Little by little

Here is my progress from my latest cross stitch project.  Slowly but surely it's coming together.  I just need to start the border then finish up the edges. 

In other crafty-related news, I plan on heading over to the Little Knittery this afternoon to pick up some new roving and check out their yarn selection.  It will be my first time checking the shop out but it comes highly recommended from many other crafty folk here in LA.

A little stitchery

I recently picked up a cross stitch project from my mom's old stash.  It's yet another "Valkommen" ("welcome" in Swedish) bell pull hanging.  I really like the colors in this one: rust, greens, and blues.  

I've been having an unintentional crafting break these past few weeks.  It just sort of happened, or rather, didn't happen.  So I've decided that I need to be a little more intentional about getting my craft on.  Starting....now.

In other news, I just hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon.  Quite inspirational stuff on there, hopefully it will inspire some projects!

A fat wife and full barn...

...never did any man harm

After posting about this Jane Snead pattern I did a little research and found out that the owner (I think?) has a ebay shop and sells some of the old kits! Unfortunately, I didn't see my favorite one in the mix:

But I'm going to keep looking! Here are a few other of my faves from the book:

This one reminds me of my older sister, she loves everything tulilps.

The next two just make me giggle.

This one is just cute.

I found this one on ebay and want to stitch it for me and Ryan's 1 year anniversary.

I so wish people still designed cross stitch like this. Maybe I will start to!

I have a new found love for cross stitch. Something about how relaxing it is to stitch and stitch and let your mind relax. Plus it's the perfect portable craft. Yay for cross stitching!

Finished Stitching

I finally finished the Swedish bell pull I started a couple months ago. It actually went pretty fast, I just didn't work on it consistently. It says "Welcome" in Swedish. I just have to hem the edges, attach the bell pull and then hang it up!

If you didn't know, I acquired the above cross stitch kit from my mom who had some adorable Scandinavian kits hidden away in her linen closet. Along with the kit I found a Jane Snead sampler (a mail order company that is now out of business, sad) book which contained this pattern that I'm trying my best to find a copy of:

It is definitely one of my favorites from the sampler book. There are many more awesome patterns that I will share at a later time, they are pretty great.

Still stitching...

Just a little update of my progress from my latest cross stitch project. It's coming along, slowly but surely.

In other news, I'm co-hosting a craft club this week which I'm super stoked about! What's better than some fun girls getting together to craft?!

Happy Monday.

Work in progress

A while back I was looking for some fun cross stitch patterns but couldn't find any. And then I went through my mom's linen closet. Lo and behold, cross stitch kit gold! She had this super cute pattern for a Swedish bell pull that says "Welcome" in Swedish. It's been my go-to project these days when I have a few minutes and want to do something crafty.

In other news, I'm looking forward to Fall and Winter so I can pick up my knitting again. I know I can pick it up now, but just don't have quite the same motivation as when it's cold out.

Happy weekend!

The random mid-May post

Hello folks. Long time no post!

I don't have much to post at the moment, but thought I'd share a few random tidbits with you. First - these little Swedish baby booties I made for my nephew:

And they are reversible! But, I'm sad to say that I only made 1 booty because by the time I finished it he had outgrown it. I still think it's pretty cute though.

Second item of business, this cross stitch piece my grandma has at her house, I love it. It reminds me of my grandma. I've been super into cross stitch these days, my mom found some of her old kits that she bought but never made so I've been plugging away at them. I'll post my progress one of these days.

Does anyone know where you can find a stamped cross stitch kit (that's a cute pattern? I love the old samplers but can't find any!!)? I can't find one for the life of me, and I'm usually pretty good at finding craft supplies. Hmmm...

And lastly, I'm getting married in one month to this handsome guy - woah baby!

(picture from the Tokyo airport, we hadn't slept in a while...)

Cross Stitch Mania

Remember this craft book I bought a while back? I started to work on something but didn't get very far. Then I forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago. Oops.

To be honest, I wasn't the biggest of fans of cross stitch at first. But the more I worked on it, the more addicting it became. Once I reached this point: That's when I started finding cross stitch relaxing and exciting even? There's something about a bunch of small stitches coming together to form a picture. It almost felt like a puzzle. And I like puzzles. I used to do big puzzles when I was a kid and then glue them together. Yeah, I was that cool. Anyway, back to cross stitch. It's great to do in the in-between times of the day. Especially when I get home from work and just want to unwind. I get the same feeling cross stitching as I do when I knit. It's something that doesn't take much thought. You can do it while you listen to music, podcasts or watching TV.

You don't see much cross stitch these days. Or maybe I just don't see much cross stitch. I want to see more of it in my future. Perhaps a larger project next time with a wider color palate.

My first, finished cross stitch project of my adult life. Woo hoooo, I'm done!

Birthdays and bow ties

Someone I know has a big birthday coming up! That's right, Ryan's birthday is right around the corner and I am busy putting together a variety of fun little trinkets for his big day. Trinket number 1: old tie transformed into new bow tie. The tutorial over at Make It and Love It was great!

Ok, by "old tie" I really meant $1 tie from the dollar store. Because this is a surprise for Ryan, I chose to buy a tie (for $1 yeah!) instead of taking one from his closet and chopping it up. I thought he might get suspsicious. But if you have old ties laying around, they would be perfect for this project.

It was a quick project and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I won't be able to give my full opinion until I see how it looks on him, but I think he'll like it!

And...I've finally started a cross stitch piece! I like cross stitch better than embroidery, maybe. I sometimes like the look of embroidery better on things, but cross stitching is way easier. Still a slow-moving project though. I'm using a pattern from my new cross stitch book, Revival Designs. Hopefully I'll finish before the summer's over.

Overheard in an Orchard

Said the Robin to the Sparrow
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin
“Friend I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”

–Elizabeth Chaney - 1859

This is the poem that my Grandma has always had hanging up in her kitchen. It's a cross-stitched picture, very simple. I wish I had a picture of it now to post, but I will have to take one when I visit home later this year. I'm trying to decided if I should: a) create my own pattern for Overheard in an Orchard to cross stitch, b) wait until I can take a picture of my Grandma's original and recreate, or c) cross stitch something else completely. Afterall, I did just buy that awesome cross stitch book. Hmm...

New Books!

I bought my first crafting books in Japanese yesterday! There is such a wide variety of crafting books here that it was a difficult task narrowing down my buys to just 2.

Book number one.

Yes, cross stitch. I've been wanting to dabble in some old-school cross stitch for a bit, and when I saw this book, I knew it was calling my name. I did some cross stitching as kid but never really thought about getting into it until recently. Every now and then I'll see a cross stitched piece and want to recreate it. Namely, my grandma's wall hanging of the 1859 poem, Overheard in an Orchard.

This book has some really lovely designs, some even look Scandinavian. I think I'll try to make a runner, perhaps with a combination of these patterns below:

Book two.

As I mentioned before, I want to work on my embroidery skills. I thought this book had some really fun, creative ideas that you could use to spruce up some onesies or kid's t-shirts. Even though it's in Japanese (which I don't speak a lick of) there are detailed pictures explaining each stitch. There's even a few pages at the end of iron-ons!

Here are few of my favorites from the book:

The wolves just make me laugh. And the octopus and penguin, how cute are they?