February 2022 Gifted Gorgeousness

Happy February everyone! My life is always on the go so it's once again bit a little since my last post 😆

I hope everyone has had a great start to the year and I can't believe February is basically done! With that being said,  it is time for Jo's February Gifted Gorgeousness Link-up and I'm able to participate this month!

First up is the one I am most proud of. My fully finished Magic Kingdom SAL that I gifted to my daughter for her 6th birthday! 

"Magic Kingdom SAL" - Cunning Cross Stitch FINISHED!

I cannot thank my Grandmother enough for helping me to finish this as a wall hanging! I absolutely love how it came out! My only request is to please ignore the wrinkles that my 2 year old personally added right before I hung it up.... I took the picture before I had fixed it and forgot to retake it 😝 This is hung above her bed next to a Disney Princess canvas piece that my Dad gave her for Christmas with a phrase that is so perfect for her.

Since I finished that piece, I started working again on the Olde World Map that is intended to be a gift for my Mom & Stepdad.

Currently:

July 2021:

As you can see, I made a decent amount of progress on it. I hadn't touched this one since July and picked it back up again last week. The only thing left in this quadrant now is to finish the one color left for the outside border. This is by far my oldest piece that I keep taking huge breaks on and the border is one of the main reasons why so hopefully I can fight through it.

My next GG entries are all mini block builds that I have finished. This first one was a gift for my birthday back in September. I had finished it back then but apparently forgot to post about it. It is a space shuttle launch site that was made up of 510 pieces. This had a couple significant meanings behind it. 1) we live about 30-45 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center and one of my favorite dates with my husband from before we were married was to go see a shuttle launch there and 2) when my daughter was in the hospital, one of the ways we motivated her to push through all the tests and therapies was by taking her for strolls in her wheelchair to areas of the hospital with good views for a few of the Space X launches from the Space Center. To this day, she still gets very excited for every launch and we have an amazing view of them from our house so always run out to watch them. 

"Space Center" - Nanoblock FINISHED!

The next building set was a gift from my Dad for Christmas. He knows I love dragons so he found me a 600 piece set. I finished this one in January.

"Animal Deluxe - Dragon" - Nanoblock FINISHED!

Next, I have been working had to be healthier overall and walk more and there's an app/program tied to my health insurance that gives you points for doing various healthy habits. I earned enough points to claim a large amount of Amazon gift cards and one of the things I got for myself with them was a 1,163 piece Maneki Neko (or Lucky Cat) set. If you'd like to learn more about the meaning behind Maneki Neko, this page is pretty informative!

"Fortune Cat" - Larcele FINISHED!

I also worked on another Dragon Ball Z character for my husband. This time it was Trunks, who is one of his favorite characters and I just discovered that there was a version of him available! He was 110 pieces and came out really cute. I especially liked the little sword attached to his back. 

"Trunks" - Nanoblock FINISHED!

And last but not least, a coworker who likes to watch me do all my crafts decided she wanted to try to do a gingerbread house set that she saw. She thought it would be regular sized Lego pieces but they ended up being mini sized and she became very frustrated and said she was going to throw out the set. I asked her if she wanted me to put it together for her instead. So I gifted my mini block building skills and time. It was actually a pretty challenging 788 piece set to put together that took me about 6 hours to finish. It was a very detail oriented set.

"Gingerbread House" - HMANE FINISHED!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I look forward to checking out all of the other GG entries!

Happy Stitching!

Finish Friday 12/17/21 & December Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello, All!

Today, for Finish Friday, I'll be featuring the small monthly installment finishes I've made on the Magic Kingdom SAL. As I mentioned in my post from Wednesday, I fell way behind on this mainly due to having a very stressful school course load this semester and various other reasons. Over the last couple weeks I have been able to stitch more here and there and was able to get caught up to November!

July - Emperor's New Groove

August - Peter Pan

September - Hercules

October - Sleeping Beauty

Up until the Hercules section, I didn't really have any issues with stitching. Somehow I managed to miscount which threw off quite a bit but I tried to do a little damage control with adjusting the picture because it was too far in to frog any of the problem area. Luckily, I don't think it will cause any big issues in the overall scheme of things. It did cause me to have to adjust the tiniest bit in the Sleeping Beauty part but again nothing that I think will cause a huge issue overall. 

