A Project Five Years in the Making!! It's DONE

Well it has been 5+ years in the making but I finished my Calendar Project yesterday! I remember when I made the first one- June- I thought, "Oh I will make one of these each month and then in a year I will have a nice calendar to hang in my office." Well, life happened like it always does and the project got set aside- but that doesn't matter now because it is finished!!
I laid them all out at work today and I realized I really like them all- I think January and October are my favorites though. These patterns were all freebies from Erica Michael's, she also has some other sets that are free too. You can find the patterns here. And helping me finish this project was....

My New Sewing Machine!!! Around October last year my old machine bit the dust, I was sewing on a baby quilt and it just quit working. When we took it into the shop we found out it was going to cost a lot more than what the machine was worth to fix it. So last week I went and got an Elna 6200- I love it! It stitches very smoothly and quietly. After reading reviews online I found that it was a good quality machine- hopefully it gets me through many happy years of stitching!

Another Finish- January Calendar

I have had a great weekend. I got to spend a lot of time with my husband, got to catch up with old friends, make some new friends and even finish a cross stitch project. This is the January calendar from Erica Michaels. This is my last project from this calendar. Once I get the Dec. and Jan. sewed and stuffed I want to take a picture of them all together. I have picked out the fabrics for the backs, just don't have the energy to get them done tonight!

Well, back to work tomorrow but hopefully I will get some crafting in on the evenings this week. Happy stitching/quilting/crafting to all!

New Year Resolution- Craft More, Blog More!!

Well, I guess so far my new year resolution has not been met in the blogging aspect, but it has been going ok for the crafting- I have finished a small cross stitch so far- December calendar hanging from Rainbow Gallery- now just January left and I will have the whole year. I haven't finished it off due to my sewing machine being out of commission, but will do that once I get the January one stitched. I think it is pretty and I like the snow!

Now I am just going to catch up with some projects that I finished at the end of last year- first I had made some scarves for Christmas for the dogs. I put their initials on them and below is a picture of Scout and Penny in their scarves. My sister made some for her dogs too and the dogs all looked so cute on Christmas morning!

For Christmas I made my in-laws a K-State quilt. I pieced the middle pieces together and then did applique in the shape of a power cat- Kansas State's mascot. I was pretty proud of how it turned out because it was my first attempt at applique. I just took it to get quilted a couple weeks ago (decided not to hand quilt this one!) and I can't wait to see the finished project.

My last (and favorite!) Christmas present I made was for my niece Marley. I made her two Binky Baby Bunny from a pattern from mmmcrafts.I really love her patterns- they are so cute and easy to make. I made a little boy bunny and a little girl bunny. I made little "binkies" for them out of coordinated fabric. Marley loves them and has been playing with them a lot.

Well, this year should be a great one for crafting- I have some goals-
1. Finish a quilt out of some squares that my Grandmother had cut out.
2. Finish my Under The Friendship Tree cross stitch
3. Multiple more that I cannot think of now :)

Happy November

Time to review the goals and how I did on them.

October Goals-
1. Finish October cross stitch (this weekend)- I did finish it (not that weekend!) And I also finished November, so I was ahead for a little while :)
2. Baste quilt and start hand stitching- Yes- About 6 hours of basting and several hours of stitching later I still have a LONG way to go, but it isn't urgent
3. Work on Birth Announcement- Yes I worked on this quite a bit, I would geuss I am a little less than 1/3 done- It is turning out very cute though.Here we are on Halloween- This is me and two of my co-workers. I am the Hello Kitty on the right. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my deer costume completed, but if my friend sends them to me I may post them here. Happy Halloween to everyone!

November Goals-
1. Post more updates on my blog
2. Finish December Calendar hanging
3. Finish Birth Announcement (except birthdate) and find frame
4. Make a Christmas ornament

Halloween Costume Weekend

Last weekend I finished up my October (only a few weeks late) and November calendar titles. I still need to stuff these a stitch them up, but they are most of the way done. Here they are on this sweet platter that my sister gave me for my birthday (Thanks Dunia!)

These past few weeks I have been working on my quilt. My mother and I spent about 6 hours getting it basted and I have been spending free weekends and evenings hand stitching. Here is an example of my stitches. Hand quilting is difficult for my, but I am hoping with practice it will get easier.

This weekend I decided to start on my Halloween costume. I didn't really have an idea of what to go as, but I decided to be a deer. I made the antlers from sticks, masking tape, paint and a headband. I found a pic online of a deer face painting. This is attempt #2 for the paint and I have a few things in mind to change, but I am excited for it to turn out. This is what DH is going as... get it, A hunter and his "dear". But this is his normal weekend gear!

Scout has even got in on the Halloween action. I sewed her this bandana this morning for Halloween. Doesn't she look thrilled :).

I have had a little bit of time to work on the birth announcement so it is coming along. Happy stitching and thanks for visiting my blog!

October Goals

September Goals-
1. Work on Birth announcement. - Yup- Progress so far.
2. Work on Scrapbooking.- Yup, got caught up to the beginning of this year- still got a little to go :)
3. Start a Christmas ornament. - Nope
4. Not a set goal, but I finished piecing the quilt!

