a manger finish!

baby jesus is stitched and sleeping soundly in his manger!

i made some small variations from the stitch guide, and i love the finished result!

what do you think? only 2 more to go! any guesses as to what i'm starting in the meantime?

baby jesus

this is arguably the most enjoyable canvas to stitch up because it's the smallest and therefore the fastest which is just what i needed after languishing over the background for the angel

the big scotch stitches were a breeze, followed by the alternating stitches for the manger

this might be finished sooner than expected! dare i start a new fun project from le stash?

meet my new office mate for the week...

lots of snuggle time with this girl!

a friday finish (finally!)

i was able to finish this up last night, and now i'm happy dancing my way into the weekend!

the background seemed to plague me this time around. not sure if it seemed longer because i was traveling, or because there was more space to cover. in any case, i was more than happy to trade the navy floss for memory thread!

here's how my girl first looked after i tacked down the memory thread...

 and after i curled the thread around my needle...

 i'm purposely keeping the hair longer until it comes back from the finisher when i can trim it and fluff up the curls. the great thing about memory thread is that you can play and bend to your heart's content, so this will be ongoing fun!

what do you think?

bald beauty

this is my progress from all the in-flight stitching this weekend. it looks meager, but it never ceases to amaze me just how time consuming basketweave can be! 

the good news is that i'm over the hump. the top part is the most daunting of the background stitching, and it's blue skies and rainbows from here. poor girl is dying for a trip to le salon for her memory thread hair. hah. 

as i sat stitching at the gate last night in phoenix waiting to board the last leg to new orleans, a mom with a newborn leaned over and said "oh wow, that is so beautiful, do you paint it or follow a guide?" i showed her my baby jesus canvas and said "oh, it's painted and i stitch over that."

she replied with "oh. (pause) 'cause i was going to say that's really good"

but it sort of felt like the subtext she implied was "it would be a lot more impressive if you had stitched this without a painted guide."

oh well. 

have you ever had a instance like this happen to you?

saving the basketweave...

that's right. i'm saving the basketweave background for my flight to LA this weekend for a girls' trip!

this is the first time i've actually been excited to start the background for one of my nativity projects, since the flight from louisiana to california is a long one, and will no doubt lend itself to some serious progress!

when we last left off, i had completed the top half of the angel and her dress. i started on the orange basketweave for the bottom half of her dress, then followed that up with the turquoise tents.

the stitch guide called for red french knots in the center of each square, and for some reason that didn't sit well with me. remember how i went rogue with the elephant? i did it again. while the red worked on the elephant, i just wasn't feeling it on the angel. but you know what what did feel right? 

purple! and beads!

i love it! i've already got the navy thread packed and ready to go for my flight! and just in case i miraculously finish this...i'm bringing the next project along for the ride too!

baby jesus

i'm off for a long weekend and will be back next week (hopefully with stitchy updates!) 

the littlest angel

i am so happy to be back stitching my nativity club, especially this cutie little angel girl!

i feel so bad that she's bald, but the memory thread hair will be well worth the wait

i was able to complete the top half of her body over the weekend, and once again i'm loving the colors! i'm having trouble loving the gobelin variation stitch in the turquoise, the compensation seems to interrupt it so much. i'll give it some time though. 

only the bottom half of her dress is left before the fated navy basketweave background commences!

how was your weekend?

holiday stitching...it's a wrap!

my holiday stitching is complete and we can now go back to our  previously scheduled nativity club programming!

i put the final stitches in the last candy cane last night and promptly dragged the others out for a stitchy photo-shoot.

i used bronze beads for the lettering to play off the UT burnt orange and i love the finished product

the whole gang 

and just because new orleans never ceases to surprise me, check out my back porch visitor from this morning!

i've never seen one in person with that large of a shell! 

back to the nativity club this weekend *insert happy dance here*

remember me?

remember the nativity club that i've abandoned for candy canes been stitching on?

i thought i'd give you a sneak peek at the next canvas...the angel!

i'm trying to stitch the last candy cane as fast as i can!

a double finish in honor of america

the long weekend was just what i needed to finish up the next set of candy canes!

the red and white stripes made me feel very patriotic and it feels great to have 4 finishes under my belt!

starting on the last candy cane this week, and then back to the nativity!

happy weekend!

my agency produced a video to celebrate what freedom means to us, and i got to dust off the ole' vocal chords from my musical theatre days. hope you had a safe and happy 4th!

here's to a great weekend!

getting the hang of it

i started the next candy cane last night and am hoping the upcoming holiday will help make this a quick finish!

i'm using neon rays for the OU candy canes, just to give it some variety. i originally thought i might do different stitches on each one, but i love the effect of the cashmere stitch. don't want to mess up a good thing, especially when these are relatively smaller projects. 

what are your plans for the 4th?

seeing double!

i'm seeing double this morning and i like it!

i managed to stitch up the second TCU candy cane this weekend and after a quick stop at the lns, i was properly equipped to bead!

so i know i mentioned last week that i was just going to tent stitch the letters for my parents' gifts and bead my own...but that plan was out the door after the first beaded letter was completed. it was too cute to deny anyone the joy of having their very own candy cane with beaded letters!

so i ripped out the tent stitches and beaded that one too!

i'm in lurve!