Happy Sunday!

Well you knew it wouldn't be long right? Yup, I've started yet another project... seriously... what is wrong with me???

Scraps ball!

I'm seriously beginning to doubt my sanity here...

Gotta have a system!

Just when I thought I had enough of something, I head back in for some more????? Didn't I just get finished with complaining about having too much to do????

Extra mini!

I once heard that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again expecting different results. Yup! I guess that seals it - I'm insane. 

But there is a bright side here! No pressure :) Meaning, this quilt is not for anyone. I'm just doing it because. If it comes out beautiful - yey me! If it comes out horrendous and I have no other choice but to burn it - YEY me! So I guess you could say I'm officially addicted. My stitchy bug has taken a vacation. She's been replace while on haitus with the quilting bug (if that's what you call it).

This one is made out of a set of fat quarter precuts by Moda, called Seasonal Elegance. I simply love the muted Christmas colours. Certainly seems to be the trend this winter actually. But I love that the colours are not overtly Christmasy at first glance. Instead the mix of the mild green/reds/silvers blend wonderfully with the unique patterns that are in this collection to put it in the "Christmas Category".

While I'm in the Christmas-y mood here's one for road:

Happy Holidays!

Melissa

Happy Thursday!

2 posts in two days! Must be a record :) But I really couldn't wait any longer to show you!

A couple of weeks ago I made my way to Michael's to finally get Nantucket framed. This is the first piece of needle work I have ever had framed :)

I was going for an old world kinda feel when thinking about framing. Actually, 'old trunk' is what I had in mind. I wanted the frame to look like it could have come off a ship somewhere. I think it turned out pretty good!

How did Nantucket get framed if you have many finishes and none framed, you ask? Well because Michaels had a sale on their framing services. If you can call it that... I still ended up paying a minor fortune to get Nantucket framed. So what was the deal? Well 60% off plus an extra 20% off. Now that in my mind means 80% off... Nope it's an extra 20% off the total after 60%... makes no sense. Anyway, I didn't get quite the deal I was hoping for but I really wanted to get her framed!!! SO I ponied up the $150. 

I was so excited by this 'sale' that I actually brought a couple of other pieces along with me... but alas they will remain in my finished pile for a while longer. 

I can't quite believe that $150 is considered a sale... I mean I've gotten a couple things  (non-stitchy) framed before for around that price normally. I think Michaels prices must just simply be astronomical and I would NEVER shop there without a coupon... EVER. E.V.E.R!

Anyway, I digress. 

The REAL question I would like to ask you all is... Is there anyway to frame a piece of needlework yourself??? I've heard of Frames By Mail but I'm a huge scardy cat because I have no idea how it works exactly. I have so many lovely pieces that I want framed but I simply will NOT be dishing out $150+ to get them framed.... 

HELP

Yours truly,

One desperate stitcher.

Happy Wednesday!

Well I'm very happy to announce that I'm finished with working at the factory... the factory being the dining room table and sewing machine.

I've officially completed ALL the Christmas gifts I had planned! I can't believe I did it... and ahead of time too! I was convinced I was going to slaving away on the machine on Christmas Eve. NOPE, not this time! Alllllll done :)

Before I show you any pictures I have to tell you that the camera just doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of the colours what-so-ever. It's pretty well dark when I leave for work in the morning and dark when I get home so there's not much opportunity to snap a good picture that either shows the right colours or that doesn't have a shadow in it!

Now onto the projects! 

Another 8 placemats for my grandmother donzo:

The true colours of the placemats shown here. It was late afternoon when I snapped this pic so a little shaddy!

I used the same 'tablecloth' material for the backing in these mats as I used in the other set I did not that long ago. 

