After the Holidays and Into the New Year!

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a great 1st month of the year!

Our Christmas was pretty awesome because this was the first time our little one could actually recognize that it was Christmas and was so excited to open her presents. That was definitely a busy week. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my husband's parents, Christmas with my parents, and then opened gifts from my dad in Michigan over FaceTime the day after. My daughter was extremely spoiled this Christmas and loved everything she received!

Even with all the busy days after Christmas, I have not one but TWO stitching updates!

First, I had a complete finish! The Polar Pals stocking for my daughter was successfully completed in time for Christmas! Finally seeing it finished, after being so frustrated with the actual stitching, was awesome and now I love it! She was so excited to get it in her Christmas Eve box and then to have it filled with all sorts of goodies on Christmas!

FINISHED! DIMENSIONS NEEDLEPOINT KIT - POLAR PALS STOCKING

My friend did an amazing job with the sewing! She was a little nervous at first but it came out great!

The second update is that I was able to finish stitching the Star Wars piece for my friends' son finally! 

I don't know why but stitching large areas of black are really hard for me because I start to lose interest. I finished the stitching before the new year and knew I wouldn't be able to get together with my friends until this month so I haven't been in a rush to complete it. I do have all the stuff to finish and will do so on my next days off!

Our hectic days didn't really stop after the holidays because we have 3 birthdays during January: my daughter, my sister-in-law, and my niece. Needless to say January is always crazy for us but as my daughter was saying all day at her Frozen themed 3rd birthday party, we just "let it go!" and try to enjoy all the festivities!

I do have a new start that will be another piece for my mom and stepdad....eventually.... It's a Game of Thrones family houses/flags/sayings and it should be pretty neat once it's done.

Now that it's officially February and all the festivities are over for now, it's back to work, school, family, and hopefully I can sneak in a little more stitching this year. 

I wish everyone a great rest of the year since I missed posting in January! 

WIP Wednesday

Today is an exciting WIP Wednesday post for me because I can officially say that I have a (sort of) finish!

After several hours of:

1.  stitching on a frustrating stamped pattern

2. trying not to go crazy over basketweave stitching

3. getting very angry over a ridiculous amount of French knots

The Polar Pals Stocking is done! At least for my part....

Here’s where I last left off:

And now:

I’m so glad this is done. I don’t think I’ve ever been more frustrated with a project before. I’ve come to the conclusion that I really don’t like working on a stamped canvas. However, I think it ended up coming out great (despite the name not being spaced right...).

This afternoon, I met up with my friend who is going to finish this into the actual stocking for my daughter. We picked out a nice fabric and batting at Joann’s and now it’s just a waiting game. Fingers crossed that she can get it done in time for Christmas. If not, then it’ll end up being a 3 King’s present and we will get to use it next year!

I can’t wait to see what this will look like once it’s completed!

Now I can finally get back to working on other projects that are actually cross stitch! Yay!!

Am I Seeing An Update??

Yes! 

Your eyes are not deceiving you! 

After about 7 months, I have an actual update!

In all honesty, I have truly missed the ability to stitch for the past several months. Unfortunately I have had a full schedule between my daughter, family outings, work, and taking several classes at a time. Thankfully, things are starting to slow down with school since the semester is almost over! I only have a week left! I also switch back to dayshift in about another week as well!

*Does happy dance*

Thanksgiving came and went here and there was lots of yummy food to be had even though I did have to work that night. I did have the following weekend off though, which was nice. I spent my days off celebrating a late Thanksgiving with my parents, running around Disney's Magic Kingdom with my in-laws, and putting up the Christmas lights outside and decorating a little bit inside (not much inside though because we have some jerk kitties that thing it's fun to mess with them).

Most of the stitching I have done was over the Thanksgiving break and I've continued a little bit here and there. I plan to keep stitching and to have at least 1 finish before Christmas. So I have chosen to focus on the stocking that I have been working on for almost 2 years for my daughter (granted I did lose it for a little bit when we moved rooms around). I am going to try my hardest to have the stitching done in time to then have my friend finish it as a stocking because I don't know how to use a sewing machine.... maybe one day I will learn 😆

Here is how far I was on it the last time I posted:

And here is where I am at the moment:

I have managed to finish all (but the scarf) of the penguin and the snowman since the last post. It's hard to see, but I've also started on some of the blue on the rest of pattern. Basically all that's left are the various blues and greens and then the accent backstitching, french knots, and putting my daughter's name on it! 

One thing I am really learning with this project, is that I'm not a fan of working on a stamped pattern because it becomes difficult to tell where to actually stitch with small details here and there. The other thing I don't like is that it makes it hard to tell the actual progress I've made at times...at least in pictures. 

That's all for now! I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far!

An Actual Stitching Update!

I finally have an actual stitching update!!! 

I haven't really been able to focus much on stitching between family adventures, my classes, and work but I have been able to do some stitching here and there over the past couple months. So this update is the culmination of progress made since about mid March and might be a bit long.

The 3 projects that I have chosen to focus on are all intended to be gifts and I would REALLY like to have them done in time to be gifted for their respective dates. I apologize in advance for the lighting on the updated photos.

First up is the Polar Pals stocking that I have been working on for my daughter. 

Here is where it looked like last time I posted it on December 2016:

Here is where I am at with it now:

It is a little hard to see the progress because it is a stamped design but most of the grays in the snowman's hat and in the penguin's arms have been done and the top section up to the first orange band has been completed since the last time I posted it. The intention was for this to be ready by my daughter's first Christmas... that didn't happen and then my husband had moved my project and couldn't remember where and I couldn't find it for about a year.... so I'd really like to have this done this year to be put up right after Thanksgiving, since my daughter is 2 and this will be her 3rd Christmas.

