Advent Calendar Blog Hop: Day 21!

Hello, hello~  Are you here for Jo's Advent Blog Hop on this fine Winter's Solstice?  Sure you are!

Ooo we are so close to Christmas; are you ready?!  I can safely say all the Christmas cards are mailed and so are all the cookies!  I am now working on the "local" cookie batches, mostly the cookies that I love to make but would never survive mailing (decorated sugar cookies, etc) or that my husband loves and I have to make another batch of (thin mints).


Here is what I've created for you behind door 21!  I can assure you it took an awful lot of work to assemble this intricate piece.

almost staying still
Wait, that's not a craft...

Okay, okay, enough with the silliness and on to the Real Stuff.  Every year I've been trying to make something for the tree and this is 2017's contribution.

baby, it's COLD outside

I bought this little kit in a thrift store. I really like brass ornaments so finding a cross-stitch one was awesome!  There doesn't seem to be any images of this particular kit online, but there are stockings and wreaths out there somewhere.  I enjoyed the easy finish of it but it was a bit rough "seeing" the beginning stitches; I simply couldn't process the squares!  I just started at the bottom and worked my way up until it made sense.   Plus the 3-over-1 was remarkably tough despite the the large holes.  Back stitching required a thimble just to stuff the needle through some places!

Technical Details
  • Brass Stitchables "Snowman Mitten", a kit by Bucilla.
  • 3 over 1 on 14-count brass.
  • Finished Size:
  • Started: November ?, 2017, Finished: December 8th, 2017. Unknown hours.
I added a bit of red felt to the back to hide protect the stitches.  I thought I'd get all fancy pants and attach the felt with gold metallic floss to match the brass.  Trying to do that blindly and neatly....... Nope, not happening!  Glue gun to the rescue hah.

And because I felt this was a pretty sparse post, I will share two previous ornaments I don't believe were ever on the blog.

naughty or nice
delicious house

Both of these little kits were picked up in thrift stores (of course).  I believe the gingerbread house is the first Christmas ornament I've ever made in cross-stitch; I scribbled a date on the back of August of 2009 which is the year I started.  It was a fun stitch, although I obviously needed a bit more practice centering in a frame!  Santa  was stitched closer to Christmas that same year and was finished by being glued to cardboard, and then of course that looked ugly on the back, so I cut another piece of cardboard and used Christmas wrapping paper and a fat ribbon for hanging.  I do remember designing the M and C myself because the plain font looked too, well, plain!

Christmas... worm?

And this little guy was made when I was a tiny Rosey in kindergarten.  Our teacher cut out the little pieces of felt and we assembled them into these ornaments with glue.  Then we "sewed" around the edges and stuffed the bottom with a bit of fluff.  Such trust with a needle!  I'm sure nowadays someone would demand that children are too young and would eat the needles or some other disaster.


Jo asks: How do you plan to spend Boxing Day?  Do you have any traditions associated with this day?

Welp, like a few others on this hop, I'm also American and have no specific traditions associated with this day! My husband does actually have off the day after Christmas though, but this is more of a fluke of the days lining up just so.  It's a day for lazing around, eating cookies (and I guess leftovers), and playing with any new toys that Santa deposited under the tree.  Although after reading all the hops so far, I feel this might actually fit in haha.  I could pretend to be a milkgal and you could slip a note under the door on the way out. ;)

Okay, that's enough from me.  Thank you for visiting!  Your next stop is a Double Delight.  Please knock on Craftartista and A Snapshot of my Life's door tomorrow~

✧・๏พŸ: *✧・๏พŸ:* MERRY CHRISTMAS! *:・๏พŸ✧*:・๏พŸ✧

    As usual with these blog hops, I've scheduled this post to appear overnight here so the people in the future (read: the rest of the world) can have the post in a timely fashion.

    An Eclectic Ensemble

    I did!

    Howdy, y'all! Thanks for all the interest in the blog hop post. I'm glad you guys like Frosted Pumpkin cuties too! I figured I'm well overdue for a crafty recap that doesn't have to do with holiday stuff so let's take care of that, shall we~? :D

    before
    after

    First up, I finished the next side to the Monster Hunter cube, Zinogre the lightning doggy!  I rather like how this guy turned out.  (Have I said this about all of them? ;b)  I was worried about the lightest color blending in too much with the fabric but it turned out to have just enough texture to make it subtly pop.

