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Gifts I Made – New York Cross Stitches

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My mother in law loves New York City, so last year I decided to make her a cross stitch of the Statue of Liberty for Christmas. I chose colors that were very similar and while I loved how it looked, I hated working on it and wasn't going to finish in time for Christmas. So I switched to a different gift idea and put it aside for a year. I revived the project and finished it for this Christmas. I ended up winging it because I had miscounted quite a few areas of the pattern. I'm really happy with how it turned out, I like it a lot. I also made another New York ... Read More

January TSNEM – Woodburning

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For my January TSNEM skill I tried out woodburning. This was exciting because it actually ticked a couple boxes on my 2015 goal list, this also qualifies for Use It Or Lose It! I got this woodburning kit from Darby Smart months ago and it's been sitting on my shelf because I just couldn't decide what to do with them. The bamboo cutting boards that come with the kit are so nice and I really didn't want to mess them up! I decided to make the arrow cutting board as a Christmas gift for Josh's aunt and uncle. His uncle does archery (and received the arrow ... Read More

2015 Goals

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Here we are, 2015. I've been looking back at 2014 and thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. Try Something New Every Month I am really excited about taking part in Try Something New Every Month. I am going to use this as an opportunity to tackle some ideas that have been on my to do list for a long, long time. Use It or Lose It Laura from Bugs and Fishes posted about having a hard time decluttering craft supplies and I am the exact same way. It is so hard for me to get rid of craft supplies or things that could potentially be used as craft ... Read More

A Year in Review – 2014

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Last year I set a bunch of goals for myself and I plan on doing the same for 2015, but first I wanted to look back at how 2014 went. Acquire all 454 DMC thread colors I did this! I have three neatly organized boxes containing all the DMC thread colors and a big box that needs to be organized that contains all the duplicate colors I have. Do at least one craft show and one art show I did this too! I had my cross stitches in two different art shows, the Bedpop Show in Bedford, England that was curated by Mr.X Stitch and the ArtBar Geek Show in Aurora, IL. I also ... Read More

Try Something New Every Month in 2015

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Last year I attempted to do a stitch a day and I barely made it to February before pretending I never started. So this year I wanted to try another year long project, but I was trying to come up with something that wasn't so easy to get behind on. Once I miss one (or five) days, I just immediately want to throw in the towel. I had been toying with the idea of doing something with learning new skills but I wasn't sure about the logistics. Every week seemed like it was going to be too difficult to sustain. Thankfully, Stephanie from Swoonson Says is putting together a ... Read More

A Little Christmas Tree Quilting with Free Pattern

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I made this little English paper pieced Christmas tree and had intended on making it into a wall hanging before posting it. However, it's becoming glaringly obvious that with the Christmas presents I'm working to finish up, that isn't going to happen in time for Christmas. So I figured I'd show off my work in progress. I'm planning on 2015 being the year I make a triangle quilt so I wanted to do a little test project before I dive in. The tree went pretty quickly and I love how it looks. I've never actually done any quilting before and I'm not entirely sure ... Read More

Board Game Review: Robot Turtles

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I wanted to make sure to get this review posted before Christmas in case anyone needs a last minute gift idea. I have been singing this game's praises, I know of at least three lucky children who will be opening their own copy of Robot Turtles on Christmas morning because I won't shut up about it. Robot Turtles is the most backed board game in Kickstarter history, it raised over $630,000. It boasts that it introduces basic coding concepts to preschoolers as young as 3. The basic gameplay is simple and easy to pick up with additional elements that can be ... Read More