I just love this fabric! Bought it for 50/60% off or something like that. Have to say I think these will look brilliant on her dining room table :)

I also finished up a throw blanket for my brother. He loves watching TV with a blanket in tow. The fabric was generously donated from my mom, who still has TONS of the top fabric you see here:

It's a nice heavy material for top and on bottom I have a softer fabric that is bound to be nice and warm. I don't think it's quite flannel but it's definitely got a similar feel to it. Originally I thought I might quilt this but I was a little worried with how heavy the fabric was and how hard it would be free motion this one. So, since the top fabric is spectacular, I didn't see much harm in leaving it be.

I was so absorbed in my sewing on Sunday that I didn't even notice the snow storm blow in. One minute it was crystal clear, the next I turn around and meet a wall of white. Couldn't even see the road. Believe it or not, I love snow. It's just the removal of said snow after everything has calmed down that sucks... I'm sure many of you might agree. In anycase I'm hoping the snow sticks around until after Christmas... our temps generally yo-yo this time a year... so much so they could give you whiplash. ANYWAY, nothing like a White Christmas really! SO Mr. Snow, BRING IT ON!

I'll leave you now with some puppy pics! They LOVE the snow :)

Wishing you all the very best this Holiday Season!

Melissa

Happy Thursday!

No I'm not referring to that awesomely catchy song that melts hearts! Nope this is all about the stitching people.

So first things first... HURRAY! I have some stitchy progress to show you. Finally... It felt so good to take a couple of hours and stitch to my hearts content this past weekend. I haven't done this in FOREVER! I've mentioned this in previous posts, but I've only managed to pickup a needle here and there in between all my other holiday projects. 

Here's the progress I've managed with L*K's Holly and Hearts Mystery Sampler! PART 1 officially complete!

In fact, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the projects. The problem is I wanted to put all my new sewing and quilting skills to good use and make Christmas gifts... yup I put WAY too many projects on the list.

It's starting to get more manageable now but I've still got 8 placemats to stipple/bind/finish and 1 blanket to put together yet!  Pewf... just thinking about it is giving me a little anxiety. BUT the comfort is that I'm in the home stretch! Once I've got these placemats donzo, I'll really be able to relax and cheat on my sewing projects with my stitchy projects :)  Or rather stop cheating on my stitching projects with my sewing projects! After all, my stitching will always be my first love ;)

Until next time!

Melissa

Happy Monday folks!

Annnnnnd welcome to December!!! Let the festive festivities begin!

I have another finish to show you all today of the quilty variety! (I also have a stitchy finish but I can't show it to you just yet!!!)

So without further ado I present a beautiful throw! 

While I thought this would be more of a lap quilt, like my last one, it's actually more body sized and would be great to cuddle up on the couch with. I figure I will slowly make my way up to a full sized quilt... this one was hard enough to handle and it was much smaller than even a twin sized quilt.

I say the main reason I found this quilt difficult to finish is because of all the stippling I did. Swirls all over the blanket. And when I say all over I mean everywhere my little needle could go. And boy did it ever use some thread to do! So when I finished this quilt Sunday morning passed, I was happy to see it end, but also oh so pleased with the end result. All those hours moving my quilt this way and that paid off, and I have to say I love the effect stippling imbues. 

Now it's on to the NEXT one :) I'm even thinking that maybe I'll sell some quilts. Not sure what the market is like for quilts but who knows :)

I also finished some placemats... again the stippling, but at a scale that was far more reasonable. Probably took me about a 1hr work from start to finish for each mat. Not bad for a beginner! 

Again I really tried to optimize my fabric. I had about a metre and a bit to make some placemats out of. When all my calculations were done I realized I only had just enough fabric for 4 mats with binding made out of the same fabric (and that's using every inch of fabric... I mean it). I was a little disappointed that I didn't have enough to make a least 6... if only I had another fabric to use for binding....

I have another 3 projects I'd like to get done before Christmas on the quilty side of things. Not leaving much time for stitching I know - but I'll squeeze it in there some where at some point or I'll go insane. 

I'm so ready for a break at this point... I feel like I spend EVERY evening doing something. I just want a couple of nights where I do nothing but veg on the couch... with my new blanket :)

Happy Stitching!

Melissa

Happy Friday!

