Okay, You Caught Me.

...Hi, my name is CW and I am a procrastinator. But no more... at least for now. 5 of my friends and one family member are pregnant! Yay! I'm going to be doing 7 birth samplers between now and however long it takes. Why 7 when there's only 6 pregnancies? One of my friends has an older son who I'm also making one for so he doesn't feel left out.

There is the possibility of doing 4 more since my friend R has two boys from a previous relationship and her fiance W has two boys from his previous marriage. I've yet to ask if they want any for the boys because, well, I'm swamped. Also, this is a surprise gift for her. It's also a surprise for my Aunt S. and Uncle S. H,K, and B all know and are loving the idea.

Up first, starting tomorrow is the sampler for B's baby girl. It's called Brier Rose and is designed by Janlynn. I think her and her husband W will love it!

One last announcement. If you like to read creative writings, please check out my other blog The Cryptic Scribe Scribbles at http://crypticscribe.blogspot.com. I'm doing a 31 posts in 31 days challenge, so I have no excuse for not updating. Seriously, you can threaten me if I forget.

Holy Bunnies, Batman!

So for lack of time, my poor Squishy's bunnies only got two days work out of seven possible for the UFO-athon.



I put about 5 hours into it on Saturday, however, before our power went kaput. His announcement now has a name and a birth weight.




I'm just about half done. Another day, day and a half and I should be 50% done.

Your Heaven's [not] a Lie.

As promised, here are updated Squishy announcement pictures!



The moon under the bunny is full of half stitches. I thought it might be too light, but it's actually coming out nicely.


The star wasn't cooperating with my flash, so I'm also posting one without the flash, since it seems to show truer color.

Flash:


No Flash:


As I mentioned, I picked this up again for one of my forums. The first week of every month, we stitch on a UFO, hoping to either finish it, or at least pick up our interest in it.

Since it was about a year since I last stitched on Squishy's bunnies, I think that would qualify. *sigh* I'm such a bad big sister.

Happy stitching all!

Care Bear... Stare!

*Ahem* Now that I've thoroughly shown off how I misspent my youth, I have a couple of finishes.

Share Bear


and Love-a-Lot Bear


have joined Funshine Bear in my collection of Care Bears stitched for Squishy. Three down...and I've lost count of how many to go.

I started working on Heaven Sent again, and stitched a ton. I have updated pictures, but I'm waiting for them to show up in my e-mail, because, you know, I just had to start using my cell phone for pictures. It's easier and all that.

So... tomorrow, new baby announcement pictures.

Wild Horses...

...or at least an equine. Squishy's Leo has been joined by the outline of a zebra, Zoe the Zebra!



So... she's not fully finished, but you can at least tell she's a quadruped and possibly horsey, right? If you look closely, there's two big splotches that will be vegetation, so Zoe's actually more finished than she looks.

Hopefully, tomorrow I can get more work done on my own horsey project.

Craftily yours,

CW

Ain't no Rest for the Wicked

So, readers from last year will remember that I was waiting on my cousin's baby to be born so I could finish her birth sampler. Savannah the Very Brady baby made her appearance soon afterward.



Her parents absolutely loved this. I'm glad I could give them a gift they can enjoy for a lifetime.

My brother, the Ninja Baby, now known simply as Squishy is already 16 months old... and I have yet to finish his birth announcement, but will be breaking it out on the first week of August to work on it for one of my forums.



I also started a smaller pattern for Squishy. It's a Dimension Gold Petite kit called Fantastic Creatures. It should come out looking something like this.


But at the moment, all that exists is Leo Lion.


For once, I've started something for myself. *Gasp* I know, so unlike me and my blog, but even a wench's fancy gets tickled once in a while. The pattern is called Horse Companions and should look like this.


However, only part of the shoulder from the horse on the right is stitched. This is roughly 350 stitches in.


