11/18/11 Non Picture Update

Good morning everyone!

Today is a non-picture update to just let you know that I am still here, still stitching, but haven't gotten a lot done on Cinderella since my last update.  I've been a bit under the weather and really haven't picked it up at all in the last few days.

I did manage to get started on my reboot of the Day [9] Logo project that was lost in shipping a few months back.  I'm hoping to get it finished and ship it in a more secure fashion this time around so it actually gets where it's intended to go.

Anyway, I'm going to hopefully have some pictures to put up with weekend -- including some WIP shots of my husband's cross stitch project!  He's doing such a great job and he's given me permission to post his progress here.

Don't forget to check out all the contest and giveaway links at the top of the blog.  There are so many going on right now and I don't want you to miss out!

Happy stitching!
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11/7/11 Cinderella

Hey everyone!

Just a quick post to update you on the progress for Cinderella over the past few days.  The castle is complete!

Close up of the castle

The back-stitching within the castle is very subtle, but I think it looks really nice. 

Toward the bottom, you can see a big unfilled circle which will eventually be the horse drawn carriage.  It really puts the whole picture in perspective since honestly I didn't even NOTICE the carriage initially.

We are approaching the end of this quarter of the chart.  My goal is to have that portion done by the end of this year.

Happy stitching everyone!
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11/5/11 Cinderella

Last night was a Ladies Fellowship/Craft Night at church, so I was able to get lots of work done.  It's such a joy to sit, snack, craft, and chat with some of the greatest ladies I've ever met.  Plus, it was a few hours spent outside of my crazy house so that's always a bonus.

Castle close up - almost done!

I've got some more alone time this afternoon -- thanks to opening day of hunting season and the kids spending some time with grandma! -- so I'm going to at least finish the back-stitching on the castle and maybe work on some more of the green area on the bottom. 

Happy stitching everyone!
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October 2011 Look Back

I have totally dropped off the blogging map lately, but for a few really good reasons.  First of all, for the first 2 weeks in October we were house/kindergartner/teenager sitting for some dear friends who were out of the country.  Craft-wise I got quite a bit done in those two weeks but, as you can imagine, there wasn't a whole lot of time to update the blog here.  Four days after our house-sitting adventure, my husband and I spent 5 days in Phoenix, Arizona while he was doing some training for his company.  That translates into "I sat on the sofa in the hotel, watched scary movies, worked on my daughter's Halloween costume (another post to come on that) and stitched."

Now I'm finally home, unpacked, and ready to get back into my routine.  Spending 3/4 of a month away from home is a strange way to live. 

Let's start this month's Look Back with Wild Thing.  This will be the last update on this piece until I get it mailed off.

Here is September's Look Back:

Wild Thing - End of September

And, for the final update, here is how Wild Thing looked after being judged in the county fair:

Wild Thing - October 2011

(There is no picture of the completed back of this project, because I framed it before I thought to take it.  Oh well!)

Yes, I won a blue ribbon.  But, since our county had such a small showing EVERYONE won a blue ribbon.  Along with the ribbon came the amazing prize money of exactly $3.00 which I promptly deposited into my checking account. LOL

--On a bit of a side note, my aunt Lesli won Best Overall for her beautiful work. Her blog is http://fabulousfrogger.blogspot.com/ so if you aren't following her already you definitely should! This is what hers looked like:

Isn't it gorgeous?

Now we come to the project I've been waiting to work on again -- Cinderella!!  This is what I brought with me to Phoenix and spent countless hours working on while not having to deal with day-to-day interruptions.

This last time I was able to work on this was in August, so here's what it looked like back then:

Cinderella - August 2011

And here is what 5 days of work amounts to:

Cinderella - October 2011

Back of Project

Overall progress

I love being able to see exactly what I got done.  It was a little discouraging because I spent a majority of my time working on the front of the castle which consists of regular threads tweeded with metallics.  They are so slow going in that it feels like nothing is coming together!  I believe I'm almost done with them for now, so I'll be able to work on the sky more. 

That's all for this month's Look Back.  Hope you enjoyed it!  Be on the look out in the next few days for a picture tour through me making my daughter's Halloween costume and (hopefully) much more progress on Cinderella. 

Happy stitching!!

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10/10/11 - Wild Thing COMPLETED!

Drum roll please.......

