A Long Overdue Update

Hello readers!  I hope you haven't all given up on me, LOL.  It's past time for a new stitching update from me, but I just have been so busy with work and personal issues over the past few weeks I haven't really found the time to blog much.

As I reported in my last post, I had some major carpal tunnel like flare ups in my wrists at the end of January the derailed my Crazy January plans.  I had hoped to pick it back up in February, but that didn't happen.  By the time I was feeling better enough to stitch, I had to get some projects for my round robins done, and well, there you go.  Best laid plans.  Hopefully next year's challenge will go better!

I did consider doing a new project a day type challenge in either April or May but I think at this point I don't think I will do that.  I really, really want to finish the stockings for myself and my family for Christmas this year, and if I want to get through all that, I'm really going to have to crack down to have them finished in time.

So since early February although I haven't been blogging, I have been stitching.  Thus I have A LOT of updates to share with you.

First of all, last check in I was working on Sweets to the Sweet for WOCS.  Well, that one was finished:

It was done on 14 count white aida with charted DMC threads.  Didn't make any changes on this one except I didn't attach the charm that came with the pattern.  I really like this one, and might do it again, but will probably do it in different colors because by the end I was really sick of that shade of red.

After that, it was time to finish up the motif I was working on in Ink Circle's Garden of Stars for the Sampler Round Robin I'm in:

The only thing I didn't like about working on this one was that I only got to work in one color.  Seriously though, the size of this project is MASSIVE.  I had no idea from looking at the model photo.  Even if you stitched it 1 over 1 I'm sure it would still be huge.  The linen on this project was a little fiddly too, which was a little frustrating (had to frog a few things).  Over the past year or so I've been doing round robins, I've really become comfortable with stitching over 2 now, but I have to say I think I prefer evenweave over linen because I just don't like the variances in thread thickness or the transparent quality that linen has in many cases. 

But, moving on.  I also finished up the next square for the WOCS "sweets" theme.  This is Chocolate Box by Little House Needleworks:

For various reasons, including time and convenience, I did this one much different than charted.  The original has a 2 part border surrounding the chocolates, complete with beads.  Since the deadline on this one was coming up, I decided to only do the chocolates themselves and I left off most of the lazy daisy, french knot, and backstitching embellishments.  This is also on 14 count white aida, and I used the DMC floss conversions in the chart.

The first project in my Lizzie Kate round robin came to me, so I finished up my section of that one.  I forget the name of it at the moment.

Overall it was a pretty quick stitch and nicely cheerful.  It was weird to completely start a new project for someone though, LOL.  Usually the project owner does a bit before they send it out into the world for the RR's I've participated in before. 

My section for February for the sampler round robin was also a really quick stitch:

This is part of Country Cottage Needleworks Snow Sampler, and surprisingly I actually got this done in all one night which is unusual for me.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the whole thing before sending it on though.

So that's it for the finishes, which brings me to my current stitching.  First up is the next project in my Lizzie Kate Round Robin:

I'm doing the February Block of the Monthly Stamps Flip-It series.  The floss colors were a bit modified by the project owner, but I think it will still be very pretty when finished.  I'm actually a little farther along on it than this, but I haven't taken a new picture lately.

My work project is another WOCS square, this one for the Snowman theme.  Here's what Let it Snowman looks like lately:

He's much father progressed than the white blog I shared after his start during January.  I'm pleased with the way he's turning out, but I'm thinking I will skip a lot of the fussy backstitching on this one.  I just don't think he needs it really. I'm hoping to have him finished and on his way soon!

Why I do what I do

For those of you who've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I do a lot of charity stitching.  Well, I thought it might be fun to show off some of the quilts that were recently finished with my contributed squares.

By the way, both charity organizations I stitch for are always looking for new stitchers and always have new themes coming up, so if you think you'd like to donate a square or two, check out their linked websites from this link.  The quilts go to such good causes (sick children and needy seniors) and it's kind of addicting searching for the right pattern to stitch for an active theme.

First up is a quilt featuring my Rainbow Mandala pattern and finished by World Of Charity Stitching.
This quilt featured the same pattern done in many color palettes by each stitcher. My block was a neon rainbow contribution, and you can see it here in the finished quilt top outlined in red.