Since it's after the 15th, it means it's time for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness link up! I haven't been able to participate in a while so I'm glad I can again, even if it is only with this one piece. 

I've been working on this piece as a surprise for my daughter's birthday in January. She absolutely loves every thing Disney and Princess related, so I'm really hoping she loves this! Here is the whole picture so far (please ignore the wrinkles as I had just removed the q-snap):

If you haven't already, hop on over to Jo's page to see the rest of the wonderful GG entries!

Happy Stitching!

July Gifted Gorgeousness!

Are we really almost through July already!?!?!?!?!? I swear the months and years are getting shorter and shorter!

Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted on Jo's page, so make sure you head over there to see the other participants if you haven't already!

First up, I have been working on the map for my parents again here and there and feel like I've made quite a bit of progress!

Currently:

March 2021:

I didn't realize how much I had added until I found the last time I had posted about it. Since March the tree, bushes, grass, water/cloud ripples, sun, ship, and more of the border have either been finished or made appearances! I did find about 3 counting mistakes in the ship area from a previous time I had stitched on this piece, so I had to fix those but otherwise, it was smooth sailing! I believe its just the ship and border left for this section and then I can finally move on to the bottom right quadrant and then deal with all the backstitching after that!

Next, I have some more mini block Dragon Ball Z characters that I put together for my husband!

Nanoblocks Piccolo & Master Roshi sets FINISHED!

Nanoblocks Goku & Raditz sets FINISHED!

My husband has been enjoying receiving these little characters from his favorite anime but he is always so afraid to touch them because he inevitably breaks something off of them and brings them to me to fix! He now has all the currently available sets and the next one is scheduled to be released in August, I believe.

That's all I have for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stitching!

June Gifted Gorgeousness

Hello All!

I actually have a small stitching update and a couple mini building block finishes! 

I realized that I missed May's Gifted Gorgeousness link up and then that I have almost missed this month's, so I figured that I should put a post together! 

First up, is the Blackwork Square SAL that I'm working on for my husband and me. I am super behind on this one since each box is supposed to represent 1 week of the year but I did work a tiny bit on it.

Currently:

Last GG post:

Second is the Magic Kingdom SAL for my daughter. I've managed to stay up to date on this one but I am not finished with June's portion yet, which is the Princess and the Frog. 

Currently:

Last GG post:

Between the Lion King and the Princess and the Frog is the Beauty and the Beast portion but I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing out of the hoop. 

Lastly, I also found a few nano block versions of characters from my husband's favorite anime: Dragon Ball Z. I ordered 4 different characters but have only received 2 so far and have made them. As I finish them, I will give them to him to add to his collection of DBZ stuff.

The first is Gohan. He was 110 pieces and took about 40 minutes to put together. The second is Vegeta. He was 130 pieces and also took about 40 minutes to put together. 

Nanoblock Gohan & Vegeta sets FINISHED! 

I think they are both cute and they are smaller than I thought they would be. For reference, Gohan and Vegeta are about 1.5 and 2 cross stitch needles tall, respectively. Hopefully the hubby likes them!

That's all I have for now! Hop on over to Jo's link up post to see the rest if you haven't already!

Happy Stitching!

Sunday Funday #7 - April Gifted Gorgeousness

 Hello All!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. It's been busy between work, home, and the end of the Spring Term at school!

Today's Sunday Funday will be dedicated to April's Gifted Gorgeousness! I am pretty late in posting and don't have too much to share but I am happy with what I do have!

First up is the Magic Kingdom SAL that I am stitching for my daughter. I am happy to report that I am FINALLY all caught up and finished with April!

I loved the Lion King segment and it was pretty quick to stitch up! I'm really excited to see what May's theme will be!

My last piece I have to share is my progress on the Blackwork Square SAL. I'm still not caught up with this one BUT I am caught up to week 12 in March, so I'm not tooo far behind anymore!

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this in the end but I've decided it will be for my husband and myself since the variegated thread is actually our blue and purple wedding colors! We plan on redoing our bedroom sometime this year and this would be a great addition to the artwork we plan on putting up at the end of the year!

