March & April 2021

May 9, 2021 Christina6 Comments

You guys!! I’m already missing a month of updates…I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t make any promises, but a girl can try!

Cross Stitch

The last part of the Funky Menagerie by Lindy Stitches was released at the end of March and I was able to finish at the end of April as I had run out of a few colors. I love how it turned out and I’m thinking I want to sew this into the front of a small shopping tote bag. Don’t worry, it will stay safe, I imagine the tote bag could be used when I’m cross-stitch shopping at my LNS or fabric shopping at the quilt shops.

In the month of March, I was pretty busy with custom orders for my shop and struggled to keep up with my Wipgo calls. April faired better for me Let’s see how I did:

The first call was Winter Fox by Notforgotten Farm, which had a pretty challenging goal of completing all the trees and plants (which meant everything besides the border and ground). Luckily I accomplished my goal! I spent most of my free time dedicated to meeting this goal. I love the way it’s turning out and I can’t wait for it to be called again so I can finish it!

The second call was The Leaves by Hundreds Came by Alicia Paulson. The goal was to complete the bottom main section, but unfortunately I didn’t even get a chance to work on it that month. I did finally get to it in May, which you will see on the next update.

On to April Wipgo! I’m happy to announce I was able to complete my April goals.

The first call was Noah’s Christmas Ark by Plum Street Samplers. My goal was to complete the doves, or the main part, excluding border. I’ve already stitched 3 of the ornaments from this series and the doves is the fourth part. It was a quick, easy, and enjoyable stitch. I did make a change to the doves. As you can see white doves are called for, but I decided my fabric was too light and I opted for mourning doves instead 🙂

The second call was Things of Winter by Alicia Paulson. My goal was to complete 3 motifs. They were quick to stitch and I was able to accomplish my goal. Aren’t they cute!?

Quilting

As I was completing the Frozen quilt I showed you in February, my step sister reached out to me about making a Minnie Mouse quilt for my niece and I jumped at the opportunity to make her one. I followed a similar pattern of 4 patch blocks alternating with a focus fabric block, added sashing and a thick border to increase the size. I backed it in white and grey minky fabric and quilted along the seams for a quick quilting finish.

As I shared this quilt on my instagram, a friend of mine mentioned how her son was excited to see Minnie, as Mickey is one of his favorite characters. This friend is an old coworker of mine, and I had been meaning to make a baby quilt for her first little one. So I decided to surprise them with a Mickey Mouse quilt. For this quilt I did a simple strip layout, backed in flannel, and quilted along the seams. I just love these vintage Mickey prints and the color combination I went with.

Finally, I wanted to share with you some of the fun custom orders I quilted up for my Etsy Shop. I generally make quilted project bags for needlework, but occasionally I get a request for something different. The first was a set of Rainbow coaster. I have previously made winter coasters for this customer and I’m so pleased she loved them enough to ask for another set to change out the season with. These coasters measure about 6.5″ square and I love how they turned out. One of those hard to part with orders 🙂

Another customer requested a nautical inspired large knitting bag. She wanted it to feature a log cabin design and a flat bottom. For this, I found a large 16″ log cabin pattern online and it was the perfect size to turn it into this top zip bag. As a test, I made a floral version, which quickly sold on my Etsy as well.

Gardening

In March, mom helped me weed the garden, add fresh mulch, and plant two tomato plants in my raised beds. I’ll be sure to share updates on my tomato plants soon, they are definitely getting big now. I also started growing some zinnias by seed. Zinnias are so easy to germinate and I was able to add them to the garden in April… However, we have a new resident rabbit in our yard and he’s been busily eating away at my seedlings. We’ll see if I get flowers this year!

I have some vacation time coming soon and I plan to work more in the garden. I’m looking forward to visiting the nursery and getting my hands on some new perennials and colorful annuals to fill in the flower beds. I hope you all are enjoying the spring weather!

February 2021

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 Christina6 Comments

Yikes, half way through March already, what is time?? Well, better late than never. Here’s what I accomplished in the month of February!

Cross Stitch

The stitching continued on the Funky Menagerie by Lindy Stitches. This is a monthly Mystery SAL that is being released in 4 parts. Part 2 was a quick stitch and I just love the critters we saw this time around! My favorite has to be that rhinoceros beetle. Which is your favorite so far?

Here’s my Wipgo challenges for Feb and what I was able to accomplish!

