Cloud WIP

Just a quick update tonight before I go to bed. I've been feeling burnt out this week and was finding it difficult to work on my current projects, so I gave in and got a little head start on a Valentine's Day gift I've been planning for a while. Much to my surprise, I made significant progress!

Only 2 colours have been finished, and there's already some definitive shape. I am very surprised! I love it so far, and I think I'll have a lot of trouble giving Mr. Cloud away! I'm enjoying working on it too, which is a great bonus. As of late, everything has felt like a chore, rather than a joy. Apparently I don't do well under deadlines/stress. Unfortunately. There are so many great swaps out there, and I have a good feeling if I joined it'd just be misery rather than any real fun.

I even managed to update when I said I would! ... ish. I'll try to have a new update for Sunday, so till then!
xoxox Queenpetra

January IHSW: Dance Dance Revolution WIP

2013's first IHSW has come to an end, and with it, I'm not so happy with my progress. I had hoped to complete a fair amount of stitching Sunday, but due to allergies, I did not do nearly so well. (I snuck in some stitching time today, sshh!)

I couldn't focus on any of the current projects I have lying in wait, so I searched for a new one, and started it somewhat not guiltily! My girlfriend was over this weekend, and we played some Dance Dance Revolution, so I wanted to make something to go along with it!

DDR Arrows

I only successfully completed one arrow (the pointing left one) and still have the right one to start. I'm thinking of adding the title above them, but unless I can find the perfect font (and one that will fit) it'll just be a set of arrows. I'm so happy that it has bright colours in the pattern! I'm thoroughly tired of black, and it's so refreshing to use pink and blue. I hope to have this finished within the next few days, pushing my total amount of gifts for the stocking to 4! I think I may just be able to catch up to my girlfriend!

I hope you other hermiters had a much more profitable weekend than I did!!

xoxox QueenPetra

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DDR Arrows

Grow Your Blog

(Do not fret if you don't make it through all this. I wrote a lot!)

Grow your blog!! It sounds wonderful. I follow many people, but I don't have too many following me in return. I honestly feel like I am always talking to myself! As long as I am entertaining someone I suppose. :P

Well, this is something I didn't officially do for my blog, so in some ways that is a relief. I wouldn't want to repeat myself-- boring! My name is Petra (Peh-trah NOT pee-trah), and I am a proud Aries (and a monkey!) That makes me stubborn and hardheaded, easily distracted by new projects, overly critical of myself, optimistic, and a bit of a chatterbox! (Though not in person. I'm incredibly shy.) There is of course much more to me, but I believe those will be the most prominent aspects about myself you will notice.

I love reading, though I do not read often enough these days; a video game junkie; reality show stalker; and the most important thing-- the creation of this blog-- MY CROSS STITCHES. Though I am still pretty fresh with this hobby, I adore stitching to pieces. It makes me relaxed and happy, and I think I may even be focusing a little better. (Just a tad.) I mainly cross stitch video game related items, since there are so many free patterns available, but don't let that chase away any non-gamers! Every piece is beautiful, whether or not you know what it's about, no?

I spend the other half of my time when not stitching, writing. I do hope to be some kind of published author one day, and I really do not hesitate to think of myself as the next Twilight saga! (NOT meaning vampire novels; just the amount of adoration and publicity it received.) Dreaming never hurt anyone, right? If it weren't for my dreams, I wouldn't be half the person I am today.

My home is full of ANIMALS. I adore them all to bits, and they make the house so lively. When I go over to others' places that don't have any pets, it's so quiet and still and... Lifeless. It's horrible! I like the noise, and the activity, and their endless amounts of love and happiness really fuel me! I have fallen in love with rabbits, ever since my first boy, Peter! Currently there is my little chocolate dwarf Ciel, and whom I believe is a Netherland, Elizabeth (Beth for short)! She is such a pig, my first female, and makes me regret not picking out a boy. LOL! Ciel is so behaved, well mannered, and clean, while she is a complete rebel. Though I don't love her any less.

Puss Puss (or Cira, the name no one ever uses) is my cat! He's a redhead, which makes him really feisty! When he was a kitten, all he did was attack people's ankles! Two years later, and he hasn't quite calmed down yet. There is also Sebastian and Zorro, the family cats. Then there is my mom's hamster, Teddy, whom only uses me for food, and our 3 budgies, Mercury (female), Comet (female), and Pisces (male)!

