Goodbye 2014

This will be my last post of 2014 (clearly). The year went so quickly! I'm almost at my 1 year blogger mark which is quite exciting! I think I'm going to host a giveaway in honor of that! Stay tuned late January for details. :)

I have still been busy stitching up a storm. Okay, not really a storm, but stitching yes! I did not start the Bent Creek Wedding Row like I was hoping. I know what floss I want to use, but I'm having issues with what fabric to use and it's an awkward size, which means I probably need to order something, or change the floss colors. I don't know yet.

I managed one more ornament finish before the end of the year:

It's called Reindeer Cheer from The Cross Stitcher magazine November 2014. I added some Krenik blending filament to the snow/star things in the sky. It looks pretty! I'm still debating on giving it away or keeping it. :) I did sign it 2014, so if I give it away it'll have to be soon. :)

Here it is with the Grumpy Cat ornament:

 

The fabric didn't really photograph well, that's what happens in the winter months I suppose. It's really a light blue, but looks gray in the photos.  

We retrieved our blown glass ornaments, which I may or may not have mentioned last post. My husband purchased the class for my birthday back in October! It was a long wait, but totally worth it. We ended up making 3 ornaments: 

Mine - Green & purple swirl

Ours - Random dots, various colors

Husband's - candy cane

I think my husband's turned out the best! I suggested the colors, so I'm going to take some credit too. ;)

I got all my supplies for my Plum Pudding for my & Neil's Glendon Place SAL. There is still time to sign up!!! It's open until the week January 15th, which is when your first posting is due (around the 15th). Your first post can just be telling everyone what you're going to work on. No progress is required! :)

Here are two "artsy" shots of the floss:

I decided to go with "Antique White" 28 count Lugana. I really wanted the threads to stand out, and every single picture I've seen has looked a little washed out. I was talking with a gal on Instagram who choose to do it on white and it looked nice, so I decided to go a similar route.

I got some treats for Christmas! I got a Mirabilla chart (which of course I didn't take a picture of) called Shakespeare's Faires. It has soo many beads in it! Someday I'll get around to it, I don't think 2015 is it's year though. My husband also got me a digital subscription to The Cross Stitcher. :) AND past issues were only $0.99 so I bought several.

I also got a tacky bead bob (I purchased that dot fabric though):

And some bead storage containers!

There's a lot of room to grow in the storage container though. I think that's a good thing! I had fun searching around for all of my packages to put in there. I realized I had purchased a green twice! ;)

I've started making a dent in my to stitch ornament list as well! I started Peppermint Latte by Casey Buonaugurio Designs from the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue on Sunday. I'm hoping it'll be my first finish of 2015! It's pretty small and I'm just speeding along with it. I might be able to squeeze it in this year, but I'd rather hold off for next year, boost my finishes early. ;) ;) 

I think that's all of my stitchy news for now! Did anyone else get some stitchy related presents?!?

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Merry Christmas Eve!

Hello everyone! And Merry Christmas Eve (or merry Wednesday!) to you & your loved ones.

We've been pretty busy, Sunday was my husband's aunt's Christmas dinner. He's got 3 little cousins now and they are always quite entertaining. I ate too much, per usual. It's so easy to do when the food is amazing! :)

Tonight we're going to my in-laws house for presents and dinner. Then tomorrow we're going to my aunt's for dinner and I'm having my parents over to view Japan vacation pictures (I'll post some soon, I promise!) and eat some desserts. THEN on Friday we've got a surprise party to go to. It's a never ending busy schedule. Well, ok, it's over after that and hopefully no longer busy.

We finally made NYE plans. We usually stay home on the sofa. I cross stitch, he plays video games. Well we were going to go to this great restaurant for our anniversary (Jan 5th, we went last year and loved it) but they will be closed for January. But they are having a pre-fixed menu for NYE. And they are BYOB! Score! It's pretty expensive, but we're going to say it's for our anniversary too. That makes it better... I think!

