Reindeer Ornament #1 + Grell Complete!

My long weekend wasn't quite as fruitless as I had first suspected it to be, as I managed to complete some stitching. I started on the first of my ornament set that I have planned to make for this year's tree, completed the Grell standee (well, just the stitching part. I still need to cut him out and add a felt backing!), and I even attempted at some xxxHolic embroidery that I've been craving to do. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the fact that I was only lazy 2/4 days of my weekend!

First up, I'll share with you my WIP of the ornament. I started it pretty late in the day, and with my allergies bothering me greatly and the fact I had to get up at 5 AM pressing heavily, I only managed to complete the green border and holly, with white beads to replace the french knots I lack the knowledge of making.

Next comes Grell, whom I finished last night. The backstitching was rather hard to do, for some unknown reason, which leaves me unimpressed with the end result. He's much smaller than I had first expected him to be, and so very cute, that I want one for myself! Maybe after Christmas I'll allow myself. The flash on my camera slightly distorted his colours, which saddens me, so I'll have to make sure to upload a scanned version some time before the new year!

I'm much too shy to share a WIP of my embroidery of xxxHolic at the moment, but hopefully if the project continues to move along smoothly, I'll feel braver towards sharing the progress! I'm in a very big "let's get things done!" mood, so this will either profit my stitching, or hinder it. We'll just have to wait and see in a few days! Until then, keep up with your Christmas stitchings! xoxo

Christmas WIPs

Hello all! I hope you had a fairly good week, mine wasn't quite so peachy. I did get quite a bit of stitching done though, so I can't wait to show you!

First of all, I should explain a little about a trade that a friend of mine and I are having. About a week ago, I came up with the idea that we should buy the other a stocking and fill it with little goodies! We usually buy lots of tiny presents with one big one for each other, so I figured why not a stocking as well? Thing is, we won't be filling it with just yummy candies and miscellaneous toys, we'll be making half of the contents!

I'm quite excited for my stocking, as she draws lots of neat pictures for me with my characters, and she even hinted that they'll be Christmas themed! As for hers, so far I've started a few cross stitched items; one being a plastic canvas standee of Grell Sutcliff from Black Butler, and the others some game objects that'll be turned into barrettes!

It was very hard to keep the plastic canvas standing up long enough to take a decent shot, so I apologize for its wonky angle near the top. So, there's Grell in the bottom left corner, nearly complete. I just need to add in his luscious red hair and some back stitching and he's complete!

At the top is a  line of Pokeballs; two for my friend, two for my brother, and I still need to add two more for another friend and my mom. They're quite popular! And finally, that last object is a key from one of the Zelda games.

Hopefully, I can use that entire sheet for gifts, but I still have so much more to make! Such as my "big" present for another friend, who is knitting me a Ravenclaw scarf for Christmas. I'm quite excited to see it, and in return I'm attempting to make a Vampire Knight scarf for her. I won't be knitting it, but rather using waste canvas for the emblem and (if I find the time) logo.

I'm much too lazy to crop the picture right at the moment, so take in the beautiful sight of the wall behind my keyboard! Those pictures are in fact ones from the two friends I am making these gifts for, but I digress. I didn't get nearly as far on this one, since I started it very late last night, but I managed to finish the very center of the emblem.

That's what it will look like once I'm finished; well, I'm hoping it will! Haha!

So, that's all for my updates this week. Depending on how lazy I am this weekend, I might have a chance to start one my Christmas ornament set, but knowing me, nothing will be done! Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to keep on stitching! xoxo

Piggables Finished!

Well, it's been a few weeks since I last blogged, and even though I said that would be expected, I'm still disappointed I didn't get more completed. NaNoWriMo has pretty much come to an end, and I didn't get more than a page worth of writing completed in this entire month. Unfortunately, life decided it was a wonderful time to catch up with me, and I was utterly swamped in family problems and stresses. I don't think I saw the end of it until last week, which I'm thankful for. It seems things are finally calming down for me, and with it, I'm falling back into my regular doings. I only hope the rest of 2011 will swing by calmly, and free of drama. I have a lot of Christmas stitching to do. :3

So, aside from that, I was unsuccessful in making time to stitch during IHSW, and it looks like December will have to be my official start. Maybe this time, I'll throw a mini party to get myself motivated. ;)

Haha, that isn't the point of this blog post today, so I won't bore you further with my pointless chatter. In fact, I happily get to display a completed project, which is hopefully the sign that I'll be stitching like a mad woman for the next while. (I blame Sonic for partially burning me out. I should know by now, I can't fit a project into a time limit.) As was seen in an earlier blog post, this is "We're All In This Together", a pattern from a Piggables book I found in a second hand store.

