My Witch's Brew - Completed!

Yay! I finished My Witch's Brew!

My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

Started: 11/18/12

Finished: 3/9/14

Stitched on 16-count Aida in Crystal EEK! by Picture This Plus

Granted, I finished it during a bout of insomnia, but hey, a finish is a finish! I'm not sure how I will completely finish the project - most likely a to display this during Halloween. I'll probably wait until closer to that season to see if I can find something that strikes my fancy and when I have it all finished up in that way, I'll share it with you!

This finish also means that after I take my daughter out for our mommy/daughter day on Sunday, I can go through my WIP's and pull another one out to work on. I'm extremely tempted to do a new start, seeing as I finished this one, but I currently have 21 projects going right now and I want to have no more than 20 WIP's at a time (at least for now!). That means two more finishes before I can start a new project. I have several other small projects that I will likely pick from to try to knock some of those out quickly since most of my big WIP's have a long way to go. We'll see what strikes my fancy when I go through the WIP box.

Until next time!
~Katy

Pretty Pumpkins

So going into the weekend, I have finished the bottom portion of the border for My Witch's Brew, which included the last two pumpkins in the piece. Aren't they cute?

Now I'm working my way up the left side and I plan on just going up, over and then down and hopefully everything will match up just as it's supposed to! It's pretty simple stitching, and I'm hoping it will go quickly. Fingers crossed! I would love to end this weekend with a finish!

Until next time!
~Katy

The Three Little Pigs!

March's pattern for the Once Upon A Time Sampler came out and this month I'm stitching the Three Little Pigs:

I've been running around a lot today so I'm hoping I might get a chance to start this tonight. If not, tomorrow I plan on staying home almost all day, and I'll definitely get a good start on it then!

For now, My Witch's Brew is being put away. I didn't make a ton of progress on it since I only had a couple of days before this came out and yesterday was filled with family activities, but some progress is better than no progress, right?

Here is where it was when I picked it up a couple of days ago:

And here it is as of today:

Once I finish the March square, I'll pick it up again and maybe I'll be able to finish it this month. Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy

My Witch's Brew

So I needed to pick something to work on for the next couple of days until the March installment of Once Upon A Time comes out. I was a good girl and looked through my WIP's rather than starting a new piece (and I have a TON I want to start). I have several smaller pieces in my WIP list from when I did the Crazy January Challenge last year, but I decided to pick up My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner of The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe to try to finish it. All I have left to do on it is the border and it'll be done!

I'm stitching this on 16 ct. Aida (which I'm realizing I'm not a huge fan of working with anymore) in Crystal EEK! from Picture This Plus. Here is where the piece was the last time I worked on it:

Last worked on 12/8/13

And here is where it was after a little bit of work on the bottom part of the border last night:

I'm going to work on this today and tomorrow when I can and will post an update on Saturday after the March square has come out. I have the funeral for my grandmother tomorrow (part of my really bad week last week), and there is going to be a lot going on, but I'm going to keep this piece out so that when I finish the March square of OUAT, I can pick this up and try to get it done.

Until next time!
~Katy

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Giveaway

Nancy from The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a Valentine's Day giveaway! If you're interested in entering, please follow this link and let her know Katy from Just A Little Stitchin' sent you!

Until next time!
~ Katy

Another Update

Life has been absolutely crazy around my household, but there is an end in sight! After a lot of thought and prayer and discussion, my husband and I decided that it is time for me to quit my job and stay at home with our kids. It's a huge decision and will be a huge change for us, but one that I think it sorely needed! I know that my stitching habit, among many other things, have suffered greatly for this job, and I am looking forward to being the wife and mom I've always wanted to be at the start of the new year! One of my resolutions will be to pick up stitching again and try to get at least 30-60 minutes of stitching in a day. Wish me luck!

In the meantime, when I have been able to stitch, I've continued to work on My Witch's Brew because I'm so close to finishing it. Here are the latest progress pics:

Not much left to do! I don't think I will finish this before the end of the year, but it will likely be my first 2014 finish.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!

Until next time!
~ Katy

Look...a stitching update!

Oh my goodness, I've picked up a needle again and oh my goodness, how I've missed it!

It's not much, but it's something. And something starts the ball rolling to grow into something more and more and more...

I picked up My Witch's Brew a few times over the last few days. I figured it was a good time of year to be working on something with a Halloween theme!

Here was what it looked like when I last worked on it back in March (!!)

And here are a couple of days worth of updates!

Really it's only the border left that I have to do at this point and then this piece will be done! Maybe getting a piece done will help ensure my renewed time with a needle will stick around!

