YOTA December and I want Santa's Mittens

Happy December!  I still can't believe it's almost the second week of December and almost Christmas!  I'm a little late but I have been diligently working on my Year of the Acronym piece Medieval Lady...and she is so close to being finished 😄.  I'm writing this from my iPad so I don't have the "before" but here is where I am now...

The lighting is horrible because it's really late here but you can see her in her almost completed self.  All I have left to stitch are the flowers in the border and then add beads to them and to the cloak and the jeweled part of the dogs leash and I will be all done!!  Oh and I ran out I'd DMC #797 with only about 10 stitches left.  But I am looking forward to being able to pick them up soon when we get to travel back home to Michigan for Christmas this year!  Here is an image of Santa wearing Michigan mittens that is my theme for us this year.

After a bit of googling I found out that they sell these mittens in lots of colors at www.michiganmittens.com .  For those of you who don't know, Michigan is unofficially known as the mitten state because the Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten.  We Michiganders even have an odd habit of explaining to someone who is unfamiliar with where a city is located by showing them and pointing to the equivalent location on the "map" on our hand.  

I am really hoping that Santa brings me a pair of these cute mittens ;).  I also hope that I can find the time to finish Medieval Lady before the end of the year to make her my 13th finish of the year and get her framed while I'm home.  How are your Holiday plans coming along?  I hope that you find a little time to stitch during this busy time of year and happy stitching!

  

12th Finish of 2014!

Hello!  I have a small finish to share with you.  I completed this back in September or October and I don't know why I haven't shared her ...

This is Saint Kateri.  She is a present for a friend who chose her confirmation name after the saint.  I got the pattern as a freebie from the blog Do Small Things With Love.  I changed the colors a bit but this only took me a few days to finish.  I still can't believe this is my 12th finish this year!  I still have no idea how to finish her up?  Do you have any suggestions?  Until next time happy stitching!

YOTA November Progress

Hello everyone!  I can't believe it's already November.  I really need to write some posts about some fun Nepali cultural events I got to experience, but I guess I'll s. Thanks for stoe those for later.  Today is the first Saturday of the month so it's time for my Year Of The Acronym or YOTA post. 

This month I stitched only on Medieval Lady so there is loads of progress.  After September I was worried that I wouldn't finish this design by the end of the year so I decided to focus my efforts on it instead of making some new starts. 

Here's where I was last month...

And here is all the progress I made in October!

I think the most obvious progress is on the Celtic braid and that I completed the outer edge of the border.  

This design doesn't have very much backstitching.  But I tend to leave that for last and then a force myself to do it to finish or abandon it all together.  So I decided to start the backstitching early this month.  Here are some close ups of where the backstitch helps put the design into focus.

I also started both of the shields and tassels in the upper left.

And started the veil attached to the lady's hat (I still have a bunch of white to do there) on the upper right corner.

On my last post I received so many encouraging comments that the dirt I couldn't wash out wasn't noticeable.  It is there but it doesn't photograph well.  Now that I've touched all four walls, I think the dirt is far enough away that if the frame is cropped tight you won't see it.  But here is a photo where you can see one of the stains.

Yesterday was Halloween and here are some decorations I made using my Cricut cutting machine and the October 31st cartridge.

This year I had two back to back days of trick or treating with my little ones and now I am completely exhausted.  Hopefully a good night's rest will do the trick ;)  

Thanks for stopping by and I can't wait to read what new and old projects you've been stitching on.

YOTA October Progress

Hello out there!  This Year of the Acronym post is a bit late but I figure posting now is better than never.  This month I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked on Medieval Lady...  I did finally muster up the guts to try to wash her.  Unfortunately her worst stains were barely changed at all and did not disappear!  I think that is really why I stopped working on her a bit.  I thought why invest more time in something that won't look its best when finished... But then I changed my defeated attitude and decided to keep plugging away at her so that I can try to finish her by the end of this year :)

Overall you can't see any progress because I worked entirely in filling in areas that were white.  I figured I would move away from all of the bright colors and get the boring white on white stitching over with.  But it got REALLY boring not using any of the pretty flosses in this design.

I filled in all of the white on the fur lined vest and cape of the lady.

I've already moved on to using other colors this month and I can't wait to see the progress I can make to show you for next month!  Until then...Happy Stitching!

