Nautical Flags

My oldest son is active duty Navy, and evidently had been looking for something that spelled out his last name in nautical flags.  Luckily I had a book that had the patterns for them.  Originally I was going to teach his girl friend to cross stitch and do this for him.  But....literally it only took me a weekend to finish this whole project.  I am going to send it to her, and she will get it matted and framed to give to him as a future gift.

Moving on, I decided to try to get some really quick projects out before I started on another large project for myself.  My sister-in-law loves owls.  I found a pattern that was free, and very cute, but really small.  I finally found one on Etsy, that you could purchase and download, that looked really cute, and lovely colors. This will be a gift, so...at least it will be fun to work on because it is really cute, and I do like the colors.  I am leary of sharing the name and site, and or progress because there are numerous disclaimers from the designer.  Even mentions blogging.  But....will contact the designer and see if I can share pictures of my progress with links to her site.  

Book of Ink Circles - Finish!!!!!

Today I put the last stitch in this project.  Yea!   Not sure what my next project will be, but am glad to move on!

Book of Ink Circles -update 5

Am a little bit later in posting my latest update.  Usually try to update my blog on the weekends.  Busy Saturday, church on Sunday and then off to Baltimore for the day to see my daughter in a cheer competition.  Still managed to get some stitching time in.  Even as I post this picture, I know I will be finished with this project by this weekend.  I may do several smaller projects next before I start a larger project.

Book of Ink Circles - Update 4

We have made it through to the 17th of January already.  Time just flies by.  So much to do and so little time. I am nearing the end of this pattern and trying not to think about what is next.  There are so many to choose from and I have really tried to stay away from looking at cross-stitch on-line, as well as visiting any of the local cross stitch stores.  

This is my progress to date:

Plus, after looking at etsy and eBay and numerous websites, I couldn't locate a key holder that was big enough or that I liked.  I decided to make my own.  Thankfully I had most of the supplies.  The only immediate outlay was for a plaque and shoulder hooks.  Not completely done yet, just have to add the shoulder hooks.  I am going from this holder, which no longer has enough hooks for all of the car keys

for 4 cars, and whatever else we need.

To this!

Book of Ink Circles - Update 3

Whoosh the holidays are officially over.  It's always so sad to take down the decorations and put them away for another year.  But, the hustle and bustle is finally over, and I know I can take a breather of just normal days.

Seems like it has been one of the weeks that I have done a lot more sewing, ripping out, and re-sewing.  Thankfully it's not all like that or I guess I would give up cross stitching.  I am what I would say to the halfway point, and that's always good!

Book of Ink Circles - Update 2

Can't believe it is New Years Eve.  Another year has flown right by.  They seem to do that, the older we get! The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to be closer together, unlike when we were children, the time between those holidays, seemed to crawl at a snail's pace.

Somehow, with all the cooking, shopping, returning, mailing, I still managed to stitch a bit on my latest project.  I am also excited, that for Christmas, I received a longer cross bar to my cross stitch stand, along with two more sets of velcro rods for my stand to work on some of the larger projects I have in my stash!

I also volunteered at some point to teach my son's girlfriend how to cross stitch, so that she can make a piece of Nautical flags that spells out my son's last name.  Thankfully, I actually had a book, that I held onto that has the cross stitch patterns for each flag in it.  Sure will come in handy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that the New Year is truly awesome!

Ink Circles - First week

Well, I decided to start a new project (already.)  This one is from a free pattern off of www.inkcircles.com  The pattern is called Book of Ink Circles, and it is done it installments that you can download and print out, as required.  The patterns download and print out beautifully so they are easy to follow and read.

I am doing this project for my oldest son.  When I saw this pattern, I thought it looked very masculine looking.  So.....it went into my "to do" list.  I purchased 28 ct. linen and am using the sampler hand dyed threads to give it some more dimension.  I hope my son will like it!