The first piece I worked on was Things of Winter by Alicia Paulson. My goal was to complete 3 motifs, so I decided to stitch the snowflake, tree, and sweater. I started this as a stitch along with some lovely ladies on instagram:

The second piece I worked on was Autumn Nodding by Tempting Tangles that I started with a good friend in celebration of our Fall birthdays 2 years ago. My goal was to complete Page 1:

Quilting

I was able to complete the Frozen quilt I was making for my niece. In Jan I had started quilting so it was very early into Feb that I completed this first quilt of 2021!

Once I completed the Frozen quilt, I was commissioned to make another one, but this time with Minnie Mouse as the focus. These fabrics are precious and I really love how it came together.

Gardening

Oh February weather… In January I told you that spring was on the way! We had lovely temps and blooming hellebores, but then Texas decided to throw in a winter storm, which I know many of you also felt. For us however, winter storms are not the norm and Texas was unprepared for the historical negative temps we endured. We received around 5 inches of snow and were without power for 24 hours, then spotty power 24 hours that followed. I know many faced even worse situations than us with longer time without power or loss of running water! Luckily we still had heated water. We piled up in bed with double sweaters, a duvet and 3 quilts. Even my cat Neko curled up in between my husband and I under the layers of blankets. This photo was the last day we had snow and not reflective of our coldest day. I wouldn’t dare open the doors to capture that photo! I did have that raised bed covered to protect the onions and garlic, but I was to lazy and cold to secure it around the hoops. They survived and are doing well.

I hope you all had a safe February and a productive one as well 🙂

January 2021

February 3, 2021February 3, 2021 Christina14 Comments

Last year I started the year strong by posting monthly updates on my works in progress through July…and then I fell off the wagon. Let’s try this again, shall we!? We’re already done with January and I’m not sure how that happened! It’s been a very mild winter this year and I think an early Spring is on the way.

Cross Stitch

I started 2021 with a fun a quirky New Year’s start called Funky Menagerie by Lindy Stitches. This is a monthly Mystery SAL that is being released in 4 parts. This design was so much fun to stitch that I couldn’t put it down. I finished part 1 in less than a week. I am stitching this design on a 32 count hand dyed linen by Colour and Cotton called Monster Mash. I also started a Buffy the Vampire Slayer binge on New Year’s eve and so I decided to use my Buffy needleminder that I purchased awhile back from Mad for Minders on Etsy. As you will see, this design is full of fun creatures, both real and imaginary!

So cute! Google Sparkle Muffin Spider to spot one of these critters!

I was also super excited to join in on the WIPGO fun this year. It was started last year by a Flosstuber named Jessie Marie and this year she decided to extend it out to anyone who wanted to play along. You can learn more about WIPGO here, but basically you create a Bingo Board listing WIPS that you want to focus on for the year with a goal in mind. She calls 2 numbers every month and you work towards completing that goal! If you get a “WIPGO” you reward yourself with something of your own choosing. Here’s my Wipgo board as of 2/1, so you can see which squares have been called and which goals I have completed:

Let’s take a closer look at the before and after results of Jan Wipgo calls! I decided to start with Rabbit Run by The Prairie Schooler, my goal was to complete the Horizontal Midsection of the design:

Afterwards, I worked on Black Cat by Madame Chantilly, goal was to complete the Cat and the Witch:

Quilting

My current quilting focus is a Frozen quilt for my little niece. My dad had been asking me to make one for her since last year and I finally got around to getting that started. I went with a simple design with a focus print block alternating with a 4 patch block. Since the fabrics were very busy and with similar colors, I added in 1″ sashing strips to help break apart the blocks. I love how it turned out!

I started quilting it last weekend and managed to get half the quilt complete. I backed it in minky and I love the tie dye fabric which pulls those beautiful blues, purples, and pinks. As you can see, I’m just doing a simple free motion meandering pattern for the quilting.

Gardening

Not too much happening in the garden, but as I mentioned our winter has been mild and weeds are popping up like crazy. I’ll have my work cut out for me. But on a happy note, the one plant I have that offers a burst of winter color is my hellebore. Look how gorgeous! I definitely need more o these tucked into this only shade spot I have.

My mom gifted me some garden clogs called Sloggers and I love them! They are waterproof and perfect for my small garden. A friend of mine also shared some leftover onion slips that I halved with my mom. I was able to get 21 onion slips planted!