Oslo yarn shop

My Mom is a very big knitter so when she visited us when we lived in Norway I had to take her to a yarn shop.  This is Tjorven garn (yarn) in Oslo.  It is located opposite the T-banen or Train/Metro station in the Majorstuen area of town.  Knitting is VERY popular in Norway.  

Norway is well known for its fabulous wool sweaters.  And Norwegians love to pass the long, cold, dark, winters knitting!

The sale priced yarn below is 28 Norwegian Kroner which give or take the exchange rate comes to about $6 a skein.

Here are some ads on a tall pole outside the shop.  You can also see a bit of the scene on the street :)

Do any of you also knit?  I have tried it a few times when I was younger but unfortunately I just can't get into knitting.  I guess its for the best since I have so many other projects that need my attention.

Happy Crafting!

Baby ads...

I really have been meaning to incorporate more cultural tidbits into this blog: here is a tiny one.

So far when I lived in Africa and Norway and I'm sure I will find one in Nepal, I've seen some very cute Advertisements featuring babies!

This one was on display in downtown Oslo...

And this one was in Gombe district or the equivalent of Downtown Kinshasa...

Two New Small Finishes!

Hello!  I'm back with two small finishes today :). The first is Germany in the Kinkavel Krosses Patriotic Hearts freebie series  and can be found here.

This is the third Patriotic Heart I've stitched and this is stitched on 14 count aida. The others were one I adapted for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Norwegian design.  Eventually I want to have a Christmas tree full of ornaments of all of the wonderful countries we have lived in or visited :)  But this German heart is for a very good friend.  I plan to add her name and the year and use fabric to finish the back and give it as another Christmas gift.  I actually started this a little after I started the ABCs of Parenting so its been a few months now working on it!  Usually these beautiful designs stitch up in a day or two and I really enjoy the designs.  I've been trying to think of how to adapt the double triangle shape of Nepal's flag into a patriotic heart...

The next finish (#11 this year!) is designed by Lizzie Kate and is called Just Married.

I stitched this on cream colored 28 count evenweave 2 over 2.  I used the leftover threads from ABCs of Parenting which fits in perfectly with the wedding colors!

This simple design only took me a few days to start and finish.  I was rushing so I could get it framed here in Kathmandu before a party honoring the bride.  The frame shop here does pretty good work for low prices but unfortunately they had some issues with this cross stitch piece.  It is evenweave so it makes it a bit difficult to keep the fibers perfectly square, but I don't think I'll get any more pieces framed here.  I'll just save them for my favorite framer in the US.

I have also been up to a few other types of crafting lately and had some beautiful Nepali cultural experiences that I plan to share soon.  Until the next time...Happy Stitching and Crafting!

September YOTA

Hello stitchers and crafters!  I have been working pretty diligently on my Medieval Lady piece and can't wait to show you my progress I made in August!

This is where I was overall last month...

And here is where I am now!

I focused on the green Celtic braid on the border.  Although I still have more colors to add to it,  I did finish the first page which means I am half way to the top of the design!

Here is a closer pic where you can see a little more detail.

I also added more of the light blue 1/2 cross stitches and one more stem and flower outline in the darker blue on the lower right border.  

You can see it better here...

I am really enjoying working on this design and I hope I can finish it this year so that I will have finished all of my original WIPs from before I started this little blog!  I can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to on your projects :)

 Good luck and Happy Stitching!

Ninth finish ABCs of Parenting!

Hello everyone!  I am back with a finish to the project I have been meaning to introduce you to! 

Way back on July 11th I started stitching Lizzie Kate's ABCs of Parenting and I finished it on August 31st.  I received the pattern and threads for Mothers Day.  This one has been on my wish list since I first had my daughter.  The fabric I chose is April Showers 28 count Lugana stitched over two by Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie because it picked up all the colors in the design, especially pink and blue for both of my babies. 

Here is the first pic I took after I used up the first skein of the dark blue.

At this point I thought I was about 1/3 of the way finished...but I was wrong.

I am very happy that I was able to finish this project in about a month and a half because it includes weeks where I didnt touch it because I lost my inspiration and the stitching seemed to drag on.

Here are some more progress pics...

But I did love working on this design also.  The words seemed to stitch up quickly and I really enjoyed working on a more simple design.  I didn't work top to bottom and left to right so I did get a little bit off but I think I was able to hide it well in the finished piece.

