World of Charity Stitching

Okay, one last quick post for the night...

Anyone who has been following my blog has seen my progress at various times for squares for World of Charity Stitching. This group of stitchers from around the world donate completed squares that are made into anything from quilts to bags to pillows to cards for children at Ronald McDonald House and seniors who may not have anyone looking out for them. I have contributed three squares thus far: Knotted Hearts and Have a Heart seen here with their fabrics and Birdhouse Neighborhood seen here with it's coordinating fabric. May Lily of the Valley Teacup will be my fourth contribution when it is done.

Tonight, Bonnie, one of our members who puts together these wonderful squares into beautiful quilts, posted pictures of the quilt tops for each of these quilts and I have to share them just to show you all how wonderful it is to see pieces come together to make a treasured gift for a complete stranger:

Birdhouse Quilt - My square is in the upper left corner!

Knotted Hearts Quilt - My square is the purple one, third square from the left, second row from the bottom

Have a Heart Quilt - My square is on the bottom row, second from the right

Aren't these quilts stunning? It really gives me an even greater sense of pride in my own finished projects when I see just how clearly they are just part of a greater whole! I highly encourage you to join WOCS - you pick what you want to stitch, which projects you want to join, whenever you wish to do them. It's a wonderful organization, and we would love to have you join us!

Until next time!
~Katy

August TUSAL

It's TUSAL time again! I love how the TUSAL posts and IHSW fall around the same time. It puts me in such a good mood for the weekend!

This month, I'm thrilled with my TUSAL Jar!

Lots of ORTs!

View From The Top!

This is comparison to last month and it's paltry beginnings!

July TUSAL

There are threads in there from my daughter's Daisy uniform and from the following projects I worked on and/or completed this month!

I was able to finish two projects since the last TUSAL post!

Purples from Knotted Hearts for World of Charity Stitching (WOCS)

Knotted Hearts

Pinks from Have a Heart, also for WOCS

And these are the projects I worked on that also have ORTs in my jar!

Italian Vista - As of July TUSAL

As of July TUSAL

And as of today:

Last Updated August 3, 2012

 European Bistro - A new start since the last TUSAL

Last Updated August 6, 2012

Birdhouse Neighborhood - Also a new start since the last TUSAL and a project for WOCS:

As of August 17, 2012

I also received my lovely prize from Karen at My Stitchy Ramblings today, and I'm so excited for these charts!

Yay for Charts!

And look at the lovely stitch counter she included as well! I've never had one before and I think it's just beautiful! It's so delicate and feminine and I love the colors. I fully plan on starting to use it from now on!

My Pretty Stitch Counter!

Thank you again, Karen!

Wow, this was a picture heavy post! I don't plan on posting much again until Sunday evening, most likely. I have family coming over Sunday afternoon for a house warming and meet my younger brother's girlfriend from Chicago party, so when I'm not stitching, I'll be getting the house ready for that. I fully plan on getting some stitching in, though, and hopefully finishing up Birdhouse Neighborhood. I'll be sure to come back and post my progress from the weekend!

I hope you all have a wonderfully stitchy weekend! Until next time!
~Katy

Word of Advice

In case you were ever wondering if it was fun to fall down half a flight of stairs......I'm telling you now......it's not.....ow......

My klutzy self slipped on our stairs, which made me slide/bump/crash down about 7 steps until I hit the ground, and it feels like  a mack truck has run over me. So needless to say, no stitching for me tonight...

I did make some progress on a few things yesterday, though.

First, I picked out the fabrics for Knotted Heart and Have A Heart and put both in the mail yesterday to be added to their respective quilts. What do you think?

Have A Heart With Fabric

Knotted Hearts With Fabric

 I also got the badges done on the front part of my daughter's Daisy vest...one of my followers asked about a "sew your own badge on" badge. Trust me...once these girls hit Brownies when they're in second grade, I'm putting needle and thread in hand to teach them how to cross stitch and stitch on their own badges!

Front Is Done!

I have about four or five badges left to sew on the back. I had planned on doing that tonight, but that didn't happen......maybe tomorrow......

I also picked up The World of Cross Stitching Issue 192 and The Best of Kooler Design Studio while I was out getting the fabric......I don't subscribe to any magazines currently, and The World of Cross Stitching is a UK magazine that I cannot justify the price for a subscription. I figure I can peek in it when I see it at a store and if there are at least three patterns in the magazine that I can see myself doing, I will buy it at the store. That definitely happened this time as there are several projects I can see myself doing! And the Kooler Design Studio Book is just a treasure trove! There are very few patterns in the book I didn't like!

Hopefully I'll feel more like stitching tomorrow...I really wanted to get my daughter's vest done and work on Italian Vista tonight, but it just wasn't happening. Maybe tomorrow will be better! I can hope!

Until then!
~Katy

Knotted Hearts - Complete!

