Where does the time go?

Soooooooooooo, a short 6 months later and here I am again. What?! How does that even happen. Time passes so quickly. Sheesh!!!

Instead of a New Year's resolution, I went with a focus word for this year once again. For 2019 I've decided that my focus is going to be 'DONE'. I have so many things in progress (crafting and everyday life) that I just want to get some of them done. Wish me luck!!

What even got me moving in that direction (craft wise) is a piece I had stitched years ago. It was a Christmas piece and over time had gotten loose in the hoop I had used to finish it. For years I had been telling myself that I needed to fix it. For years! I finally decided that enough was enough and I needed to just get that done.


So I did.

Here's the piece from before....

It was getting all loose and stretched out in the frame. Not to mention that over the years it had also gotten dirty.

I had glued that baby in place and, to be honest, I did one heck of a job doing it. I had a devil of a time getting that piece out. I didn't want to just cut it because I didn't have all that much room around it. In the end, I had to break that hoop into pieces to get the stitching out of there.

After all of that, it deserved a little time at the spa.

After a good soaking, drying, and pressing, I put it back together in a new finish.

I bought a package of cloth napkins and used them to make a pillow cover. I stitched the cross stitch piece near the edge and then covered my stitch line with some gold trim that I hand stitched on so that I could hide the stitching.

The napkins are sewn together on three sides. The white you can see is some ribbon used to tie the bottom closed after I put the pillow form inside. This is a great way to be able to store the pillow cover instead of having to store a hole bunch of fat pillows.

So, that's one thing done. Now on to many others...........or at least that's the plan.

Stitch Maynia Day 3

So, we have here another project that I started last year but have not completed.

I'm starting to sense a pattern here ................ and I don't like it.

I have at least worked on this one between then and now, so that's a plus.

 

I have made some adjustments on the words to suit myself, which also meant I had to tweak the colors on the heart a little. But, it's all good now. I'm not thrilled with the fact that the 'd' doesn't show up so great, but it doesn't bother me enough to pull anything out and re-do it.

I made noticeable progress on it, so that makes me happy. I could have worked on it more when we got home last night, but I just wasn't feeling it. I really just wanted to go to sleep. lol

This is one of the pieces that is on my Year of WIPs list, which means my goal is to get it completed before the end of the year. That means that once Maynia has passed, this one will be coming out again......and it's got a LOT of white on white to be done. *sigh*

Stitch Maynia Day 2

I was pretty pleased with the amount of stitching I got done on day 1.

Day 2...........not so much.

This was also a piece started last year. It is actually a birth announcement. However, I'm just going to leave the 'birth announcement' part off because I love the bunny and that fat, white bird.

But, as you can see, I didn't get a whole lot done last year, I only managed a little spot on the bunny's chin.

 

 This go round I managed to at least get the nose stitched. Half of it I got to stitch twice, since I used the wrong shade of brown the first time. Hooray....... 

I did decide that since she's got kind of a big pumpkin head that I need to outline it and then carry this with me in the car where all I'd be doing is filling it in. Then maybe I can get a lot accomplished on my ride back and forth to work (especially since we get to leave the office these days while the sun is still out.) Of course, I haven't DONE any of that yet, just decided to. Ha!

Stitch Maynia Day 1

So Stitch Maynia started yesterday. If you don't know what it is, there is a Facebook group by the same name. On the first of May starts Stitch Maynia. There really are no rules. Everyone just focuses on their stitching in a way that suits them.

I will be participating for 18 days to coincide with the year. If I have not finished a project that was started on the same date from previous Maynia's I will work on it. If I have finished the previous one, I will start a new project.

So, for day 1, I worked on a little witch that I had started in 2017.

Here is a picture of the finished pattern. I'm not doing mine on a sweater........just some off white aida.

 

This is where I'm starting for this round of Maynia.

I actually had more time than usual to stitch yesterday, so I made some pretty decent progress.

All that green hair is exactly how I feel about my hair on humid days. Can anyone else relate?

Making pretty good progress (for me, anyway) makes me want to keep going on her. But there are so many other projects in front of her. Guess I'd better keep going on them.

OK, see you tomorrow for the next update.

Easter has come and gone

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter........and April Fool's Day.

