Almost Christmas...

Can you believe it is the end of the year already?! This year seemed to fly by in a blink of an eye!! December is usually the busiest time for me, but I did manage to make some progress on my stitching. I am really enjoying stitching this piece~

I needed a new Christmas wreath for the front door this year, cause the one I had accidentally dropped on to the floor and broke. With limited time and a tight schedule, I needed something simple and quick to make. So after a little research, I decided to put together this ornament wreath~ I think it is pretty festive, don't you say?

Although it is almost Christmas, we are still having some summer-like weather, and my plants seem to enjoy it very much, flowers blooming left and right~ My favorites are these violate blooms. Since both these plants have never flowered before, I had no idea what the flowers would look like, so I was very surprised when I saw them. Aren't they beautiful?!

And here are some reds that are blooming, adding a little Christmas to my balcony~

And finally, some orange and green in the mix!

So are you all ready for Christmas? I'm getting there!!! May you all have a wonderful holiday!!!

Late Christmas Post

And we reached the end of the year again. This year, Christmas is special. I always wanted to get a Christmas tree in the house, but we moved around so often, it just didn't seem practical. This year, however, since we finally got our own house, first order for Christmas was to find a Christmas tree!!!!

I finally have a tree to display all my stitched ornaments, and there is plenty of room for more!!!! 

Of course there has to be giraffes on the tree, too~ 

I remember seeing those wine cork wreath online and really liked it, so I have been saving my wine corks. Of course I had help from some friends to finish all those wine~ Several toothpicks later, I have a wreath!!! I was actually short on the wine corks, but the ribbon helps conceal some of the bare spots. The good thing about this project is, I can easily add more corks in when I have them, and change out the decorations according to the season~ I really like the variation of purple stains on the ends!!

Still have to think about where I could store the tree in our small apartment after I take it down, but I won't be worrying about that just yet. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!! Happy holidays!!!

  

Presents!!

Hello my darling friends, Happy New Year!!!! I am finally back from my vacation and had so much fun with my family~~ We didn’t do much, mostly lounging around the house and eat lots of food. Now I’m fully recharged  for the new year!!

I know Christmas has long past but still would like to share the presents we exchanged for Christmas. Since my little sister is having a baby, I made some blankets for her. First is a couple of swaddle blankets, each simply made with a yard of flannel!!

Pattern: jcaroline creative "Flannel Receiving Blankets" 
Size: 32” x 32”
Completion Date: 12-16-2011

Then a Ric Rac blanket for play and naps. You know I had to choose a giraffe fabric~~ Isn’t it adorable?! My sister loved it!!

Pattern: Sew Much Ado "Ric Rac Receiving Blanket" 
Size: 42” x 42”
Completion Date: 12-16-2011

Beside a bunch of other goodies I got from my sisters, I also received 2 Lizzie Kate charts for Christmas. For someone who knew little about cross stitching, I so appreciate her making an effort to find these for me. Totally my taste, too!!!

My elder sister is the knitter of the family, so she made this set of hat and shoes for our baby niece~~ Aren’t those shoes adorable?! I want a pair, too!!!!! She also made me a hat but it’s not quite done yet, so I’ll have to wait a bit longer to receive them in mail.

She also make these stylish greyhound sweaters and put them on Etsy~ All the profit goes to Compassion for Greyhounds of Michigan. She also sells the pattern to all you knitters out there~ Here is Nash nosing around the kitchen in his handsome sweater!!

I had such a wonderful time!!! Wish I lived closer to them so we can do this more often… May you all have a wonderful 2012~~~

December~

I can’t believe it’s December already, and Christmas is only 3 weeks away!!! I still have so many project that needed to finish, but someone has been keeping me busy!!! Yup, Elijah was here visiting again~

Elijah: “What are you looking at?! Get that camera out of my face!!”

I have been working on my quilt and snowmen pillow, but don’t have much for show yet. However, I did receive an awesome gift from my friend Tina~ She made this advent calendar!!! Isn’t it gorgeous?!

Did you see that glittery blue background? I love it!!!! She said she got this advent calendar idea from the Stitch, Craft, Create Magazine!! It looks like an awesome magazine full of inspirations!! I might just have to order it~

 

Today is December the 1st so I added a dot. Would you like to count down with me?

Happy crafting~

Merry Christmas~~

One thing I love about Christmas is all the Christmas lights people put up during this time. Living in an apartment, I couldn’t do too much, so I enjoy walking in the neighborhood and admire others’ work.

