Marvelous Monday Update 11/14/11

For all the wonderful comments regarding my commencement ceremony last week. Wow, I'm still amazed and thrilled at how many of you took the time to congratulate me!

STITCHY STUFF
Now that graduation is over, I'm settling into my routine again. I finished the last part of the iStitch Mystery SAL. I ended up frogging the initial box twice and finally decided to use one of the other motifs instead. What a bugger it is to frog over-one stitching. I highly don't recommend it!


I'm also almost finished with Parts 4 and 5 of Purple Garden. I ran out of the purple thread. One would think with as much floss as I have, it'd be there somewhere. Nope! After getting the needed floss, I went to town on stitching. Here's what it looks like now:


Last week, Shanda asked what the backs of projects looks like, so I thought I'd share mine here:

iStitch Mystery SAL

Purple Garden

Treasured Memories Quilt Afghan

Guess what? It's my blogversary at the end of this month! Six years ago I started blogging. Lots of bloggers celebrate by doing a giveaway amongst the commenters of a particular post. I'm going to do something different to celebrate my blogversary! Not gonna tell you what, though... that would take all the fun out of it, LOL. Suffice to say, I'm working on a stitchy project. Shhh! It's secret.

And now onto other stitchy news...

I have had Maia's Winter Majesty on my wishlist for a long, long time. Thanks to some retail therapy on eBay, I was able to get the UK kit for less than 1/2 the price it normally costs! Look at this gorgeous piece of art:

The packaging
What it looks like in its entirety
Look at that beautiful face!

YUM-YUMs
Have you ever had pumpkin muffins? I made some over the weekend and they are DE-lish. This was my first attempt at baking them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Absolutely scrumptious!!



TREASURE HUNTING
Oh Yeah! (I feel like the kool-aid pitcher guy. Remember him?) I found a hinged double 8x10 frame from the 1960's-70's that I'm going to use as part of a birthday present. More on that present to come in December -- I am so excited about it! Also found a desktop pencil holder like I bought years ago for my desk at work. Why is it when you buy a product in the store and really-really like it, it gets discontinued? Anywho, now I have one for my desk at home for a HUGE fraction of the cost I paid for the one I have at work. Now for the "good" awesome finds:

I flipped through every "project" in this book. The information and photos are great! Easy to understand, and even gives good tips on using various things around the house.

Wouldn't you like to "play around" in this workshop?? I would!

These are photos on the inside cover of this book:

Even though I know how to frame, there is a section in the book that talks about making your own frames. So you know me... Ms DIY... I figured it'll come in handy one day.

Years ago, I tried my hand at making Teddy Bears, and still have supplies to make them. The ones in this book are so adorable. It even tells how to dye the fur, which is really cool! The patterns are full size so it should be easy peasy to whip one or two up. Can you believe this gem was only 10cents?

If you love Victorian stitching, these older Leisure Arts books are wonderful! A couple of projects that caught my eye:

Kissing Ball
Isn't this pretty?
Victorian Santa Ornaments
Santa and his reindeer.
I really, really love this project!

Here's another ten-center. I mainly wanted this magazine for "The Stitcher" project in it.

All of the books/magazines (except for the Crafts Encyclopedia) above were purchased at our local VOICES used bookstore. VOICES is a domestic violence program in my area. Having had to utilize the program about 20 years ago, it does my heart good that my purchases are going to a good cause. If I can get my act together, I'll be gathering up the books I no longer want and donating them to VOICES.