Christmas 2010... and a Lighthouse?

I was digging through some old photos this afternoon (waiting for my husband to get back from PT so we can go to Red Lobster for his birthday dinner) and I found some old photos that I never updloaded (tsk, tsk). During the 2010 year my husband and I adopted two new critters. Sonic the hamster and Sandy the mixed terrier. Well, they needed stockings just like our cats and piggies have!

So I promptly sat down at my sewing machine and got to work! Sandy's stocking:


and Sonic's:


Here's the whole family:


Which remind me, I'm going to have to make another new one this year since our baby is due in September! I better add that on my to-do list for the year of 2011.

Last year I also started making candy from those Wilton candy molds. (However, I'm horrible about taking pictures). The problem is I always make more than what we can eat - its just the two of us, I'm not feeding those to my fur babies (although I'm sure they would enjoy it). I need to start bringing the extras to work. Food always disappears when you bring it to work!

So I tried my hand at Santa candy canes:


I also tried my hand at Oreo stuffed candies. These were SO good, but very sweet tasting so you had to go easy on them!




Overall Christmas 2010 was memorable and enjoyable!

Two years ago I made my mom a Lighthouse cross-stitch. It was one of those kits that came with the frame. I can't, for the life of me, remember the name of kit maker, it was so long ago.

The unframed item:


I framed it in an 8x10 frame using the mat that came with the kit:


I'm really taking to framing (or at the very least, trying to frame) my own cross-stitch becuase it is SO expensive to get them professionally framed.

Angry Bird Cupcakes

Today is my husband's 26th birthday and every year I make him something. Last year it was gigantic X-box pillows, that he loved so I knew I had to top last year. However, he's such a difficult man to make things for (he doesn't think he is. If only he knew the HOURS of thought and internet searching that goes into his gifts...)

Like 2/3 of America he's obcessed with Angry Birds and I stumbled across this blog in my many hours of searching and thought that this lady was a GENIUS. I couldn't find the right kind of sprinkles and I dyed 'em too dark but considering the fact that I've never tried anything of this scale before, I'm pretty darn pleased. (And so is my husband).

I spent about $40 on supplies (since I didn't have anything except the cupcake pans) and 2.5 hours in the kitchen. I have LOTS of leftover candy and so I probably make a few more batches in the next few weeks to use up the candy.

A sampling of each:


The whole army of cupcakes:


Those bad, bad piggies:


A close up of each of the birds:






Sorry about the poor quality of the photos but my camera is busted and his is dead, so I had to take them with my cell phone. Let me know what you think!

Mega Cross Stitch Post

So for the last several months I've been stitching (here and there) some of my own Star Wars designs. They're the same basic design and they've all been stitched on 18 count, white, Aida fabric. I cut the fabric down to 4" x 6" and stitched them in the center. I had these wooden frames purchased from IKEA, which I stained and glossed myself, and framed them in. I love arranging and rearranging these little guys... now I just wish I had somewhere to hang them up! Without further ado:

Princess Leia from A New Hope (at the end):


Queen Amidala from The Phantom Menance (her senate outfit):


Anakin Skywalker from Attack of the Clones:


Senator Bail Organa from Attack of the Clones: (I don't know why but I have such a crush on him!)


Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Phantom Menance:


Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi:


Boba Fett: (He was finished this morning and posted for sale this afternoon)


Had enough of Star Wars yet? There's more to come! I have about 90 more planned out but I'm going to finish about 4 or 5 more of these Star Wars patterns before moving onto my Harry Potter designs.

In other needlepoint news, I'm currently 24 weeks pregnant (with my first) and on summer vacation so now I'm working like a madwoman to finish the cross stitch things for my baby and his/her nursery before I have to go back to work in August (with the baby due to arrive in September. What timing!)

We're doing a jungle theme in the baby's nursery and so I've been on the hunt for any patterns that I can find that fit that bill. I've found some great things from Dimension, Stoney Creek, and Leisure Arts. (Let me apologize now for the HORRIBLE pictures, my husband's camera died this morning - we have no idea where the charger is - so I had to scan them int).

