A pretty poppy update

Not a lot of time to stitch lately (what a surprise!), but I've made a little progress on my next potential finish (fingers crossed) -- Carolyn's Garden Poppy from my UCJC.

Anyway, on to the picture ...

I kind of have it in my brain that I need to finish one small every month, and then anything else is a bonus! :) I'm hoping to have this done by the weekend.

What a surprise!!!!

Who ever would have thunk it?!?! I just received the Liebster Award (which is a blogging award) from a great blogger and wonderful supporter during my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge -- Debbie from Debbie's Cross-Stitch! I'm in awe at receiving such an honour … thank you Debbie!!

Here are all the details about the Liebster Blog award:

Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

I am giving the Liebster Blog award to these great bloggers:

1. Ewa from Cross Stitch and Other Musings

2. Rebecca from Rebel in Ontario

3. Kim from Scully’s Cross Stitching

4. Kirstin from Stitchin’ Addiction

5. Helene from Little Miss Stitchy Stitch

Five random facts about myself:

1. I used to be heavily pierced and tattooed. I had 17 holes in my ears, 2 eyebrow rings and a tongue piercing. Now I just have the standard one hole in each ear. I do still have all my tattoos – 10 of them in total.

2. I can’t whistle. I’ve tried to learn, lots of people have tried to teach me, but I just can’t.

3. I love reality TV (but only the good competition shows). I love Survivor, Amazing Race, Top Chef, The Next Iron Chef, So You Think You Can Dance, among others. I can’t stand celebrity reality TV like The Kardashians, Real Housewives or Jersey Shore.

4. My most favourite meal in the whole world is steak and potatoes. I am a sucker for really great steak. Everywhere I travel, I eat steak, looking for the very best.

5. I am a full time doctoral student, and no matter how crazy and stressful it gets, it is, by far, the best job I’ve ever had. I am so fortunate that I get to spend my time learning about things I really care about. It’s a pretty cool gig (plus I get to sleep in most days AND I get to work in my pyjamas).

Oh Bugger Update 2

I've finally gotten my stitching mojo back ... if only I had the time to stitch!!

I did get a little bit more accomplished on my Oh Bugger Subversive Sampler by Kincavel Krosses.

I just love silk. Look at all that shiny, inky purple goodness!! Love it!

But I need a finish (even a small one) this month, so it's time to switch it up and pull out something else from my UCJC list.

March WIPocalypse

I must say I'm sorry -- I've been MIA for a few weeks now. Mostly it's because I haven't really done any stitching. :( I've been suffering quite badly from stress headaches, and so what little painfree free time I've had has been spent on less strenuous endeavours.

Alright, time for a few updates!

First off, my WIPocalypse update for March. I spent a few hours at the end of February on Oh, Bugger (one of my UCJC pieces designed by Kincavel Krosses). Not a ton of progress, but it's something!

The majority of my time lately has been spent on a new crochet project. It's a Baby Bobble Blanket for a friend who's expecting her first baby later in April. I'm about halfway done the main part of the blanket (only another 12-14 inches to go), then I will add a white/cream ruffley border to finish it off.

I've actually really enjoyed this project. It's travelled all over southern Ontario with me and has been a joy to work on. Very low concentration, low stress! Plans for my next project (a full-sized blanket) are underway.

February TUSAL

It's that time again -- time to check out our ORTs and think about all of the progress made in the last month. It's the TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch-a-long) post!

I stitched like a madwoman in January, and most of the threads are from the UCJC. I have done some stitching in February, but not as much as I'd like.

So many pretty colours though!

Second UCJC Finish!

I haven't had a lot of time to stitch lately, but I've been plugging along, and finally managed another finish, the 2009 Snowflake ornament by Tor Rhuann Designs!

It doesn't quite look like the pattern though. As I got into the backstitching, I realized that my choice of fabric for this project was totally wrong. When I had originally looked at the pattern, I had seen all of the backstitching that outlined the snowflake and automatically thought that aida would work. Now that I was tackling it, I realized that almost everything in the outside border was charted for evenweave. I would have had to poke holes in the aida constantly in order to do the border. No way, no thank you! So, I decided to ditch the outer border, and I just backstitched around the outside to add a little more bling. I think it worked really well, and I am quite happy with it. :)

Look at that bling! This is the first time I've stitched with Petite Treasure Braid, and it was wonderful to work with. Kreinik and Accentuate are nice, but this was really lovely stuff.

Hurray for finish #2, and it's not even the end of February yet!

Drama Queen - A proper page finish

Several months ago, I almost finished page 5, but I left 40 or 50 stitches of pure confetti hell for a later time. I really did need a break from such a confetti-heavy, complicated piece. So I tackled page 6 and it's gigantic chunks of red.

I haven't touched Drama Queen since the end of November.

This week, I finally had the energy to stitch DQ again, and so I took advantage of that energy by tackling the unfinished confetti on page 5 and working on some of the white/off white stitching on page 6.

The confetti is so strange to stitch because the colours (when they are in your needle) seem to make no sense - reds, browns, purples, blues, greens - all blend together to make the picture come alive.

It is slow, painstaking work, but I'm glad I have a real finish on page 5 finally (and 84% done page 6). I need another break now ... LOL.

Swirly Snow - Update 1

I couldn't resist picking up another easy silk project, so I spent the last few days putting stitches into the project from Day 6 of my UCJC - Swirly Snow. I was such a pleasure to stitch!

I think I've almost recovered from the stress and strain of the UCJC. I think I'm ready to pick up Drama Queen again. Hurray for confetti!

A WIPocalypse Finish!

It's that time again ... WIPocalypse is drawing near and we must finish projects!!

So, I did. :)

I finished my first ornament of the year: Christmas Eve Flight by thesamplergirl.com.

I did not forsee this as my first finish from my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge. Funny how things work out. Now I need to figure out what I feel like stitching next!

(Only 30 more finishes to go .... hrmm, might be a tall order.)

Tribal Butterfly - Update 1

After the hustle and bustle of the Ultimate Crazy January Challenge, I desperately needed to pick up a relaxing project. I just couldn't handle the thought of working on my complicated Drama Queen, so instead I picked up my Tribal Butterfly from Day 4 of UCJC.

It's not surprising that I picked up a silk project (I do {heart} silk after all), but I needed it to be as simple as possible. No variegated threads, no complicated patterns, just an easy and fun stitch.

Now that I'm feeling more like my usual stitchy self, it's time to switch to something else (but not DQ yet).