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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