2015 Recap & 2016 Ambitions (Image Heavy)!

Aloha world!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and received all your stitchy desires. :D 2015 is drawing to a close so I thought I'd better start working on my recap post since our Internet is probably going to protest the whole way.  We've just had a ton of rain, more than was really necessary and I think all of our state is closed due to the drama it has caused.  They've moved the planes at our local airport to higher ground because the Mississippi River is in major flood stage.  We are up on the bluffs so no danger here unless getting stuck in the muddy driveway is a danger!

Cross-Stitch
I managed 2.5ish SALs this year! In order to not have so many images in one post, I made a (rather ghetto) collage of them.

2015 finishes!

One SAL was Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. I think it was the most successful even if it doesn't have the most finishes.

1. I designed and stitched a Muppet "baby sampler" for a friend's first baby! I think turned out really cute (sorry, I won't show the whole thing because it contains the full name of their child). Would you believe I still have it?? We've been trying to get together for a while but life has just not played fair. I am afraid to mail it because it's somewhat large and with the glass and questionable mail services...! 
2. Next was the Dolphin Trio, a Dimensions kit given to me eons ago which turned into my longest WIP that I just sorta snacked on when the mood hit. I am so happy to have it finished!  It is not finished-finished but you know how it goes with finding Perfect Frames.
3. Next was Rathalos, a wyvern glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, a game both my husband and I love playing together.  The plan was to also stitch Rathian to go with him but silly me mentioned how nice a cube would be so four more are being planned.  Rathian colors continue to be a struggle.  Maybe I just don't like olive greens!

before

after

The next SAL was the Flower of the Month SAL hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair.  This SAL seemed to fizzle out at the year went on though several did manage to keep posting about it.  I finished January, February, April (March was finished years earlier!), and May.  They are all done on 14-count ecru huck towels.  Since this post will also serve as the last FotM update, I made a tiny bit of progress on June's flower.  It felt good to get back to Xs after all the yarny things I've been doing lately!  And while I was stitching on this I thought to myself, "Hmm, these look somewhat like Rathian colors."  And then it hit me, these ARE Rathian colors!  I think.  But they do look right in the floss toss.  I'll probably fret some more over them though. :b

before, dug out in June

Lastly was IHSW hosted by Joyze at Random Ramblings.  I decided to work on Final Fantasy III during the weekends of this SAL took place/I felt like it!  It started off with a troublesome mistake which I finally put on my big girl panties and fixed it by means of doing the letters.  I keep feeling disappointed in myself over this piece thinking I hardly had any progress but with the before and after, it doesn't look too bad.   And the mistake is fixed!  I shall be very glad when I never have to stitch on it again though.  This one is determined to drive me nuts.

after

Crochet

just three more!

Since learning this in 2014, I feel like this year was a year to kinda expand my knowledge.  I joined a CAL that went waaaay too fast for me haha. But now I know Very Well how to do corner-to-corner crochet thanks to the zillion squares in the Christmas blanket yay!  I have all nine of the main ones complete now and have the others planned out in charts.  It is so very tempting to say yay~ I am done with the squares ahaha.  But I will be good and make three more so my blanket will be a more acceptable (to me) blanket size.  Rudolph was a Pain In The Buttocks.  Holy moly.  That mouth area was enough to drive me bonkers.  The gingerbread man was pretty rough too.

hey, more Rathalos colors?

doily in action oooo

I also made my first doily and first pair of house slippers, both of which I'm happy to say went over really well with Mr. Husband. :D  It's nice to have such an appreciative guy.  I will be making another pair of the slippers for myself (bluuuue) as my house slippers are currently disintegrating.  You can find the free pattern for them here (ravelry link).  I am disappointed to say this little doily is all that I managed to get finished, though.  Even though each motif takes about 1-1.5 hours, there just aren't enough sneaky hours in my day without ignoring everything else that needs done!  But now I don't have to be sneaky so I'll be able to work on them more often.