Wild Thing is officially finished and framed.  YAY!!  I'm so happy I got it done in time.  There are only 3 more days until I have to enter it into the fair so now I can just sit back and relax without working until the last minute.

I was a little disappointed that his first and middle name wouldn't fit on the design (it ended up being too long by quite a bit) so I settled for just putting his first name on there.  I actually really like the way it turned out... it doesn't look crowded!

Ah, my faithful jungle friends, at last you are completed.  It's been nice knowing you, but after doing this same sampler twice within 8 months I must say I won't be too terribly sad to see you go.

Wild Thing Sampler

Began: June 27, 2011

Completed: October 10, 2011

Soon to be Kentucky bound

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September Look Back

It's a few days late, I know, but I couldn't begin posting for October without first doing my September Look Back.  I haven't worked on it in a few days, so it still counts as September's stitching!

In case you missed last months post, I've decided to do a quick recap at the end of each month to show how much progress has been  made on the projects that I'm currently working on.  This will include showing the back of the work (a general stitching taboo)!

Since I've only worked on Wild Thing this month, it will be the only update for this look back.  I'm very excited about being right at the finish line for this project!

Here was what Wild Thing looked like at the August Look Back:

Wild Thing - End of August 2011

...and here is how far it's come since then:

Wild Thing - End of September 2011

Back of Wild Thing - End of September 2011

Only a few more hours of work (if that) and this sampler will be ready for framing.  I've got 12 days to get it all done so it can be entered in my county fair, then it's off to hopefully hang on Rowan's wall!

Thanks for stopping by... happy stitching everyone!
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I'm a WINNER!!

I know I'm behind in posting a Wild Thing update (no, it's not done yet) but I just had to pop over here and share:

I WON!!

I am beyond excited to have won a giveaway on a fellow craft blog.  The best part is I have been thinking about this one ever since I entered and was really hoping to win this.

Wanna know what I won?

This totally awesome Coffee Bean Tote Bag which was made by Bec over at smallbirdie.  I'm such a huge fan of repurposing things and this bag is the perfect example of taking a throw-away type item and turning it into something useful.  The best part?  Teal is my favorite color!!  Yay!!  =)

You can find the post >>here<< which contains the tutorial to create a repurposed coffee bean tote bag of your very own.  The entry was a guest post by Bec which was hosted by Allison of little lovelies.

Both blogs are absolutely lovely, with lots of neat ideas for DIY and repurposing.  Take some time now to head over and check them both out!

Big thanks again to Allison and Bec.  I can't wait to see this adorable bag in person!  =)


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9/24/11 Wild Thing

I really love the weekends.  Saturdays for me mean 1) no waking up before dawn, 2) happy children who aren't forced to run on a schedule for the day, and 3) plenty of time to stitch!
Backstitching is one of my favorite parts of a project.  I know, I know -- that sounds crazy, right?  The general consensus that I hear is that backstitching is one of the most hated parts of a project.  Personally, I love the way it really brings out all of the details and how quickly a blob of random colors turns into something amazing.  Now that all of the main stitching is done for Wild Thing, the only thing left is the backstiching and a few french knots (which I do hate).

Here's today's update:

Overall Progress

 Top half of project has all circles outlined and the title completed.

Giraffe

 Mr. Giraffe is 100% complete!  I'm wondering if doing the french knots was a good idea just yet.  The other day, I bought a set of off-brand Q-Snaps (which I'm really loving!) and I'm worried that these french knots in the center of the flowers may be in the way when I go to move the frame.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Lion

By far my favorite animal to backstitch.  The lion's mane is made up of 3 or 4 different colors which all blur together until you start to backstitch.  You can really see this when you compare the top part of his mane with the bottom (un-backstitched) part.

My plan is to finish the lion by tonight, which leaves me with the monkey and the panda left to do plus the wooden frame, the circles at the bottom, the leaves and then the information.  Crossing my fingers that this will be 100% done by the end of next weekend!

Happy stitching everyone!
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9/23/11 Wild Thing

Crunch time, folks... baby Rowan has arrived!  As much as I'd hoped to be done before he was born, I'm happy with the amount I've gotten done with all the craziness that's been going on.  I'm on the home stretch with this sampler now and I'm hoping to have it done in the next few days.

This picture was taken last night around 9pm -- everything complete but the backstitching!