They're supposed to be the family's pets as well, but as most animals will do, THEY choose who they love. Comet is a chatterbox and loves everyone; Pisces appears to only love Mercury; and Mercury loves me. She's the eldest, being about probably 8-10 years old. She sure doesn't look it though!

Look at me-- I lived up to the chatterbox trait! I'll end my rant now, and if you read all the way through, well then, thank you very much. I appreciate that you took the time. I hope this "Grow Your Blog" event turns out well, so till next time!

xoxox QueenPetra

Nameplate: Samara

I have my first finish of 2013! It's only a small finish, took me about a day, but it was enjoyable to work on nonetheless. :)

Thursday I went to my friend Sheldon's place, and we can spend hours just talking. I find that to be a great time to get some stitching done, but most of my patterns are on the computer! I lack a printer, and only have a few pattern books, so I was at a loss to what I would work on. I have my girlfriend's stocking to think about, and as I was puzzling over what to do, she suggested I make a nameplate that she could hang on the door.

Well! I have plenty of fonts in my books, so planning away I did!

As I said, very simple! The camera ruined the moon's colour, which is actually a very pretty TEAL. She suggested the green for the stars, and I chose the sky blue because it appealed to me. The lettering I found in a cross stitch magazine, while the moon and stars were from a cross stitch book.

I'm still not sure what exactly I think of this. I like it, but then at the same time, I'm not very happy with it. The only opinion that truly matters is hers, right?

Thus far, my IHSW has kicked off to a great start! I won't be stitching Saturday since my girlfriend and I will be playing Dance Dance Revolution all night, but Sunday should be full of stitchy goodness! Have a wonderful IHSW everyone!

xoxox QueenPetra

January TUSAL

Augh, I haven't been stitching a whole lot as of late-- but I've noticed it's the same with most of the stitchers I'm following. I suppose it's just the January atmosphere? Either way, a new moon has come, and so it's time to update my TUSAL!

(My piddly ORTs. ;3; )

Can you see the piddly amounts that I have left behind? :D Originally, there was only the long yellow strand, but I did a little stitching last night (to redeem myself) and managed to add some black orts! I finally found a jar too! Hurray~ It's a teddy bear, from... A Peanut Butter company...? I think. It's pretty old. (In my 20 year old eyes. XD) I'm hoping that I will fill it this year. I have to get LOTS and LOTS of stitching completed!

Not only that, but I do have a little wip for you.

(Left to Right: Sailor Moon; Yuki Cross)

I'm currently working on some standees from Missy-Tannenbaum's site. I have a whole bunch of her patterns saved and ready to go, but with the end of January looming ever nearer, and the realization that a Christmas present is supposed to be handed out in December, not mid-spring, I don't know how many I'll complete. A lot of the larger projects I started for my girlfriend will not be completed for her stocking, but that's all right.

She keeps starting new projects for my gift, and is just as deep in the hole. I think our "Christmas Stocking Exchange" is going to turn into a full year event. Now we're just racing to get as much done NOW as we can. I'd like a handful of standees, finish the Pokemon Badges I started, and get that Pokemon Pencil case finished; at the very least.

This weekend is IHSW, so here's my chance to get a lot completed! Hopefully I will have another update for you around Friday, so till then~!

xoxox QueenPetra

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Yuki Cross
Sailor Moon

Cell Phone Pouches + Pokemon Case

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this! I'm very excited for a fresh start, and I hope this year is more successful than the last!

Well, I have some nice updates for you. First up will be my first attempt at sewing a pouch for a cell phone! My girlfriend tends to put her phone in her back pocket, and she always ends up butt dialing! It's funny at first, but a while back she butt dialed 911, and a police officer showed up at her house to make sure she wasn't missing, or she would've been reported missing! Because of this, I've lectured her on putting it in her back pocket, and offered to make a case for it.

