Coffee and Cross Stitch

And...the winner is....??

Hello all you lovely people!

I am finally back to the land of the living (albiet barely) after being really sick all of last week.  My apologies to all of you who have been anxiously waiting for me to announce the winner of my giveaway which closed last Wednesday.

I thought it would be fun to have you all watch a lil' video of me drawing the winner, so guess what?!  That's precisely what I did!  

And then....YouTube was being a pain and I lost my patience.

So...instead of the lovely video I had planned for you all, I had to resort to a picture taken from the stills of the video --

 

The winner!!!

 

MrsCourtneyP!  Congratulations!  Email me your address so I can ship this out to you ASAP!  :-)

You can see the jar in the background where I had everyone's names who left me a comment on the post (or sent me an email). 

THANK YOU ALL for participating!!!  I hope to have another giveaway very soon....because I love making stuff....and I love giving it away :-)

Much love ~~~

Halloween Smalls | Cross stitch

Hello all!  I hope you had a glorious weekend!  It was absolutely beautiful here in Philly - the temps are definitely getting cooler, but that sun is still nice and warm during the day.

I took some time this weekend to do a little work on some Halloween smalls I want to put on a super cute feather tree I got at the Hallmark store on mega clearance.

One of my favorite designers for smalls is Blue Ribbon Designs.  A lot, if not all, of her designs can be stitched as one large piece, or broken into smalls for you to use as decorations.  Super adorbs.

The graph I chose for my Halloween smalls adventure this weekend is called Black Cats & Flying Bats, and has adorable motifs of which I chose four to make for my lil' feather tree. 

Here's the first one I finished stitching - 

Annnnddddd the second --

If you've been following me on Instagram, you've seen these babies as WIPs, and then as the final product.  I must've used a different filter for the one, because the fabric color looks a little different.  I used "Echo" from Picture this Plus, which I LOVE for Halloween project.  LOVE.  That and "Haunted".  Awesome sauce.

Now I just gotta finish the lil' haunted mansion one I'm working on, plus one more (i haven't decided which one i'll use as the fourth for this lil' series that i made), and then I'll do the finish work on them so I can hang them right up!  I'll be getting my Halloween decorations out very soon, so hopefully I'll have my act together enough to get this display done to put out with everything else!  HA.

Anyhooter.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday!  Will you be decorating for Halloween soon, too...or are you so excited about fall & Halloween, you've already done all that????  Haha!!  

PS - don't forget  --- my giveaway is open till 19 Sept 12!  Be sure to enter!!  :-)

Giveaway Update

Hello my dear followers and visitors.

It was brought to my attention last night that your comments are not posting on the original giveaway post.

I have NO idea why this is happening.  I've tried to figure out what exactly caused this issue, and can't quite pinpoint it.

Therefore, I'm extending the deadline to post a comment, in hopes that eventually I'll get it to work.  In the meantime, if your comment does not post, post a comment on my facebook page on the post which has the link to the original blog post.  If you do not have facebook, send me an email (link is in my sidebar) with your comment.

The new deadline to post a comment on either my original post or on my facebook page (or to send an email if you don't have facebook) is 19 September 12 at 11:59PM EST.

Thank you, again, to the lovely follower who brought this to my attention!  

Much love (and luck!) ~~~

It feels a little fall-ish

Yesterday it really started to feel like fall here in the Philly area.  The air was crisp, but the sun was still beating warm rays through the big, puffy white clouds.

So what happens at my house when it begins to feel like fall?

I make gluten-free spice bread....

I brew a pot of coffee...

 

ohhh my this looks scrumptrulescent....

 

And I get to stitching.....

 

pattern by Blue Ribbon Designs

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait for my first mug of mulled cider...

Until then...go forth and be crafty....or bake something yummy ;-)

Much love ~~~

PS - don't forget to enter my giveaway! Head to the original post & leave a comment there to win!!  :-)

 

October "Word Play" and a Giveaway!