Next up is another WOCS quilt.  This one featured the same mitten outline with different fill patterns.  (Incidentally, WOCS is currently doing another quilt along these lines, this time with butterflies.)  I contributed two squares to this one, Leopard Print Mitten and Giraffe Print Mitten .  These were actually my very first finishes for 2015.  Both of them made it into a single finished quilt, and you can see both here in red.

The other organization I usually send squares to is Love Quilts (the USA branch).  Unlike WOCS, which stitches by theme and then finds a recipient, Love Quilts takes signups for individual children whose parents have chosen a theme for the squares of their quilt.

That Baby Tinkerbell pattern I worked so hard on showed up nicely in this Disney princess themed quilt.  This is going to a 7-year-old girl who has already gone through surgery and chemo for a rare type of tumor 3 years ago, and is currently undergoing a second round of treatment for a baseball sized tumor in another area of her body.

The last quilt I have to show you today was the one I finished my Friends for Life square for.  The theme was realistic cats and dogs, and I admit my square is a little small next to a lot of the other contributions, but it ended up being a necessary evil due to time.  This is going to a teenage girl who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

By the way, you can click on all of the quilt pictures to see them larger if you wish.  

If you take a gander at my Finishes page you'll see several more finished squares for both organizations that have been sent in, but they haven't been made into finished quilts yet.  If you enjoyed reading this post though, I'll do another one when a few more quilts have popped up.

I've made a bit of progress on my newest WOCS stitching project too.  Here's where Sunshine by Satsuma Street is currently at:

It's coming along nicely.  The main sun is almost done, except for I still need to get more of the yellow I ran out of.  Once I finish the inner ring (that's what all the gaps in the rays is for) I'll start on the larger outer ring, and it will be ready to send off.

And I made a pitful bit of progress on my latest square for the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin.  Still now tower for Rapunzel yet, but the forest below her is finished...

Well, I'm Back...

Hey everyone,

So I kind of disappeared for a lot of June, didn't I?  As I mentioned in my last stitching update post, things were a little difficult for me health-wise.  Add to that a crazy stressful month at work, and things have been sparse on the blogging front.  I even missed most of my check-ins for the last month including TUSAL, WIPocalypse, Smalls SAL, and Stitch From Stash.  I'm definitely feeling better from the almost-pneumonia, and although I have some additional health things I'm waiting to sort out, things are doing better than they were, so that's progress.  I'm hoping to get back on top of things this month.

Although I may not have been blogging much, I still have been doing some stitching, so I do have progress to share with you.

I finished my fish pond square and sent it off to Love Quilts in time for the end of the month deadline:

This ended up being a pretty quick and easy stitch.  It was done with charted DMC threads, 2 over 1 on white 14 count Aida.  It is a free pattern from Happy Stitch, which you can find over at that blog.  There's even a matching cat pattern as well. 

Moving right along, there is of course the always progressing Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin project I'm participating in via Facebook.  This month brought the Once Upon A Time sampler to my door.  This one will be interesting because the owner of the pattern actually made quite a few of her own conversions to the originally.  I'm stitching Rapunzel this time around, and here's my progress so far:

Yeah, so I haven't done much yet.  Mostly just the two borders, and then that bit of tree you can see over there on the left.  I'm actually struggling with this fabric.  Most of the other round robin pieces have more or less got me used to stitching on linen/evenweave, but I don't know if it's the color of this particular one or what, but I'm having a very hard time with the over 2.  I've had to pick out a lot of stuff so far.  The color is beautiful though, so I'm loving that. 
 
In other news, Sunshine by Satsuma Street is moving right along.  I almost finished the sun side of the face, but ran out of the yellow, so I moved on to starting some of the rays while I wait for a chance to obtain more of the yellow floss in the meantime. 

It's actually turning out a little smaller than I pictured it, but that's okay.  This will be a square for World of Charity Stitching, so although it's technically "deadline stitching" the due date is pretty flexible, so I'm taking my time and enjoying it. 

May TUSAL and a Little Progress

Well, as usual I'm a few days late for Daffycat's Totally Useless SAL since the official check in day was Monday.  But at least I'm only a little late this month, instead of forgetting it together. 