    Technical Details
    • "Zinogre" glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pattern charted by me.
    • 2 over 1 on 20-count light tan jobelan fabric.
    • Finished size: 3.50 x 3.50" (9 x 9 cm).
    • Started: July 6, 2017, Finished: September ??, unknown hours.  

    I'm pretty sure this is a hunt

    Four sides down!  Next up is Nargacuga, the hyper catbat.  I haven't started him yet; I'm not even done tweaking the chart for him!  He will be a rather dark stitch as I'm trying to keep to the main species and not the subs (this will present a problem for the last stitch).

    I promise this is a flower

    I have also started the next Flower of the Month -- September's Aster.   I'm still not enthusiastic over this one but it's not too terrible to stitch.  I snack on it on occasion but that has tapered off with all the holiday crafting.  I do not like that jarring orange center.  I am leaving it until the rest of the flower is stitched to see if it becomes less InYourFace but I am not hopeful!  Luckily it's only a few stitches that will need replaced if need be!

    sunflower coaster

    I'm kind of proud of this one.  I couldn't find a crochet or knitted sunflower pattern to suit my needs, so this was my first attempt in cobbling something from nothing!  I had to learn how to crochet the crocodile stitch (which, if you're interested, consumes a LOT of yarn), plus learn how to do it in the round.  For a first attempt, it turned out fairly well.  It's made of cotton yarn so it should work well as a coaster, though I'm not sure the recipient is using it as such!  I do wish I had written down ANYTHING about what I did for this pattern haha.  I'm not sure I could recreate it, though I think I'll give it a try at some point not-Christmas time.

    front - front, back - back

    I feel like I've been doing an awful lot of knitting lately too.  These are "star stitch" washcloths made as part of a Christmas present!  YAY I AM ALMOST TIMELY.  Also it is a good thing I started these rather early as the star stitch is torture for us poor tight knitters and these take me quite a while to make.  It does lovely things to variegated/ombre yarn, though, and that is why I chose this particular stitch pattern.

    close up of the action

    I have two more I'm going to make in "winter" colors.  I might make some for myself, but they can wait until after Christmas!  I did both a crochet cast on and bind off which have quickly become my favorite ways to start and end a knit project!  My tension is a bit better with them so they are looser, creating the slightly scalloped border on both edges.  Very much would recommend!

    There was a minor annoyance with this yarn.  I bought the first skein at Michael's and it was 2oz.  This was enough to finish one cloth, plus about 7/8ths of the next one.  I bought the second skein at JoAnn's and it was 3oz!  Ugh.  3oz would've been enough to finish both, in the same dyelot (you can't tell the join on the second cloth though), with only a bit left over.  Now I have almost a full skein left to do ???? with.  I was a little grumpy over this.


    Technical Details
    • "Star Stitch" cloths, knit, pattern found here (free!) on ravelry.
    • My ravelry project page found here.
    • Cotton yarn: Lily's Sugar n' Creme in coral seas ombre.
    • Size 9 (5.5mm) needles, plus a crochet hook for cast on/bind off.
    • Started: October 28, finished November 10, unknown hours.  

    Lessons Learned
    • Crochet bind off.  
    • Better tension control for purling! (!!!!)
    • Where to buy yarn, bah.

    I think that's all with crafts that I can show right now.  I have some small projects on the crochet hook which are turning out quite fun and really cute.  Plus I have another Christmas present on a different set of needles.  Plus plus I have some holiday cross stitch in the works.  Plus plus plus it's almost Cookie Time!!  I'm so happy to be excited about Christmas this year. :)

      nyaa-p time

      And even though it has nothing to do with anything I made but LOOK AT MY NEW PAJAMAS.  I don't impulse buy very often but I had to have these instantly, pink or no pink.  How can I ignore sleepy kitties and yarn balls!  These are seriously adorable and very comfy too.  They were brand new with tags, in a thrift store no less, so I got them for a whopping $6.  :D

      helping

      This entire post could've counted for Gifted Gorgeousness, haha.  I look forward to joining in again next year!  I hope you all have a wonderful time and those of you in the US, have a Happy Thanksgiving!  I don't have to cook for it this time.  \:D/

      Spooky Hallowe'en Blog Hop

      Hello there, blog hoppers and minions!  It's that magical time of year for Jo's Hallowe'en (look I put the apostrophe in) Blog Hop.  I've scheduled this post to appear in the wee hours of the morning here as many readers are from the future... Or at least from over the puddle.  If you're stumbling onto the game from my blog, please head on over to Jo's blog to start!