I finished my co-workers ornament at about 8 o'clock on Sunday to give to her on Monday and she decided to work from home on Monday! I gave her a hard time, but she did come in on Tuesday so I was able to give it to her, I barely left enough room between the two designs on the fabric to cut them out, but I think he turned out super cute! Sorry, no back pictures. I didn't think about it!

Right after this, I ran out of bobbin thread and couldn't get the silly thing out, so I'm waiting until tomorrow when my mom is coming over to help me out and finish my second finish of the week. I'm still new with this whole sewing machine thing! I did also manage to finish the presents one, but I'm not sure if the mom reads my blog or not, so I'll be safe and not post it until next week.

I managed to finish stitching a grumpy cat ornament:

You can't really tell from the picture, but I used wisper thread for the hat to make it fluffy, DMC light effects for the star & some blending filament for the snow flakes in the sky. It's quite nice in real life.

I think my next project will be for our 2nd anniversary, it's cotton, so a stitched piece totally makes sense. I'm going to do "Wedding Row" by Bent Creek. I'm thinking about using my two favorite Weeks threads, peacock & taffeta. Which are almost our wedding colors. It won't be a secret since I do all my stitching with him sitting on the sofa beside me.

I was messing around with our fancy camera and took a some what  pretty Christmas tree picture that I'll leave you off with today! Enjoy the day everyone! May your day be merry & bright!

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Finish & Christmas Decor

Hi all! I managed to do some stitching while also putting up some Christmas decorations. Since we were out of town for half of November we didn't get started as early as usual and because of that I only put up like half of our stuff. We have a Christmas village set that isn't going to make it out this year. It takes an entire day to put it up and I just don't have the time this year. It seems like an every other year type of thing!

Here are some decor pictures:

My mother in law gave us these adorable mini wooden Christmas ornaments. I had to go buy a little tree for them. My husband was trying to convince me that this tree should be just for cross stitched ornaments, but, I don't have enough for it's own tree yet and I think this tree is too little. :D

I managed to get my Fleur de Lys Tree by Scissor Tail Designs finished! I really want to get a frame for it,. Some things just scream frame me, and I think this is one of them. I think it'll fit in a 5x7 frame so I'm going to try to get out to a TJ Maxx. I'm thinking an antique white frame? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Fleur de Lys Tree - Scissortail Designs

Fleur de Lys Tree - Scissortail Designs

Fleur de Lys Tree - Scissortail Designs

I really want to get more ornaments completed next year, so I started a blog page just for that. The goal is 12 (one a month) but I listed out a ton so there would be options for me to choose from. You check it out over here!

I would also like to get some other projects finished (like both of my Glendon Place patterns (Plum Pudding & Tiramisu), my Chatelaine (Mini Mandala VI), and my Halloween Black cat). Does anyone else think I'm a crazy person? I bet if I tried I could finish it all, but I get distracted easily by new patterns... Oh and I have a collection of mugs that I want to stitch up. So many patterns so little stitchy time!

Quick reminder about the Glendon Place SAL! You don't have to start stitching, but you will need a post about what you're going to work on the week of January 15th. You have until then to decide! Let all your friends know! The more participation the more exciting it will be! 

How is everyone else enjoying December? Have you tried to make stitchy goals for 2015?

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Back from Japan

Hello lovelies! I'm back from Japan and have finally gotten over the jet lag from the return trip. They are 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and wow did I feel every minute of that on our return trip. I've slept so much in the last week since we got back it's crazy! I managed to pick up a cold while we were there too so I'm pretty sure that did not help the situation at all.

I thought I was going to get some small stitching done. Nope. Not one stitch was put in. However I did manage to read 4 books and start another. Yes. 4 while on vacation. It was so much easier to just pick up my kindle rather than take out all my stitching. In case anyone was wondering I read the following:

1. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
2. The Winter People by Rebekah Purdy (I got the wrong book, I meant to read, The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon, whoops)
3. The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell
4. The Girls With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
5. Bird Box by Josh Malerman

I found all of these by looking at Goodreads.com's "Best Books of 2014." I liked some more than others, but I didn't put any of them down after the first couple pages, which I will do if I'm not into a book, there are too many books to read and I'd rather not waste time on one I don't care for.