I still need to iron it, and properly scan it, but this project is now done and completed! I strongly regret using such a large count aida (I believe it is 11 or 12) as it made the end result quite large and most tedious for me, but my mom seems to like it, so I'm happy.

Along with that, I also have another completed stitch, though this one is considerably smaller:

I have no clue as to what it really is, since my friend and I stayed up until 4 in the morning searching for random game sprites that looked enjoyable to stitch up. This resulted in a pile of unnecessary future projects, but this one really called out to a friend of mine in Ireland. I made it as a Christmas present for her, and hope that she likes it. (I still need to mail it off though!)

That's all I had to update with, though I'm certain I'll have a few more projects to share in the next few days, so until then, keep on stitching! xoxo

Happy Halloween! (With a surprise inside!)

Hello to anyone who is reading this! A very Happy Halloween to all of you, and many wishes of treats and tricks a plenty! I apologize for my very late update; I came down with a very serious flu and couldn't type for the longest time. I'm still suffering from the effects, but am doing much better. I'll be back to my old self in no time!

As for the point of this blog post, I have a new cross stitch in which to present you. I finished this one last night, and despite how I shouldn't spend my nights working on new projects, I could not resist for the holiday.

Very generic, but cute nonetheless. I found the bat pattern here: Bat and I got the two different fonts from a wonderful pattern book a friend gave to me only a month past. I found it to be quite enjoyable to stitch up, and it's so cute.

And of course, I should update you on Sonic. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish by my brother's birthday, so I showed him my progress and he thinks it's pretty cool so far. This is a late WIP, as I got a tad more completed since then.

He's pretty large now, about the length of my forearm. Totally crazy. I have such small hands; I need to use a very small hoop, and that means having to constantly move it to work with the next area. I added in the white of his shoes, which isn't seen here.

Well, that's really all for my update. I have to sadly announce that there won't be any more updates for quite some time, as NaNoWriMo is fast approaching (tomorrow!) and I'll be preoccupied with my writing goals. I hope to participate in IHSW this month, so my blog will liven up then, but until that time, rest easy my friends. xoxo

Sonic WIP (2)

Time for my second post! It's coming about a day later than I had wanted, but the end of the week was pretty tiring for me, so Saturday it shall be. I haven't had much time to work on Sonic unfortunately, and now the due date looms ever closer. The race begins to finish him by the end of 4 days!

I don't know if I can do it, especially without burning myself out, but I sure will try. I'm going to work hard all this weekend in the hopes of getting him near completed, so expect a nice shiny WIP of him by Monday. For now, here's my current progress as of today:

I know, I'm jumping a lot of colours, but I'm trying to reach his face so I can get his skin colours out of the way, and I really don't want to count it. (Just in case I miscount!) That's why I jumped to a spindly leg! xD

Not much else to say this time, hopefully I will be more chatty in a few days. Until then, keep on stitching. xoxox

Piggables + Sonic WIP (Welcoming Post!)

To any who stumble upon this, welcome to my *new* blog! I've never really done this before, and my main reason for creating this is to join in on International Hermit And Stitch Weekend, which looks like great fun to participate in. (Not to mention, I could really use that sort of motivation!) Sadly, I missed this month's IHSW, but I certainly hope to join in on November's!

Well, now that you realize my motive for beginning this, I suppose I should use this blog 90% of the other time. I do enjoy taking WIPs of my projects and sharing them, but I hate cluttering my DeviantArt account with them. Sooo.... This is, in fact, perfect! Haha, without further ado, I shall share two of my latest projects with you.

This is obviously, not complete, but a rather cute piggy gathering WIP. It's titled "We're All In This Together", and I found it in a Cross Stitch Pattern Book called "Piggables". I'm rather fond of pigs, and the three here strongly remind me of myself, my mom, and my brother. I'm almost done it, just need to finish the last of the fence, add in the bead eyes, and add the text! I stitched this up over the weekend while watching a slew of horror movies. Great fun that was!

I apologize for the poor quality of this WIP, but no matter what angle/lighting I attempted, it just came out blurry. I presume that I need to work on it more for it to appear clearer. Anyhoo! You're probably wondering, "just WHAT is that?!" Well, I shall answer! It is the shoe of Sir Sonic, a birthday gift for my brother. I just started it last night, and only had about an hour to work on it. I realize it's hard to know what the image looks like, so here's a preview of the sprite I'm working from:

Pretty awesome eh? I'm sure he'll love it. Now... Just to finish it in 8 days!! Haha! Well, I'll have another update in a few days, so until then, take care, and don't stop stitching! xoxo