Next up is the Olde World Map. 

Last time this was posted about was in December 2017:

and now:

It doesn't look like much progress but there is some. The inner border for the Western Hemisphere has been done, the signage in the hemisphere has been started, a couple more feathers on the headdress, and a little more work on the boring border. If I can really hunker down and work on this one, I would like to have it finished and framed to give to my mom and stepdad for Christmas. 

Last up is the Star Wars piece that I am working on for my friends' son. 

In July 2017 it looked like:

and now:

This is going to be a birthday gift so I have until January to finish it. This piece is actually an evolving piece. The original pattern was of Yoda, Darth Vader and "Star Wars" but I decided to change out the words for their son's name in the Star Wars font and added his birth date at the bottom. I am still undecided as to if I will consider this a finish after the names are filled in or if I am going to incorporate another pattern and modify it. I have tiny patterns for the main characters and am contemplating adding them either along the bottom or the sides.

That's all for now! Here's to hoping I will be able to post an stitching update sooner than it took me to post this one!

Gifted Gorgeousness - December 2016

So I've missed several GG's since May unfortunately but here is my last entry for this year. Sadly it's not a finish and it's also not a cross stitch. I have been learning how to do a basket weave stitch, which has been interesting to say the least. It's also difficult for me because it is stamped and I'm used to doing counted projects. 

This will be (hopefully) a 3 Kings' Day gift to my daughter to have for next Christmas (since I doubt I will get it done before this Christmas).

I have several gifted projects that I plan to either continue working on or start for next year and so I hope to continue to participate in the GG SAL and post far more than I was able to this year!

Current WIP that will be continued include Olde World Map and Highlights of Puerto Rico. 

New projects that I am looking to start in 2017 include a Star Wars piece for my friends' son due on Jan 6th, His Name Is Jesus for my in-laws, the Lord's Prayer for my grandmother, and I will probably find something to gift to my bestfriend for his wedding day. 

Finally Back to Stitching, Christmas Time & Other Nerdy Business

It has been a crazy 5 months since I last posted but life is slowly getting back to normal in between the millions of overtime hours I have been working.

1st update: Stitching

Unfortunately I didn't have much time to actually cross stitch anything. I did however work a little more on the Polar Pals stocking for my daughter. The original goal was to have this done for Christmas this year but I'm not entirely sure that it will happen at this rate. If it doesn't then it will probably turn into a Three Kings' Day gift for her to be used next Christmas. 

This piece has been a little difficult for me to make significant progress on quickly. The main reason is because it isn't a cross stitch. I had to learn how to basketweave stitch, which for some reason took me forever to figure out after watching several YouTube videos. Now, however, I do have the hang of it and it's just a matter of actually having the time to spend on working on it. Hopefully it won't take as long as I'm predicting but we will see.

2nd update: Christmas Time

I love this time of year and I usually decorate the outside of the house with a few Christmas lights to make it feel more like the holiday despite the usual 70-80 degree weather here in Florida! Since it's our daughter's first Christmas this year, I added more lights to our collection outside and decorated inside as well. Usually it's just a tree inside. I felt the need to make this year a little more special and plan to add to our collection a little every year from now on!

3rd Update: Other Nerdy Business

I have finally had a chance to get back to playing games a little more often since having my daughter! And the past 2 months have had me excited with the new games that I have picked up and started playing! 

I think that's all for my ridiculously long update. I'll try to post updates about the stocking when I've made significant progress.

Smalls SAL - April 2016

It's time for my first Smalls posting and I have 2 small finishes to share!

First is actually an embroidery piece that I was using to test stitching on black cloth. 

Dimensions Needlecrafts "Love on Black" Embroidery Kit FINISHED!

I didn't pay attention when I picked it up that it wasn't cross stitch (doh!) but I did enjoy the easy stitching and will need to find a spot to put it!

Second, I found a little kit that was actually cross stitch to test stitching on black aida. This is a jar topper kit with 4 different patterns. I decided to only do 1 and will save the others for other months.

"My Stash" - Dimensions Crafts Jar Topper Counted Cross Stitch Kit (Set of 4) FINISHED!

This is now the top of my ORTs jar! I felt it needed some love :-P . 

So all in all, I've come to the conclusion that black aida isn't as scary to stitch on as I thought! If you aren't a part of the SAL and would like to join, here's the link to the sign up.

And on to my other stitching adventures:

I have made great progress on "Love is Patient" but have had to take a couple days off from it. It should be finished on my next set of days off from work. Thank goodness!

This past week I also worked on a needlepoint "Polar Pals" stocking for my daughter's first Christmas this year!

Our theme for her room is penguins because they are my husband's favorite animal and I love snowmen so I thought this stocking was perfect! The only thing is that this uses basket weave and continental stitch, which are both new to me so this is taking me forever. Hopefully it'll work out and be nice in the end.

I have decided to take a little break from the "Olde World Map" project. I also have a bunch of other big projects that I want to either continue working on or start as well. I started working on a Puerto Rico piece for my dad about a year ago and need to get back to that. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of it just yet. I also plan on starting on "His Name is Jesus" for my mother-in-law. I just picked up the cloth and floss today so I'll probably begin within the next week or so. I think I will try to rotate focusing on 1 big project a week just to break up the monotony but I'm not sure yet. We'll see how it goes!