A to Z Challenge: Y is for Year

Today is Day 25 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, the penultimate challenge posting day.  If you are just now coming to the blog for the first time and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

Y is for Year of Chalk

Have you noticed how popular chalkboards are getting lately?  I remember when our elementary school got whiteboards installed.  It was a big deal because they were the next best thing, and no longer would teachers have to deal with dirty, dusty, squeaky chalkboards.  But the humble chalkboard is certainly making a comeback, and that has filtered into cross stitch too.

Hands On Design has come out with a monthly pattern series they're calling A Year in Chalk.  There's new small pattern released for each month (they're up to June at the moment).  The idea is to stitch the light colored motifs on black or dark gray fabric, and then end up looking like little stitched chalkboards.

With my love of all things involving monthly patterns, I wasn't sure about these at first.  Frankly, I found them a little boring.  But I've been watching one of the blogs I read work her way through the designs and I've started liking them a lot more.  I like how some months add subtle touches of color, giving the design new life, but still making it look like it was created with pastel colored chalk. It will be interesting to see the rest of the series revealed as the series goes on.

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker
R is for Rules 
S is Sue Hillis
T is for Travel
U is for Ursula Michael
V is for Vermillion Stitchery 
W is for Wreath 
X is for X's and Oh's


And see you tomorrow for the final day!

A to Z Challenge: X is for X's and Oh's

Today is Day 24 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. Only 3 days left.  Are you sad?  If you are just now coming to the blog for the first time and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

X is for X's and Oh's

So actually it wasn't hard to find something to cover for X.  Surprising, huh?

X's and Oh's is a designer that is fairly new to me, and I haven't had the pleasure of stitching any of their designs yet. I first discovered them through the Dragon Dreams Facebook Fan Group, where Dragon Dreams Designer Jennifer shared this Hoppy Dragon design.  Although she isn't actively putting out designs anymore, she had teamed up with X's and Oh's to create a series of holiday patterns featuring dragons.  I think this Easter one is my favorite, but I also like the Halloween one called "Boo".  So far there's 5 in this series total: Hoppy, Boo, Noel, Love, and Party.

So after discovering them I of course had to explore their website a little bit (of course).  They have a wide range of other designs, but one that caught my eye is this series of flower teacups they're releasing for each month.  Kind of reminds me of the Vermillion Stitchery teacups I posted about on Saturday.  Although I feel like there's more continuity between each month in this series, since the teacups are almost all the same (I think, the whole series isn't out quite yet). You know I had to share the daffodil one since it's for March, didn't you?  I love the extra detailing on the stripe on the teacup and on the head of the spoon, and I really love the font they used at the bottom too. 

X's and Oh's also has quite a few patterns along the humorous side.  Being the fanatical cross stitcher I have been lately, this particular one really tickled my funny bone.   My family probably wishes I did something other than cross stitch in the evenings lately, haha.

So that wraps up this (somewhat shorter) post on a new-to-me designer. One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker
R is for Rules 
S is Sue Hillis
T is for Travel
U is for Ursula Michael
V is for Vermillion Stitchery 
W is for Wreath

A to Z Challenge: U is for Ursula Michael

Today is Day 21 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge. If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

U is for Ursula Michael

I know I've talked about Ursula Michael and her designs during the challenge before, so I'm going to try to keep this one shorter today.

Ursula is a designer with a huge array of designs.  She does everything from seasonal and inspirational to quilt patterns, to the excellent typography designs.  I have a few of these ones, a Christmas tree, and a spring one.  If you'd like to see some excellent progress on the seasonal ones, I suggest checking out Jeremiah's Mom's blog, since she's been working on them (and finished one so far).  I have several of these shaped word designs on my wish list, but I'm most excited about someday stitching this one that's shaped like an ice cream sundae called Let's Eat Dessert.  Yum.

And speaking of yum, this design called Dessert Makes Me Happy was what brought me to Ursula's designs in the first place.  I saw someone stitching this on one of the cross stitch forums I read and it was just so cute I had to find out more about the pattern.  That lead me to Imaginating, which is a company that distributes many of Ursula's designs (although not exclusively).  If you're a digital pattern person, you should visit Ursula's pages on Crosstitch.com, since many of her designs there are only available as download.  And she's fast!  She has been adding new designs every few weeks or so, it's crazy!

