A Finish!

First, thank you everyone for your kind words about my new job. I'm very excited about it and can't wait to start! We had a great day at the zoo with the Daisy Scouts, though I am incredibly worn out! Walking over 3 miles while wrangling six Daisies and a 2-year old will take that out of you! My son, the aforementioned 2-year old, walked every bit of those 3+ miles and loved it...and crashed in my arms on the train ride home! But it was a very nice day!

Despite being exhausted, I was able to put in the last of the back stitching and personalization on May Lily of the Valley Teacup! Yay!

 May Lily of the Valley Teacup - WOCS Project - 10/14/12 - 11/10/12

What a great ending to a rotation week! Next week, I'm back to Tribal Penguin...could I possibly get two finishes done, two weeks in a row? Who knows! But I'll certainly try!

Until next time!
~Katy

I Got The Job!

Yay!!!! I got the job offer late today...big raise, much shorter commute, promotion in position, great opportunities to make a name for myself...I'm very excited! I'm going to close out the month at my current job, take the first week of December off, and then start at the new job on 12/10. I'm very excited! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

I was able to finish the back stitching on the stems and leaves tonight. That just leaves the cup and saucer to complete:

As of 11/9/12

Tomorrow, I'm taking my daughter's Girl Scout troop to the zoo and won't be home until mid-afternoon. Depending on how tired they make me, I'm going to do my best to finish out this rotation week by finishing that back stitching and sending this on it's way to be made into a quilt!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Cross Stitch Flashback

My paternal grandparents were massive Christmas decorators. Two or three trees, a massive Christmas village, Santa's galore - you name it, they had it. I attribute my love of Christmas decorations to them as they started ornament collections for all of us and have added to them every year, plus I received a Fontanini nativity set as a gift after my Confirmation. My first cross-stitch piece I ever completed was one I finished for my maternal grandmother (will take a picture next time I'm at her house), but this piece is the second piece I ever finished:

A Christmas Nativity

I couldn't tell you the name of the piece now or who made it. I know it was in a kit, and the frame came with it. It was a huge source of pride for me as a 13 or 14 year old to finish this and give it to my grandparents, who always had it up during Christmas. We're talking nearly 20 years ago now that I finished this piece. My grandfather passed away several years ago, and my father and aunts recently moved my grandmother to an Alzheimer's facility. They are cleaning out her cottage to put things in storage and came across this piece among the Christmas decorations and wanted to make sure I got it back. The frame needs to be fixed and the piece needs to be more securely adhered to it, but this is definitely a special piece to me and will be a treasured Christmas decoration for the rest of my life!

I worked more on the back stitching for May Lily of the Valley Teacup today! I finished the flowers, one of the two green colors for the leaves and stems and started on the second green for the leaves. I think this is going to easily be finished either tomorrow or Saturday!

As of 11/8/12

Oh, one more personal note, my interview session today went very well and I have one more tomorrow afternoon - it will be round seven of interviews and will hopefully be the last!

Until next time!
~Katy

Lots of Back Stitching...

And more back stitching! I agree with one of my followers who said that back stitching makes a piece pop. It absolutely and totally does, and I love the look once it's done...its just the actual process of back stitching I'm not a fan of! Oh well, I made quite a bit of progress on it tonight! I'm still trying to figure out the best setting to take pictures on my phone because my main camera is causing me some issues of late, so I apologize that the pictures aren't always the best!

As of 11/7/12 - Working on the flowers

There are four different "categories" of back stitching on this piece - the flowers, the cup/saucer, and two different colors on the leaves and stems. I'm going to take each of these back stitching groups one at a time, so as you can see, I clearly worked on the flowers tonight! I should finish those tomorrow and will probably start the leaves and stems before moving down to the cup. I really want to finish this piece this week. Fingers crossed I can get it done!

I'd also appreciate good thoughts tomorrow morning as I go into a four-hour mega interview for the next round of applying for the position I'm trying to get...any good thoughts are appreciated!

Until next time!
~Katy

Just The Backstitching Left!

While happily watching the election results roll in tonight, I finished up the crosses of May Lily of the Valley Teacup!

As of 11/6/12 - Just the Back Stitching Left!

I may try to start working on the back stitching tonight as I wait for the last few speeches of the night from both campaigns, but I wanted to share this progress! Back stitching is my least favorite part of this hobby (one reason I'm in love with HAED pieces!), but I will work on it and get this done in the next day or two! Yay!

