Happy 53rd Birthday DRC!

Today June 30th is the 53rd Anniversary of the day the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) received its Independence from the Belgians!

To celebrate I challenged myself to design and complete this Patriotic Heart cross stitch based on Kincavel Krosses pattern.  And I am happy to report that I finished this project on time!  This is also my third finish for this year.

Here she is...

I am so happy with how it turned out!  I plan on making some more of these to send to Congo friends and trying out other flag hearts especially the Norwegian flag design.

It felt so odd stitching this on 14 count AIDA after working on 25 count evenweave for so long on Birds SAL.  This took a bit longer than I had hoped to complete I started it on last Sunday and worked on it little by little until it was completed on Friday!  I hope to make it into an ornament but I will probably make more on a smaller fabric count.

It worked out that I had a scrap of fabric from my original start of the Monkey Birth Sampler that I was able to use and I can stitch at least one more on it.

Anyways if you are interested in learning more about the DRC Independence Day click on this link.  I was lucky enough to be living there when they had their 50th Anniversary.  In our neighborhood hundreds of flags lined the street along a parade path and we got to observe a marching band playing from the 6th floor of the building I lived in.  Luckily it was not a day of rioting as it could have been and the day was celebrated peacefully in 2010.  I will always remember this day of Independence mostly because the main boulevard in downtown Kinshasa is named Trente Juin (June 30th in French).  There is actually a celebration here in Norway taking place at the Multicultural Museum, but this is also the day of the huge American Independence Day Party in Frogner Park.

Birds SAL Part 4 Start

Hello there!  Thank you to all of you who shared in my joy last time when I finally finished Part 3 of this beautiful design!  The lovely designer sent me Part 4 on Sunday but to be honest I really haven't worked on it very much.  Another small project has been taking up most of my stitching time...but I'll show you that on June 30th.

Anyways here is where I was on last Sunday...

And here is where I am today...

Not as far as I was hoping but I did finish one of the five birds.  So I am 1/5th done with this part!  Also this was a milestone because until Part 5 was released on June 25th I was caught up with everyone else on this design :D

I am hoping to be able to complete the other 4 birds and have them finished by next week so I will be caught up again, but we shall see.  

Happy Crafting!

Birds SAL Part 3 Finished!

Well I waited a bit to post this week because I was hoping to finish up Part 3 and the good news is that I did Finish!!  Now I just have to finish up Part 4 and I will finally be caught up with everyone else :)

Here is where I left off last week...

And some progress shots...

And finally here is Part 3 Complete!!  It is really starting to look closer to being finished and I can't wait to start the next section as it contains the birds of the design that this is named after.

Thank you for all of the encouragement!  At first I started on the "bracelet" section because I was a bit burned out from the previous sections flowers.  But once I started this sections much smaller flower design my momentum pulled me to finish up rather quickly :)  

I really can't believe I am so close to really getting caught up.

Happy Stitching!

Birds SAL Part 3!

Hello and Happy Friday!  I am excited to share with you that I finished the giant section of Part 2 on Tuesday this week!!  I am one step closer to of my goal of getting caught up with everyone else on this SAL :)

Well here was where I left off last Friday...

And my daily progress...

Until...ta da the finish of Part 2!!!

Part 3 has two sections the first is a smaller delicate design that reminds me of two very beautiful bracelets and and the other is a much smaller corner flower piece.  I was a little burned out on flowers after all of the hard work I just did so I decided to start on the "bracelets."

Here is where I am at now and I am going to enjoy the time during my daughter's nap to get in a few more stitches :)  The part on the left side is about halfway done in length.  Hopefully by next week I will have completed this part and started the other corner flower section. 

 Thank you all for sharing my journey on this piece!

First Framed Finish of 2013!

If you can remember way back in January I had my first project finish of the year with my WIP of Carl Larsson's Letter Writing.  When I went on vacation in the US last April I took it with me to my favorite framer who does and AMAZING job on all my pieces and here is the final result!

Here is a close up where you can see the stitching and design a little better.

I received this in the mail last week and I just wanted to show off the finished product.  Enjoy!

Birds SAL Progress Part 2 Week 3

Hello and Happy Friday everyone!  As usual I have been plugging away at my Birds SAL piece.

Here is where I ended last time...

And here is my slow progress for the week...

And here is where I am today!

