Saguaro Sunrise Update 2

 Woo Hoo!! I finished the front of the needlebook.  

I was working on this at my stitch club when I got to the last part (the ground) and thought it was too noisy to work on due to the complexity of the stitch. When I finally picked it up to work on in my stitching nest, I thought why did I do that the stitch is fairly easy. I guess it just depends on how you feel at the time sometimes.!

I have been away from stitching for a bit and it feels real good to get back to it. Same with blogging. I don't have many followers or get many comments. I look at my blog as a journal of my stitching, so I guess that is ok. But, I do hope to get my followers back at some point, so will try to post more this year!

Happy Stitching!!

The Game Is On! Update 1

As many of you may know, when you take needlework classes you often come home with an incomplete project with bits and pieces stitched all over the place!

This is understandable with the limited teaching time and the instructor wanting students to know how to do each section or stitch. When I come home, I usually finish stitching anything that has "spaghetti" (those threads stopped mid-section) and then go back to the beginning and start from there.

This piece is a bit of a problem with going back to the beginning since areas 1 - 4 are each a different square which is repeated across the board. There are approx. 16 area 1s. So, where to start??

I decided to work on the area 1s until I get tired of the stitch and then will switch to area 2 etc. 

Here is my progress to date.

I hope to have more done when I report back to you next Friday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tissue Boxes

Twice a year my community has an EXPO where clubs can show off what they are all about and sell items they have made to support their hobby.

For Paper Crafts, I decorated some paper mâché tissue boxes. Experience has shown me that there is something on the paper mâché that sometimes resists the glue. So, I bought some spray paint and painted each box first.

I then cut out decorative paper and decorated the top and sides of the box. I made two with Saguaros and one with dogs and one with cats. I only have the cat box left.

I included a box of tissues to help keep the box from getting squished.

Thanks for stopping by!

Saguaro Sunrise Update 1

I decided to take up Saguaro Sunrise as my stitching nest project to report on each Monday. 

It is designed to be a needlebook with the Saguaro on one side and a cool pattern on the other. 

Here is my progress to date.

I hope to have more to show next Monday!

Happy Stitching!!

February Challenge From My Local Paper Crafts Club

This year my Paper Crafts Club here at Sun City Festival has decided the monthly challenge will be using a sketch to make a card. When you enter the challenge you get a chance to win a prize!

If you are unfamiliar with this, a sketch is a road map of sorts for what the card front should look like. You put your own spin on it with the paper used and any embellishments, embossing, etc. based on the sketch. 

We are using sketches from My Favorite Things. Here is the one for February:

I made two A2 size cards (4.25"x5.5") since to make the card base you need to cut a piece of 8.5"x11" cardstock in half and why waste the card stock and the pretty decorative paper.

This is what I came up with:

I needed a birthday card and I send thinking of you type cards to three people every month, so I made the other a thinking of you card.

I used some giant sequins for the dots (buttons on the sketch) and some green heart stickers for the thinking of you card. The green is Stampin' UP! Granny Apple Green and I am not sure what the pretty designer papers are. I raised the leaf paper up with foam tape and cut a tiny strip to put under the saying that was hanging over on the left side.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Tangerines!

Last February we planted a Daisy Mandarin Tangerine tree. While still young, it gave us 6 tangerines this year.

I know that may not be earth-shattering news, but we are excited!

Sadly, the best spot in our yard for it was where our beautiful bougainvillea was planted. We planted a new one in another part of the yard, but it is not taking off as well as the other one. I love the bougainvillea for the beautiful flowers and it reminds me of growing up in So. Calif. I am sure the neighbors are happy not to have the spent flowers all over their yards!

That is all for now.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Game is On!

Because this piece is so big (16"x 16" stretcher bars), I decided to work on this in my studio (so not to clunk Coco in the head when I turn over the frame) and will work on something else at my stitching nest (project to be determined).

I have not made a lot of progress but hope to get my stitching mojo back soon. Baseball season is starting soon and that is a good time to stitch. Right now, I am a bit focused on our community EXPO and trying to make more playing card holders for Feb. 24. They do not stitch up as fast as you might think.

I am thinking it might motivate me to give you Friday updates on The Game Is On! and then Monday updates on whatever I choose for my stitching nest project. I am thinking about Quilt Square II or  Saguaro Sunrise. Maybe you can help me choose??

         Quilt Square II                             Saguaro Sunrise

 

Happy Stitching!!