Announcement

Okay, I know I haven't posted anything on here in awhile, but there's a good and a not so good reason as to why that is. First of all, as mentioned in a previous post, I have no good way to take pictures of my projects. They all turn out awful. It's either blinded by the flash on my ancient digital camera, blurry because I turned the flash off of my digital camera, or it's orange-ish because I used my cell phone camera. So....yeah, that's frustrating.

Another (better!) reason is because I have moved my blog to over here. I decided that instead of having several blogs, I would put them all together. This helps as I only have one place to blog at, and I can pretty much talk about any and everything. So if you would like to continue following me and see what all is going on with me, then head over there and become a follower over there. Thanks! :)

It's Update Time!

Yeah, it's been awhile since I updated. Things have been pretty crazy over here, what with Dylan's new job and all that fun stuff.

The other day, my mom taught me how to do French Knots (again!) and so know I feel comfortable enough in finishing my baby record. So, hopefully you'll see the completely finished project soon.

Speaking of baby records, one of my cousins is expecting, so I decided to whip up another baby record. I got this one all done, again save for the name, weight, and date. They actually know what the gender of the baby is going to be, so that makes it much easier. Just waiting for her to be born so I can put down the weight and all that other fun stuff.

It's a girl!

My super secret project has been put on hold because *insert trumpets here* I've been working on a project started over at Sprite Stitch. Pretty much, a few people started talking about the horrible tradgedy in Japan and how we wished we could do something to help. We got around to talking about how many of the video games which we love come from Japan, and that led to Pokémon.

So! We are now currently working on a Generation 1 Pokémon quilt. Each one of us are doing several squares, each with an evolution of a Pokémon in the square (save for a few exceptions). I'm almost done with my first square (Jinx and Mr. Mime) and here it is:

When we're all done with all the squares, we're going to sew them into a quilt and sell the quilt on ebay. All proceeds will go to the Japanese Red Cross. If you would like to find out more, please check us out. After this square, I think I've signed up for 3 more squares, so these are goig to keep me busy for quite some time, but it's all for a good cause. :)

Baby Shower Gift Tag

So, today I had a baby shower to go to. No biggie. Of course, I remembered that at 6:00pm last night. Hadn't bought anything, so I scrambled to run out to Target and get something.

As I'm doing all this, I get the great idea to make a cross stitch gift tag. Shouldn't take me too long, right? All said and done, it took me 3 hours to do, which isn't so bad for a cross stitching project. First time I ever made a gift tag, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Not so happy about the non-straight cut lines, but then again, I never was a straight cutter.

Seeing at how cool this things turned out to be, I'm thinking about maybe, sometime in the future, making quite a few for many different occasions and selling them on Etsy. I think that would be kinda neat. Comment and lemme know what you think!

Cute lil' diaper pins.

The artsy shot.

Last WIP for Baby Record and Miscellaneous

First of all, allow me to apologize for the crappy pictures. I have a digital camera, but it's pretty old, and the flash makes everything look worse. That, and apparently we don't have any AA batteries around the apartment. So, I have to take pictures with the camera on my phone. Doesn't do too bad, but the lighting in my apartment is aweful. The pictures today were taken next to an open window using sunlight. Also, some of them have been in storage for years, so they have all kinds of wrinkles which made awful shadows and the like. But, ah well. Make lemonaide out of lemons, I suppose....

On the baby record, the only things I have left to do are the French Knots (which I loathe), and the name and weight. That won't get done until the baby is born, of course, but I know what the options are so I can kind of prep.

Almost there!

Also, I thought I would share with you some of the other works I've worked on in the past as well as their status. The first one is the first major cross stitch project I ever worked on. It's Kit #79019 "Wizard" by Dimensions. There are some things I could go back and change (i.e. his crazy eye) but I don't want to. I don't want to do it, no because I'm lazy (though there's that too) but because since this was my first major project, I kinda want to keep all those little mistakes around, to remind me of where I started.

Wizard

Next up is one of my geisha girls which I'm almost done with. It's kit #65036 "Geisha Beauty" by Dimensions.  I'm missing a few threads, and then I'll be all done with her. Most of the detail work is done, just have to do some of the sky, I think. I was very happy at the way she turned out. When it's all done and framed, it's going up in my bedroom. We have an Asian kind of theme going on.