I decided to lose a little bit of sleep working on the backstitching while catching up on my overloaded DVR.  Before I finally called it quits for the night, I snapped this picture:

I love how the backstitching really makes the letters stand out.  I'm going to finish the letters and the circles first, then move on to the animals themselves.  The very last thing will be adding Rowan's information to the bottom and then it will be complete!

The entry date for the county fair is October 14th (I believe) so I should have no problem being done in time.  While the "prize money" isn't that great for anything entered, it would still be nice to win!
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9/5/11 Wild Thing

What what??  Two post updates in a row?  It's been a good weekend.  My housework has suffered greatly, but I've gotten a lot done on this project and it's looking so good!

Started on the panda bear yesterday (which just so happens to be my favorite part of this sampler!) and couldn't put it down until he was finished.

I love the colors for this part of the piece and the way his feet hang out over the edge.  Although I'm saving most of the backstitching until the very end, I couldn't help but do a bit on his face.  he looked a little creepy without a nose and mouth! 

Now that my long weekend is practically over, I won't have as much time to work on this.  My friend just updated her status to say that she's heading to the hospital and may be in labor which is so exciting!  Once the panda is totally done, then the hardest parts are over with and I can get started on all the little details. 

Tomorrow, our daily grind of school days begins again.  I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and gets lots accomplished today!!
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9/7/11 Wild Thing

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! 

I sat myself down yesterday, determined to finish all the stitching for the monkey panel on Wild Thing, and I did!

There's a light at the end of the tunnel!  =) 

I found out the other day that, if I want to put this piece in my county fair, it needs to be completed by the 15th of October.  If I can keep up the pace set yesterday, that should be no problem!  Then I'll send it off to my friend once the fair is over with. 

Enjoy your 3 day weekend (if you have one!)  =)
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August Look Back

I've decided that every month, I'm going to take the time to look back and see what I've accomplished over the past month.  To make it really fun, I'll also be posting the back of my projects --I can hear the gasps of horror already!-- because I think the back of a project is just as important as the front.  Don't hold it against me though!  I know that you can create a beautifully stitched project and have a back that looks crazy, but I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my stitches.

This month we're going to start with Cinderella Wishes Upon a Dream.  Unfortunately, I have noticed that there are NO updates in August for this project.  Ugh.  I didn't realize that!  So, I suppose I'll just put up how it looks now, and next month I'll have something to compare it to.

August Look Back - Cinderella

View of total project - August 2011

Reverse side of Cinderella

Wild Thing has gotten a lot of my attention this month since that baby will be born in the very near future.  Let's see how far it's come:

Wild Thing - August 5

August Look Back - Wild Thing

 Not as much progress as I would have liked to complete, but it's still coming along nicely.

Reverse of Wild Thing - August 2011

(Is it sad that I just realized where my "missing" needle has been?  LOL  At least it's stuck where it should be and not lost in my couch cushions!)

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.  If you should decide to do a Look Back of your own, please let me know in the comments so I can see how far you've come this month. 

Have a great day everyone!
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8/30/11 Wild Thing

Another busy few days around here.  I've been dividing my free time between cross stitching and reading, so not as much got done on this project as it would have normally.  Luckily for me, I enjoy doing these at a more leisurely pace. 

Once the dark green leaves go in, the rest is just filling it in with the light green color.  I love when it gets to that point because I can just zone out and stitch without having to count and double check.  Hopefully, this little guy will be done by the weekend and then it's on to the panda!

Happy stitching everyone!


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8/25/11 Wild Thing

Wow... it's been far too long since my last update.  We've had a very busy two weeks with my oldest starting Kindergarten and all of us adjusting to our new schedules.  Now that the routine seems to be in place, I'm back to stitching as often as I can.

Here is the latest on Wild Thing:

It's not a ton of progress, but it's coming along.  The baby I'm stitching this for isn't due for another month, but apparently he attempted to make an early entrance a few days ago.  No more putting this off!  It has to be done! 

Plus, I'm thinking of entering it in our county fair this year.  I've never put anything in before so I think it would be a fun experience.  One of these days, I'll enter the Cinderella project and hopefully it will do well.

It's going to take me a little while to catch up on all the blog posts that I've missed.  Can't wait to see what you have all been up to!


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8/13/11 Contest Updates

Be sure you check out the top of my blog (right above the current posts) and see all the great contests that are going on around the blogosphere. 

It's a lot quicker to put the info up there than try and overload my postings each time I find new ones (they always comes in groups of 2 or 3!)