As you have probably guessed today's post is about some new additions to my stash!

I remembered when I started ordering these new patterns I actually started to feel giddy with happiness! But did I really need them? Well yes and no! I have both mystery samplers started and need the other parts to finish them... but the other stuff? Well those were just because. What can I say? I love Christmas and Ella and the Frog is so sweet... I can see hanging it in my future daughter's bedroom :) .... ummmm what's wrong with me? I may not even ever have a daughter but I still want to stitch something that I MIGHT use... really I'm just justifying the purchase with an excuse - I only bought Ella and the Frog because I loved it. I have no idea where I would hang it, but nevertheless I still wanted it.

This leads me to a bigger, more philosophical question... Why is it we feel the need to buy more stash even if we already have plenty to do???? I have charts coming out the ying yang. More projects started than you can shake a stick at. More accessories/fabric/hand dyed thread than I know what to do with! Really... where does it end???? 

I've been much better recently with buying stash... that is, keeping control of myself and not going ape-shit-crazy over new patterns/fabric/floss. But I've only been better because I've been so mega busy with life and other projects, that are taking a bit of time (and money) away from my stitching. Shockin'... if it's not stitchy stash, it's quilty stash. What a vicious cycle! 

In the end I'm not going to set one of those goals you see proclaiming "I WILL NOT BUY STASH FOR A YEAR..." or "I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL MY STASH IS EMPTY..." In the end, and we all know it, those are empty and unachievable goals. Well at least to me they are. 

So what to do?

I can't see much in the way of options here. Being dedicated to stitching something as soon as you buy it is difficult, to say the least. So the only option is to remain as frugal as possible, so that my pocket book doesn't suffer too much and my stash doesn't start busting at the seams. 

Ahhhh first world problems....

I'll leave you now with a couple of pictures!

Last night we had our first snowfall (real one anyway). Really big flakes of snow. Supper sticky... the stuff winter wonderland dreams are made of... and hard hitting snowballs!

The puppies were happy with the snow too! They couldn't get enough of the stuff and wanted to play outside all night long. Here they are this morning ready to play yet again (and looking for those belly rubs)! Too bad the snow turned to slush overnight :/

Until next time,

Melissa

Happy Monday everyone,

I'm a little late in posting the winners of my giveaway... not that this is not typical of me!

Better late then never I say!

The winner of the $10 gift card to 123stitch.com is:

ANNIE!

The winner of a stitched goody by yours truly (going to keep what is a secret until received!):

ANNE of Dolls Musings!

Congrats to both winners and thank you everyone for participating!!! Hopefully not too much time will pass before another giveaway ;P

Until next time,

Melissa

... BUT lots of SEWING!

Happy Tuesday everyone and welcome to November!

My hands have been very busy over the last couple of weekends doing everything but stitching. Which I need to get at!!! I miss you my dear cross stitch. 

With, dare I say it, Christmas on the horizon, I've been busy planning projects to give as gifts. Being a little cash strapped for gifts this Christmas, I've been searching for a way to give the people I care most about something special, that will mean a lot, and not break the bank all at the same time. 

And lets face it... I'm not about to be giving away my cross stitch projects (the big ones that is) to anyone anytime soon. I'm not the fastest stitcher, so when I finish a project I have so much emotional and sentimental attachment to it that I just can't bring myself to give it up. AKA: I love them too much.

Perhaps this is a little selfish of me, but I can't see giving away something I've spent literally WEEKS if not MONTHS on. Also there's that other danger that some of you stitchers may relate to, that you work months on a beautiful piece and then big moment comes where you give it to the person it was intended for annnnnnd... nothin'. They don't appreciate... maybe they don't even EVER hang it up! Or worse still they could be like "what on earth is this...." in the bad way. 

All I have to say is: NOPE not going there. I've heard way to many horror stories to even consider giving away any of my cross stitches to anyone but my mom (a cross stitcher herself). 

