New start & stash!

It's been a hectic couple of weeks for me. But things are finally back to normal for this week at least. In 2 weekends it is Canadian thanksgiving and for the first time I will be traveling to Vancouver (without my man) to spend the weekend with my siblings. Should be good, though cat filled as they have 2 and are graciously sharing their apartment with me to sleep. :)

But let's talk about something more exciting!

Finally I'm here to share with you the commission piece. Its for a friend who picked out the pattern, colours etc and graciously offered to pay for supplies & labour.
Let's make it a mystery... I won't tell you what it is yet but here's almost 25% of the piece done (the polka dots in the background shouldn't be seen. My apologies for their distraction):



I got two exciting things in the mail this week.
First was a giveaway package from the lovely Katrien! It was so exciting to get magazines in another language with unique designs and designers in them. And I adore the frog price kit! Thanks Katrien!



Second I got the new Just Cross Stitch ornament magazine. Now most of you know I live Halloween best. Xmas is okay but just not as fun. But I still make a fair number of Xmas ornaments each year. So I always get this magazine. This year is a great variety (as always) but I adore a few for sure. One of my faves isn't all that Christmassy but no one told me it was a pre req. lol.
(yep badly taken photo from magazine. But you get the idea)



I have got a little mill hill kit magnet almost done that I will share soon. Put some stitches in the mermaid and have another new start kitted up. As usual the projects never end!

I'll be back soon with more updates and a giveaway!
Thanks for visiting.

Location:4 St SW,Calgary,Canada

Nifty Thrifty Sunday!

It's an exciting day in my household today as I've sponsored the Nifty Thrifty Sunday over at Vanessa's blog! There are so many amazing things to check out over there. She has lots of great posts about awesome handmade items. Floral Fridays are also a personal favourite as my green thumb is not so green and I keep hoping I might get it a bit more green before I have a garden in a yard that I need to maintain.


On the note of nifty thrifty things I did up a quick little ornament just the other day with fabric and thread that I had in my stash. It's my continued attempt to "shop from my stash". This cute little ornament will get sewn up and made into a great little Halloween decoration. I'm dreading it but one day this week needs to be my "make actual ornaments" day where I fight with the sewing machine and get some of these stitched piece into actual ornaments.
I almost think I need to make a deal with a sewing machine master near me to have them make them up into the sewn ornaments so that they can go up for sale at the store.
However at the same time I know that I need to get wayyy better at using the sewing machine. So it's good for me. And if one comes out all botched then it just gets to live at my house forever. LOL. :)
This is Haunted Heads on unknown fabric (I think it's a 32 count) and with DMC threads. If I didn't have the real color asked for in the pattern I used something close (and you'd never know I cheated that way)!

In other news I am putting together the promised package giveaway that will include a pattern, fabric and the threads to complete the piece. A kit in it's own right I suppose.
Plus I am going to share the first progress picture from my stitching commission! It's coming along quite nicely and I think I've already got about 1/4 of the piece done!
Also there is a new little family member to stitch for as one of my cousins had a lovely little boy. So new pictures will be coming soon of another baby sampler.

Thanks for visiting today and enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Dragons... 1 more down, 6 to go!!!

That's right... only 6 more pages to go on Dragons!!!
It's a far cry from the 24 that I started with 4 years ago (almost to the day in fact).
This piece has been both a joy and a bit of a PITA. But for the most part I still love it just as much as I did when I started it.
Here's the latest page completion in detail:

The row that the latest page is from:

And the Dragons to date as a whole:

For those not familiar this BAP of mine it is on ivory 25ct evenweave, 1 thread over 1 with DMC floss. The pattern is by Creature Creations (who no longer exist). 


I was very excited to get down to 6 pages. I dunno why, but only a row and a half seems like so little to go. Though it will likely take me until Christmas 2013 to get it all done (and I'm behind on my yearly goal for them) at the same time there are 3 pages in the remaining 6 that are very easy solid based areas. So I think being a bit behind won't hurt me too badly on this one.

In other news I got a package in the mail today from the lovely Helena from ILCS Yahoo Group that had 2 Mirabilias I got from her as well as some bonus Just Cross Stitch magazines, all ones I didn't have! :)
I was so excited I already went through and sticky'd my favourites. :)

Coming up soon: the new commission piece, already a 1/4 done! 
A giveaway... yep that's right a giveaway!! It will be a pattern PLUS the DMC thread to go with it, and some other goodies. Watch for it next week!