Saturday, August 2, 2014

Hello August

I cannot believe that we are already into August!!!! Where has the summer gone? I cannot believe that my son will be entering the 5th grade in just a couple of weeks. But he has had a blast with camp all summer. And I am highly jealous of his tan :)

I haven't gotten much done this past month. I was able to finish up 3 charity square for Charity Cross-Stitching for Sfpsfc & Sick Children in Need which will be my last 3 squares for them as they are closing their doors. They will still be putting together quilts which will take another year or so to finish but once those are done and delivered they will be officially done. I enjoyed my time stitching for them it gave me great pride in what I do. So I will have to find another place to stitch for in time but I think I will be taking a break of charity stitching so that I can get some personal projects done. The first square is for a boy's sports quilt so I stitched Baseball bat & Mitt from Cyberstitchers , the next square is for Building Blockmen quilt where I was lucky enough to stitch the Blue Musketeer!!!! This chart was donated by a member of the Charity, and the very last square is an Owl I think he came out so cute (and I'm not really an owl person) this chart cam out of Just Cross Stitch's June 2014 Issue.


 

 
 
 
This month I am going to be mainly focusing on my Mermaid SAL (as I am behind) and I am pulling out Echo's of Autumn with hopes of getting a good chunk of it done. I also have 2 charity squares for WOCS to do also. Here are my starting points for  Mermaid SAL and Echo's of Autumn:



I have also been secretly working on a blanket for my husband. I am attempting to make a C2C (corner to corner) blanket in NY Giants colors as that is his favorite team. His birthday is in 3 weeks and I am really hopping that I can get it done by then seeing the only time I get to work on it is when he is at work and I am not working. But it would also help if he would stop hurting himself to the point that he gets off of work for a week too lol. Hopefully I will have a picture to share on my next post.

Have a beautiful AUGUST!!!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Crocheting Like a Mad Woman

 

 

Well it is officially summer vacation for my son!!!! It's a happy moment and a "oh my what am I going to do with him so I don't hear 'I'm bored' all summer long?"  Well we found this playground program that kids a can attend Monday through Friday and he loves it!!!! We also have day trips planned all summer on the husbands day off which I am really looking forward to. Our plan for this summer is make it eventful so our son has something to talk about when he get back to school. I am really hoping that we make it to Old Sturbridge Village this summer I think it will be a great experience for our son. What do you hope to do with your summer? So far we have spend time with family and friends. We went strawberry picking which was a lot of fun and we are really looking forward to going to the beach tomorrow.





 

So like that title states I have been crocheting left and right for the past month or so. I have made multiple hats for the newest addition to our family. Our nephew RK has many hats coming his way in the future but right now they are just beanies. I got the pattern for these beanies from Cre8tion Crochet (one of my favorite sites to get patterns from). The pattern is called Infant Boys Beanie it is so easy to work up that once you make a couple you don't really need the pattern to remember how to make them.
This was made with Red Heart yarn called Fall I love how it worked out as stripes.

This was made with Red Heart Soft (brown) and Cotton yarn (orange)..... note to self don't use cotton yarn it can't stretch well lol


This was yarn from my stash...... it is very thin so will make for a great summer hat seeing that RK can't wear sunscreen just yet.
This one was made out of RH Camo yarn.... what little boy doesn't need camo :)
Besides working on hats I also finished another diaper cover for RK. This is the same pattern as the NY Giants on I posted a couple of months ago. The pattern is called Football Inspired Diaper Covers PDF 12-058 by Maria Bittner. You should swing by Pattern Paradise there are some great patterns for sale and some nice one's offered for free.

 
 

 I also for the fist time made a towel topper for my harvest towel and crocheted some dish cloths. I don't know why it took me so long to try dishcloths and towel toppers.
My very first towel topper

 

 

I was also able to get some cross stitching done. I finished two more squares for a charity group. I also  to start my Mermaid Sal from Love Thy Thread I am really excited to be stitching her.
A butterfly square for a  Pink and Lilac butterfly quilt

Made for a colorful cow quilt

Mermaid SAL

I am really excited that I have finally found a needlepoint store in my area!!!!! I never thought I would have been able to say that. So I got a Mill Hill kit called Autumn Harvest Collections, I hope I will be able to go back soon and get some more :)
 
 
Enjoy your summer!!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Catching Up with Life

Well I have been extremely busy lately. This pass month I have been running around like crazy with events every weekend. Looking forward to June as things slow down a bit. I haven't been able to craft as much as I would like because I have been dealing with a lot of emotional things and trying to get out of this rut I have been stuck in. I have made small improvements but I am not 100% there yet but that is okay it's how life goes.

Monday May 19 I got to welcome my nephew into the world he definitely gave his mother a run for her money lol. He weighted in at 8lbs 7ozs and was 21 inches long. He is so darn cute and I cannot wait to see him with the things I made him. But I can finally share them here because my friend Nic has already see the items (it was so hard not sharing pictures)

First up is a NY Giants football inspired Diaper cover seeing the Daddy is a huge Giants fan along with my husband who was in the background encouraging me to make this. I got the pattern from Pattern Paradise called Football Inspired Diaper Covers . It is an easy to follow pattern and you can pretty much customize it to any football team (though she only has the NY and Cowboys star included in the pattern but it's not hard to buy a team logo patch). I am now working on the football field one for them too.
Back side of NY Giants Diaper Cover
Font side of NY Giants Diaper cover
 Next up is the monkey blanket. The baby's room theme is animals and sports and Mama didn't want a lot of monkeys but I couldn't pass up this one because I just loved the face and I didn't want just a plan granny square blanket. I got the pattern for the monkey face from Tillie Tulip which is a free pattern.