What I HAVE decided to do is make some quilted items for some special people. I already had a few jelly rolls lying around and just bought some majorly discounted x-mas fabric, so I figure I'll make something out of them. 

A pic of my first quilt... all for me :)

Love the colours :)

New project! Made from a Jelly Roll.

All my scraps! Not bad eh?

Why not……

Pining of the quilt top with help of my best friend. You'd be
surprised how fast 100 pins disappear…

I've literally spent the last two weekends piecing, cutting, sewing, ripping..., and sewing some more. I never thought my back could ache so much!!! I woke up this morning and I swear every bone in my upper chest and whole back cracked. As I'm going through the work day, and even as I write now, just the littlest movement lets off an extremely satisfying crack. Hopefully my bones and muscles will get used to this soon because I think it's fair to say I've been bitten by the quilting bug!!! I just want to do it alllllllll :)

At the moment I'm balancing two projects. One that is almost done and one that I picked up after discovering that I didn't have enough fabric to finish the first one... naturally, since I couldn't finish quilt 1 and was looking forward to a night at the sewing machine I got to work on a second project... what is wrong with me!!!!!??????

As of last night here's where I was at with both projects...

FINALLY DONE!!! ( Took me 7 weeks!) Not bad for my first quilt is it? :)

Project number 2

I started sewing all the block together last night! By a happy mistake I ended up have enough material in my stash to do sashing for the two small quilts I have planned outta this project. At lunch hour today I made a little trip to the fabric store to pickup the rest of the material I need... I stayed up until 1am last night trying to figure out the math.... ugh. 

Trying to figure out how much material one needs for a project is much like a puzzle .. a puzzle that makes your head hurt after a very short period of time...

Anyway, that's all for now folks! Hopefully I get to put a few stitches in on my cross stitch projects soooooooon!

xo

Melissa

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

I hope you're all ready for some "trick r' treating" tonight. Now that my youngest brother is not so young anymore, I get to stay home during this spooky night and await the kids who might ring our door bell. Problem being is that we live on a street with not so many houses on it... so that means not too many kids show up at the front door! And I don't blame them!!! If I were I kid I'd want to go where I can get the biggest bang for all those miles I put on my feet in the cold :) Ahhhh to be a kid again with a pillow case (or two) in hand pilfering all those houses for candy and chips hehe. 

Luckly, our door bell fortunes have increased lately due to some large new housing developments in the area and that equals MORE TRICK OR TREATERS :) What can I say? I just love seeing all the costumes that are donned this special night and handing out candy bars! 

I have it all planned out. The music, the decorations, and the PUMPKIN! Wait... the pumpkin... Well boy do I ever have a story to tell you about pumpkins. 

Usually it's tradition that my brothers and I go out and get our Halloween pumpkins at a nearby local farm. So Sunday arrives, it's nice, not too threatening on the rain side of things... although I can see some scary looking clouds in the distance... So I ring up my brothers to go get our pumpkins. We arrive... no pumpkins... disappointing. We always try to support local businesses first but I guess we'll just have to go to the grocery store... WRONG. No pumpkins at the grocery store... none in the whole metro area!!!! WHAT????? 

So there we are, all crammed into a car with our significant others, brainstorming where on earth we can find a pumpkin... on a Sunday... before everything closes. There's but one last place to try, Lester's Farm. A bit of a trek but we HAVE to have a pumpkin for Halloween! It would be like not having a tree on Christmas!

So off we go to Lester's, we arrive... A MILLION cars! Now if you're like me and think positive, the fact that there are tons of cars spilling out of the parking lot and into the street you'd think "Boy... they must be the only place left to have pumpkins. Thank God we are going to get one"... if you're a pessimist you'd probably think "CRAP! It's probably a free-for-all in there"... think Lord of the Flies...

If you're the pessimist, you were right. I walked in with hope only to see that the crates and pallets that used to hold pumpkins were practically empty, with only the saddest looking pumpkins left... the ones who've been beaten and bruised. Much like how I was feeling in that particular moment. I was totally deflated. My picturesque Sunday with my family had flown the coop. 