Hello all my lovely followers!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Here in the States, it was Labor Day weekend, so most people had the day off.  I hope you were all able to have a relaxing weekend, since this weekend unoffically marks the end of summer.  Time flies, that's for damn sure.  I feel like it was just the 4th of July.

Once I got rid of a migraine that sidelined me most of Friday and Saturday, I spent the weekend feverishly stitching.  Most of that time was spent on Rachel's wedding gift, but I was able to final stitches in my October "Word Play".  I think it turned out super cute on this fabric - Antique Almond by Silkweaver.  The muted browns & oranges for fall really mixed well with the dye of this fabric, and I love how it turned out!

October "Word Play" by With Thy Needle & Thread

Oh so cute!!!!

I just love that witch.  She's all cute with her pumpkin in her hand, but you know that cauldron will be used for a spell that's beyond awesome once the sun goes down....just sayin'....

I did manage to put down my needle & thread for long enough to take the train up to NYC for the day on Sunday.  It was an overcast & humid day, but not hot, so it was a perfect day to walk through the city.  I'd been wanting to visit this trim store called M&J Trimming since I'd seen pics on Holly Becker's blog,decor8.  She was teaching in NYC, and stopped in to M&J and snapped some pics.  Since then, I've been dying to get in there and see what was up.  (btdubs - Holly is a wonderful creative person to follow - she's got a great blog & takes awesome pics that she shares on Instagram)

Garment District in NYC!

This store was seriously insane with the amount of trim, ribbon, buttons...you name it, they had it.  I had a specific project in mind for trim that I wanted (which will be shown in a later post), but I found myself wanting almost everything I saw, so that I had it just in case.  I know you all know what I mean...

M&J Trimming

 Seriously.  Does not even hold a candle to how much stuff was in this store.  It was almost overwhelming.  I can't wait to go back...next time I'm going when the fabric stores are all open....like mood....yesssss.......

Ok.  So enough about walls and walls of trim and dreams of mood fabric.  You got this far, and now you're wondering where I hid this supposed giveaway, amiright?

Well, kids, here it is:

I'm giving away the stitched October "Word Play" pictured in the beginning of this post!!  We're all about to get ready to decorate for the fall, and this lil' guy would make a perfect addition to your decorations!  You can hang it on a doorknob, or have it sit out on a table, or hang it up on the wall!  Whatever! 

To win my stitched piece:

Follow me here at this blog and leave a comment telling me your favorite Halloween memory (embarrassing costume party stories are highly encouraged. ;-)).

For additional chances to win, you will get an extra entry for each of the following you complete:

1) Share this giveaway on your blog.  Come back here and leave a comment with a link to your post which shares the giveaway. 
2) Follow me on twitter, come back to this post and tell me that you did. 
3) Tweet this giveaway. Come back here and leave a comment telling me that you did.
4) Like my blog's page on facebook.  Come back to this post and leave a comment telling me you did. 
5) Share this post on facebook to your friends and/or followers.  Come back here and leave a comment telling me that you did.
6) Follow me on Instagram.  Comment on your favorite crafty pic that I've posted to date.  Come back here and leave a comment telling me you did.
7) Follow me on Google+.  Come back here and leave a comment telling me you did.

All links to my social media sites (twitter/facebook/google+/etc) can be found in the right sidebar of my blog.

Again, you will get one entry for each of the comments you leave.  If you leave anonymous comments, please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win.  Otherwise, please ensure your contact information is included in your profile so I can contact you if you win.  

Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM EST 19 September 2012.  Winner will be chosen at random.  

Thank you all for following me and my crazy stiching and crafting!  I love sharing all my ideas and projects here with each and every one of you!  

Go forth and be crafty...and GOOD LUCK!!!!  :-)

"Halloween Eve" - no longer a WIP!!

Hello all!!!!