Geisha Beauty

This is the second Geisha I did. It's kit #06760 "Mai", also from Dimensions. I believe that all that needs to be done on this one is some detail work. Again, once all is said and done, this one will also go up in the bedroom. Isn't she pretty?

Mai

Last, but not least, is my first attempt at stamped cross stitching. Up until I started this project, I had only done counted cross stitch on Aida fabric. I wondered what the difference was with stamped cross stitch, so I bought a beginners kit to find out. Personally, I like counted cross stitch on Aida better, simply 'cause my stitches look so much better and more even. But, here is how it's looking. It's okay. Kind of homey, but I like that. Don't remember what kit number or the name. I'll try to find out sometime later. :)

Home is Where the Heart is

Also, I have a picture of my super secret. But it's only part of it. Can't give the whole thing away, now can I? ;)

Now who is that?

Well, that does it for me. Hope you enjoyed that splurge of pictures. :)

Baby Record Update

No real news on the home front. I've been kinda in a funk as of late, but it hasn't stopped me from stitching. I'm making really good progress on the baby record I've been working on. Had to set aside my secret project, but that's okay. One of the figures is giving me a terrible time, and I just can't seem to get the numbers right. >.<

But, anywho, this is just a quick update on how it's coming along. I only really take pictures when I have to take it out of the hoop to move around. Just makes it less of a hassle for me. Hope ya'll understand. :)

It's coming along great, I think!

The bows actually look like bows now!

TUSAL and Baby Record

Today, I'll be showing you my TUSAL jar, as well as my newest project. :)

A bird's eye view

For those of you who are unfamiliar with a TUSAL jar, lemme explain. TUSAL stands for "Totally Useless Stitch A-Long". The point is to keep your thread (or yarn) ends and put them in a jar, and then share the result each new moon of the month. I thought this would be a neat idea to help decorate my apartment and I could put them in my curio cabinet, but my husband thought it was kinda silly. So, he talked me into doing a yearly TUSAL jar instead. So, I have one "big" jar which I'm going to collect all my thread ends into, and I'll share it with you guys from time to time. Just something interesting to see how many colors I use in a month and all that jazz.

Everything I've collected since Saturday

Onto the baby record. Two of my good friends from camp are expecting their first child together and I decided that since I've gotten back into cross stitching, to make them a baby record. The baby is due in May, so I've got a good bit of time, and I've gotten quite a bit done already.

The first challenge for this, was they're wanting to be surprised by the gender of the baby. Now, that  makes things difficult when I'm trying to find a pattern. I knew they were decorating the room in Winnie the Pooh things (if I'm remembering correctly), so I found this pattern of a teddy bear (not Winnie) and some other things. It leans kinda sorta to the more girly style, but I think it's pretty gender neutral enough for a newborn, right? I mean, it has both pinks and blues as well as some other pastely colors.

All this done in 2 days. :)

I'm thinking that when all is said and done, I'll put it in a white wooden frame, if I can find one that matches what I'm thinking about. The finished size is going to be 5x7 so it's not that big.

To finish this project, I'm setting aside my super secret project for now. Perhaps in the future I'll show you glimpses of what I'm working on, but it can't be anything too big.

So, I'll leave you all that for now. Remember to keep your needle threaded!

Hello World!

So, I think I had a blog like this at one point in time, but I must have deleted it for lack of using it. But, I once again have picked up my needle and thread and have started cross stitching. It's very relaxing for me, and once I'm done, I have a (hopefully) beautiful piece of work. Also, I have joined an amazing community over at the Sprite Stitch forums. They are an amazing group of crafters from all backgrounds. They give me inspiration, and too many projects to do! lol

In short, this blog is going to be me updating you guys on all the projects I'm working on right now. I do have a secret project I'm working on for someone which I won't post up here, as that someone may see it. I will show you guys a picture when I'm all done, though.

Also, if you guys want, I can put "how-to"s about how to cross stitch or how I do certain things. Just lemme know. I love to "hear" from my readers.

Be sure to check out the other blogs I have listed on your right. I follow them all, and they are (in my opinion) much better than mine. :)

Have fun, and don't stick yourself with a needle!