In additional the word designs, I love the shaped words she's done for several of the holidays.  Right now there's a Trick or Treat, Give Thanks, Happy Holidays, and this is the newest one, Happy Easter.  I've always loved art that has normal items shaped into letters (I blame this Disney logo from my childhood), and that combined with my love of holiday and seasonal patterns, makes these perfect.

And speaking of my love of seasonal patterns, Ursula also has a beautiful series of stained glass window patterns, one for each season.  I don't have room to show all 4 in this one post, but this is the spring one, which is one of my favorites.  Daffodils again.  

And now this post is starting to get longer, so I will wrap it up rather than risk waxing long. 

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker
R is for Rules 
S is Sue Hillis
T is for Travel
 

A to Z Challenge: S is for Sue Hillis

Today is Day 19 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

S is for Sue Hillis

Now I know many of you have probably heard of this designer.  I love the wide arrange of patterns that Sue has, from the funny and/or sarcastic to beautiful arrangements.  But on the off chance that you haven't heard of her yet, I'd like to share a few things with you.

I have a few Sue Hillis pieces in my stash, most of them are Christmas.  I seem to gravitate towards all things Gingerbread House themed, so I was really lucky to get a copy of her Gingerbread street chart last year right before Christmas.  I think it will go really well with my Shannon Wasileff Gingerbread SAL when I finish that (maybe Christmas this year?).

I also picked up this chart at the same time, Calories Don't Count at Christmas.  Since I'm a big sucker for sweets during Christmastime, this fit right into my life.  I mean, candy you got in your stocking really shouldn't count against the diet, right?  I also  really like all the little candy and sweet motifs and things on this one as well.  This is a good chart to show an example of the more funny side of Sue's designs.

I also got this set of charts, More Bah Humbug.  Now, I'm not a bah humbug kind of person, but for some reason these ornaments just tickle my funny bone.  In case it is too small to see properly, each ornament sized design features a Christmas motif where something has gone wrong.  The lights/ornament are broken, the gingerbread man is over-baked, etc.  One of the blogs I follow (sorry, can't remember which one now, if it was yours leave a comment so I can give you a link!) stitched up all these and the ones from the Bah Humbug chart last year around Christmas and they turned out so cute as little ornaments.  I especially like the broken lights and broken candy canes designs in this set of patterns for some reason.  The yellow snow one is a little too weird for me, so I don't think I will ever end up stitching that particular motif though. 

On the wish list side of things, Sue Hillis also has several pirate designs, which are all quite tounge in cheek and funny.  She has two Christmas-y ones that are my favorite though.  Yo Ho Ho Ho has a pirate-y Santa with a candy cane peg leg and Shiver Me Timbers has a pirate themed snowman.  I have a friend who love pirates (Johnny Depp was her not-so-secret celebrity crush for years, although he's been replaced by Chris Hemsworth in her affections now), and I think either of these designs would make great Christmas gifts for her.

Moving away from Christmas, Sue has a few "closet" designs that are neat.  I like this one, Witch Hazel's closet.  Again, another Halloween pattern, isn't that funny.  But I love how her little witch socks are sticking out of the drawers.  And the cute little purple witchy bloomers.  If I was a witch I bet you this is what my closet would look like.

Another holiday pattern, this one from a series of apron designs.  This looks like the only "current" apron design right now based on what I can find (not that I looked that hard, I'm in a hurry to get this posted today), but I've seen others on eBay before so I'm thinking maybe they're just out of print?  But this Easter Bunny's apron is really cute.  I love the baby bunnies sitting waiting in the pockets and all the Easter egg decorating things in all the pockets.  Adorable.

But Sue doesn't just have holiday designs, and in particular I like this one.  This is the Seven Menopausal Dwarfs.  And although I haven't reached this lovely stage of my life yet (thank goodness, since I'm still in my 20s) I think these could also be re-titled the Seven PMS Dwarfs.  My brother and dad so do not appreciate when these show up during that time of month.  Am I right, ladies?

Anyway, that's it for another long designer post. Come back tomorrow for T.  We're nearing the end now!

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker
R is for Rules

A to Z Challenge: R is for Rules

Today is Day 18 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

R is for Rules

Today is a pure wish list post, and as such is rather long.  You've been warned.  

R is for rules, and specifically the Christmas Rules design by Lizzie Kate.  There are actually a series of (six?) charts from her "double flips" series, which means you actually get two charts for the price of one.  I really love all the individual Christmas rules in this series, and I think they look absolutely adorable all stitched together like this.  I think I especially like the "listen for reindeer" rule; there's something so whimsical about it.

