Mardi Gras Season

Here it is! The first freebie of the new year! Being that it's my first Mardi Gras since moving to Louisiana I thought it was fitting to make a small design commemorating the occasion. Follow the link below to download the free chart!

Click here to download the PDF.

Let me know if you like the chart or if you plan to stitch it. Stitch the mask, stitch the words, or stitch the whole darn thing - I would LOVE to see it! And don't forget to add any pictures to the K+IC Flickr group!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Featured Players

Have you checked out the shop lately? I'm pretty excited to say that there are three K+IC charts currently available. Here's a tasting...

Home is Wherever I'm with You, Divine Dish, and Take Out

 

I'm in the process of stitching Home. Like you, virtual stitches just don't do it for me so I'm putting the floss to the fabric for some glamour shots. Eventually every chart in the shop will have a stitched model but you have to start somewhere, right? Here is the progess.

I have also created a Flickr group for customers to post pictures of their progress and finishes on K+IC charts. Become a member today!

 

Happy Monday. Have a great week!



A New Year, a New Start - An Origin Story

We moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in July of last year and it was hot as a damn furnace. My boyfriend - it sounds funny calling him a boyfriend after almost 7 years - got a new position in his company and we packed up our bags, sold the house, and moved from the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland to downtown Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. We're renting a 740 sq ft house - a huge downsize for us - in a very eclectic neighborhood just blocks from the Mississippi River. We can ride our bikes downtown for a bite to eat and walk to the farmer's market. Everyone is friendly and there is a great sense of community. Its a huge change for us and we love it.

I thought it would be a piece of cake finding a job in my field in a capital city. In the meantime though I had a good amount of contract work to do for my previous employer so money was coming in. As time passed with only a few job interviews and my contract work beginning to trail off I needed to find a way to make money so I could continue to contribute to my portion of our household expenses. I remembered back to last Spring when I was sitting with my dad and my brother at Hamilton Tavern in Baltimore. We were having burgers before heading downtown to an Orioles game. My dad asked us both what our ideal job would be - what would we do if we could do anything at all. My brother answered that he wanted to work for a major league baseball team, something he's wanted for years. I remember my answer because it was completely honest - no trying to please Dad, just the honest truth. I told him I wanted to live in a small house where I didn't need to make a lot of money to live the simple lifestyle I wanted, to work from home with flexible hours and time for family and friends, and to do something creative like start a needlework business that would turn my hobby into a way to support myself.

I had thought about opening an Etsy shop many times but never actually did it. Going to work in an office building every day, staring at a computer screen was tiring. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch television until bed time. Things are different now. When you take the 9-5 and the daily commute out of the equation your outlook on life changes. I still set an alarm and wake up fairly early. I have coffee and a small breakfast. I go for a nice long walk around Capital Park. When I get home I might start a load of laundry, clean up a room in the house (which is so easy with a small house), make a grocery list, I even volunteer at an animal shelter 2 days a week. All of these positive changes in my life have given me the confidence to take the next step...

Kate + Ice Cream is officially in business!

The time is right and I'm ready for the challenge. I am incredibly lucky to have a boyfriend who is so supportive and friends who have given their kind words. Expect great things from K+IC and I will not disappoint!

I will be posting regularly here on the K+IC blog so add me to your readers. I also have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Of course there is also the Etsy store so favorite it and check often. Will you be my first customer??

I can't wait to see what 2013 will bring!

Hallelujah

I thought the iMac had died... but it didn't!!!!

When we got back from our Fourth of July weekend in PA, the Mac wouldn't turn on. It tried and tried. It would make the lovely little start-up noise but the screen would stay black. I thought it was kaput. I figured Jeremy would be on the phone with tech support all night long. I guess it just took a little persistence because after attempting to turn it on again a few more times yesterday it finally kicked on! I don't know how it happened but my bank account thanks you, Mac.

Now that I'm back up and fully operational I get to post my seventh TUSAL! Thanks to Daffycat, my ORT jar is filling up nicely.

You also get a little sneak peak at my progress on Mermaid's Folly. Her tail is growing... and so is my love of stitching this piece! Corny, I know, but it's true. I think what makes it so fun is that what you're stitching is actually the background. The foreground is the fabric. So you're stitching along, filling in a big block of black and then all of the sudden a flower begins to appear. Yep - I love it.

I hope your 4th was wonderful and filled with fireworks!

Number Sixxxxxx

Here is the sixth installment of Daffy Cat's Totally Useless Stitch-a-long. Please don't mind the green growing on my porch :) The green is also growing in my ORT jar.

And I have some progress to report on Mermaid's Folly...

I can't stand how much I love stitching this chart! Whoop whoop!

I Heart Pinterest and More Progress

Pinterest is my new favorite website. It's like a virtual scrapbook. Remember my Idea Book I posted back in 2009? I paged through all of my old magazines and clipped my favorite things - clothes, interiors, gifts, ideas, projects, recipes... Well Pinterest is just the same except everything is housed online as "pins" on your very own organized page. You can search, browse, or repin other peoples pins and even make friends and network. It's pretty fantastic. Take a look at my Pinterest page and see for yourself. If you'd like an invitation just leave me a comment with your email :)

Oh yeah, and check out the progress that I've made on Mermaid's Folly. I am just LOVING this project!

My dad is in the States for work this week and next so he'll be at our house over the Memorial Day holiday!! Hopefully there will be some warm weather activities, cookouts, and lots of cocktails :) What are your plans?

Trade-o-rama!

I completed my first trade this morning! I was able to trade 2 charts from my stash for Raise the Roof's "Hang Ten" button pack. I had ordered the Hang Ten chart and forgot to get the buttons to go along with it. This way I got them for free and someone else has 2 new charts to add to their stash. Thanks for the trade, Jacki!

