Angel of Cross Stitch Progress

Woohoo!!!! I finished the picture part of Angel of Cross Stitch!!! I had pulled this out and kept it out for a couple of weeks over the holidays rather than adhering to my "normal" weekly rotation. I wasn't sure how much stitching time I was going to have, so I figured I'd leave this one out and stitch away. Then I realized I was getting REALLY close to finishing the picture part (still have half the border to do, plus all the back stitching), so I decided to just plug along and get it done. Worked out well - I stitched quite a bit last night, and then a lot today while we watched football. And just now I put in the last stitch.

So, I'll put this away for three weeks while I rotate on my other three projects. And then I'll tackle the rest of the border!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and thanks for all the comments!!

And oh yeah....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Hope 2010 brings you all you wish for!

Ornament Finishes - 1982

No....that's not a mistake on the date that I finished these. That was the year my mom wanted to learn how to cross-stitch. Since I had done needlepoint before, she decided to wait for me to come home for the summer, and we went shopping together (back in those days it seems like there were cross-stitch stores on every other corner!).

Someone at one of the stores we went to recommended a kit with ornaments in it. Their logic was that (1) they were small enough that if we didn't like it we didn't have a big commitment and (2) they were easy to split up. So, I honestly don't remember which two I did and which two my mom did! But...I did stitch two of these! Sorry for the picture quality. They hang on the hanging light above my parents kitchen table every year (my mom doesn't want them to get lost on the tree), so I did the best I could!

Thanks for checking it out....little did I realize what an addiction this project would start!

Ornament Finishes - 2009

Here are the 8 ornaments I finished for Christmas. They were all gifts for family...siblings, parents, aunt, and my niece. I was okay with the finishing on these. Truly, I got lazy. They were supposed to be cut to follow the edges of the stitching, but I just didn't have the patience. So, instead I cut them within 2 squares of the widest and tallest sides, and then backed them with self-adhesive felt. The hangers are just wire twisted. The samples in the book had the wires twisted, etc, but.....again, no patience!! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Some Christmas finishes!

This one is "Hula Lulu" - I made it into a flatfold (although from this angle it looks like it could be a cube!) for a friend that we play bingo with every week. She decorates like CRAZY for Christmas, and her hubby is from Hawaii. So, I was trying to combine both of their personalities. I couldn't find a Christmas fabric that had that turquoise color in it, so I ended up with kind of a turquoise on turquoise floral. Not very Christmassy, but I think it will work!

This is my attempt at a creative finish - you can't really tell from the picture, but I made it into a "triptych" if you will (forgive my spelling! LOL). The three are connected by two ribbons (You can kind of see it between the snowmen) and then they're backed like you would a flatfold. The fabric I backed them with is kind of a royal blue with white snowflakes. This one is a hostess gift for my brother and sister-in-law who are having us over on Christmas.

Now the only remaining stitchy stuff I need to do is attach some beads onto my perforated paper ornaments and back them up with self stick felt. I need to get two of them done today so that Mike can mail them off tomorrow (pays to have a boyfriend who works in the mailroom at his company - saves me a trip to the post office!) The other six don't have to be finished until Christmas day! Hopefully I won't wait that long!

Thanks for checking it out!

Productive Stitching Weekend

Well, here's my latest start...Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons. Mike bought this one (and the Christmas ABC's one) for me for my birthday. It's a fun, easy stitch, which was a nice break after stitching on Frederick last week. This wasn't all done this weekend, it was a week's worth of stitching.

Yesterday was our So Cal Stitchers Group get together at a local "medium box" craft store. It's not a national chain, just a local chain with (I think) 3 stores. The location we go to has a nice classroom area, and you can rent a table for the day for $5. The tables are set up in kind of blocks of 4, and we can easily sit 8 around a block of 4. So....for $20, 8 of us can stitch the day away! We were there from 9 am to 6 pm with a short break for lunch. Everyone was stitching away, and we had a great time laughing, talking, and TRYING to count! LOL! I was working on my dollhouse project - I'm almost done with the kitchen, so maybe soon I'll have some pictures of another finished room.

Then this evening I watched a really cool episode of "Ace of Cakes" . I don't know if you're familiar, but it's the one with Duff Goldman (I know some people think he's obnoxious, but I think his bakery does awesome cakes). This particular episode (which I think will be on a couple of more times - the description says it's about a building being demolished, which is one of the other cakes in the episode). The cake I was interested in was a replica of a cross-stitched stocking! The woman the cake was being made for has stiched FIFTY THREE stockings for her family members. Her husband wanted to surprise her, so he brought pictures of her stocking to the bakery for them to make a replica. They made a stocking shaped cake, and the decorator actually piped individual little X's to make the pictures on the cake. It really was awesome, and it was neat to see an artist in another medium (cake decorating) have "respect" (for lack of a better word) for the technique of cross-stitching. She actually took fondant and put it over graph paper on top of a light box to get the squares for the X's. If you get a chance, check it out!!!

Now this week I HAVE to start on family calendars. I make a calendar for my family every year for Christmas - actually I think I make 10 of them, because each one is a tad different than the others. I incorporate pictures each month of the family members who have occasions in that month, and put their occasion where it belongs on the calendar. It is a lot of work, but I love doing it. I think this is the 6th year I've done them! They actually take longer to print than they do to design! LOL

So....not sure how much stitching time I'll get this week. But...I'll be back!!!

Have a GREAT week! And thank you, as always, for your comments!

Frederick the Literate is started

Well, this week I started on Frederick the Literate. It was a Dimensions kit but I didn't like the aida (too stiff) and I didn't like the thread (too icky!). So....substituted some 28 count evenweave (not sure what kind) and re-did the floss with DMC and we're off to the races. This one will take a while, I'm sure. This is one week's progress. Stitching black on black is interesting, to say the least!!

Thanks for checking it out!

A new start

A quick blog update - I'm trying to get back on track with weekly blog updates and getting back into my rotation. Although this is a Christmas pattern, I'm not trying to get it done for this Christmas, and it's not a gift, so no rush on it.

I love this pattern - my sweetie bought me this one and the ABC Lessons one, both by Lizzie Kate. I started on this one first because Mike said he liked it better. Both patterns were sold as kits (well, almost kits - pattern and threads, but no fabric) so they came with the overdyed threads. I ran into a little issue along one edge (it's just on the edge, so it won't be a problem), but it let me know I need to be VERY careful. Where the edge of the fabric rubbed up against the red of the letter B, the edge picked up some red color. So - I'm being very careful to put paper towel around my fabric when I'm putting it away at the end of stitching time....hopefully that will keep it from happening on a more important part of the piece.

This week's project is Frederick the Literate. It will be challenging (stitching on black fabric) but I'm okay with that. My Ott Lite and I are good friends!!!

Thanks for checking it out - and, as always, thank you for your comments!!