Mario: All Done Up

I made up my Mario bookmark a couple of nights ago.  I didn't quite know what to do so I decided to just use some felt I had laying around.  Used hot glue to attach the canvas to the felt.  Then used pinking shears to trim the edges.  Unfortunately, when I started to trim I realized the pinking shears I had were right-handed only (I'm a southpaw).  So my boyfriend ended up doing the cutting, but that's ok since the bookmark was for him anyway.  He loves it.

In other news, my surprise draw is tomorrow!  There's still time to enter.  Just go to this post and leave a comment.  Nothing to it.  The contest will be open to new entrents until I do the actually drawing around 7 PM EST.  I'll be posting the name of the winner and pictures of their prize tomorrow evening along with some pictures of my progress on Nursery Rhyme Sampler (don't get too excited, it's not much) so make sure you stop by again.  Yay!

Liebster Award

The wonderful Pam over at Crossroads of My Mind has nominated me for a Liebster Award.  Thank you so much Pam!  It's basically a great way for bloggers to get to know eachother.

The rules are:

1. You must post 11 things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
4. Choose 11 new blogs & link them in your post
5. Please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster award so I can learn more about YOU!

So here are 11 things about me:

1. I just finished school last year and am still trying to find work in my field (human resources).
2. I am shy and sometimes have trouble making new friends.
3. My boyfriend is my best friend in the world.
4. I love to read.  My Mom likes to tell people that when I was a toddler I used to go to bed with books instead of stuffed animals.
5. I have trouble talking about myself. (Ssssh.  That counts as a thing.)
6. I started this blog in 2011, but only really started posting recently.
7. My father was in the military so we moved around the country a lot when I was growing up.
8. I have panic disorder.  I was using medication to control it, but came off the medication a few months ago and seem to have it pretty much under control save for a few minor attacks (mostly while I'm sleeping).
9. I love stitching for other people.  Most of the projects I do are not for me.
10. I have a hard time finishing what I start so make sure you keep on me if you don't see any progress on a project.
11. I'm really happy to be part of this blogging community.  I've read a lot of blogs for a while now, but just starting jumping in and participating.  It feels great.

Here are 11 questions from Pam:

Why did you decide to blog about your stitching?
While reading stitching blogs I saw that there was a wonderful sense of community.               Stitchers from all around the world were talking and sharing.  I wanted in on that.  Plus it's always nice to show off my stitching to people who can appreciate how much hard work goes into each and every piece.

How do you find time to stitch?
I do most of my stitching after work.  Right now my boyfriend works an afternoon shift so he's gone when I get home and doesn't get back until after I'm asleep.  This leaves me in an empty house every evening so I make sure I pick up the needle and floss for at least a couple of hours every day.

What cross-stitch designer do you like to collect?
Heaven and Earth Designs, Joan Elliot, and Margaret Sherry are three that come to mind immediately.

Have you ever been to a stitch-in?
No, but I would like to if I ever get the chance.

What’s the most you’ve spent on a pattern?
If it was just a pattern, probably $20-25.  Kits are another story.

What’s your favorite stitching tool or gadget?
My needle?  I don't really have any special tools that I use other than the standard equipment.

How do you organize your stash?
Patterns and stuff I'm working on are stored in a little wooden cabinet we have.  Everything else is in a giant cardboard box in the closet.  Lol.  I do need to get it more organized, but we don't really have a lot of space or shelving right now so it will just have to wait.  My electronic patterns are super organized though.

How do you give back? (e.g. teach young people to stitch, donate used patterns, etc.)
This is something that I don't do that I really should.  Does anyone have a favorite stitchy organization or charity that they can recommend?

What do you do while stitching (TV, movies, radio, audio books, travel)?
I usually watch TV on DVD.  I like things I've seen before because I don't have to pay too much attention to them.  I also like audio books and old time radio dramas.  A great place to find things like that is Archive.org, they have tons of free domain recordings to listen to.

