2013 Woodland Sampler - Completed!

I stayed up late Sunday night to try to finish up the last few stitches on my 2013 Woodland Sampler. I didn't start my sampler until June, but then I went crazy stitching and got caught up with everyone else in time for the August pattern.

I've shared my progress along the way, and now, here it is - finally completed!

I didn't really have a plan for what I would do with the completed sampler once it was done, but now I do! I'm going to frame it (or have it framed), and I'm going to hang it up in my son's room. He has been excited about this project since I started it, asking what all the animals are and celebrating with me when each month's frame was completed. I feel like this is a project that would fit in a child's room perfectly. If you want to stitch up your own Woodland Sampler, it's not too late! They even included an alternative 2014 block design at the end for you. You can get the pattern here, and since all the pattern emails have gone out already, you get the whole thing all at once!

The 2014 sampler, Once Upon a Time, is fairy tale themed. The first pattern email will be sent out this Friday, and I can't wait to start stitching! When the year is over, I plan to hang it in my soon-to-be-daughter's room. Keep an eye out for updates on my Once Upon a Time sampler, and if you like to stitch, join me in making it! I'd love to see yours.

Work In Progress Updates

It's been awhile since I posted updates about the projects I'm working on. I have three long term projects going, all at once, but I forget to post blog updates because the changes happen so slowly (although, I have been posting progress pics on Instagram). Since it has been a while, there has been A LOT of change!

Summer Stitching Club

The Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club is coming to an end, but many participants are still working on the project - me included! I had a few weeks where I didn't work on this project because I was also trying to get caught up on another stitch-along, the Woodland Sampler. Once I got started on it again, I plowed right through the rest of the embroidery designs. I finished making hexies and piecing the top yesterday.

Now I just need to decide how I want to finish it. I changed the orientation of my hexies because I was thinking I might make it into a pillow cover instead of a mini quilt or wall hanging. But, now that I've gotten the top done, I might end up just finishing it as the original idea after all. I also need to decide if I am going to hand quilt or machine quilt it together.

 

Woodland Sampler

It took a lot of time, but I managed to get caught up on my Woodland Sampler. Each month's pattern comes out on the first of the month. I didn't sign up or start stitching until June, so I had a lot to do. It took me until August 7th, but all that stitching paid off. I think it looks great! I can't wait for the September pattern email!

My scroll frame isn't quite big enough to show you the whole thing, so the top of the January and February frames can't be seen, but this is what it looks like so far.

ABC Quilt

Sadly, this project has been on hold for a while. I originally wanted to have it completed in time for my son's 2nd birthday (May 23rd), but that didn't happen. I don't know why I thought I could pull it off in just slightly over a month, especially with my crazy over-planning tendencies.

I was on quite a roll with the project (even though it was late), but I got stuck on some of the embroider designs I was trying to draw up. I really wasn't expecting to have such a tough time drawing an octopus! Then, I started working on the two stitch-alongs I wrote about above, and I got wrapped up in them. There is something really special and fun about working on the same project at the same time as a ton of other people, but I would like to finish this quilt for my little guy in the near future!

 

New Projects Coming Up:

Autumn Stitching Club

I had so much fun with Wild Olive's Summer Stitching Club, that I signed up for the Autumn on too! The new Autumn Stitching Club stitch-along starts on Monday (Sept 2nd), and it only costs $5 for the whole thing right now. You should join in!

Pin Cushion Ring

I'll share this project when it's done. Hopefully it'll be up in the next few days because I really need one now.

Craft It Forward

This photo popped up in my Instagram feed, and I got excited. These sorts of things sound like so much fun, but I have never participated before.

The idea is to spread crafting love around. The first five people to comment on the post and say they are willing to craft it forward for five other people, get a handmade item from the original poster. My item will be made by @kdarli.

I posted the Craft It Forward on my Instagram and have had two takers so far. Hopefully another three will come through. I'm really excited to make some special gifts for the people who participate.

Have you ever participated in something like this?

I Apologize, But It's Instagram's Fault

I'm sorry. I've been a bad blogger. I blame Instagram.