      Google-y Oogley

      This year I have a Shiny New Finish, full of firsts!  It is my first time stitching on black fabric (I've done black perforated plastic), my first flatfold finishing, and my first Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery (finally)!  So much YAY!

      not a whole lot of border fabric -- whoops

      Technical Details
      • "All Hallows Eve" pattern by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, found here.
      • 2-over-1 on a 14-count black Aida.
      • Backing material: Holiday Showcase™ Halloween Cotton Fabric 43" - Candy Corn Dot, remnant purchased at JoAnn Fabrics, and stash black felt.
      • Finished stitching size: ~3" (7,6cm) square.
      • Started October 4, 2017, finished October 15, 2017, unknown hours.

      ๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ‘ป๐ŸŽƒ

      small kine goodies

      Because I stitched on black, I made a few adjustments to some of the charted colors.  Ms. Witch is in a fabulous navy dress, and Sir Mittens, her trusty familiar, is a dark grey gentlecat with dainty white paws.  The stars were stitched with E940 which is the wonderful glow-in-the-dark DMC.  I was surprised how... fluffy? this floss is.  It's in the light effects line so I guess I was expecting something more stiff.  But the coverage is great, even for 14-count!  Other than that, there were a few other tweaks, mostly involving the charted black floss.  I was not overly enthusiastic about stitching black on black and then not having it show up!

      cell phone didn't like pretty glowing things

      The tutorial I used can be found here on Meari's blog!  I am also big on recycling and using what stash I've accumulated/inherited.  I do not have any batting so I used some of my ample felt stash, in black.  This doubled to provide a dark background so nothing shows through the 14-count fabric holes!  Of course, since it was my first attempt, it's not quite perfect.  Mostly because my "flat" fold is not very flat at almost an inch thick lol.  Lesson learned, use pasteboard thickness!  What I used was not corrugated cardboard but more like two pasteboards pasted together... Still too thick apparently!

      help yourself to healthy(?) snacks

      I found the finishing fabric on sale in the remnant bin. It is partly responsible for the choice of black Aida.  I was waffling between it or a navy.  Can't say I much like to eat candy corn (says the sweet tooth) but they do look cute~  I left one back piece as exposed felt because it wouldn't really be seen at any point.  The "cording" is three pieces of yarn twisted together.  Orange, black, and some really strange hairy black stuff (like eyelash yarn but... hairy) that is rather creepy all on its own haha.

      And here's what you've all been waiting breathlessly for: The letter!

      the letter B - more Google-y Oogley

      Your next stop is Le Coeur Celtique so keep on hopping (ghosting?  zombie-ing? witching?) your way along!

      HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

      Great American Eclipse 2017

      Hello again~

      You may or may not have heard of the eclipse that happened in North America, specifically coast to coast of the USA.  If you were anywhere near the path of shadow, it's all you've been hearing about for about six months!  We live in the path of totality so we had a great show to look forward to... without having to deal with traffic (and thank goodness for that -- 30 minutes after was nuts).  My husband took off because he knew how excited I was for this.

      We ordered a solar filter for my little telescope early because I knew there'd be issues the closer to the date.  It safely arrived with plenty of time but ONE WEEK before the eclipse, I got an email from the shipper saying it couldn't be verified to meet the safety standards!  At that point, there weren't any verified items in stock, even assuming they could ship quickly.  So that meant we wouldn't be able to (safely) watch the eclipse through the 'scope after all.  I was so disappointed.  At least we were fully refunded for it and allowed to keep it.  We set it up with the telescope anyway so we could get pictures with our cell phones with no risk of blinding ourselves.

      Our local libraries were giving away proper solar glasses like candy so I picked up two pairs of those so we could watch safely.  I modified them slightly by punching holes in the temples and stringing a piece of elastic through.  This made it so the darn things actually stayed on our heads!  For future reference, the solar glasses are very annoying if you have to wear regular glasses to get through life.

      find the sunspots!