Knitting

dishcloths!

kitty prints scarf

This was my new adventure for the year!  I taught myself from books and am continuing to learn through a little group that meets roughly every two weeks at the library.  I first made some potholders (gotta start somewhere) and am currently working on a scarf that wants to curl like there's no tomorrow.  Since it is just the one skein of yarn, I take it almost everywhere with me.  The doctor's office, Mom's house, hotels...  I am a rather slow knitter so far though.  I am very excited to learn socks and then no foot will be safe from my needles!

Miscellaneous

this is Halloween, this is Halloween

My husband's company called for wreaths for their Christmas party with the "requirement" that they be the main colors of red, black, and white.  There was only one solution to that in our household! :D  We had a lot of fun making this and I learned a new thing about Mr. Husband -- he's really, REALLY good at picking colors and making little felt flowers (those swirlies at the bottom were all made by him proud peacock wife moment).  Sally's hair is a bit long in this picture; I trimmed it afterwards to make it even with the bottom of the wreath.

soooo tasty!

Next were these little ornaments made for some friends we have over for game night.  This little cat is named Airou and he's from the Monster Hunter world (same as Rathalos and Rathian).  They're made from felt and stuffed with yarn ORTs and felt scraps haha.  I love how these turned out and I think I should probably make another one for ourselves. :D

Overall and Ambitions Onward
I think I did okay for 2015.  I learned a new skill and that's always an amazing thing!  I also bought two patterns online (Frosted Pumpkin patterns, too! Eee!) for the first time ever (if you don't recall the vaaast majority of my stash is freebies and/or thrift store finds).  My goals for 2015 (this post) were mostly met *scooting FFIII under the bed* and thanks to the generosity of some stitchy friends, I got TWO needleminders!  They are remarkably useful inventions and I'm not sure how I survived without them.  One thing I mentioned in passing without any real goal was getting a calendar for my stitching.  My husband provided a small planner from his workplace (he does everything digital so he doesn't need it) and it worked rather well to track hours/days!  I hope he can get another one for this year and I will include crochet and knitting in there too.  Maybe.  :)

I'm not going to be overly ambitious in 2016 and just do what I want (like I don't already :b).  I have already signed up for 2016 GG so I can continue putting a dent in my gifted collection!   I love this SAL!  I don't know if the FotM SAL will continue but I will keep working on my huck towels because I want the set to be finished.  If IHSW continues I'll try to make appearances in it once in a while.  TUSAL will keep going too, maybe with yarn ORTs this time, oooOOOooo.

I WILL HAVE FFIII DONE IN 2016.  RAR.  famous last words

I think that is all from me.  I hope you all have a fantastic 2016!  My husband and I are rather stick-in-the-muds.  We'll probably just go to bed tonight and not watch any ball drop.  But we will have black eyed peas for supper on New Year's Day. Greens will have to be a salad haha. :)

Gifted Gorgeousness - July Edition! TUSAL! And a giveaway?!

Aloha, world! Ignoring the fact that it is mid-July already, we shall embrace the fact that it is time for Gifted Gorgeousness, hosted by the fabulous Jo!

click to join the fun!

I've done a bit more work on Rathalos (gift for my husband ♥) though not as much as I'd've liked. I seem to have stalled because of a color issue.

The color of his lower jaw is driving me nuts. I've tried one color, too pink. I've tried another color, too orange. I've blended them together, still not quite right though it is close. I think I might have to go stash shopping (oh, shucks!) with this piece tucked in my purse. Really not looking forward to frogging it for the fourth time (once was for miscounting two frogs in, bah)!  But apart from my Very Picky color selections, he's really quite nice to stitch.  He's small enough (the hoop marks are from a 4" hoop) that even a little bit of stitching shows a lot of progress!

Next up we have TUSAL where we gather around and admire our lovely remnants of progress!  I feel like I've all kinds of progress in there, violets are done, sweet peas are done, lily-of-the-valley is started, infinite Rathalos frogs...........

