08/28/2014

Woo hoo, two posts in a month. 

I finished another WOCS project and wanted to post while I had a minute. 

Projects for a "sew be it"  and " road work" quilt. The picture of the truck didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped as it's more yellow looking in person.  But it's done. I've been working on it off and on for about a month and it took forever to finish.  No idea why, but it's off my "to do" list.

Ciao

08/25/2014

08/25/2014

Oh how time flies.  I can't believe how long it's been since my last post.  I've been busy stitching away, and  in mid-June started a "healthier lifestyle" change.  IE, eating better, exercising more, well...to be honest, exercising at all.  I've lost 16 pounds so far and after a tough week last week at work, hope to increase that amount this week.

The boys are back in school and I am happy to say that both boys are on the Varsity soccer team for their school.  My youngest, Matt, is only a sophomore, and while it's great he's on Varsity, he probably won't get much playing time.  The JV coach has asked him if he would be willing to play JV, so he will help them out on some of the games.

Now, where to start with all my stitching.

I did a series of small cat pictures for WOCS.  They were fun to stitch and they've already turned them into a quilt top.

 

 

 A friend had a grandbaby and wanted me to make a card for her.  The nursery theme is woodland animals and I stitched this delightful fox baby by Ellen Maurer Stroh.

My friend is also crocheting a stuffed fox to accompany the card.

Mike and the boys went to Kansas City, MO for a soccer tournment. I was unable to go due to work, but I did I spend some time on my large Artecy rain forest project

I also rearranged all my cross stitch stuff and in doing so found a set of 6 Christmas tree kits I had forgotten I had.  After working on the above project for a while, I needed to do something that I could actually finish in a reasonable amount of time so I did a couple of the trees.

 

and a cute Lizzie and Kate halloween pattern.

I need to add googly eyes where the "o"s go in spooky and a spider button next to time and then some kind of a decorative border, but again, I needed to do something that gave me a feeling of accomplishment.

I also added a couple of new twin cards to my Etsy Shop, in an effort to not have to keep making the elephant card.  I like the elephant card, just tired of making it.

 

And finally, my oldest son's girlfriend is leaving for college Sunday and I wanted to give her a special card to take with her. I haven't done the finish yet, but here's the stitching.  The original kit called for turquoisy/ colors, but Akele is all about purple ( smart girl).  The color doesn't show up well, but it's stitched with 550 and 552 DMC.

And that's been my June-August, what have you been up to?

Michele

05.23.2014

Graduation day for son's girlfriend and what an exciting day for her. She's graduating at the age of 16 and we are so proud of her.  She has had an incredible school year this year, combining junior and senior classes.  Way to go Akele.  With that said, below is a robot I made for her.  She was extremely involved in the high school robotics program and their color was hot pink.  When I saw this pattern on the Mango and Passion Fruit blog, I just had to make it for her.

Mine isn't quite as cute as the one from the website, but I know she will love it.
And below are pictures of all the cards I had previously stitched. 

I have to say I am pretty please with all the different finishes, especially the variety on the graduation cards.  And...all cards were finished with materials I had on hand.

 

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Michele

05.16.2014

05.16.2014 

More stitch finishes for me.  Just when I thought I was caught up on the cards I had to make, I received 5 more orders, with a heads up that someone has 5 friends getting married.  Feast or famine, that's for sure.  I really want to make some new cards to add to my Etsy shop, especially baby cards as they seem to be very popular, but I'm getting a ton of orders right now. That's ok, I'm thankful for orders.

So, on to the finishes.

This is two versions of a graduation card for a friend's niece.  The school colors are royal and white and her cap and gown are white. I originally painted the aida cloth blue, with the intention of making the cap white with  gray highlights, but ran into problems with the contrast and tassel.  Believe it or not, the cap on the right is stitched with the same colors as the cap on the left.  The contrast is more evident on the right due to the white aida and I think I like the white background better.  I'm  not sure which version my friend will want her card, but this gave me more practice painting aida. I have more of the blue left and can't wait to find the right project to use the rest.

And this is a thank you for the team manager of my oldest son's soccer team.  Our boys have played for years and she does a great job as manager.  This was a fun design as I had to change the words and then added beads in lieu of French knots.  I really detest French knots and cannot do them to save my life.  I cringe whenever a pattern calls for them. I think the beads add a nice touch.

 I will be busy this weekend assembling all of the cards I have stitched and then working on the next set of orders.

Happy Friday,
Michele

05.13.2014

05.13.2014
Mid-May already and boy have I been stitching like crazy

This is the frog I used for a birthday card for a friend who loves frog's.

And the plastic canvas coasters I also made for her. I bought this kit last year when Herrschner's had a sale and she loved them.

A friend from work asked me to make a parrot card for friends that had a baby girl.  He sent me a picture of the parrot and I customized  a patter to match the parrot's coloration.

And then on to graduation  cards and thank you's for soccer coaches.  Cards still need to be assembled but at least the stitching is done.

And today I received some orders from a friend who had seen my shop on etsy, as well as another baby card and another graduation card.  I'm excited about the graduation card as I get to paint aida cloth(thank you wee little stitches) and use metallic floss.  The school colors are white and royal blue, so I'm going to paint the aida royal blue and stitch the cap in white and shades of grey and use silver and metallic royal for the tassel.  Letter and outline will be white.  I'm really excited to make this card.  I should have all the supplies except the royal blue paint. 

 

Wish me luck!

04/30/2014

Another month gone by.  Only 1 more month of soccer left for the boys and  a month and a week of school.  I've been busy stitching cards and a birthday present for a friend.  I don't want to post any photo's just yet, in case she reads this, but I'll post after I give them to her.  As far as my stitch from stash, everything I stitched was from supplies on hand, so I am at $0 spend this month!  Since all of my projects have been small, my stash hasn't really diminished much, but I do feel good about not spending any money.

Michele

04/15/2014

Gosh I can't believe it's almost Easter; this year has flown by in a flurry of stitching.  Below are a couple of my latest projects.

This will be a high school graduation card for my oldest son's girlfriend.  She is graduating 2 year's early and received a full ride scholarship to University of Denver.    I still need to put her name and graduation date on it, but I had to show good old Tatty Teddy off.

This is a castle from the "Wizard's View" collection in Joan Elliott's "Bewitching Cross Stitch" book.  I bought this book from Amazon with a gift card I had received for taking a survey and it may be one of my better purchases. Has a lot of patterns that I have seen floating around on Pinterest and I am very happy to have the book.

This is the view of the castle once I added the metallic backstitching and beads.  Not wild about the beads, but I love the backstitching.

 

Have a great Tuesday.

Michele

03.31.2014

Ok everyone, time to update me on your stitch from stash progress.  I spent $14.84 for the month.  I would have only spent $6.67, but I saw  a technique for painting aida cloth and just had to try it...and of course didn't have any paints. I stitched 7 projects for WOCS, 5 miscellaneous patterns, finished the stitching for and made 12 cards and worked on a couple of larger projects.  Below are a few pictures of projects made for WOCS and cards I made.

 

 

 

Let me know your progress for the month and I'll post everyone's results.  You can e-mail me at michelesmadeups@gmail.com or post here.

 

Thanks,

Michele