It's not a very good first attempt. I made it a bit too tight, so my Ipod barely fits in it, and you can see all the stitches on the side! I hot glued the Lady Gagas onto, and the fabric is from a pair of pjs that shrunk after one too many washes! The inside is lined with mint green felt. <3

My second attempt went MUCH better:

Hello Kitty print this time round (once again, another pair of pjs that shrank) with white felt! It's a little too wide for my ipod, so I added a strap to keep her phone/ipod inside it. It's so soft, and you can't see any of the stitches. Unfortunately, one corner sticks out further than the other one! I tried to fix it, but I only managed to make it look slightly better.

I also have some cross stitchy updates! I've been working on a pencil case for her for the past few days, and this is the progress of side one:

There's the girl trainer from Johto, with 5 of her favourite pokemons: Dratini (complete), Shuckle, Psyduck, Snorlax, and Bellsprout! I didn't have room for pokemon number 6, so I'll be adding it to the back side, maybe with her name.

Hopefully I'll have another update for you in the next few days! xoxo

Christmas Turkey

I've fallen behind in my blog updates-- as well as my Christmas stitching! No matter how hard I try, I always seem to lack in one category or the next. I finished the Turkey stitch exactly when I promised... But I definitely didn't update when I said I would! Better late than never, so have a turkey everyone while I attempt to catch up in my stitchings!!

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Turkey

Christmas (Crowned) Penguin

I'm feeling much better-- and I'm even able to cross stitch again! My lack of updates over the past two months have been very dismal, haven't they? The main problem was the fact that every time I picked up a needle, something would go wrong. From miscounting, to the aida ripping, to thread tearing, it was a disaster!! I eventually gave up trying for a while there, and when I tried once more in December, it kept happening! So I stopped once more... But with Christmas literally around the corner, I need to get moving!

Last night, after I worked on Christmas cards to my clients (had around 50 to do!) I felt very much like stitching, so I sat down, looked up some nice-- and tiny-- patterns to put on a card, and found this lovely Crowned Penguin. I managed to finish him with only one hitch-- the black thread broke after the 7th stitch, but after that it was smooooth sailing.

Isn't he so cute??

Can't wait to cut him out and paste him to some pretty paper. However, I'm going to make his Turkey comrade first-- for my mom! She's very proud of her turkey centerpieces, so I think she'll like this fellow quite a bit. Hopefully you'll get to see him tomorrow! xoxox

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Crowned Penguin
Turkey

December IHSW

I have a roaring headache, therefore don't feel all that chatty, so today's update will be short and sweet. (I'll elaborate more once I feel better.)

Have some Lady Gagas that I found on Dorkstitch! Not sure why the picture is so small but, I think you can still see them. White dress GaGa has sparkly thread for the criss crosses over her face.

Edit:
As I promised, I'll elaborate more. I've been feeling fairly uninspired to stitch for the past while, and due to missy-tannenbaum's Sprite Patterns December, I've been itching to make a standee for my girlfriend. Sorting through all the amazing patterns was great, but it was difficult to choose something she'd like. I know how much she loves Lady Gaga, and I had been hesitating for a while about making them for her, but I decided, "I'll show her hairbow Gaga and see what she thinks".

Her reaction was quite pleasing, so I was more than eager to stitch all three up~ Originally I was going to make them into keychains: sew them to some material and stuff it with filling, buuut... Meat Dress Gaga suffered. It didn't work. They're so tiny!! Now I need to remake Meat dress Gaga, but the other two are still all right.

As for what to use them for, well, that's still undecided! xoxox

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Meat Dress Lady GaGa
8-Bit Lady GaGa
Hair Bow Lady GaGa

October IHSW (Day Three)

Ah, just gonna make this another quick update. Not feeling so chatty today. Nearly completed all the greens, up until some "drama" decided to interfere last night. Haven't really done much since then.

Quite happy with the progress so far, though I am absolutely dreading the colours of the sword and visor. Do not want! (I'm almost considering making the colours of the sword purple, just so I'll want to stitch it up! Do you think he'll mind? XD)

Hope you all had a good IHSW. xoxo

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Master Chief Sprite Sheet

October IHSW (Day Two)

Just a quick, and very late (It's 1 AM!) update of Mason's Halo gift:

Starting to come along. c:

October IHSW (Day One)

Time to update for October's IHSW! Haven't updated since earlier this month, but... There isn't really anything to show. Stitching has been very slow going as of late. I just can't get into it... More than likely, this is because I have so much to stitch, I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed. But I can't quit! I have a swap gift to deliver, and a birthday next week!! Ahhh!