October Goals-
1. Finish October cross stitch (this weekend)
2. Baste quilt and start hand stitching
3. Work on Birth Announcement

Back from Vacay, So reviewing my goals a little late!

We just got back from Florida yesterday. We left on August 1st so I didn't really have time to review my goals, but vacation was awesome. We went to butterfly world, went on an Everglades tour, went to the beach several times, went parasailing and went snorkeling! All super fun and I also got a lot of stitching finished on the plane rides!

Today when we got back though, Scout was mad at us. She wouldn't pay any attention to us and kept pouting and whining. After a little while I think she forgave us for leaving her and started cuddling and playing.

Anyways, here goes my stitching update!!

Goals for July-
1. Work on quilt- get all pieces cut and 1/2 of quilt pieced together- Kind of Finished. I had this goal completed until we decided to make the quilt bigger (queen size)- I have most of the pieces cut out and all of the fabric purchased. At least 1/2 of the main part is pieced together.
2. Work on pepper embroidery on towels- Finished. I got the second one done on the plane.
3. August Calendar ornament- Stitched, and I stitched September too.4. Not a goal, but I did work a little on my vegetable wreath.

August Goals-
1. Get quilt all pieced together and ready to be quilted.
2. Get caught up on scrapbooking.
3. Work on Vegetable Wreath cross stitch
4. Get baby birth announcement picked out and purchased.

Night at the lake and a weekend of finishing off projects!

This weekend was a productive one. We didn't have too much to do so I was able to finish some projects that I had already stitched. I framed my 2006 Cherub. I have multiple matching 4X6 frames like this one so I may need to do a set of Christmas stitches to go with this Cherub.

On Saturday Bret and I got together with one of my sister's family and my Dad (the rest of the fam was out of town) to celebrate father's day. We made shish kabobs which were delicious! It was a good time and was nice for a relaxing evening.

Sunday I got a lot done around the house and was able to finish off the July ornament (below). Now I am exactly 1/2 way finished with the year!

On Sunday we also got Scout a new pillow. We went for a bike ride and she ran along and was completely pooped afterward. Here she is relaxing on her pillow.

This weekend I also made good progress on Under the Friendship Tree. I am close to my goal for this stitching round and then will move on to another project. I didn't get to work on it tonight, we went and had a picnic at the lake. One of my good friends from school and her fiance moved back to town and we went out to the lake. We had a good picnic and got to swim. Scout had an awesome time splashing in the waves.
Happy Stitching!

July ornament is all stitched :)

I got the July ornament stitched. The flag fabric at the top of the picture will be on the back of the ornament. It stitched up very quickly. I was very excited to get it done so fast.
We had a lovely weekend visiting the in-laws. I need to work on laundry tonight and give Scout a bath!

Review of Goals, And May Goals

Wow! I cannot beleive that it is May already. Time is flying by and I have been busy!
Heres a review of last months goals and how I did.

Goals for April stitching
1. Finish stitching and finishing off May and July for calendar.- Got May done and finished off. It is hanging in my office right now. I like it a lot and was glad that I found a little button that looked like Scout!! The fabric it is on is on the back of the little pillow.
2. Work on Vegetable Wreath- Made some good progress. I posted this mid-month.
3. Get English Pointer pattern- Started on Hunting companions and plan to make the middle yellow lab into Scout. I have worked on this a small amount, but will probably put it on hold for awhile.
4. Work on Mirabilia angel (possibly finish it ??)- Nope, but maybe this month!

Goals for May:
1. Finish July Erica Michaels cross stitch.
2. Work on Mirabilia Angel (maybe finish it)
3. Work on Mirabilia Under the Friendship Tree
4. Work on Honeymoon Scrapbook (not stitching, but a project I need to finish!)

Happy Stitching!

Finished with the start of the perpetual calendar

I finished my perpetual calendar today. I glued the numbers onto wooden blocks using craft glue. I finished off March and April with ribbons and hangers on them. I am not great at finishing into pillows, but I feel like they turned out ok and the more I do it, the better I will get. The wooden part I painted it brown and then "antiqued" it with white paint. I think it turned out well evening though my husband doesn't like it.

I sewed the June and February, but I have not stuffed them yet. I am really happy with how this turned out and am excited to take them to work on Monday! It is super snowy today so I am happy I got some time to work on my crafts!
Once I finish stuffing the two I have sewn I will move onto another project for awhile, I am not sure what yet, but I am excited!

Progress on the Perpetual Calendar

I finished this Erica Michael's design last week. I like it, but I am not too sure about the colors. I can't wait to finish it off with pretty fabric and ribbon. This was stitched on 28 ct Blue Sky Monaco Fabric (2 over 2).

Here are the numbers that are going to be glued on the blocks for my calendar. I stitched these on the 14 count stitching paper. I used the font from PCStitch and I made the border myself. I really like the way they turned out, now I just need to figure out the best way to glue them on. I also need to sand the holder and paint it.
The numbers for blocks for the calendar- Block 1: 0,1,2,3,4,5 Block 2:0,1,2,6,7,8
The 6 is interchangeable for the 9.