I've been using Instagram a lot more lately, and the instant gratification and community aspects of it have sucked me in. I've been working on a bunch of creative projects, all at the same time, so I usually just have a little bit more of each one done at the end of the day. That makes for boring blogging. I'd much rather have some significant progress to share with you. Instagram makes it super easy and fun to share mini progress updates, and you get quick feedback to make you feel good and push you to keep creating.

Since I started using Instagram more, I haven't blogged as much, BUT I have been creating more! After finding myself in a bit of a creative lull, that makes me super happy. Being a stay at home mom can be lonely, but I've been able to connect with others in a way I wasn't before. I get to share with friends, family, customers, and other crafters working on similar projects, and it rocks!

I promise to be better about blogging, but for now, here's what I've been working on:

Sun Hat

Summer Stitching Club

The last time I wrote about Mollie's Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club, I had finished stitching up the Week 3 design (a swim suit) and had put a bunch of hexies together. I haven't gotten too much further on this project. I stitched up the Week 4 design (a sun hat), but I haven't made it into a hexie yet. This is high up on my to do list since I'll be able to add the next row of colored hexies too.

I got the Week 5 design yesterday, a picnic basket, but I haven't started stitching it up yet because I've been wrapped up in my Woodland Sampler.

Woodland Sampler

I like designing my own patterns, but I also enjoy stitching up patterns made by other people, especially ones made by other independent designers. I didn't know about The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Woodland Sampler until a few weeks ago, so it'll take my a bit to get caught up. I had to wait for the Monaco cloth I ordered online to get here so I could get started, but I've been stitching like crazy since it arrived.

So far, I have stitched some of the frames and finished the May and June designs. The July design came out yesterday, and I started that one too.

 

ABC Quilt

I was working on sketches for the letters I haven't stitched up yet, but I had some creative blocks with a few of the letters and ended up working on other projects. Hopefully I'll be able to share more on the quilt progress soon.

Summer Stitching Club with Mollie Johanson | Wild Olive

Last month, I wrote about a stitch-a-long that I was really excited about. The Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club with Mollie Johanson started at the beginning of June, and now I'm hooked on mini-embroideries and hexies!

Fabric & Floss for Summer Stitching Club

When I last posted about the SSC, I had picked out my fabrics and embroidery floss but hadn't gotten started yet. While at the fabric store, I found myself stuck trying to figure out what fabrics I wanted to use. I saw the same blue that Mollie is using, and tried to resist getting it, but it was so cute, I had to copy her! After I had the blue selected, it was easy to pick the rest. This picture shows a yellow fabric with white circles, which is similar to another fabric that Mollie is using, but I don't think I'll be using that one after all.






When the second week of the SSC began, I still hadn't started cutting fabric or stitching the designs. I was really worried that I would be behind the entire summer, but once I got started, there was no stopping. I was a stitching machine! I even have most of my non-embroidered hexies made, waiting to be stitched together.

2013 Summer Stitching Club - Week 1-3

At the end of the summer, all the hexies can be stitched up together to make a mini-quilt or placemat or whatever else you can imagine. I think I might make mine into a pillow, so I changed the orientation of the hexies. I have a tendency to change my mind, a lot, so who know what it will actually become in the end. I'm excited to find out!

I'm loving making hexies!

I've spent way too much time checking out everyone's projects on Instagram and in the Wild Olive Flickr group, but it's a lot of fun to be creating something right along with people from all over. It's also neat to see how people tweak the project and make it their own. The summer just got started; it's not too late to join us!

Playing Catch Up

How has it been a week since my last post? Time seems to be flying by, but at least I'm having fun.

Here are some projects I've been working on:

My "Garden"

My son and I planted some Black Cherry tomatoes and basil in containers on our front deck, and they have been doing really well. Little Man and I go out every morning and water everything. He has his own elephant watering can, and loves it. I think I have an "awww moment" pretty much every morning when he uses it.

Yesterday I made some bamboo tomato cages for the plants. This video gave me the idea to use bamboo poles, but I changed the design a bit. I need to fix the spacing of the horizontal bars and add one more row at the top, but I think I did a decent job in just an hour and with the "help" of a two-year-old.

