The Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa Finish

I am finally in the home stretch with my ornaments.  I don't think I will ever do 7 of the same thing again.  I really had to push myself to get these done.  About #4 I was through with the whole thing, but somehow I think I will actually have all these done in time.  I will show you how I finished them into Christmas tree ornaments.

This is the finished cross stitch and a piece of black felt that I used for the back.

 I folded all the edges to the back.

 This picture shows the front with the side tucked in behind.

 Next I cut out the corners.  I just used the lines that were made when I folded the excess material.  I stayed close to the fold lines but not right on them.

 Then I folded down the corners and then folded them into a point.  The next 2 pictures will do a better job of explaining that then I did.

 I then used stick pins to hold it all in place and repeated with the other corners.  Some of my corners ended up not very close to the green line of stitching after folding, so I had to make another cut closer to the green stitches right in the corner to get a better fold.

 I lined up the black felt on the back and then stick pinned it in place.

 I used a piece of ribbon to make the holder and sewed it in-between the two layers.

 I then just stitched the whole way around.

 And here is the final product on my tree.

Next year I will not be doing all the same ornament or I will be starting in January and spreading them our over the whole year.  Happy Holiday every one!

Chocolate Stirring Spoons

I seen these stirring spoons here, and I loved the idea.  So my sister and I set to work.  We did milk chocolate and white chocolate coconut.  In the post it says she spooned the chocolate into the plastic spoons, but I thought that would be too messy so I used a ziploc bag and trimmed off one corner.  That was a semi bad idea, the chocolate is very runny when melted and it poured out of the bag like water but if I had thought of that before hand I would have been better prepared.

I forgot to take pictures of the milk chocolate but both bars were Lindt.  Also it really is important to prop the end of your spoon handle on something (gingerbread house tray in my case), it keeps the spoons level and the chocolate in the spoons instead of all over the table.  I melted the chocolate in a double boiler (nothing fancy just a pot of simmering water and a bowl that will sit on top of the pot but not in the water.  My sister claims she uses a metal bowl but you would probably burn your fingertips off if you forgot what you were doing so I would go with glass.  You will still need oven mitts but if you forget and touch it for a second you will still have the use of your fingers for the rest of the day).  Once you get the melted chocolate into the spoons you just decorate away.  In the dish on the far left below is mini Rolos.  If you use something chocolate like that you should wait a few minutes until you chocolate cools a bit before you put the in so they don't melt.  I put the spoons in the fridge to set up, I used a plate with a dish towel on it to keep the spoons level.

 Here is the final product.  I got small "Sucker" bags at the Bulk Barn and tied them on with ribbon.  They turned out so well.  I might do these again next year for gifts.

Here they are ready to go to their new home.  

Pampers toy box

With a 9-month old in the house, we go through diapers like nobody's business.  I hate to throw the boxes out because they are a great size, sturdy and why not recycle, so I came up with this idea then put my mother to work.

I asked my mother to sew a cover for the box and this is what she came up with.  All I asked her was to make it removable just in case I needed to wash it.  Thomas has claimed this as his toy box and I spend a good part of the day putting the blocks back in just so he can turn it over and dump them back out.  

I would like to figure out how to add a lid and use them to store DVD's and allow them to be stack-able.  I will let you know what I come up with.  

Christmas Tree Day!!

We got our Christmas tree on the 1st.  The earliest we have ever got our tree.  Brayden picked it out and we were on our way back home in 10 minutes.

Here is Brayden checking the water level. 

 

I have also decided to start a new tradition this year, Christmas book advent calendar.  I have seen these all over the internet and I love it.  Every day instead of starting the day with chocolate we start it with a new book.  This is definitely something I will be doing again next year.   

 Here is Brayden wearing his "Baby's first Christmas" sock.

 I am almost done of the ornaments I am giving for Christmas presents, about 2 1/4 left.  I hope I get them done in time.  I will try to remember to take pictures while I am finishing one.  Happy Holidays everyone!

I am so crafty!

I made this can for my boys to take with us when we go someplace that doesn`t have toys, like the doctors.  It is just out of a Pringles can, some scrapbook paper, to cover the can, and stickers to decorate with.  I used rub-on letters and I also put one coat of ModPodge over it too.  I was also thinking that it would be a cute birthday present, so I will now be hoarding Pringles cans.  Oh and I should thank the boyfriend for his help.  He cut the circle for the cover and helped measure the paper for the can, and then told me he wouldn`t have the patience to do this kind of stuff.  It literally took 10 minutes to do this, that is not even long enough for your patience to kick in.  

I am working on Brayden`s Cars crossstitch right now and also the Santas below.  I am getting really bored with these Santas but they are going to be Christmas presents so I have to keep at them.  I do one color on Santa then one color on Cars.  If I ever decide to make ornaments for people again they will not all be the same.  I must get that from my grandfather.  He made coffee tables, china cabinet, hope chests and more but none of them were ever the same.

Only 3 to go!!   Well 4 actually but #4 only needs another 1/2 hour or so.

I finished another page of Thomas`s crossstitch.  I can`t wait to do the next page and see what Mama bunny`s face is going to look like.

Happy stitching!

A dresser for Thomas and Christmas presents

 Here is the $20 dresser I bought from facebook, sanded and all ready for paint.  I sprayed one coat of Rustoleum grey primer, then 2 coats of Rustoleum Granite.  It was a lot simpler then I had anticipated but I do not recommend spray painting on a breezy day.