And while we're on the subject of Lizzie Kate...

There's also a matching set to this one called Halloween Rules, which I like, but I like this series called Boo Club more.  These are just 1 word Halloween phrases with a cute little picture by them.  Actually, there's a Christmas version of Boo Club too (can't think of the name right now) that I do have in my stash, but the Christmas Rules pattern is still on my wish list.

There's also a series of one word patterns called Living With Charm that I also love.  These patterns were actually my introduction to Lizzie Kate.  One of the cross stitch forums I visit had a member who was stitching them, and stitching them together into one piece, and I just fell in love with the effect as a whole.

Now, I can appreciate single Lizzie Kate patterns too.  I love this one called Cat Lessons for People.  Those of you who are cat lovers will totally understand it.  She's also got one called Kitty String that's nice and simple, but I think if I had to choose one cat themed LK pattern, this would be it.

As I mentioned on "A" day in this challenge, I have a weakness for alphabets, and LK has a lot of them.  And although I admire a lot of them, I've really admired seeing this Christmas ABC chart being stitched up by several members during the Crazy Challenge back in January, and it's just kind of grown on me.

Of course, not to be outdone, my love of alphabets is also mirrored by my love of monthly patterns.  So I absolutely adore the Lizzie Kate Year of Blocks Flip Its patterns.  I have about 3 of these now, but someday hope to be able to collect all 12.  I also want to be able to stitch them in the recommend Weeks Dye floss someday, which is normally out of my budget, but I think in the backgrounds on these blocks it really makes such a difference.

So now that I've finished gushing about all things Lizzie Kate, and boring you with another long post, I wish you happy stitching for the rest of the day!

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls
P is for Pumpkins
Q is for Quaker

A to Z Challenge: P is for Pumpkins

Today is Day 16 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.  Since Sundays are exempt from the challenge, this will be my last post for the week until Monday comes around.

P is for Pumpkins

Today's post is another pure wish list post.  Which might be a good thing, since I seem to have been long-winded with my entries this past week.

So P is for Pumpkins, specifically the Pretty Pumpkins pattern (say that three times fast) by Glendon Place.  Again, for someone who doesn't like Halloween all that much, I really seem to gravitate towards Halloween patterns.  Hmmm...

This pattern initially went totally over my radar, but I saw someone in a online cross stitch group I visit stitching it up last year and I just fell in love with it.  Something about those patterns on the pumpkins make all the difference.  I really love how they custom matted the model too, although if I do ever get the chance to stitch this, I will definitely not be able to afford to do it that way!

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark
O is for Owls

A to Z Challenge: O is for Owls

Today is Day 15 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

O is for Owls

Not really sure why, but I am totally obsessed with owls right now.  Not so much your traditional, realistic owls, but I love those cutesy, stylized owls that are so popular.  Which is good for me, of course, because it makes finding charts much easier.  

Two of my favorite owl patterns in my stash are the two new Owlets kits from Mill Hill I got for my birthday (thanks again Kathy & Brianne!).  These cute little adorable babies are just so sweet with their decorated eggs and sleepy eyes.  These look like they will be even more spectacular in person.  The colors and the beads really stand out when you're looking at the stitched models, which unfortunately I didn't capture much with my photo here.  I really like Mill Hill kits, so I look forward to stitching these. 

I also was able to get my hands on a chart by Ursula Michael (one of my favorite designers) called Halloween Hoots last year.  Sadly, it was after Halloween so I didn't feel like pulling it out, although I hope to start on it for this year.  I think my favorite owl of the three is the orange vampire owl on the right.  He looks so mysterious and mischievous.

There's a matching design called Holiday Blues for winter that's on my wish list.  I'd love for Ursula to do an owl design for every season!  I also like how the Holiday Blues chart can easily be used for Christmas (the "joy" aspect) or just left up for winter in general.  Love those little cuties bouncing all over the letters. 

I also have a lot of owl charts in my stash thanks to charts from Dailycrossstitch.com.  These patterns are fun, easy, and usually pretty quick to stitch up.  The biggest problem I've had is finding the time to do so!

By the way, if you like the style of these charts, and you like freebie patterns, make sure you do check out www.dailycrossstitch.com.  They offer a different free chart per day, and some of them are really great.  You just have to make sure you check back every day so you don't miss one.  Of course, if you do miss one, they go on sale in the store for only $1.00 the next day, so even then that won't set you back much.