Last but not least, I have surpassed that special 100 followers milestone, yay! I think I'll offer a little giveaway (use it for GG? :D) to celebrate. Remember Dolphin Trio? I was given this Dimensions kit by family not once, but THREE times! They must know I like dolphins.  :)  I will be realistic with myself and acknowledge that I will not stitch this three times so I am offering up the other two kits for two winners (one kit per winner)!

Sparkly Fun Rules

1. Be a minion follower on the Google gadget (top right on my blog). I know many people use feedly, etc. but there's no way of showing that!
2. Comment saying you want to be entered!  No ambiguity lol!
3. I ship worldwide!

This giveaway will close Wednesday, July 29th and the winners will be posted on my FotM SAL post on the 31st.  Good luck and thank you for listening to my rambles! Giveaway closed; thanks, guys!  :D

Gifted Gorgeousness - June Edition! Finish, New Start, and TUSAL!

Here we are, already in the middle of June so it's time for an update on Gifted Gorgeousness project(s) as hosted by Jo!  And it's the second month in a row for a finish, yaaaay!

click to join the fun!

before

This kit was gifted to me by my husband's grandmother(s) when I first started stitching as they knew I like dolphins. I should've paid it more attention but somehow it wound up a piece to "snack on" so to speak.  It was started sometime in the latter half of 2010 so it is was my oldest WIP!  I'm so glad it's done although I did have some issues with the backstitching charted.  You can't even tell it's there in some of the spots so I wondered what the point was haha.  There's also a healthy sprinkling of French knots which I dutifully ignored the pattern and just put them wherever I thought looked bare lol.

after, and more true to color

And of course I washed it so that helped that goofy stiff Aida some.  There are a few (probably more than a few) mistakes in this piece.  My organizational skills weren't up to snuff at the time and I think I spent more time trying to figure out what color was what than actually stitching!

Technical Details

• Dolphin Trio, Dimensions kit 6817
• (Mostly) 2 over 1 on blue VERY STIFF 14-count Aida
• Finished size: 5" x 7" (13 x 18cm)
• Started: September ??, 2010, Finished: June 08, 2015
• Unknown hours as I wasn't keeping track at the time
• Contender for messiest back ever, I hope I have learned better!

king of the sky

And in the spirit of continuing on with GG, I have started a new piece (no, not a FPS, not yet)!  This little thing will be a gift for my husband who likes my "sewing" and sort of hinted that he might put a piece on his desk at work if I just so happened to make one.  I made the pattern from this Rathalos glyph, one of the signature wyverns in the Monster Hunter video game series we both love playing together. Doesn't look like much right now but I hope he'll like it (or at least be a good husband and ooh and ahh over it appropriately ahaha).  It is being stitched on 20-count Jobelan, light tan.  It's my first time using this fabric and it is so soft and so lovely to hold!  And unravels if I look at it wrong.  Or right.  Or if it just sits there.  My goodness gracious.

In other news, I found the ecru huck towels again yaaaaaay!  There is a Hancock Fabrics in the area and although their selection for needlework is quite small, they carry them!  Unfortunately there wasn't a coupon to use on it but maybe there will be one eventually.  Then I could just hoard the rest of the year and not risk not being able to find them again.  I bought just one so I can start advancing my FotM progress again.  Just gotta plow my way through the silly violets.  I won't start April until February is finished, I won't I won't I won't.

June TUSAL... already?!

Lastly, a day early but I'll squeeze my TUSAL in here so we can all sit around my ORT jar and admire the little snippets.  We've got a finish of Dolphin Trio, some snippets of violets, and a little bit of Rathalos.  Woo!  Also, right after this picture I returned the jar to its rightful location -- and dropped it end-over-end.  ORTs were packed so tightly in there nothing moved ahaha.

Until next time!  My fingers almost feel productive for once! :D :D

site update for self-reminder: widened the page, added new header (stitchy girl), added credits to "about"

Gifted Gorgeousness - January Edition

Yay, my first Gifted Gorgeousness post!  Thanks to Jo for hosting these~ :D

It's amazing how even our best-laid plans go wonky, or at least mine do. I was so excited to start the Muppets sampler. First, I washed the fabric because, learning from experience, washing after you've stitched does not always mean any fabric creases will magically go away and it becomes impossible to iron! So, washed, dried, and nicely ironed. Then I decided to cut the fabric down to a 20" x 20" square which would leave me a little room to play around with other projects on the smaller piece. Easy enough. Next, I wanted to mark the center of the fabric and toyed around with actually making a grid on this so I wouldn't have quite so many counting mistakes. I folded the fabric, found the center, and marked it.

