California-bound

Hi everyone! I am going to be out of pocket for the next week. I am going to a conference in San Diego. I was really excited about it earlier this year, but now I just want to stay home with my boys. They completed the school year today and I am leaving tomorrow. Of course, since they are spending the week at the grandparents, they are really excited. I will miss reading everyone's post. Enjoy the week.

O, Starry Night is completed at last!!!

Finally!! I finished this project. I started this at the beginning of the year and have slowly completed it. I think it looks beautiful. The fabric is Forest Haven from Silkweaver. I really like the sparkle in the fabric and the sparkle in the pattern. One more Santa completed, so many more to go.

French Country Cat

I purchased the chart for the French Country Cat Thursday at Shakespeare's Peddler. I love the look of these pieces and was excited to find the cat. So, Friday, I stitched it up really quickly on an piece of Silkweaver fabric using GAST Purple Iris. Becky has been such an inspiration to me for trying different finishing techniques, so I decided to finish it as needlebook. I picked out several different fabrics, but finally decided on a very simple pattern similar to the color of the linen. I am keeping this one for myself. It matches my craft room.

As for my WIPs, I am almost finished with OSN, should have that one done Monday. The Mill Hill Gingerbread Village is going to have to wait a bit. I ran out of some beads and had to ask Theresa at Shakespeare's Peddler to order some for me. I should have those next week.

Well, off to work on some stitching...

So close to finishing...

I have worked very hard on two of my oldest WIPs this week. I have all but the backstitching on O, Starry Night. Santa looks so nice! I will be very happy to finish this one soon.




Now, the Mill Hill Gingerbread Village is not quite finished. I was really struggling with this one for a while. It seemed I would stitch for an hour and accomplish nothing. I decided to just work on the snow for one evening and get as much done as possible. What a difference. Once I finished the majority of the snow, the next house (Toy Store) stitched up pretty quickly. I still have a bit more to work on to complete the Toy Store, but it is so close. I hope to have these two completed by the end of next week.

I have the next 6 weeks off!! This is the first time I have had summer vacation since I was in high school. My new teaching position allows me to take off during the summer if I want. I will be teaching in July, two classes, but that is 6 weeks away. I am so excited. I plan to accomplish a lot. I do have 4 chapters to revise for our textbook, but I can still spend some free time stitching and scrapbooking.

Thanks to all of you wonderful stitchers out there sharing your ideas on blogs. I have so many more projects I want to do now.

What Happens at Grandma's...

I have finished a piece finally. I feel like I haven't been very productive in my crafting lately. My textbook writing has been taking alot of my time. But I was able to complete a really cute piece for my mother for Mother's Day. This is so appropriate for her. My boys love to visit Grandma's because they can eat anything they want.


I have also worked a bit on the projects in my rotation. I am so very close to finishing O Starry Night. Just a bit more work and he is done.



I have also worked on Gingerbread Village. This one seems to be taking so long. The beading is what is slowing me down. I have just a little bit left on the middle house and then one more house to go. It is going to be so pretty when I am finished though. I can't wait to display at Christmas this year.

And finally, I have started a square for Cole's Quilts. I am stitching for a very young little boy. I decided on this really cute Pooh pattern. Instead of using it as a clock face, I will just omit the numbers and complete it as a square for the quilt. I am really excited about this one.

My prize package came in...

My package from Silkweaver came in yesterday. I am so happy!! Lots of beautiful fabrics. Each one is 13 X 18 piece of 28 ct. Cashel Linen. I have to decide what to do with each one, but I have plenty of time for that. I also received my FOTM club fabric from Silkweaver (not pictured) the same day. I really enjoy this club. Each month I receive a beautiful selection of fabrics. I have always selected the Surprise me package and have never been disappointed.

I had planned to post my WIPs earlier this week but haven't had the chance. Here is the progress on the only one I have been able to stitch on. This is Leisure Arts O, Starry Night. I am more than half way with this one. I hope to have him finished in the next week or two. I have also decided to skip the Cat Welcome for a couple of weeks. I really do not enjoy working on it, so I'm going to ignore it on purpose.

Finally, I have decided to volunteer to stitch a square for a Cole's quilt. I read about this on the 123 stitch message board and spent one evening reading about the project and crying alot. I am so blessed with two healthy boys and two healthy nephews. It breaks my heart that these families have to suffer such a heartbreak. I have taught genetics at the university for years and one of the things I stress to my students is the heartbreak of knowing why someone is ill but not having the ability to fix it. I want to do something for these families and would love to help, so I sent a message to the moderator of the project asking for the chance to stitch a square for one of the children. It's such a little thing, but I hope it will make someone feel happy.

Goals for April

I am having a bit of trouble clearing out my rotation, so I have decided to try Leslie's approach and set goals for the month. Hopefully, this will help me work a little harder. Of course, we have just ramped up the work on the textbook, so that is taking away some of my stitching time. Here are my goals for April:

1. Finish O, Starry Night
2. Finish Cat Welcome (I am really struggling with this one.)
3. Stitch on MH Gingerbread Village
4. Stitch on PV Sweet Violets
5. Stitch two of the Erica Michaels Letters
6. Complete my section of the RR pieces
7. Start Tucker's pillow
8. Start TW pieces for Patrick and Nicholas (my boys).