This one took me a little bit to get it, but I thought it was quite funny~~

May you all have a De‘light’ful holiday!!! Merry Christmas~~

I’m Late!! I’m Late!!

Seriously, January is half gone already and I haven’t have one post yet, what is wrong with this picture?! Well, work got in the way so I didn’t have much time to do anything else, but now that I’m done with the project, I hope I will be able to get back to my stitching again.

I’ve kept “The Angels Sang” out during my move and had been working on it whenever I got a moment. I meant to finish it before Christmas, but it just didn’t happen… I’m so late!! But it’s ok, this is such a beautiful design that I think it will look really nice on my shelf all year long no matter what~ So here it is, my first finish of 2010!!

Pattern: Little House Needleworks “The Angels Sang”
Thread: Crescent Colors & DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 40ct Lakeside Linen in Bittersweet
Size: 3.5” x 5.5”
Completion Date: 01-16-2010

I love the pinkish color of the fabric!! This fabric was actually an accident purchase. I was looking for a grayish fabric online and in the photo this one looked gray, but when it arrived, it was not what I expected at all!!! Nevertheless, it is a beautiful color, and I think it suits this design very well~ (Sorry about the gloomy photos… The weather is not cooperating today.)

A friend of mine asked me to make some pillow cases for her couch, so that was what I was doing yesterday afternoon. This is my first time trying to sew a zipper on a pillow case, and I think it turned out pretty nicely. We picked out this corduroy fabric together. Isn’t it a lovely pattern? I love it so much that I think I will make some for myself as well~

I still have so many WIPs that needed to be finished!!!! So before I’m done with them, no more new projects for me!! (Yeah right, we’ll see how long that lasts…) Have a wonderful week and happy stitching~

YeeeeePeeeee!!!

I finished all my ornaments yesterday!!!!!! That means I can pack it all up this weekend and have them all send out on Monday~

Pattern: Lizzie Kate "Tiny Tidings XII"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Size: 3.5" x 3.5"
Finishing Date: 12-05-2008

I enjoyed making these ornaments a lot!! Adding all the buttons, beadings and jingle bells~ The process of choosing the backing fabrics and ribbons for each piece was a lot of fun, too~

This is my first try on making these pillow ornaments, and I have to say, I'm not the best closer in the world!! I had no clue how to close the end of a pillow, and I just winged it as I go.... I desperately need to take sewing 101 to improve my sewing skills..... I was lucky that this fabric is very forgiving, so they actually turned out ok.....

Here are more photos of these ornaments in case you guys are not tired of looking at them yet.....

Lizzie Kate Christmas Ornaments

I had so much fun making these, and I hope my friends will like them as much as I do!!!

Cookies & Milk~

Is it really December?! I've kind of lost track of time with all the chaos around the house. But I've finished stitching the last piece of the Lizzie Kate Tiny Tidings XII set~

Pattern: Lizzie Kate "Tiny Tidings XII - Cookies & Milk"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Size: 3.5" x 3.5"
Completion Date: 11-30-2008

Now all I need to do is to add embellishments and finish them then mail them out all by next Tuesday before the in-laws arrive. Can I do it? At my speed it is quite questionable, but I'll do my best!!

Since December is all about Christmas, I changed my background to celebrate this joyful season. I had to play around a little bit since I'm kind of new to blogger land, but I think I like it~ There are so many cool background designs out there it was so difficult to make up my mind!!! For those who would like to give your blog a facelift, this site and this site have great options and tutorials~ Have fun~

Feliz Navidad~

Finished another Christmas stitching a couple days ago, only one more to go to complete this set!!! YA~~~ I had the song in my head when I was stitching this one as well. Christmas is getting closer!!!!

Pattern: Lizzie Kate "Tiny Tidings XII - Feliz Navidad"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Size: 3.5" x 3.5"
Completion Date: 11-24-2008

Please excuse the wrinkles, I swear I will smooth them out when I work on the finishes.... ;-)

And for those who celebrates Thanksgiving, have a very nice holiday and enjoy great company and great food!!!!

Fa La La La La

Is it really November already?? It sure doesn't feel like it here in Texas... The weather is so nice and warm and we are still wearing shorts. I even saw some kids swimming in the pool yesterday. I almost put all our summer clothes away a couple weeks ago when the temperature dropped, good thing that I was feeling lazy and didn't get to it that day....

