2014 Christmas Stockings

I made three Christmas stocking for family/friends' babies this year. I don't know why they didn't listen when I commanded that no one else I know have any babies.

One of the stockings this year was for a baby that has already had one Christmas, I found out too late in the year to get it finished for his first Christmas. It was also a very complex, detailed design. This particular stocking was inspired by the art of Miles Pinkney. He did a great Steampunk Santa magazine cover picture. I took the Santa and gears from this cover art to create a Steampunk stocking. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't really show the fact that the ray gun and name are made with sparkly thread.

This year one of my friends from high school and his wife were blessed with their second son. They are more traditional in their tastes, so I went with a Victorian style Santa Claus design. I didn't design this one myself, it came from a magazine.

The final stocking I created this year was for my newest niece. Her mother requested a Nightmare Before Christmas design. I chose a sparkly night sky fabric to try to capture the feel of the movie, though the picture makes the sparkles a little hard to see. This stocking was designed for 30 count fabric, but is completed on 32 count because the perfect color was only available in that size. I made some adjustments, but the stocking came out a little smaller than intended.

I feel that my designs and patterns are getting better with each attempt. I have avoided using back-stitching and french knots in my patterns until the Nightmare Before Christmas stocking. That is going to take some time to perfect as an art, I even asked some people to beta test the pattern to see if they have any suggestions on improving the back-stitching details.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and that you can celebrate with those and in a way that brings you true joy.

Cthulhu Comes to Cross-stitching

I am in the process of listening to the entirety of the Lovecraft library as part of the Geek Girl Book Club. I've read a couple of his stories, and I am enjoying hearing them again. I have a friend that is a huge fan of Lovecraft, he was part of a chain crafting meme on Facebook. You posted that you would make 5 hand made items for the first 5 people to comment, then they in turn are suppose to post the same on their wall, to infinity. So for him, I made the following bookmark in honor of his love for Lovecraft.

I think I may make several of them in honor of Lovecraft. Who better to hold your place in a book than an Elder God?

Spring is Here, A Little Early

 Life is full of challenges, setbacks, and new beginnings. Our family has definitely had our share of the first two in 2012. I've tried very hard to see these changes as new beginnings, but it's not always easy when you are in the middle of it.

I've been substitute teaching since a week after I left the charter school, but it's an unstable income which causes its own variety of stress. So during my spring break I redoubled my efforts to find another job, the looming end of the school year causing me a bit of panic. I stumbled across an ad on Craigslist, and called. It was for a canvassing position (yes, those annoying people that come to your door), and I got offered an interview right away.

It is a job I have absolutely no previous experience with, but since the field I have experience in has fallen flat lately I figured a drastic change in direction might be called for. So I jumped out on a limb and completely stepped out of my comfort zone. I guess desperation has a way of making people do that.

I am just beginning my second week as a canvasser, and I'm mostly enjoying it. Lots of walking (which is helping me train for the 5K in June) and I get to talk to a variety of people. I am having to push myself in areas that I'm not really comfortable in. I'm having to be more self-confident and assertive, two things which I have always struggled with. I am worried about keeping my job on a fairly regular basis, not because I'm terrible but because I'm still learning and my last job experience didn't work out so well. I'm still seeking a teaching job, but Minnesota actually has a teacher surplus so it may be a couple of years yet before I can get my foot back in that door.

I've been looking for a house for our family to live in, but there aren't many rental properties in the area. The few that are, don't allow pets. So it looks like we'll have to settle for separate apartments in the same complex. The end of May is our deadline to be out of this house, so it's crunch time.

Now, onto things that are going well. The Girl is growing up and maturing in a way that I am very proud of. We saw Hunger Games over the weekend (which we all really enjoyed) and my husband and I got to observe her with some of her friends. It was interesting to see the difference in her when she was interacting with her peers rather than with her family. She is much more serious and intense when talking to her age mates. It still makes me feel strange when she talks about her 10th grade friend. Not because she has one, but because it's now age appropriate for her to do so. Where did all the time go? Is she really only one more school year away from high school? YIKES! I'm getting old.

If you've been wondering about the seemingly random pictures of cross-stitching, those are documenting my progress for my State Fair entry. Though I quickly realized I'll be entering it in the 2013 fair rather than the 2012 one. I really do wish that the resolutions of my life issues were making the same simple, slow progress toward being fixed. I know I'm taking all the right steps to fix things, but it doesn't feel like there is much change in our circumstances yet. I know that sometimes we don't see the results of our actions immediately, but I've never been very good at waiting. I'm good at waiting in line, but not for the big stuff.

My motto right now is borrow from Dori, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

Completed Kitten Stocking

Finished just in time! Now to deliver it.



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Kitten Stocking, Part 5

Almost done, need to hurry though, time is running out.



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Kitten Stocking, Part 3

Making steady progress, but wish it was going a little quicker. Still have to detail my other stocking, back them both, and deliver them.




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Kitten Stocking the Beginning

This stocking was requested by a friend. I've already made one for her beautiful daughter and her husband. She is a fan of cats, so I went with a cat, though I wanted a different one with the cat surrounded by Poinsettias. I guess that will teach me not to get a pattern when I see it. You can actually begin to see the cat in the design now.



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