Of course, I forgot Monday, so I had to snap a hurried pic that night, so it is kind of blurry, sorry:

I finally got a new ort jar, and I also found my "traveling" ort bag, so I was finally able to add all those bits and pieces I lost back in February to my jar.  Sad that that kind of makes me really happy.  Anyway, that's why my current green is more towards the middle, and a bunch of purple is on top.  That green is from my actual recent stitching, mostly from Baby Tinkerbell. 

And speaking of Tinkerbell, here's how she's looking today. 

Not much progress since this weekend.  Just finished up her bloomers and have started on her wings.  It's discouraging how much my progress slows during the work week.  I keep listing in my head all the things I have left to do (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 slippers, face, hair, ladybug...) and keep thinking that's not that much, right?  Then when I actually stitch it, it takes forever. 

I would so love to just stay at home and get paid for stitching.  Guess that's what retirement is for.  Of course, by then I probably will be half blind and arthritic and be unable to stitch!  Oh, and it's like 40 years away for me.  There's that too. 

Anyway, hope everyone is having great stitching progress!

April Finishes

So as promised, here's a round up of the finishes I mentioned in my Stitch From Stash check in yesterday. 

First off, Friends for Life which is from an old issue of CrossStitcher magazine. This is the one I posted about at the end of last week, frantic because I needed to finish it no later than Monday.  I spent Thursday and Friday nights furiously stitching, got up super early Saturday to work on it some more, and then had a brainstorm.  The pattern originally called for some grass and sky detailing around the cat and dog, but by eliminating that it was still big enough for what I needed it for, and I was able to get it done much quicker.

This is definitely a pattern that benefitted greatly from the backstitch.  Here's where it was on Sunday night after all the main stitching and just a little backstitch was done:

 And here's where it ended up Monday after being completed:

Stitching details are 61 x 41 stitches (modified size) with charted DMC colors, done on 14 count aida, 3 over 1.  Stitched for a Love Quilts project (and I really hope it arrives in time, because it was down to the wire).   I started this on April 17th and finished in record time on April 27th. 

This was definitely one of those most challenging pieces I've done in a long time.  So. Many. Color. Changes.   So many fractionals (which are challenging at best on Aida).   Several french knots (which I'm terrible at).  And I made a TON of mistakes.  Hopefully despite all that it turned out okay.  I think if I had known starting at the beginning I was going to leave off the background, I would have stitched it with 2 strands instead of 3.  The pattern calls for 3 because some of the sky/grass are stitched with 1 strand to give it a varying thickness/shading effect, but it was a moot point since I didn't stitch those parts in the end. 

Anyway, I also finished up my latest WOCS piece last weekend, the one I'm calling Egg Topiary:

The green egg has pink dots in it, although the photo on my phone was a little funky and didn't pick them up very well.  This was stitched on 14 count white aida as a project for a spring quilt for World of Charity Stitching.  It was stitched with the recommended DMC threads, and is a free pattern from Stickeule.  I can't find the link at the moment, but I will post it later if I come across it. 

So now those are over, I need to work on my latest round of the Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin I'm participating in through Facebook, as this will be due at the end of next week.  Here's my latest start:

This is Woodland Sampler again, but I'm working on the October block this time (and owl).  Working with linen again, yikes...

Free Pattern Friday: Easter Bunny

Can you believe it's already the last Friday in March?  Where did my favorite month go?  Today's free cross stitch pattern is an Easter themed one, since we're fast approaching on that holiday too.  I just couldn't let it go by without featuring a pattern for it, now could I? 

This pattern is simply called "Easter Bunny" and is designed by the fabulous Lucie Heaton.  If you're a regular reader of the British cross stitch magazines, you probably recognize her name.  Now, this pattern is small enough you have time to get it done before Easter if you wanted to.  Just saying.  I of course love it because it includes a daffodil at the bottom!

This pattern is featured at the Cyberstitchers website, so you can head over there to download this free cross stitch pattern in three different formats. 

I also have a bonus source of free patterns for you today.  I've mentioned the Facebook group Cross Stitch for Charity before (back before Christmas).  The current charity being supported is World Wildlife Fund, and there are some great charts that have been donated by designers such as Jane Netley Mayhew, Brooke's Books, Lesley Teare, Ursula Michael and many, many more. 