It's been way too long since I've sat down here at my trusty computer and written about something I've created!  I feel like this entire month has been a giant whirlwind!!  It's weird...even though my birthday is in early July, I always feel like once my birthday is here and gone, the next thing I know, it's Christmas!!

Speaking of Christmas...I've already started on my Christmas cards for this year.  A note about them, in case you don't know: each one I make is completely unique.  I don't make a set of the same card, then send them out.  Nope.  I made each one completely different from the other, so when you receive one of those spiffy cards in the mail this December, know that it was handmade and picked especially for you :-)  

I wonder how many people will be requesting to get on my Christmas card list now.  HA!

Ok so.  The title of this here post is about "Halloween Eve", so I guess I better get to it.

I'll start off by showing you the overall pic of the total stitched piece....

OMG TOTES AMAZEBALLS AMIRIGHT???

This piece was SO much fun to stitch!!  If you never do another Halloween piece again, DO THIS ONE.  It's awesome.  Just awesome.

Now.  Some of you may have seen the graph for this in the store or online and are thinking to yourself, "Hold up.  Wait a minute.  Don't stop.  Get it. Get it.  There's a sampler portion of this piece....right?"

Right.  You're not that crazy.  I might be, but you're not.  I've said it before, I'll say it again.  I'm not exactly what you'd call a fan of samplers.

So, I took the entire top portion of this piece and chopped it off.  Not literally, but figuratively, if you will.  But what I did do, which I think turned out better than I expected, is take the alphabet and use it to put my initials in place of the "Y" and "Z" from the original graph instead.

Like so -- 

If you haven't seen the original graph, go here so you know what I chopped outta this bad boy.

Since I chopped out the alphabet, I had some dead space up there with the dead plant and my initials...so I threw in some of those little 4-square star sparkly doo-dads in there to eat up all that linen.  I just put them in at random - no rhyme or reason for where I placed them. Swear.

Now.  In all honesty, this is the BEST part of this piece --

THAT PUMPKIN.  TO.DIE.FOR.  Also - it takes FORRREVERRRRRRRRR to stitch on 40 count.  I about lost my mind filling in those teeny tiny itty bitty squares. BUT.  SO worth it.

Oh yeah - before I forget - I stitched this on 40 count Cider by Silkweaver Fabrics.  Not too dark, not too light, but perfect for a fall/Halloween piece.

Also note - I made a change from the original graph as to how my initials went into the stitched piece and how the year was stitched in.  As you've already seen, I stitched my initials in at the top.  Totally new and different for me - usually I do it super duper small down in the right-hand corner so it's not so prominent in the piece.  For the year, instead of putting it between the cat and the house, I decided to stitch it long and skinny down the outside of the house, right by the border.  Not so obvious, but when this thing comes up for auction in 100 years (HAHA), they'll know precisely how when I stitched it and that it is clearly worth eleventy billion dollars and will make one of my great-great-nieces very rich.  ;-)

Here's a shot of the middle, so you can see the raven on top of the pumpkin.  Not as cool as that crazy cat, but still pretty awesome --

For those of you wondering just how big this sucker is...I wont lie...it's kinda big.  Jusssst so you have an idea.....I took this pic ---

Yes, folks.  That's 11.5 in high.  To recap:  I eliminated the entire alphabet on top of that dead plant, AND this is on 40 count fabric.  I shrank this bad boy, and it's STILL 11.5 in high.  Something to keep in mind when you do this piece - it's no joke large and in charge.

Pretty cool, huh?  I love how this turned out and can't wait to head to my LNS to pick out a rustic frame for it!!  PS....if you haven't already, head to their site and search under "New Stitched Models" and look for my "Skeleton Crew" piece!!!  It's there and in living color for everyone to see!  If you buy the graph from them, you can check the boxes that give you the fabric and color changes I made!  Those ladies are AWESOME and I cannot thank them enough for having my piece on their site!!

Sadly, that's all the fun I can pack into this post.  I have some MUCH needed vacation time coming up this week, and I CANNOT wait to share with you what I'll be doing!!!!!!!!  