That is not an extremely long list, but it is quite ambitious for me. Let's see how well I do on this first month.

Thanks for the comments on my nephew and his pillow. He is a cutie! I am starting a new piece for my other nephew. I found one of the dinosaurs from the same designer and will make it into a pillow for Tucker.

Also, while shopping at Hobby Lobby I found two TW kits of a dragon and castle. These are perfect for my two boys. I am going to start these this month. Both Patrick and Nicholas are excited about these projects.

I'll try to post update pictures of my current WIPs tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

He loved his Boris Bat pillow!

Well, I finished the pillow today and delivered it to my 3 year old nephew. He really liked it. "Thank you Aunt Jen. I needed a pillow." What a sweet little boy! I was very happy with the fabric and how it turned out. Thanks to all of you for inspiring me to try new techniques for finishing my stitching projects.

Boris Bat is complete!

Just finished this project. I stitched this cute little piece for my three year old nephew. I am going to finish it as a pillow. I bought the fabric today and think it is perfect. When I return from my vacation at the end of the week I will complete the pillow. We are going away for a few days so I won't have a chance to stitch much.

Shepherd's Bush Red Snowman

Another finish for 2007. This was a pretty quick stitch. I usually don't like the Shepherd's Bush projects that much, but I just loved this one when I saw it at Shakespeare's Peddler. The photo actually looks very good. I'm not sure what I am going to do with this one, probably frame it. Now to decide on the next project. I decided to do the 10 project challenge, so I need to finish about 8 more projects before I can do any shopping for myself. I need to choose some really quick projects.

My First Try at the No Sew Cube

I found the instructions to the No Sew Cube online and decided to try it out. I finished this Bent Creek pattern yesterday and thought it would be great for this particular type of finish. I went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon and bought some jelly bean fabric and pretty ribbon. I was very, very easy. I think it is going to be a great addition to my Easter decorations this year.

Bent Creek Hip Hop

Okay, I have finished my first piece for the 10 project challenge. Just 9 more to go. This was a really easy piece and it was so much fun to stitch. I used a piece of really pretty fabric from Silkweaver (28 ct. Solo Lugana). I also used the GAST threads called for in the pattern. Very nice. I plan to finish this piece as one of the decorative blocks I have seen on several other stitchers' blogs.

10 Project Challenge

Okay! I am joining the insanity of the Stash Reduction Challenge. Of course, I'm a lightweight and am only commiting to the 10 Project Challenge. Even though I have completed 3 projects this year, I am starting fresh with this challenge. I will not purchase new projects, fabric, floss until I have completed 10 projects that I already have.

I won First Prize with the Halloween Fairy!!!!

I entered my completed Mirabilia Halloween Fairy in the Silkweaver Showcase competition and won 1st place!! I am so excited. There were lots of entries, including one from my sister Sharon. I can't believe I actually won. The prize is wonderful, 20 pieces of hand-dyed fabric. I am having such a hard time choosing, Silkweaver fabric is so wonderful and she has so many beautiful colors from which to choose.

EduCATed from Bent Creek

My first finish for 2007 and isn't it cute. I love cats, most of the time, so I really think this one is nice. It was a very fast stitch, bought it last weekend. I plan to stitch it two more time, once for my Ph.D. advisor and once again for a friend of my sister. The first will be framed and hung in my office.

Well, it's not a stitching project, but it is completed. My crafting buddies and I (we call ourselves the "Collective Brain") decided to try our hand at making these decorative words for next Christmas. Yesterday, we started we foam core and lots of paper and glue. By the end of the night, each of us had completed our project. I am a Santa collector so I chose to do "Ho Ho Ho." It is really cute, but not as cute as my sister's. She's a snowman collector and she did the word "Snow". It is wonderful.

Last year I completed 23 stitching projects. I plan to do as well if not better this year. I have my WIPs posted on my other blog, but hope to have some completed projects posted soon.

Erica Michaels Alphabet Samplers A & B

I finally stitched some of the ABC samplers from Erica Michaels. I love these patterns. I especially love the idea of completing all of them as a book. I am very excited about completing the entire collection. I stitched the first two this week. I plan to complete the rest over the next few months. Also, I changed the threads quite a bit. I am using different threads for each, letting the creative juices flow. So far, I like the effect.

Father Winter Ornament

Isn't this beautiful?! I wanted to stitch something on this particular fabric from Silkweaver. Teresa Wentzler's Father Winter Ornament is a pretty and quick stitch, but the colors didn't match the fabric. Sharon convinced me to change the colors to match the fabric. I think we did a great job selecting the colors. Now I need to finish it as an ornament.

Mirabilia Christmas Elf Fairy is complete

I completed the Christmas Elf Fairy tonight. It is beautiful. I stitched it on a piece of hand-dyed fabric I received from Silkweaver in one of my Fabric of the Month Club shipments. Love that fabric.

Mill Hill We Believe in Santa Bell Pull

What a fast stitch. I started this project Saturday and finished today. I still need to buy the bell pull and put the finishing touches on the project, but the stitching is completed. I really love the Santa's. The beards are so pretty.