First Ornament Finish

Last night I finished my first ornament for 2010! Now all I have to do is the actual finish, cutting out and backing Piglet. I think I'm going to try to also make Pooh, Tigger & Eeyore and have all 4 done for Christmas. Didn't work on anything else this weekend since I really wanted to get Piglet finished.

The SanMan calendar freebie for April should be out this week so I think I will wait for that instead of starting a new project. I'm taking a little break from Wash Line Blues. I tend to lose enthusiasm for a piece if I stitch on it constantly without working on other projects. I guess that works as a good excuse for having so many projects going! lol

Hope everyone had a great weekend & thanks for visiting! Nick

UPDATE: Here is a pic of the ornament actually finished, finished! lol I might move the hanger over a little to the left so the ornament hangs a little more sideways. I can't wait for the leaflet w the other 3 patterns to arrive!

Christmas in March

In my last post I talked about how I was feeling like starting a new project since Spring has been on it's way here in Michigan. Well, I did indeed start a new project, only it ended up being a Christmas in ornament! lol I am a huge Christmas person, if I could I would have the house decorated in Christmas all year long, which means when it does come time to decorate for Christmas, you better believe I go big, inside and outside! lol

Anyway, I was helping my mom "clean out" (another way of saying it started out as cleaning but ended up just being rummaging lol) an old chest of drawers that had long forgotten crafts in it. I came across a kit for this Piglet Christmas ornament. I did some searching online to see if there made matching kits with Pooh, Tigger or Eeyore and sure enough there did. The kits are by Leisure Arts and are cross stitch on plastic canvas and released sometime around 2000. They also released the 4 patterns in a Pooh Christmas projects leaflet. I was able to get the leaflet for $5 on eBay so maybe by Christmas I will have a set of Pooh & friends candy cane ornaments.

I started the ornament Tuesday night and have so far done Piglet's head and the top of the candy cane. Usually I save the backstitching for last when all the stitching is complete but for some reason I felt like backstitching as I complete parts, it makes it feel like a mini finish. lol

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday & a great weekend! Thanks for reading! Nick

Signs of Spring

I got a little more of the quilt done on Wash Line Blues Sunday evening, couldn't escape those blue 1/2 stitches though! lol At least they were a different color and only used 2 strands rather than 6. I can't wait to put some of the backstitching in to give the quilt more detail and help show the difference between the subtle color changes.

Spring is certainly on it's way here in Michigan. The sun is shining and I heard some bird chirping outside this morning. Now we just need the temperature to get up a little more. lol Its only been in the high 40s the past couple days but it's nice to see the sun, and the best part - no snow!! The nice weather has also put me in the mood for a spring project, I have my eye on the new Prairie Schooler Signs of Spring leaflet. For now I think I will start on their new "Peep" chick freebie.

Hope everyone has a great day & thanks for visiting! Nick

The Non-Wash Line Blues

I am very happy that I have been able to get a lot done on Singin' the Wash Line Blues this weekend. I added some more blue to the sky and started the quilt. When I started the piece I had wanted to do all of the blue background before starting the quilt or birds, but after finishing what was left of the background on the first page of the chart I really wasn't feeling anymore blue 1/2 stitches! lol

Yesterday was a pretty blah day weather wise, woke up to snow on the roofs, lawns & cars, which was all gone by 1, but it was still chilly & grey all day. It made for good stitching weather though, didn't do much besides stitch here and there and watch some basketball (Thanks UNC for keeping my bracket alive! lol).

Here are the before & after pics and above is a pic of what the complete piece looks like. These 2 should enlarge when you click them.

Before

After

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, thanks for stopping by! Nick

M GO BLUE!

Wow, Friday already, another week that just flew by! No complaints though, it was a great week here, especially with such wonderful weather. Unfortunately the weatherman still says rain/snow & temps back in the 30s this weekend, though I think the nice weather is supposed to come back after, and it's more than welcome! lol

Haven't had a chance to even think about touching any of my projects since my last post. The one good thing about this upcoming weather is that it should make me want to stay in and stitch, Wash Line Blues is calling me! lol Also I won't feel bad about sitting on the couch watching March Madness, with no nice weather begging me to be outside.