Until next time!
~Katy

I See A Cup!

After a slight bit of frogging tonight, I can see a lot more of the cup and saucer!

As of 11/5/12

I'm really enjoying seeing this piece come together and I think that I will probably go back at some point and stitch the entire series of these cups, one for each month, and have a rotating display in my kitchen near my coffee bar...they're just beautiful!

I know I'll make more progress tomorrow...I'm a political junkie and I fully plan on being glued to my television to watch the votes for President come in tomorrow...if you're a follower in the US and you haven't voted yet, make sure you get out and vote tomorrow! Regardless of who you are voting for (and I won't get political here), it's your most sacred duty as Americans to take part in the political process and let your voice be heard!

Until next time!
~Katy

Have A Cup of Tea

Today, I started the new rotation week by picking up May Lily of the Valley Teacup for my most recent World of Charity Stitching contribution - the Tea Cup Quilt! I'm going to be alternating this piece back and forth every other week until it's done since the cups are supposed to be turned in by December 15th.

As a reminder, here is where we were as of the end of the last rotation:

May Lily of the Valley Tea Cup - Start of Rotation Week - Last Touched 10/20/12

And here is where we are today after a couple of hours:

As of 11/4/12

The cup and saucer are finally taking shape! I have to say, I love the blue shades so far in the cup, they're so pretty, the picture hardly does it justice! There is a lot of space but not too many colors left in the cup and saucer, and then I'd move onto the backstitching. Maybe if I'm lucky and I have time, I'll finish this piece this week! I can certainly try, anyway!

Until next time!
~Katy

It's November Already?!?!

Where the heck did 2012 go?? I can't believe it's already November! Guess it's time to review my goals for October and make new goals for November!

 October Goals
- Continue working through my rotation Yes! There were  few new entries to it, but I definitely stuck to the rotation
- Choose and complete one WOCS project Partial - I chose and started one project, but haven't finished it yet
- Start a new Halloween themed piece no later than 10/31! No - I have one selected, and it's in my rotation, I just haven't started it yet

November Goals
- Successfully participate and complete NaBloPoMo and make a blog post every day in the month of November - I'm pretty good about this already, I think I can do it!
- Finish and mail off May Lily of the Valley Teacup for WOCS
- Finish and mail off the rotating pattern of Traveling Penguin
- Purchase all of the remaining thread and fabric for my Crazy January Challenge to finish kitting up my projects

Some reasonable goals this month I think! What are your goals for the month?

Oh! I was excited to learn that I won the giveaway at Tickled Pink in Stitches! I'm very excited! And there is another FANASTIC giveaway from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe! Seriously, tons of amazingly generous giveaway items, every day from December 1st through December 25! Sign up and tell them that Katy/Tadamama from Just A Little Stitchin' sent you!

I made some more progress on Tribal Penguin tonight...right in line with my goals!

As of 11/1/12

 A couple more days in this rotation and we'll see how far we get! I'm just glad the weekend is almost here, it's been a long week!

Until next time!
~Katy

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

End of the Rotation Week

Well I have to say I'm very pleased with myself. I was able to finish stitching the entire upper half of May Lily of the Valley Teacup. I have backstitching to do, but that will be done last for the entire piece:

May Lily of the Valley Teacup - End of Rotation Week - 10/20/12

Not bad for a week's work when this is an entirely new start! I'll pick this up again in a couple weeks to work on the bottom part of the cup and we'll see how far I get with that and maybe I'll be able to start the backstitching then too. We'll see!

Tomorrow, I pick up Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love again for the start of the new rotation week. Although it is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, I'm not sure how much stitching I'll get done tomorrow as I do have some work I brought home this weekend that I will likely work on much of the day, but I know I'll get a few stitches in at night, at least!

Until next time!
~Katy

Another Late Night of Stitching

...means another early morning update post!

As of 10/19/12

I know that even if I stitched all day today, I won't finish this piece this week. I'm going to only push it down the list three spots instead of the very end, though, so I can go ahead and do my week of Beauty and the Beast starting next week and then I added Tribal Penguin as well since it's a traveling pattern and I just ordered the supplies for it today, otherwise I'd start it next week!

