I'm attempting shed my QuiltCon cocoon for the year this week, albeit with a nasty cold...all the while, working on building a new one for next year, but at least the crazy level of work is months from now. It's nice to have a bit of a breather at this point with work, at least a tiny one, for a few moments, but holy wow, there's so much to catch up with you all on.


Let's see, where to start...let's start today with cross-stitchy fun.

I've been cross-stitching like crazy. It's been an easy thing to pick up here and there between conference calls and Excel spreadsheets and mothering all that, and it's been the kind of craft I can manage to do without having to hide in my sewing room on the rare occasion that my husband is actually not traveling for work, so most of my crafting time the last few months has been the cross-stitching variety. Here's a few recent finishes...











And at least one still in progress...


I even taught my son to cross-stitch this weekend using a super cute kit I stumbled upon at Fancy Tiger that I cannot recommend enough - Cross Stitch Friends. He's seen me cross-stitch for a while, and this was just the project to hook him with!


Stay tuned for some QuiltCon treasures I purchased and some actual sewing soon! Woo hoo! Have a fantastic week everyone :)

So, the holiday season has come to a close again...and sadly this wasn't the holiday season where I finished my Kawaii holiday cross stitch sampler :( I did make a good bit of progress, though! Check it out...



I've got just two squares remaining in the sampler, so I feel pretty sure that I will be able to finish it before next Christmas comes and goes. It was awfully enjoyable to work on it during the holidays, so I might just save working on it for the next holiday season. Maybe I'll start up a new hand sewing project in the meantime to tote around with me on my various outings.


Or maybe I'll work on some quilt math... I'm thinking of doing a quilt along later this spring, I've got a fun, simple block that can create several different fun geometric repeats, so stay tuned for more info on this in February! Have a great day :)

My Juki has an official diagnosis from the repair shop - it has a badly damaged needle plate. I'm thinking this may have always been the issue since I bought it second-hand and it's always sounded a bit noisy, but it's hard to know for sure. Naturally, the needle plate isn't a part they typically stock, so it's going to be a little while yet before my machine comes home :( I've been sorting and folding fabric instead of sewing with it, and cross-stitching my little heart out, and I'm starting to see the light at end of the sampler tunnel!

My Kawaii Christmas cross-stitch sampler is coming together nicely while I'm without my machine, although if you compare my stitches with the chart, there's definitely some blips where I've made mistakes. For example, that red present with the cream box on number 13 was supposed to be a blue polka dotted present, but my inability to follow a pattern reared its ugly head there and it turned into a red present. But I'm not too worried about those little "design choices" - they give it character, right? Ha!

I've found a new method of stitching that's been working pretty well for me. When I have some quiet stitching time to myself, I follow the chart and stitch half of my X's, then when I'm stitching while watching TV or multi-tasking in some other way, I finish off those X's so I don't have to pay attention to the chart then. It's working out pretty nicely for me.

At this rate, I feel sure that I'm going to wrap up this sampler before Christmas. Yay! But then I'll have to start another hand stitching project, and I happened to pick up the perfect one during the Black Friday sales from Pink Chalk Fabrics...the new Studio Stitches pattern from Empty Bobbin. I am SO excited to embroider one of those adorable sewing machines!

Have a great day :)

Last week before Thanksgiving, I decided to take my Juki into the shop. Couple the lack of sew-jo I've been feeling lately with the spring that mysteriously popped out whilst FMQ'ing recently, I figured she was due for a nice tune-up. I just got the call that it's going to another week before I see her again, thanks to a badly damaged needle plate. No idea what I did to the needle plate - or if it was even from me, maybe it was from the previous owner and I just didn't notice? - but it needs to be replaced, stat. Yikes. I sure hope the part comes quickly.

It's true what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder. This whole week that I've been without my machine, I've been missing it terribly. I even got out my old Husqvarna Viking in an attempt to sew something, only to get frustrated with how slow the darned thing is and give up. I think my sew-jo is trying to come back, bit by bit.

I've been spending my evenings on the couch, enjoying the light of the Christmas tree, and working on my Christmas cross-stitch sampler from last year that I never finished. I'm making good progress this year. It's really nice to unwind with a little cross-stitch at the end of the day. I'd forgotten how enjoyable it can be. With just another 20 and a 1/2 days until Christmas, it's entirely possible I might just finish this sampler before Santa makes an appearance! Happy Wednesday to you :)

Yep, this is me, officially hopping on the cross-stitch bandwagon. :)

I picked up The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's adorable It's a Kawaii Winter Wonderland Countdown pattern over the long holiday weekend, and I busted out some Aida cloth and floss and started stitching last night. Cross-stitching was the first kind of sewing I ever did, a zillion years ago. My mom taught me when I was a little girl, and I really enjoyed it until I became a moody teenager, so it was a kind of nifty to sit on the couch with my hot cocoa last night and do some (mostly) mindless counted cross-stitch. It all came back to me like riding a bike.

In other WiP-y news, I can finally share my finished EPP honeycomb pouch with you guys, now that it's made it to its new owner. I made this pouch for my friend Amy, better known as Sukie, as an early birthday present. I love the Sweetwater Mama Said Sew Sewing Guide print I used for the background, and how it contrasts with the bright scrappy EPP honeycomb pieces.

I also started quilting my EPP starflower pillow yesterday with some simple straight lines. I forgot how much I hate straight line quilting. Don't get me wrong, I love the way it looks, but the actual act of doing it feels so monotonous to me. Fortunately, this pillow is only about 21" square, so hopefully it won't take much longer.


Speaking of EPP, I got some happy mail yesterday. I ordered some new pieces last week that just arrived. I picked up the paper pieces to make Katy's fab Spring Carnival blocks and an octagon block of some kind, as well as some new straw needles. I also got a wonderful package of beautiful fabrics I ordered from Pink Chalk, including various prints from Ellen Luckett Baker's new Stamped line and two prints from Zen Chic's Juggling Summer collection. And that's just the stuff I ordered before Thanksgiving! My mailbox is going to be overflowing soon once my Black Friday purchases start rolling in. Fortunately, I think I'm about done Christmas shopping, I just need to get my own personal outlet of Santa's Sweatshop up and running so I can tackle my handmade presents!

Stay tuned on Friday for the next installment of the Sea of Stars quilt-along, where I'll share with you more than ever wanted to know about half-square triangles. If you haven't already purchased your pattern, you can find it at Craftsy, and you get a great deal on your fabrics at Fat Quarter Shop, with coupon code JINGLE through the end of the day today. If you're joining the quilt-along fun, be sure to join the Flickr group right here.

What are you working on this week? Write it up and share it over at Freshly Pieced today. Have a great Wednesday!