I did meet my goal of reaching the far right side of the design but there is still quite a bit left to do!  I was starting to feel like I won't catch up but seeing the progress and how far I came this week is inspiring me again :)  I almost have 3/4 large flowers complete and now I am on the last page of the design even though it is quite a large page.  I am definitely past half way now but I am still pressuring myself to finish ASAP so I can start to get caught up with the rest of the stitchers.  It's not really having to pay for the design but I am a sucker for a deadline and I really, really want to meet it!

Well I am off to stitch some more but I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Happy Crafting!

It's Lulu!

Well almost if you read the sign to this Metal fabrication shop in Kinshasa, DRC... I took this pic years ago when I lived in DR Congo since the shop beared my nickname!

I finally got all of my African pics loaded onto my PC a few weeks ago.  So this is a teaser pic and I promise I will share many more pictures from my life in Kinshasa with you all soon :)

2013 Crafty Goals Check in

I really can't believe that it's June and we are now halfway through 2013!  I thought I would do a quick  6 month check in with my yearly crafty goals to see how I am doing...

Crafty goals for 2013
1.  Finish at least 3 WIPs.  I have finished 2 WIPs so far and am currently working on the third that should be done by the end of June!
2.  Finish top piece of Congo Rainbow Quilt.  I haven't even pulled this project out yet.
3.  Finish Family Christmas Stockings.  I need to get this project out and just finish it up with plenty of time before the holidays start this year.
4.  Stitch at least 2 pieces for World of Charity Stitching.  So far I haven't done this but I am thinking once I get caught up on my SAL to start a small piece.
5.  Finish Norway Map Cross stitch so I can purchase the Norwegian Bunad design.  I haven't started this one either but I almost bought the Bunad design but stopped myself a few weeks ago.
6.  Participate in a SAL (stitch a-long). Yes!  I am currently working on the Flowers SAL.
7.  Make at least 4 small ornaments to give to others.  I am almost finished with one ornament!
8.  Complete another page of Girl with a Pearl.  Not yet!
9.  Start a HAED project.  It is purchased and I have started the gridding.
10.  Start Valentines quilt.  No piecing or sewing yet but I did purchase material for the back while I was home in March.
11.  Make and send out Valentines Day Cards.  Unfortunately did not happen but I am OK with that.
12.  Start retirement gift for my Dad.  He retired in February and I still don't have the kit I would like to do on order...
13.  Complete 2 Wedding samplers as gifts.  Not started yet...

14.  Finish Grandparents Christmas Gifts and send out. I should have added this big project to the original list!  I finally finished decopaging the EIGHT painted frames with Holiday paper cut out pieces for Halloween and Thanksgiving back in February! Below is one of the finished pieces :)

Hmm I still have a lot of projects to work on to meet all the goals...but so far I am happy with my progress that I have achieved!  Plus I still have another 6 months now to try to finish up a few things :)  Is anyone else having better success at achieving your stitching or crafting goals?

May YOTA

Well I took a few months off from this great YOTA idea of finishing up Works in Progress, but now I am back.  I have been trying frantically to catch up on a SAL that I have fallen terribly behind on but I decided to pull out this very old Needlepoint WIP to try to finish up.  We will call this project Chi Omega Pillow.  Back in college I joined this Sorority (*It is actually technically a Fraternity maybe I'll share the story next time) and my Mom being the avid Goodwill shopper that she is found this there and thought of her only daughter...ME!  The kit had everything and I think I probably started it sometime around 2003.

Here is how it has looked since I started it those 10 long years ago...

And here is how far I am on it today...

Unfortunately somehow in the past decade I lost or ran out of some of the wool colors.  So I have had to rework it a bit.  A few weeks ago I thought I knew of a shop in Oslo that carried what I would need to finish it, and I travelled all the way downtown with my daughter and this kit in my backpack, only to find out they stopped carrying Needlepoint supplies.  But on another day I stumbled into another craft shop that did have the wool, but I didn't have the kit so I tried to remember what I thought I needed from memory.  When I got home it turned out I was ALL wrong and the new wool was much thinner than the old.  So I am trying to finish this with the products and colors I have left.  I took out the yellow bit since I thought I was out but then a few days after finishing it up in red my little girl came walking out of our storage room with a bunch of yellow wool!  

Anyways I am enjoying working on this project for a few reasons.  First it brings back lots of fun memories of my Sisters and all of the adventures we had in College.  Also I am enjoying not having to look at a chart and count it out, and lastly the tent stitches on this needlepoint seem to be going so much quicker and the wool gets better coverage than cross stitch cotton thread!

I didn't finish it yet but I should have it done by next month for sure!