First up is a bib I stitched from a book called Baby Bibs to Cross-Stitch prodcued and printed by Leisure Arts:

He took me about three days working on it here and there. I have a few more from this book that I want to stitch up and then I'll be done with the baby bibs aspect of it all.

The next up is the first of six. I was so exicted to be finished with this little guy that I just had to post it. The pattern was put out by Stoney Creek (oh how I heart you!) I stitched this on 28 count Monanco Evenweave, stitching over two.

The patterns were designed to be stitched on an afghan but I'm not much for that, so I'm stitching 6 of the designs from the book, we're going to frame them, and put them on the wall in the nursery.

Coming up in the stitching category is Luke Skwyalker (farm boy, told you I wasn't done with the Star Wars yet!) and a blue elephant baby panel to go with the monkey.

Too Much Going On...

I know, I know, I looked like I dropped off the face of the Earth, but a little thing called real life (aka Darth Real Life) got in the way. I got married (dress photos to be posted soon) in Vegas in Novemeber, found out I was pregnant towards the end of January, have been taking online classes, already overwhelmed with my teaching job, my husband and I are trying to buy a house, and I'm in the process of applying not only for my master's degree but for my degree in Secondary Education.

Whew. I have been busy doing some crafty things and plan to get caught up with updating this blog of my soon. As for right now... I need to go finish up some homework (I'm only about two weeks behind in my classes... whew!)

Etsy Shop!

Well I've finally done it. I've opened my own Etsy shop:

Geeky Stitchery.

New Summer Outfits (and one for fall)

I live in Arizona and it is CRAZY hot during the summer. Over 100 degress is just too darn high, so I decided to create some strapless tops and dresses. I used New Look pattern 6468. The same pattern I used to make this Butterfly Dress. I've got these dresses nailed down to about 45 minutes each, when I'm working on them nonstop.

This first one I did was made out of Candy Corn fabric:


A close up of the fabric:


The photographs don't due the justice fabric. I'm planning to wear this on Halloween morning when we're up in Vegas.

This next one is a black strapless dress. The fabric is black cotton with dark black (?) spots spread throughout it in a funky pattern. I wore this dress all day today and it didnt' fall apart so I guess that was a very good thing!




This next one is the same pattern but purple:


I plan to test out this dress tommorrow. Its a looser in the top because I didn't stretch the elastic out on the way on the top, so hopefully it'll hold up.


And a closeup of the fabric:


And finally a green tube top:

(and yes it was used, using the same pattern)



I have one more dress to make using the same pattern (red solid fabric) before moving on to cover jackets and a dress made for work.

Xbox Controller Pillows

My fiance is really difficult to shop for. I love him dearly but it is next to impossible to find a gift that will satisfy him. I searched for months and months before I finally came across the perfect gift: The Xbox Controller Pillow.

There was no instructions or tutorial (which is perfectly fine) so I made some assumptions and used my Home is Where the Xbox Is cross-stitch that I made for him as a guide.

Without further ado:

The birthday boy with his gifts:

(As soon as he opened the first one he immediately starting pushing the "buttons" and making "pew pew" noises).

I have some in process pics for those who are curious:

The first thing I did was draw (using a pencil) a free hand sketch of the shape of the controller and cut it out:

(I cut two at a time so it was easy to match up and sew. I used plain old broadcloth for the fabric).

I used a compass to draw circles on some poster board, cut them out, and taped them to the fabric:


My paint pallet:

(I painted the buttons and the Xbox logo using fabric paint from Joann Fabrics)

The colored buttons:


The Xbox logo I painted on using one of the circle patterns that I drew (just around it) and then drew the "X" with my paintbrush freehand:


Here's the whole pillow painted:


Then the paint needed almost 4 hours to dry, apply a second coat, and then another 4 hours to dry. :( Then I sewed the right sides together leaving a large gap for stuffing and turned it right side out:

I then stuffed the pillow and sewed up the bottom.

The finished product:


and finally...

on our bed: