Coffee and Cross Stitch

Two days, peeps! Only two measly days and my lil' sis gets married!!

Keep an eye out next week for some pics, and I'll be making some super special things for the girls in the bridal party, so keep an eye out for that fun stuff, too!!

Memorial Day Goodies

Hellooooo!!!!  I hope you're all having a wonderful long holiday weekend!!!  I know it's been much-needed time off for me.  It's been a great weekend so far, and HOT here in the Philly area, but you will hear no complaints from me about that!!  I LOVE summer.  LOVE IT.  My body doesn't hurt like a 95-year-old woman because my muscles stay nice and loose, and it's just a general awesome time of year.

I want to take a moment and thank all those who have served and who continue to serve this great country of ours.  It is because of them that we have the freedoms we have, to include the freedom to write and share ideas in a forum like this.  Without them, I could never even attempt to spread creativity and receive such inspiration from others.  To the men and women of our armed forces, THANK YOU.  

(for those of you who've been following me for a while will recognize this as something i've posted previously under my older blog.  and no, i haven't gotten it framed yet.  i will.  swear.)

Ok -- now onto what I did this weekend!!

 Friday.  I spent the day doing a few things around the house, and then I went out for some much needed drinks with my bestie.  This week was pure hell, and that Captain Morgan and diet coke was just what the doctor ordered.

Sadly, no crafting occurred on this day.

Saturday.  Another day filled with chores, to include planting a few things in my garden (one by one i keep adding to the plants & flowers, so hopefully soon i'll be able to share with you the fruits of my labor! i plan on spending the fall doing some serious canning! now, i just need a canning pot....)  Saturday was also met with alcoholic drinks with great friends.  We met up at one of the local, very popular sports bars in the Philly area (i swear their goal is to take over the entire east coast...), and just have a blasty blast. (i would like to mention a small gripe with the 96 tvs that are in this bar - would it have really killed you to have left the maryland/duke lax game on just one little measly tv in my line of sight???  really????? uggggh.)

Sadly, no crafting occurred on Saturday, either.

Sunday. Now, Sunday was a day spent doing something everyone hopes that someday they'll be able to do: rip up your disgusting basement carpet because your cat completely ruined it.  Well, after a mishap with my washing machine during the week which got the rug soaked on the one side (note to self: double-check the basin sink EVERY TIME to make sure a rogue washcloth does not get stuck in the drain while the washer is running. ahem.), I decided just to rip up part of the carpet in the basement, since it's already been destroyed.   Now, I will advise those of you who need to do this in your lifetime to be very wary of where your fingers are when you have that sharp box cutter in your hands.  I'll spare you the details, but I'll tell you that I did not lose an ounce of blood, but I'll need those Asian ladies at the nail place on Friday to work their magic since I'll be getting a mani/pedi for my sis's wedding.  Owwie.

Sunday ALSO included making a brand spankin-new shower curtain!!!  Whoop whoop!!!  I've only had the fabric in my bin for almost a year waiting for this project, and I decided since I was injured, what better way to spend the day than working with more sharp objects?!  Pins and sewing machine needles!! Yes!!!!

Ok so here is the "before" of my bathroom -

Now, my tiles on both the floor and walls are a pale pale grey with a marbled look to them.  The radiator cover and the top decorative tile on the walls are both black.  The rug is like a minty-sea green, to match the shower curtain.

Both were perfectly fine for my apartment, but for my house, I definitely needed something a little more updated.  I couldn't find anything I liked, however, so naturally, I decided to make something.  No pattern necessary -- the old shower curtain was my guide. (yes, i am that awesome.) And...did you notice??  Original crystal doorknobs.  Be jealous.

Any guesses as to what color I chose to go with that awesome grey & black motif already there??

You got it!!!

PURPLE!!!!!!

Now, I know this is really dark, but the fabric itself is super dark, and speckled with black, so it was tough to get a clear picture of it.  BUT, I think it's super amazing, and I can't wait to make curtains and get hand towels!!!  I went to Targeeeeee on Sunday to pick up a new bath rug, which is black since they didn't have any purple (none.  no purple at all.  they should be ashamed.), but it's super soft and plush and I love it anyway.  I'll need to get funky purple hand towels since the rug is plain.

