Starting and finishing and mounting, oh my!

Wow, busy days! Forty-eight hours after deciding to take a medical leave of absence from college, I was back home with all my stuff. Twenty-four hours after that, I was hanging out with my family in Myrtle Beach. A few days later, I was back home and busy with lots of cross stitchy fun, despite my body deciding that this week ought to be extremely painful (at least it made me remember why medical leave is a good idea). I then embarked on a crazed purging and organizing of my room, which is currently in a state of chaos. And now, on to the cross stitchy fun! :D

I spent Saturday (with the aid of my mom at times) washing, ironing, mounting, and framing "Darth Vader" in preparation for my darling's birthday on Sunday. He was quite happy and hung it up in his room as soon as we went to his house. :) But without further ado, here 'tis!

 

The mounting was quite an ordeal, but I think it ended up looking quite nice. I used a foamboard and a small army of straight pins. Simple materials, pleasant result. I'm quite excited to have had my first taste of finishing!

I also purchased lots of fun cross stitch supplies on Saturday at my local needlework shop, which I have newly discovered and which is the most wonderful place.

And on Sunday I bought this magazine from Books-a-Million! I simply could not resist. And I have been loving pouring over it, so no regrets. :)

I've also finished "Live, Love, Laugh." :D

"Live, Love, Laugh"
Began October 5, 2012
Finished November 30, 2012

And while in Myrtle Beach, I explored my grandmother's knowledge of stitchery. She has some lovely cross stitches hanging up around the house - how had I not noticed them before? And she even let me borrow several wonderful old books on stitchery!

Look what came in the mail a bit earlier this week! :) I'm quite thrilled. I jumped up and down when I saw the envelope with "Crazy Annie's Stitchin" on it.

Aaaand, I have a new start! This'll be for my brother for Christmas. It's on some red 18 ct. Aida from my little needlework shop down the road. :)

"Quoth the Raven"
Began November 29, 2012

In the world of books, I finished listening to The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton, which is an amazing novel. I absolutely loved it! I'm nearly done with Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini. And December shall be the month of Russian novelists, so I am starting Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy) on Saturday and shall be listening to War and Peace (also Tolstoy) while stitching. I hope to have time for The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) during December, but if not, January shall get a taste of Russian novels as well.

Happy stitching to you all! :)

Making big decisions.

I've found that cross stitching is a good way to think over big decisions without my mind racing. So, I got some stitching done while thinking over a major decision. I'm taking medical leave for the remainder of the semester. It's crushing to leave and drop my classes, but I need time to focus on my health. Hopefully I'll be feeling great by next semester and will be on top of things. Anyway, here's my stitching progress:

"Snowman and Friends"

"Live, Love, Laugh"

Have a lovely Monday! Happy stitching!

Live, Love, Laugh progress!

It's been a while since I last touched Live, Love, Laugh, but yesterday evening I got a bit of stitching done on it. I am in love with the prettiness of this piece. :)

"Live, Love, Laugh"

I spent most of Saturday with my boyfriend, who came up to visit me. As of November 15, we've been FB official dating for one year (and you know it's not official 'til it's FB official), so we were kinda celebrating that. :) We saw Wreck-It Ralph, which was a delightful movie, walked around the lovely outdoors, and cuddled. It was wonderful. :) Hope you're having as great of a weekend as I am! :D

Yay for finishes!

Today was pretty exciting, because I had some finishes. :) I absolutely love how Live Simply turned out, and the Festive Word Ornaments are lovely. :) Hope you all had a wonderful Friday!

 "Live Simply"

Began October 25, 2012

Finished November 16, 2012

"Festive Word Ornaments"

Began November 13, 2012

Finished November 16, 2012

Close, but no cigar.

I was so excited because I thought I'd finish Live Simply and the Festive Word Ornaments today, but then a wild Migraine appeared and used Throbbing Pain and it was super effective. Nevertheless, I've made some progress since Tuesday. I even started a new project - Festive Word Ornaments, from a free Cross Stitch and Needlework Magazine download. My mom loves getting ornaments for Christmas, so I thought this would be a great little Christmas present for her. :)

"Live Simply"

Only back stitching left on this lovely piece! :D

"Festive Word Ornaments"

Began November 13, 2012

These pretty little ornaments are really getting me in the Christmas mood. :)

It's almost Friday! Get pumped! :) 

TUSAL and other updates!

