Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Boo! (And a Sneak Peek)

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

Look what I did yesterday:

new onesie

ghostie

boo!

Pretty cute, eh? (Can you believe I did that without stabilizer? Ick, I am crazy sometimes.) This is gonna look mighty fine on my 15-month-old son.

This one stitched up fast, people--it only took an hour. Yay!! If you want to make some of this cuteness for yourself, you can get the pattern here.

Ok, moving on...

Here's a little something, by request:

sneak preview

another sneak preview

I am not gonna tell you anything about those two pictures except that they are sneak peeks at the swap I am doing with Amanda. More details will be revealed in time, my darlings. :)

That's it for me! I have to get back to my stitching! I will be back soon with more pics of what I've been working on. Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Embroiderin' Up Some Plaid

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

Here's what I've been up to recently:

seeking shelter

mad for plaid

baby eenie 2

spooky dude 2

eenie gal

You'd think after stitching so many of Annie Oakleaves' Eeenies, I would be tired of them. But I am not, because they are so flippin' cute and they stitch up so quickly. I love that I can add my own personal touches to these patterns. You'd almost think I was artistically inclined, lol.

Did you see the pic of the Eenie wearing the plaid dress? I think it's kinda cool. I made plaid, yo! Tee hee. Here's a closer look:

faux plaid

I've got more cool stuff in the works, my lovelies. More cuteness and a wee little bit o' total radness. Or maybe I should call it awesomeness. I haven't quite decided, lol. Anywho, it's very very cool, and it involves a swap I am doing with my girl Amanda. I met Amanda on Flickr, and man oh man, can that girl stitch! You MUST check out her stitchy stuff, people. Can you believe she's only been stitching for 9 months? Anywho, she and I are doing a swap and I am super excited about it. I am dying to show you guys some sneak peek pics, but I am not sure if I should...

Well, that's it for me today! I gots to get!! I have stitchin' to do. I will be back soon with more to share...until then...

Happy stitching!

Friday, September 19, 2008

I Won, I Won, I Won! (And Some Q&A)

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps! Guess what? I won a giveaway! Yea me!

The super talented Claudia of Stichado recently had a really cool giveaway. And I won! Woo hoo! This is a first for me. And wow, is it ever fun to win stuff! ;)

Check this out!

i won!

Is this awesome or what?? Look at all that cool stitchy stuff! There are two vintage Vogarts here, along with a Workbasket pattern...it wasn't mentioned in Claudia's post that the Workbasket pattern was part of the giveaway; it was in an envelope marked 'a little something xtra'...what a cool surprise! There's also 7 skeins of Prism variegated floss and a tea towel. AND--a wonderful, personal little card. The card is so sweet and Claudia wrote the nicest things!

personal card :)

congrats!

best wishes

(Isn't her handwriting just the yummiest?)

Look at this pretty floss. I haven't used Prism before and therefore know nothing about it, but according to Google it's made by DMC. I am so excited to try it out!

floss rainbow

yummy!

I can't believe the wonderfulness of this package, and the wonderfulness of all the crafters out there in Bloggy Land. Thank you so much, Claudia, for holding this giveaway! And please thank your sweet son Diego for me, for choosing my name! :) Thank you thank you thank you!! *muah*

Ok, switchin' gears now...

My last post had people asking some questions, so I am going to address those now. I usually just answer questions in the comment section, but this sounds like way more fun! Tee hee.

Ok, here goes.

Question: Brook asked what I put the kitty on (or what I did to finish kitty).

Answer: I framed Sinister Kitty in a black frame, with a black and white mat. But I didn't get a picture because I am a dummy head, and now Sinister Kitty is in Los Angeles with my mother-in-law. Which brings us to the next question...

Question: Crash Course Widow and Crochet and Stitches wondered if perhaps there was a correlation between the gift recipient, my mother-in-law, and the fact that the cake-bakin' kitty looks so evil. Perhaps I could be sending a message to my mother-in-law??