(i don't know why this pic is tinted, but trust - the rug is black, and my shower curtain is really that awesome purple from the above pic)

Awesome, amiright?!  Love it!!!  

Along with this amazing sewing job I did (if i do say so myself), which - side note - whoever invented the automatic button hole maker for sewing machines is a GENIUS and i hope that person is living in the lap of luxury for the patent or idea or whatever.  good work, sir/ma'am. good work -  I have been able to do some updating on my "Halloween Eve" piece for you all to see.

I haven't been able to do much, but what I've done has definitely added some color!  I love those leaves!  I can't wait for you all to see the rest of this stitched -- it looks so awesome on the graph sample pic, so it'll look a bajillion times better once I have it stitched in person :-)

Lastly, I've had this poster lying around for a while now, and I recently got the frame for it, but let them both lounge around my computer room for the past 2 months or so.  Well, yesterday I decided enough is enough, and I put the poster in the frame.

I don't know what it is about this "Keep Calm and Carry On" themed stuff that's so popular now, but I absolutely can't get enough of it.  I'm suddenly obsessed with everything British for funky decor purposes.  I haven't quite decided where this will end up hanging, but for now, it's proudly displayed in my hallway.

That's all I have for the moment, peeps!!  I hope to spend today doing many crafty things, and I hope you all find time to BBQ and make at least one little crafty thing!! 

Much love ~~~~

J :-)

 

Pretty in Pink

Remember this post?  Where I took Danielle's wedding invitation and scrapped it?  Well, I fiiiiinally got the picture I wanted to put in the "place holder" (i blame pure laziness and indecisiveness for this taking me forfreakingever), and last night, put down my needle & thread for a hot minute so I could finish this for her.  Before, ya know, she and hubs celebrate 1 year already.  You laugh.  That date will be here sooner than you think.

Ahem.

Anyways.  When I was in Joann fabric with one of my super spectacular 40% off coups, I saw the 12x12 shadow boxes and thought, YES.  Perfectamundo.

HOW.CUTE.IS.THIS.  OMG.  I apologize that the pink does not stab you in your eyeball with its hot pinkness, but trust a girl.  It's like whoa pink.  I had to turn the flash off because otherwise this would be just one big white glare.  That, is not cute.  No.

And.  hello.  Danielle's pink shoes & hubbie's pink socks?  ADORBS.  love.

Now...for some close-ups of the various pieces in this big collage.....

Do you see that up in the top right-hand corner??  That's the wax seal that was on the envelope of the invitation.  I took that baby right off, saved it, and glued it to that cute little polka dot piece of paper and stuck it up there in the corner.  Adorbs.

And flowers in the bottom left.  Boom.

I think this whole project turned out pretty daggone amazeballs.  I do so wish I was able to capture the true hot pinkness of this project, but the glare and horribly terrible lighting in my old house were very unhelpful in this situation.  Booooo.  Oh well.  One of these days I'll be able to hire an actual photographer to take pics for my super-famous bliggity blog.  Until that day when I'm totally rich and famous, you'll have to deal with my amateur photo hour.  And you're over it already because you love me :-)

HA!!!

That's it for today, kids.  I hope you have a fanfreakingtastic Tuesday, and get busy with your creative juices and MAKE SOMETHING TODAY!!!!!!!

Much love ~~~~

J :-)

The Strawberry Sampler

Cross Stitch at its finest!  We have everything a stitcher needs: designs ranging from whimsical to samplers, fabrics from 11 count aida to 40 count linen, fibers from DMC to overdyed specialty fibers to metallics & frames & other ways to complete your special project, not to mention needles, scissors & other helpful goodies! 

In addition to our retail offerings, we are also the home of the

X-APPEAL & MollyMade Frames design teams.  

via www.strawberrysampler.com

Just a shout-out to the ladies at my LNS!!

Peeps - If you need anything stitching related, EVER, give these ladies a call!! They are a-ma-zing and will help you with all of your stitching and framing needs!!!

Love to all the Strawberry Gals!!! :-)

Halloween?? Already??