I all but gave up when I spot two GINORMOUS pumpkins left at the very end between what used to be pumpkins but now had their guts spilling out onto the ground. 

I make a beeline for what is now our "greenish", warped, yet perfectly funky and weird pumpkin.  

Now it's all over the news. "NO PUMPKINS!" "PUMPKIN SHORTAGE HITS THE AVALON". Literally, radio hosts are asking people to call in on how they plan to cope with this shortage and be creative and carve other things... watermelons, turnip, cantaloupe... you name it. While these substitutions are great solutions if you don't want to miss out on the tradition of craving at Halloween, they're still just not the same as getting up to your elbows in pumpkin slime. 

I know one thing for sure... From now on I'll be getting my pumpkin much earlier and will appreciated it soooooo much more :)

Lastly, I'll leave you with a couple pictures of two very curious pups... They were looking at me as if to say "Mommy, why are you taking pictures of pumpkins???". So I took the opportunity to grab a few snaps of them in the morning light on the front deck :) Now hopefully they'll sit just as well when the doorbell starts ringing!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

PS: Be sure to sign up for my giveaway! Make sure you comment on my giveaway post if you'd like to participate!!!

Happy Monday everyone!!! 

Well I've had quite the bit of luck lately both in  life and here in our stitchy world.

Thanksgiving may have passed but I am so grateful for so many aspects in my life.

I've also been privileged to win not 1... not 2... but 3 stitchy giveaways recently (see I told you I've been lucky!). 

First I won an amazing giveaway over at The Snowflower Diaries! Thanks so much Maja!

I also have to thank Regina at Oubliette  for hosting one of the most informative giveaways ever ;) Basically, all the entrants had to respond to following questions:

1. How many blogs do you read regularly?
2. How much time do you spend reading blogs each day?
3. What sort of  content attracts you to the blogs you do read?  For example:  photos, musings about the needle arts, the style or personality of the blogger, humour, etc.
4. Do you enjoy message boards devoted to stitching?  If yes, which ones do you read?
5. Do you use Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with cyber friends who share your love of the needle arts?
6. Do you belong to a stitching group that meets in real space and in real time and promotes person-to-person sharing?

Now just stop and think about what your answers would be! Really makes you think doesn't it. I loved seeing all the answers and was amazed when I was picked as the winner for a 123stitch giftcard!!! Awesome! Thanks so much Regina :)

Last but not least I have big thank you for Nancy at the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe! Where I won some fabulous hand dyed floss :) I know I know... I've already told you about this but seeing as it's a recap of these amazing givers I figured I'd include everyone :)

Annnnddd now it's your turn!!!! It's time for me to pass it on right?!

We'll have two lucky winners this time round! 

Prize 1:     $10(US) Giftcard for 123stitch.com

Prize 2:     A stitched pincushion by yours truly :)  

All names will be entered to win either prize, so no need to make a distinction on which one you would want. The first name I draw will be the winner of the Giftcard and the second will win the pincushion.

Now for the rules!

1. Comment only on this post if you wish to enter.

2. Leave an email address if you are a no-reply blogger (I've had a hard time tracking down people in the past).

3. Past it on! Make sure you post/link my giveaway on your blog please :)

Giveaway ends on November 15, 2013

I'll draw the winner on November 16. 

1...2...3... GO!

Until next time dearies!

Melissa

Happy Thursday,

I have a new finish and start to show you all today! I haven't taken part in IHSW for a LONNNNG time, despite my best efforts. It's easy to let life whisk away your weekend I find, so hermitting can be a bit of a challenge. This weekend past however I found myself with a little extra time on my hands than usual and decided that some quality time with my stitching and netflix was in order :) I stitched until my hands and fingers went tingly and watched a season and a half of Bones. Yup I think I'd qualify this as a successful weekend!