If you know of a contest or giveaway going on, or are hosting one yourself, let me know and I'll update it on my blog! 

I'm thinking of holding a small giveaway myself in the near future.  I need to go through my stash and see what I can find!


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8/10/11 Bible Case

Look up at your address bar... I made my own Favicon!  I've been having problems with it not showing up all the time, but when it does I can't help but smile.  I'm not a technologically-gifted person, but I did this one all by myself and it feels great!

In crafty news, I decided to take a tiny break from stitching in order to do a sewing project for my daughter.  She has been showing a real interest in reading her Bible (although, she can't yet read so I read it to her!) and has been wanting to have a case to carry it around in.  Luckily for her, I had a few pieces of fabric that she liked and most of the other materials to make it.

After a few hours of measuring, cutting, reading some online "how-to" tutorials, and one instance of taking it all apart because I had put it together backwards, it was finished!

Tada!

 We did make a craft run this afternoon to grab a button for her closure and some velcro to hold it together, but everything else was made by me!

Velcro closure underneath the decorative button.

Inside the finished project.

I haven't done a sewing project in a very long time, but I'm super pleased with how this turned out.  Is it perfect?  Absolutely not.  However, it is something that I hope my daughter loves and keeps for a very long time.  The Bible was given to her by her Nanny and her late Papa, so I know it will be kept forever and now it has a nice case to stay in.

And now that I've made one, I feel more comfortable with it and may make a more boy-friendly version for my son once we get him his own Bible. 

Have a great day!
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8/9/11 Wild Thing

This is my little girl's last week before school starts Kindergarten.  I seriously can't believe she is old enough for school and I'm a bit of a wreck.  It's not that I don't think she'll love it (if she's anything like me, she'll be a totally nerd and really enjoy going to school) but I worry about not having my eye on her every hour of the day.  She took her first trip away from me the other day to the water park with the church and I was a nervous wreck from the time she got on the bus until I went to pick her up.  She, naturally, had a great time and didn't miss me one bit while all I could think about was picking her up. 

Anywho, through all the craziness I have managed to finish Mr. Giraffe:

He sure looks better with some eyes!

Overall progress

 There were some difficulties stitching over the past few days.  Two days ago, our power went out in the middle of the afternoon and didn't get restored for over 6 hours.  This was especially terrible because our A/C unit already has a difficult time keeping our home under 80 degrees on a good day.  With no power, our house became unbearable, so we spent a while in the car with the kids.  Once the sun went down the house started to cool off a bit, so we all parked ourselves in different rooms and lay quietly until the power was restored. 

On Sunday, we went to the water park with my in laws.  The kids had so much fun but I'm beginning to realize that I just don't have the same amount of energy that I used to!  I'm sure they would have stayed all day if mommy hadn't gotten so tired!  LOL  Then, yesterday, I babysat my daughter's best friend so the majority of the day was filled with Disney movies, dress up, and popsicles.

Through all that, I managed to find at least enough time to finish the giraffe up.  Now I just have to decide which animal to do next. 

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CONTEST ALERTS!

Kaye over at Kitten Stitching is hosting a giveaway to celebrate reaching the 20 followers milestone!  She's put together a lovely gift pack to the winner, including hand dyed threads and very cute charts.

The giveaway will close on Friday, August 19th so hurry on over and get your entries in!

Click >>here<< for the giveaway page, or visit http://kittenstitching.blogspot.com

Crafty Moo is also hosting a giveaway.  You can enter to win a plethora of prizes, including a keychain, ribbon, and some Lugana!

The giveaway will close on August 29th.

Click >>here<< for the giveaway page, or visit http://craftymoo-sarah.blogspot.com

((Be sure to check out the new feature at the top of the blog, directly above the posts.  Check there for all new contest information and end dates!))
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Happy stitching everyone!

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8/5/11 Wild Thing

Finally got some time to sit down and stitch last night.  The giraffe is taking shape!

...although some eyes would make him look less creepy!

Another color or two on him and it'll be time to fill in the background.  It's a lot of green, but it looks really good when it's all said and done.  I'm still debating on whether or not to fill in the blank spaces in the zebra stripes, even though the pattern doesn't call for it.  The fabric is an oatmeal color, so the stripes seem a little dull.  But I'm thinking that the white may stand out too much.  I'm going to leave until it's time to backstitch the lion then I'll decide.
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8/2/11 - Cinderella Update (50th Post!)