So this catches things up. I have other projects in the wings, including Murphy the Green-Winged Macaw. True, he was meant as a gift for someone who is no longer a part of my life, I'd feel almost guilty if I didn't finish him.

Go-o-o-o-o-oal!

So it's a new month, so it's time for new goals. Last months were:

Finish the last 6 of Ninja Baby's Care Bears. One more was finished
Finish the parrot for Mr. CW's Mom. Page 1 is finished
Start and get at least 25-50% of birth sampler done for cousin's baby girl. Done and waiting on a name and date.
Get at least 400 more stitches into Ninja Baby's birth announcement. I started over and probably have about 150?
Frame and send out Sweet Treat to Ann. Framed.

July's goals are:

1. Do three hankies for Sandye.
2. Send Sweet Treat to Ann.
3. Finish the last 5 Carebears.
4. Finish at least 50% of page 2 of Murphy the Parrot.
5. At least 200 stitches into Heaven Sent.

Heaven isn't too Far Away.

I got started on Ninja Baby's birth announcement...finally. Okay, so I might have procrastinated a little. I mean heck, he's only 4 months old, right? Heh. The Very-Brady-Baby has one and she's not even here yet. *blush*

Anyhow, here's the start of a long process.

Birth of A Star is Born.

I promised a happy surprise-- I finished Very-Brady-Baby's birth announcement yesterday morning. Without further adieu, here's pictures.

Teddy and Moon-


Lettering-


The whole shebang-



Details-

This was done of 14 ct. white aida with "cotton embroidery thread" of unknown origin. It was a Dimension design. I'll post about this one more time when I have a name and birthdate added.

Star Light, Star Bright

A Star is Born is almost complete. The Very-Brady-Baby's birth announcement should be able to be given to her mom, sans name and date of course, on Sunday.

I'll also have to take pictures of V-B-B's presents from me and my wrapping job (quite creative, I think).

Any who, without further adieu, I present my progress.



Here are some close-ups of Mr. Teddy.



And these odd colored lines? That's the start of the words "a star is born."



I love this design. Feminine without the frou-frou. Perfect for this particular little family.

WIP it good!

I'm adding pictures of two of my WIPs today. The first is my green winged Amazon.

So far I've only got his tail done.


You may also notice part of the branch he's perched on. GW, as he is now known, is a pain but is definitely one of my favorites.


My other WIP is called A Star is Born. This is a birth sampler done for the very Brady baby-to-be. My cousin's wife is due in August.


I hope to have this done for the June 22nd baby shower.

Two for the price of one.

First, Sweet Treat is complete! Finally. I washed it tonight and it's currently drying so it can be framed. Lookie! The background is a beautiful fabric I received from Mary over at Confessions of a Craft Addict (Thanks!).





A close up of the flowers...


...and the three birds.






I think it came out pretty well.

Secondly, remember my first HD of the year, Funshine Bear? I finally took pictures. Fabric in background also from Mary.





Yay me!

In Stitches for Charity

I mentioned in my last post that I was donating a couple of projects to a friend's rescue to be auctioned. I decided to post pictures of the one that is closest to complete. Click the thumbnails for full size pictures.


This is Sweet Treats, designed by Dimensions. Please excuse the shaky photography. I never claimed to be the best photographer, even after photography classes.


I haven't done any of the back stitching yet, and there is still a lot of flora to add, but it's coming together nicely.


The pink you see between the two hummingbirds is the start of another blossom.

What say you? From what you see here, would you bid on it for charity? It will, of course, be cleaned and framed before I hand it over to Ann.

Y'all can't get rid of me that easy!

I'm ba-a-ack! Miss me? Thought I fell off the face of the planet? Well wonder no longer, dear readers. CraftWench is back.

My life has been, to put it bluntly, circling the drain. Mr. CW's grandmother passed away (may she rest in peace), D-san (the ninja baby) decided giving the entire family a heart attack by not breathing was a good idea, my migraines are packing a huge punch, my computer is still dead, and finals happened. D-san is now being treated for apnea and finals are over. Two out of five ain't bad, I suppose.

