Stitch From Stash January 2014

I joined a group of 129 other bloggers to only stitch from me stash, with a budget of $25 USD a month. from more information check out this link for the page hosted by Mel L from Epic Stitching or click the button on my side bar. I decided that I had more stash then I knew what to do with in all aspects of my crafting life so I am holding to the budget for everything including cross stitching, knitting, crocheting, and quilting. Mel L wants us to use the following format to report our spending.

Your Name: Katie @ Thoughts from the Stitchy Side

Amount Spend: $22.43

New Starts from Stash: Autumn Mandala, Knit Socks.

WIPs or UFOs worked on: The Lady and the Flag, Table runner for my Mom, Blanket for my brother
Finishes from Stash: Summer House Stitche Works ornament, yarn wrapped heart for my front door, coasters (seen below)

Month of Entry: January 2014

The coasters are for my brother who has a huge media room to watch football in and who is a huge OSU fan.

Keeping to the budget was not very hard. I bought a color assortment of Glutermann(sp?) thread at Joann's - 50% off coupon, 1 yd of Minnesota fabric (while in Minnesota) - 40% coupon, and a 5 color fat quarter bundle - 40% off coupon.

Let's see if that holds for later this year.

Happy stitching everyone!

IHSW check-in

I spent the weekend working on 2 cross stitch projects and one knitting project:

1.) Autumn Mandala by Ink Circles: starting on Friday I had about 200 stitches and this is my progress now.

2.) I Finished a Christmas ornament. It is the Summer House Stitche Works design from the 2013 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.

Quilt Ornament
Summer House Stitch Works - Just Cross Stitch 2013 Ornament Issue
14 Ct. AIDA, 2 over 2
Gentler Arts floss.

One of my goals for 2014 was to learn how to knit socks. The picture below shows my first attempt.

 Hopefully the rest of the sock goes well.

The goal for this week is to finish the Mandala and with the weather trending towards the freezing, I think it is possible. I would also like to finish sewing the binding on the Table runner I am quilting for my mom.



Happy stitching everyone!

WIPocalypse 2014 #1 + IHSW this weekend

WIPocalypse is a stitch-a-long hosted by Measi at Measi's Musings. For the first check-in we are to introduce ourselves and our projects. So First, a little about me.

 My name is Katie. I am a full-time engineer and a part time crafter. I have been married to my wonderful husband for almost 7 years. We met while I was in grad school getting my doctorate in mechanical engineering. To escape my high stress job in the corporate world and have a creative outlet, I craft including cross-stitching, knitting, crocheting, and most recently quilting. I have been cross-stitching the longest and have been doing so since I was about 16 so18 years or so.  Knitting came along in grad school by way of my mother-in-law. I taught my self to crochet by YouTube this past year and picked up quilting around that time as well.

I have also set some broad goals for 2014:

1.) Adhere to stitch from my stash SAL. see link in my sidebar
2.) Complete "The Lady and the Flag", the ABCs of family, 2 other mandalas, and my adaptation of the Dreamcatcher lap blanket.3.) Complete ornaments for the whole family (7).4.) start 2 bigger projects: Noah's submarine and Brigid's shamrock.5.) finish/finish the advent calendar.6.) complete piecing together 2 quilt tops, 4 sets of placemats and coasters, and 1 Christmas table runner.7.) 3 knitted baby blankets: (1 already assigned)8.) learn to knit socks.


As for cross - stitching, which is the target of WIPocalypse, I have both small and large projects on my list and have made progress on three of them.

1.) "The Lady and the Flag," -

Progress at WIPocalypse check-in #1 1/16/2014

2.) Pinocchio: I didn't have a starting photo but here is his progress as of 1/10/14.

3.) I did also start the black outline of the "Fall Mandala" by Ink Circles. I manages to put in about 200 stitches

International Hermitting and Stitching Weekend is also this weekend which happens to coincide with having Monday off from Work :). I cannot wait to make some head way on the fall Mandala and maybe get some quilting done as well.

Late Christmas Gifts and Traveling Debacle

We travel after the New Year every other calendar year to spend some holiday time with by DH's Family. My Mother in Law is also someone who feeds my crafting addictions and Stash as well. Here are some photos of my Christmas Gifts from her and my Father in law.
The first bunch are from a day she refers to as a bonding day for me and her. She wanted to hit up some new craft stores and and she gave me a budget as part of my Christmas Gifts.

2 skeins of Cascade Yarns and 2 Skiens of Berroco Sock Yarn

Some additional Fat Quarters

Riley Blake Fat Quarter Assortment

I cannot wait to make a quilt of some sort with the Fat quarter assortment. She had also ordered and wrapped 2 new cross stitch Kits.

Dockside Quilts by Design Works

Aurora by Dimensions

We had a great time while we were in MN, but let's just say the travel back was not fun. You can find my travel Rant below in between the *******. If you chose not to read,  Happy Stitching!



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Travel Rant: This year we decided to fly…During the polar Vortex to MN which was in the center of it all in the US. We were able to fly out of Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport with no problems while the temp was -21F. While we were in the Air, our connecting flight and all connecting flights to Cincinnati from Chicago O'hare were cancelled for the entire day. Now while I am all about folks safety…please do not use ground crew safety, Fuel freezing and De-icing Equipment freezing in chicago as to why things were cancelled. Particularly with Chicago being 15 degrees cooler than Minneapolis. The best part about the whole thing, the airline could not get us to Cincinnati for 2 days with no help for food, hotels, and anything else. So I asked if they could get me anywhere close to Cincinnati so that family could come and get us or I could get a one way rental (and get the medication I was short on :( ). They could get me to Indianapolis the next day. So away we went there. The car rental was simple but the drive was not good. The roads were not plowed well until we got about 45 miles from the airport.  we got home about 36 hours later than when we were supposed to and I am out about 650 dollars for a hotel and car.  The best part…The airline sent me an email with a survey to discuss the quality of their service. :)
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Turtle Trot Check-in

I made a little progress on 2 of my Turtle Trot Projects. TurtleTrot is a SAL hosted by BAP-Attack:

1.) The Lady and the Flag:
   At last check-in (12/24) she was here:

Before I left for my trip to MN, i was able to complete all cross stitch on the bottom half of her. And she stands at here on 1/10/2014:

2.) Pinocchio : I added a few stitches in him on 1/8-9. Since I never posted a start picture before, here he is as of 1/10/2014.

I will posting updates with belated christmas gifts that are stash additions, etc. I may even recap my travel odyssey from MN home to OH that took almost 2 days.

Happy Stitching everyone!

TUSAL check in #1 and travel news

I didn't take a pic of my ORT jar as it was emptied out on December 31st for the new year. So my check in on Jan 1 is empty glass. If you are wondering about TUSAL, check out Daffycat's Blog.

My DH and I packed this evening for a trip to see his family in MN. Hopefully I will have some time to stitch and it will be a relaxing trip as well.

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