I hope you're having a great IHSW! I'm off to curl up with a nice cup of coffee, under my quilt with mindless TV and stitching in hand! Sounds like heaven to me!

Until next time!
~Katy

Oops, Forgot To Post!

Well, I didn't forget, I just was up too late last night since I am taking today off and was too tired to make a post last night showing the evening's progress...but here it is now!

As of 10/18/12

I finished the white portion of the flowers and did some of the inside of the teacup and am now working up to finish the rest of the flowers and leaves before working down on the rest of the cup. Today is the start of IHSW and I have the day off until I go to get the kids, so I plan on curling up with some trashy TV, relaxing and working on this a lot today! Come back tonight for another update!

Until next time!
~Katy

Lots of White

I'm not entirely sure why, but tonight, I was focused on the white portions of as many of the flowers as I could complete. There are still a few left, and it's hard to see the white on the fabric at this point, but here is my progress for the night:

As of 10/17

Tomorrow is my Friday at work since I'm taking off this Friday for a long weekend, plus it's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend this weekend, so I hope to make a lot more progress!

I also plan this weekend on going through my stash and wishlists at various places to decide what I'm going to do for the Cross Stitch Crazy 2013 event - 15 new starts the first 15 days of January with a goal of finishing the charts by the end of the year. Don't know if that's realistic, but I like the idea!

Until next time!
~Katy

Just A Quick Post

Two ten hour days at work in a row have taken a toll, but I did do some stitching tonight while watching the Presidential Debate:

As of 10/16/12

Tribal Penguin also came in the mail today! I am going to decide this weekend where to put this in the rotation since it's a traveling pattern and I also want to get some fabric for it. It somewhat depends on how far I get on this piece this week...we'll see how things work out!

Until next time!
~Katy

October TUSAL and More May Flowers

Can't believe it's already time for another TUSAL update! How the month has flown! But first, I made some more progress on May Lily of the Valley Teacup tonight.

As of 10/15/12

I didn't make as much progress tonight as I wanted, but it's been a very long day. I was happy to get a few stitches in, though!

Now for my TUSAL report! Here is my TUSAL jar as of last month:

TUSAL Jar - September 16, 2012

And here it is today!

TUSAL Jar - October 15, 2012

Definitely some more progress this month, though I think there was more added than what appears to have been added. This got knocked over by one of my kids, and that unsettled a lot of the threads and pushed them down a bit, but still, definite progress! Here are the views from the top:

TUSAL Jar - September 16, 2012

And tonight:

TUSAL Jar - October 15, 2012

What filled my TUSAL jar this month? Lots of things! Besides this week's rotation, Flames of Desire, European Bistro, Italian Vista, Christmas Countdown and even my daughter's Daisy Vest all contributed some threads this month! Can't wait to see what next month's jar looks like!

Until next time!
~Katy

P.S. - Go sign up for the Halloween Blog Hop hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching! It should be a lot of fun!

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

Well, okay, I know it's not April, but we did have October thunderstorms in the middle of the night last night. That counts, right?

Today started a new rotation week, and I started working on May Lily of the Valley Teacup for the Teacup Quilt for World of Charity Stitching. I am so grateful for the recommendation to stitch this on 28 count over two rather than 14 count over one like I originally planned. This piece has SO MANY quarter crosses, and being able to stitch this over two has let me handle those quarter crosses much more neatly than I would have otherwise. This is also my first time to work with Jobelan, and I absolutely love it! I really think that my days with purposefully selecting Aida may be close to an end...

Here is the progress I made today. The white thread of several of the flowers is harder to see, but will be much more visible once I go back to do the backstitching:

May Lily of the Valley Teacup - New Start, New Rotation Week

I will be working on this piece all this week and depending likely will not move it all the way to the bottom of the rotation since it is for WOCS and there is a deadline for it. I figure I will do one week on, one week off until it's done. In the past, I worked on WOCS projects until they were completed, but with this one's deadline not until December, I can afford to keep working on my rotation otherwise!

Heading to bed now - I have to be at my office tomorrow morning by 6:30 for a half day, all management in the entire hospital meeting. I'm usually not at work until 8:30 or 9, so this will not be the most fun for me, nor my husband who will have to get both kids up and bring them both to school in the morning. We typically split the duties of getting them ready, with him bringing my daughter to school and I drop off my son at daycare, but everyone will still likely be sleeping at the point that I actually have to leave the house to get to the hospital. Oh well. Maybe I'll sneak out early tomorrow. We'll see...

