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.

Well, I'm getting forgetful in my old age.

I forgot all about the Totally Useless Stitch A Long that I signed up for on Yo-yo's blog and dumped out my jar for the robins to use for nesting material. Oops.

So when I actually remember to post it next month *tattoos it on her forehead* it'll be very... um... empty.

In the Paraphrashed words of Garfield the Cat...

Whomever created confetti stitches should be drug out in the street and shot.

I put a couple of hours into Eagle today and his belly is coming along nicely, though I'm still surprised how light some of the colors are.



That is 201 stitches. Eesh. A close up shows how many different colors make that up.



Confetti is blah, but he'll look great in the end.

Oh, and have I mentioned I am insane? I bought my first chart from Heaven and Earth Designs.

Behold, Lust:



She is one of a set of the 7 deadly sins. I hope to do five of them. Avarice and Gluttony are nice, in their own right, but yellow and pink aren't my thing.

I figure she should take me, oh, about 20 years to complete. Yay, insanity!

There was a Girl who had a Horse...

...and Eagle was his name-o.

So, Marv turned Eagle into a pattern for me. From this:



to this:



Amazing work, right? Seriously, if you want a custom pattern done without buying the software, try Marv over at http://www.crosstitch.com. He's done two patterns for me so far, and I'm happy.

Seem like I'm stalling? I am. I only have 50-some stitches into Eagle so far.

Progress:



Not a blazing start, but it's getting there. The one thing I was worried about was putting a big dark bay gelding on a stormy looking background off of a picture that was taken on a bright spring day. The Aida, however, is nice and light in its variation of color:



I think I can leave him mostly as is without worrying about it clashing. To me, it's more like the sky right before a storm when the sun is showing through the clouds rather than a dark and stormy afternoon.

Wish me luck!

Night of the Living Craft Wench.

So, I'm sure you noticed I took another huge sabbatical. It happens, but I've been working on stuff, promise.

Without further adieu, Fantastic Creatures:













I filled in much of the vegetation and added Marty the Meerkat. Under Leo's chin is the beginning of Bert the Big-Horned Sheep. Still got a long way to go.

Murphy the Green Winged Macaw is going much better.

My newest work gave Murph a nose, err, beak.



Altogether, he's starting to look quite lovely.



I believe I could have him done in a couple of serious sit downs.

At the moment, I am working on cross stitching Easter eggs for my family members. They'll be posted as soon and I get them sewed together.

Also, I'd like to introduce two projects that I will be working on very shortly. They are both being designed by Marv from http://www.crosstitch.com and he is doing wonderful work.

Flying Eagle is a portrait of one of my best friend's horses made from her favorite photograph. I will post the picture when I start Eagle.

A Princely Nap is a custom of my 15-year-old Lhasa Apso.

Both of these projects are being done on hand dyed fabric.

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.

Undead!

Yes, that's right. CW's back. Where did I go you ask?

My life basically disintegrated around my ears. Mr. CW and I are no more. I wish him all the best and hope he knows nothing but good in life. It took me a while to become a functioning member of society (interwebs and real) but I think I have a pretty good grasp.

While this was happening, I switched schools. The world load became prohibitive of any outside activity. I've been stitching pretty steadily since the Winter '09 semester ended in May, but, well, I still lacked the motivation to write my blog in an entertaining way. No one wants an "Oh, Woe is me" post.

So... in the next few days, I'll be posting a bunch of updated work, work from new projects, the works.

Photo Finish

Sweet Treat is officially framed.



I also made an envelope out of an old picture for the thank you note.



I really hope this is a good item for Ann's rescue.

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.

Subscriptions

Do you currently subscribe to any stitching publications or have you in the past? (Either in print or online) If so, which ones?

I currently subscribe to Crosstitch.com and Artecy.com. Both sites have beautiful designs, and I cannot say enough about them. I've recently been looking for a print magazine with cute patterns, but haven't found any. Far and few between are the good LNS around here. If any reader has a good suggestion, please let me know.

