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.

Hectic Schedule

Unfortunately I have been missing for quite a bit thanks to a hectic work schedule and trying to take care of the baby in between 12-14 hour shifts. We are down 20 people at work so the overtime has been imposed on everyone. Then on top of that, I am a 911 dispatcher and was working the night of the attack in Orlando, FL 3.5 weeks ago, so anyone who was involved has been forced to go to a bunch of different things which makes the already hectic schedule even more hectic. Unfortunately due to all of this, I have not had a chance to sit down and cross stitch or even just really relax. I hope to be able work on some projects soon but we will see. Once I am able to then I will post again :)

In the meantime, I ask that your thoughts and prayers be with the victims, their families, the 911 dispatchers, the police officers (from at least 10 different agencies that all came to assist mine), the paramedics, and the doctors and nurses that all had to witness and experience the horrible things of that night.

Gifted Gorgeousness - May 2016

Today is the 15th and that means it's time for GG! If you want to know more about this SAL, hop on over here for more info!

As I stated in my previous post I finished "Love is Patient" and gifted it to my good friends for their wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I couldn't have been happier for them! Love was definitely patient for them, seeing as they waited 18 years to be able to finally say "I do"!

Last I posted about the piece, it looked like this:

Finished, it looks like this!:

Dimensions Crafts "Love is Patient" Kit FINISHED!

I pretty much followed the kit's instruction except for the little &...it was supposed to be the same red as the names but I thought it was just a little too much all in one place so I broke it up with the tiniest change lol. I also initialed and dated the bottom left corner. Sorry the finished picture isn't that great...I took a quick pic to send to my mom to see the finished product and then forgot to take a better one before it was bagged up and on it's way to its new home. It was bothering me that I didn't pull the upper left corner tight enough when I mounted it but my husband said that it just showed that it was a labor of love and the little imperfections make it more unique and prove that it is homemade. Ok.....I guess that's one way to look at it...lol. Either way I hope they liked the gift! It's only because I wanted so much to make this for them that I was able to finish it in a month and 5 days! I was definitely motivated. 

That's the only updates have for now as far as any progress goes. Since I still haven't been able to work on any stitching for a little bit thanks to the crazy work hours and also now the baby is not feeling well lately. I keep telling myself that I just have to make it another week and then I'm off from work for 10 days!!

I picked up a couple more charts this week while perusing Etsy. I found a "Lord's Prayer" chart to do for my grandma. I also have been following Ishkabibble's progress on her Final Fantasy logo cross stitches and have been wanting to follow in her footsteps! So while I was looking around Etsy I found a chart for FFX! Since it's my favorite of the FFs, I had to get it. Seeing as that will be a selfish project, I don't know when I'll actually get to it, lol!

TUSAL - May 2016

Oh my, it's been a little bit since I posted and I'm late for the May TUSAL :( but here it is!

Between the crazy hours at work (I pulled a 60 hour work week before my days off) and celebrating my first mother's day with 3 sets of parents, things were a little hectic to say the least. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do much stitching lately but I did finish the piece for my friends' wedding on the 11th! *cheers and does a happy dance* I will post a pic of the final result in a bit!

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! 

Progression Check-In

It's been almost a week since my last post but I thought I'd go ahead and check in with my progress so far. Plus, I've been up with a fussy baby most of the night so I figured I might as well do something since I'm wide awake :-p.

I looked at the calendar and realized I only 3 weeks to get "Love Is Patient" completely finished and framed. I knew May 11 was close but when I actually looked at the calendar, it sent me into a bit of a panic. Ideally I'd like to have it completed in 2 weeks so last night (since I couldn't sleep) I worked on it a fair amount. 

It may not look like it but I got a bunch of the border shading done and then started the "Love Is Patient" line because I got tired of looking at beige all the time. I officially have less than half of the shading left and then I think the words will go fast after that. 

On the "Olde World Map" front, I also made a little progress. It was pretty busy at work this past week so I didn't get as much done during down time as I usually do. I did manage to add a few more words and the background around them (which I hate stitching because it's practically the same color as the fabric), a few lines here and there of random colors, and a dolphin (my favorite sea animal)! 

Not much but progress is progress!

In 7 days, the Smalls SAL will be due so I need to start on that but it won't take me long at all. I have a really small stitching project planned for that:

The reason I have chosen this tiny project is pretty much only because I found it while perusing around Michael's and it is stitched on black aida. I have heard that dark fabric is hard to stitch on and I wanted to test the waters with something small because I plan on stitching another "Love Is Patient" for my husband & I to hang somewhere in our home but using our wedding colors on black fabric. If this test sample proves to be harder than I thought, then I will rethink about stitching the one for us on black fabric and probably just stick with white!

Gifted Gorgeousness - April

Today is my first official posting for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL! Both my current projects are intended to be gifts so I will post my progress for them! Please look past how wrinkled both look :-P

First up is my "Olde World Map"! Again, I've only been working on it during down time at work but I feel that I have made good progress. This will be a gift for my mom and stepdad who absolutely love anything having to do with maps and globes. I would love to have this one done in time for Christmas but if not then I'm ok with that too.