      How exciting to see sunspots!  We were lucky to have a beautiful, though hot, day for viewing.  There were some concerns about incoming clouds, but they behaved themselves until after the eclipse.  Just a few stray cirrus once in a while.

      so close

      I loved watching the sun get eaten away by the moon! 

      the diamond ring

      Totality was so amazing!  It was my first time but my husband's second (he was a small fry on the Big Island in Hawaii for the eclipse in 1991).  We had a good two+ minutes of it (2 minutes, 28 seconds) and it was worth every moment.  It was so dark and the temperature dropped rapidly at that point.  We didn't have any birds freak out but the "evening bugs" started to sing.  My mother told me her cats gathered at the door and stared at her thinking it was time to be fed!  Since it's safe to look at the sun without the filters during totality, we took our glasses off and the one off the telescope and got to see solar flares and the ring of fire and everything; it was wonderful!

      receding

      The clouds held off for the end too though we had to hurry and get our grill ready before they moved in with rain in the evening!  I mean, what's an eclipse without some grilled ribeye?  According to my husband, a wasted eclipse ahaha.

      edible sol and luna

      And of course I had to make my sugar cookies!  The icing was a little weird for these; a bit too runny.  They still taste like a million calories each though. :D

      This was such a fantastic experience and shall be going down as one of my favorite memories ever!  We are also close to where the 2024 eclipse will happen so assuming nothing changes in the next seven years, maybe I'll get to see another totality!  For further fun, NOAA has some great images and videos of the shadow crossing the US here (I am not sure how long this link will stay active).

      I will be fixing the images on my blog shortly.  Photobucket went off the deep end and has decided to charge FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS for 3rd party hosting.  Lol, no thank you.  Please forgive the mess until I can get the images moved!

      I Picked Up a Small Needle!

      Hallo, world!

      After the ceaseless whispering from my project bag, I finally succumbed to fishing out a cross stitch piece. I have not stitched since October of last year, before all The Happenings happened.  Getting a flower out let me make the "2017" folder in my cross stitching photo album... halfway through the year!

      before
      after

      Yay, a finish! (I've omitted the bees.) Of course, there wasn't much left on this piece so it was fairly easy to achieve victory. But a finish is a finish and always a morale boost.  I even braved washing it (held my breath as it submerged) to remove the fabric ink and hoop marks and to give it a bit of freshening up.  I probably should have ironed it!

      Technical Details
      • "August: Gladiolus" freebie pattern by Ellen Maurer-Stroh, found here.
      • 2-over-1 on a 14-count ecru huck towel.
      • Finished size: 4.5" x 4.5" (11,50cm x 11,50cm).
      • Started September 2016, finished June 25, 2017, unknown hours.

      Next up will be September's Aster.  I feel a little unenthusiastic about this one and I'm not sure why.  Perhaps I just prefer fluffy flowers.  Most of the colors are kitted up, minus one that is frustrating the heck out of me.  My inventory says I have not one, not two, but THREE skeins of this color.  Where are any of them?!  They must have become victim to the move and will pop up in some really obscure place a year from now.


      aroooo

      I also kitted up the next MH3U side after setting my husband loose with my floss collection.  He has a much better eye for color than he gives himself credit for!  Plus, if no colors are acceptable, we go "string shopping". What a terrible travesty that is. ;)  I started stitching at the last meeting with the local "yarn & yak" group.  They're more of a craft whatever you want group instead of strictly knitting or crochet.  This picture is about two hours worth of work, with plenty of yakking in between!

      weird angle

      I've also managed to squeeze in a knit washcloth with the Little Cowboy Afghan. It felt weird not having anything else to send with it and washcloths are fast and hopefully useful. I went up a size on the needles since I'm SuperTight. It gave it a slightly more loose gauge which should allow water to actually soak into it (yes, I've had water run off my cloths).  I did not like the three-stitch seed/moss border.  I think if I make another of these, I will adjust the border to be slightly wider.  It wanted to curl whereas the dolphin one did not and I think that will help.

      Technical Details
      • "Rubber Ducky Cloth", freebie pattern by Jessica Worthig, found here.
      • #4 needles (3.5mm).
      • Yarn: Peaches & Creme Solids in gold.
      • Finished size: ~8" x 8" (~20cm x 20cm).
      • Started July 17, 2017, finished July 21, 2017, unknown hours.

      That's all!  It's been super hot lately so crafting and fangirling over new anime has been A Good Time.