Category: needlepoint

crafting update

I haven’t been doing quite as much crafting as in the past, but I have been doing some! I am trying to stick to one project at a time these days, and I just finished one. :)

I’m sharing the pictures with you now because I have no idea when I’ll get around to ironing it, stretching it, and framing it. So here it is, the My Sweetiepie ABC’s Sampler by Alicia Paulson. It was a blast to stitch, and I can’t wait to see it hung up in the kids’ room. I don’t know what color frame to go with though. What would you choose? It’ll probably be on white walls.

So what’s next?

Well, I had so much fun participating in Ali Edwards’ Week in the Life last year that I pre-ordered her kit for this year and yesterday it came in the mail! This makes me so excited to do some papercrafting again, since I switched over to using the app for Project Life. Ali’s kits are amazing and inspiring (and you can still pre-order one here). I’ll be capturing my week with the community from August 17-23 and then hopefully it won’t take me months to create the album like last year. :)

In the meantime, I’ve started preparations for a quilt for Meredith! I’ve had this idea since the completion of my first quilt, and I bought the fabric quite awhile ago. The fabric was all bought at Joann’s which I know isn’t the best but it’s what I have and we are working on a budget here. I also have plenty of cream fabric, and my intention is to make a strip quilt that will not need any sort of math and will be forgiving. Inspiration here, here, here, and here.

If I fall in love with my sewing machine again, I think I would like to learn to refashion clothes or sew simple dresses and tops. That makes me kind of nervous, but everyone has to start somewhere right?

July 23, 2015
around here

The biggest news around here is that we adopted two kittens! Ziggy and River joined our family this week and we are pretty darn excited. Ziggy is the black one and is so named because his tail is crooked like a zig-zag. River’s full name is River Run so I’m assuming his former owners were Game of Thrones fans. They are both boys and are making us happy. More on this soon!

Around here Liam went through another two ear infections so we finally took him to the ENT. Currently his ears look pretty good and so far no serious damage has been done by his recurring infections, so we are going to do an antibiotic prophylaxis trial. He’ll get antibiotics daily for a month and if he gets an infection despite that, he’ll need tubes.

Around here I have my December album out so I can add to it little by little. I’ve also joined in on a stitchalong for the My Sweetiepie ABC sampler and am really enjoying getting back to cross stitch after a long break.

Around here Meredith is still sleeping in our bed even though we had two successful nights. Her tantrums are kind of bad at the moment so when we get them back under control we’ll try again. We are still really struggling with age 3 (understatement) and for all of you who keep telling me that it gets better at age 4…if I don’t see immediate improvement this July I’m coming for you. ;) Really though, I am holding onto that hope and counting the days, and hoping I don’t do permanent damage to her psyche in the meantime.

Around here I’ve been kept busy by doctor’s appointments, vet appointments, learning about kitten care, keeping my family fed, intense childcare, and frantically trying to make it through our book club book. I haven’t had much time to work on the blog lately (so posts might be totally random), am a bit behind on Project Life, and have hardly made any progress on my monthly goals.

This weekend I have a family reunion, my nephew’s birthday party, and book club. Around here life is a little too full, and I’m struggling to deal in some areas, so I’m evaluating my priorities and hoping to let some things go.

April 24, 2015
my finished handmade felt heirloom advent calendar

I finished this up last weekend after Thanksgiving, just in time! I may have an addiction to felt needlepoint. New favorite craft for sure. I call this an “heirloom” advent calendar because the materials are high quality and labored over by me with love so I am definitely forcing it on one of my kids when they grow up. :)

I want to give another shout out to my mother-in-law for getting this for me way back in the spring or summer (an early Christmas gift!) so that I actually had time to make it for this year. I love it so much. If you want one, you can find them here. It requires basic needlepoint, embroidery, and sewing skills. Advanced beginner, I’d say.

I wanted to show you the finished project with all the ornaments hung up, but they are actually stored in these cute little pockets like so.

Those numbers were embroidered using a chain stitch, which I had never done before but I love it.

If you are wondering how the ornaments are hung on the tree (I was) it’s with a stick pin. Then when they are being stored, you just tuck the pin inside (see right, below). I like this method because you can hang them anywhere and there is no ugly velcro to be seen.

I have been letting Meredith hang the ornaments (with supervision) and we try to do it in the morning if there is time. I call it the countdown to Christmas.

We also have a really cool advent book called The Story of Christmas. It has a bunch of little mini books that you read each day, but they are also ornaments so you can hang them on a tree (or somewhere else – we’ve been hanging them on a garland). Each little booklet tells part of the story of Christmas. We have been doing this one in the morning if there is time, or evening at dinner.

Finally, I have this advent calendar which was the first thing I ever sewed. My mom is using it for Meredith and she has tucked a small gift into each pocket.

Obviously I love advent calendars. How about you? Do you have one?

December 5, 2014
cross stitch #5 : autumn sampler

Well, I finished this autumn sampler from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery back when I was on maternity leave. My intention was to get it framed and then share it, but since it’s square I haven’t been able to find a cheap frame yet. (So far I can rarely bring myself to spend much on framing…I tend to repurpose thrift store finds.)

But since it’s autumn now and I worked so hard on it, I really wanted to display it! So this is my temporary fix for the season. And actually it’s hanging in our living room, but the walls there are green and don’t photograph well. So I moved it to our room for these pictures.

I had a lot of fun stitching this one. I want to note that the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery’s stuff is very cutesy (or “kawaii”) and that’s not really my style. I left the little faces off all the inanimate objects. The little people and animals are cute enough for me. :)

Which square is your favorite? I really like this little house; it reminds me of the house we lived in when my brothers were born, in Pennsylvania…

The falling leaves are pretty…

The cardinals remind me of my mom…

This little deer is adorable…

…but I think my favorite is the acorn. Acorns are symbolic to me, and have special meaning.

Thanks for letting me share! What are you working on these days?

October 28, 2014
liam’s stocking

Liam’s stocking is done!

This kit is called Snowman Games by Bucilla. None of their kits are particularly “simple” but this one seemed to be much easier and faster than the one I made for my niece last year. I know part of that is because I have some experience now, but I also chose this one partly because it had less intricate parts. So if you are a beginner and you want to try it out, I do recommend this one!

Next on my crafting plan is finishing the quilt I’ve been working on forever, and then I’m moving on to this advent calendar!

August 13, 2014