I went home for the weekend, and it was lovely! I think my family is trying to fatten me up by Thanksgiving though, haha. :) Although I disappeared from teh interwebz for the weekend, I did get some stitching done. And my mom and I bought cross stitch supplies on Sunday! I have a frame for Darth Vader now, and I shall embark on that adventure come Thanksgiving. And so much thread! I wish I had a picture, but I left most of it at home, since it's for the Crazy January Challenge. Which I am decidedly completing. :D Here are several of the pieces I shall be stitching, come January:

"Folk Art Deer"

"Blushing Rose"

"Shell Collection" for my Mommy

"Favorite Pony" for my Ashlyn

"Everything Is Possible"

Several bookmarks from this,
for lots of wonderful people. :D

"Spring Sampler"

Lots of fun plans! More short-term, I'm hoping to finish all of my current projects by the end of the year (fingers crossed!). I'll also be stitching some really simple ornaments for my mom and this for my brother. Ambitious, I know, especially with college and my health. But it shall be fun! :) And now for this week's progress! :D

"Live Simply"

Look at that! I am nearly done with the cross stitching, and then I'll just have some back stitching and such. :) This piece is so lovely! It gives me such joy. :)

 "Snowman and Friends"

And look at that! Gettin' crazy, I know. I branched out and worked on one of my other WIPs! :D It's fun to stitch some detail when you've been working on a simple piece like Live Simply. And it's getting cold outside, getting me in the mood for winter!

It is so gorgeous here at Davidson!! Here are some pictures, as proof. :)

Aaaaaand here's a TUSAL update! I'm not officially on the list (working on that), but I've been keeping my ORTs since last new moon, so here they are! And I don't actually have a glass jar... but plastic is close enough, I hope. :) I used an old contact lens thingy as my glass jar. I love this so much, it's such a fun thing to do with little thread tails! :D

And now I shall finally wrap this post up. Lots and lots of updates today! Hope you're all having a great Tuesday! :)

Progress is being made!

This hasn't been a good week health-wise, but I'm trying to take things moment by moment and just make it through each hour successfully. Sometimes each half-hour or quarter-hour if things are particularly bad. Although I didn't stitch at all yesterday, I made some progress in the days before. Look, pretty! :D

Some fun progress pictures for "Life Simply." (It makes me feel more successful when I take pictures of each stage. :3)

And as some extra fun... here are some things that help me make it through each day! :)

Pretty views from my dorm windows! :D 

 My awesome brother left this on one of my draw erase dots during family weekend. It's an illustration of wave particle density and superposition. I love his physics lessons. <3

 Pretty journals! I love notebooks and papers and writing utensils and stationary to a somewhat unhealthy extent... but they make me happy. :3 This is the journal I write in when I'm crying. It always helps. ^_^

 Best. Flowers. Ever. I love my boyfriend.

I love my Angel of Learning. :3 Good reminder that these Greek drills and Latin papers I'm doing? Yeah, I love this. I love learning. :) Also, I pick my tissue boxes based purely on prettiness. Furthermore, I plan on having a wall made out of stacked tissue boxes someday. It'll be lovely. :D

So that's a bit of my life! :) Have a beautiful Thursday!

Long time no see!

I know, I disappeared. It's been a tough week. But I did get a bit of stitching done, cross stitching being one of my coping mechanisms.

"Live Simply"

Isn't it lovely? I adore this pretty shading and all these bright, lovely colors. In other news, I'm quite excited about my stitching plans! I definitely plan on stitching Country Cottage's Santa's Village series, as soon as I can get my hands on the first pattern and some supplies (read: as soon as I go home for a weekend or a break). I also have several planned starts for 2013, and I am going to try the Crazy January Challenge 2013. I'm working out my list of fifteen new starts that are both doable in a year and (more importantly) not too pricey. I see a lot of bookmarks and ornaments in my future... :)

Yay, it's a new month! I hope you're all enjoying November as much I'm going to be! :)