The Back Story ...

I'd like to keep track of the various crafting projects that I've been working on, so why not another blog?!?

I intend to use this for both the cross stitch projects and the other ones I toss in along the way just to keep things interesting.

I also should start figuring out what I am going to do this year for Christmas. More tree ornaments? This time with year "charms" attached? Hmm. Things to think about. Hopefully to figure out before the first week in Dec!

But since I started this blog to track progress for the cross stitch, it is only fitting for it to figure in the first post.

Several years ago I discovered House-Mouse, via a Dimensions counted cross stitch kit at Michaels, a big chain craft store.

I completed "Sew busy" that year while out on the usual 2 week camping vacation, and discovered that there are more patterns/kits in the "series." Since I tend to make some elaborate Christmas gifts for my sisters and Mom, I figured this year I would do the mice. One for each of us. Sew Busy was the largest piece, so I only needed to complete 2 smaller ones in time for Christmas, totally do able!

This summer in 2014 (some 4 years later) I FINALLY completed "my" piece out of the series.

"Make Lemonade!"

Now, where is this long, drawn out story going you ask? I really liked stitching the mice, and most of the patterns were very cute. I bought another pattern that I had thought was along the lines of the ones I had previously purchased. It was not.

When I got it, I was a little disappointed. It was complicated. REALLY complicated. The pattern was not one big folded sheet of picture, it was a whole bunch of 9x11 sheets of paper covered with symbols. How on earth would you read that?! 89 colors used to stitch this pattern? Wow, yeah that so isn't happening. So I shrugged and tucked the pattern into the drawer where crafts go to die and thought nothing else of it.

Fast forward.

In a Herrschner's catalog there was a gorgeous counted cross stitch pattern called Treasure Hunt Bookshelf. The colors, the picture itself, they were amazing. It was magical. I wanted it! However, in the fine print, again, this is not a kit. WTF.

I like kits. You buy it, and do it. No extra planning necessary. No hiccups of not being able to locate supplies etc. No spending $$$ on floss you won't look at again. So I started looking into it more in depth.

Treasure Hunt Bookshelf is a pattern by Heaven and Earth Designs, (HAED) they have a website, perfect! So I looked into it further. The chart uses 90 colors?!?

Hey, wait, where have I seen that before?! So I unearthed that pattern that is somewhere in the realm of 5 years old and looked at it again. It's also a HAED pattern, although not on their website anymore. After reading though the FAQ on HAED's site and trying to puzzle out the confusing mass of acronyms I figured that I should be able to muddle my way though it. After all, how hard can it be? It's cross stitches. A bunch of little x's on a page.

Ready to rock and roll!

I made myself a deal. If I can complete Wreath of Love, I could do Treasure Hunt Bookshelf, and that my friends was the start and my introduction to the world of Heaven and Earth Designs.

Wreath of Love is being stitched 1x1 (one strand over 1 square) on White 28ct Laguna. I started it Fall of 2014. So far these are the Work-In-Progress photos of it.

01-Feb-2015

It is a tedious project. SO MUCH confetti (for those who don't know the lingo, that is a lot of color changes with only one or 2 stitches in each color in a given space.)