Tomorrow: a happy surprise.

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.

What the...

Yep, I'm still here. Life suddenly exploded... again.

• Doctor's appointment for my migraines- no change.
• Uncle Boo graduated- Congratulations, dude!
• Estranged grandparents of CW wanted to get together- That... was interesting.
• Storms up the whoohah.- I chose to protect the computer.

But... I am here. Promise. First, I missed my own blogiversary. Yep, that's right. 5 days ago, my craft corner was in cyberspace for exactly 1 year.

Secondlyly, here are my goals for June.

1. Finish the last 6 of Ninja Baby's Care Bears.
2. Finish the parrot for Mr. CW's Mom.
3. Start and get at least 25-50% of birth sampler done for cousin's baby girl.
4. Get at least 400 more stitches into Ninja Baby's birth announcement.
5. Frame and send out Sweet Treat to Ann.

And something I found on Stitch Bitch's blog. She's linked over on the left.

What is in the back of your car? Um, some cinder blocks and a bag of softener salt the last time I looked. (It's a pick-up)
What color is your toothbrush? blue
Name one person that made you smile today? Mr. CW
What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Sleeping
What were you doing 45 minutes ago? I hardly remember 5 minutes ago today.
What is your favorite candy bar? frozen Snickers
Have you ever been to a strip club? Yeah.
What is the last thing you said aloud? Why?
What is the best ice cream flavor? mint chocolate chip
What was the last thing you had to drink? water
What are you wearing right now? a black t-shirt and blue jeans
What was the last thing you ate? a bagel
Have you bought any new clothing items this week? No, but I did last week.
When was the last time you ran? The last time I was chased.
The last sporting event you watched? The last game of the Stanley Cup Finals. Go Redwings!
What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? ranch
Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on Myspace? No, no myspace...ever.
Ever go camping? Yeah.
Do you take vitamins daily? yes
Do you go to church every Sunday? No.
Do you have a tan? Sure...if being almost see-through pale is a tan.
Do you like Chinese food over pizza? Sometimes.
Do you drink your soda with a straw? Sometimes.
What did your last text message say? "Mkay so what's up?"
What are you doing tomorrow? I haven't decided yet.
Look to your left, what do you see? my dragon lamp, my alarm clock, and my dragon incense burner
What color is your watch? blue and silver
What do you think of when you think of Australia? wallabies
Do you use chap stick? in the winter
What is your birthstone? sapphire
What is your favorite number? 7
Do you have a dog? 4 of them
Last person you talked to on the phone? Mr. CW
Have you met anyone famous? some motocross riders, a radio dj that was on "WifeSwap" and an 80s singer
Any plans today? not particularly
How many states have you lived in? 2
Ever go to college? Yep.
Do you dye your hair? Sometimes
Biggest annoyance in your life right now? friends
Last song listened to? Linkin Park- Leave out all the Rest
Can you say the alphabet backwards? yes
Do you have a maid service clean your house? no
Are you jealous of anyone? no
Is anyone jealous of you? Maybe.
Do you love anyone? Yep.
Do any of your friends have children? Most of them.
Do you eat healthy? Sometimes
What do you usually do during the day? Live.
Do you hate anyone that you know right now? Hate is a wasted emotion.
Do you use the word 'hello' daily? probably
What color is your car? mocha brown
Do you like cats? yes
Have you ever been to Six Flags? no
How did you get your worst scar? I fell on a spiked gardening utensil when I was 6.

Why benevolent being, why?!

Do you ever get to a point working on a project that you've had for so long, you start to wonder what possessed you to start it in the first place?

Good googly moogly, yes! Who doesn't? My current PITA project is my parrot. I worked on him for 5 hours today and still am not where I want to be.

Great question, Jan. She can be found here: http://www.alpineme adow.com/ stitchery/ weblog/