With a blue permanent marker instead of the fabric pen sitting beside it.

Of course there's a nice empty space right in the center so it can't be stitched over and the colors for that area wouldn't really hide the blue anyway. I decided to try bleach... it lightened it extensively but still there is a nice little blue dot and the bleach did something strange to the fabric.

So, while the fabric isn't destroyed, it's not useable for this particular project.  It was large enough that I could cut it up for several smaller works or, if there was a pattern that fully covered the center... Bah.  I did so hope to have a whole array of adorable Muppet letters to show off this month. :(

Lesson learned: Keep your fabric pens separate! (!!!)

Before

So I instead worked a bit on Dolphin Trio! This little kit was a gift from my husband's grandmother(s) who like to encourage hobbies and know I like dolphins.  There's really not too much left on this piece. Here's where I was previously, back in May 2012.

updated

updateder

And here's the after! Most obviously filled in the bottom right corner because I like to see edges. Gives me a goal, haha. Not too sure how I feel about the dark half stitches, though.  Easy to stitch but ehhhhh.  There's a lot of them too!

Blah. Not at all how I wanted to start out the year! But I did work on something that really should've been finished eons ago so there's that~ :D

2014 Recap & 2015 Ambitions (Image-Heavy)

Welp, I'm still not used to writing 2014 so it must be time to add a new year into the mix. 2014 was not a spectacular year for me in the creative world but as it was better than 2013, I suppose there are small victories to be joyful about! :D  This is an image-heavy post for those of you who may have somewhat questionable Internet connections.  It took me several days of adding things to get this post fixed up.

Cross-Stitch

Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein

As a part of MMMM, I managed to get two little Halloween stitches worked up which "effectively" caught me up after skipping one in 2013.  They're adorable, easy to stitch, and are festive... yet still took me an absurdly long time to get done.  I was afraid of the Mrs's hair for far too long.

Noel ornament

Also a part of MMMM, my only Christmas stitch for the year, yikes.  I'll have to buckle down and get two done for next year to catch up.  :b

Pusheen Sailor Moon

A gift for a couple of hobos overseas who decided the time was right to get married.  My sanity was tested with all that pink.  It was an interesting experiment in finishing though, I had never used lace or added ribbons for hanging or had a felt backing like this.......  yes, it was an adventure and was ONLY two months late!  A miracle!

Mother's Love

A quicky kit worked up one IHSW in summer.  I snuck it onto my mother's fridge one time we were down there and I am not entirely sure she has noticed it yet (she has MANY magnets haha).

Crochet
A new hobby for me, picked up in October.

A giant potholder!

My first finished crochet piece.  Pattern was for a dishcloth, decided to make two and attach them together.  Mom got this for Christmas and loved it.

little snowflakes

My foray into thread crochet!!  I've always loved the snowflakes (and angels, and wreaths, and doilies and and and...) and I'm so happy to report I know how to make them now!  I made these as a thank you for the ladies in our class.

scarf with inspiration gloves

My scarf, yay!  I'm a bit impatient to wear it out into the world but so far, our December has been quite mild.  Maybe it'll be a new scarf for a new year.  :)

jellyfish hat?

And I squeezed in a last minute finish while listening to my husband yell at the WiiU playing "Dark Souls Pokemon" as he calls Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.  I now have a goofy, floppy, matching hat!  It started out as a beanie and well, I have no idea what happened.  I guess my increases didn't increase fast enough and I wound up with a sort of basket that I put a ruffle on.  Lol.  Please note the little paws that came creeping into the picture after I sat the hat in front of the Christmas tree.  Peanut likes to help.

