Starting Over!

Well, I'm back!  I hope to be better at this this time around.

A lot of stitchy goodness has happened since the last post!  I finally (after 4 long years) finished the Mirabilia Seasonal Queen series!  I was so excited to put the last bead in and sign off on the last one.  The experience was bittersweet but I was excited to have all four of them finished and ready to move on to something new.

After finishing Spring Queen, I started on my next set of Ladies.  A friend pointed out to me that I like to stitch patterns that come in sets!

My next project was the 4 Elemental Goddesses by Joan Elliott, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.  With these 4 I wanted to try something different, rotation.  I tried rotation years ago and was overwhelmed by it, but I wanted to give it another try.  I decided that I wanted to stitch each Goddess during her zodiac month.  On each of the Goddesses are the zodiac symbols that that element "rules" over.  The first one I started with was Earth Goddess because it was in December, the sign of Capricorn.

Here is my first day progress.  I got a lot done because I also happened to be on Christmas/New Year's vacation from work so I had about 11 days of uninterrupted stitching.  I worked on Earth Goddess for one zodiac "month!"

The next "month" was Aquarius, so I worked on Air Goddess.  During this time, my husband and I decided it was time to sell our house.  We received an offer at the end of January.  Because of the packing and looking for a new house, I did not really have time to stitch so my months started to get all jumbled.

We found a new home and moved in during the month of March.  I had not stitched once since January!!

I wanted to get back on track with my rotation schedule so I completely skipped the month I was supposed to spend with Water Goddess and went straight to Fire Goddess.  I worked on her for the "month" of Aries.

When the "month" of Taurus started, I rotated back to Earth Goddess.

Finally, when the "month" turned to Cancer, I started on Water Goddess.  At last, I was working on all 4 Goddesses.  I rotated again to Fire for Leo.

The rotation came back around to Earth.  I finished Earth Goddess on September 22, 2015.  Here she is!

When I finished Earth, it was during the month of Libra so I started on Air, rotation then to Water after a month.  When I started back to Water, I decided that the rotation was not working for me because I felt like I was just getting into the groove and it was time to put everything away and start again.  I decided then that I would just go back to my old stitching habit of staying with one project start to finish.

I continued working on Water Goddess until I finished her on February 19, 2016.  Here she is!

After finished Water Goddess, I decided to go back to Fire Goddess until I finished her.  Here is the latest WIP picture for Fire Goddess.  I will stay with her until she is finished, and then I will finish Air Goddess.

This brings me to today and we are all caught up!

Thank you for reading my long overdue update.  Hopefully, I can make this a habit again.  I will add a few tabs to with progress pics for my Goddesses.

~Amanda!

A long time coming

I'm sorry that I have not posted anything in over a year.  A lot has happened since then.

I finally finished my Summer Queen by Mirabilia.  I finished her on May 5, 2012. Here she is:

Then this past June I took her in to the framers and Carol did an amazing job!  Here she is framed:

I also started and completed Autumn Queen also by Mirabilia.  Here she is (the picture is not very good):

On July 4th, I started a new project.  I am doing my first conversion of a cross stitch chart.  I am working on Winter Queen conversion.  I don't have any pictures of it yet because I am not sure how the colors are going to play out.

The last news I have, the biggest news!  I started an online cross stitch store called The Stitch Menagerie.  I have a Facebook page but not an actual website.  I am still working on that.  I never realized how expensive web hosting and eCommerce sites are.  Wow to everyone that has one.

I'm hoping that I can keep this blog current.  I will try my hardest to not get blog-lazy.

Until next time....

<3 Amanda

Every Queen Must Have a Crown

I am so happy that Holly finally has her crown.  I converted the Mill Hill beads called for in the chart for Miyuki Delica beads.  I like the colors and I think the colors of the Delicas match the originals very well.  Here is a picture of her with the crown.

Sorry the picture is not so clear!  I took it with my cell phone because I could not wait for my husband to get a better picture with his camera.

I didn't get a lot of beading done this weekend.  My husband and I went on a Wine Tour of the Texas Hill Country with another couple celebrating their honeymoon.  We had a great time.  Here is all the wonder loot we scored on the trip.

Thank you for following me on my journey.

~Amanda

PS: I will be loading a few pictures of Cross Stitch items I am selling.  I am starting an online cross stitch business.

Stitching is Done!

I am so excited that all the stitching is complete on Holly!  Late last night I put in the last stitch.  Now I need to add all her beads!  I can't express how excited I am just to have all the stitches done.  Here she is!

I need to wash and dry her before I add the beads.  In some places the white threads look a bit dirty, and that would be a bad thing once she is framed.  I hope to have all the beads done next week and then I can start my next project, Autumn Queen also by Mirabilia.

I started selling cross stitch supplies online; and I must admit I am really enjoying it.  Right now, all of my customers/friends contact me via Facebook.  But hopefully I can get a website up and running soon.  Wish me luck!

