June & 1st week of July update

I finished Hitchhiking Ghosts by tinyneedle on Etsy.  Here's Phineas, Ezra & Gus from the Haunted Mansion at Disney World.  I mailed them off to my uncle and he absolutely loves them.

I've stitched up June & July on Postcards from the World by Cloudsfactory, as well as finished the frames: 

I've completed a slew of more Star Wars characters that will be fully finished into ornaments for my brother's SW xmas tree.  The ones on perforated paper will be cut out and mounted individually.

Grand Moff Tarkin & Chewbacca

Han Solo, Leia & Luke Skywalker from A New Hope 

 Yoda & Lando Calrissian

A stormtropper, Admiral Ackbar, & Wedge Antilles

 C-3PO & R2-D2, and BB-8

Rey added with BB-8, Finn & Poe (labeled to distinguish him from Wedge)

Wicket the Ewok & Greedo

For the Whine & WIPs SAL on Stitch Maynia, I pulled out this UFO.  Deep Sea Fish kit by Dimensions...here's the starting point.  

And here's how much I got done in 5 days...everything above the pink & yellow fish.

I also worked on Camelot Sampler and finished the castle medallion and work a bit more on the border.

I also was out of town for a week in June and I worked on 2 Glendon Place pieces: Red Velvet Cake & Cruisin'.  Here's their progress pics:

Here's the FFO of the dragon I stitched in May...put into a card for my cousin's daughter's birth.

An updated pic of Ginger Friends, that I've worked on a bit here & there as it's easy to grab.

And finally, I have started the Lakeside Fantasy SAL by Durene Jones.  I've been working on the circle frames of the border.  The first character comes out 1 Aug.

Maynia is almost over (update)

I've thoroughly enjoyed all the variety of Maynia!  Here's what I've worked on since 9 May.

10-11 May: New start or Ginger Friends, a Mill Hill kit.  I continued to work on this on the 11th because my daughter wanted me to.

12 May: I started this cute dragon to make into a birth card for my cousin's soon-to-be daughter that's due in June.  This is from the Ultimate Cross Stitch Fantasy book.

13 May: I continued to work on the dragon a bit more and got this far: 

But then I started a new piece: Cruisin' by Glendon Place:

14-17 May:  I finished the dragon:

And then worked on a WIP for 3 days: Red Velvet Cake by Glendon Place:

18 May: I started Fall Wreath from the JCS Oct 2011 (non-Halloween) issue.  I just love these colors!

19 May: I finished Skating Penguins.  I will make this into a Xmas card or ornament for a friend.

20-22 May: I worked on a WIP: A Victorian Christmas Eve by Sandy Littlejohn & Deborah Lester.  I'm on page 3 of 6.  The pic on left is my starting point and on right is my progress after 3 days with a small pic of the finished model.

23 May: I started & finished Emperor Palpatine by weelittlestitches for my brother's Star Wars xmas tree

24 May: I started my first HAED!  This is QS Ruby.  I'm stitching her 1x1 full cross on 25ct lugana. It was a busy day with the kids so I didn't get much done.

25 May: I started & finished Darth Vader by weelittlestitches 

26 May: I worked 1 day on a WIP - Camelot Sampler by Teresa Wentzler, to get my 3 days for the month working on it but I didn't take a picture because most of the time was spent making floss cards for all the blended symbols.

27 May: I stitched a bit more on Ginger Friends - no picture.

28 May: I worked more on QS Ruby and got a lot done since it's only 2 colors in the top left corner:

29 May: I started Hitchhiking Ghosts by tinyneedle on Etsy.  This will be for my uncle who loves The Haunted Mansion ride at Disney World.  

And today, I'm working more on the Ghosts and will see if I can finish it this month.  Almost time for Whine & WIPs!  I plan on working on Camelot Sampler, A Victorian Christmas Eve, Tropical Fish (a UFO) and Haberdashery (needlepoint) but we'll see how my plans play out.  I will be out of town for a week in June so I might take something else to work on for that.

Stitch Maynia update (Days 1-9)

As planned, I've done a variety of new starts and WIPs so far this month.  Here's my progress with pictures!

Days 1-2:  I worked on Camelot Sampler by Teresa Wentzler.  This was a restart in 2014.  I decided to try gridding because there's so much confetti and it helped.  I worked on the Camelot medallion and a bit on the border.

Day 3: I stitched up 3 of the frames and 4 of the baubles on Postcards from the World.  No picture of this one...lost it.

Day 4 (Star Wars Day): I started and finished Boba Fett from weelittlestitches' Star Wars Enemies on Etsy.  This is just the first of many as I'm going to make each character into an ornament for a Star Wars xmas tree for my brother.

Day 5:  I started and finished Chicks by Lizzie Kate.  The fabric is a nice lavender color.

Day 6 & 7:  I completed New Delhi in my Postcards from the World.  I left off 1 bird to put in the postmark.

 And here's an overall picture of the piece.  You can see the other 2 frames that I stitched on day 3.

Day 8: I started and finished Fall Squared by Lizzie Kate.  I changed some of the DMC colors. Not too happy with my pumpkins though.  This will be a teacher gift.

Day 9: I started Skating Penguins for a xmas card for a penguin-crazy friend.  This is from I love Cross Stitch's Fast Christmas Cards booklet.

And here's a bonus...when I was going through all my patterns before Stitch Maynia, I found this FO among the leaflets I got from my mom.  She stitched this many many years ago because she liked it...now to find someone who is expecting a little boy!

