Lazy Saturday Afternoon

So around our house the perfect lazy Saturday afternoon includes soccer whether it be in person or on TV. I really enjoy getting the chance to watch Ethan play.

But I am also on board for a good match on TV. TV games mean my boys will be intensely watching and I can sit in my chair with the sun shining through the window and work on cross stitch. And just to clarify, I do also watch and enjoy the games. I'm the queen of multitasking.

This morning I was able to whip together this guy. The pattern is from andwabisabi on Etsy. They have a lot of super cute patterns that are fairly quick to stitch.

I will be selling this stitching locally or by order and it can be made with any color fabric and thread.

So with that hello, I say goodby for the day!

It's About Time...for some new patterns!

Things are finally coming together over here! In the past two days, I've completed two new cross stitch patterns and taken them both live in my Etsy shop - https://www.etsy.com/shop/mycraftisserie

First is a quote by Kate Spade...Be Happy. Be Bright. Be You. I've had this quote up as the wallpaper on my computer for some time now and I thought it would like nice on black Aida using metallic thread. I've previously steered clear of metallic threads as they are a bear to work with, however, I recently finished a cross stitch by Satsuma Street on Etsy where she gave some great tips for using metallic thread and surprisingly, they worked!

Next is a pattern I've been making for a while with a primitive house and the wording of Home Sweet Home. I think it's fun to take this kind of primitive, folksy design and stitch it in neon or variegated colors for a modern twist.

I am also hoping to have a few of each of these finished stitchings available for sale at Contempo Artisan Boutique in Boalsburg in the next week or so. Fingers crossed on that one!

Keep Calm and Roar On

Yeah, yeah so it's been two years since my last post...I know and it's duly noted. Well I'm back to say that there is now officially one cross stitch pattern live in my Etsy store and it looks a little like this...

It's my official, unofficial Penn State cross stitch! Currently the pattern is available in my shop so you can cross stitch this yourself. I'm working on getting a few completed to add to the shop but in the meantime, if you are interested in one, just shoot me an email and we can make that happen.

Most Awesome Cross Stitch Ever!!

Tonight I finished the most awesome cross stitch ever!  It is our family as pixel people.  It's pretty neat how you can go on Etsy to Wee Little Stitches and send them pictures of your family and they will turn them into pixel people cross stitch patterns. 

I haven't framed it yet seeing as I just completed it 10 minutes ago but I had to get a picture up quickly cause I think it is so awesome.  I think it turned out really well and the pixel people are good representations of our family.

So should I frame it in a nice square picture frame or in a painted embroidery hoop?  Discuss...

Green Thumbs

Okay so there is nothing ripe and edible quite yet but I'm going to say that this year might be the year that the Wilson family finally develops their green thumbs.  Let me remind you of the vegetable and herb garden that we planted several weeks ago.

Now this is normally where we start and pretty much where we end.  For some reason, T and myself have never been able to nurture plant life other than weeds.  Well get ready for this...below is a picture of our little garden as of today. 

First you should notice that every item in the garden appears far larger.  This means they are growing.  When looking more closely at the following two pics, you will see there are actual vegetables hanging from these plants. 

Sure when all is said and done, we have about 6 tomatoes and maybe 10 green beans growing right now but darn it, they are alive and growing and we will make something to eat with them at some point this summer and it will be fantastic!!

Super Hot Weekend

This weekend was a little hot here in Pennsylvania with temperatures above 100 degrees.  So outside of the back to back birthday parties on Saturday (both outside) and E's soccer sign ups today, we tried to stay in the house with air conditioning.  Tom opted to skip the birthday parties with the caveat that he finally paint the basement floor in my craft room so it can be finished and organized.  I then intend on locking myself in the room most evenings...once we get a door put back on the hinges :)

Anyway, during the time home in front of the air conditioner I did manage to finish the second cross stitch, Batman's Enemies.  I also got around to framing both pics. 

Now the question to any of your cross stitchers who might be reading this blog (I'm thinking there is one, maybe two of you), how do I get all the wrinkles out of my cross stitches when I'm done.  I ironed forever and they seemed pretty good but once I framed them, you can clearly still see wrinkles.  Help!

Summer heat = Lack of motivation

So basically the extreme heat recently has my motivation at a low. I have a couple of projects going but am focusing mostly on my cross stitch patterns.  Next up is the family portrait cross stitch that I had made by Wee Little Stitches.  This is the pattern for it.  I'll show you all once it is completed and framed.

Another reason for my lack of motivation in the crafting department is because my craft area is still a disaster.  I'm waiting for Tom to finish the floor in my craft room so I can finally set everything up and put all crafty items in their proper places.  I hate having the stuff thrown all over the place.

I did manage to squeeze in one pillow project last week though.  I appliqued a wool squirrel onto a brown twill pillow.  The squirrel pattern I stole from Margaret's squirrel cupcake holder pattern.  I think it turned out rather well but now I'm considering the other silhouettes you could make on pillows and wishing I had more time to mass produce things.  Below is a picture of the pillow.

And as you can see, Jinxi is also running high on motivation this summer :)