Heart, Hounds & Hobbies

Category: Fiber Arts Joy

Celebrating the art of making by hand. This is where I share my cross-stitch projects, kumihimo braiding, jewelry making, and other creative handmade crafts. A cozy space for crafters, slow makers, and lovers of fiber arts.

  • WIP “Wednesday”- Happily Ever After 

    WIP “Wednesday”- Happily Ever After 

    No need for alarm, I know that it’s actually Thursday, but I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. It turned into a quite busy day for me both at home and work, so I only got a few minutes of stitch time. As opposed to today, where I had the day off and managed to carve out quite a bit of stitch time. So my WIP Wednesday is a bit delayed. This week I am stitching the Happily Ever After SAL from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. Currently a handful of stitches in, and I am already in love with this project. This pattern is too adorable for words. In this month’s pattern, we recieved the center piece and pattern border, as well as the first motif which is based on The Owl and The Pussy Cat, a poem by Edward Lear. To be honest I was not familiar with this poem, but after looking it up on poetryfoundation.org, I think it is as adorable as the pattern it inspired. Anyway, here is my progress so far:

    I may not be a fast stitcher, but I will be working on this until Sunday evening, I switch projects on Mondays, and hope to get much further.

    Today I was also inspired, by another stitching blogger, for a DIY floss tray project. Yesterday, The Amateur Librarian  posted her WIP Wednesday, which is another Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery project called Merry & Bright, and she is making fabulous progress on that. In one of her pictures, which are wonderful, I noticed a cute tray where she had corralled her project card and floss. I thought that was such a great idea because I currently keep my project cards and floss in a ziplock bag. Which means, every time I have to get a new thread, I have to pull the whole bunch out of the bag, get my thread, and put it all back in the bag. That gets a little bit tedious. Having a tray to hold it all while stitching makes so much more sense. Today I went ahead and made my own little floss tray from a cereal box and some leftover Christmas wrapping paper.
    I looked at a bunch of pins on Pinterest to get inspired on technique and now that I’ve done it, I don’t know why I never did before. It was pretty easy and I was able to customize the size to fit nicely in my stitching box.
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    Now, it’s not exactly perfect, but it is my first attempt. Most likely I will make another, maybe even a few more to customize the organization of my stitch box.
    That’s all for now, thanks for reading and happy stitching!

  • Sunday Stitches & Stuff – My 2017 Stitching Rotation & Project Life

    Two weeks into the year, and I have already been so busy I’ve barely spent any time with my needle and thread. The good news is that I am completely set up now for a steady rotation of stitching projects, including some “if I get that far” patterns. There is also a large list of things I hope to accomplish in the house, but those projects I will tackle on a month by month basis, as the budget will allow. Additionally, this year I am determined to keep up with my digital scrapbooking. Towards the fall of last year, I developed some very good habits for scrapbooking using the Project Life app and my goal is to stay current with monthly & special event pages, as well as retrospectively get caught up on previous years. At the end of the month I will share the pages I’ve made, but for now here’s a look at the pages I finished last year:

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    The first few days of 2017, we were snowed in by winter storm Helena for about 6 days. That time was put to good use as I finished setting up my rotation of projects for this year, and got started on my first new start of the year. With no further ado, here is my 2017 Stitching rotation:
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    Happily Ever After SAL by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

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    The first pattern of this year long stitch along was released yesterday, and I can not wait to get started! For Christmas, I recieved the kit for the SAL which included hand dyed fabric from Picture This Plus and it is so beautiful! This will be my first time doing a stitch along and my first time working on hand dyed fabric.

    Five Seasons of Quilts by Leisure Arts

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    When I first saw this pattern, I fell in love with it, and I knew I wanted to stitch up the whole series as an interchangeable home decor item. However, I never felt motivated enough to kit it up and get started. Until now. When I saw the hand dyed fabric that came with the Happily Ever After SAL kit, I was inspired, leading to the decision to stitch each season of quilts on a different hand dyed fabric that coordinates or compliments the season. To find the fabric I went straight to Picture This Plus, since I loved the other fabric so much, and selected a fabric for my first season, which is Spring.
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    I decided to go with this 28 count Cashel fabric in Bashful, which is a light pinkish color, and reminded me of spring time. This will be only my second time stitching over 2 on linen, so hopefully I won’t have to frog (rip out stitches) too much.