Have you ever had a cross-stitch disaster (lost patterns, chewed, stained, or burned stitching)?
I don't think I've ever had what you'd call a disaster.  Like I've previously stated, my parrot likes to steal my bobbins, but that's really more of an annoyance.  The other day I accidently left a needle in the couch and my boyfriend sat on it.  Fortunately, he was not really hurt, but he was pretty angry.

Have you made new friends (local or online) through your love for stitching? 
Of course.  All the lovely people who are reading my blog right now are my new friends!

My 11 Questions:

1. When and why did you start stitching?
2. Do you do any other crafts or have any other hobbies?
3. What has been your favorite cross stitch project to date?
4. Do you belong to a stitching group or guild?
5. What's your favorite LNS?  ONS?
6. How many hours a week to you spend stitching?
7. What's one thing you would love to try, but haven't yet?
8. What does your stitching area look like?
9. What is your favorite type of project? (BAPs, bookmarks, ornaments?)
10. What is your favorite book?/Who is your favorite author?
11. What is one thing you truly love about yourself?

My nominations:

Kim at A Stitch in Thyme
Panada at Arsty-fartsy. A little bit gutsy...
Karen at By Grace and by Gumption
Claire at Cross stitching crazy lady
LesleyAnne at My Frozen Sunshine
Christine at Oklahoma Stitches
Kinley at A Place to Stitch
Sharine at Charbella Stitching
Lulu at Crafting Across Continents
Sara at Just Another Flamingo on the Lawn
Cindy at A Crafter's Corner

These are all wonderful blogs and I encourage everyone to go read them.

Blog Party, IHSW, and More

First of all, welcome to all my new readers and followers.  The Grow Your Blog party last weekend was an amazing success.  I found some awesome new blogs to read and gained some new followers.  I promise to respond to all the wonderful comments I've gotten.  Unfortunately, I woke up with the flu on Monday and am just recovering now.

This past weekend was also the first International Hermit & Stitch Weekend of 2013 (and my first one ever).  For those who don't know, IHSW occurs on the third weekend of every month.  It gives us stitchers an excuse to hole up with our needlework for the whole weekend and just stitch away.  If you want more information you can just click on the picture above and it will take you to Joysze's Random Ramblings for more information.

I didn't get a chance to hermit much this weekend.  Saturday was the first hockey game of the season so I had to watch that (Go Leafs Go!), but I did manage to get quite a bit of stitching in on Sunday.  Here's the progress I made on Literate Dragon:

 

I love working on my first HAED, but the small stitches are taking some getting used to.  As of now I have finished 1,222 stitches out of the  7,840 on this page.  As much fun as I'm having with it, I'm going to be putting it away this week to work on Nursery Rhyme Sampler.  I get to pull it out again week after next though so I can't wait to show you more progress.

 

Grow Your Blog Party!

                                                                            

It's time for a blog party!  Since I'm hoping to get a lot of new visitors today, I should post a little about myself.  My name is Kat, I'm 26 years old, and I love to cross stitch.  My mother taught me how to stitch as soon as I was old enough to hold a needle, but I fell out of it for a while.  As an adult, I started to have some anxiety issues and picked up some stitching as a way to relieve stress.  I fell in love with it again and have been going strong ever since.  I started this blog mainly to show off my WIPs and to connect with other stitchers.  When I'm not stitching I like to read and watch movies so you may see mention of those things from time to time.

Currently, I live with my wonderful boyfriend in Sheffield,  Ontario.  We just moved here from the other side of the country (and Canada is a large country).

 This is the other member of our family.  Nisha is a 5-year-old Solomon Island Eclectus.  She likes to sit and talk to me while I'm stitching (she says things like "Peekaboo" and "Hello baby"), but if I don't pay enough attention to her she will sneak over to steal a bobbin of my floss and fly away with it.