As an aside, I have updated all of my fabric stash pages (there are a LOT of fabrics! so pretty!), so feel free to take a look to see some great selections by great companies if you are ever looking for beautiful fabrics to work on!

Until next time (and hopefully a lot sooner next time!)
~ Katy

Theme-A-Licious Mid Month Report

It's time for the Theme-a-licious mid month report! This month's theme is:

March Madness

Work on something different every day...it's madness...of the funnest possible kind.

Now, I haven't been able to stitch every day this month, but every day I have stitched, I've worked on something different! To give you an idea of just how many pieces I truly have, take a look at this WIP picture I took for one of my facebook groups:

All my WIPs!

 Wow! And the amazing thing is, there are people in the group that have WAY more than I do...and to think, I used to be a one project at a time stitcher! Those days are long gone, for sure...

So far this month I have worked on the following pieces:

Mediterranean Flavors

Italian Vista

Tuscan Greeting

Flames of Desire

Angel of Compassion

Christmas Countdown

American Flag Quilt Sampler

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love

Celtic Christmas Ornament #4

and tonight, I worked on My Witch's Brew, which started at this point:

and now looks like this:

As of 3/15/13

That's a lot of pieces so far this month, and we're only halfway through! Several of these pieces will likely be touched one more time before the month is over, as I alternate my WIPocalypse pieces with my CJC pieces. Since there are fewer for WIPocalypse, those pieces come up faster in my rotation, but I will continue to work on different pieces every day!

Until next time!
~Katy

WIPocalypse - February Edition

 
It's already time for another WIPocalypse report! Where has February gone?? The theme for this month is:

February 25 – Themes: Designer – Little House Needleworks, Style – Love/Family, Colors – White and Red

Well, designer wise, I don't have any Little House Needleworks patterns in the works. In fact, I didn't have any Little House Needleworks patterns in my collection, but I've rectified that! I have now added the following two LHN patterns to my collection:

Home of a Needleworker Too!

The Bookshelf

LHN isn't my typical style for stitching, but I really like both of these patterns and I now have them in my collection - that's the point of WIPocalypse, right? Not to finish pieces, but to add to stash? Right?? RIGHT?!?!

Ahem, the other themes were Style – Love/Family and Colors – White and Red. My two WIPocalypse pieces for this month were My Witch's Brew and European Bistro.

My Witch's Brew at the start of the year:

 My Witch's Brew this WIPocalypse:

This piece has the word LOVE in it, so I'm counting it for the monthly theme!

And here is European Bistro at the start of the year:

And here is where it is as of this WIPocalypse:

I worked on the white outline of the rest of the window this month as well as some other white pieces...

I count these for sure!

Now, onto this week's stitching. I was able to get some stitches in both yesterday and today on Mediterranean Flavors:

As of 2/24/13

As of 2/25/13

Today's picture doesn't show the garlic portion as clearly as the one from yesterday, but the green oil jar in the middle is done except for backstitching, which won't happen for awhile yet. This piece is going relatively quickly - let's see how much progress I can make this week!

Until next time!
~Katy

Theme-A-Licious and IHSW

It's Theme-A-Licious mid month check in time again! This month's theme is:

Figural February

Who are the people in your neighborhood...your WIP neighborhood, that is? Give your people-populated projects some face time this month.

 Now, I have to admit...I have pieces that have actual people in them, but they're not up in my rotation yet...so I'm fudging on this theme a bit because the pieces I have worked on this month actually are related to people, even if they're not visibly populated on the WIP...

That includes My Witch's Brew - all about a witch, who is a person after all:

 

And I've also been working on my wedding sampler, which is all about me and my husband, so what more people populated project can you get? (Yes, I know it's a stretch)...

I made some great progress last night:

As of 2/14/13

 And made even more progress tonight:

As of 2/15/13

What a difference the daylight, or lack thereof, in a picture can do!

Today is also the start of International Hermit and Stitch Weekend! Tomorrow will be my last day on Wedding Sampler for this rotation week, and then I'll be working on European Bistro! I hope to get a lot of good time spent on both pieces this weekend!

Until next time!
~Katy

End of Rotation Week

Well, I didn't quite meet my goal of finishing the entire bottom of the piece thanks to bad allergies wiping me out today after a rough week at work making me too tired to stitch for a few nights...but I am very pleased with my progress this week!

I went from this at the start of the rotation week:

My Witch's Brew - Start of Rotation Week

To this as of today:

My Witch's Brew - End of Rotation Week - 2/9/13

I think one more good dedicated week and I just might be able to finish this piece up...we'll see what happens when it comes around again!

