Long Overdue Happy Dance

This title is apropos for a couple of reasons. First of all, like all good birth samplers, it was seriously late. It arrived before their second birthday, but usually I'm done and have them delivered in one year. (I only do birth samplers for my nephews/nieces, CSB's children or BFF children.)

Second of all, these have been done since the end of January and were delivered mid-February so this happy dance should have been posted then.

These are for my nephews - twin boys born April of 2010. I did 2 Mirabilia Little Stitches designs - On Grandmother's Quilt and Rosebud Lullaby. On Grandmother's Quilt is done with no modifications. I did modify Rosebud Lullaby, 'cause like I joked, I want my youngest nephew to speak to me when he's fourteen. I changed the colours of the roses from pink to purple and I also removed some of the bling and bows. (Original design can be found on the designer's homepage.)

My parents did the framing for me and the mat colours coordinate with Crescent Dreams (also Mirabilia Litlle Stitches) I did for their older brother in 2007. All three of them have the same yellow inner mat board.

But enough of the talking - on the the pretty pictures.

Full Moon - Third Month

As I was driving to work this morning, the full moon was large, beautiful and just going down past the horizon. It made me think that this is one the last mornings I will see the full moon on my way to work in the morning until next winter. Full moons mean one thing around here - it's time for another WIPocalypse update. This month hasn't been as exciting as last month. (I still need to do happy dance posts for my nephews pieces.) I haven't even framed Swirly Sampler yet, but taking advantage of a sale at a local frame shop, I have the frame ready to go. I just need to stretch the piece and it's ready to go.

Not as much in the way of happy dances this month, but I can't only have months with three pieces that are days away from happy dances. So what has been worked on this month?

In Progress
1.  Newborn Joy

I haven't worked on since the last update. So much for my fantasy of finishing it. However, the plan is to finish it in the month of March

2. Blackwork Sampler
Very pleased with the progress on this one. I have only one section left to complete. A couple of good stitching sessions (and the Brier - curling - is on, so lots of good stitching time) and it should be done.
Last Month:

This Month:

No Progress
1. My Way Canvas Work
2. Once Upon a Time - have decided that this is the next one to get worked on after Newborn Joy is done.

New Starts
1. "M" is for Mother - no news
2. Fairy Moon - no news
3. Lost in the Garden - no news
4. Victorian Garden - no news
5. Nothing new has caught my eye and demanded to be started this month. I did on Leap Day buy 10 new patterns from Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) and Patterns On Line.

That's all folks and have a wonderfully stitchy month.

Month of Crafts

Apparently March is the Month of Crafts. While I'm primarily a needleworker, I do like my crafts. I haven't done any projects for awhile, but I stockpile project ideas like they are about to disappear from the face of the earth soon and if I don't save them, I won't have any projects or ideas. So it's time to take some of those ideas and turn them into reality.

Given the success I've been having with WIPoclypse, I thought I would apply some of the same logic. So the first step is to create a list.

1. I think I need to make some stars: Lucky Stars
2. In the spirit of trying things: Baking Soda Clay
3. Under the thinking big category: Craft Suitcase (I have my Great-Grandpa's old suitcases in my closet, this would be fun to do with them)
4. Playing with colours: Spring Wreath

I think that is enough for now. There is no time schedule for these, but I would like to try to do them in the next 2 months. I'm also taking a needle felting class in April. That should be fun.

Swirly Sampler Happy Dance

I actually finished the stitching last Tuesday (10th) but only got it washed and ironed last night. The only reason I own an iron and ironing board is for my stitching.

Swirly Sampler designed by Bent Creek. I stitched it on 32 Count Belfast Linen in Vintage Country Mocha with the recommended floss. I haven't added the charm 'cause I don't have it and haven't decided if I'm going to get it.

I bought the pattern, fabric and thread probably more than five years ago at Stitchers' Heaven in Edmonton AB.

At the beginning of October I was going through my stash looking for some old working copies to see if I had written myself any notes so that I could match with some projects I'm currently working on. I never did find the old working copies, but I did run across the Swirly Sampler all kitted up.

I threw it into my stitching bag since I was heading to my weekly stitch in night with other members of the needlearts guild I belong to. I asked them if I should work on a piece already in progress or start this one that I had found in my stash.

Everyone agreed, start the new project.

This marks the first finish of my WIPocalypse list.