I knew I just needed one more good night of stitching to finish up Knotted Hearts! I really love this design and love how this turned out. It was a quick, easy and fun project to do, and I'm saving this design in my stash for the future. I can totally see using this pattern in all sorts of colors and for all sorts of projects.

But here it is, my first completed project for WOCS!

Knotted Hearts - Complete!

I'm going to wait until this weekend to mail it in so that I can find a good fabric to use with it for the quilt square, but I'm very, very pleased with how this turned out!

Happy Stitching!
~Katy

Just A Quick Update

I really need to find where we packed our camera when we moved, as the pictures of Knotted Hearts just aren't done proper justice on my phone! One more good night of stitching, I think, and I should have this piece done!

As of 7/25

I am really loving how the purple shades go dark to light and back again and how each of the three hearts are unique with their shades. I've tried to just follow the path of the knot so that the colors flow evenly, and I think it looks good! And the purple shades are so much more vibrant in person!

Not a long post tonight, it's late, and I'm tired, but I hope you all have been having as much fun stitching as I have!

Hugs and Stitches,
~Katy

Wow!

Wow! Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and follows! Truly, when I started this blog, I was okay with the idea of no one ever following me because I was doing this journal to document my journey. Having others follow and post such nice comments really makes me happy and want to stitch and share even more! I am admittedly bad about individually replying to comments, but I do read every one and I try to visit blogs I follow (or as I call you all, Stitchers I Stalk, haha) every day if I can!

For everyone who commented about my son, thank you! He's doing much better today after a full day of treatments and staying home. He was even holding his mask for his breathing treatment like a pro tonight and didn't want me to hold it at all! He should be good for going back to school tomorrow! And on another personal note, my hubby got an offer today for a job at a different company that has fantastic potential and growth opportunities for him! He's been working on this for months now, and I'm so happy it seems to be coming to a close with a great new opportunity ahead!

Now, onto stitching, haha. I have to admit, I felt spoiled yesterday with getting to stitch most of the day...it made work today a bit hard to go back to, haha!

I worked on Knotted Hearts again tonight. I'm really liking how it's looking so far!

As of 7/24/12

The requirements for both this and the other project state that we can send in matching fabrics to coordinate with the piece if we wish. I think I'm going to have to take a trip to either the craft store or Joann's Fabrics this weekend with at least the threads for both projects so I can pick out something I like! I hadn't planned on doing that, but I think the more I do this piece, the more I want to make sure the entire square is uniquely me!

Hope you all are having a great day! Talk with you all soon!

Hugs and Stitches,
~Katy

WOCS: Knotted Hearts

So I mentioned in another post that I had discovered World of Charity Stitching and I eagerly signed up! I want to break up my big pieces with smaller, quick stitch projects and this is truly a worthy cause!

Well, today I unexpectedly stayed home with my two-year old son, D, who we found out today has allergy based croup and reactive airway disease, but we have meds and a nebulizer and are all prepared to tackle this head on. While he was resting today, I decided to go ahead to sign up for not one, but two of the active projects going on with WOCS, and I started working on the first one today, called Knotted Hearts. The pattern is a freebie from Stitching The Night Away and it also was a milestone for me. It was the very first time...ever...that I have actually gone into my stash to pick out my own colors for a project...okay, cheesy, yes, I know, but I'm one of those stitchers who will buy everything 'required' for a piece, but not go beyond it. I don't experiment, I don't change colors, I figure someone else has made the decision, so I'll trust their judgement. With these projects, though, I had a true opportunity to make a choice...and I have to say I like it!

I like to collect thread...it's been awhile since I've bought any, but I just love the way it looks all wrapped up in bobbins and waiting to be used...see, isn't it pretty??

Pretty pretty thread!

The other project that I'm doing for WOCS requires a pink or red thread, but Knotted Hearts could be any color you wanted. I looked at the images of squares already turned in, but decided to channel my daughter for both projects. See, my six year old daughter, T, is the ultimate girly girl. She loves makeup and princesses and jewelry and dresses and all sorts of things her tomboy mom didn't love growing up. It's fun experiencing those things as a mom with her, though. And in that tradition and recognizing that pink and purple are by far her absolute favorite colors, I decided to use a variegated purple (DMC 102) and very dark violet (DMC 550) with Knotted Hearts and a variegated cranberry (DMC 107) for the other project.

My pretty and girly threads in honor of my daughter!

So while D was resting today, I started on Knotted Hearts. I got the complete outline done with the dark violet:

This picture from my cell phone -really- doesn't do the color justice

And then started on the inside with the variegated purple:

Pretty purple!

Since I actually have to be at work the rest of this week and can't just stay home stitching (hubby is staying home with D for one more day tomorrow), I figure I can have this done by the weekend to ship out in time for the deadline, and then I'll tackle the other project too!

I'm really liking how this is looking, and the pretty purple ORTs for my TUSAL jar make me smile too!

Until next time, keep stitching!
~Katy