Misc

STL Cardinals

mahna mahna

Made up these little onesies for a friend's first baby.  I cut the little pieces out of felt and stitched them on and had a terrible time with wrinkles until I discovered the magic of iron on hem tape.  I particularly like the way Mahna Mahna came out, he was fun to make.  :D

2015 Ambitions
I'm not sure I want to call them goals as if I inevitably fail, the self-abuse kicks in and I'll never get anything done haha. :I Anyway, this year brings stitch-a-longs! MMMM was my first dip into the SAL world and I didn't fail miserably so I'm braving two more (so far).

First, Gifted Gorgeousness as hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. Giving gifts, received gifts, shoehorned gifts, stitch them all!

tossin' bobbin

• Muppets Baby Sampler - designed by me, gift for friend.  This has high priority, higher than anything else ever at the moment.  It's all ready to be started once I get a copy of the pattern printed on a printer that is not mine.

• Dolphin Trio - kit from several years ago from my husband's grandmother.  Poor thing isn't bad to stitch but it's been a UFO for far too long for my taste.  Last touched May 2012.
• little kits in stash after I finish the first two.  Still to be sorted through.



seventeen hours!

• finish FFIII - GIFT FOR MYSELF?!?!  I won't sneak this in here.  Maybe.  Lol.  I do want to finish it though, and get the next one started (I won't get overly ambitious here and declare I will finish two next year hah). Last touched March 2014.  Must acquire big girl panties to resume.

Next, Flower of the Month as hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair.  These are really nice freebie patterns that I've been interested in stitching for a while now.  I've completed March's years ago on a huck towel and am thinking to put the rest on 'em too because I like matching sets.  This might be hard as it's difficult to find ecru towels around here! I found one though (with a coupon even!), so I've got January's kitted up and ready to go!  None of the colors are the ones called for, hah.  I only had two of the greens and nothing really "matched" them so I just made up my own scheme.  :D

There will also be the usual IHSW (hosted by Joysze at Random Ramblings) and TUSAL (as hosted by Daffycat).  Joysze's is a monthly signup and Daffycat's signup will be posted soonish. And of course, make all the crochet things.  Already my ravelry library is approaching SABLE.

Two other contenders are a) TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) on Pintangle and b) Frosted Pumpkin's Story Time SAL.  I like learning new stitches and TAST seemed like a good way to expand my horizons.  I dunno what I'd do with the stitches though.  Maybe just a doodle cloth.  And the Frosted Pumpkin is just plain cute.  It's a bit pricey for me though so I'm holding out for a sale or more courage maybe lol.

Random goal: Get/make a needle minder! (!!!!)  I've always wanted one of these and I have an old pin that I think would be cute but regular magnets are not strong enough to hold a needle, bah!  This is something I've never come across in a thrift store, and believe you me, I've looked.

I feel like my little selection pales in comparison to, oh, everyone else's but I hope I can achieve them.  I also feel like I need a calendar for what few I have joined eek!

Wishing you and yours a

with glitter! :b
See you next year!

Around the World Blog Hop!

I was invited on the Around the World Blog Hop by the wonderful Vickie (her blog hop post is here) and of course y'all know by now I can't miss an opportunity to ramble~ We were asked to answer a few questions so maybe you British folks would like to have a cuppa before you start. I don't even know if I used that word right. I'm as American as a hamburger casserole.

chibi America
from Hetalia

1. What am I working on?
MY SANITY?! AAHHAHAHAaahhaha... ahem. It's never fixed.

I have a couple of projects going on in-between the random morale-boosting smalls.

First we have the neglected Dolphin Trio. This poor thing is definitely a UFO for, um, maybe 4-5 years now. Eep. I really should finish it some day, especially since it's so small and so close!

seventeen hours!

Next we have FFIII. There is (still) a grievous counting mistake in it that I haven't found the heart to pick out yet so it's been lurking on the stand for several months now, mocking me. I'll put on my big girl panties some day and get it back in shape. It's turning into one of those projects, you know, those ones that just give you all sorts of problems from fabric to floss to being unable to count...