To welcome any new readers I may get, I'd like to offer a surprize giveaway on this post.  The prize will be cross-stitch related.  Absolutely anyone can enter.  Just mention in a comment on this post that you would like to participate.  On February 1st I'll randomly select one of the commenters to receive the prize.  Please make sure that your email address is attached to your comments, otherwise I won't be able to contact you about it.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about me and I look forward to meeting many new people and finding some exciting new blogs to follow this weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

A Finish and a New Start

 Hello all.  As you can see, I managed to get some stitching in this weekend.  This is my first finish of 2013 and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  It's stitched on 14 count plastic canvas using three strands of thread.  I'm going to turn it into a bookmark for my boyfriend and he just loves it.  This pattern is from Dork Stitch and is available there for free.








  I got a nice surprise when I picked up the mail after work.  My sulky metallics arrived today!  I was waiting to start Literate Dragon (from Heaven and Earth Designs) because I wanted to grid first.  So I pulled out my fabby as soon as I got in the door and got to work.  I finished gridding the page and even got some stitching in.  I completed 103 stitches of the 7840 on the page.  My stitchy bug is really biting right now and I wish I could do more, but my new job is a 45 minute commute so I have to be out of bed super early.  Looking forward to getting home tomorrow so I can tackle it once more.

Blog Party

I'm going to be participating in a Grow Your Blog party on January 19th.  This wonderful idea comes from Vicki over at 2 Bags Full.  On January 19th she will be posting a list of blogs that are joining in (and there are a lot).  Participants visit as many as they can and follow the ones they are interested in.  It sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to find new blogs to read and follow.  If you're interested in participating, just click the image above and it will take you right to the sign up page where you just have to leave a comment.  See you at the party!

Cool Cross-Stitch

I saw this here and just had to share it with everyone.

It's an amazing cross-stitch wall installation.  You can see more pictures here.  Be sure to watch the video of the artists creating this amazing piece.  It's simply breathtaking.  I almost want to find a screen and create a miniature version for myself.

January TUSAL!

I noticed a lot of other ladies participating in the TUSAL (that's Totally Useless Stitch Along) so I decided I might as well join in too.  I already save my ORTs so it will just be a matter of posting a picture once a month.  And it encourages me to stitch a lot so that I have lots of pretty colours to show off.  If you don't know about TUSAL and would like to learn more check out out this post at DaffyCat's blog.

 

This is my ORT jar from last year.  I emptied it on January first.  I only started saving in October so this is just three months worth of thread.

 

And here's my TUSAL for January.  I think I did pretty well considering this is only from January 1st until today.  Hopefully I will have a lot more in there by the time February rolls around.

 

My Progress Jan 4 - Jan 11, 2013

Hi all.  Just thought I'd post some pictures and let you know what I've been up to the past week.  I was off work (just started back today) so I got loads of stitching done!  I'd also like to say hi to my first followers and say thank you for checking out my blog.

First up:

Here's a close up of my progress on Nursery Rhyme Sampler.  I did the wall Humpty Dumpty is sitting on, the waterspout, and most of Miss Muffet.

 

And here's a picture of the whole thing so far.  I'm really proud of this piece and can't wait to see it finished.

 

I also started and made some great progess on the Super Mario bookmark.  A couple more days of stitching and this one will be finished.  I'm excited for my first finish of 2013.

 

New Year's Projects

Here are the projects I plan on doing in 2013:

The Quilting by Told in a Garden.  This one will be a birthday present for my mom in April.  She's a quilter so it's the perfect design.

Super Mario bookmark.  This one is by Dork Stitch.  You can download the pattern for free off of their website.

Literate Dragon by Heaven and Earth Designs.  This is for their BB SAL.  I really excited to start this because it will be my first HAED.

My Current WIP

Nursery Rhyme Sampler by Joan Elliott.  This is after about 2 months of work.  It's going to be a birth sampler for my boyfriend's cousin's baby.