I'm Baaaaack!!!

Hello, hello!!!

It's been a while, hasn't it?  The baby is almost 3 months old and is starting to sleep more predictably and is finally in the crib, so I am slowly getting the rest of my life back!  And you know what that means?????

Yes!!!  I am cross-stitching again!!  Yay!!!

(Can you tell how happy I am to be working on my project(s) again??)

I decided to tackle the new baby's birth record - best to get it done and out of the way so I can focus on the Hermit.

I am certainly a bit rusty - well, at least my hands are.  After 15 minutes of holding the fabric, my fingers starting going numb and cramping up.  My right hand (the one I use the needle with) also started cramping.  Bleh!  I lasted about an hour.  Boo!  Going to have to build up my endurance again! ha!

Anyway, here is an updated photo I took this morning.  She's coming along nicely!

Ah... so good to be back!!!

Update on the Little Pond.

I've spent the last week working on the Little Pond.  As I mentioned in previous posts, it is a much easier project to stitch.  There are blocks of color to stitch, rather than having to change threads after 2-3 stitches like I often have to do with the Hermit.  It's also more fun in some ways because I can see the animals coming together much faster.

With my expanding belly, it is also easier to stitch this one because I don't have to use the large Q-snap.  The Hermit is so large that the Q-snap is resting at the top of my belly/uterus, which can be quite uncomfortable at times.

So, here's the progress photo.  The giraffe is coming along and you can see a little froggy!

As always, thanks for reading!

Another New Project!

I once was a one-project-at-a-time kind of stitcher.

Not anymore.


I currently have 3 projects on the go.  The Hermit, Warm and Fuzzy Kitten, and now a new birth record for baby #3. 

I started Little Pond Birth record on May 14, 2013.  I hope to have it completed before new baby is a year old, so sometime in the last quarter of 2014.  Totally doable, I think.  It's a relatively easy pattern, on 14ct Aida cloth.  It's funny to me how these charts are "easy" for me now after working on the HAED.  It is actually a nice break from working on the the Hermit.

Here is the first photo.

As always, thanks for reading!

New Project - Farm Friends

So, I now have 3 cross-stitch projects on the go.  I've never had this many in-progress projects.  It's a bit daunting.  Since getting the Hermit started, I have completely abandoned that beautiful little kitten in the shadows. Well, I shouldn't say "abandoned"; it's just taken a backseat for now.

The other day I received a package in the mail.  My daughter saw it when she came home from preschool and said, "Mommy, is this your new craft?"  Oh my goodness, how sweet!!

I couldn't wait for the kids to go to bed so I could open up the new project and prepare it.  The first thing I do is organize the floss.  Dimensions kits now provide the floss already pre-organized in a strip but I find it's cumbersome, so I designed my own way of keeping the floss organized for a small project like this.

The next thing I do is prepare the fabric.  I use some left-over floss from finished projects and stitch the periphery of the fabric so it doesn't fray.  If I had a sewing machine it would take about 10 seconds to do, but since I don't this part takes about 15-20 minutes.

And... finally I can start stitching.  The first thing I noticed with this project is how freaking big the squares seem now compared to the Hermit project.  This fabric is 14 ct (14 squares per inch).  The Hermit fabric is 22 ct!  Doesn't sound like a lot but trust me, it makes a huge difference.

I started in the middle, like I always do.  Here's the first progress photo. It's the body of the little pig.

Here's what it should look like when it's done.  My target end date is early November 2012 as it is for a very special little boy's first birthday.

Another WIP

I was "forced" to take a few days off stitching this past weekend in order to prep for my son's 1st birthday.  I baked my famous carrot cake and husband decorated it.  The following day was Orthodox Easter, so by the end of the weekend I was exhausted and couldn't stitch. 

But I have started another kitty cat project which I haven't shown you yet, so I'm taking this opportunity to show off my other work in progress (WIP).

I bought this kit on eBay.  It's a packaged kit, so I didn't have to buy anything - the kit comes with the fabric (14 ct Aida), the floss and the chart.  My husband thinks she's a bit scary looking. I think she's adorable.  What do you think?

Come on, admit it, she's pretty cute, don't you think? 

Here's what I've done so far.  I started the kit in early March, just a few days before starting the Hermit.  I haven't worked on it in weeks, but as soon as I finish one page of the Hermit, I will get back to this one. 

Thanks for reading!

Kitty Litter

So, this is the final post showing off my collection of finished works.   I found Kitty Litter on my trusty eBay account and was intrigued by it because of the amount of half-cross stitching required.  In this one, the entire background of the picture is stitched.  I did a rough count of the number of stitches she would requires -- a whopping 60,000+!  


Kitty Litter took over 18 months to finish - the longest time it's ever taken me to finish a project. It was started on   I am very proud of her.  

Kitty Litter

As I mentioned, this is the final post regarding my finished projects.  What will follow will by my WIP (works in progress).  Over the past 2 months, I have found a wonderful community of cross stitchers here.  It was on this forum that I discovered an entire new world of cross stitching.  Stay tuned!

Frederick the Literate

After Barnyard Kitties,  I was ready for more action.  I was ready for a bigger project.  I continued with the kits, because back then that was all I knew about.  Kits were (are) my comfort zone.  After the usual browsing on eBay, I found the next project.  It would be another black Aida cloth, but the design was larger, more colours, and downright cute!

Frederick the Literate.  This lovely feline fell asleep among the book stack.  If you look closely, all the books are word plays.  For example, "Tale of Two Cities"is renamed "Tale of Two Kitties"; a volume of books has the names, "Great Cat-sup Recipes", "Great Mouse Traps", and "Great Fish Baits".




Frederick was a lot of fun to stitch. I always start in the centre, so see the books evolve one by one, his cute face and body lying hidden beneath the books brought me hours of peaceful stitching and thought.




I began Frederick on April 30, 2007 and completed him just 4 days before the birth of my daughter, on November 20, 2008.  I still remember, quite vividly, walking down the street in a blizzard one Saturday afternoon a few weeks later to pick up the final framed picture.  It was the first time I had left the house, by myself, after having had my daughter just a few weeks earlier.   Here he is, on the wall at home.

Frederick the Literate, on the wall

Next up ... Kitty Litter!  Stay tuned!