August Goal #1 Complete!

Well, after almost eight months of procrastination, Charmander is finally done! After I set my month's goals on the first, I decided that I was just going to finish my "Complete a Pokemon Ornament" as soon as possible. I didn't touch any of my other projects until Charmander was done, even though I was incredibly tempted by Home Sweet Home Yoshi and some undisclosed patterns that I'll be working on over the course of the next year for the Sprite Stitch Charity Quilt. (I should have those two projects announced by October at the very latest. I just don't want to spoil the surprise until I officially have the games I want by my name on the annual spreadsheet.)

But back to Charmander! I worked on him furiously over the first weekend of this month and I was completely done by early Sunday morning, so I decided to just to dive head in head first and printed off a Ditto pattern to work on, as well. Turns out that by the end of August 3rd I had TWO pokemon ornaments to show for this month! SO is really happy and I have to admit that I am, too. I'm not on track to finish my goal of 20 ornaments for the year, but in total I have 5 done so far. If I'm smart and I choose easy-to-sew patterns, I can definitely get the last fifteen done by the end of 2014, but that's only if all 18 units of classes this semester, plus dog sitting, plus work don't take all of my time up first.

July Recap & August Goals

Well, it's hard to believe, but happy August 2014! I have no idea where summer has gone, but as of Monday it's officially ended for me. I start my new position at work come Monday, but no University until the end of the month, so summer may be winding down, but luckily it isn't over yet.

Last month I set out four goals for myself:

1. Use up remaining cotton yarn.
2. Add 2,000 stitches to HSHY.
3. Finish one Pokemon ornament.
4. Add 20 rounds to Ian's blanket. (Sort of.)

I blew my goals for Yoshi out of the water and added at least 2,000 stitches, if not closer to 3,000. I also managed to use up almost all of my remaining cotton yarn from my stash--pictures to come Wednesday. And even though I technically didn't finish my 4th goal of adding 20 rounds to Ian's blanket, I did finish up another blanket very similar to his and it's all wrapped up waiting for me to give to a good friend once I see her at work again come late August. The only goal that I didn't complete was #3. I did not work on Pokemon ornaments at all, but I did manage to get sidetracked and finish two other cross stitch ornaments for our future video game Christmas tree. I should have them posted on Monday, but I'm really happy with how they've turned out so far.

As for August goals, I'm not really sure how things with my new job are going to work out, so I'm setting the bar pretty low for this month.

1. Add 1,000 stitches to HSHY.
2. Finish one Pokemon ornament (Charmander).

Anything else that gets done next month is extra credit, in my opinion. There is going to be a lot that goes on in the next month just in terms of work and school, but SO's dad might be going back in for some elective surgery within the year, so I'm not sure what's going to happen. I'm just going to play it close to the chest for now and whatever gets done gets done. As I always try to remind myself...

Pokeball Keychain

Over the last few months, I've been fortunate enough to attend a number of Street Pass San Diego events in the area and meet a lot of other local 3DS players. It's a really neat group and because they do so much for the local community, I told them late last year I would craft some items for them to give away at their monthly meet ups. After finally getting my act together in terms of time management, this is what I came up with. When coworkers asked me how long it took, all I could say was "two episodes of Mad Men," but this was a really fun project and I can't wait to make one for myself in the future.

Bellsprout: Cut Out (2/20 Done!)

Well, he's finally done. Charmander still doesn't have a head, but Bellsprout is 100% done. It took me until Tuesday night to work up enough courage to use my new Xacto knife, but once I got the hang of cutting things out, I actually had quite an enjoyable time extracting Bellsprout from his plastic canvas prison.  I ended up with so many little pieces of plastic on my desk, though! Look at the pile of little plasitc bits that I ended up with on my desk.

My next step was to try and find a better way of backing this little guy. I used sticky felt and scissors last time with Bulbasaur and I had a terrible time with the adhesive sticking to my scissors, so I was hesitant to reuse the method. I liked that the sticky felt held all the threads in place, though. A friend on Sprite Stitch recommended that I just take stiffened felt and backstitch it to my canvas, but quite honestly, I've never tried backstitching on a project before and it just sounded scary.