Bandwagon Hopping

So there is a movement online called the WIPocalypse started by Measi at Measi Blog and I've known about it since she started talking about it, but kept filing in the back of my mind as interesting. The momentum built and built and I was still thinking about it. I would have to post regularly for an entire year and for those who have followed this blog faithfully (why would you, when I don't faithfully blog) know that I wander off frequently for long periods of time.

But now, the deadline is days away and I think about it more and more. I hate "pressure" with my stitching - it seems to make me stitch less. However the rules for this one is simple - 1. Make a list 2. Post what you've done each month. Okay that sounds doable especially since you don't even have to stitch what's on the list in order to post.

The potentially challenging part is posting pictures since I've been taking most of my pictures with my phone lately. My phone and my computer are currently not talking to each other. So I have a few options to deal with this 1. Convince my phone and computer to talk to each other - I need to do this for more than this. 2. Post directly from my phone. Maybe this would be the secret to getting me to post more often.

So in conclusion, there is nothing stopping me from doing this other than me. So I guess I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Watch for a post, hopefully soon of my current WIPs and the LIST.

Accomplish

So what's been going on since the last post? Not much, hence the lack of posts. I've made some more of the Christmas balls I showed in the post. I've now used up all the appropriate cards I had saved from last year. I've made 18 so far. I still don't know where I've stashed previous years cards, so I'm not going to worry about making more for now. I may make more if the cards show up in the great craft supply organization planned for later this year.

I did not consider the Christmas card balls as my intention to complete a craft project a month. I did complete my planned project this evening. Using the instructions from here I made a zippered pouch. You can see my results on the left. The most difficult step for me was the stapling of the second side of the zipper. However the material was quite forgiving in the matter of removing the staples and trying again.

So my criteria for a successful project include how easy was it to accomplish, did the results match my expectations and will I make it again. Like I said, I had trouble with one step, but other than that everything went well. I am pleased with the result - I did not choose fabric that I'm completely in love with (the colour is more burgundy that the picture is showing). The result is quite satisfactory and met my expectation. I will be making more of these. First of all I bought a remnant of fabric from WalMart to do this and I have lots left over, so might as well use it all up. I also have an entire roll of Duct Tape to use. So the cost of future pouches will be more zippers.

I still intend to cook something out of my cookbooks this week. I've decided on making a recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook (website). I was going to try to do it this evening, but the snowstorm has kept me really close to home so haven't had the opportunity to buy all the necessary ingredients.

As for my other good intentions, I haven't been taking a picture a day, maybe I'll do better next week. In fact all my photography intentions have not been successful. But there is still time this year. I've kind have decided to not sweat some of this until after getting back from my holidays in late February. I'm also waiting for some research materials so I'm allowing myself all year to meet my intentions.

My vacation in February will also be a vacation from my good intentions. Since I will be gone for three weekends and the last weekend of the month is already booked with other obligations I will not be pressuring myself to accomplish stuff, especially when it concerns my hobbies. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, not add additional stress to ones life.

Now it's time to decide what to make for supper and then settle in for an evening of stitching, TV and a few chores.

A Little Bit of Christmas

I think the best time to make Christmas decorations is in January. There is no pressure to complete them now, since Christmas isn't for another 12 months. You are not busy with other Christmas prep like decorating, shopping, baking and finishing projects that are to serve as gifts. The only downside is that you can't display your cool new Christmas decorations for 12 months. I get bonus points since the main material I'm using are old Christmas cards - using, not storing - huge bonus points.

These are the ones I made over the weekend. I'm not very fast, mostly because I'll do some and then I'll get up and check my computer or get distracted by the TV show (or have to change the channel).

They are quite simple to make. Cut your cards into strips. I cut my strips anywhere from 1 cm to 1" and came out to 8 to 20 strips. Punch holes in the top and bottom. I've been using Martha Stewart's hole punch and it works well. It might be the reason these have been slower. I hurt my wrist putting away my trees on Saturday and it's still twinging a bit today. The punch isn't super wrist friendly. The put a couple of fasteners (brads) through the holes, making sure they are thick enough to go through all the sheets. The longest ones I've found were at an office supply store, but only in brass. I picked up a bunch of others at Michaels, but I have to be careful how many strips I have for those because they are not as long. All that's left is bowing the strips of paper and spreading them out to create the ball.
These are the four I made today. I only have 3 cards left to do then I have to find where I stored the previous years cards (in anticipation of doing this project).

These qualify for mention in the good intentions category. Specifically the intention to make more Christmas decorations. It does not count as doing one craft project a month. I have another craft in mind for that intention.