My Mom got in on the April Fool's spirit. She used doughnut holes dipped in chocolate to make cake pops. Then she dipped some raw brussel sprouts in chocolate to look like cake pops. She put them all mixed together on one plate so it was luck of the draw when someone grabbed one to eat.

I'm not gonna lie.....it was pretty funny watching people's reactions when they got a brussel sprout.

It was a good Easter, too.

Here's some of our Easter-ness (That's a word, right?):

I made this cheese ball.

It's supposed to look like a chick.

If you close one eye, squint the other a lot, and concentrate, you can make out the chick.

The Easter Bunny still delivered baskets.

If you can see the llama in the llama basket, she is awesome. She's super soft and is wearing pink llama pajamas. If you'd like to order one of your own, I got mine from Polka Dot Pig Folk Art. She's got a lot of fantastic stuff.


I made these individual size apple pies using cupcake tins. I asked Abigail to use the left over crust to put decorations on each. She made Play Boy bunnies. Really?!

This is a final finish on a cross stitch piece I think I had shown previously. The pattern is from Bent Creek. It's the Easter Cracker. I stitched it up on a tan aida. I glued magnets to the back after I mounted it on a square board. The background is a piece of scrapbooking paper. The magnets on the back of the cross stitch piece are holding it in place. Then I made a simple bow from some burlap ribbon, which has a magnet glued to the back of it.  They are all sticking onto a black metal chalk board that I got at the dollar spot in Target.

I can change this out as often as I like...............if I can manage to get more pieces finished.

Anyway, it's an idea.

A finish

This year, for the second year, I am participating in a group effort of Year of WIPs. (If you don't know, a WIP is a Work In Progress. It is often confusing keeping up with what these acronyms mean in different areas of our lives.)

Anyway, at the beginning of the year, I chose 18 WIPs - because it's 2018 - in hopes of getting them all completed this year. I chose some that I knew would be no problem, some that will challenge me, and some in between.

Well, over the weekend, I got one of my pieces finished.

I started this in February of last year as part of a Facebook group, Freebie February. I made some mistakes that only served to frustrate me, so I sat it aside...........and mostly ignored it. I decided to finally push through and get it done as part of this year's challenge.

I'm thrilled!

This is my third piece from my YOW list to have completed. I guess I could take pictures and show the other two that I've finished. Duh! But what finishing three already means is that I'm going to run out of the easy-to-finish pieces soon. Eek! Then I'll just be left with my challenge pieces.

If you would like to stitch this, the pattern is free at here.

It's a new year....

Okay, it's mid February. We are well into a new year, but still........

Each year, instead of resolutions, I like to choose a focus word. This year I've chosen 'DO'.

I spend so much time with ideas running around in my head and buying things to make those ideas a reality, and then they sit there.

Waiting.

Getting buried under the supplies of other new ideas.

And nothing.

I hope to change that this year.

So here I am............doing.........posting again.

I have been cleaning out my dungeon and have managed to DO a few things because I've come across the supplies again.

Huh!

Imagine that!

But it does cut into my cleaning time.

I made these earrings out of Bratz doll shoes:

I have no idea why this popped into my head as a must-do thing, but it did. So I finally got around to DOing it.

Honestly, it feels good.

It also feels good to be cleaning up my craft room. There is stuff in there that I question why I ever hung onto it. Am I the only one that does that?

I also finally hung a shelf in there. I've been contemplating it for ages and I finally just did it.

It thrills me.

Is this why people are known to say adulting is stupid?

Because a shelf being hung on the wall rocks my world?

I suspect it is.

I did have a huge accomplishment at the end of last year.

I finished my oldest cross stitch piece. It's a Norman Rockwell and it was 25 - 30 years in the process.

No lie!

Some of the detail:

Now that leaves the oldest unfinished piece in my collection somewhere around 24 years old. I guess I'd better get to it too.

Oh, and if you're so inclined, check out my videos on YouTube..... you can find my channel at Taryn Verleye

I can see a finish in my future

Y'all.......

This is my oldest yet-to-be-finished project. (As far as I can remember.)

I started this project (I almost typed problem.....Ha!) somewhere between 25 and 30 years ago.

YES! It has really been that long.

And the worst part is, I had about 3/4 of the stitching done when I stopped working on it. Why do we do that?

It shames me that I put it away so long that I had completely forgotten ever working on it. BUT, I have been working on it almost every day, and I have every hope that it will be completed before the end of the year. Especially since I'm so close I can almost taste it.