Answer: Lol, no, though I can see why people would joke about it and think that maybe there might be and underlying message here. Tee hee. In all seriousness, my mother-in-law, Anne, is a peach and I love her to pieces. My in-laws were here recently for a visit, and Hubby & I decided to throw Anne a surprise birthday party. So I needed a gift, and this kitty seemed perfect since my in-laws have a gray kitty. Oh, and the fact that Sinister Kitty is holding a cake is just too perfect!

Question: Claudia wants to know more about how I transferred the pattern. She asked if I put the fabric over the pattern and then traced.

Answer: Yup! That's exactly what I did. I usually tape the pattern in a sunny window and tape the fabric over the pattern, and then proceed to trace. With this particular pattern, using the window wasn't as option since it was dark outside, so I just taped the pattern to the top of my kitchen table, taped the fabric on top of the pattern, and traced. The fabby I used for Sinister Kitty was thin, inexpensive muslin, and was sheer enough to allow the pattern to show through without any type of light source behind it. :)

Question: Crash Course Widow also said, "I like the how shot after an hour of stitching serves as a reference mark. So if that's how much you can get done in an hour, how long did it take you to do the whole thing??"

Answer: Hmmm, that is a good question! I seldom keep track of how much time really goes into stitching. It's often hard to keep track because there seem to be so many interruptions, courtesy of two small boys. :) I would guesstimate that Sinister Kitty took about four hours of total stitching time...??? Yeah, sure, four hours. That sounds about right. ;)

Well, I think that about wraps it up! Whew! Thank you to everyone who left such sweet comments about Sinister Kitty. I truly do love to hear from you!

That's it for now, darlings! I have more in store for ya, so be on the lookout for another post in the next few days. I have some cute new things I've stitched for Annie Oakleaves that I think you are gonna like...but you'll have to wait! (I am such a tease, ain't I?) Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Cake Bakin' with Sinister Kitty

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

So......tell me you what you think of this:

sinister kitty

Is this kitty sinister or what? She looks like she baked up some pure evil alongside the cake.

I loved stitching this evil little baker-cat. I needed a last-minute gift for my mother-in-law, and was unsure of what to get her--what do you get for someone who has everything?--and this little kitty was perfect.


Here's how she started:

beginning

I don't have a light box, and the sun was down by the time I got around to tracing the design...luckily this fabric is thin enough to see through. :) I just taped the fabby on top of the pattern and traced it with this pen:

the pen

It's made by Dritz, and I got mine at Michaels.

Here's kitty after an hour or so of stitching:

wip

Look at her tail, isn't it cool?

tail

I used 3 strands of dark gray and 2 of light gray to make kitty's tail look this this. I think I kinda love it. :)

And here's another pic of a completed kitty:

evil cat

(I am such a dork, people. It never occurred to me to snap a pic of kitty AFTER I'd rinsed away the blue marks left behind by the pen. D'oh!)

Well, that's it for me, Stitchy Peeps! I hope you're having a fabulous weekend and getting lots of stitching done. ;) I will be back soon with more stitchy goodness to share with you...yours truly has been a busy girl lately, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Gushy Gusherson

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps! I hope you're prepared for a whole lot of gushing from yours truly today, 'cause that's what this post is all about! As you may recall, I mentioned that Amy from Early Bird Special and I did a swap. Here's what I made her:

potty swap

There were a few other little goodies in the package...a set of Q-snaps, a skein of Weeks Dye Works floss, a little swatch of fabby with woodland critters on it...I didn't snap pics before I put the package in the mail, so if you're interested, go check out Amy's post about it. And be sure to check out all the cuteness she's got going on! This girl can STITCH. Flawlessly. Beautifully. And now I am the proud owner of a piece that Amy stitched. And she stitched it just for me!!! :-D Check this out:

wash your hands 2

wash your hands

wash your hands 3

This is to die for!!! I am so in love with this. I've been saving a spot on the newly-painted bathroom wall...and this is just perfect hanging above the hand towel. PERFECT. :)

Look at how marvelous this stitching is:

the perfect 's'

words

Amy knows how much I love french knots....and boy, did she outdo herself on this piece! Look:

french knots

(There are over three hundred french knots. Yowsa!!! Amazing.)