Gardening with Little Man

Wild Olive's Summer Stitching Club

Wild Olive's Summer Stitching Club started on Monday, and I'm already behind! I've had the welcome info for a few weeks, which included the fabric requirements, floss colors needed, and the hexie templates. I originally planned to have my fabric cut, and maybe a few hexies made, before the first pattern arrived in my inbox. Wishful thinking I guess. So far, I've purchased my fabric and floss and printed out the first pattern.

The fabric and floss colors make me happy. I can't wait to get started!

Fabric & floss for Wild Olive's Summer Stitching Club

ABC Quilt

I just finished stitching block #14 of my son's ABC Quilt this morning. I'm almost halfway done with the embroidery part of the project; only 16 more blocks to go!

I've been posting photos of the blocks on Instagram and Flickr as I finish them. Check them out and let me know what you think!

N is for Night ABC Quilt block

Me

I started working out again at the end of January, and as of this morning, I'm down 20 pounds! Finding the time to work out each day when I have a very energetic toddler and there are SO MANY other things I'd rather be doing is a challenge. I haven't been perfect about working out every time I am supposed to and I've let myself indulge on bad food a few times, but I'm glad I've stuck with it.

What have you been up to?

ABC Quilt Progress - Still Stitching & A Realization

When I first started stitching, it was going by pretty quickly. I really thought that I might be able to finish Little Man's ABC Quilt before his birthday party on Saturday. Then, I hit a few snags. First, I had a few ABC blocks that seemed to just take forever to get stitched up. Second, Little Man decided that he needed hugs and cuddles all day long, every day. I tried, but I found that it's impossible to do any stitching while cuddling with him. Third, my shop had a nice influx of orders, and most were customized patterns and kits which take a while to put together. I love cuddling with my son, and having a busy shop is a good thing, so I didn't mind the lack of stitching.

I realized this morning that I haven't been able to do any stitching in two days. Today is Little Man's birthday, and my husband and I spent all day completely focused on him. So, no stitching again. I knew before today that there was no way I'd be able to finish this quilt by Little Man's birthday party, and that's probably why I avoided blogging for a week, but I'm finally okay with it. I'd rather take the extra time now to do a good job and make it awesome. Hopefully not having a deadline for finishing the quilt doesn't lead me to procrastinate.

I've finished 8 of the 30 embroidered blocks so far, and I'm going to try to get a few more done each day. Here are a few of the ones I've finished:

A, B, C, and D blocks for ABC Quilt

I'll be sharing more ABC Quilt progress photos as I go. You can check them out here:

Flickr

Instagram

So Excited!

While I focus my work for the shop on cross stitch and embroidery, I have a long list of crafts I enjoy. I tend to go through crafting phases. One month, I might focus completely on cross stitch. The next month, I might obsess over crochet or sewing projects. And, later, I might be in a crafting void or get interested in something new.

Recently, I've had the urge to quilt. A real, machine quilted quilt. I have only made one quilt before, maybe 12 years ago, as a gift for my boyfriend. It was a very simple quilt made up of squares, plain sashing, and a solid back piece. I had never machine quilted before (and still haven't), so I just tied the quilt. I was so excited just to have completed a quilt - I loved it - and I felt a little sad to give it away. Since that boyfriend is now my husband, I still have the quilt and get to use it!

I've been scouring the Internet (mostly through Pinterest), looking for cute/modern quilting patterns to try out and thinking about color combinations. I usually do lots and lots of "research" before starting a new project, but I know that one thing that has held me back from starting a quilt has been not having a machine I can use for the machine quilting. I don't want to send out my quilt to be quilted for me, but it can be challenging to machine quilt on a home sewing machine. My Brother machine is great, and has more room to roll up a quilt than many other home machines, but I'd like to make a quilt for our Cal King bed and I'm not sure it's big enough for that.

Then, this beauty showed up at my door: Brother PQ1500S High Speed Quilting and Sewing Machine. I am so excited to get to quilting! I feel like I can make masterpieces with this machine. Expect to see some quilted items from me soon.

