SFS - April '15

Budget: $52.05
Earned: $4.00? (13h x 59w) 
Spent:  - $20.94
May Budget: ($35.10 + $25) = $60.10

First off, I'm not 100% sure about the 'Earned' credit amount. It's either $2 or $4 depending on what I go with. Just the stitch h & w is $2 but if I do the math shown under the rules (13+59)/2 = 36 and so that would be $4. So I went with $4 but if anyone knows for sure please let me know!

So what did I finish? My NCCIH logo.

For those who don't know what NCCIH is it stands for "Nerd Central Command International Headquarters". Carla started it by calling her stitching/craft area "Nerd Central Command" and then we decided that since our stitching hangout gals were from all over the world (Canada, Alaska, Germany, Netherlands, Arizona and Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado) we should have our areas the "NCC International Headquarters". So, I created the pattern last year but had yet to stitch it up. I chose 'spring' themed colors with DMC's color variations thread #4215.

So far each NCCIH stitch up has been so different and reminded us of different seasons. We didn't have a 'spring' yet and the purple/blue/pink colors in the thread reminded me of Easter. My pattern originally had a 'hoop' stitched around the NCCIH text and you could use beads or whatever to represent the knobs on a traditionally wooden or plastic hoop and a needle represented under the text that could be either stitched or if an extra needle was available just left with the fabric. Whatever the stitcher chose.

I however, had already planned to use a wooden hoop to frame it so there was no point in me stitching up a fake hoop.

Michaels:

So, what did I spend my $$ on this month? I got the 5in wooden hoop I used for NCCIH ($1.49), 28ct evenweave for the logo ($3.00 after 50% off coupon), DMC color variation thread ($1.39) and 2 DMC satin thread S501 & S818 ($.29/each). The satin thread I picked up on a whim because they had certain colors on clearance. Out of all of the ones on clearance though, those were the only 2 colors that they had in stock.

Hobby Lobby:

A sectioned plastic tote, the same one I use for my threads ($1.20 after 40% off coupon), blue cotton fabric from clearance section ($1.79), 2 packs of size 10 needles for R&J ($1.99/each), a pack of small bags for beads ($2.47) and 4 Mill Hill bead packs that were on clearance ($.95/each).

Walmart:

So my closest Walmart carries a very small selection of DMC colors. I picked up 2 colors I need for one of my next projects for $.33/each.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* APRIL PROGRESS ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bead Organization:

I spent some of the day on Tues when I purchased the items from Hobby Lobby re-organizing my beads and putting them in the new tote. If I knew the color/size of the beads I noted it on the bag. Since I got a lot of them from Carla (and without knowing the size/color) I left them blank. The various beads were then sorted by color - with all the petite beads, at least those that I knew of, in their own section. But I might change that and add them to their color families. SB - seed bead, AGS/ASB - antique glass seed bead, PSB - petite seed bead. Extra bags are stored in the long section to the left

Pokemon:

 

 Close up of the purple/gold dragon needle minder that I got from Carla. I finished Leafeon on the 15th! ^_^ I'm not still not sure about the small green section next to the right ear. I think I'll end up taking it out and restitching it as the brown once I finish the rest of the pokemon. 

Glaceon's light blue was finished yesterday (the 28th) with the medium blue started. I still have some light blue accents on the front legs to do but I will wait till I finish the dark blue part of before stitching them to make it easier for me to count and ensure I don't mess it up.  I changed a few things on her. The face was with a few stitches moved to make 1 continuous line up and around rather than breaking it up The blues are actually  lighter in person and the medium blue used here will be the main color used in Vaporeon.

I think the left medium blue design will probably be ripped and restitched to shift it so it's pointed to the to the side light the right one is. Or, switch the right to be pointing downward like the other 2.

Any suggestions??

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ NEXT PROJECTS *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Grandma's Calendar:

From "World of Cross Stitch" 219 - the 'My First Calendar' pattern. My Mom was with my when I purchased this magazine last year and as we flipped through it she and I thought this would be perfect for her to have for Miss Emma and any other future grand-babies. Since it's going to be used for more than one grand-kid, we decided that leaving off the personalized name part would be the best idea. So yesterday (28th) after I fished sorting through all my magazines and finding the pattern again, I recreated the pattern in my PC program and moved the 'Day/Date/Month' line and '....weather...' line up about 7 spaces so it didn't look like it was missing something without the name.

I will need to pick up some more colors, 14 ct Aida, 14 ct plastic canvas, magnets, and a blank canvas 16in x 12in in order to complete it so I may or may not get to it next month.

October Flower Bookmark:

 

From "Bookmarks Galore" book I'm going to do October from the Monthly Flower Bookmark series in it. I had started it years ago but I had set it off to the side and lost interest in it. Why October? Because it's my Mom's birth month and at the time I started it I wanted to give it to her as a gift of some sort (depending on when I finished it). However, I started it before I had learned many of the tricks I know now (loop start!) and the back was a mess of knots, dangling thread, etc, so I ripped it out. I then noticed that I had used some of the wrong colors and about 5 of the colors I needed I didn't have. So I picked up 2 at Walmart and will be getting the rest at a later date.

I have 1 more bookmark like the one that I will be using for October. They were both picked up years ago but I haven't seen them at Hobby Lobby since.  They are from the "Stitch-n-Mark"TM Classic Collection and was recommended for use in the "Bookmarks Galore" book so I'm a little sad that they're hard to find now. I haven't tried looking online though.

"12 Days"/Pokemon:

I now have to do 3 days on my "12 Days" project to catch up but I've been trying to finish my Pokemon project for the contest. However, since it has been taking longer than I would like I will probably switch over to "12 Days" after I finish Glaceon till I'm caught up.

Until next time everyone, happy stitching!!