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!