Who'da thunk it!  Fifty posts!  This blog has been so enjoyable for me to keep up with.  I love watching projects progress and being able to look back and see what's been accomplished.  I only wish there were more hours in the day to finish things!  =)

Here is the latest progress on Cinderella:

The castle is very tedious because of the lack of colors... it's just variations of blues!  It seems I've finally finished that particular color for now and have moved on to blended colors and metallics.  This is the first project I've ever had to work with blending filaments/metallics before and it was an interesting thing to experience.  The stitching definitely goes slower and I'm constantly worried about snags and knots in the threads.  That being said, the photos really don't do the stitches justice -- they are gorgeous!  They shimmer and sparkle, really bringing the castle to life.

This week will be dedicated to working on Wild Thing.  I am not going to be able to have it done by the baby shower (which is this Saturday!) but I want to get moving on it and have it done before the baby is born. 

Happy stitching everyone!

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Giveaway Alert!

The Craftbook Project is currently holding a giveaway at their blog.  All you have to do is complete a survey about your craft blog by July 31st and you are automatically entered to win a $100 Michael's gift card! 

I love this contest, because Michael's is the craft store closest to me, so I tend to pop by there as often as I can.  Having a $100 gift card would really go a long way!

Click >>here<< to visit the contest page (with the link to the survey!) and find out other ways to be entered, or visit http://craftbookproject.com

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7/26/11 Wild Thing & Cinderella!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  =)  I hope you all are getting lots of stitching done today!

Since I neglected to put up the progress update on Wild Thing yesterday, I'm just going to post it today along with my most recent work on Cinderella.  I'm really loving switching off projects every other week.  I never seem to get too bored with the current project and picking up the other one wish fresh eyes is a nice treat.

So, here is Wild Thing's most recent progress:

*rawr*

Total progress so far

I didn't get the chance to backstitch him before switching projects, so I'll just save that until later.  The next time I pick this up I'll be moving over to the giraffe (so cute!!).

Moving back to Cinderella yesterday was so nice.  I got some of the sky above the castle filled in and began the task of filling in the castle as well.  It's a LOT of slightly different shades of the same blue, so nothing too interesting.  It really took me looking back on the last update I did to see the difference, so I'll post that up here as well:

Progress as of 7/11/2011

Progress as of today, 7/26/2011

As I'm filling in the castle, I realize that I've missed a few 3/4 stitches where the sky and castle meet, but I don't think I'm going to stress about going back in to put them there.  It's literally only 4 or 5 stitches of the light grey color and that area will have some backstitching over it.  If it is noticeable once the backstitches are done then I guess I'll worry about fixing it then, but for now I'm fine with leaving it. 

I'm off to clean house and drag my two children out to the grocery store later today.  Happy stitching!
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7/22/11 Wild Thing

The little lion is coming along nicely.  I got on a roll stitching and got a bunch done on this yesterday!  I was hoping to have him completely stitched by the end of the day, but real life bumped its way in and I had to spend the morning killing ants in my kitchen and deep cleaning the house so the exterminator could do an emergency spray.

Now that all that craziness is over with, I'm going to get back to stitching and get this little cutie done.  I'm debating on whether or not to save the backstitching until the end.  I really enjoy the backstitches and I love the way they make the project look complete, so doing it sooner rather than later may be fun.  I guess I'll just wait and see how much time I have to do it.

No matter what, I will switch back to Cinderella next week so I can work on the castle.  I can't wait to see how it looks all filled in!!



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7/20/11 Wild Thing

Not a huge update today, but I'm convinced that if I at least show a little bit of progress then my brain will want to sit down and stitch more. 

Slowly but surely getting there.

I haven't been in the stitchy mood much lately.  It didn't help that yesterday I spent a majority of my morning at the eye doctor with my very uncooperative 5 year old.  Thankfully, she does not need glasses and she can start school in August without me constantly being worried about her vision.  But the appointment was a total nightmare!  She screamed, yelled at the doctors, and would shut her eyes whenever they asked her to look at shapes.  We finally did manage to get her to cooperate but by the end of it I was worn out.  By the time we got home in the afternoon all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and veg.

Today isn't looking too much better for stitching.  We may or may not have company over tonight, so I'm going to be cleaning the house, going to the grocery store with both the kids, and then making dinner.  Ugh!  Need a vacation stat!