March Smalls SAL

It's time for the March Smalls SAL link up from Mary's Thread! Usually this occurs on the last Friday of the month but I technically didn't have a finish to post 😲 However, I had a lot of down time at work over night and was able to finish my Crash Bandicoot piece for my small video game series!

"Crash Bandicoot Cross Stitch" - Stitchpleaseaus FINISHED!

I look forward to seeing everyone else's entries! Happy Stitching!

WIP Wednesday...on Thursday!

It is after 1am and I had every intention of posting earlier but then got extremely distracted with the kids, dinner, a walk, bath time, story time, bed time, dishes, laundry and finally starting my relaxing portion of having to stay up all night to flip myself back to my night shift work schedule for the next 2 nights. Thankfully this is my last week on midnight shift for a while and it's a short week since I have a vacation day on Saturday for my anniversary weekend!

Over the past week I did a little bit more stitching than I expected and also worked on a few new things.

First, I worked on the Olde World Map a tiny bit and I finally finished inside the western hemisphere, like I've been telling myself I would do forever. Other than that, I didn't make any other progress.

this week:

last time:

Next, I worked on the Game of Throne Houses and finished House Baratheon's banner. I still need to stitch their actual house. I also stitched the yellow portion of the flower in House Tyrell's banner just so I wouldn't have to use the yellow again.

this week:

last time:

I continued working the Magic Kingdom SAL a little bit as well and started on March's Snow White section. I stitched a good portion of the sky and all the dwarves and Snow White have heads! 

this week:

last time:

I started working on an Easter piece called Easter Gnome. Hopefully he will stitch up quickly! I've got most of his hat done, his beard is outlined, and I started on an ear. I'll be focusing on this heavily this week.

And lastly, I started working on my Crash Bandicoot piece. It's just the outlining of his feet and 1 leg for now since I was actually missing a bunch of the colors I needed for him. I should have all the colors now to keep working on him. 

That's all I've got for now! Happy Stitching!

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! 

Finish Friday 3/12/21

The Game of Thrones Papercraft Face Masks are done! I was able to finish the Dire Wolf on Thursday and am so happy to not have to fold or glue anything for a while! 

HBO’s Game of Thrones Papercraft Face Masks FINISHED!

These consist of a White Walker, the Lannister Lion, the Targaryen Dragon, and the Stark Dire Wolf. It was definitely an interesting project filled with headaches, hours long frustrating sessions, and maybe a curse...or 15.... after they would fall apart when I thought I could move to a new section. The easiest to put together was probably the Lion but the one I liked the most was probably the Wolf. 

I look forward to dropping these off and hopefully Mom will be happy with them! Now it’s up to her to fully finish them with whatever her mounting plan is! Here’s to hoping they don’t fall apart!

Happy crafting! 

WIP Wednesday 3/10/21

Any crafting time available over this past week has been devoted to working on the GoT Face Masks, which means that's all I have to show today for my WIP. Since it's still super early into Wednesday, I guess there's still a slight chance I could stitch later on today and be able to post some stitching progress but this is it for now!

I focused on rebuilding the Dragon and Lion that fell apart first. Last Wednesday, I showed the base of the Dragon done and then I focused on the actual mask. This one really annoyed me the first time around and it upset me even more the second but it's done and hopefully I won't have to touch this one ever again!

The Lion was the one my Mom originally worked on and I just helped her here and there. It was pretty easy to put back together so it went along much quicker than the Dragon did. 

The last of the 4 masks I have to finish is the Dire Wolf. So far I have the base done and have started on the actual face mask. It's been a little bit of a pain because there are a lot of tiny pieces involved with it...way more than the others. Hopefully it won't give me too much trouble overall. 

My Mom's birthday is this Saturday and I plan on having them done to bring to her then, even if she did tell me there was no rush in getting them done for her bday. I had already planned on having it done anyways but even more so now to try to bring a smile to her face. My Mom and Stepdad had to put their dog to sleep early Monday morning and they have not been dealing with it very well. I know there is nothing I can do to help take their pain away, but if I can give my Mom the tiniest reason to smile, I'd like to with this. So if you all wouldn't mind keeping them in your thoughts and prayers, I would be really grateful.