While I was away, my "Stashmas" gift came in the mail. I belong to a group that does an exchange every year called Stashmas. I was terrible and my gift didn't get sent out until I got home. Basically I ordered a big order from a new to me company and it never arrived. Now I'm dealing with my credit card company trying to get my money back. I am so disappointed. I had heard good things about them from the stitching community and my husband ordered from them for my birthday and had no issues. I've been emailing them and getting no responses. I ordered on October 7th so you would think that 2 months would be sufficient time but apparently not. I think I was in such a rush to mail out the gift of mine that I didn't even talk a picture. I had ended up ordering replacements from 123stitch.com because they have never let me down. 

Here's what I got: 

I'm a huge Little House Needleworks fan and I have had this on my wish list for awhile! She also sent me the two skeins of overdyed floss and the button that goes in the middle!!! I love it and I cannot wait to stitch it. It's probably going to have to wait until 2015 though.She also sent over an adorable ornament!

I am almost done with the second little bear, I've ran out of motivation for him. How silly because he's soooo close now!

 
I started a new project that I am hoping to complete by Christmas. It's going quite well so far. I might be able to make it twice! It's Fleur de Lys Tree by ScissorTail Designs. I'm using Dinky Dyes, Evergreen.

While in Japan I stopped at a store called Yuzawaya (www.yuzawaya.co.jp Japanese only) and picked up a bunch of Cosmo floss and a biscornu.

The store was like a JoAnn Fabrics, with less fabric and more crafty supplies. It was on the 7th floor of a department store type building. I would call it a mall, there are so many malls in Japan. SO many! It was a little hard to find, mostly because we don't speak Japanese and we went on our first day there. I don't have any pictures from inside, I clearly wasn't thinking about blog posts while I was there.

They had DMC, Cosmo and Olympus (I bought some coral colors of this, I'd never heard of it). They didn't really have very many kits or anything though. The biscornu kit is from Cosmo as well though. I thought it was cute! They had tons of cute needle felted animals too. I probably could have bought the entire store, but it was day one and I didn't want to lug everything around in my suitcase. We tried to keep all of our shopping until the end which is only kinda a good idea.

I was also able to find a Japanese needlearts magazine at a bookstore attached to a subway stop,
Stitch Idées:

It's filled with tons of cool ideas, I'm kinda in love with these little pin cushions.

And there are some Christmas designs.

The charts are all pull out ones. It's different, but the quality of this magazine is amazing. It's like a book with the paper quality. I need to find all of them now! ;) It was only 1,200 yen which according to today's exchange rate, $9.92 (usd). All the ones I can find on eBay are about $17 + shipping from Japan. Not as awesome. I should totally have done more shopping while there (maybe seek out a used bookstore or two)! I suppose this just gives me another reason to go back!

Also, last, but not least by any means, I received a RAK (random act of kindness) from Andrea over at her blog, The Craft Room:

Isn't it beautiful?!?! I'm so excited, the finishing is so lovely and the pattern is awesome! I love how there's snow on top of the letters too. What a cool detail! Thanks so much Andrea! It's going to look awesome on my tree... as soon as I put it up! I seriously just took my Halloween decorations down this weekend. I mean, I was gone for half of November... I heard she also MADE the card that it came with!!! That's so awesome and I love it too!

Oh and check out the back, how cute!!! I have these little charms, but I haven't used them yet. :)

Another awesome thing that I learned since my last post, there is a community stitchy group here in my home town! I had run across someone's blog who was talking about this great framing shop she found and I emailed her about it (it's actually the framing shop I past almost weekly, I had even told my husband I should try it, how awesome is that?) and she mentioned a stitchy group that meets every Friday! I've been too busy lately, but I think once January rolls around I'll be able to attend. I'm really excited!