Yes, folks.  It's about that time.  That time when you realize summer is quickly approaching and it's time to start your Halloween stitching.

No?  Just me?  Huh.  I guess I am crazier than I originally thought.

Whoops.

Well, you're over it now, and it's time for me to share one of my new favorite graphs:  Halloween Eve.  This is a Blackbird Design, and it's faaaabulous.  I had to take a break from my super-secret-on-the-down-low-biggest-project-ever for my own sanity, and so I got out my Halloween Eve to continue putting in a few stitches here and there. I'm stitching this on 40 count Cider from Silkweaver Fabrics.  I am completely and totally obsessed with this amazing neutral fabric.  I love it.  A lot a lot.

I've had this in my stash for a while now, and I love how it's turning out.  If you clicked on the above link for the graph, you can see that the entire top of this graph is a sampler.  Well.....I'm not too keen on samplers....so I just eliminated the alphabet at the top, and started with that awesome pot with branches & leaves coming out.  Perfect fall pot of dying flowers, right?  Soooo spooky Halloweeny ;-)

Anyhooter.  To the left of the dying plant, is the end of the alphabet, and where I decided I'm going to put my initials (using the already provided alphabet that I'm not using...) instead of YZ.  Confused yet?  Good.  Me, too.  Here's hoping I can pull it together by the time I'm done stitching this bad boy.

Those leaves are done with Gentle Art Simply Shaker Autumn Leaves.  LOVE this fiber.  L.O.V.E.  It's absolutely perfect for anything fall.  Especially leaves.

I'm also slightly obsessed with the font used for the words "Halloween Eve".  Only slightly.

Ok maybe more than slightly.  I may have to create my own Halloween design using this font.  After I graph my Irish baby blessing and send it to the distributors.  In all my spare time.  

Ahem.

Alright kids.  That's all I have for today.  It's been beyond insane at work, so I haven't had much downtime once I get home to sit and do crafty things, but I do hope you enjoy this Blackbird Design as much as I do!!

My sister's bachelorette party is this weekend, which should be a blasty-blast, and I hope to have some super-cute pics to share with you all from the beginning of the evening.  Before all hell breaks loose.  HA.

Go forth and be crafty on this glorious May day :-)

Much Love

~~~ J

Just one more thing for the shower stuffs

Hello everyone!!!  I'm so sorry I've fallen off the face of the earth there for a few weeks.  I have been reveling in all my new-found stitching time since I'm not busy making all the shower stuff, and I'm also on a bit of a time crunch.  I need to get my big project totally stitched and framed in a short amount of time, so I seriously have a smokin' needle right now.

But, as promised a few days ago (or maybe a week.  i'm seriously losing tons of hours and days recently), today I'm posting a pic of the cake that my extremely talented friend, Angela, made for my sister's work shower.  For those of you who don't know, my sister and I work in the same office.  A family affair, if you will.

Anyhooter.  Last week, my sister's team threw her and her fiance a shower....or a pre-wedding party as I think Erin called it so that more men would attend, since apparently "real" men don't attend showers.  Whatever.

Angela, who is currently working off-site at a different location for a rotation, came home over the weekend prior to the pre-wedding party to bake this glorious cake for my sis.

Um.  GORGGGGGGEOUSSSSSSSS.  Angela.  You totally outdid yourself again.  Absolutely beautiful.

As you're all aware by now, my sis's colors are grey & yellow.  So, Angela used fondant (Courtney!  This has your name written all over it!) to cover the layers, and then took ribbon (yes, actual ribbon) and wrapped the cake with it.  Like a present.  A wedding present.  Just beautiful.

Honestly.  Look at this.  Stunning.

Thank you, Angela, for letting me share the pics of your beautiful cake!!  I cannot wait until you're back in our office and we can talk baking!!  I miss my baking buddy!  

(For those of you who may have missed it, Angela made a cake for Erin's baby shower, which is equally as stunning.  Click the link and check it out!)

That's all for today, folks.  I hope to have something stitching related posted later this week.  I'm working on "Halloween Eve" by Blackbird Desings, and it's coming out rather nicely. 

I hope you have a fantastically creative day!!!

Much love ~~~~

J :-)