Finish Friday!

So I don’t actually have any recent full finishes and my latest stitching finishes were in my last post BUT I do have 2 finishes from June 2019 that weren’t ever posted about. 

These were made for a couple of our closest friends for their kids who are close in age to ours. They are huge Star Wars fanatics and I really wanted to do something nice for their kids. For both of the pieces, I used some patterns from Etsy and personalized them.

For their son's, the piece was supposed to have the words "Star Wars" above the characters but instead I opted to put his name and then his birth date underneath. I apparently started this one in May 2017 and finished stitching in February 2019, when I last posted about it. 

then:

June 2019:

"Star Wars Mini Cross Stitch Pattern: Darth Vader -Yoda" (Personalized) - NatliNeedlework FINISHED!

For their daughter's, I found a pattern that had the main female characters but instead of the saying that was supposed to go between the 2, I placed her name and date of birth instead. I tried to use a different font for her name as well so that both pieces had their own unique feels to them. I believe I started this piece in March of that year after their daughter was born and finished it in June.

June 2019:

"Star Wars Inspired Cross Stitch - Princess Leia" (Personalized) - GoodMorningMaui FINISHED!

Overall they were fun to stitch since I decided to play around with the font design so much. In the end, I just wanted to make sure my friends were happy with the finished products and they seemed like they were!

Happy stitching!

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! 

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!

July 2017 GG

A couple days late but it's time for the July GG post! I don't have too much to post this month but I did work here and there on 2 pieces.

First up is the Star Wars project for my friends' son. Last I posted I had just barely begun on Darth Vader and now he is almost complete and the words still need to be added. I got very tired of stitching all the black which also happens to be pretty much the only color left for the piece (including the words) so I have put this one to the side for now. Since it will probably be a Christmas or birthday gift (January), I'm not too worried about it right now!

Secondly, I finally picked up Olde World Map again. This will be a gift for my mom and stepdad whenever I get around to finishing it. 

Here is where I left off last time:

and here is what I've done after a couple days of starting it again: 

Not much progress but I plan to focus on this one for a little bit. 

That's it for this month's GG.

In other news, I have decided to participate in Mii's needle minder exchange! The rules are simple: you must send whoever you are assigned a needle minder, a finished small stitched piece, and a skein of DMC thread and they must receive it before September 15. I'm excited to say that I already have what I want to stitch picked out and all the floss, the needle minder I will send, and the skein of DMC! I plan on working on the small in August and will mail all the goodies to their new home either end of August or beginning of September depending on where said home ends up being! If you'd like to participate head over to Mii's post at this link!

June 2017 GG

This month I have 2 complete finishes and a WIP to post for GG! 

First up is Happily Ever After finished, matted, and framed and was gifted to my best friend at his wedding on Sunday, the 11th!

Second is Love More also finished, matted, and framed and was gifted to my friends on Monday, the 12th!

The final is a continuation of the WIP for my friends and their new baby. I finished Yoda and am working on Darth Vader next!

I'll probably give my fingers a break from all the stitching for a little bit but I am super pleased with the finishes and progress so far!

First 2017 Finish...and another couple starts!

On Saturday, I finished the "Happily Ever After" wedding piece! Take a look!

"Happily Ever After" - (Recolored) Dimensions Cross Stitch Kit FINISHED!

Just realized I forgot to initial it, so after that is done, I'll be working on getting it cleaned, ironed, mounted, framed soon! Can't wait to see the completely finished product. I hope they like it. A lot of thought and love went into this one!

I've also started 2 new pieces that will both be gifts. Maybe one day I'll actually keep something I make....maybe 😝!

The first is a pattern that was given to me but I will also be personalizing it a lot. I'll call this one "Love More" but it's official title is "Rainbow Heart Cutout," I believe.

The original pattern just has the heart cutout, I've personalized it with the pulse and will be adding words to it. I think I can have this finished by this weekend!

The second start is a Star Wars mini cross stitch pattern of Yoda and Darth Vader that I bought on Etsy. This will be a piece for my friends who recently had a baby boy and have decorated his room with a Star Wars theme.