Got another Christmas piece done yesterday~ I had a lot of fun stitching this one. This song was playing in my head over and over again while I was stitching, sometimes I even caught myself singing it out loud.....

Pattern: Lizzie Kate "Tiny Tidings XII - Fa La La La La"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Size: 3.5" x 3.5"
Completion Date: 11-03-2008

I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and got all the buttons I needed for the set. I couldn't find a music note one that was called for on this design, so I chose a pair of stars instead. I think it turned out ok~

I really love the colors used on this piece, the red and the green are just lovely!! And to the finished pile it goes~

I haven't had a finish for a while so I think I'm going to take a break from this a little bit and do a small finish first. I did work on Heart and Hand a little bit but there's just not much to show. I wish I have three pairs of hands so I can do them all in the same time.... LOL

Snow Zone

Didn't have too much time to stitch this week, so I only managed to finish stitching Snow Zone of Lizzie Kate's design. For some reason, it turned out a bit narrower then I've expected, but I still love this cute little penguin, especially the colors of his green scarf~ It is still missing a white pom-pom on its hat, though, I will have to go visit the craft store again soon.

Pattern: Lizzie Kate "Tiny Tidings XII - Snow Zone"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Size: 3.5" x 3.5"
Completion Date: 10-27-2008

I think I will go on to stitching the other designs first, and come back to finishing them all at the same time in a later date. This way I can add or change it up a little bit if I feel like it.

Mom will be leaving tomorrow, and she has already filled my fridge with all kinds of delicious food. I think I won't need to cook for the next few days..... I truly will miss her when she leaves tomorrow....

I'm Still Here.....

I know it has been a week since I last post. I'm still here, just been busy - not at stitching, though.... My mom came to visit us so I was cleaning the house before she came, and now she is here, we spent lots of time doing things I hardly have down time to stitch!!! Not that I'm complaining or anything, I love it when she is here cause that means there will be delicious homemade food to eat~~ Mom's cooking is always the best!!!

I did managed to finish one of the Lizzie Kate Christmas designs, and although I struggled with the fabric I used, I love how it turned out. It is so interesting that by just adding an extra blue color with the traditional red and green, the mood of the entire design can be changed. Lizzie Kate just has impeccable taste in her color selections!!!!

Pattern: Lizzie Kate "Tiny Tidings XII - Joy"
Thread: DMC cotton floss
Fabric: 32ct Belgium linen
Size: 3.5" x 3.5"
Completion Date: 10-18-2008

I also worked on the Heart and Hand design a little bit. I finished the little prince in this pattern and now they look so cute with each other~ The color variation on the border is also very interesting. I hope I will have some time to stitch it more this week.....

Making Progress...

I had a lot going on this weekend and didn't get as much stitching done as I've liked, but here is my progress on the Lizzie Kate Christmas and Heart and Hand projects I've been working on~

The Christmas one is going well now that I'm used to the fabric, and I just love how the Heart and Hand one turned out~ This girl reminds me of Cinderella or someone just out of the fairy tales!! She is just gorgeous~ I'm so excited now to see it come together!!

Thank you for your great advise on using linen and hand dyed floss, it helped me a lot!! Now I'm going back to more stitching!!

A Few New Starts

I've started some new projects today. One is Heart and Hand from Willow Hill Samplings and the others are some Christmas designs from Lizzie Kate.

I debated awhile on the choices of fabrics and finally decided to use a 32ct Belgium linen on the Lizzie Kate designs and a 28ct DMC linen on the Heart and Hand project. This is my first time stitching on linen fabrics (can you believe that?!) and so far the DMC one gave me no trouble but the Belgium linen was a bit of a challenge. I realized that the weaves of this fabric is kind of uneven so it is harder for me to find the right spot to stitch in. It takes a while to get use to, but I do like it with all the floss colors I chose.

As for the Hear and Hand design, I used the recommended flosses. This is also my first time using hand dyed floss and I'm not sure if I know how to handle it right. Can anyone tell me if I can wash the stitched piece after I finish? I'm worried that the colors will run since hand dyed flosses are usually not colorfast...  If I can't wash it, can I at least iron it to get the wrinkles out? I really don't want to ruin it after all the hard work.....

Nevertheless, hand dyed threads do have their charm, and I look forward to see how it will turn out when I am done~