That's all I have for today! Hop on over to Jo's page to see the other entries!

I hope you all have a happy and fun Sunday!

March Gifted Gorgeousness & WIP Wednesday 3/17/21

Hello Everyone! 

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I spent quite a bit of time changing my blog page. The overall theme has stayed the same but the layout has been updated and I even *finally* figured out how to add the tabs at the top. Hopefully the changes are for the better but I will give it a few days to see if I need to fix anything that I overlooked. 

On to the actual update! It's after the 15th AND it's Wednesday, so I have a few things to show off today! For my Gifted Gorgeousness entries, I will just show what I've actually worked on or finished in the last month.

First up is the Magic Kingdom SAL from Cunning Cross Stitch that I am stitching for my daughter. 

last GG post:

Over the past month, I was able to finish January (Ariel) and even finished February (Alice)! I need to do March (Snow White) and then I'll be all caught up. Considering I had only just found this SAL about a month ago, I am happy with my progress. The ultimate goal is to have this year long SAL done on time so that I can gift it to my daughter on her birthday next January!

Next is the Olde World Map, which I've worked on since my last GG post but not since the last time I posted about it on a previous WIP Wednesday.

last GG post:

Not a lot of progress on this one in the last month but I will get back to working more on this one soon. This will be a gift for my Mom & Stepdad. 

The next 3 will be fully finished GG entries! 

I finally framed the Pikachu Pair that I stitched for my husband for Valentine's Day and I also framed the diamond painting that was gifted to me for Christmas.

Stitchier - "Pikachu Pair" FINISHED!

Pinglin - "Hope, Believe, Love" FINISHED!

The last fully finished entry is the Game of Thrones Papercraft Face Masks that I posted about last Friday.

These were finished in time for my Mom's birthday and delivered to her on Saturday. She absolutely loves them and was super excited that they were actually done! Thank you for all of those that wished her a happy birthday! Despite some of the stuff she's been going through lately, she said she had a nice birthday celebration with the family and loved all her gifts!

That's it for GG but I do have 1 more thing to show off for WIP Wednesday. The same day I found the Magic Kingdom SAL, I also discovered Peppermint Purple's 2021 Blackwork SAL. 

When I found it, it was already on week 5. Now it's up to week 11, I believe, but I just started stitching it and I made it through all of January. I am doing the square version and using a blue/purple variegated thread (DMC 4240) for this but it's not really obvious in the picture. I haven't decided what color to use yet for the border of each section. This is my first blackwork and I am surprised by how easy and fast each section stitches up! I'm liking it so far and look forward to getting all caught up! 

That's all I have for now. If you'd like to participate or see what everyone else has worked on for GG, hop on over to Jo’s page here! 

Happy Stitching! 

WIP Wednesday & Gifted Gorgeousness!

I know, I know, it’s technically Thursday but I’ve been busy with 2 very hyper little ones all day so I haven’t had a chance to post and since I haven't gone to bed yet, it's still Wednesday! That's how it works, right? Just go with it! 😝 

Today is WIP Wednesday and also happens to be just after the February Gifted Gorgeousness link up has gone live! It's where you show off what you've been working on that is a gift for someone or was a gift to you. Hop on over to Jo’s page  to check out all the awesome stuff people are working on! 

Keep in mind that last year, I basically did no stitching due to everything I had going on so I feel like there hasn’t been much progress made recently but I have worked on some things here and there. 

First up is my most recent WIP which I finished the stitching on as well but I need to fully finish it! I found this pattern on Etsy and thought it was too cute. This was a silly little Valentine’s gift for my husband! It took me a total of 20 hrs and 45 mins over 3 days during down time on the night shift at work! 

I did modify this pattern in the tiniest way. The flower on the girl Pikachu is supposed to be pink and red but instead I changed them to lighter shades of our wedding colors!

Next is my oldest WIP so far, the Olde World Map. This will be a gift for my Mom & Stepdad who have their master bedroom decorated with all sorts of maps. The last time it was posted was in May 2018 😱 

then:

now:

I guess I made more progress on this one than I thought. This was probably the only piece that I tried to distract myself with while in the hospital helplessly watching my daughter. 