So now I've given you brief glimpse into my owl stash, of course you know I have more owl patterns in my wish list.

There's a series of patterns you can purchase from Etsy featuring owls called Hooties.  I love just about all of them, but I am particularly drawn to this one, called "Chic Smart".  Out of all of the Hooties charts, I'm not sure why I like these ones best.  Perhaps it's because I'm a nerd and always will be.

I mentioned Holiday Blues by Ursula Michael earlier.  She also has an owl pattern called A Few Hoots.  It features a family of owls sitting on a tree branch with the greatest caption: "Families are like owls. Mostly sweet with a few hoots."  I have a few hoots in my family, that's for sure, so I'd love to stitch this one up someday.

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark

A to Z Challenge: I is for Ice

Today is Day 9 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  In case you haven't heard of this yet, the idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet.

I is for Ice

Specifically, I is for a pattern called Ice Scream by Barbara Ana.  This is another one of those Halloween patterns that I would just love to get my hands on.  Ice cream and puns, and Halloween, what's not to like about this one?

And I don't have much more to say about that, so I guess today's post is just going to be really short.  :)  Although if you've never heard about or seen Barbara Ana's designs before, I do recommend you check her out.  She has some very cute stuff. 

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day, so I think I will start doing that when I can.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats

A to Z Challenge: H is for Hats

Today is Day 8 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  In case you haven't heard of this yet, the idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet.

H is for Hat

I actually had a bit of a hard time choosing a theme for today's letter.  I had originally had a Halloween post planned, but my patterns got pulled into other letters which left me a little high and dry for H.  And it took me quite a long time before I came up with the Hat angle.

I have two patterns featuring hats in my stash right now.  This first is a kit from Janlynn called Antique Hat Collection.  I got this from Joann's about a year ago, and it is the piece I can credit with getting me back interested in cross stitch.  My cross stitching tends to go in cycles, and I hadn't picked up any projects for about 3 years until I saw this one calling my name from the shelf.  I don't know how hard the kit is to track down anymore (I haven't seen it myself recently) but this design is also available in the Best of Kooler Design Studio pattern book if you have that around.  I also ended up purchasing two matching kits to go with this one, one with purses and one with shoes. 

Longtime readers of this blog will recognize this one, Let's Be Wicked by Ursula Michael, which I got for my birthday from a good friend in California.  This is a Halloween design, since it features a word art design of a witch's hat.  gain, although I'm not a huge Halloween person, I love stitching Halloween patterns.  Go figure.  On a side note, if you search for hat cross stitch patterns, I'd say 80% of the results are Halloween patterns because of all those witches hats.

On the wish list side of hats, and also on the Halloween side, I've always wanted to stitch Hats Off to Halloween (the original) by Lizzie*Kate.  She's redesigned this pattern now, but I like the original much better for some reason.  I think I remember reading somewhere this was one of the company's very first designs too, so that's kind of neat.

Another trend you see in hat patterns is Red Hat designs.  I am way too young to be considered a Red Hat lady, but I did find one I really like.  This design called Bubble Your Troubles by Diane Arthurs I love, although that has more to do with the bathtub than the hat itself, haha.

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day, so I think I will start doing that when I can.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat

A to Z Challenge: G is for Garden Cat

Today is Day 7 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  In case you haven't heard of this yet, the idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. 

Today we are back to pure wish list posts. 

G is for Garden Cat

Have you heard of the designer Jody Rice from Satsuma Street?  She's an Etsy designer who's probably most well known for her Pretty Little Cities patterns, which are renditions of famous cities throughout the world resembling Mary Blair's original artwork for It's a Small World at Disneyland. 

But a few weeks ago, Jody posted a picture of her newest pattern, Garden Cat.  And this instantly went on my MUST STITCH list.  The combination of shapes and colors is totally calling to me.  It's a very fun and whimiscal pattern. 

If I had to pick another Satsuma Street design to stitch, it would probably be this piece called Arcadia.  I'm pretty sure this is one of the first designs she did that led to the Pretty Little Cities patterns, but I could be wrong.  Those of you who are familiar with It's a Small World at Disneyland or Walt Disney World will understand why as a Disney fan this pattern appeals to me so much.  It's not a direct representation of the ride's exterior, but it definitely evokes the feel of the ride without coping it directly.  This pattern speaks to me in a way none of the other PLC patterns do. 

Come back tomorrow to find out what H is for!