Commission Finish

I almost got excited that my post title rhymed. But not quite. But it's perhaps a bit of a tongue twister.
What is the commission finish you ask? 
It's the piece that I did up for a gal as per her wants, needs, preferences. I think it turned out so cute and am so excited to share it with you. The funny thing is that this piece was highly customized by this lovely gal and while I was stitching it (in fact only 2 weeks before I completed it) the cat that it was being stitched up as (Buddy the Cat) passed away. We was 12 years old and had been an amazing family cat. So now the piece is perfect to commemorate Buddy by. I know this girl and her family will enjoy seeing Buddy immortalized in stitching on the wall. So without further ado, I give you "Buddy the Cat" as customized by a commission (yes that means paid) request:












The linen is 30 ct weeks dye works. I can't quite remember the name. It was a bit challenging to work with as it's got a lot of stretch in it, but on my bars it's always better. The threads are a combination of DMC solids and sampler colors variegated cottons. Colors were picked by my client. Order of colors used in the pattern was done by randomly selecting the next color from a baggie and making sure to use all the colors once before putting all the numbers back in. I did use some creative selection to make sure that it balanced so that it wasn't all green in one area, etc. The pattern is from White Willow Stitching called Tribal Cat.
Coming up: 
- another cottage is complete
- baby sampler update (it's so cute!)
- and dragons... eventually. :)
Thanks for stopping by!

Whew, busy and some finishes!

Whew. I don't mind holiday time but I'm always happy to see it go away, if only because life can go back to a schedule and make more sense. It's always such a whirlwind in December.

So what have I been up to? Well I've been up to stitching! Finally. :)
I also got the nasty flu/bug that has been wreaking havoc on Calgary (and around North America from what I  hear) but I survived so life moves on. lol.

I'm proud to say I actually have some finishes. One you've seen 5 like it before, and one that I didn't even post a progress photo of. I know, slap my hand and tell me to post more often! I'm working on it. Truly I am.

First up we've got the May Cottage from Country Cottage Stitching's SAL last year. good thing the apocalypse didn't happen or my cottages wouldn't even have made halfway in the WIPocalypse challenge! However, I did get to 50% just after new years. Here's May (I adore the blue in here):

And in the holiday theme of things I did up a little ornament for my Mom who is obsessed (and I mean obsessed) with tropical locations, especially Maui. So when I saw Mill Hill had a bead and button kit this year that was "Maui Santa" it was clearly meant to be. This little guy did get cut out and backed onto felt boarding but I forgot to take a picture afterwards amid all the insanity. But all the stitches and beads are on him here:

I've been working on Dragons and am hoping to have a 'halfway' through the current page update for you very, very soon.
I also have a baby sampler that I need to get really moving on (as the little guy is already born), my commission cat piece is moving along, nevermind the billion other things I keep buying and stashing.

We've been quite busy as of late house hunting.As this is the first purchase for my common-law man and I into real estate it's been a bit of a roller coaster. lots of things to do learn, lots of big decisions to make and a ton of time! But we've seen a couple dozen places now, have a good idea of what options are out there and just waiting now for that "right" listing. We had one in our grasp on day 2 of house hunting but didn't really realize what a gem we were standing in until someone else bought it (on the market for 3 days and sold, crazy!) It was a cute little 100 year old house with some upgrades but kept the character and feel of 100 yrs ago. Needless to say I loved it (might still). However we are seeing condos with character that are recently build or upgraded from the 50s or 70s. Location is key for us as well as the place not looking like a cookie cutter (and of course price, the all mighty dollar). If price were not an option I'd have a gorgeous heritage home that was upgraded, big and on the outskirts of downtown (what Calgarians call the "beltline") but money is a driving force so we are waiting and looking knowing that the right place will come.

I hope everyone is doing well. I've had a few new items trickle into the store recently. There will be a huge new release section up very soon (hopefully this weekend).
For anyone curious I am not doing a "goals" list this year as with the store and freelance work it is hard to judge time for stitching these days. So I will just keep plugging away and make it less of a competition for myself. I think in the last few weeks when I gave up on the 'list' it worked much better.
Thanks for dropping by!