and her silk floss, her colors are fantastic and unique, her quality is excellent, her customer service is wonderful, and she comes out with new colors nearly every week! She also dyes fabric once a month as well for unique fabric pieces. I just got my latest order from her in the mail (pre-bobbinated because Mo ROCKS like that) and the only thing I'm upset about is that some of these new colors weren't out sooner because I would have incorporated them into my Once Upon A Time Sampler, which is being done almost entirely in Mo's floss. Who knows, maybe I'll include some of these new colors anyway!

Pretty Floss!

Until next time!
~Katy

More Time In The Garden

I've been working on the Garden of Joy ornament off and on this week. It feels like I've had a lot going on as I haven't had a ton of time to work as much on this as I may like, but I am very much enjoying seeing it come to life!

None of the pictures I've taken of this piece really do the colors justice. They are just so beautiful in person! I'm really enjoying working on this ornament. I have a crazy weekend ahead of me potentially, but I'm going to try to get some dedicated time in to work on this and make some more progress. I would personally like to have all of the stitching done on this ornament before the April potion of the Once Upon A Time sampler comes out. That way I can get started on the beading when I finish April. Fingers crossed!

Until next time!

~Katy

Garden of Joy Ornament

So both of the Christmas ornaments I have left in my WIP list are rather bead heavy, but they're absolutely beautiful. Both are designed by Turquoise Graphics & Designs and are from the Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornaments 2012 edition. I ended up playing rock paper scissors and decided to start working on Garden of Joy next.

This is where I left Garden of Joy after I started it for the Crazy January Challenge last year.  I actually never picked it up again after the one day of starting it:

Garden of Joy - Started 1/11/13

Here is the progress I made yesterday:

This is being stitched over two on 32-count cream Belfast. I don't think this one is going to go nearly as quickly as the last ornament. As you can see, it's beautifully ornate and filled with beads, so I imagine it will likely be the project I work on the rest of the month while I wait for April's addition to the Once Upon A Time Sampler.

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 - Garden of Joy Ornament and January TUSAL

Tonight, I started the final of three ornaments I am stitching for the CJC. This is another one from Turquoise Graphics and Designs that came out of Just CrossStitch this year, and I love how the colors vary from it's 'sibling' ornament:

Lots and lots and LOTS and lots and LOTS AND LOTS of beading to come on this later, but like the others, I'm going to do the crosses first and then go back and bead after. Here is my progress as of tonight:

Not too bad! Today is also the first TUSAL of 2013. I loved the ORT Ornament I made with my TUSAL bits last year, and that was after only really stitching for six months. I can't wait to see what I can do this year, and the year is already off to a good start. I'm using the same jar I did last year to collect my ORT's. It stays seated on the table right next to my stitching spot to collect my ORT's when they're ready:

First TUSAL of 2013!

Since I took a Christmas holiday from stitching very shortly after the last TUSAL of 2012, these threads are almost exclusively from the Crazy January Challenge pieces, with a few threads from stitching Girl Scout badges thrown in as well!

From the top!

I have lots of different pieces with lots of different color schemes this year. It will be interesting to see how this grows this year!

Four more starts left for the CJC! I can't wait!

Until next time!
~Katy