Wish me luck!

I have been busy

I know it's been some time since I've updated, but I have been getting some things accomplished.

I have finished off a few more small cross stitch pieces.


The Alamo

A little country kitchen

Easter bunnies

Grumpy Cat

The Alamo and the bunnies are both from kits. The country kitchen piece is from an old cross stitch pattern book of towels. And the Grumpy Cat is a free pattern from Brookes Books. If you have not seen her stuff, go check her out. There are some lovely patterns there to be sure.

I use these little pillows as fillers in a bowl on my sofa table. It's fun to stitch on something small and quick that I can change out for the different seasons.

I have done things other than cross stitch too, so I'll try to get back a little more quickly and show you those.

A Few Finishes

These are some of the cross stitch pieces that I finished last year.

As you can see, the Merry Christmas is the only piece that has been fully finished. I guess that needs to go on the list of things to be better about, too.

I'm still here

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. Life just seems to have it's own plans regardless of mine sometimes. 

In my absence I've somehow managed to become the 'crazy cat lady.' We already had two cats that are house cats. We live out in the country and wanted a cat for outside. A stray that hangs around my Mom's house had kittens so we decided to take two of them. In the meantime a cat and her kittens started showing up at the office. I decided to try to catch her and the kittens in order to get everyone fixed. Well, we caught her and one of her kittens.

It turns out that the Mama cat was pregnant again and repaid my kindness by having three more kittens!! We've now got 9 cats and one of those outside cats is also pregnant. I don't even know when she went into heat. I've managed to have two of the cats fixed, but how did I even get into this?

Anyway, in my world if crafting, I've fallen in love with cross stitch all over again. I've even started a channel on YouTube for my flosstube videos. You can check it out if your interested. My channel is Taryn Verleye.

One of the projects I've been working on is a set of free patterns from Brooke's Books. It's her Animal Advent Calendar.

How cute is that? There's a set of 25 animals and they're adorable. And, they're free! 

I've also made a few needle minders to go with what I'm doing. 

They're listed in my etsy shop if you think you would like one. 

I'll be back sooner with more updates.

A gift for my daughter

I made a cute little pillow for my daughter as one of her Christmas presents.

The pattern is just her sense of humor.

The pattern is from Daily Cross Stitch.

If you're not signed up with them, you should go do it. You will get a pattern each day that is free for that day. After that, it is available for purchase. They also offer a monthly club. I'm not a member of that so I don't know really what it offers. But, the patterns are cute and pretty simple. Check it out.

Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak of a work in progress.

It's a cross stitch of a pumpkin with a Celtic design.

I usually follow the rules and stitch all of one color (at least in one general area) at a time. But this time I decided to be a rebel and do both colors as I go!

What?!

I KNOW!

I'm sometimes wild and crazy like that.

I decided to do it that way because I'm only working with two colors so it's not all crazy and confusing. I have two needles threaded. I work down my line and back with the one color, and then do the same with the second color. So now as I finish each line, I'm really finished with it. It's giving me a better since of accomplishment as I go along.

Now, this is working for me on this project, but I certainly wouldn't try to keep up with all of my needles threaded if I had any more than just two colors.

I'm hoping to have this finished before the Fall, but I'm really not holding my breath. I haven't done any cross stitch in a long time and I really forgot just how slow it goes.

It's that time of year....

I've been wanting to make something for Dax but didn't know what.


One night when I was looking around at other people's blogs I saw the perfect thing.

It took a little bit of digging to find the pattern, but I'm determined that way. lol


Anyway, it's part of a monthly kind of thing. It's from Raise the Roof Designs . The whole pattern is called Crabby All Year. Love the name.


Anyway, I only wanted the one month.

I had to make some adjustments to their pattern to suit what I wanted it for. I gave it to him in his Valentine's Day bag of goodies. He at least appreciates the work that goes into these things.

I need to re-frame it because I was in a hurry and it's a little loose. :0)

I ordered another pattern from Raise the Roof  Designs too. I used to cross-stitch all the time and then when the kids were born I just kind of quit. (hmmm....wonder why? lol) 

Anyway, I really enjoyed doing it again and I'm looking forward to working on the other one (actually it's 'others' because I went a little crazy and bought several patterns....remember, I'm a determined internet, pattern hunter and victor. lol)