Pretty Little Italy Finish!

I was able to finish Pretty Little Italy early Saturday morning!

It was stitched on Tarnished Silver from Under the Sea Fabrics with the called for DMC Floss. It was a relatively easy stitch.

I started a Halloween stitch for my next project called Patterned Pumpkin from Cross Eyed Cricket. It seems to be going well also. It will be my concentration for the next few weeks.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Yearly Goals Check-in and 2015 decisions

As we get close to the end of 2014, I wanted to check-in on my goals for the year. I set them last in December of 2013 and I added my status on them in purple below:

1.) Adhere to stitch from my stash SAL.  - COMPLETE. I adhered to the rules of the SAL and feel like I made some changes to my spending habits. I also promised myself that I would save my money for a new sewing machine and was able to purchase that they day after Christmas I got a PFAFF quilt expression 4.2 and I love it. I am sure there will be pictures of it forthcoming.
  
2.) Complete "The Lady and the Flag", the ABCs of family, 2 other mandalas, and my adaptation of the Dreamcatcher lap blanket.

• The Lady and the Flag - COMPLETE
• the ABC's of Family - no progress
• 2 other seasonal Mandalas - COMPLETE
• Dreamcatcher - COMPLETE

I think if I hadn't picked up quilting as another hobby seriously, I would have completed the ABC's of Family but overall..I think I made a Huge dent in the projects I wanted to get finished.
3.) Complete ornaments for the whole family (7). - COMPLETE. I actually finished 8 of them this year. 
4.) start 2 bigger projects: Noah's submarine and Brigid's shamrock. - No Progress - I kitted the projects up but did not start them - again I blame too many hobbies. :)
5.) finish/finish the advent calendar. - COMPLETE - I totally forgot that I even put this one on here but I finished it right before the end of the year. 
6.) complete piecing together 2 quilt tops, 4 sets of placemats and coasters, and 1 Christmas table runner. 

• 2 Quilt Tops - Completed 3 actually, 2 of them were longarmed, and one of those was bound and given as a gift this Christmas to my grandmother.
• 4 sets of placemats and coasters - completed 3 placemats and 1 coasters
• 1 Christmas Table runner - completed 1 for christmas, and 2 for gifts.

7.) 3 knitted baby blankets: (1 already assigned) - COMPLETE
8.) learn to knit socks. - Not Complete

All in all, I think it was a productive year. I am hoping and planning on doing more in 2015. So here are my goals for this year:

2015 Goals:

Overall: 
1.) Stitch from my stash on all types of crafting
2.) Complete my craft room
3.) inventory patterns and kits 
4.) Work on something new (either a start or a WIP) on any crafting every day from Christmas to january 25th - (i had to adjust the days due to a work trip) - to honor Deborah Faris Bryant

Yarn: 
1.) Complete 4 baby blankets - 1 is spoken for and 3 more (boy, girl, and neutral) to have in reserve.
2.) Learn to knit socks
3.) knit a pair of socks for my hubby
4.) Complete 2 hats for friends
5.) Complete 4 ft on my brothers blanket
6.) Complete 18 dishrags ( I need to get my reserve of this type of yarn down)
7.) Complete hitchhiker and 2 more shawls/wraps

Stitching:
1.) Complete ABC's of Family
2.) Start Brigid's Shamrock and Noah's submarine
3.) Complete 12 ornaments
4.) Complete 4 other larger projects including the Santa from H*ll

Sewing/Quilting:
1.) Learn Free Motion Quilting
2.) Complete 3 quilt tops - (1 is already spoken for)
3.) Bind my first quilt
4.) Complete purple quilt for my aunt.

The list is daunting but I feel like I am up to the task.

Happy Stitching Everyone!

I-75 Yarn Crawl Follow-up

The I-75 yarn crawl is a Yarn store shop hop for stores all up and down Interstate 75 in Ohio and Northern Kentucky.  It took place August 5-9, 2014. For information, you can click on the following Link. There 17 stores that participated this year and I was able to make it to 10 of them. My DH drove me to 6 of them on Saturday alone. I am not sure that I could make it to all 17 of them without taking a day off of work which will not work for me. Each of the stores had a knit and crochet pattern and some had great deals. The overall crawl was great and I always said I wanted to make one of these shop hops on my bucket list.

I was very intrigued with a Trunk show for Interlacements Yarn at The Rabbit Hutch in Englewood, OH. My husband bought a few things for me that were on my Birthday list and I am patiently waiting for them until the end of October. The ladies at the hutch were so nice as well. They were very inviting to my husband who was there to support me :).