On a personal note: Tomorrow is my 4th wedding anniversary.  I am so happy to have spent the last four years married to a wonderful man.  We may not always get along, but we always figure it out.  We will be getting away for our annual B&B stay and Wine Tasting Tour around the Texas Hill Country.  This year, friends of ours, newlyweds themselves, will be joining us on the Wine Tour.  I am excited!

I hope everyone has a great week/weekend.

A Liebster Award!

Up until yesterday, I have never heard of the Liebster Award.  Thanks to Melanie at Melanie the WIP Slayer, I have received this wonderful Award.  Although I am new to blogging, I know that I have a voice and have found a place to meet other like-minded stitchers! Melanie shares a love for stitching and I really enjoy seeing her "slay" many WIPs.

Liebster is a German word meaning favorite, dearest or beloved.  The Liebster Awards are awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers to spread the word and help newer bloggers gain wider recognition.

The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting.

1.  Choose 5 up and coming blogs (with less then 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.

2.  Show thanks to the blogger who awarded the Liebster to you by linking back to them.

3.  Post the award on your blog.  List the bloggers you are giving awards to with links to their sites.  Comment on their blog to let them know you gave them the award.

4.  Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know.


The Five blogs I'd like to award are:


1) The Blogness of Our Life by my best friend, Jessica K.  She started a blog a while back but lost interest in it.  Recently, when I mentioned that I wanted to get into blogging, she dusted off her keyboard and decided to give it another try.


2) Stitching Under the Sea written by Leslie L.  She inspired me to start blogging in the first place.  Seeing her project come to life in pictures, made me want to share my love of stitching.


3) OpeWare written by Michael Y.  He chronicles the production of his various Android apps.  Many of which I use and enjoy.  My favorite app created by Michael is Stitcher's Helper.  I use this app almost daily to help keep track on my stitch project progress.


4)  Honeybee's Hive by another fellow stitcher, Melissa M.  Melissa shows off various stitch projects.


5) Stitchy Stitches by Jacqui. I enjoy reading about her WIPocalypse.


Now for the 5 Random Fact about me:


1) My favorite holiday is Halloween.  I start decorating for Halloween in September! I even started an online store selling Halloween Holiday Villages called The Village Shoppe.


2)  I like to stitch while listening to audio books.


3) My favorite movie is a toss-up between Dirty Dancing and Grease.


4) The first grown-up novel I ever read was called Second Child by John Saul.  It was a horror book.


5) I have four pets.  Two Labrador Retrievers, one male and one female; and two cats, one male and one female.


That was a very long post!  I want to Thank Melanie again!

She has a face!

Holly (my nickname for Summer Queen) has a face.  She is so pretty.  I am really happy with how she turned out.  Now I just need to add her hair and all her beads.  I am hoping to have her complete before the end of the month;  I need to start Autumn Queen so I have her back before Autumn starts.

Here is an overall picture of  Holly.

Here is a close up of her face.

A little background on why I nicknamed her Holly.  Her dress reminds me of the blue that Tiffany's uses (Tiffany Blue) for their gift boxes and one of my favorite movies is Breakfast at Tiffany's.  So I named Summer Queen Holly after the main character, Holly Golightly, played by Audrey Hepburn (also one of my favorite actresses.)

Thanks for following me today.  I hope everyone has a great week.

~Amanda.

So...I did it!

Hello, my name is Amanda and I love cross stitching.

I finally took the plunge and created this blog to chronicle my cross stitching journey.  I have read several fellow stitchers' blogs and decided it would be fun and interesting.  This way I can look back on all my old projects and remember how I felt about them at the time.

A few other things I love...my husband of 4 years and our 4 pets (2 dogs and 2 cats)!  I have been stitching for 8 years now.  I started off stitching really small projects and have progress to full coverage pieces.

A few of my favorite designers are Mirabilia / Nora Corbett, Heaven & Earth Designs, and Joan Elliott Designs. There are several others, but I can't remember them right now. :)

In stitching, I am what some call a "Divine Disciplined Diva" meaning I start and finish one project at a time.  I briefly tried the rotation type of stitching where I had several projects going at once and would rotate them on a schedule; however, it gave me anxiety and I felt I was not getting anywhere on any of the them.

My current project is called Summer Queen by Mirabilia.  I started her around August or September of 2010.  I put her away for all of 2011 while I tried the rotation thing.  Then on December 26, 2011, I decided I would finish working on her.  Here is a recent WIP (Work In Progress) picture.

All I need to add to her is a head and lots of beads.  I am hoping to have her finished by the end of April so that I have time to take her to the framer and back so that I can hang her for the entire season of Summer.  Wish me luck!

Well that is really all I have for now.  Thank you for joining me on my journey.  I think it will be a great ride!