This has turned into a rambly post. I think I'm going to close off here for today. I am hoping to go through my vacation pictures soon and might post some next week for everyone! 

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Show Your Stash: Patterns

Back again with another Show Your Stash from Anna. This is from an old post (mid-October), but I thought it would be a great filler to use while I'm on vacation! 

When you shop for patterns, do you buy on impulse or do you buy only what you need?   Umm, what is this word "need" being used. I impulse by patterns. I can't go into a LNS without buying something (which is usually floss, but sometimes a pattern).

How do you sort your patterns—by designer? theme? Season?  Sort patterns? Funny. I "sort" mine by size. Example, small Lizzie Kate's live in my sewing box in a specific tier, but full sized patterns live at the bottom or in some IKEA furniture we have. I've been meaning to get some page protectors and put them into the 8 million 3 ring binders I own thanks to studying for actuarial exams. I bought the protectors, but still have made 0 progess on this goal. 

How do you store your patterns? I guess I answered this above! The majority of my patterns are in my sewing box that I found at a local junk store, but all the over sized ones are in my Ikea cubbies. I stitch by scanning them into my iPad, so I don't really need to have it on hand any time after that so they get stuck in various places. 

Which designer do you own the most patterns by? Probably Little House Needleworks or Lizzie Kate. I'm a smalls fan, and they both design tons of cute smalls. 

Which designer have you stitched the most patterns by? Hmm, I think it's a pretty close tie... between LHN  and L*K with maybe Lizzie Kate for the slight edge. Mostly ornaments. 

What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash? This is more difficult, I have many many magazines that I purchased at a book sale one time, so I guess, don't restrain yourself if everything is a quarter! 

When do you say enough is enough? When you have no room left? Or when you start buying the same pattern more than once? This is a personal decision. 

How do you whittle your stash down when it's gotten too large? Giveaways! There's probably someone who would also love what you love! 

Do you have a current favorite in your stash? Let’s see it! My current favorite is probably Plum Pudding by Glendon Place. I don't know why I didn't start it first (I'm currently working on Tiramisu), but it's my favorite at the moment.

Feel free to join us and post a link to your post below! 

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MMMM 2.2

Hi all! I'm back again for MMMM (Mega Mini Madness Month) hosted in November by Justine!

I was hoping to complete this little guy's buddy by today, but it looks like I wasn't quite there. I am really close though!

I'm bring him on vacation with me and also two patterns from Cross Stitcher magazine, I can't remember which issue right now, but it's these adorable little deer. I'm going to make two of them on this same light blue fabric!

I have a 14 hour flight (hopefully sleeping) and at least one 5 hour train ride, so I'm hoping to get Mr. Presents done and hopefully a lot of one of the deer. I also am bringing a Little House Needleworks design just in case. I scanned everything into my iPad, so it's not like, taking up room or anything!

I'm off to start packing! Hopefully I'll have another update for you next Wednesday with some travel pictures!

Anyone else travel with their stitching?

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MMMM 2.1 & a SAL

While Pull the Other Thread's MMMM might be over, the lovely Justine over at Justine's Cross Stitches decided to host in November. You have until November 5th (today!) to sign up! This one only requires 4 posts since the sign up deadline is a week into November already. I'm breaking away from the roman numerals and starting to number these posts instead.

I'm really hoping I'll manage to get 4 posts in this month, but honestly, I'm going on vacation for 2.5 weeks later this month and it might be a struggle. I do have a post or two lined up already, I'll just have to add some mini information and status updates to them! There will be a few train rides, so I'm thinking some stitching might be accomplished then.

My husband and I are going back to Japan and this time I'm looking up cross stitch stores. I don't know if anyone out there reading this knows of any stores, but if you do please feel free to let me know in the comments! I think I might have found one in Kobe, but I am not totally sure of their hours. Google translate can only help so much. I am for sure going to the fabric district of Tokyo, so I might find some cool stuff there.