 
 
I also found out this month that the charity group I stitch for will be closing at the end of this year because the women who runs the group and does all the sewing has been dealing with some medical issues. It is sad to see them closing their doors but they did touch so many kids in the 8 years they have been running. I have only been stitching for them for about a year now and I have enjoyed every second of it. So here are some of the squares I have stitched since my last post.
Bambi for a Disney quilt

a block for a Mr. Men quilt

Fire Truck for an Emergency Vehicle Quilt

Mindcraft square for video game quilt

pink butterfly for butterfly quilt

snow pea from Plants vs Zombies for a video game pattern made by bicyclist

Bird playing soccer for a football quilt

Daisy for a girls Disney quilt
 
As the month is calming down I have had a chance to look through my stuff and I am trying to de-clutter my life when I found this doll in my stash. I started her a long time ago and she happened to get put away for a while. I started her because my Grandmother made me this doll when I was a little girl which got lost over the years. My grandmother passed away years ago so having her make one isn't an option anymore. So a light bulb went on when I realized "hey you know how to crochet now" so I have plans on finishing her up now so that I can display her and have another loving reminder of my beloved Grandmother.
 
Well off to cook dinner. I hope to post again soon :)
 
 
 
HAPPY STITCHING


Monday, January 27, 2014

More Finishes for 2014

I am so excited!!!! Last weekend I finished my first Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) chart. I was so giddy when I finished her as it was a long time waiting. The chart is called QS Porthole of Fantasy 1 by Jasmine Becket-Griffith. I started stitching her January 1, 2013 and the goal was to get her done in about 7 months but between finishing up school and planning a wedding she was put to the side for a while. So my goal was to finish her by the end of the month. So I put the very last stitch in her on  January 19, 2014.  I plan on stitching the next chart in the series as the fabric is big enough to have another chart on it. Then I am thinking of some creative ways to make it look like they are being see through a submarine widow.
 
Along with the big finish this month I also was able finish two more charity squares for Charity Cross-Stitching for Sfpsfc & Sick Children in Need. The first pictures is a square for a bug quilt and the second picture is a square of duck for a pond life quilt. Next up on the list for charity squares is another Disney square, football, and emergency vehicle.

Bee and Lady bug for a bug quilt

Duck and ducklings for a pond life quilt

This pass weekend I join one of my Facebook groups Cross Stitch Friends who had a challenge to see if all the members in total can stitch 10,000 stitches from Friday evening thru Sunday evening. Well needless to say the group surpassed the challenge and the count ended up being 61,037 stitches from those who gave counts before she added up. This pass weekend was a star weekend for me I got 2,799 stitches in which I was thrilled to finally have a weekend where all I had to worry about stitching. So I started 2 new projects!!
 
This one is called Dolly Mama Cross Stitch Bitch. She will be a charity stitch for a yahoo group that I am apart of called World of Charity Stitching (WOCS). This group does tons of charity work and they are filled with wonderful caring people and I am grateful to finally be able to start participating in this group.
I started stitching this on Sunday January 26, 2014.
 

Also this past weekend I also started  Brooke's Books Seasonal Houses. I decided to start with winter as I love snow even if I wish it was so cold. In the BB Interactive we are doing a SAL of all the seasonal houses.  I am loving the way this house is coming out!!! I added a strand of light effects to the snow so it sparkles a little more :) This is a different type of stitching for me as I have never really liked stitching buildings but I just love the way Brooke designed this houses and what I love even more is that the designs are simple enough where you can put your own twist into the design. This week is Halloween SAL ornaments will have to see what I can come up with.
 
Well this coming week I am hoping to work more on a baby blanket that I haven't touched in a few weeks. I also hope to get more charity stitching in.
 
 
Happy Stitching

Thursday, January 16, 2014

First Finish of 2014

Hello everyone!!!! I hope that everyone had a great New Year and that 2014 is going good. So far this year has been going okay. I am still in search of a job with hopes that one comes up so and will help 2014 go smoother than the pass years. Our month has been busy my our son's doctor's appointments. We begin the process of finding out what he is allergic to for his blood test claims he has no allergies but he has all the physical symptoms of having allergies. He is also in the process to being tested of ADD and learning disabilities so that he can receive the proper assistance with his schooling. And we can learn as a family how to help him become the bright kid that is trapped inside.

This year my goal is to focus on current WIPS and not start too many new projects where my current projects are pushed to the side to where they don't get done. I am hoping that I can also finish up some UFO's that are on my list to eventually be completed.

I have finished my first charity square for the year and my first finish for the year at the same time. The square is for Charity Cross-Stitching for Sfpsfc & Sick Children in Need which is a Facebook group where ladies stitch squares that are turned into quilts for children who are stick and also to orphanages in other countries. They are always looking for more stitches and if you can't cross stitch they are always looking for cash donations to help with the funds for materials to finish these beautiful quilts.


Ariel stitched for a little girl who requested a Disney Princess Quilt


I also join the 9-day challenge on cross stitch friends Facebook group. We has from December 24th til January 2nd to stitch as much as we possibly could. I worked on my Qs Porthole Fantasy along with the charity square. I was able to finish up a page on the chart. Which I am so excited about because I only have a page left to the pattern which isn't a full page but she is almost completed.


QS Porthole Fantasy pages 1-5 completed

And here is my progress after the weekend. I am hoping that I will finish up the page this coming weekend.



I hope everyone is have a great 2014 so far and that 2014 is a wonderful year.

Hugs,
Donna