That's all for now. Happy crafting!

Sunday Funday #4 - Gardening!

Welcome to another addition to Sunday Funday! It also happens to be the 7th, which means I dedicate a portion of the morning to spending a little more time in the "garden" - giving the plants a little extra attention and repotting/transplanting plants or planting new seeds! So once again this post will be focusing on my daughter's little garden!

First up is the outside raised bed. The lettuce has grown very nicely since last month and believe it or not, we've actually harvested from it a couple times to have salads with dinner! It's been pretty neat to finally have something we can use from the garden! Behind the lettuce, on the closest side, we have green onions growing nicely and we planted some corn to see if we can get them to grow. On the far side, I transplanted the broccoli raab and planted a couple bush bean seeds. 

Next up are our trees which were repotted today! The blue and gray pots have the quenepa/Spanish lime trees and the purple and teal pots have the lemon trees. They usually live inside the patio but they are enjoying the beautiful weather we have outside right now.

                   

Lastly, our container plants in the patio! These have reaco/culantro (which still haven't done any better or worse since last time), basil, yellow onions, bell peppers, tomatoes (this plant looks like it's starting to give up but we'll see), jalapenos, cat grass, Thai basil, chives, poinsettia, and a succulent. Our cilantro and cornflowers died over the last month, so we replanted those and we also planted an avocado pit to see if we can get that to sprout and add to our tree collection!

recao / basil

yellow onion / bell peppers

jalapenos

tomatoes

poinsettia

cat grass

Thai basil / chives

cilantro restarted / succulent

cornflowers restarted

avocado seed planted

Happy Sunday everyone!

WIP Wednesday

 Good morning everyone! 

For today’s WIP Wednesday I have 3 things to show off! 

First up is the Magic Kingdom SAL from Cunning Cross Stitch! 

From this:

To this:

January is done! Ariel is soooooo cute! I love it so far! Next up is February which features Alice in Wonderland. I noticed a lot of people in the Facebook group were having some trouble with parts of the Alice section standing out against the background but I hope it works out for me. We shall see!

Next up is an itty bitty progress on the Olde World Map. 

Last time:

Now:

I only stitched on this for maybe 2 hours this week but I was able to finish the mountain range in South America, add a little of the inside to the nameplate, and started working on the tree under the globe. Next time I work on this I’ll probably try to finish up the inside of the globe. I always tell myself I will but then get distracted by a different area! This section has the tree, sun, half a boat, and the border left! 

And last but not least, my non cross stitch work-in-progress... the Game of Thrones face masks for my Mom. I’m starting with rebuilding the Lion and the Dragon first before I make the Dire Wolf. So far on the Dragon, I’ve finished rebuilding the base that the face mask is mounted on. 

It doesn’t look like much now but it’ll eventually look like it did in my Sunday post. It’s just going to take a while. Each one takes several hours to do. Since the goal is to have these done by the 13th, for her birthday, stitching will be put to the side for now so I can focus on these. 

Well that’s all for now! Happy Stitching! 

What's the Tea Tuesday #2

Welcome to "What's the Tea Tuesday!" This is where I talk about a yummy cup of tea, what I think about it, and where you can find it!

Today's feature tea is: Java Momma's Blood Orange Moon

   

  

This is another beautifully colored tea and the description says:

"The assertive notes of blood orange softened by a blend of

fruity sweetness create a tisane that is full-bodied & refreshing."

I love the deep red color that you get from the hibiscus and rose hips but my favorite thing about this tea is the amazing orange smell from the moment you open the bag until you swallow the last drop. The tea has a lovely orange flavor that is a little sweet and a little tart but so comforting!

Every time I drink this tea I almost always have think about growing up and living in my great grandmother's house with all the orange trees in the backyard. I really do miss being able to go in the backyard and pick an orange and eat it right there. 

If you are interested in having a cup yourself, check out Java Momma's website here. 

Do you have any favorite tea flavors? I'd love to get some suggestions on what to try next and add to my tea collection!

Happy sipping!