I have finally started my holiday stitching! I'm 79% sure that none of my friends read my blog, so I am not really worried about posting pictures. :)

I started this little guy on Friday and he's been such a quick stitch! He's called "Festive Ted" and he's from the November 2013 Cross Stitch Collection magazine. It's amazing the difference back stitching makes!

The lack of light this time of year is really effecting my pictures unfortunately. My husband did buy me a light box, so I'm going to bust that out soon. The background is actually a lovely pale blue Monika linen I had in my stash. The bear's colors are from Victorian Motto. I think they were... shades of pumpkin maybe and a mix of DMC. I love love love Nacy's threads. They are really a pleasure to work with and I find that they don't tangle as much. Maybe because I don't keep them on bobbins, but in Floss A-Way bags instead.

He's got 3 buddies (Presents, Stars, & Mistletoe) but I think candy cane was the best. He is meant to go in a card, but I thought he would be just as cute as an ornament. I wish all of my projects where this quick!!! I think I'm going to make a buddy of his too since he turned out so well.I still have to add the year and my friends' baby's name, but it's done for now! 

I'm also getting around to stitching my swap gift up with the beads. I really don't think I'll ever do this again, my needle isn't small enough and picking up each silly beads is super annoying. I need one of those tacky bobs or something:

I have three more patterns picked out for some other people. I am hoping to start working on one of those tonight! I'm hoping to get these four finished by December so I can concentrate on one for my parents and then have a finishing day and crank them all out at once. Fingers crossed! At least I have already finished 7 of them this year so no one will be missing out on a present or anything. :D

Speaking of quick projects, or in this case, not quick for me projects, Neilteil (Stitched Up!) and I are going to jointly host a Glendon Place Amazing Desserts Stitch Along for 2015. You can find all of Glendon Place's "Amazing Desserts" Series here (scroll to the bottom). If you are interested, check out my link in the sidebar: Glendon Place SAL for more details and to sign up! There will be a fabulous prize at the end! The sign up deadline is January 1st. With your first post due by January 15th (but you don't even have to start stitching until April!) Hopefully there will be enough interest in this. If not, Neilteil and I will be doing our own!

I already have the Plum Pudding pattern so I'm asking for the floss, fabric, and beads for Christmas! I've clearly already started the Tiramisu pattern, but I think that would be an unfair advantage, so only new starts are allowed for the SAL (to be eligible for prizes).

Update: Nacy is having a 25 Days of Christmas giveaway, go and enter here! Her fabrics & threads are AMAZING. :)

Who else has signed up for another Mega Mini Madness Month? Who is interested in the Glendon Place SAL?

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MMMM V

Sorry it's later than normal, but here's my last posting for the Mega Mini Month of Madness Smalls edition! The month has gone by quick quickly per usual. My birthday was yesterday so all month long I've been getting little presents from various people.

My MIL gave me money (best gift ever) so I went out and purchased some Drawn Thread kits! I got Full Moon & Haunting Halloween.

You can purchase them both here: Halloween Shop. I purchased the full kit for Full Moon, but thanks to my husband's gift card to 123stitch, I purchased the Haunting Halloween pattern over on there. Both of these patterns came with their own pieces of fabric which is super great as well (though I'm sure I could have found something in my stash).

I also got the kit (minus the pattern, bought that on 123stitch as well) for The Holly and the Ivy. I think my parents will love it. But who knows, maybe I'll want to keep it for myself? I love these kits because you get everything for less. Those silks by the skein are pretty pricey, so I think it's totally worth it to just buy the kit in this situation.

I've really have to start my ornament stitching. I have 4 "babies" whom I want to stitch for. I did already pick out which patterns for each kid, so that's a start right?!

I have almost finished the back of my swap ornament. I swear, the second you put a deadline on something, it gets regulated to the bottom of the list. I just don't want to work on it anymore... I will get it done though. I seriously only have to add the year to the back... then stitch it up!

I did pull out my Glendon Place Tiramisu again:

I really do love stitching this. Those Dinky Dyes are awesome. I'm just slow... because I have like 8 million other projects!

