Birds SAL Progress Part 2 Week 2

I didn't get quite as far as I would have liked this week...but c'est la vie.  I have been splitting my time between this and my YOTA project that you can find out about tomorrow ;).

Here is where I left off last Friday...

And here is the progress I made during the week!

Not as much as last week, but for a few days my little girl decided she didn't want to take a nap :(.  I am trying not to lose my momentum.  I came close to my goal of reaching the right edge of the design and I did complete another large flower so I am 2/4 done with the large ones in this part!  Yesterday I had to finally stop when I broke the eye of my needle.  I seem to have that problem quite often...do you all experience that regularly or is it just me?  This was a brand new needle I bought for this project but I guess it has seen a lot of use :)  Well I am off to get back to stitching on this so I can try to catch up to the deadlines.  Happy Stitching!

Birds SAL Progress Part 2

Hello again.  I am so happy that I am back to a regular schedule of posting once a week again!  Well this week I had the itch to stitch big time but it sort of fizzled out on Wednesday.  I got quite a bit done on part 2 which I can hopefully finish in 2 weeks or less so I can move on to part 3 and get closer and closer to getting caught up with everyone else on this SAL.  Thank you so much to everyone for your encouraging words on my last post.  They really meant a lot to me and helped me cover so much ground this week!

Here is where I had left off with Part 1 completed...

And Part 2 daily progress...

And here is where I ended up after the first week!

I got quite a bit done this week!  I am hoping to have the roses finished out until the far right edge of the design if not more by next week.  I really do LOVE the colors the designer chose in this piece.  I thought I liked the lighter set of the pink and purple but the darker shades make the images pop and the others look more faded.  

Thank you for sharing this stitching journey with me :)  Happy Friday and Happy Crafting to you!

Birds SAL Progress Part 1

One of my goals I set for myself this year was to participate in a SAL or Stitch a Long.  Back in December I signed up for the beautiful "Birds Sampler" here.  I got off to a bit of a late start as I have quite limited stitching time taking care of my daughter. This design is also quite large (304 x 339) so it took me awhile to grid out my 25count fabric.  But I was finally able to start this beauty on April 29th.  The bad news is this was the first time I have worked on fabric so small and I was unhappy with working 2 over 1 so I had to take out my first days work and re-do it as 1 over 1 on 25 ct.

Here is the progression of my stitching progress...

I have been working upside down since I am using my large Qsnaps but here is what the design is supposed to look like with Part 1 finished :)

I have really enjoyed stitching this design.  The colors are so pretty and feminine and I chose it originally because I LOVE roses, but the fine scrollwork has also been fun to stitch.

My only problem is that I am WAY far behind...I was supposed to finish this much by February 25th and yesterday was May 16th!  I just sent my image in to receive the next part but the designer gently reminded me that if I don't finish by September I may need to buy the full chart from her to finish.  She is right but for some reason I feel up to this challenge.  I really feel like I can try to fly through the rest of the parts to catch up.  Please help cheer me on so I can prove it to myself that I CAN DO THIS :)

A Berry Special First Birthday Party!

So the main reason for our vacation back home to the US in March was to celebrate our little girl's First Birthday party with all of our family and friends in Michigan and especially her Grandparents and Great-Grandmas!

I really enjoy party planning and decorating for special events so as you can see below I had a blast making the event special for my little girl!

Here are her feet sticking out of her carseat passed out before the big event...

The wonderful cake made by Bake n Cakes.  They made our wedding cake and it was beautiful and yummy so we wanted to have them make this special cake for the party.

I found this perfect Strawberry Shortcake Party outfit on Etsy, and it really made my little girl look so cute.  It was made by Sweet Sassy Boutique and if you are ever in the market for a cute outfit for your little ones please check our her store.

This was the cake table with prizes for all of the kiddies.

What was left of my little girl's smash cake :)

I found a great deal on a custom banner at Shindigz.

Strawberry decorations made from honeycomb strawberries from Amazon and die cut vines.

Pin the Berry on Strawberry Shortcake area.

The beautiful table arrangements.

I carried the red and lime green theme through the tableware.

Some decorative columns, a grass backdrop, and lots of Strawberry Shortcake stickers and decals made the space look like the perfect party location.  We even used a themed table cloth to hide a piano on the left.

This was outfit #2 for my baby girl.  I didn't want to spoil her but I wanted to have backup in case the other one didn't arrive in time or something got spilled...  Anyways I got the Strawberry Birthday Girl onesie from Amazon and the beautiful themed tutu from Windmill and Bubbles on Etsy. 

All of the kids including the Birthday girl had so much fun and people were impressed how we were able to transform a room at my church into party central.  I had fun and the smiles on my little girls face made all the hard work worth it!  I hope you enjoyed this look into another crafty activity I enjoy :)

I'm back!

Hello everyone out there!  I have been really horrible about writing since I came back home to Norway from our vacation to the US.  I can't believe we have been home for almost a whole month yikes!

Anyways we really enjoyed being back in our homeland, hosting a "Berry" fun Strawberry Shortcake party for our little girl's first birthday, and seeing lots of family and friends.  Of course luckily I did get to do a little craft shopping while I was home :)  I really do appreciate the access to all of my faves, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Jo-Ann Fabrics, especially after squeezing my stroller in the tiny hobby shops in Norway.

I wasn't up to much of any crafting or stitching wise while on vacation but I did stop in to get some cross stitch pieces framed by Wheaton's Framing.  The first piece was my YOTA piece Baby Monkey Sampler and I can't wait to see how it turned out!  I also had Letter Writing by Carl Larsen framed and I am still waiting for it to arrive in the mail.  The owner of the frame shop was gracious enough to mail it back to me in Norway for no additional charge :)  I really hope it doesn't get lost in the mail...

When I came home I started stitching a small Christmas ornament from the JCS Ornament issue but I don't have any pics to share with you yet.

I plan to write a post about the fun I had decorating for my little girl's Strawberry Shortcake theme Birthday Party but here is a teaser pic of the amazing cake we ordered from a local bakery in Michigan.  I wish I could take credit for how beautiful it looked and how great it tasted but I can't!

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I also have started to slowly work in a project for a SAL.  I was supposed to finish the first part in February but I just finished charting the whole design out.  (It is a big one at 360 x 310 stitches).  I will show it off when I have some more progress done and hopefully I can stitch quickly to make up for being 3 months behind on it!

Happy Crafting All!