I also loved the feel of The Lion and Lamb Yarn Shop in Troy, Ohio. They are a relatively new shop and it was very smartly arranged.

Finally, I love the Wooly Bully Yarn Co. in Springboro. The ladies there are wonderful so I am excited to take a few classes there when I am not traveling for work so much.

I apologize the recap of the Yarn crawl was late. I have been on the go since the event happened and as a matter a fact I am in a hotel room traveling for work and forgot to bring any crafting with me. This is a travesty in my eyes. So...I am planning out gift giving and trying to find patterns for my niece's and nephew's Christmas ornaments this year.

I get home late on Tuesday so...Stitching will be on like gangbusters then.

Happy stitching!

WIPocalypse Prompts: June and July

As I was checking in for my WIPocalypse Check-in for this Month on Measi's Blog I realized I totally didn't answer the prompts.

June 2014: Have you even been to a retreat? Unfortunately I have not been to a retreat. This is something that is on my bucket list in the future. I am somewhat of a workaholic so that plays into not going as of yet. If anyone who reads this has suggestions of retreats to go on let me know. I am a huge fan of supporting small local stores so when I travel for work or pleasure I make sure to stop at any local stores around my locale.

July 2014: Do you start your Holiday stitching this early? If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year? My Baseline every year is something home-made for my grandmother and ornaments for my niece and Nephew. This year when I set my yearly goals, I set the goal of 7 ornaments - which covers all of the couple's in my family and the aforementioned niece and nephew. I would in theory like to finish a table runner for my aunt, something for my grandparents in law and then seed stitch wrap for my grandmother. It's hard for me to separate out my stitching, quilting, knitting, and crocheting when it comes to holiday gifts.

Happy stitching!

Long time no Blogging :( and some traveling stash addition!

It seems that as the weather has gotten better my life has gotten infinitely more busy! It has been 3 weeks (less 1 day) since I last blogged. Part of that has to do with a planned vacation to Gatlinburg, TN which was delightful. The other 3 unexpected trips for work not so much. I am going to split my updates into a few days until I get my self back on track.

My dear husband, parents, and myself went to TN for 5 days. I had never been there and it was beautiful. I loved being in the wilderness where our lodge was located. Weather wise it was very humid and warm so a storm would pop up now and then. Prior to our trip I did some research on the local arts and crafts scene which was plentiful. I had my trusty list of stores to shop at to see if some random stash addition was possible. In case those of you reading are unaware, Gatlinburg has one of the largest arts and crafts communities in the 48 continuous United States. I was hoping they sold supplies as well as finished items. (I decided halfway through the trip that this month 5/28-6/28 will be my free month on Stitch from my stash).

My first stop was Smokey Mountain Spinnery. We stopped there first thing as their hours were until 5 pm on Thursday and the store was close to our lodge. The ladies there were very helpful and I made sure to keep my purchases to something that I couldn't find in the LYS's near my home.

RSA - Smokey Mountain Spinnery

The 2 balls on the right are Saki Silk by Wisdom Yarn in Big Volcano and Hidden Lagoon. The one on the left is from a local yarn (fiber and spinner) in Knoxville, TN. The color way is "Johnny Jump Ups" and the company is called Tale Spun Yarns.

The second stop in the crafting part of the Journey was The Needlework Cottage. We stopped there on the way to Cades Cove. It had supplies for a variety of different needle crafts. I picked up the following:

I had been looking for some patriotic ones to eventually make into gifts. The last one of the United State was something my husband was adamant about me picking up. I have learned in our 7 years of marriage to not fight him when he picks something for me to work on. This was also a local chart which has distribution out of the Needlecraft Cottage.

As we made the drive back through downtown Gatlinburg, my mom saw a sign for a needlework store in the Mall area. We decided to stop there before dinner that night. The little store is called Crossthreads Needlework. They were a store just starting out but had a nice variety of patterns as well as a great selection of over dyed floss. I picked up a few patterns there too:

I always seem to pick up celtic patterns wherever I go. I have also been looking for the Lizzie and Kate ABC's for awhile.

I have decided that I am going to split this post up so it's not too picture heavy. I hope you all have had a wonderful few weeks! I look forward to catching up on all the progress. Happy Stitching everyone! 

Knitting and Local store find

Awhile back I went to a local yarn store and bought some skeins/hanks of yarn that until recently I had totally forgot about. As I have been working through my stash inventory project, I found the purchases and wanted to share them with you all!