Until then, go forth and be crafty :-)

Much love ~~~

J :-)

"Skeleton Crew" Update!!!

You guys you guys you guys!!!!!  GUESS THE FRIG WHAT!!!

I'm featured in  The Strawberry Sampler's newsletter for Friday the 13th!!!!!!!!

They're having a sale for Friday the 13th -- all Halloween stuff is 20% off from midnight to midnight today only.  

Now, how do I fit into all this crazy??

Remember this piece???

"Skeleton Crew" by Cricket Collection

 Well.........I took it to TSS to get framed, and it's done!!  It's all framed and done!  The framed piece can be seen HERE on their website!  And guess what else!!  If you go to their site to purchase the graph, you can check the block that says you want my color changes!!!!  HOW COOL IS THAT!!!??!!!   The fabric they have listed - Haunted by Picture This Plus - is the fabric I used!!!

If any of you loyal followers live in the Philly/Delaware County area and want to see it live and in living color, head on down to the shop - it's on loan with those lovely ladies until I bribe them with treats so Beth will let go of it head down there and pick it up in time to hang it in my living room for Halloween :-)

I LOVE YOU LADIES!!!  Thank you SO much for having my piece so prominent in your newsletter!!

Happy Monday!

It dawned on me the other day, that with all the stitching I've been doing since I was laid up for 3 days, I never posted any WIP pictures.

Well, not to here, anyway.  Those of you who follow me on Instagram have seen my WIPs, and since I was posting pics there, the light bulb never went off in my brain that none of you have seen my stitchy progress.

Tuesday night I ended up in the ER with SEVERE stomach pains (like, I can't stand up without being in excruciating pain and the only comfortable place for me to be is in bed in the fetal position...which I ultimately decided was not a good thing...).

So...this was my Tuesday night.  I'll spare you the details here, but know that all is well and I'm feeling MUCH better :-) (and yes, that is a book i shoved into my purse since i figured i wouldn't be leaving the ER in any hurry, and if i got a bed, i'd need reading material.  i also shoved my iphone charger in my purse, just in case. gotta be prepared. are you with me? excrutiating pain, and i was worried about having reading material while i'm in the hospital.  i have serious issues.)

Needless to say, I was out of work the remainder of the week.  What does one do when they're home recovering, but no longer sick enough to be laying in bed all day?

STITCH.  Duh.

Besides my sister's wedding gift, I'm stitching the Blackbird Designs "Halloween Eve" which is turning out WAY cool.

I love love love the way this pumpkin is turning out, and the cat?!  Awesome!

Here's the raven on top of the pumpkin before I finished the pumpkin outline --

I apologize - I thought I had a better pic of the raven -- this one seems dark.  The Sable CC that's used to fill in the body of the raven is much lighter than this pic is showing.

For the record...filling in a pumpkin on 40 count takes FOR.EV.ER.  Just throwing that out there......

Ahem.

Cool, though, right?!  I love it.  There was a time when I wouldn't even look at Blackbird Designs.  I think I've mentioned before, however, that lately my tastes have changed, which has opened my eyes to some pretty great designers.  I'm loving this pattern, and I hope you're enjoying seeing the progress!!  I've listed the fabric color in my Fabric & Fibers Changes page, so click on over to see what I chose.  I'm pretty sure it's Cider from Silkweaver....but go there and make sure I know what I'm doing.  Right now, I'm even too lazy to check.  HA!  

As always, if there's something you see that I use in my projects, you want to use it in your own but don't have a LNS, call the girls at The Strawberry Sampler.  They will help you with whatever you need.  Seriously.  And they do online orders.  Tell them I sent you :-)

Anyways kids, that's my WIP for the week.  Stay tuned for more insanity as wedding pics come pouring in and I fire up my Cricut to make mini albums for the girls :-)

Until then....go forth and be crafty :-)

Much love ~~~

J :-)

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 :-)

 

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