Now, these charts are free, they were donated to the cause directly from the designers, but in return it's asked that you make a donation (big or small) to the group's fund so it can be donated to the current charity at the end of the month.  These charts will therefore only be available until March 31st, so if you'd like to donate to WWF, and get some great free charts in return, head over to the Facebook group to check it out ASAP. 

Happy stitching!





If you ever come across one of my posts that contains a chart that breaks copyright law, please email me and let me know right away. In picking and posting my free cross stitch pattern posts, I make every effort to ensure the designs I share are legitimately free charts.

Progress Update: Rainbow Mandala is Finished

Hey all,

Just popping in really quick to share my latest finish with you.  Rainbow Mandala is now done!

That's one more Crazy January project I can mark off the list!  This is for a quilt being made by World of Charity Stitching.  It's done on 14 count natural aida with DMC threads in neon colors.  I tried to do it approximately lightest in the middle to darkest on the edge, but now I look at the finished project, I think I would have changed up the order a bit.  It is approximately 67 stitches by 67 stitches, and since the pattern was free, I can also count it as part of my Stitch From Stash earnings this month. 

I started this project on January 4th as part of the Crazy January Challenge and finished it this weekend on February 14th.  It is a free pattern from the German (?) blog Stickeule and can be found here if you'd like to stitch it yourself. I did pick my own colors though, rather than following those in the pattern. 

Now its off to go finish the Once Upon A Time sampler, since I really, really, really need to get that sent off to the next person!

Animal Print Mittens: New Start and Progress 12.9.14

I recently discovered something that is both good and bad for my stitching progress: stitching for charity.  I've recently joined two groups that use squares stitched and donated from members to sew up quilts for disadvantaged/sick children and seniors.  I just love the idea of my stitching going to a good cause!  Not that stitching for friends/family isn't a good cause (LOL).

This is a project for one of those groups, World of Charity Stitching.   We are using a free cross stitch mitten pattern with lots of different motifs using the same shape.  I actually wasn't signed up for this project originally because the deadline was shortly after I joined the group, but they posted a couple weeks ago that they needed more squares to finish the quilt, so here I went. 

Since so many of the free patterns had been done already, even though duplicates are allowed I decided to create my own patterns.  There's a cute cow print one that's already been done, so I figured to go along with that we needed something leopard print.  And of course I picked pink leopard print.  :)  Here's the progress so far:

Not much to look at yet.  When I asked my brother what he thought, he said my cloth looked like it had cancer.  Gee, thanks.

I'm still trying to finish up a few Christmas presents left over from MMMM, so I haven't been working too hard on this one yet.  Which in some ways is bad because I only have until the end of the year to finish!  I'm going to be doing a giraffe print after this one is done if I can manage it. 

Anyway, I've signed up for several other charity projects, so you'll probably see several of those popping up here in the next few weeks, especially with the Ultimate Crazy 2015 Challenge coming up next month. 

Free Pattern Friday: Cross Stitch for Charity

So today is Friday, which means I will be posting a free cross stitch pattern today.  Well, I had already have a post planned for today, but I came across this set of free patterns that are only available for a limited time, so I wanted to share.

There is a group on Facebook called Cross Stitch for Charity.  In exchange for donating to the current cause the group is supporting, themed free cross stitch patterns are posted on the group page for members to download for a limited time.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, right now through December 5 (?) the group is raising funds for Toys for Tots.  Right now there are 7 charts posted for you to download in exchange for donating any amount to the charity.  Designers include Passione Ricomo, Primitive Hare, Lesley Teare, and many more.  As you can see from this photo, they are super cute patterns (and this isn't all of the patterns posted yet either). 

So if you'd like to get some free patterns and help a great cause in return, here's what you do.

1. You must have a Facebook account
2. Like the Cross Stitch for Charity page
3. Join the Cross Stitch for Charity group page
4. Donate to the cause using the link in the pinned post at the top of the group
5. Download your favorite charts in the group Files tab

These charts will only be available for a couple more weeks I think, so if you are interested in any of them, definitely head over there ASAP.

Come back later today for another Free Pattern Friday post (my regularly scheduled one).

Happy stitching!