So what does this mean for the craft-corner? No progress was made... at all. I dropped everything to deal with what life threw at me, until two nights ago. I picked up my hummingbird cross stitch, took my frustration and turned it into something positive.

I've decided to donate my hummingbirds (that one was bittersweet as it was meant for my grandmother) to a friend's rescue to auction off at a fundraiser. (http://www.arfchicago.org/) Check them out, they're a great organization.

So to get back into the swing of things, I'm answering the newest SBQ:

For seasoned stitchers: Define a stitching term or acronym for new stitchers.

Well, my favorite term has always been SABLE. SABLE means Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy. I... am so there. Between what I have acquired on my own or through my pusher (Mr. CW), and what I inherited, there is no way I will ever finish.

No-o-o-o, my weakness!

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Rachel and is:

What is your cross stitch weakness? (i.e., What do you have to have when you see it, even if you are supposed to be on the Wagon?)

If it has dragons, horses, or tigers on it, I have to have it. The Wagon does not exist in that case. I can never have too much of any of those.

Wow...

So, I've come to the conclusion that I have more stash than I will ever, ever stitch in my life. Along with my own, which was getting very large, my mother just gave me all of her stash and the stash my grandmother left her. Sweet baby jeepers, what am I going to do with it all?

On another note, I've been procrastinating when it comes to getting my pictures taken. No, procrastination isn't the right word. I've been running around so much I've had no time! I did finally start my birth announcement project. Gah. So little time and even more to do!

How do others budget their time?

First Official Happy Dance of 2008!

I finished Funshine Bear! No, I haven't taken a picture yet (probably will tomorrow) but I am so happy. Yay me! Pictures will be added as soon as they are taken.

Starting Over... and Over...

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Loretta and is:

Do you have any projects that you have scrapped and started over? What made you start over from scratch?

Oh my goodness, yes! The parrot I am doing for Mr. CW's grandmother has been started over twice now. The first time I started it, I didn't like the aida I chose. I originally chose a light blue aida that had clouds stamped on it. It just didn't look right so I switched to plain light blue.

The second time I started it over, I realized that the change I had made to my colors didn't work as well as I had hoped. I went back to the colors it was designed in, and it looks much better.

Great question, Loretta.

That Quite Contrary, February.

Another month has gone (where, I ask) and so begins one anew. I have too much to do. Fah. So... here are my goals for February. I so know most of this will go unfinished.

1. Finish all eight Care Bears for my brother's room. Sunshine Bear is almost completed.
2. Finish Lil' Yet-to-be-named's Heaven Sent birth announcement. By the time I finish it, I should have all of the relevant info. An example can be seen here. http://www.janlynn.com/detail.cfm?ID=2176
3. Start and finish Bedtime Bears Trio (Janlynn)- also for my brother.
4. Start A Friend Knows, created by Dimension.
5. Start and finish baby quilt.
6. Start Try to Relax (Dimension).
7. Finish Love by Artecy for Mr. CW.
8. Finish Parrot by crosstitch.com for Mr. CW's grandmother.
9. Finish Deer latch hook kit (Caron) for my father.

Houston, We Have Progress.

So in the spirit of Guilt Free January, I put aside everything I have been so diligently working on to start something new, something that holds a certain nostalgia for me.



I am stitching 8 of the Care bears! I started working on Funshine bear (the yellow one for the uninitiated) last night and so far, he has a muzzle, half his head, and one arm. ...Okay, put like that, I suppose it sounds morbid, but really, he's-- at least I think its a he-- already starting to look cute.



I googled the kit number trying to find some sort of reference picture to post so someone at least knows what I'm talking about. I cannot for the life of me figure out who made this little guy. So, this will have to do. I present to you, Funshine bear:

Cute, isn't he (she/it)? Funshine was always my least favorite, but that was 20 years ago. I hope to be done with him over this weekend. Wish me luck!