Second is "Love Is Patient". I didn't really work on this one at home very much this week because I've been busy with the baby and other things but I'm happy with the progress and how easy it seems to move along. This will be a wedding gift for some dear friends of mine. This verse has always been one of my favorites and when I saw this kit, I just had to buy it and knew exactly who I would give it to. This project has a deadline though. The wedding is May 11th, so I need to have it finished and framed by then! I definitely need to get crack-a-lackin on this because I really don't want to be rushed in the end. 

All-in-all I am happy with my projects' progress and can't wait to see the finished product for my friends' wedding!

In other news, I will also be working on a small project for the upcoming Smalls SAL and I have recently joined the Totally Useless SAL. I look forward to posting for those soon :-)

"Love Is Patient" project

I started working on this yesterday here and there and am pleased with how easily it is coming along! I finished one line of text and half of the inner shading (which is hard to see because it is a beige color). I think I will I finish the inner shading and then move to the outer shading. That way all of the silly filler stitches are done and I can focus on the main stuff. Although I still don't think it will be done in time for this month's GG posting...but we'll see.

I think the plan will be to work on the map during down time at work and this at home when I can (since the intended recipient works with me). We'll see how it turns out!

"Olde World Map" progress & SALs

It's been a bit since my last post but March is always a busy month for me. Mom's bday, Mother-in-law's bday, and anniversary! In addition to all that, I also returned to work from maternity leave...oh joy lol.... So it's been an interesting readjustment after being home for 12 weeks as a normal person and going back to the midnight shift.

Last I posted, I had just finished my first quadrant of the "Olde World Map" cross stitch. I've worked a little bit more on it in between dealing with the baby and trying to get a little sleep here and there. It's not a ton of progress but it is progress none the less.

In other adventures, I am stepping out and have joined 2 stitch-a-longs. I don't know if I'll actually be able to keep up with them, but I'm going to try because they sound really interesting. Hopefully they will motivate  me to work on and complete little side projects to break up the monotony of the huge map project. 

The first SAL is a smalls SAL hosted by Heather from Stitching Lotus. Basically you get to decide what small size patterns you want to stitch and you post about it on the last Thursday of every month. I will need to find something soon to work on! If you are interested you can sign up to participate here.

The second SAL I found is hosted by Jo from Serendipitous Stitching and is called Gifted Gorgeousness. For this one, you have to work on a chart that was either gifted to you or intended to be a gift for someone else and posting occur on the 15th of every month. I doubt I will be able to post anything for this one by the 15th but I will be working on a kit for a friend's wedding in May that will hopefully be my first entry. This is a pic of the "Love Is Patient" kit:

I look forward to being apart of these SALs and to working on new and more pieces!

"Olde World Map" Project - First Quadrant Done

As promised, here is a pic of the completed first quadrant! Next, the plan is to work on the upper left quadrant. We'll see how long that takes >.<

Tackling Comic Mountain

For the past week I haven't worked much on the map cross stitch but I have been focusing on organizing my mountain of comics that have been neglected. Being on maternity leave means I have a little bit of time during napping sessions to try and work on my To-Do list. A big item on that list is to clean/organize/rearrange the office. Unfortunately the office is riddled with several comics all over the place. The goal is to get all of the comics sorted into keep and sell piles and then box em up. Once that monstrosity is tackled, everything else should be easy enough to get through. The plan will be to have the Hubby help me move around the furniture and steam clean the carpet. We'll see how long it will be before its actually done!

Well... my bored nerdy self is off to tackle more comics!

"Olde World Map" Project

I started this cross stitch project back in April 2015, worked on it for a few weeks and then put it away because I got distracted by everything involved with being pregnant lol. I decided to start working on it again the other day. My goal for this project is to try to have it finished and framed by Christmas so I can gift it to my mom and stepdad. They love all things maps so I figured they would really enjoy this when I saw it in the store.

This is definitely the largest cross stitch project I've attempted so far. It definitely intimidated me when I first opened the kit but it is enjoyable to work on. The piece is broken up into 4 quadrants and I am currently working on the upper right corner. All that is left is the border and then I will move on to the upper left corner. Here is the progress so far:

I will post a picture once this quadrant is done.

A New Beginning...

With a new year comes a new beginning. That's what they say and that's what I'm going to strive for! The first step includes starting this blog....we'll see how well this works out :-P

This year has already given me a new beginning as a new mommy to a beautiful little girl who was born on January 12th. While that, in and of itself, has been a crazy huge change, I would like to keep the changes going. I honestly don't know why or how someone so new and little can make you want to better yourself just because they are now a part of your life.

I know its almost the middle of February, but I have a few goals I would like to attempt this year:

• First and foremost, survive my first year of motherhood!! :-O
• Attempt to maintain this blog
• Complete the Couch to 5K challenge (this will probably be my hardest goal as I hate exercise)
• Make a ton of progress on my cross stitching projects
• Pass all the classes that I enroll in this year starting in the Summer 
• Finish book 2 in the Game of Thrones series (another hard task considering the size of each book!)

While these goals aren't necessarily life changing, I figure they should be easy enough to not be too overwhelming if they aren't reached but satisfying if they are.

This should be an interesting year to say the least and we will see where this adventure takes me. For now though, it seems a crying baby is summoning me!