Thursday, January 31, 2013

My First Theme-A-Licious: Jardin January

I'm excited to be participating in Theme-A-Licious this year. Or doing my best, anyway. Sometimes I get distracted by other projects calling to me. Really, I have a fantastic amount of attention, and focus, and...SQUIRREL!

I'm not sure I completely understand the TAL check-in on the 15th and last day of the month. Whatever.

So in the theme of "Jardin January," or "work on a piece with flowers or gardens," I chose to start a new project that has been calling to me. "Karen? Oh, Karen? Please stitch a little section of me!!"  Now you all know that I have such a shortage of WIPs and things kitted up, right? (Ow! I think I sprained my eyes by rolling them so far into my head.)

I managed to scratch that stitch-itch by doing the first section of Butterfly Garden from The Drawn Thread. The first flower section was "buddleia." I will mostly be using substitute Threadworx cotton floss, instead of all the silks called for. (I'd break the bank if I bought all those.) I did happen to have the Silk n' Colors Grape Melange on hand that the buddleia called for. It is soooooo pretty.
Original chart pic














The theme for next month is:
 Figural February
Who are the people in your neighborhood...your WIP neighborhood, that is? Give your people-populated projects some face time this month.

While most of what I stitch has a person in it (or fairy, goddess, mermaid, etc.), I want to make sure that I put it some stitching time to Bellydancer No.1 from Yiota's.

See you next time!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

First WIPs of 2013

The bad blogger is back.

It's WIPocalypse time again, and though the world isn't ending this year, it's a fun idea for posting WIP pics every month. :)

This year I'm going to try to participate in Theme-a-licious, too, so there is one wip that I won't share until the 31st. I'm very confused about it all, but that's nothing new.

The theme for WIPocalypse this month is to introduce ourselves and share our goals for this year.

So, who am I? Hmmm. I'm Karen. I'm a stay-at-home mom of two kids, Boy-child, aged 10, and Girl-child, aged 3. My husband, Sean, is a hard-working, put upon, computer geek, who tolerates my stitchy and stashy habit, but just barely. We live in Marengo, Illinois, USA, which is around 60 miles west of Chicago. We have a very sweet soft-coated wheaten terrier named Teddy; four cats that I adore, Bubba, Mimi, Squash, and Honeybee; and a tank of fish. I used to be a travel agent until I had the boy-child. I've got a few hobbies, but stitching overshadows just about everything. I'm trying my hand at designing cross stitch patterns, but it's going to take me a while to get the hang of it. (I'm working on a mermaid right now) I'm completely addicted to hand-dyed fabric, as you can see by looking at the "Fabric" tab above. I used to bellydance, but I haven't for a while because all my time and money has been going to stitching. I'm a little obnoxious, I freely admit it, but I think I have a decent sense of humor. Up until recently I was posting pictures of good-looking men on "Hunky Fridays." I've been a bit lax in the last couple of months. I'll try to get better, as it seems to be quite popular. Sometimes I think you only love me for my hunks. (Just kidding.)

I recently shared my "to-do" list, but for the purposes of WIPocalypse, I'll copy and paste.


2013 Stitching Plans
1.      Mermaids of the Deep Blue – Mirabilia
2.      Queen of Fairies – Passione Ricamo
3.      TOT Fairy for October birthday
4.      My 2011 Mirabilia RR – finish my square
5.      My 2011 Band Sampler RR – finish at bottom
6.      2012 Band Sampler RR – almost done
7.      Key to My Heart – Stoney Creek
8.      Handiwork Memories – Stoney Creek
9.      Spring Garden – Stoney Creek
10.  Passione Ricamo Mistery Fairy SAL
11.  Bellydancer No. 1 – Yiota
12.  RAK Project – Maidenhair
13.  The Book Store – Country Cottage Needleworks
14.  Overlook CafĂ©
15.  Mirabilia Large-Stitch RR 2013
16.  Joan Elliott RR – May 2013 start
17.  Butterfly Garden – The Drawn Thread
18.  Fire Goddess – Joan Elliott
19.  Joan Elliot 2013 Diary SAL
20. PIF project


So what have I accomplished this month? Lots!
I stitched my section of Jo's Band Sampler round robin. Her theme was "purple with an accent color." I chose turquoise. I love turquoise. My bands are from four different Just Nan patterns.


I'm really proud of and happy with this. I finished all the seaweed, and my mermaid on my Mirabilia large-stitch round robin. I really love how the softened edges came out!


My South Seas Mermaid

Tons of beads!!!
And more beads!
 I also started January's entry in the Joan Elliott 2013 Diary. I hope I can finish it before the end of January, but we'll see.


Not much worth mentioning on this one, but what the heck... I put in a few more stitches on Overlook Cafe.

I treated myself to a new start after finishing my mermaid, but like I said, it's for Theme-a-licious, so I won't post it until the 31st.
Lastly, it's not a wip, it's a finish! I received my 2012 Joan Elliott round robin back, right around the time that my FIL passed away. I was in a funk, so I didn't post a picture of it. Well, here it is!!!!
 It's fabulous and I love every stitch that went in. Thank you so much to all the ladies that worked on it!! I'll get around to framing it some time this year, I swear. I'll post another pic then.

So, there you have it, my first WIPocalypse of 2013. If you got this far, thanks for reading. See you next time.

Oh, and I just hit 10,000 page views! How cool is that? I have to go tell Sean.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

A New Blogger in Town

My friend, Julie, has recently started working on her blog. She just posted some lovely WIP pix, including this one which I get to stitch on. Yay!

 

I encourage you to check her out at Red Couch Stitcher. Tell her that Karen said, "Hi!"

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

The entries for my Blogoversary giveaway were as follows:

McKenna - 2
Annie
Andie
Katy - 2
Cucki
Wagapapa - 2
Emma/Itzy
Ginny - 2
HannaHackroyd
TeaNorman
Kathy A
and Susana

I put all the entries on little slips of paper. (For the life of me, I can't figure out random number generators, and the like.)

And the winner is...




McKenna! Congratulations!

So, please email your mailing information to me at kmcewan (at) sbcglobal (dot) net

This is my 100th post. That's pretty cool, too. :)

Thank you everyone!

I'm thinking about doing another giveaway for the "Grow Your Blog" party at 2 Bags Full. Keep an eye out. If you want some more followers for your blogs, come join us!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

My first ORTs of 2013

Here's a quickie ORT report.
I caught 3 of 4 kitties curled up together. I couldn't resist putting my jar in the pile and snapping a picture.


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Blogoversary Giveaway!

Hello Dear Followers!

I only have a couple of minutes, here, but I thought I'd offer up a small giveaway to celebrate my Blogoversary.

I'd like to give to someone my gently used chart of Nora Corbett's Peony Pixie. This is the only full-sized chart I've finished in the last 2+ years. I've done countless partial charts for round robins and new starts, etc. But actual finishes? Not so much.



Here are the simple rules:
1. You must be a follower of my blog.
2. You must leave a comment on this post by my Blogoversary, January 15, 2013.
3. You may have an extra entry if you post a link to me on your blog.

Thank you for reading and commenting, and making the first year of my blogging enjoyable for me!

*hugs and stitches*
~ Karen

Monday, January 7, 2013

Almost a year??

I just looked at my countdown. Apparently my blogoversary is in 7 days. Holy smokes! That year went fast.

I wonder what I should do about it......