Until next time!
~Katy

More Flames, WOCS, Halloween and Fifty Followers!

Hi everyone!

I have to admit, today didn't start so great. I woke up feeling horrible, so I went into work long enough to finish one project that had to be done today and then came home and crashed. After sleeping about five more hours, I was feeling good enough to go to my daughter's first grade show tonight. They were so cute!

I did a little bit of stitching on Flames of Desire tonight after we got home and put the kids to bed:

As of 10/2/12

I also decided on two new starts as part of my October goals! First, I signed up for the WOCS Tea Cup quilt and selected the May Lily of the Valley Teacup from The Vermillion Stitchery for my contribution. May is my birth month, as well as my son's birth month, so I thought it would be a great choice!

May Lily of the Valley Teacup by The Vermillion Stitchery

I'm going to put this in my rotation after Christmas Countdown to give time for my order of thread and fabric to be delivered. Because this isn't due until December, I may vary my rotation schedule a bit depending on how much I get done in a week. I usually work a WOCS piece until it's done, but I may do a week on this, a week in normal rotation, then a week back on this. We'll see!

I also decided that the Halloween piece I will start this month is My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner from The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. I won this piece a few weeks back and I think it will be a great first piece for my Halloween collection!

My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner

I ordered fabric from Picture This Plus today! I saw this and fell in love with it! It's called Crystal Eek! What better fabric could there be for a Halloween piece!

Crystal EEK! From Picture This Plus

I decided that I'm going to do this in 16-count Aida and I can't wait for the fabric and threads to arrive!

Also, I'm so excited to announce I'm up to 50 followers! Yay!! In honor of this milestone, I'll be hosting my first giveaway! The winner will have their choice between a $20 gift certificate to either Heaven and Earth Designs or 1-2-3 Stitch!, winner's choice! The rules are simple. You must be a follower of this blog and must comment on this post to enter. If you post about this giveaway on your blog, you will get three more entries, and if you refer a friend and they list you as their referral, you will get an additional entry each! The giveaway will be open until October 12th, and I'll have my daughter draw the winner on October 13th! Thank you to all of you followers, I really appreciate you coming along for the ride!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Little Progress

So I was successful in meeting my goal tonight and then some. I finished the section of the ground that I was focusing on and have started back on the building again.

As of 9/18/12

I the building is going to be my focus the rest of this week. Let's see how far I can get...

I'm also debating on whether or not to sign up for the latest WOCS quilt. I haven't signed up for the last couple because the themes didn't really interest me, but the newest theme is Fruit and Berries, and I'm tempted to look in my stash and see if I have a pattern somewhere that will work for the theme. If I find something, I'll finish out this week's rotation and pause my rotation on Sunday to start the new project and will work on it until it's done...we'll see what happens. I may not find something I want to stitch, but I'm definitely going to look!

I'm ready for the weekend to be here already. It's been a long work week, and it's only Tuesday night! Ack!

I hope you all have a great rest of your week!

Until next time!
~Katy

IHSW, September TUSAL and European Bistro

Lots of stuff to blog about tonight! Where to begin...

Tonight wraps up this month's IHSW, and I have to say that this was probably my most productive stitching IHSW I've had! I was able to make a good amount of progress on Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love on Friday and Saturday, and then today I was able to get back into European Bistro!

I realized as I was gathering my materials and putting European Bistro back in the hoop that this is going to be the first real week I will dedicate to this piece. I had started it, worked on it a few days, got caught up with Birdhouse Neighborhood for WOCS, and after I finished it, European Bistro was put at the bottom of the rotation. It's going to be good to work on it this week!

When we last saw European Bistro, this is what it looked like:

European Bistro - Start of Rotation Week - Last Touched 8/6/12

Oh my goodness, it really has been a long time since I worked on this piece! After a few hours of working on it today, this is where I stand now:

As of 9/16/12

I found the bottom edge of the piece with the ground that is stitched thus far. Another large section of half stitches goes rather quickly. I think the piece looks like it's curving just a little bit on the left edge, but that's just how the fabric is in the hoop, not really the piece itself. The page I'm working on right now is the right half of the piece, so now we have the left edge and the bottom edge found! I will be interested to see how far along I'm able to get this week!