For those of you who are also doing MMMM how many designs did you finish? I got 3 done, 2 from the start and 1 half way done at the beginning of the month.

Until next time,
Brenda

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MMMM IV

I'm thinking that this is going to be a short post, but I can ramble when needed.

I worked on an Ink Circles design for my mini of the month. I can't show the awesome progress though because it's for a swap. I did finish the front! I just designed the back (it's really just words) so I'll stitch that up and finish it (with beads) so I can mail it out before I head on vacation in November!

Since I can't show you pictures of my mini progress, I thought I'd show my oldest UFO and the first pattern I ever bought. They are one in the same:

Can you guess what it is?

For those of you Teresa Wentzler fans, you'll know. It's the Spring Carousel Horse. I begged my mom to buy it for me back when I was about 8 before I had even ever cross stitched. I only tried to attempt it a few years back when I was in college. As you can tell it's on Aida. This was before I knew about linen. With the number of fractional stitches in all of TW's patterns, you will know what a terrible idea Aida was. This is it's unfinished state for about 10 years. I really want to do it... on linen. Eventually. After I *cough* finish my other big projects.

My first project ever was a little tiny peach unicorn which I did finish, but have since lost. My X's were going every which way. But I did finish it!

Here's the oldest finished piece that I've kept. When I was younger the majority of my stitching was given away as gifts, but for some reason this one never did. The back looks terrible, but it's the front that counts right?!

It's a checkbook cover from some magazine I had hanging around. I still think it's cute and I might try to wash it at some point. It's nice to look back and see how far I've come in my stitching. As well as seeing all the awesome pattern options out there now!

I finally received my Picture This Plus order from their Christmas in July sale:

From left to right: Heather; Mirage; Crystal Haunted; Crystal Echo. I must say that I'm rather disappointed in my choices. I know the monitor looks much different, but I'm really not pleased with the regular (non-crystal) fabric's I got (I do like the two crystal's though). I'm thinking it might go in a give away of mine come December/January (so stay tuned for that!) They are all 32 count Lugana. They were realllly difficult to photograph as well, so they only kinda look like the pictures. I was really hoping that the Mirage's "gray and purple" was going to be more... gray and purple. Oh well! I might still be able to find something to put on them.

I got my FOTM from Stephanie's Fabby's but of course I forgot to take a picture. I'll try to remember for next post. It's a lovely purple color!!

And before I forget, hop on over to Nacy's blog (Victorian Motto Sampler Threads) for 3 chances at a give away from her thread collection!  Here's her 1840 Collection and her 1795 Collection!

I think that's all folks! Tell me about your first project in the comments! Did you finish yours? What was it?

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MMMM III

Mega Mini Month Madness post 3! Mmmm makes it sound like I'm hungry or something! As a reminder this is hosted by Pull the Other Thread check out all the other cool participants too (there's 22 of us total)!

I have two finishes! I'm sure you all are just as excited about this as I am. :D I finished all the stitching on these two pumpkin designs. I think I'm about done with Halloween/Autumn stitching for now. I really need to get caught up of my swap ornament and then ornaments for family/friends for Christmas presents.

Here's the first that I showed progress on last week:

 

Heart in Hand - Pumpkins

The bottom pumpkin looks crooked, but he's really not! When I iron him again I'll stretch him right out.

Heart in Hand - Pumpkins

I mailed this little cute patterns out to a fellow Instagram follower who really liked it. I'm looking forward to seeing her stitch it up! It was a quick little pattern. My favorite kind!! And the little Just Another Button Company raven is an adorable touch!

I also started and finished a little Lizzie Kate design:

Lizzie Kate - Tingles F-143 - Jack O Lantern

Per usual I changed the colors to match what I had on hand.

Lizzie Kate - Tingles F-143 - Jack O Lantern

After taking these pictures, I realized I forgot to add the green button that the pattern came with! Off to do that and hopefully finish these into tiny wall hangings tonight! 

What is everyone else up too? Starting on Christmas yet?