While in Ann Arbor on Wednesday my friend & I went to the M Den store in the Briarwood Mall, I had never been there before, only to the M Den on Main Street and the temp stores they set up outside the Big House on game days. The store was AMAZING, a Michigan fan's dream come true! Everything and anything you could image...and it was all U of M themed! They had everything from stuff you would expect like clothes, hats and car stuff to things you might not, like block M cookie cutters & ice-cube trays! They also had a real stuffed wolverine on display among some other cool things, like a 3 ft Bo Schembechler bobble head. I managed to to control myself and only pick up a few new souvenirs! lol

I thought I would share the Michigan pattern I charted. The leaflet I bought had the old logo, the block M with the wolverine on top, but not the newer one, since the leaflet was printed in the mid-80s before the logo was changed in the early 90s to what it is now, a block M with Michigan written across it. I don't think too many will be interested but since a few follows mentioned they were U of M fans I thought I would share anyway, the picture should enlarge when you click on it.

I'm not sure how close those 2 DMC color actually are to Maize & Blue. They looked good on the cross stitch program so I stuck with them, I haven't checked my colors to see what they look like in real life. Any darker blue & darker yellow would do I suppose! lol

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Friday & the weekend, thanks for stopping by! Nick

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I thought I would share a favorite sticker of mine, from my vintage Suzy's Zoo sticker collection, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

Nothing new on the stitching front. I was going to work on Wash Line Blues but I started working on charting out my own U of M pattern. I recently bought a cool older leaflet with a couple of U of M themed patterns - Burton Tower, the university seal & a block M with a wolverine on top, so I figured I would try to make my own to add to them. lol

Well I am off to Ann Arbor for the day with a friend, hence the quick (and early!) post. Hope everyone has a great day! Nick

Blogging from the backyard...

It's such a wonderful day here in Michigan! The snow is gone, the sun is out and the last time I saw the thermometer it said 63! Too bad they're saying snow/rain mix this weekend, I thought Spring was here to stay! That doesn't mean I can't enjoy it now though, so this post is being written while I sit on the swing in our backyard.

I worked some on Wash Line Blues yesterday, no picture though, didn't really get a whole lot stitched. I am kind of in the mood to start something new, something bright and colorful, but really should avoid the temptation! lol I have enough unfinished projects.

I started a Flickr album of some of my finishes, most are ones that have been posted here on my blog, but I am hoping to add and update it. So if you would like to see, here ya go.

I have enjoyed taking a peak at all of the wonderful stitching blogs out there. Every blog I come across I see something that I would love to stitch. Thank you to everyone that shares their wonderful finishes and projects, I'll never be without something that I want to stitch now! lol

Thanks for looking, hope you got to enjoy your day as much as I have! Nick

Weekend Project

This weekend I was able to finish the first three SanMan Originals freebies to the 2010 Calender, “January”, “Kiss Me” and “Frosty Mug”. Each month a new pattern is posted for the members of the SanMan message board, along with a monthly blackwork pattern. I am stitching the calendar pieces vertically on a banner that I made. I can’t wait to see the rest of the designs!

Don't mind the quilting supplies in the background, I took the pic real quick on my mom's quilting table. lol

I still haven’t worked on Wash Line Blues though, once I started the SanMan patterns I had to finish all 3! lol But I am really going to try to get some work done on it this week.

I will keep this post short and sweet so I can check out everyone else’s blogs. Hope every had a great weekend and has a good Monday, if there is such a thing! lol Nick

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone! Man, this week flew by, don't know where the last couple days went! lol Thank you everyone for the comments on my Prairie Schooler July piece, I hope to get it framed soon. I spent some time Tuesday taking a look through all of the blogs of those who commented and I have discovered way too many patterns I would like to stitch! lol

Haven't done much in the way of stitching since my last post. I didn't work on Wash Line Blues, but I did start a new project, no actual stitching, just pre-finishing the fabric for it into a bell pull. I found a cool set of little patterns on the SanMan Originals message board, one for each month of the year, to stitch on it.

I thought I would take the chance to comment on a few comments on my other posts...

The designer of Singin' the Wash Line Blues is Adele Earnshaw and is a Dimensions kit.