Stitching Update & Stitch Maynia Plans

So, my life is more than busy caring for a 9 month old and 3.5 year old, but I discovered FlossTube videos and heard about Stitch Maynia and well, there's nothing like hearing about everyone else's wonderful stitching plans to make your stitchy bug go into overdrive.

So, I created a plan for my Stitch Maynia...there's absolutely no guarantees that I'll get to everything but as a minimum, I'll work on my WIPs and new start for Star Wars Day.  Anything else I get to is icing on the cake, especially knowing my husband will be away for a week so it'll just be the girls and I at home.  All the patterns, fabric & floss comes from my stash.  I don't have a huge fabric stash but I'm fortunate to have at least one skein of each DMC color.  I threw all of this together today so I've pulled the fabric and cut it to size.  I still need to zigzag stitch the edges and probably won't pull floss colors until the day I start each piece.

First, my WIPs:

1. Red Velvet Cake - Glendon Place:  I've done 1 week's worth of stitching on this so far.  Here's a pic of the pattern and where I'm at so far.  I stole the idea to use a brown fabric from someone else on the GP Facebook group.
                             
 

2. Camelot Sampler - Teresa Wentzler:  This is one I had to restart because I completely screwed up the over 1 parts...I don't know how I thought I could do 2 over 1 on 28 ct.  I haven't touched this piece for over a year but I love it and it needs some attention.  I just don't have motivation to re-stitch parts that I've already done.  Here's a pic of the pattern and where I'm at:

                                   

3. A Victorian Christmas Eve - Sandy Littlejohn / Deb Lester:  I've been working on this one on & off since Aug 2013 (more off than on) and I'm currently on page 3 of 6.  I'm not taking this one off the Q-snap for a whole picture so you just have to imagine it...or go back to my previous blog posts in 2014 to see the first 2 pages.  Here's a picture of the pattern and my progress on page 3:

4.  Postcards of the World SAL - Cloudsfactory:  Just love this SAL and I'm THIS CLOSE to finishing Moscow (April pattern).  I will finish it tonight before the May postcard is released.  So no pic yet but I'll add one later.

NEW STARTS:

5.  Boba Fett - WeeLittleStitches on Etsy.  She's the creator of the original pixel people.  Several years ago I stitched Darth Vader into a bookmark.  No picture of this pattern but here's a link.  And she's in the process of creating new patterns for The Force Awakens characters

                                                      Weelittlestitches' Star Wars Enemies

6. Dragon Card - Durene Jones from Ultimate Cross Stitch Fantasy book.  This will be for a family member.

7. Fall Wreath - Angela Pullen from Just Cross Stitch Oct 2014 (not the Halloween issue).  I have adored this piece since I first saw it so it's time to start stitching it!  Fall is my favorite season...love the colors.

8.  Snow White - Little House Needleworks: A cute, simple little pattern I had on hand in thoughts of making ornaments as thank-you gifts for teachers.

9. Witches - Oberlin Samplers:  I got this pattern for free from someone de-stashing.  I've stitched one other piece from Oberlin and it's the first time I used a handwritten chart.  The chart has all handwritten symbols and backstitching lines.  I'll be using some extra Picture This Plus fabric in Eek! color that I had left from another piece.

10. Fall Squared - Lizzie Kate:  Another simple ornament piece to keep for myself or give as a thank you gift.

11. Chicks - Lizzie Kate:  This one comes with a soft purple fabric to stitch on so I'll have to change at least one color of floss. This will probably be made into a flat ornament or flatfold display.

12. Skating Penguins - Fast Christmas Cards book (JoAnn's Fabric).  This will be for an xmas card for a friend who loves penguins.

 

 









13. Cruisin' - Glendon Place:  I've had this one all kitted up with fabric and beads for a couple months.  I love her Halloween designs.

14. Ginger Friends - Mill Hill Buttons & Beads kit

15. Little House Christmas Kit - freebie that came in CrossStitcher issue 297.  I plan on making the house on the right.

Whew, it's been awhile!

It's been a long time since I updated this but that's what happens when you are pregnant and then have a baby AND a toddler to take care of.  So there was quite awhile when I didn't stitch at all but here's what I've been working on for the past month and a half.

First thing I did once I started stitching again was finish Cliffside Beacon for my friend.  This is a Dimensions Petite Gold kit.

 Next I finished Mrs. Claus' Merry Outfits by Shannon Wasilieff (Shannon Christine Designs).  I'll make this into a flat-fold display later.

Then I started Red Velvet Cake by Glendon Place.  Here's my Week 1 progress pic.

 Next I started the Postcards of the World stitch-a-long by Cloudsfactory.  I chose a hand-dyed light blue fabric.  Venice was Jan, London was March...missing the picture of Paris for Feb.

Christmas stitching

I've been working on some Christmas stitching.  First, I finished the free Gingerbread Houses SAL by Shannon Wasilieff.  I got Shannon's permission to change the last house in the bottom right corner so it wouldn't look like the first house, so I combined it with a bigger gingerbread house chart from her Etsy store.

Then I stitched these 2 Lizzie*Kate pieces and made them into ornaments for family.

Next I stitched these 3 cute Margaret Sherry mice from a recent WOCS issue and sent them out as Xmas cards.

And now I'm working on another Shannon Wasilieff design called Mrs. Claus' Merry Dresses. I'll wait to add the beads and french knots until all 3 dresses and border is done.