I found a super cool cross stitch kit at the Dollar Store today. It's a Brass bookmark, and you cross stitch directly on it! I don't know how good the quality is, since DS standards are fairly low, but I think it's totally awesome!

Or... Looking up a picture to show you, apparently it sells for more than a $1! XD Well, that reassures me of the quality then. (And saves me having to use my camera. ;) )

Hummingbird Bookmark Kit

I'm not going to use the pattern that came with it, but rather something a little more... Appealing to my tastes. I can't do it this weekend, but I am VERY excited!

Aside from that snazzy little buy, I did do a handful of stitching over the week. I can't show any previews of my swap gift, but I can show you the progress on my brother's gift.

What is that you ask? Well, it's Master Chief from Halo! Not very complete buuut... It's getting there! After the fire, where we were living, one of our roommates had a Xbox 360 and Halo 3, and he became totally addicted to it. A few weeks ago, his friend came over for a sleep over, and they stayed up all night talking about Halo. I think this is a very suitable gift! c: (He's turning 10, by the way.)

That's all for now, but my goal is to finish his gift AND the rest of my swap gifts! I need to get these things done, and when's a better time than IHSW?! ... That's what I thought. Till tomorrow, xoxox

KH: 358/2 Days Update

This will be a short update tonight. It is now October, which means no more progress on my 358/2 project, but it also means I can start on a Halloween stitch-- so long as I finish my more important objectives first! I'm  a little sad I have to put this away until after Christmas since I've been really enjoying working on it. Granted, the black/grey was becoming a little tedious, but it's just looking so great thus far! Because of the tediousness, my progress was very stop go, stop go, so I didn't get nearly as far as I would have liked to.

On the bottom row, I missed count for two of the black outlines, which means I need to pull out the threads and redo them! Least I caught the mistake by the third one, or the entire row would be off! Even looking at this now, I want to get started on it, but I have so many more important stitches I need to finish. Such a shame; haven't had this much passion for a particular project in a long while! xoxox

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KH: 358/2 Days

KH: 358/2 Days Start

I know I never updated for the last day of September's IHSW, but considering the fact all I did was fill in the second wing of Fairy Silhouette, I figured there was no point in updating! I did complete Fairy Silhouette (last Wednesday! I'm so horrible for not updating sooner!) but the batteries in my camera died RIGHT as I was taking a photo! So, unfortunately, there's no completed picture of it until I see Samara again. I will get a completed pic of it though-- promise!

I also made another hair clip for her, this time of Miltank! She loved all of the gifts I made for her, which makes me happy. Fairy Silhouette was a big hit with several people! And to make things even better, I got them all completed in time for her birthday! A big first after several years of late gifts! (I'm still sorry about that Sammy...) Here's to hoping Christmas goes just as well!

It looks a little too red, and a lot less pink, but it is supposed to be Hot Pink! Haha, silly cameras. Least the beads look as they should! ;)

Now to reveal the meaning of my title! Since Samara's birthday gifts were such a smash, I figured that I deserved a well-earned project for myself. I recently restarted the game Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and found that I utterly love the facial sprites of the Organization members. I looked for a sprite sheet (found here: KH: 358/2) and decided I wanted a slightly smaller project, so I chose the AI Battle Portraits.

Turns out it's not quite as small as I thought it would be. LOL!

I've been working very on and off since about Saturday, but I've gotten the first row started. I know Christmas is looming every nearer, with another birthday arriving in October and my swap gifts still waiting, so I'm focusing on the FUN colours. Once those are done, I won't want to touch this for months! ... I hope.

Augh! Why do I get myself into these predicaments?!

Either way, I told myself, once October hits, I'm not allowed to touch this until I get my swap gifts, October's birthday present, and at least one Christmas gift DONE. But I'm sure we all know I'll disregard that if I feel like it! Haha! I hope you enjoyed the update! Till next time, xoxox

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KH: 358/2

September IHSW (Day Two)

I actually managed to complete some stitching last night! I am very happy with my progress, and hope to get a little more done tonight. (But first, a quick Kingdom Hearts 2 break. c: ) I didn't feel like sitting at the computer, so I decided to get a little crafty. I made two barrettes for Samara, and I might make a few more. I wasn't too happy with one in particular, why I didn't work on the others, but looking at it with some sleep, it's pretty darn cute!

