September 2015 Look Back

Hey everyone and Happy October!!

I hope everyone has been doing well.  I've actually been getting quite a bit of stitching done.  I have found that Instagram is the easiest format for me to post progress pictures since it runs better on my phone than the Blogger app does!  I'm going to hopefully update this blog at the end or beginning of each new month with progress pictures!

For this month, I'm going to start with a completion.  I stitched up a portion of the lyrics from "Need to Be" by Memphis May Fire.  It stitched up really quickly, so it was nice to actually finish something!  I chose to do the lyrics in an overly-calm, flowery font to contrast with the "harder" sound that the band has.  I really love their music, but many people are turned off simply because of the style and are missing out on some really great lyrics.  It's about the message, not the style of music!  This one is totally finished and I have a frame purchased.  It will be entered into the county fair competition in 2 weeks time.

I also started my first real embroidery project this month.  My youngest daughter became obsessed with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and I think we watched it for 2 weeks straight.  I was very familiar with the film but I hadn't seen it for a long time and when we started watching it again I was struck by just how evil Judge Claude Frollo is!  Seriously, this guy is probably the scariest Disney villain of all time.  If you've never seen the movie, just go look up the song "Hellfire" and give that a watch.  Yeesh.... he's creepy!  I chose to embroider him on a pretty fabric that reminded me of the Feast of Fools from the film.  So far, I'm really enjoying embroidery!  Satin stitching can get a bit frustrating but I think it's totally worth it.  I am hoping to have him completely done by the time the fair rolls around, but I'm not sure I'm going to have enough time.  I'm about 1/3 done with him and still have the words at the bottom to finish.

Finally, I did get about 2 weeks worth of stitching done on Cinderella Wishes Upon a Dream.  I trudged through a big green section at the bottom and knocked it out.  I'm approximately 2/3 done with page 2 of 4.  As much as I want this one finished now now now, I have to stagger it with other projects to avoid burnout. Now that I'm past that green section I have to move on to a huge section of grey which sounds lovely LOL











And since this is a "Look Back" post, here are the backs!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  If you are on Instagram, please follow me @AmbitiousStitches , I would love to follow you back!  That is where a majority of my updates will be going.  Instagram has an amazing community of crafters!  I'm also on Twitter @AmbitiousStitch .

Happy Stitching Everyone!

September 2013 Look Back

I haven't done a look back post in well over a year, so I figure it's high time to do one again.

At the end of each month (when I've gotten some stitching done that is) I like to look back at the overall progress I've made as well as taking a peek at the back of the work.  I'm as obsessive over the back of every project as I am over the front, although I'll admit I haven't been as careful lately as I could be.  I dislike having loose strands on the back or traveling too far with a color, but sometimes it can't be helped.

Let's take a look at the beginning of the month:

September 3, 2013

How I'm ending the month:

September 2013 look back

And, finally, a look at the back.

Overall, I'm happy with what I've been able to get done.  Most of the time I have to stitch one handed while the baby sleeps on one arm or the other, so it's definitely slow going.  It's getting easier day by day.

I hope everyone had a great month of stitching.  I'm looking forward to seeing what I can get done next month!

Happy stitching!

January Look Back

After doing some more stitching tonight (and spending at least an hour unpicking a few mistakes), I remembered that it's time to do a Look Back!

It's been a few months so I had to dig back through the blog for the last look back photos, so here we go.

Here is the October progress picture (yikes... has it been that long?):

October 2011 - Look Back

And here is today's picture:

January 2012 - Look Back

January 2012 - Back of the project

January 2012 - Overall progress

We are going to be taking a trip -- to Disney of course -- starting on Saturday, so I don't know how much more stitching will get done between now and the following weekend.  I'm hoping to finish this page by at least the end of March so I can get started on the next page.

Oh!  I forgot to mention this... you may notice a red thread running down the right side of the project.  I purchased some fishing line today and I'm testing it out to see if I like using it to grid more than the marking pens.  So far I like it, but I haven't had to work around it too much so we'll just have to wait and see how it goes.  Right now it's just marking the end of the first page, but when I start the next one I'm going to try gridding out the whole page with it. 

Happy stitching everyone!



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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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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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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