Another gift for my Mom & Stepdad will be the Game of Thrones houses since they are huge fans of the show. The last time this was mentioned was in February 2019 and there's been a little bit of progress.

then:

now:

I also signed up for a couple SALs at the beginning of last year but didn't make it far in them. One was the Homely Houseplants by Stitchonomy. This is intended to be a gift for my Dad since he also developed a recent love of indoor plants!

Instead of going with the default color scheme that was provided, I was playing with a variegated rainbow thread and white for the pots. I'm liking how it is turning out but I haven't touched this one in a while. 

My daughter has always loved Disney, Disney princesses and Disney movies, so when I stumbled upon this Magic Kingdom SAL by Cunning Cross Stitch on Facebook, I knew I just had to attempt to do it for her. I literally just found this late last week and the January (Ariel) and February (Alice) patterns are out. So, I'm pretty behind but I did start it! This is also my first piece ever working on evenweave, so it's making me a little bit nervous! 

The final piece that can be included for the GG is actually not cross stitch. It was a diamond art painting that was given to me for the Secret Santa gift exchange we had at work. It is perfect because it's basically been what my mantra has been since everything started with my daughter in March last year. This is actually finished as far as the diamonds go, but it needs to be framed and I haven't decided if it will go on our gallery wall or in our master bedroom yet. I will have to say that this will be my first and last diamond painting, lol. It was definitely an interesting little project though.

Then there are just 2 other pieces that I have started as well but aren't gifts for anyone. They are just nerdy things that I wanted to stitch!

First is the Avatar: The Last Airbender 4 Elements SAL from last year. I haven't made it far but I am liking my border thread choice a lot!

The second nerdy piece is an Etsy pattern of a Final Fantasy moogle and chocobo. FF is one of my all time favorite game series and I thought the pattern was too cute to pass up. I am stitching this on black aida so it's a little rough on the eyes but this will be a quick piece. This is only maybe an hour's worth of stitching during down time at work so I could probably have it done by my next work night if I focused on it. 

I believe that's everything that I've started so far and I do plan on starting another SAL soon. We will see how it all turns out! 

Thank you for hopping on by and don't forget to keep hopping along to see all the other participants' work! Happy stitching!

Hurricane Irma, Traveling, Needleminder Exchange, Sept 2017 GG

It has been a bit since I posted so this will be kind of a big post!

The reason for the lack of posting has been due to us being affected by Hurricane Irma and traveling for the better part of the last month. 

I must say that our daughter did awesome on all our different flights!

 At the end of August, we went to visit my dad in Michigan for 5 days, which included a day/night spent in Canada at Niagara Falls. It was absolutely beautiful!

 

                                      

After we returned from this trip, we had to focus on preparing for Hurricane Irma, which was obviously very stressful. Luckily, we only had a few fence panels that were blown down and we were able to get all the pieces and pop them back in afterwards and the fence is just fine. We were without power for 30.5 hours which is nothing compared to some other people who didn't get power back until a couple of days ago. We also completely lost cell service in our area because a tower was severely damaged and that took about 4 days to get fixed.

Luckily, they didn't cancel our flight for our next trip! From September 13-20, we took our first family vacation of just the 3 of us to the other side of the country and visited California: 3 days in San Diego, 2 days on a Disney cruise to Ensenada Mexico, 2 days in Anaheim staying at the Disneyland Hotel and going to Disneyland and California Adventure, and a day in Los Angeles! This was an amazing trip!

  

 

                        

                            

 After returning home and spending much of our first day back sleeping because we were exhausted, I checked the mail yesterday to find that my needleminder exchange gift had arrived! I absolutely love it! Thank you so much Justine (and yes it is absolutely nerdy enough for me)! I was definitely spoiled with all the goodies!

Lenore received my package early and said that she loved it! Yay!!

 I really enjoyed stitching this and participating in the exchange! Thank you Mii  so much for hosting this!

And the final part of this post if for my late addition to the September GG! I just have a little bit of progress to show on the Olde World Map but it is progress none the less! I am so close to finishing the 2nd page and will be starting page 3 soon! All I really have left is the little bit of border and the man's crown to finish off before starting the next page.

Sorry for the long post, but it has been a very eventful couple of weeks!