It was so hard cutting the felt straight, and then I didn't even sew on the picture straight! Augh! But aside from the slight loopsy to it, I think it's super adorable. I just took a Pokemon card (a spare one, don't worry! But why does it still feel like blasphemy?) and cut it up, then sewed it onto a piece of felt. Added some beads, and threw it onto a hair clip. I didn't want to use hot glue because I figured, constantly bending the cardboard to open and close the clip would wear the glue, making it fall apart. I had this happen with my Pokeball hair clips. They fell off!

I wasn't done sewing, so I took three satin stars, and sewed them together. I still need to glue them to the barrette, but it's basically done. It's just as cute in my opinion!

I also started on a new pattern. As I said, I wasn't near the computer, which holds 95% of my patterns, so I had to scrounge through my pattern books. Most of them are far too large, what with Christmas looming nearer, so I chose this small one. I found it at a thrift store for only 50 cents! Unfortunately, I can't find it on the internetz, so I can't show what it should look like. I didn't cross stitch for long last night-- I was pretty sleepy, so all I got done was one guinea pig's bottom.

So beautiful, is it not? But no more procrastinating. I have to get the Fairy Silhouette finished tonight, in time for Samara's birthday! More updates for you tomorrow, so until then, lots of stitches! xoxox

September IHSW (Day One)

It's been a while since I last updated; I'm so sorry! I haven't been stitching quite a whole lot these past few weeks, I've been focusing on writing and such. (As if I got much done in THAT category either.) The little stitching I did do so far this month, has been Sprite Stitch Swap related! It's my first, though I've been stalking the swaps for a few years now. I'm currently done one gift, and about halfway through the second.

That isn't the point of this though! It be a Hermit and Stitch Weekend, which means I should show my *scarce* updates! My friend, Samara's birthday is this Monday which means I need to get her fairy done soon! I haven't touched it since the last time, so that still leaves a wing and some glitter/snowflakes. I also want to try and make her something else, probably Pokemons related.

I do have an update for her Christmas gift, Slytherin Witch though! (It's a very small update, be warned. XD )

If you can't tell what's new, it's the green hair! I told ya it wasn't much of an improvement, haha!

I also started a new project. It's a Link profile from Card Gallery:

I adore the Link AND Cloud profiles, but I was more drawn towards the greens, so I started Link first. Unfortunately, a day after I started was when I received my swap partner. Oh my!

I've no idea why the picture isn't coming out clear! Silly Blogger. Well, those are the only updates I can show you at the moment (my swap gifts need to wait ;A; ) but I hope to get a lot done this weekend, so here's to plenty of hermiting and stitching! (Couldn't have come at a better time. I am feeling SO anti-social at the moment. A little break from society will be nice. c: )

Till tomorrow! xoxox

Slytherin Witch Update II

I wanted to update last week, but unfortunately the temperatures around here dropped drastically and I caught a head cold! It's now so cool in the mornings I've been wearing a scarf and toque while delivering papers. I didn't mean to complain about the heat, but I sure do want it back! XD

I'm still not feeling the greatest, but August is nearly over, and it's been 7 days since my last update, so I'm going to force myself to focus and get this done! As stated above, I have an update for the Slytherin Witch!

I finished the rest of the hat (aside from the colour I need to hunt down!) and you can already see the head starting to form. The green belt took forever to complete, for reasons unknown, which is causing me to dread the rest of the green in the pattern! I hope it was just one of those days.

After I reached the end of the hat, I took a break and decide I wanted to try my hand at making a Bicornu. I wanted a simple, easy pattern to begin with and decided I'd turn it into a Christmas present for my Aunt. Unfortunately, it's amazingly difficult to find buttons here in Kamloops, so it's been put to a standstill for the time being. I don't want to finish the stitching, or else I'll want to complete it entirely, but I need buttons to do that! Augh! XD

It was going really fast, and really well, up until my dreams of buying buttons was crushed. ;A; Since then, I haven't bothered with it. (I'm horrible, I know! How do I ever get things done?!)

Recently, a friend bought me a pattern that I've been eyeing for a while now. It's Once Upon A Time by Passione Ricamo, and I am so excited to work on it! I still need to get some fabric to work with, but once I have that, I don't think anything will be holding me back!