I think I may love you Brother PQ1500S.

Wordless Wednesday - July 18th

Weekend Wrap-Up

I've been behind on posting because I have actually managed to keep myself super busy with productive stuff the past few days. Here are the highlights of my weekend:

1. Celebrated my dog's 3rd birthday by taking her to the dog park to get some energy out and to the groomer to get a pedicure.
2. Cleared a bunch of super tall weeds from our front yard. It no longer looks like it's been neglected for three years, and you can see the flowering plants and trees the weeds were blocking now.
3. Finished stitching some more new QR code cross stitch pieces.
4. Stretched all of the already stitched pieces I had laying around and started preparing them for finishing the backs.
5. Finished putting together my new and improved light box. Hopefully this is the winning design.
6. Took some product pictures using my new light box.

I still have a few more QR codes to stitch up (more color options). Then, I need to stretch, finished, and photograph the new product line. I'm hoping to get the new items in the shop this week. No more slacking!

The final version of my light box (I hope)!

Only 5 more to stitch up

Weekend Wrap-Up

It's been busy at our house the last few days, but I've managed to squeeze in a little time to stitch here and there. I thought I had finished all of my samples for my newest QR Code items, but I may have to stitch up a new one in blue.

After spending hours trying to match up embroidery floss colors with the colors of the ribbon I plan to use, I discovered that I didn't have enough of the blue ribbon I found in my stash. It's a fairly common brand, but after visiting both craft stores in my area, I came up empty. Both stores carry the brand, but they had three other blues - one is too light, one is too dark, and the other is more of a teal instead of a blue.

I was super excited about having the perfect colors chosen, but now I have to figure something else out. In the meantime, the next step for these little guys is to get them stretched and framed in hoops and finish the backs. I'll post pictures when they're done.  :)

Some new QR Code cross stitch pieces

My blue ribbon saga of sadness:

Still searching for the perfect blue ribbon

In Need of a 12-Step Program

I love lists. I'm a master list-maker. If there was a job where all you had to do was make lists and then list out all of the lists you made, I would be a shoe-in. I have lists that have sub-lists. I am addicted to color-coding my lists (which is a sickness itself). I have lists in multiple locations, some of which list the same things as other lists. When Apple added the Reminders app to iPhone, I was excited because I could have all of my lists with me wherever I go.

My top ten best (longest) lists are for:

• General Crap To Do
• Things To Buy (separated by store)
• Things To Return
• Gift Ideas
• Crafts To Make
• Reviews To Write (for Amazon)
• Blog Posts To Write
• Deep Cleaning List (separated out by frequency of cleaning - weekly/monthly/seasonally)
• Home Improvements To Make (separated out by room/zone)
• My ever-lengthening Shop To Do List.

Whew! Uh oh. I just realized that is another list of lists.  :-/

If only list-making resulted in actually getting stuff done. By the time I pull out my list(s), cross off the very minimal amount of items I have completed and re-evaluate what's left, I don't have time to actually do anything on the list! I think list-making might be the ultimate procrastination technique. You get to put off actually doing work by thinking about all the work you have to do. Maybe it's time for a mid-year resolution.

Craft Wars on TLC

Craft Wars is a new competition show on TLC that pits crafters against each other in two phases of craft trials. The show debuted this past Tuesday, but I didn't get a chance to watch it until this morning. Tori Spelling hosts the show, and Stephen Brown (Glitterhouse Studios), Jo Pearson (Creative Expert for Michaels), and Erica Domesek (P.S.-I Made This) are the judges.

I don't really know how I feel about the show yet. I like the show's concept, but the way the judges speak and the things that they say to the contestants seem really fake and forced to me. Overall, the show was fun to watch, so I'll give it some more time.

Have you watched the show? What do you think?

Design Block! Grr . . .

I have been working on a pattern for a week now and have found myself blocked, mega-blocked even. I make myself take breaks when I start to get frustrated so I don't just give up on the pattern entirely, but I really need to get it done to meet my deadline.

Any advice?