So, it was back to the sticky felt. I wasn't sure how the adhesive would behave with my Xacto knife, so I just went for it. As it turns out, an Xacto knife cuts through that stickiness pretty darn well and I was able to back Bellsprout and add a hanger to him relatively fast before getting ready for  class. (Yeah! I've actually been on top of my studying so far this semester, so I've had some time to not only craft, but craft on weekdays again!)

Anyhow, hopefully I'm back indefinitely in terms of posting. I have about three other posts in the works today and--finger's crossed--my studies won't end up consuming all my time again. Like I said, fingers crossed!

Pokemon Sprite #2/20: Bellsprout!

As mentioned in a previous post, my "new year's resolution" was to cross stitch a whole bunch of Pokemon sprite ornaments for my boyfriend so that was can have the nerdiest Christmas year ever in 2014. I never put down into writing how many sprites I wanted to complete this year, though, and after some contemplation, I've landed on the nice, round number of twenty. Although the number is rather small in comparison to the total number of Pokemon that Nintendo has put out over the last few years (718, yikes!) I think that twenty ornaments is an attainable feat, even if I am working twenty hours a week and taking fifteen units this upcoming semester

Anyway, I have finished my second sprite, and I must say that I absolutely adore it. When I was younger, I loathed Bellsprout. I thought he was weird and funky and...strange to say the least, but because of the following, I've been in love with this little guy for years.

After reading up on plastic canvas pieces, I have decided to leave my sprites uncut and on their 8.5x11" sheets until the plastic fills up. It creates less waste in the long run and should help keep my workspace from being perpetually bombarded by little flakes of plastic from cutting. The pattern is by Vicky of Birdie Stitching. What do you think? (The WIP sprite above is a Charmander.)

New Year Resolution: Pokemon Sprites Coming Out My Ears!

Well, I know that I've said it already, but happy new year, everyone! With the holiday season finally over and a fresh year upon us, new year's resolutions are also looming. This year, I didn't make any resolutions. Instead, I made a promise to SO that by next Christmas, I would have a bunch of Pokemon Christmas ornaments to hang on his Christmas tree. I've already gone to my local craft store and bought out their supply of 14 Count plastic canvas, 20 yards worth of ribbon, jump rings, and felt. Here's the horde from when I got back from Michael's (along with a Makibird pattern for Bulbasaur.)

I actually made Bulba over the course of two days. Working with plastic instead of Aida was an interesting experience to say the least. Hiding my threads as I moved around the piece was a good learning experience with the clear plastic and I've found that the stickiest substance in the universe is the adhesive that felt manufacturers put on the back of the "Peel N Stick" stuff you can buy. I tried using permanent spray glue to adhere to regular, stiffened felt, but for some reason it wouldn't stick, so for now I just plan on continuing to use Peel N Stick until I can find a better alternative.

Here's Bulbasaur in progress and him once he's all finished. I worked on him consistently for two days and I'm glad to say that he turned out amazingly for an experimental run. The next pokemon in my line up is Bellsprout. He's a lot more twiggy than Bulba, but I think with enough patience, he'll look just fine.

#001 Bulbasaur

Shiny Squirtle FO for Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that this post reaches you in good health and high spirits. After weeks of toiling, twelve hours of work on the turtle himself, and a countless number of hours (twenty plus?) filling in the background, this little guy is finally complete!

I am also pleased to say that SO loved him more than I thought he would, too. In fact, this little squirtle was beloved that I was asked not to sew him into an ornament, but instead finish this piece so that it could be hung up on the wall all year round. I think I was more excited than SO when he said that!

Some information on the pattern before I forget. This pattern was made by littlemojo. An archive of his Pokemon patterns can be found here. I'm not sure if all 718 species are posted on there, but if you're looking for a particular one and can't find it, I know that the Squirtle file included Wartortle and Blastoise, as well, so that might be a way for you to locate missing patterns.

Merry Christmas,
Bob