I am very happy to meet a couple fellow Wolverine fans! I just found an old leaflet with charts of the U of M seal, wolverine & block M and a sampler of Burton Tower that are just calling for me to stitch. lol

I also wanted to introduce everyone to my car, Baby, that I talked about in my last post. She is a 2005 Chrysler Crossfire Ltd Coupe. She's stored in the garage for winter, but hopefully if the weather stays the way it has been this week, she can come out soon!

I hope to get a chance to work on Wash Line Blues and start my SanMan piece but we will see, I am meeting up with my Aunt & cousin out of town tomorrow and having lunch with a friend for her birthday Sunday. Hope everyone has a great day and weekend!

Thanks for reading! Nick

July in March

WOW! If I was excited when I had 1 follower and comment, you can't imagine what I felt when I logged on to see 27 followers & all those wonderful comments! I want to thank every one of you for visiting my blog and for the warm welcomes, and gracious comments on my pieces! Also thank you again to Daffycat for the shout out on her blog! I will be sure to take a minute to visit all of the blogs of those who left comments & became followers!

Today I wanted to share another of my more recent finishes. It is the July sampler from Prairie Schooler's "July" (Book No. 154). I started this piece at the beginning of May last year, but didn't actually get it finished until the end of December. I am embarrassed to admit that the piece sat untouched for several months, and the only thing that was left to stitch was the roof, grass & boarder under the stars.

"July" by Prairie Schooler

May - December 2009

DMC on 14 ct. Aida

This is also the next piece I want to get framed. I was thinking of having it matted with a matching red & blue mats and then an antiqued white frame. I picked up this chart because I love patriotic themed stuff and also living on Lake Michigan, it reminded me of the wonderful summer time on the lake here in Michigan. Speaking of which, it was an absolutely amazing day! For a couple hrs in the afternoon you could have totally gotten away with jeans & a t-shirt, I'm so ready for spring! lol Since it was so nice I pulled my car out of the garage, uncovered her (yes, my car is a her, her name is Baby lol) and detailed cleaned the wheels, rims and around the underbody. Now she is nice & super clean for when its time to take her out for the season! :-)

Thanks again for stopping by! Nick

Singin' the Wash Line Blues

I was very excited to log into Blogger today to find that I had gained a follower & received a comment! lol Thank you Daffycat for your comment on my first post. I enjoyed following your progress on Crabby Year, a very cool piece!

Here is a new picture of my Lizzie Kate piece with the buttons and framed.

And here is a picture of my progress on Singin' the Wash Line Blues. I started this one last Sunday, but have not been able to work on it the past few days. All of the stitches are 1/2 stitches done with 6 strands of floss.

Sorry the fabric is wrinkled and a little crooked, I just couldn't get a good pic.

Nick

First post for a first time blogger...

This is my first time writing a post for a blog. I guess I will start out with a little intro to myself.

My name is Nick, I am 20 years old and enjoy hanging o

ut with my friends, watching football (esp college, my favorite team being the U of M, hence my name, M GO BLUE Stitcher) shopping, cross stitching and many other things. I know, cross stitching isn't usually on the long list of things most 20 year old guys enjoy, but hey, I guess Im not your typical 20 year old guy! lol

I started this blog to share my love of cross-stitch and to keep a journal of my progress & finishes. My mom taught me to cross stitch when I was young and I have always enjoyed it. Recently, within the last year and a half, I have really gotten into it after discovering a whole world of cross stitch themed blogs. I figured, hey, its about time I start my own! Now on to some stitching...

My latest finish is this flip-its set from Lizzie Kate depicting the months of the year. This is one of the first projects I saw when I first started reading cross stitch blogs and fell in love with it. In January I found the set of patterns 50% off and thought, no better time than the present! I started January on January 16th and finished December on February 5th. Here it is before I attached the buttons and had it framed...

"Bit of..." by Lizzie Kate

Started 01/16/10

Finished 02/05/10

Recommended DMC on 14 ct. Aida

I got the piece back from being framed on Friday but don't have a picture of it yet, maybe that can be the next post. lol

Currently I am working on a Dimensions kit called "Singin' the Wash Line Blues". The kit was on sale @ Jo-Anns and after looking at it the last few times I was there I decided to get it. Its mostly 1/2 stitches using various strands of thread to create the light effects. Here is a pic of the kit, which doesn't even come close to showing the true brightness of the colors, esp of the blues...

Well, that was a much longer post than I intended, but thank you for checking out my blog!

Nick