    A Year of Celebrations, published by Cross Stitch & Needlework Magazine, designed by Cathy Habermas

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    For the entirety of 2014 & 2015, I was obsessed with collecting each magazine issue for this series, to have the entire year of mini motifs. Unfortunately, once I got them, I hit a barrier, because the threads listed are not DMC, which is all I really use. Finally, I gave myself a kick in the butt, because I really want to have these adorable 4″x4” monthly motifs to add to my seasonal decor, so I decided to customize the pattern in order to encourage myself to stitch it. Truly, a pattern changed and stitched is better than a pattern never stitched. So I changed from the recommended linen fabric to basic 14 count Aida and converted the threads to DMC. February is the motif I am starting with and I have not decided if I am going to use the solid color conversions, or substitute in variegated floss, which could make for a gorgeous motif.

    Mystery SAL

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    One of my Facebook cross stitching groups, is hosting a year long mystery stitch along. Throughout the year we are posting pictures of our progress, but we are not sharing what the pattern is until we are finished. Since it is a mystery, let me just say that this project is a Dimensions kit, stitched on 14 count black Aida.

    Purse Pouch Project

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    Some of you may know about my little kit I keep in my purse, in case you don’t here is a post modified from my old blog about it: Purse Pouch. These projects can go quickly or slow depending on how much unplanned free time I have and the complexity of the project. For the most part, I use mini kits and the first one I have chosen this year is the Mouse from the Busy Bees series by Needlemagic, Inc.

    Carryovers – Geisha & Thai Elephant

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    Unfortunately, I did not finish my Geisha or my Thai Elephant in 2016, so I have carried them over into this year’s rotation. Hopefully they will finish quickly and I can move on to a few other projects I would like to start this year.

    If I Get That Far…

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    In my “to be kitted’ project bag, I have a few patterns I would love to get started on this year, including: Cloudsfactory’s Famous Woman in History SAL, Mirabilia Designs’ The Raven Queen by Nora Corbett, Nancy Spruance Designs’ Roseland Cottage & Fulton Mansion, and A Cross-Stitcher’s Quit Block Collection for future purse projects.

    Loom Knitting

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    I have also decided that I am going to include my loom knitting in my weekly project rotation, otherwise I will never finish this scarf, nor get to do any of the other projects that I have pinned. If you want you can check my Loom Knitting Ideas board.
    It feels like this is a pretty good rotation to start off with, although I am new to the rotation technique, I think it will definitely help me get some more finishes this year!
    Thanks for reading and happy stitching!

  • WIP Wednesday – Mystery SAL – January 11, 2017

    This first week and a half of 2017 I focused my crafty attention and free time on setting up my stitching rotation for the year as well as organizing my supplies. This year I will be doing a week by week rotation, so that means every week I’ll be switching projects, hopefully that also means every week I’ll have a different WIP to share.My plan is to write a Sunday Stitches & Stuff post this weekend to share my starting rotation for the year. This Wednesday I can share my first rotation piece progress, although it’s not much. Finally I was able to get started on my first stitch along (SAL) of the year. One of my Facebook groups is hosting a 2017 Mystery SAL, where we are sharing pictures of our work in progress as we go but not showing the finished design until we’re finished. So here is my fabric gridded and ready for the Q-snap. (This is my first time grinding a piece, so we will see how it goes.)
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    Unfortunately, since I share my blog posts on Facebook, I must keep the project a mystery. I will say that this is a Dimensions kit that I got for a bargain when my local fabric store was going out of business. It was marked at $50, but after coupons, clearance and going out of discounts, I ended up getting it for $7! It was also a kit that I had been looking for a while, after seeing someone else’s finished piece in another Facebook group. So here is my starting point this week with the few stitches that I got in last night long after bedtime.
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    Thanks for reading and happy stitching.

  • My Timelord Name: The Optimist

    theoptimist

    From the Time Lord Name Generator, my Time Lord name is The Optimist. Here’s my back story:

    “Your original Gallifreyan name is Salgothbygoyongantecheg, or Salgoth for short. Back on Gallifrey, you led a dull and uninteresting life, working as a Temporal Theorist, Patrexe Academy – but now, you travel Time and Space in search of adventure!

    Your Type 72 TARDIS is currently stuck in disguise as a post-box, and your latest travelling companion is a 1950s daredevil test pilot, who has never seen a dangerous situation she couldn’t cope with.”

    This actually sounds like a spinoff show I would watch. Although I imagine my regenerations would look less humanoid and my gender would be very ambiguous.


