Spent: $55.00
Earned: $8 (I finished Spring Sunshine Line!)
Carry-Over: $3
Hi all,
I felt like I spent a lot the past two months, so I'm honestly surprised I'm still in the black! A substantial portion of my spending was for finishing supplies, so I was happy to reread the SFS rules and discover that didn't count towards my spending. : )
As it is nearing the end of summer, I bought a couple patterns to try to finish before Christmas. This will be my first Christmas at my home because previously I was 12 hours away from my family and would travel a week at Christmas to see them, so decorating at my own place felt unnecessary. Now after the move, I am less than an hour from my family, so I get to decorate!! To begin my decorating, I purchased a couple items at my favorite online stitchy store's Christmas in July sale.
The first is a Santa ornament, "Cozy Christmas Santa" by Jim Shore/Mill Hill:
Eventually I want to purchase and stitch the whole set, but I started with this one because I love the quilted look of his robes.
I also purchased another Christmas pattern by the same designer, "Snowman":
And, like the Santa ornaments, I would love to stitch this set as well (there are four in the set: snowman, Santa, reindeer, and tree.)
And my biggest purchase of the month, which I cannot believe did not end up breaking my Stitch from Stash bank, was an item that has been at the top of my wishlist for almost two years, and which I KNEW I would buy eventually, but it is a rather pricey kit (for my budget) and I had decided to wait until I finished another one of my bigger projects. But then I found out two weeks ago that it was being discontinued, and luckily I was able to find it from a seller (with a discount!) before it disappeared from the marketplace completely:
This is "Art Nouveau by Mucha-primrose" by Lanarte. I love love love this artwork, and this design. I was also very excited to discover that although the kit lists 14 ct Aida as the fabric, it is in fact 28 ct evenweave inside. I am trying to restrain myself from starting: I am trying not to grow beyond my 8 WIPs (which, let's face it, is what I said at 4 and 5 and 6), but 8 really is enough for me, and is the perfect number for my new rotation.
Speaking of my rotation, this week my focus piece was the baby sampler for my future niece, which I am happy to say is not only finished, it is a FFO! I finished it on the day she was born:
Obviously, the pink ribbons in the center of the blanket are digital (covering up her name and birth date). I really enjoyed creating this: I love the 3-D effect, and all the different special details made out of ribbon, beads, metallics, and memory thread. I mounted the stitched "clothes line" pieces on a burlap backing I found at Walmart (already mounted on a frame), and used lace on the corners to fancy it up a little. I have several of Brooke's Books Spirit Angel Ornaments, and I loved creating this so much (the final touches were almost even more fun than the stitching), that I will definitely be working on one of the ornaments in the near future.
And - whew! - I have written a lot! Thank you all for reading and your comments, and I look forward to reading your posts this month!
Happy Stitching!