 And here is the final product.  It is a little more blue than I was looking for.  I got my inspiration from here, which looked like a dark grey color.  I even bought the exact same spray paint, brand, color, but mine looks blue.  I also bought drawer pulls today but they aren't the right size.  I guess using a 3 hole puncher that has a ruler on the side will hamper your measuring abilities.  I also might buy a clear coat so the dresser has a shiny finish but I am still undecided.  Over all it has been a pretty cheap dresser.  The spray paint cost $15 for both bottles and I spent $40 on drawer pulls but they are going to be returned so I might find something cheaper.

This is the Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa.  I am making him into a Christmas tree ornament.  I am not sure how to finish him maybe a burlap bow and a button or something.  Ideas are welcome.

Too busy stitching to be blogging

I finished another page of Brayden's Cars crossstitch and I am not sure I am liking the colors.  Lightening McQueen is supposed to be bright red and all I am using is orange threads.  But on the bright side only 33 more pages to go.  Ugh!  

 Thomas's is coming along quite nice but notice how close to the edge of the fabric I am?  I'm not sure how I managed to be so close but I will have about 1/2 an inch to play with.  Framing could be interesting.

Brayden started preschool last week.  He goes 2 morning a week and Thomas sleeps pretty well the whole time he is gone, so uninterrupted stitching!  It is not very often that happens.

At Our House is complete

 This is the first finish I have had since probably 2009.  My last completed cross stitches were a few kits that my mother had given me and they were from the 90's I would guess.  Lots of flowers, bunnies, cottages, just ones I was doing because I loved to cross stitch, but all I could think while doing them was "what am I going to do with these when I finish them?  Because they are not going to go in my house!"  Then I started one that was a Welcome sign with a pineapple, which I will try to get a picture of soon to put up here.  Very ugly but I was enjoying stitching it.

  Here is my dog Micah.  She has a very bad habit of eating things she isn't supposed to.  Such as vinyl flooring, insulation, garbage, diapers, and last but not least cross stitch patterns.  Or that is what I think happened to my welcome pineapple pattern but I have no way to prove it because there wasn't a trace of it left.  Nothing.  I was so mad I stopped cross stitching for awhile.  I think she felt bad too because her eating things she isn't supposed to has pretty well stopped.  Thank goodness.

  

I have also started this "ends" jar.  I seen it on another blog I read, which when I think of it's name or I get their next post in my email I will link to it.  I am not sure why keeping the ends of my thread is so appealing to me but I get so excited when my thread gets short so I can snip it off and put it in the jar.  It is the simple things in life that really get me going.

I am back to working on my Peter Rabbit cross stitch and will get a progress pic up soon.

At Our House Progress

Not much else going on.  I am now about halfway done and I can't wait to pick out my next Lizzie Kate Design.  I have my eye on this one.

A bit of progress and some brotherly love

I got a bit more done to At Our House.  It is all I have been working on but the kids are not giving me too much time to stitch lately.

Also this evening my almost 4 year said to my almost 4 month old "I love you all the days."  I feel like I am doing something right every time he says things like that.  

Welcome!

Hi!  My name is Khristine and I am from Prince Edward Island, Canada, which makes cross stitching hard because the only place to shop is at Micheals, and they only sell thread, needles, and a small assortment of fabric.

That is why I started searching the internet and found Intricate Cross stitch.  And I was like "Awesome!  Free patterns.  OMG!  The money I am going to save and bonus! no back stitching... I hate backstitching"

So off I go and print 40 pages of pattern, buy 60 skeins of DMC and some evenweave which is all Micheals carries.  Which put me back oh about 70$.  So who saved money?  Not this girl but the cross stitch is beautiful and who cares about money anyway!

My first plan of action was to tape all the pages together into a giant pattern.  Good idea at first until this started happening

Holes in my pattern!  Note to self bad idea. But the cross stitch is still looking good.

But it got put on hold for awhile because I found out I was having boy #2 and I seen a Peter Rabbit Nursery online and fell in love and decided to do my own take on that so I found this pattern and this is what I have done so far:

 Mama bunny sitting on a rocking chair with 2 baby bunnies.  Don't be too impressed, the baby is almost 4 months old... maybe his children will enjoy it.

Then my 3 year old decided he too needed a cross stitch, so on to the next one, which was found here, and right now looks like this:

Disney Cars with all the characters.  2 pages done 34 to go.  Again maybe his children will enjoy it.

Oh and here are the kiddies:

Brayden is the big one and the little one is Thomas.

By now you must see that I have major issues with not finishing things I start so why not add one more to the mix:

Out of all the projects I have on the go, this one is giving me the most grief.  It is stitched over two threads, which is my first time doing this and my mind doesn't feel like telling my fingers that that is how we are doing things.  I have made 3 big, cannot be overlooked mistakes already.  I have spent as much time stitching as I have taking stitches out.  The H and the S have both been redone and then today was a line of yellow stitches that go across the bottom of these words that I put in, took out, then put back in today.

This is a Lizzie Kate pattern which I have been oogling for a few months and decided I couldn't live with out it and seeing as I couldn't get it anywhere here I had to order it from Calgary.  Traditional Stitches is the closest place that I could find.  They were awesome to deal with and I hope that it is the beginning of a beautiful seller/buyer friendship.

Now that I feel I have aired my dirty stitching laundry, I hope it will motivate me to finish some things before starting any more... but probably not.

Happy Stitching!