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. :)

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!