I am Back...Mostly. New WIP and a Finish

So it's been a minute since I posted anything.  My big "life decision" was leaving my emotionally abusive boyfriend and moving back in with my parents.  It's not something I took lightly and I'm still recovering, in a way, but I am happier now than I was when I was with him.  Along with leaving him, I was a bridesmaid in my BFF's wedding, looking for a job, and just trying to adjust to living without him and back with my parents.  I am now working 3rd shift at a factory and my days and nights are all confuddled, but I'm doing well with it.  My parents...well, it hasn't been a particularly easy transition on that front.  Parents insist on their point of view and rules, and I want my independence, so that's been difficult to deal with.  Doesn't help that I lost my car a couple weeks ago and now have to depend on their vehicles to get anywhere.  There was a really bad storm in the area and my job told us to go home, and I managed to stall my car in a bit of high water on the way home.  I'm fine from that, no injuries, but the insurance company decided that it wasn't fit for me to drive anymore, so there's that.  They paid off the rest of the loan and I'll still get some money to pay off debts accrued this past year and get another vehicle, so that's a blessing in a disguise.

Stitching wise, I went through a slight lull, but have been back at it.  I in the mini swap for Sprite Stitch this year, but I haven't manged to think of ANYTHING for it, and I'm getting worried that I'll never have the motivation to actually do it since I can't relate to anything this person likes.  I have manged to finish something I started back before I moved.  Small piece that my mother picked out.  Very simple; one color.

I was thinking of framing it and giving it to her for her birthday later this month.  See how it goes.  I have another finish, that I sort of forgot about.  I made a small wedding sampler for my BFF, but I forgot to bring it with me to the wedding, so I now have time to do something creative with it...don't know what, but something.

I started work on a new piece about a month or so ago.  I am stitching Skeleton Crew from The Cricket Collection.  I am enjoying stitching this piece and find it to be quite fun.  Nothing too complicated and I really like the color scheme.  It forces me to stitch using multiple colors in progress at a time as it doesn't really work with skipping around, so that's a new experience for me.  Here's what I have.

Not bad for a month of work while working 3rd shift, lol.  Irony, in a way.  Working on ghosts and creepy crawlies while working the "graveyard" shift.  Ha!

Now for patterns.  Feeling thoughtful tonight, so I bring you some "thoughtful" patterns.

That's it for now.  I'll try to post more when I can.  Internet here is pretty shady, so it won't be as often as I would like.  Happy Stitching!!

Finishes for 2013

I won't repost any finishes that I did because that would be redundant.  This next few things are pieces that I finished basically within the last month. There's only one thing that I didn't finish in the last month, but I haven't posted it yet, so that's okay.

Anyway...first thing: Christmas gifts.  I made Christmas gifts for people I work with that I hadn't already made gifts for in the past.  Here's the result:

This first one glows-in-the-dark.

This one is meant to be an ornament but I didn't have anything to use as a hanger type thing.

These next two pieces are technically WIPs, but they're done to the best of my ability at the moment.  The first one is done because I don't know what else to do with it.  It can either be a magnet, or I could leave as is and not worry about it.  The second one is only partially done because I got it in a kit and the company didn't put enough of a particular floss color to finish it and I only just got around to asking about it.

Now for patterns.  Again, no theme....

That's it for today.  Happy New Year everyone and Happy Stitching!!

Little Gifts

I made a bunch of little gifts for some of the people I work with.  It took a while to think of something creative for each person and then make a pattern for each person, but they all turned out all right.  I plan on giving these gifts on Valentine's day.  It's going to be a long week, but I'll be glad to see their faces when I give them out.  I made nine gifts in all.  They're all small and simple to make it easy on me.

Double sided key chain

Also double-sided.

A pin.

I had fun making them.  The only dilemma was the hoop.  I bought online but they didn't come with a backing so I had to improvise. I made a back with cardboard from an old shoe box I had lying around.  I kind of had to do it freehand, which explains the odd shape of some of the framed items.

Now for patterns.  Same type of deal as last posts patterns.

With that I am out.  Happy Stitching!!

Busy Week....But in a Good Way

Busy week, but in a good way, of course.  First, finished pieces.  These were all done by shiori500 on deviantart.  I'm very impressed with the speed she has in finishing all these in such a short amount of time.

Alright, now for the part that was busy in a good way.  I went Joann shopping yesterday, and I got soooo much for so little, comparatively.  I also went to my local cross stitch shop and got a number of things, as well.  First, here is a picture of all the stuff together.

I got the two pieces of colored fabric, the pattern, and the beads at the cross stitch shop, while everything else I got at Joann's.  The things I'm most proud of in terms of a good deal were the huge pack of white AIDA and the scissors.  Here's a closer image of the two.