    Get your own time lord name from the time lord name generator!

    Bow ties are cool!

  • River Song’s Last Night With The Doctor

    Christmas is wonderful for so many reasons, one of them being the Doctor Who Christmas Special. Now, my heart will always belong to Matt Smith, when it comes to Doctor Who. To paraphrase his last words: I will always remember when the Doctor was him. However, last year’s Christmas Special, was one of my favorites and this scene is one of my favorite scenes between the Doctor and River Song.

    Happy Christmas Eve!

     

  • WIP Wednesday – A FINISH! – December 21, 2016

    Oh my gosh I can’t believe there’s only three more days until Christmas! This year has gone by so fast and this week has been very busy. Just like most folks we are getting ready for the holidays; and not only getting ready for Christmas but also getting ready to travel up to Pennsylvania to visit with our families. Unfortunately, that means I haven’t had much time for stitching this past week.  However I was able to carve out some time on Monday night. In fact, I actually got nearly four hours of intermittent stitching time in, while I watched a series on A&E. Of course the residents of the animal house were not very happy that I was having a nice time of watching TV and stitching away, so there were breaks for feeding, play time, going out in the yard to pretend to potty, but not really potty and then have to go again in five minutes.  When I was able to keep the needle in my hand, I worked on my Bucilla Birdhouse kit, and it’s a FINISH!
     
    This is the mini kit that I picked out and took with me the weekend of my aunt’s funeral, October 22. That weekend I knew I would need a distraction and I thought the whimsical design would lift my spirits. Since this was one of my “purse projects”, there’s a total of two months stitching time. Being a purse project means it doesn’t really get dedicated time to be worked on, it’s really just there for when I have unexpected spare time while out of the house. The design was very cheery to stitch, but the confetti stitches where a bit of pain. On the plus side, I am loving the pin stitch for securing your thread. Right now the ultimate product of this finish is To Be Determined. Most of my mini kit finishes end up in a box until I need a gift or have an idea for a trinket. Now that this purse project is finished, I am ready to kit up a project that I have had in mind for a few months.
    Here is the progression of the Birdhouse:
    The Kit
    The Kit
    Getting started
    Getting started
    The house is built
    The house is built
    All that confetti!!!
    All that confetti!!!
    Finish!
    Finish!
    Thanks for reading and happy stitching!

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  • WIP Wednesday – Best Laid Plans – December 7, 2016

    WIP Wednesday – Best Laid Plans – December 7, 2016

    “The best laid plans of mice and men, often go astray.” (Robert Burns, 1785). This is probably the most consistent theme in my life, or as my mom and I say often, “I had a plan, then God laughed!” Yesterday was no exception. Originally, I had they day off and had planned an end of year, all day stitch-a-thon to attempt to finish as many WIPs as I could before the New Year. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, two of my clients had to cancel and reschedule for Wednesday. Now you would think that wouldn’t mess up the whole day, but since that meant I needed the car, that meant I had to get up at 6am and drive my husband to work, then pick him up in afternoon. My husband and I have been sharing a car for the past year and for the most part it has been great. It opened up our budget and has given us some quality time together in the mornings and evenings. However, when you plan a full day of stitching, while lounging in your PJs and sipping coffee/tea all day, losing nearly 5 hours (2 for driving him to/from work and 3 for the client sessions)  can put a damper on your plans. Fortunately, I do have off tomorrow and I have informed my husband that I will be having an all day stitching retreat at home. Which means, beyond feeding and caring for the dogs & cat, I will not be doing any housework, I am taking the day off. No dishes, no laundry, no picking up of yard, and certainly no cleaning of bathroom.

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  • WIP Wednesday – Dimensions Geisha – November 23, 2016

    WIP Wednesday – Dimensions Geisha – November 23, 2016

    Thanksgiving is definitely my holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas time and the season it brings, but it’s not really a holiday in my life, it is filled with a lot of hustle and bustle. On the other hand, Thanksgiving is a time when I am blessed to have four days at home, filled with cooking, laughter, and family. For me nothing is better. Today I am doing all my preparation work for my holiday, including prepping my meals and prepping the house for my parents visit. This week I really haven’t had a lot of time for stitching, but I expect to get some time in tomorrow morning and Friday morning. Right now I am still working on my Geisha from Dimensions. I really should have moved along in my rotation on Monday, but I am so close to having the back ground finished I just did not want to stop. Hopefully she will be fully finished before Christmas. (more…)