Today is also TUSAL report day! I've been working on a lot of pieces this month, and I think my TUSAL jar reflects that!

Here is my TUSAL jar as of last month:

TUSAL Jar - August 17, 2012

And here it is today!

TUSAL Jar - September 16, 2012

Wow! Comparing the two side by side, I really have done a lot this month! Here are the views from the top:

Last month:

TUSAL Jar - August 17, 2012

And today:

TUSAL Jar - September 16, 2012

So pretty! At the end of the year after our last TUSAL report for 2012, I plan on taking all of my ORTs out of my TUSAL jar and filling a clear glass ornament with them for my Christmas tree. I think it would be great to start a collection of ORT filled Christmas ornaments to celebrate my hobby and to also provide unique, beautiful pieces for our tree!

What filled my TUSAL jar this month, you ask? Well...

I completed Birdhouse Neighborhood. Here is the status of it from the last TUSAL report:

Birdhouse Neighborhood as of 8/16/12 TUSAL Report

And here it is complete the very next day:

Birdhouse Neighborhood - Complete 8/17/12

I had two new starts whose ORTs were added this month as well.

Flames of Desire:

Flames of Desire as of 9/1/12

And Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love:

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love as of 9/15/12

I started Christmas Countdown again, which hadn't yet been included in my TUSAL jar, so it was kind of like a new start this month:

Christmas Countdown - Ornaments as of 9/8/12

And of course, my other two big projects were included as well:

Italian Vista - from then:

Italian Vista as of 8/16/12 TUSAL Report

To now:

Italian Vista as of 8/25/12

And as already reported above, European Bistro got a few more ORTs in the TUSAL jar today as well. All in all, a very successful month, I think!


Whew, that was a long picture filled post! Congrats if you made it through all of it! I hope everyone has a great week ahead of them!

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Countdown, Giveaway and More!

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a a great weekend! As I do every Sunday, I picked up the next piece in my rotation, which this week is the long neglected Christmas Countdown by Dimensions. I picked up this kit shortly after I finished my son's stocking in 2010, but I was in a stitching burnout, especially when it came to Christmas, so after completing just a few ornaments, I put it to the side...and didn't pick up a needle until a couple of months ago...

So this is where I started at today. The ornaments are all on plastic canvas, and I wanted to get them all done before starting the actual calendar because when we get through with the calendar, I'm going to work on figuring out the attachment method of the ornaments to the calendar and wanted to have them on hand!

Six Completed Ornaments

And here is where I am today!

Nine Completed Ornaments as of 9/2/12

I got a few more of the ornaments done but have a long way to go...there are 24 in all, after all! These take a little time because I also stop to do all backstitching and details in each ornament before I move on to the next one. Of course, as I'm looking at this picture, I'm realizing I forgot to do the french knot berries in the stocking...oh well, I'll do that tomorrow.

I also went out today and took advantage of the Joann's sale on DMC floss. I decided that the next two HAED's I'll eventually work on are Angel of Compassion and Butterfly Rose Cross (pictures of both are here), so I went through my stash, figured out what I had and what I needed and came home with this:

That's A Lot Of Floss!

There were still a few skeins I wasn't able to purchase, believe it or not, because the store was out of those colors, but I have 99% of the floss I'll need when I get to the point where I'm ready to start my next HAED. I also picked up several bobbins of Krenik floss for these patterns and was able to use a 40% off one item coupon and a 15% off your entire purchase coupon. I won't be working on these patterns for awhile, but who could pass up a deal like that? They are all now all divided up between each piece in a big plastic freezer bag.. I'm not even going to try to wind them on bobbins until I'm ready to start the projects!

I also bought the fabric while I was at Joann's today to go with Birdhouse Neighborhood for World of Charity Stitching. This piece is now in the mail and on it's way to become part of a beautiful quilt!

Birdhouse Neighborhood and Fabric

I noticed today that I'm up to 41 followers! Woo hoo! I love having you guys here and reading your comments and following your blogs! To follow in the tradition of so many blogs, when I reach 50 followers, I plan on having a giveaway! What's the prize? I haven't decided yet, but I do have an idea...just wait and see!

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the states, and I plan on spending a lot of time stitching! Have to take advantage of the day off!

Until next time!
~Katy