April Wipocalypse

So not much stitching has gone one during the past month. In fact, not much of anything creative has gone on either. You may already know this if you read my last post. No big complaints or excuses. That's just the way it was lately. I think I was more in the reading mode which is not a bad thing.


I did pick up my stitching this week and decided to work on my "June" from the Joyful World series by Snowflower Diaries.

I like this chart a lot and have made a bit of progress on it. I am just loving these tiny stitches with one strand of floss! I'm stitching it over one on 25 count Norden Pearl linen. The finished size fits nicely into a 4 x 6 frame.

And that would be it for stitching this month! No stitch day for me with my group of stitching friends in April either, but I am really looking forward to getting some good cross stitch time in next weekend when the Sisters In Stitches meet. I should have a lot more to show in May's Wipocalypse post!

Want to join in the Wipocalypse? Just go to the blog Measi's Musings and to the April Wipocalypse post in particular.

Topic of the month: What projects are in your UFO pile?  Well, along with the Joyful World monthly series, my main UFOs are Tulip's Praise and Kaleidoscope.

One UFO I don't think I'll worry about anymore is the English Cottage Sampler. I'm pretty sure I've decided to scrap this project. I won't throw it out or anything, but I'm not going to waste any more time fretting about how not-fun this project is for me. Who knows - I may change my mind someday and pick it up again and it will have magically transformed itself into a fun-to-stitch project! So I'll keep it on the back burner (the burner waaaaaaaay in the back, yeah, that one) and not think about it for a while. Oh, and then there's the angel stocking, but I am still trying to figure out whether the fabric will ever lose its fold lines.

In the meantime, the project I'll be starting next is Rainbow Row by Barbara and Cheryl. This chart was given to me by Steph who bought it on their trip to Charleston, SC. I am looking forward to starting this one, but first have to see if I have all of the DMC floss for it. Maybe I'll get this one kitted up this week! That's the plan. Let's hear it for determination!

Crafty Dry Spell

Talk about a crafting dry spell. I've been in one that has lasted about a month. Ugh. Why does this happen? Anyway, I'm thinking that the way to get myself out of this dry spell is to do a little post and then look around the blogs I follow for some inspiration.

One thing I haven't posted about is the little gift I made for the stitchers at our retreat.

They can be used as key rings or scissor fobs. I bought the supplies on Etsy from the shop "PrettyCharmed" and they can also be found on Amazon and other places. Just search for "pendant trays". The kits I bought had the trays, the glass, and the key rings. The instructions for making them can be found on Youtube. There are a lot of instructional videos and the steps vary a bit from video to video.

I had a close-up photo of floss in varied colors and I just Photoshopped "SIS 2017" in different areas of the photo. (SIS for "Sisters In Stitches). Now here's where a potential problem can occur. I have an ink jet printer and the ink will run when the glaze (I used Diamond Glaze) touches it. So I had to get a product called Microglaze and apply it to the paper after it was printed. It worked pretty well, but I still had some color bleeding. My advice is to use a laser printer OR to use pre-printed scrapbook paper for your pendant tray. But they did turn out pretty cute and were appreciated by everyone!

And now we'll got to "Other People's Creations". 

Last weekend was Easter and someone got a little creative. OK, I'll admit that it was Mark, my husband, who decorated this. We had a lot to do on Easter morning, so while I made deviled eggs, he got out the frosting and coconut and went to work. Just a fun Easter tradition in our family.

Look at what Steph made for a fundraiser auction that was held by the band that Matt plays in.

Isn't it pretty? Steph does beautiful work, and whoever won this received a beautiful shawl.

Sheila is quickly becoming a master wire worker.

She did all of the wire wrapping in this beautiful necklace! Love her choice of colors too.

So I'm glad that other talented people got crafty recently so that I could show you something fun and interesting! But have no fear, I'll get back to it soon!

A Stitching Retreat How-To

Last month, my stitch group, the Sisters In Stitches, had our annual stitch retreat. Even though we get together each month to stitch, the stitch retreat is the best time to concentrate only on our stitching and leave everything else at home! So let's take a look at what makes an awesome stitch retreat. Warning, this post is picture heavy!

We've had some good retreats in the past and this one was no exception. We stayed in two cabins at Fort Mountain State Park in Chatsworth, GA. I'd have to say that the first thing you need for a successful stitching getaway is a good place to have it. Fort Mountain's cabins filled the bill.

This may look like a simple, rustic cabin, but inside are two bedrooms, each with two beds and a bathroom. Included was also a comfy living room, dining area, a kitchen (fully furnished with appliances and cookware), and a deck.

The view from our deck. A view isn't a necessity, but it sure was pretty.

The next important element of a retreat is the food. Oh yes, we like to eat and each meal is carefully planned. We divide up the responsibility for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts.

Friday night dinner was delicious, as were all of the meals!

Of course, let's not forget the stitching.

You'll also need a comfortable place to stitch. The dining room table proved to be a good spot for us.

And most importantly, the stitchers. One of our regulars is missing. She knows we were thinking about her!

One more picture of the view:

All in all, a very successful stitching retreat. We stitched, talked, ate, and laughed. That's pretty much all you need to experience a fun time with fellow stitchers. A few members of our group even went on a short hike! I don't know about the rest of my stitching friends, but I'm already thinking of the next stitching getaway!

A Pinterest Try In March

Let me put my blog in reverse a little bit and go back to March. There we go! Because I really did do a Pinterest attempt for the month of March.

My jewelry making skills came into play when I decided to make a multiple-strand bracelet. I've seen these all over Pinterest, mostly ones already made up and for sale. Being the crafty person that I am, I knew that all I needed was a little guidance to create a bracelet like this. The help I needed was found on Youtube, however. All I did was search "multiple strand bracelet tutorial" and quite a few helpful videos popped up. THIS is a good one for the basics. Here's what I came up with.

I simply crimped my strands to a large ring on one end and to the clasp on the other end. I liked the idea of adding a couple of little hanging charms, so they went on the large ring.

The hardest part of this project was choosing the beads. My goal was to use what I had in my bead stash and I accomplished that! A few seed beads, silver accent beads, some freshwater pearls, and I had a bracelet.

This technique can be used to make bracelets in a variety of different styles depending on your choice of beads and clasps. This particular bracelet became a gift for my sister, Sheila. I will definitely be making another one for myself!

I hope you enjoyed this post and also hope that it inspired you to do something crafty and try some of those Pinterest projects that you pin! Please bear with me as I get my craft room up and going again after it was used as a storage room for a while. It had kind of put a damper on my ability to do much of anything crafty, but I'll be back in there shortly!