This was my first time doing a piece this big without using a hoop or frame to stitch it.  I tried using Q Snaps but they kept stretching the fabric too much.  Also this was my first time using hand dyed verigated threads and I really enjoy how they turned out.  

Thanks for taking a look!  I'll be back soon with a YOTA update.  I hope this summer has been filled with lots of stitching and fun for you all!

HAED Birthday SABLE

My birthday was in July and I was a very lucky girl and got treated to a lot of great stitchy stuff.  I knew that most of what was ordered wouldn't be here for my actual birthday and there was a big sale, so I went a little crazy getting a big chunk of my wishlist from Heaven and Earth Designs.  Which afterwards I realized how crazy that was because now I don't want to calculate how long I will have to live to have time to stitch all of these beauties!  Oh well I learned a new stitchy term SABLE from a new blog I follow :Eclectic Bloke's The Secret Language of Stitchers.  So now I definitely have Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy or SABLE!

Here are the charts I received:

Desdemone by my favorite artist Gustave Moreau

Orpheus by Gustave Moreau

Sappho Se Jetamt de Summet by Gustave Moreau

I have been so excited that the site offered these Gustave Moreau paintings plus a few more and I wanted to support them having charts made of one of my favorite and pretty rare artists.

Ruby by Meredith Dillman

I love the Marie Antoinette feel of this one but it calls for Krenik which scares me a bit...we'll see how it goes!

Waiting by Selina Fenech

I love the whole Little Mermaid theme in this one.

Pure Nature by Little Fairy Art

I usually wouldn't stitch something like this but I LOVE teal and the color in her eyes and hair really draws me to this one.

Christmas Mailbox by Ruth Sanderson

Once again I love the teal house and the Christmas theme.

Sanctuary of Knowledge by Randal Spangler

I have been looking at this one for awhile and was thinking of doing it for a friend who LOVES books but we'll see when I ever get around to starting it.

Lingering Dream by Ida Larsen

This was a brand new design and I love the colors and the furniture and interior but it is ENORMOUS and it will be beautiful when I finish it some day.

These are the two Heaven and Earth designs I already had:

A Cozy Table for Two by Mikki Senkarik 

and

Mom and Baby Turtle by Annya Kai

Mom and Baby turtle is the only one I have started and finished only one tiny page so now looking at the rest of these looks rather intimidating...but I know one day I will start and finish them all :)

August YOTA Medieval Lady

Hello again!  I am trying to be better about blogging more regularly.  Here is my on time YOTA post.  You can find out more and see what everyone else has been up to here: http://pulltheotherthread.blogspot.com/p/yota-year-of-acronyms.html?m=1

After my last YOTA finish Chi Omega pillow.  I started to get excited because I realized that my original long list of WIPs is getting really short! In fact I am down to three  (not counting my current design I haven't shared yet and Christ at Hearts Door which is still too frustrating to even think about stitching)!! They are Girl with a Pearl Earring, Mom and Baby Turtle, and this YOTA piece Medieval Lady.

I started this design I am guessing sometime in 2004 or 2005.  I found it in Cross Stitch Gold Magazine Issue 27 and it is designed by Karen Brittan.  This was my very first project I did that didn't come in kit form.  Its so old that it the stitches are going in both directions instead of all going in the same direction.  It's also quite a bit dirty as it sat in Qsnaps at my mom's house for at least a few years and got covered in lots of dust.

Anyways here is the overall before photo...

As you can see I got quite a bit done before I abandoned it for some reason I can't even remember.

Here is the bottom of the Lady's skirt before...

And here is where I am now...

Here is a close up of her buttons before...

And after the red backstitching.

I also did a bit of work on the border, the Celtic braid column and finished the Greyhound's jeweled collar.

Before...

And currently...

So overall, here is where I am on the design now!

I was able to get another good start on her and I am looking forward to working on her!  All of the bright colors and some half crosses should help keep me motivated to finish her.  In fact I really hope I can finish her before the end of this year!  There is still quite a bit of work left but I am definately a little more than half way done with my Medieval Lady.

I can't wait to see what everyone else has been working on.  Also does anyone have any washing suggestions?  I've never washed a stitched piece before because I've never had to and the process seems a bit intimidating to me. I worry that it will get ruined but I can't leave her the way she is.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Happy Stitching!