I finished another house in the Santa's Village series by CCN and have another waiting in my WIPs bag just waiting for a start. I have 5 out of the 12 in the series right now... and NOW CCN has announced another series called Frosty Forest! I'm going to have to speed up because I find myself already loving the concept of Frosty Forest... oh dear ;)

Santa's Stocking Store
Country Cottage Needleworks
Stitched on 32ct Opalescent Belfast

I also put a start in on L*Ks new Mystery Sampler, Holly and Hearts.

I've been dying to start in on this sampler and have had it waiting in the lineup for a while. But I was being very disciplined and made myself hang off on starting until I finished my Santa's Village WIP! YEY for willpower.

Unfortunately, Santa's Magic has been neglected over the past week or so... just because I'm working with Kernik thread now and I hate it.

I figure once I've put the last stitch in part one of the L*K mystery sampler I'll kick my but in gear and continue on with Santa's Magic. I find with large intricate projects I always like a little side project just so I can take a break from it from time to time. Anyone else do this?

Also, do you notice how everything I'm working on right now is Christmas related?! I must have an obsession subconsciously... 

Ciao for now!

Melissa

Happy Monday!

I have a case of the Monday's today. This morning when I woke up I thought to myself uggggghhhh can't I just stay in bed???? I could hear that it was raining... there was barely enough light to see about my bedroom... combine this with a comfy bed and a puppy cuddled into the crook of your legs and I'm sure many of you can see why I just did not want to move. But despite ever fibre of my being wanting to stay put, I slapped the alarm clock one last time at 7:05am and flicked off the blankets to meet the cool air that seems to have seeped into the house as October has creeped along. I wrap myself up in my house coat and beginmy morning routine... shower, put dog out, feed dog, get lunch ready, do hair (no makeup... too lazy today), jump in car and off I go. 

All day my body screamed... I just wanna go home!

I hate starting my week off like this. But then I guess there are just some days that are more difficult to put up with (let's face it we all put-up with Mondays more often than not...). Perhaps we should have a revolution and demand 4 day work weeks! Who's with me? I jest of course, one always wants what one cannot have :)

So to perk myself up here I am again whipping up a post just because I feel like it. So what I am I going to talk about today? Well the garden hasn't seen much action on my blog lately so that feels like a perfect topic! Specifically, harvest time. I very nearly entitled this post "The Harvest" but of course I had a sneaking suspicion that I might have used that title before. Lo and behold, I have. SO dirty digging it is!

Harvesting veg is not nearly as neat and straight forward as just pulling things out of the ground. Nope. Wearing gloves is an absolute necessity... especially when the soil is soaked with rain water. Perfect recipe for mud if you allow yourself to get messy.

This year we expanded our efforts to many more onions, more carrots, garlic, more turnip, asparagus, rhubarb (bit of story here), beans, cabbage, and the all traditional potato (although this is our first year growing it). Once a couple of new beds were constructed and everything was planted the garden was pretty well left to it's own devices. Too busy house building you see. We won't thank ourselves next year as I'm sure we'll be weeding forever. 

That being said, we got quite the haul this year. I'm sure we could have had even bigger and better veg but for what we got I think the garden did quite well!!! And I should mention we've been harvesting from the garden ever since August, so we've gotten quite a lot from our growing garden :) (PS: I'm convinced my boyfriend is the one with the green thumb. Without him I'd be lost and I'm sure things would probably only have grown to the size of a quarter haha).

Here's some pictures, but keep in mind that there is tones more still waiting to hauled out of the ground!

Hnions!

Our piddly little cabbage...

Spanish Onions :)

L'ail! Garlic 

Now...just to come up with recipes to use all this stuff up! If anyone has any suggestions on how I can preserve my onions I would be ever grateful as I have a million and no clue what to do with them all!!!! 

Despite the dreadful Monday start, Fall will continue to be one of favourite seasons... just stop raining already!!! :)

I'll leave you now with my puppy/doggy pics! Couldn't take picture of just one of my pups now could I!?!?

Baby Arya

Beautiful Leia

Until next time,

Melissa