Yes, folks, that is one piece of AIDA that is 60 inches by 48 inches...for $11!!! And the scissors, which are supposedly really great, $10!! Thank Joann's for the 50% off coupons!!  Now, my between my mother and me, I got 4 patterns at the cross stitch.  Here they are.

I hope to eventually do all of them.  I don't know which one to do first, so any personal suggestions will be taken into consideration.

That is it for now.  Sorry for the picture heavy post, but it had to be done.  Until next time, Happy Stitching!!

Blueberry Patch WIP

Remember how I said many posts ago that I made a mistake in counting with one of my pieces and would have to rip it all out and redo it? I decided to just rip out one of the characters and work around the quilts since I really didn't want to do all that work again.  That, and the quilts don't affect anything except one little stitch of the hat of one of the boys, but I figured it was an easy enough fix.  So I started stitching that piece again two days ago, and this is what I've managed to get done in those two days.

I think it's quite a bit, considering that I normally work with 1 color at a time and I've been working with 3 thus far.  Granted, it's so I don't mess up anymore, but I'm sure it'll happen a couple more times before I'm done.  We'll see how it goes.  I might post what progress I make between now and Friday, since I plan to leave Saturday for my sort of vacation out of the state I'm in now.


I'm also in a little bit of a music mood, so I give you two patterns that are musically relevant.

The second patterns came from a Christmas sprite type thing from Dragon Cave's Christmas event, so I'm not sure who to give the credit.  Anyway, with that, I'm done.  Happy Stitching!!

A Lot of Stuff That Needs to be Done

First off, I was awarded the Liebster Blog Award by MsStitcher and I couldn't more tickled.  Now comes the long part.  I am going to copy and paste what MsStitcher has to say about it, so here it is:


This Award is given by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition. Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, favourite or beloved so I feel quite honoured to get this.
The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:
1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.


So now that that's out of the way, here comes the fun part; the actual naming of whom I'm going to award this to. 

1. Anime Stitching: This blog is about her projects, and boy are they HUGE. I absolutely love watching the progress.  Another good thing about her is that she has tons of anime/video game related cross stitch patterns up.  They aren't necessarily on her blog, but she does have an offsite webpage that shows them off.  It helps that I have stitched quite a few of those patterns, and they are fabulous!!
2. Starrley Stitching Shop:  This blog mostly has her finished projects, but they are absolutely fabulous!!  She's a cross stitcher and an embroiderer, which makes some of her projects that more wonderful.
3. A Crafty Blog: This is another gifted stitcher with some interesting pieces.  She just started an Etsy shop (so says her blog) so I'm hoping this will help her along.
4. Gatchastitch:  Another wonderful cross stitcher.  She does a lot of blackwork, which I find fascinating, but don't have the patience to do all that backstitching.  Anyway, she also makes a lot of patterns, none of which that I've made personally, but they are quite pretty.
5. NerdStitch: Another great blog! She, however, does not do cross stitch, but creates amigurami, which basically means she creates fabulous dolls using knitting/crochet techniques.  They are fabulously cute, and I can't wait to see more from her.

Now for the random facts:
1. I have 2 older brothers
2. I play the clarinet and I can play the tenor sax and trumpet
3. I have 2 cats
4. I love candles, not necessarily to light, but just to have
5. I have been going to the same camp for the past 12-13 years

Now that that's done and out of the way, we can discuss what's really important: PATTERNS.  First, I have some finished pieces for you all to enjoy.  The first one is a finished piece from one of my patterns made by animeloverblonde09 over at deviantart.

Next, I have FINALLY finished something, after all this time.  It is the last installment of the inner sailor senshi transformation pens.  I think they came out quite well.  The pattern for these came from Anime Stitching (which no longer exists, but I took it upon myself to post the patterns on Sprite Stitch).  First the pens:

This next picture is with all of them together:

It's not that these took forever to stitch up, it's just that I kept losing interest in stitching.  My next project will either be the Outer Senshi pens or some mystery swap present I decided to participate in over at Sprite Stitch.  We shall see how long it takes for me to get the interest to start stitching the last of the sailor pens.

Now, I will give you a couple patterns for your patience.  First is a little something for spring:

This next one is a little something for Easter:

As always, a link to the original artwork can be found on the pattern itself.  Here's to hoping I find a stable job soon.  I'm still subbing at the various schools around where I live, which is nice to a degree, but just isn't the same as a stable job.  I will be out of the state for the first week of April so I'm not sure if I will be on anytime soon.  If I do post, it will either be just before I leave, or after Easter.  I apologize for the extra long post.  It had to be done.  Happy Stitching!!