An elephant, an exchange, a cube..Oh My!

Happy February! It's been a busy week for me. I've been able to finish two small projects! First is this adorable little elephant....he will be a quilt block for the charity quilts my group is working on. I'm doing 12 of these little animals and will be making them into their own little quilt with a zoo theme.


I can't wait to see the quilt blocks as they come in! Alot of the girls have already finished a couple and I know these kids will absolutely be thrilled to have blankets of their very own. This is a huge project to tackle, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Yesterday was a great mail day for me! I received a Valentine exchange from Jennifer...she sent me a cute little Lizzie Kate Flip it with a Valentine theme, fabric and all the "special" threads to stitch it! She also sent some really cute little buttons and charms, and some chocolates but they didn't make it into the pic, they 'accidentally' made their way into my mouth. MMmmmmm, yummy!

And...*gasp* I was a good girl this month and actually made one of my goals! I just finished my February cube this morning! Ha! I've stayed on track and now have January and February done...woohoo! On March 1st I'll do the March one...it's a cute little leprechaun.

Well, that's my update for this week.... I know I'm suppose to have some progress on moms birthday gift, but I just haven't picked it up this week. I've been so motivated to work on the quilt blocks that I've put it on the back burner. I really need to pull it out and do something on it, maybe when I get this next quilt block done....

Hope everyone is having a great week! Hugs to all!

Tiny Progress & a little finish...

It's been another busy week for me. The kids were sick and missed 2 days of school so that cut into my stitching time but I was able to get a couple small finishes and a teeny tiny bit of progress on moms bday gift. This first piece is my section of a halloween RR. This was the final piece for me which means mine should be on it's way home to me sometime soon. I can't wait to see what it looks like! I haven't seen it since it left so I have no idea what everyone has stitched on it.

Here we have a teeny tiny bit of progress on mom's bday gift. Not much but it's been a busy week. I'm hoping to get the rest of the wording done this week and at least one of the moose.

Next is a very special project....this little giraffe will be going on a toddler quilt for charity. I'll be doing 11 more little animals and making a zoo theme quilt out of them.

For those of you that would like to stitch a quilt block for charity, please join my group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KraftersKornerCharityQuilts This year we are stitching quilt squares for babies and toddlers. These quilts will go to a home for young mothers and be given to their babies. I'm also organizing tote bags filled with items for the moms....the totes will be filled with toiletries, a hooded sweatshirt, socks, disposable camera's and scrapbooking supplies. This place is in desperate need of help for just day to day basic items that we all take for granted. This is a faith based home and it is run on donations only and a grant from the United Way. It cost the home approx $850 per month to house one girl. They provide counseling services, pre & post natal care, life skills and parenting classes while the girls continue to get their high school diploma's or GED. When the girls leave the home they are ready to face the world as parents to their children and productive members of society. This truly is a great cause!

If anyone would like to donate basic necessities like light bulbs, laundry soap, etc. please contact me for information. I have a long list of things that are needed.

Anyway, that's my update for the week! Hope to have lots of progress to show everyone next week! Keep your needles smokin'!! Hugs to all my cyber family!

Another Slooooowwww Stitchy Week for me

It's been such a busy week that I haven't had much time for stitching. If it's not the kids needing time, it's a migraine or my husband. It's just been one of those weeks when I just wish I could run off to a quiet little cabin and stitch my troubles away.

So, after not stitching much of the week I was finally able to put needle to fabric and work a bit on mom's birthday gift. Here's my progress so far.....

Not much yet, but hey a stitch is a stitch. I've been busily looking through my stash bags and finding things that I've kitted up in the past and deciding what UFO's I want to focus on this year. I've decided to pull my BoInk back out and use it for my UFO Wednesdays. I had put it away after realizing I had made a mistake on centering the stitched part on the fabric. I'll have *maybe* and inch on the right side left when I finish it, but I'm hoping when its framed and hanging on the wall it won't make a difference. At least all those fabulous Carries Threads won't be wasted...:)

I also ran onto a French SAL that I had wanted to do last year. I believe it was called "Grand Marquoir" and can be found at www.edisaxe.com When I had first saw the pattern I fell in love with it and bought fabric and floss to complete it, then....I couldn't figure out how to get the patterns to print properly and just said the heck with it. I've had the first couple of parts just sitting there waiting but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything with it until I knew for sure I'd be able to get the rest of the pattern. Well, the other day I was looking around online and ran onto it once again and after about an hour of playing around was finally able to get all of it printed off! I am so thrilled!! This is one project that I really really want to do and I don't even have to go out and buy anything for it, LOL! (insert teeny tiny happy dance here)

That's it for my update this week...just a lot of ramblings about nothing...hee hee! I hope all my cyber friends are healthy and happy and keeping your needles smoking. Hugs to you all!