Amy loaded my package with goodies. Look at this!

potty swap loot!

She included this beautiful tea towel, which absolutely no one is allowed to touch. NO ONE.

tea towel

Here's a handmade zipper pouch, made personally by Amy with the cutest fabric ever.

pouch

She also sent me a couple really cool craft books, including a Japanese embroidery book (yyyyyeeeeeeeaaaaaaa!!!!!!).

craft books

I also got one of her Early Bird Special pins. I was so happy to find it amongst the goodies, 'cause I had seen them in her Etsy and was secretly hoping she'd send one.

ebs pin

So, I would have to say that my first swap was a success!! I can't believe how much fun swapping is! Thank you so much, Amy, for taking a chance on a newbie like me. :)

That's all for now, stitchy peeps. I have lots more to tell you, but that will have to wait. Until then...

Happy Stitching!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

A Whole Lot of BLAH BLAH BLAH...And Some Pics

Hey there, Stitchy Peeps!

So, there's a lot to tell you! First, let me say how excited I was to have the talented Average Jane Crafter nominate my humble little blog to be included on Pimp Stitch's blogroll! Talk about flattering! And way awesome. Yay me!! :)

Also, I was extremely thrilled to find one of my little stitchy pieces featured on Feeling Stitchy. You can see that post here. And when I checked out today's post, I saw that one of my stitchy pieces was included in a mosaic. Wooooo hoooooo! I love the internet...

All right, last time I told you about being tagged by Brook. Here's the deal:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

So, I am going to be a total spoil-sport and break the rules. I am not tagging anyone. It turns out that it's a whooooooole lot of work to do that! And I am feeling a bit lazy today. But I think Brook is a total hoot and I adore her blog, and find it so flattering that she tagged me...so....I will tell you my unspectacular traits, and leave it up to you whether or not you want to play along. Tee hee. (Oh, but CCW, I think you should do this. So I am unofficially tagging you, darlin'!)

Ok, here goes:

1. The closet doors in my bedroom must be completely shut in order for me to sleep well. Don't ask me why 'cause I can't tell ya. It just has to be like that.

2. My pillows
must be facing inward in order for me to sleep, but when I make the bed, they must be facing outward.

3. I can't stand it when the slats on the mini blinds are askew. Oh my gosh, I hate it. Hubby finds this simultaneously amusing and annoying.

4. I talk to inanimate objects--a lot. But don't worry, they don't talk back to me.

5. I always save the best bite for last when I am eating. I will eat around the parts that I don't consider to be the best until all that's left is the
best...for example, the center of a piece of French toast.

6. I curse like a sailor when I play video games. Oh, and when I drive. Oh, and when I am angry. Hmmmm....

Ok, so there ya go! Six quirks about yours truly. Sorry that I am not tagging people. But by the looks of it, so many of the people I would tag have either already done this or just plain don't want to.

Now, onto some pictures! I've been stitchin' some more of Annie Oakleaves' patterns. Seriously people, the cuteness is insane! :-D

hey there cutie!

'shroom house

This guy reminds me of Mike Brady:

ennie dude

I think it's the hood. The little X's I put on there make me think of the '70's. How weird is that???

Anywho...

Here are some Halloween stitchies!

vampin'

I love his cape:

cape detail

Here, have some candy:

candy-candy


Well, I think that's about it from me for now! I hope you're enjoying the new template. I still haven't figured out how to make a cute header that is wide enough, but I am diggin' being able to post bigger pictures. Let me know what ya think! :)

I've got more stitchy goodness up my sleeve, peeps, so I will talk to you again soon. Until then...

Happy Stitching!