Work in Progress Wednesday!

Hello again!

Now that my house is guest free and I’m (almost, at least for now) back to a regular schedule, I figured it was time for an update.

The baby blanket I was working on a few weeks ago is complete, so I’ll post pictures of that later this week, but otherwise I’ve been a bit out of the crafting loop, unfortunately.

Boyfriend and I have a 2 week vacation coming up that I’ve been working on planning that has taken up a good amount of my time, but I’m working on things, I promise!

This week’s work in progress is with soapmaking. Did I mention I do that occasionally too?

Don’t mind the messy molds. I don’t have a melting pot that I can easily pour from. 

While I have not been adventurous enough to meander into the world of processing my own soap (yet), I do enjoy playing around with scents and colors while using a melt and pour base. Today is no different.

While it down-poured outside, I melted up some soap bases and went to town. I decided to work with a Honey base that I colored yellow and scented with lemon and ginger essential oils, as well as an aloe base, tinted green, with a green tea and cucumber scent.

While I haven’t un-molded them yet, I am pretty happy with how they came out and excited to try them out! (Added bonus, my craft room smells wonderful right now!)

Otherwise, I have been working toward opening an Etsy shop. While I’m a bit nervous that I may have missed the Etsy train, in terms of getting there before it became crowded with inexpensive, mass produced items, I still think it might be worth a shot. I do a lot of crafting and would love to share it with the world.

Enough of my ramblings for today though. Happy crafting and I’ll be catching up with you all soon!

Cross Stitching: An Update

If you followed me the last time my blog was active, you’ll remember this piece.

It hasn’t gone too much further, mostly because I ended up setting it aside for the greater part of a year. I’ve picked it up again in the last few months and am anticipating finishing soon.

This piece, while I am happy with how it will come out, has been a huge thorn in my side almost since the beginning. because it is full color, it has been much more time and labor intensive than I had assumed it would be and may very well be the last medium-large sized, full color cross stitch.

I would, however like to start designing some smaller pieces as sell-ables. I just need to get this done.

I’m hoping that, with some really effort, I’ll be able to have this done by September, though I have a very busy August ahead of me. Wish me luck!

Work in Progress Wednesday

Here’s a look at the projects I have in the works!

Crochet

This is a corner to corner blanket I’m working on for one of my good friends. This is my first C2C blanket and I’m really enjoying it. It’s simple enough that I can watch TV while I work on it, and it still looks relatively intricate. I’m also probably more excited than I should be about passing the midway point when the rows start to get smaller. Similar to with my shawl/poncho, I find it easier to procrastinate when rows get increasingly longer. (I’m good with rows that stay the same length.)

I think my next afghan is going to be using shell stitch. I think it looks very pretty and I haven’t really used it for anything.

Cross Stitch

It doesn’t look like much yet and, admittedly, I haven’t had a chance to work on it since Sunday (The day I started it.)

When it’s a bit more complete, it will begin to take shape as the Fulton Mansion (Rockport, TX.) The pattern is by Nancy Spruance designs — I bought it and two others off 123stitch.com. if you’re into historical, Victorian home cross stitches, I highly recommend her line.

I’m excited and nervous about this one. For one, it’s probably the most intricate design I’ve ever completed. Also, it uses some techniques I’m not super familiar with – mainly half, quarter, and three quarter stitches. I find them a bit intimidating and (honestly) tend to purposely avoid them. This is also my first project using a scroll frame and stand, as well as gridding out my fabric and using blended color stitches.

It’s for my dad though, so if I make a few mistakes I’m sure he won’t mind. I’m excited to see it start to take shape.

Otherstuffs
On a less crafty note, I’m going to consider reading The Shining as a work in progress. I’m not too far in yet and I should get back to it. I was reading every night for a while there, but I decided to buckle down on my Pokemon/Game of Thrones cross stitch to give it the final push it needed and reading went by the wayside.

My final work in progress for today is cleaning up the basement. We have a split-level so our basement is actually viable living space, if I could get some of the crap moved out of it. It’s still got some unpacked boxes (We moved in a year and a half ago!) and it tends to be a setting spot for things we take home from holidays and such. Christmas gifts went from the car to the basement and (while they have since found their homes) stayed there for longer than they should have.

We keep talking about getting a couch and a coffee table and making that a fun living area, we just need to get it done. And that starts with me cleaning it because it’s much easier to prompt a productive couch shopping trip when there’s a place to put it.

So yeah. That’s what I’ve been up to. Hope you enjoyed the update.

Happy Wednesday!
Happy Crafting!