Slow Week for me....

It's been a slow stitching week for me. I just couldn't seem to get alot done, either I've dealt with a migraine or the kids or something.....just seems to cut into my stitching time. I did receive a great little exchange in my mailbox early in the week! We had a bookmark exchange in my group (KraftersKorner) and I received this wonderful little bookmark from Margaret. It will be used often since I'm an avid reader.

I've decided to add one more piece into my "monthly" rotation...the lizzie kate "Living With Charm" double flips. I was able to get the first word done, but I haven't put the charm on yet. I'll do all of them last. I also haven't done too much on the border yet, I want to wait and see exactly how the words all fit before I get too far. The plan is to have this done by December and at one word a month, I think I can do it. LOL! I'm also using just regular DMC floss for this...the "special" flossies are so pretty, but way out of my budget at the moment. I think it'll look just as nice with the DMC though.

Next is a gift for mom for her birthday in July. There's not much progress to show yet since I just started it last night and haven't had a chance to do much with it yet today. It's called "Mooses Do Roam" from Designs by Lisa. Mom is a moose collector so I'm sure she'll love it. I'm having a heck of a time getting used to stitching on the 14ct fiddlers! I went with the fiddlers to make it more of a 'rustic' look, but sheesh I am not used to aida anymore! I feel like I'm a beginer stitcher! LOL

Anyway, thats it for my slow stitchy week. I have lots and lots of UFO's I need to pull out. Wednesday's are suppose to be my UFO day, but I wasn't able to do anything this week. Hopefully my next update will show some kind of UFO stitching.

I'd also like to offer an invite to anyone that is interested in joining KraftersKorner. There should be a button on my sidebar somewhere..... Hugs to all & happy stitching!

Finally finished a UFO!!

I can't believe we are already through the first week of the new year! Time is flying by so fast! A few days ago my friend Carein and I decided that our sewing machines needed a workout, so we thought we'd do a "sew along" with each other for the day. I had this extra fabric left over from my previous tote bag and thought I would do a little something with it. I made another bag, but it's super long and just big enough to fit a large scroll frame. Should be good for trips when I want to take my larger stitching along.

This year I am determined to finish up a few of my UFO's. I started this quaker style heart months ago and just lost interest in it, but since it's a new year and I promised myself I would start trying to get some of those unfinished things done, I pulled it out and got to work. I finished it this afternoon and made it into a cute little pillow for Valentine's Day. The pillow is 18" square so it should make a fairly nice addition to my Valentine's Day decor.

I was so excited to actually finish a UFO that I dug through my UFO bag and found a few other things I'd like to get done this year. I just can't believe how many things I've got started and never finished! I'm dedicating Wednesdays as my UFO days. I'll drop whatever I'm working on and then on Wednesdays I'll work on a UFO. Hopefully this will help me dwindle those unfinished things down and relieve my guilt at starting new projects..LOL

Hope everyone is having a great year so far! Hugs everyone!

2nd Finish of the Year!

I have my second finish of the year! While looking through my stash a few days ago, I found some patterns from Heart In Hand that I bought off ebay a long time ago. I have all 12 months so I thought it might be fun to do one each month and make a no sew cube out of them for my kitchen shelf.....

I'm not overly happy about the ribbon I had..it's just a bit to wide, but it'll work for now until I can find another. I'll redo do the ribbon at a later date, but wanted to put it up for display since it's January. My plan is to start one of these on the first of each month and by the end of the year I'll have a whole set.

Hope everyone is having a great year so far! Hugs to all!

FIRST FINISH OF 2010!!

Yay! I've got my first finish of the year!! Woot! This is a bookmark for an exchange in my group "KraftersKorner". We all wanted a budget friendly exchange since money seems so tight at this time for everyone and came up with doing a bookmark exchange. I like this one, it had a bunch of 1/4 stitches in the wording but I managed it with a regualar sewing "sharp" needle. Not real fond of the 18ct fabric, but I had it on hand and it was perfect for this little exchange piece.
Yesterday I was browsing through blogs and found something called the Totally Useless SAL. Basically what you do is find a clear jar and put all your stitching bits in it for the year. This can be threads, floss labels, broken needles, etc. I thought it was a really cute idea and decided to follow along and try it out this year. I can't remember exactly where I found the SAL blog, but I'll post a link at a later date for those of you that may want to participate too.

This is my jar as of today, looks like there is a bunch of floss in there but there really isn't, LOL! So far I have a few bits of floss and a cardboard bobbin sitting in the bottom of the jar. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks at the end of the year, and hoping it's nice and full from all the things I "plan" to get done over the next 12 months.

That's it for day one of 2010, hope everyone is having a great year so far! Hugs to all!