Lastly, I have a couple of smalls going/planned as I'm participating in Mega Mini Month Madness along with a host of other wonderful ladies who are all glad to be getting their pile of minis worked on. I have made more progress on him but haven't gotten a new picture yet.

I also have a pattern on the computer I'm being very (overly?) picky about as it will be a gift for a friend.  It's very close to being completed but it will be interesting to see how it actually works up.  Eek!

itty bitty pumpkin... attempt

I am also learning how to crochet! My friend introduced me to ravelry.com and I've been hoarding free patterns in my library. This was one called Itty Bitty Pumpkin and it almost looks sort of like a pumpkin! Maybe!  It is very small; I should've included a coin with it (slightly bigger than a US quarter).  I wanted the stem to be a loop so I sort of made that part up as I went along.  It starts with a magic ring and as you can see, the magic wasn't in my ring (there isn't supposed to be a hole in the middle).  :(  I will keep trying though!

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I guess my work differs in that I tend to like stitching nontraditional subjects (eg video games/anime/manga). Please don't take that to mean I'm not interested in traditional subjects, I am! But I'm much more likely to stitch something nontraditional myself and cheer on all the traditional stitchers. :D  But for me, there is something about taking a traditional medium and doing nontraditional subjects. Does this make me subversive...?

3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I write what I do because I like to hear my own head rattle (cough). Once a motor-mouth, always a motor-mouth (cough cough).  In reality, I write because I will forget. I have a horrible memory and if I don't chronicle my adventures in crafts (personal blog is elsewhere), I will not remember the journey. And I don't want to forget it! Plus I like to share my creations with others and see their opinions and be inspired by their works.

I have a hard time creating because I have a stigma about the "usefulness" of a project. I love the relaxing feeling of creating but there is only so much I'm willing to put on the wall (and that is admittedly a very small amount). I like to stitch the video games and anime stuffs as a way of showing that love for the subject. I imagine that's true for a lot of people even if we don't obsess over the same things! :) That said, sometimes I just need an escape. Stitching allows me to organize my chaotic thoughts and still have something productive going on.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?
Writing = word vomit?  I'm much more reserved in-person but somehow the hyper-happy always leaks out online.  :)

Creating... hmm. It depends on the piece and who it's going to be for. Once I get over the usefulness aspect, anyway. If designing my own patterns, I have to find an image I like, run it through a charting program, get mad at it a few times, let it lurk in the depths of my computer, fish it out again and redraw, take the colors listed to the store, gasp at how none of them are correct, wing a floss toss, and then maybe I can stitch. Even then, when I'm working on a project I'll have a random whim to change something (whether color or shape or or or...). I am an expert at creating frogs so if you've been around long enough, you might recall just how Overly Excited I get when I have a (somewhat largish) finish. Amplify that 10x if the finished product gets a frame. So my creative process is pretty much a mess filled with ultimate highs and despairing lows. It's the highs that keep us going. :)

I hope you have survived and if you've gleaned anything from this post -- I'm just a little helter-skelter. I fly by the seat of my pants more than have a strict organizational thing going on.

Now I'm supposed to pass on the baton of the world so I picked these fun ladies:

Steph at Show and Tell - In the wilds of England! - The happiest blogger in the world; she knows the secret of finding joy in everything and then giving it to others. I think she might actually be a fairy because it seems she just makes magical projects out of nothingness all the time. If only I had, like, a tenth of her doing ability, I'd have so many finishes!

Tenille at Stitched Up! - In the wilds of Australia! - She's pretty new to the blogging world and works on crazy things like HAEDs and Châtelaines which I know many of you love (and they are gorgeous)!  She also has an adorable little boy who would love nothing more than to explore her craft bin, ehehe.

Amber at Last Yesterday - In the wilds of Oz! - I've known this hobo for probably around 10 years in the online world and she's one of those special snowflakes who's like "Hey, a thing!" and then makes the thing. Perfectly. She stitches, sews (when sewing machines aren't out to off her fingers), yarns (when her wrists aren't falling off), and quilts.

And that's all folks!