Tomorrow starts a new rotation week and I will be working on my wedding sampler from the CJC. Can't wait!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Good Day

Today was a good stitchy day for me after having no energy yesterday for stitching!

First, more progress with My Witch's Brew. For those of you that have asked, the fabric is Crystal EEK! from Picture This Plus:

Onto the Tree!

Second, I had this lovely fabric goodness waiting for me when I got home yesterday, courtesy of  Under the Sea Fabrics and her recent jewel sale:

Yay!

And third, I won the drawing over at Crafty Rahenna's! Yay!

Definitely a good stitchy day!

Until next time!
~Katy

Quick Post

Just a quick post tonight...it's late and I'm sleepy, but I made more progress!

As of 2/6/13

I have a ways to go yet, but I'm already thinking of ways to frame this, as I want to be able to put this in my kitchen during the Halloween season. I may wait until closer to actual Halloween to see if I can find anything then, but I think I've already decided that this will have a black frame, at least...I have a picture of what I want it to look like when it's done in my head, but I'll wait to see if I can make it come to life!

Until next time!
~Katy

No Stitching Yesterday

Yesterday was an incredibly stressful day at work - to the point that I poured a big glass of wine moments after getting home and I realized, very quickly, that if I wanted to avoid frogging everything today, stitching last night was a no go!

I did get back to My Witch's Brew tonight, though:

As of 2/5/13

With tonight's progress, the top half of the middle section is done, so tomorrow I'll move the fabric and begin working down towards the bottom half. My goal is to get the bottom half done before this week is over...we'll see if that happens!

I also want to take a second to comment about all my lovely followers. I have gotten some really nice comments and compliments, both in posts and in email, and I have to say, they all touch my heart. If my blog can give you some entertainment, encouragement, inspiration or guidance in some small way, I am over the moon thrilled. I started this blog for me to be able to document my personal journey, and I never imagined it would impact so many people. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, dear followers, for all of your comments and for coming back for more! It makes this blog even more fun!

Until next time!
~Katy

Trick or Treat!

Well, not really, still WAY too early in the year for that. But I was in a Halloween mood today as I worked on My Witch's Brew:

As of 2/3/13

It's very hard to show both the colors of the threads and the black streaks in the fabric easily, but overall I'm very pleased with my progress tonight. I need to finish the two pumpkins at the top before I move down below the last line and work on the bottom half of the piece. The border that goes around the whole piece will wait until the end so I can make sure I start it and get it matching up as it should!

Until next time!
~Katy

End of Rotation Week and Start of Another

So yesterday ended my rotation week on Butterfly Rose Cross, and I'm very pleased! As a reminder, this is where the piece was at the beginning of the week:

Butterfly Rose Cross - Start of Rotation Week - 1/27/13

And here is where it stands now:

Butterfly Rose Cross - End of Rotation Week - 2/2/13

I went from one column with the second started to three columns with the fourth started - that's good progress if you ask me!

Today starts a new rotation week! I'll be working My Witch's Brew from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. I'm excited because I haven't been able to dedicate a full rotation week to this piece yet, as the last time I worked on it was over Thanksgiving week and I barely had any time to actually work on it. Here is where the piece is beginning today:

My Witch's Brew - Start of Rotation Week

This is one of my smaller WIP's, so I hope I can make lots of progress this week. I plan on doing lots of stitching during the Super Bowl this afternoon! Go commercials!

Until next time!
~Katy

A New Rotation Week

So I was able to get a little bit of stitching done yesterday after all. So after my first week of working on My Witch's Brew, this is where I ended up:

My Witch's Brew - End of Rotation Week 11/24/12

Down in the rotation it goes for now as I am finally back to my "normal" rotation schedule with no WOCS projects or traveling patterns in the mix! Next up, European Bistro! It's been quite awhile since I worked on this piece - over two months in fact, as I last worked on this piece on September 22nd! Wow that's a long time! Here's where the piece was when we last saw it:

European Bistro - Start of Rotation Week

And after only a little bit of working on it tonight after the kids were finally put to bed after a long day, here's where it stands:

As of 11/25/12

We'll see how much I get done this week. All of the Christmas decorations have been brought out from storage, and considering I didn't get to decorate hardly at all last year while we were in an apartment between houses, I'm eagerly looking forward to covering my house in Christmas cheer, which will mostly happen in the evenings. I know I'll get some stitching time in, though. I'll need it, as this is my last week at my current job and I have a feeling that it's going to be a stressful one!

Until next time!
~Katy