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!

July 2017 Smalls SAL

Yay for another Smalls SAL entry! I actually have 2 this month!

First up is Classic Mario to continue with my video game theme/series that I will be stitching up to add to my nerdy office!

FINISHED! Classic Mario 

He is super tiny but oh so cute! I made the pattern based off a promo picture of him on the Nintendo website a few months ago. I contemplated doubling his size when I realized how small he would end up but then decided against it. I'm also considering possibly adding to him. Maybe have him hitting a ? block and/or jumping over a goomba. I'm definitely not sure but for now cute little Mario is considered a finish!

My second Small piece was a spur of the moment decision. I was adding to/fixing our little gallery wall of photos near the front door and realized I needed something else to balance the pictures. I then decided I would add a W for our last name. I thought about buying the letter and then painting it or something but then the idea popped in my head to stitch the W using the colors from our wedding!

FINISHED! oneofakindbabydesign's "Letter 'W' Cross Stitch"

I found a blue/purple DMC variegated floss that was perfect since our wedding colors were blue/purple/white! Believe it or not it took me a while to find a W pattern on Etsy that I really liked. I love how it came out and how it looks added to our wall! Don't mind the center picture frame....I realized it wasn't straight after I took the picture and then fixed it but never took another after 😆

That's all for my July Smalls SAL post! For August, I do have 2 smalls planned as well. To continue in my video game series, I will stitch the main character from my absolute favorite series, "Suikoden," Tir McDohl. Like Mario, I will stitch the character but may go back and add something to him as well. The second piece will be for Mii's needleminder exchange so that it is ready to go once I know who/where it will be sent to!

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.