That's all for now, so happy stitching! xoxox

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Red Biscornu

August IHSW (Day Three)

Ahh! I didn't update on Saturday, and my Sunday update is late! It was far too hot to do much of anything this weekend-- Kamloops was Canada's hotspot reaching all the way up to 38 degrees! And it isn't ending any time soon. We're stuck in a heat wave! It was already 21 degrees at 6 AM today-- utterly crazy!

We moved all our beds downstairs, and have been sleeping in the living room. Feels like a camp out, and least we're avoiding the heat! Unfortunately, the fact all three of us are downstairs makes it hard to keep a lamp on/near me while cross stitching. It kept getting turned off... >.>

So, my IHSW wasn't as productive as I had hoped it would be. First up will be a WIP of the Fairy Silhouette, which I only managed to finished a wing and a half. It was too dark once I started working on it, which required me to hold the aida in an awkward position, so I successfully managed to hurt my arm. ... I haven't work on it since. XD

After I put down the fairy, I procrastinated for a little while. What to work on, what to work on? Eventually I decided to start on a Christmas present, since I had the pattern ready to go. I don't want to leave gifts until December, since then I don't have time for ANYTHING else. I learned.

That is the beginnings of a witch's hat. A Slytherin witch to be exact. ;) It's for the same person as the Fairy Silhoutte, who is a big Slytherin supporter. I'm going to adjust the colours so that it looks like her! Unfortunately, the pattern consists of a lot of black, so I was thinking I could make the hair green, even though that isn't her real life hair colour! (It's very dark.)

The pattern asks for 3 shades of black, one of which I don't have, so I'll need to go thread shopping. That also explains that blank portion of the top. Even if I don't get the necessary colour for a while, it'll be a lot less to stitch come December!

Not a whole lot to update with, but better than nothing! I'm still in a mood for stitching, so I'll take advantage of the early morning before it gets too hot! Till next time, xoxoxo

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Blossom Of Winter - Heartstitch Designs
Slytherin Witch - Hazel's Farm

August TUSAL + IHSW (Day One)

Yay! I finally get to participate in the TUSAL/IHSW for this year! It's been far too long, so I won't diddle daddle in getting straight to the point!

First off will be my ORTs. I did have a jar (and a pre-existing bag) but both were lost in the apartment fire. The bag + its collection smelt too much of fire smoke, and the jar... Well, I have no idea WHAT happened to it. Because everything was in the storage unit, mixed in with the fact I wasn't stitching much AND I kept forgetting I needed a new jar, I've been using a plastic sandwich bag (again.).

I don't know why I have a DMC cover in there ( XD) and I threw in some plastic canvas from a Deathly Hallows cellphone charm I made a few weeks ago. Mainly, there are a lot of greens and blacks. Plastic bags aren't so good at layering your ORTs, as they all just pile in whichever way they prefer. More personality I suppose!

Now, IHSW starts this weekend, which I am totally stoked about! I've been in a huge cross stitchy mood as of late, so this gives me a great excuse to literally whittle away the hours with my needle and aida! I'm going to start off this IHSW with a current WIP of a project I started on Tuesday.

It's a fairy silhouette-- a Winter one to be exact, and all that is left on her is her wings and some snowflakes/sparkles. (Not really sure what they are. XD) I'm going to make those glow-in-the-dark, so hopefully it'll look REALLY nice once I reach the end result.

It's for a friend whose birthday is in September. I wanted a head start so I'm not racing within a week's deadline, only to not finish it. I'm VERY happy I chose to do it this way; it's nearly done, and I still have several weeks till her birthday!! Yay! (Now if I can behave and work like this for Christmas!)

I'll post an update tomorrow for ISHW, and if it isn't the fairy, it might be Bulbasaurs! (I'm in a Bulbasaur mood.) Till then, xoxoxo

Final Fantasy VII Logo

Small update today, which is a simple, tiny emblem from FF VII! It's the first project I worked on after moving into the new place, and it only took me an hour or two. It's cute, was great fun to work on, and I had another excuse to work with my brown aida! I think it looks great on the brown.

My younger brother saw it and instantly asked if he could have it; I'm still considering that request! Till next time xoxox
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FF VII Logo