I do have a plan for most of them:
Top skien - Green and blue variegated sock yarn which I am going to use to attempt my first pair of knit socks
3 balls on the left of a beautiful washable wool - Scarf for me (they are my favorite colors :))
6 smaller balls in the top right - Scarf for an aunt who loves that color pallet
3 skiens in the front - going to attempt a lacy scarf with one to see how it works...otherwise combine them into other projects

They were all purchased at Lambikin's Hideaway. It is one of the yarn shops taking part in the I-75 yarn crawl on August 8-10. I found a few more yarn stores around this time a few months ago and made a few purchases. As I find those items in my stash, I will share them on this blog.

I also completed another dishrag:

Knit Dishrag
Pattern design - Me
Craftways Cotton yarn

As for cross stitching and other projects:

Birth announcement : I am about 2 hours away from completing the cross stitch portion. I plan on taking a picture tonight and posting again here in a few days.

Baby Blanket: My sister-in-law chose a color palette for the new baby's room and I cast on the beginning of the blanket. I will post when I do the first color change in a few hours of work.

All in all, it was a productive week. Happy stitching everyone!

A goal for this Year!

So as I am sure that all readers of this blog have the same sickness...Random Stash Addition (I will call it RSA for short), I am running out of places to store things. As such, my goal for the year is to be net even on stash, ideally in the negative, but I am shooting for even. Also, when I say stash, I mean cross stitch, yarn AND fabric. All Stash :)

I am also doing this on a fiscal year cycle. My day job is all about fiscal years so it seemed fitting to do that here as well. In the next few posts, I will be working on an inventory of the stash (in between stitching of course). I may post a few pics of interesting finds and organization ideas while I am at it.

What is the reward for this? I am still trying to decide. I am thinking a new sewing machine...but I am open to ideas if anyone has some. 

Happy stitching!

Memorial Day weekend Update

This past weekend was Memorial Day in the US which meant an extra day to myself for projects. I put "The Lady and the Flag" back in the hoop after a break of a few weeks. Here was where I left off:

Progress as of Mid-march

I put a good bit of work into it in the last few days:

The edge of the stitching that is covered by the "hoop huggie" covers the lowest row of red on the flag for perspective. My hope for this upcoming weekend is to finish the more neutral colors of the dress and make some progress on the American Flag.

I also spent some time with my family this weekend which meant I made a few more dishrags: 1 crochet and 1 knit.

Knit

Crochet

I also made my first attempt at a quilt mug rug but no pics to show for now.

Happy Stitching!

IHSW, a new finish, and some Yarn projects too!

I finally got the photos from IHSW uploaded to my computer. I spent the majority of the day working on the Spring Mandala from Ink Circles, finishing the stitching completely. For a reminder, here is the last picture I took:

I had made some progress since this picture where I finished the Black outline. Below is the finished project just out of the Q-SNAP.

Spring Mandala
Ink Circles
2 over 1, 18ct. white Aida

I had tried stiching this on linen but the fabric floss combination was not working for me so I ended up on Aida.

The I also made a receiving blanket for my nephew and Machine sewed the backing on the finish below. I am planning on stuffing it to make a pin cushion.

Lizzie and Kate - Whatever!
36ct linen
2 over 2
backing scrap from my stash

Finally I had spent much of the previous week working on some knitting and crocheting of dish cloths! All that is left is weaving in the ends!

Various dishcloths - Lily's Sugar and Cream Yarn.

This weekend is a long weekend in the US so I have some Family time, my father's birthday and hopefully big stitching. I put the Lady and the Flag back in the hoop for awhile. :)

Happy Stitching!

IHSW, Late TUSAL, Crochet completes, etc.

I am going to begin this post with my TUSAL update 12 days late. Better late than never.

I figured that it had been so long since I updated that I would post this at the end of IHSW. If you look closely at my ORT's you will see the bottom layers are from Sidney the Penguin which was completed at the end of march. The next layers are from 'The Lady and the Flag". The progress of this one can be seen in the photos below:

The last progress pic that was posted

I made some more progress on here in the past week or so and worked sparingly on her during IHSW.

Progress - 4/22/2013

As you can see I added the some of the red and white of the flag and completed more of the dress. IHSW was also the time that my in-laws were in town so I wanted to try something new as well. (My mother in law is a crafter as well so this was expected)

Spring Mandala - Ink Circles designs - 2 over 1 18ct. white Aida

I have been chomping at the bit to start this set of Mandala's from Ink Circles.  I began this patter on Saturday on some 32 ct. linen and hated how it looked. I started on the 18ct. Aida and loved it. I cannot wait to see how it (and the other 3 seasons) come out.

I am also going to put some more dishcloths that I finished crocheting on my finishes page.

Happy stitching!