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October Mini Mega Madness II

If you recall I joined a challenge for October, Mini's! While I haven't gotten much stitching done, it was on a mini! Go check everyone out on Pull the Other Thread's blog.

Here she is:

Wee One - Pumpkins - Heart in Hand

Wee One - Pumpkins - Heart in Hand

I am using the recommended threads, but it's turning out a lot darker than the model picture. I did wonder that when I was looking at the threads when they arrived in the mail. I'm not upset, just surprised. I like it. I think it will get made into a mini pillow as well when I am finished. I'm hoping to finish it up by next week.

I haven't been able to do much stitching lately because my left hand has been hurting. I think it's a combination of typing at work all day and holding a hoop. I am really considering buying a Lowery stand. Or a Needlework System 4. Or a Needle Needs frame. I think I'm leaning towards the Lowery because of the three it takes up the least amount of space. Do any of you readers use any of these? I did order some crafting compression gloves as well so I am going to try that first. Much cheaper at only $12. Fingers crossed it will solve the problem.

I did manage to stuff my Lizzie Kate finish that I showed last week:

It still needs a good pressing to get out the lumps. Next time I have the iron on I'll do that as well.

I posed it with my very own blown glass pumpkin! My husband and I took a 2 hour glass blowing glass back in 2012 and we each made 2 pumpkins (this one is actually my husbands'). I love taking them out every year and thinking about how much fun we had. My husband actually bought us a glass blown Christmas ornament making class for my birthday (which is later this month)! I can't wait to go, but I'll be waiting until December when it's offered.

While out at TJMax I found this little guy and I had to have him. I haven't found a place to keep him yet, but he is so cute!

That's all for now, hope everyone is doing well! How is everyone else coming along with their Mini stitching?!

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Halloween Madness

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful October 1st. The Halloween season is fast approaching (though I've had my Halloween decor up for a few weeks now) I did reach my goal of finishing Happy Halloween before today!

Happy Halloween - Silver Creek Samplers - JSC Halloween 2013

I finished all the stitching! I also "signed it" after I took this picture (in the bottom right corner, DNA 2014 in the same color as the N). Now I have to decide how to finish it. I was originally thinking a flat fold like the one further down in this post, but I don't know if I could do it justice. Then I was thinking about framing it, but it's 6 x 7 inches. So while I could put it in an 8 x 10 frame, I would want a mat too and I don't think that's enough room. Dilemma! Let me know what you would do in the comments!

My super awesome friend (Kathleen, no blog) came over last night for a crafty night! She is working on a baby blanket that she is crocheting and then doing cross stitch on! It's actually super cool and I had never thought about doing that! We might make this a weekly or bi-weekly thing! Which would be super cool.  We would both be motivating each other.

I was able to get a lot done on my finishing. Keep in mind that both of these are only partially finished. The Jolly Jack needs cording around the edges to make it look neater (I'm thinking of making some in orange colors) and the pillow needs stuffing. 

Jolly Jack

Lizzie Kate - Flip It Halloween

I'm not totally pleased with the A frame flat fold, but for my first time I think it was pretty good. And I had to sew the ric-rak on by hand for the pillow and I think it turned out super well! Once I have both totally finished I'll probably share them again. They are both so cute. I'm so excited to actually finish-finish things! I don't have a big drawer filled with unfinished but totally stitched things. I do have a drawer with unfinished cross stitching though. Everyone does. Right?!

I also bought some more Weeks Dye Works thread for some additional small patterns in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2013 magazine. And a pattern just fell into my cart. I have no idea how that happened! The pattern called for some Just Another Button Company buttons so I bought two in case I decided to make it twice, once for myself and once for my MIL. We'll see.

123stitch.com order

Oh for my Ocober Mini Madness I think I'm going to work on those various Halloween pattersns I mentioned earlier. :) I don't know if my finishing of that Lizzie Kate counted, but yeah, I'm ready!!!

How are you coming along with your Halloween stitching (if you do any)? And what are you thoughts on finishing my Happy Halloween? Let me know in the comments!

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