If you're interested in trading, take a look at what else I've got in my For Trade set over on Flickr!

New Stash, Some Progress, and Another New Start

Oh man, did I get some awesome mail yesterday or what?? Look at all these goodies. Starting from the top is "May I" (All Through The Night), "Gnomes in the Garden Row" (Bent Creek), "Fiesta Nicola Sabiel 1818" (Samplers Remembered), "Ruby Notes" (Kathy Schmitz), "Welcome Y'all" (Annalee Waite Designs), and "Hang Ten" (Raise the Roof). I bought them all from ABC Stitch Therapy during their 10 year anniversary sale. 20% off, baby! I can't wait to get crackin'.

There is also a little progress to report on Kitchen Blessings. As you can see, I finished the dark emerald portion of the border and am moving on to the lighter color. I plan on making this into a door hanger so I need to start planning that out. What you think - backing or no backing?

And I think you can recognize these...

They're boobs! Side note: boobs are fun to stitch :)

I just couldn't wait to finish up Kitchen Blessings before starting on this big ol' project. It's called Mermaid's Folly and comes from the Courtney Collection. It is a massive undertaking. The stitch count is 565 x 225. I decided to stitch it over 1 on 28ct linen. This brings the finished size down to something reasonable. The fabric is hand-dyed and so is the floss. I'm using the Week's Dye Works lovely color Kohl. It's basically black with some grey variation in it. It's really beautiful. I can't wait to show you some more progress!

Wanna Trade?

Last night I took the time to photograph all of my cross stitch and needlework stash that I'm ready to part with. I'm trying to keep my collection to one relatively small Rubbermaid container. Once that container is full it's time to weed. Now that's not to say I'm not open to a trade :) Take a look at my "For Trade" set on Flickr and let me know if you see anything that you like. If you see something, either send me an email through Flickr or kateandicecream at gmail dot com. Maybe we can arrange a little swap-eroo!

Here is quick peek at what I have to offer:

Happy searching!

TUSAL #5 and some progress

Whoop whoop! Progress all around. I got some good strangs in my TUSAL jar this month. Just ask Daffycat what it's all about.

And I made more progress on my kitchen blessings project. It's been a little while so I'm posting 2 progress pictures.

Dig it!

TUSAL #4 and a New Start

Behold the fourth Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long photo! Check out Daffycat's blog for more info.

You'll notice all of the yellow threads on top. I started a new project last week. It's called Kitchen Blessings by Enchanting Lair. I changed the colors a bit. I'm using this lovely mustard color for the lettering and two different shades of emerald green for the border. I'm stitching on an 18ct oatmeal aida. Since I'm making this into a door hanger I went with a more hearty, rigid fabric. So far I am loving stitching this project.

Stay tuned for updates!

This is where it's at!

No, really. See that little red house? Under the goose on the left and above the little pine trees? Ta-daaa! My house!

I finished Greeneframe's map of the Delmarva Peninsula a few days ago and am in love with it. I think I'll make it into a pillow for our teardrop. I just have to have to find a stash spot for it so my pup doesn't tear it to shreds when I'm not looking.

Hmmm, what fabric should I use...

Decisions. Decisions.

It's Been a While

... so here's a stitching update!

Last week I finished up a bookmark. I made this because I needed it and bought the pattern ages ago. Don't like it very much but it does the job :)

Pictured above is Whiter Shades of Pale, the new book from Stuff White People Like author Christian Lander. I bet I know who's going to be in the new new book... Charlie Sheen. Come on, what white person isn't completely obsessed with CS right now? Winning!

I also have a long awaited progress picture from my Delmarva Peninsula WIP. I've finished Delaware, the upper Shore, and most of the mid-Shore.

I am really loving stitching almost entirely in backstitch.

Well, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and aren't too soaking wet with all of the rain we got yesterday. Take care!

A Fresh Start

So I'm tired of Mary Wigham already :) Plus I just had an itching to work on something new.

I started something that I've been holding on to for a while now. It's a design by a local woman named Renee Greene. She's the in-house designer extraordinaire at Salty Yarns in Ocean City, my closest LNS. When finished, it will be a map of the Delmarva Peninsula. For those of you who aren't familiar, Delmarva is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the US. It is made up of the entire state of Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Because it's separated from the rest of the US by the Chesapeake Bay it remains, for the most part, an environmentally protected and rural area - a fact Delmarva-ians are very proud of.

Believe it or not, I actually started this chart on Saturday night. I got a bunch of good stitching time on Sunday too and ended up finishing the outline of the map. It's worked in backstitch so it comes together pretty quickly. Place names, symbols, a map title, and a North arrow remain.

Stay tuned to see Delmarva come to life!

What a Nice Weekend

I've been a busy knitter. And I think I'm finally speeding up! I have 16 inches of scarf knitted so far. It's so soft and lovely - I can't wait to be finished. I'm going to make this scarf nice and long so I can wrap it around my head about a thousand times, right up to my eyeballs! Side note: it's been so cold out that my dog doesn't even want to go for a walk in the mornings. Brrrrrrr...

And, drum roll please...

I pulled out the ol' Mary Wigham Quaker sampler last night! After months and months of neglect (it may have even been a year+) I finished the white motif. I even stitched the initials and got started on the pink section. It's still not my favorite thing but I'll keep working on it.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Yay for Monday being over!

A Finish!

It's finished! It's finished! All You Can Eat is finished! Yaaaaaaaay!

Now it has to be framed and a spot has to be saved for it in the teardrop galley :) And the peasants rejoice.


It's on to knitting!

Those Fish Have Teeth!

I did some good work on All You Can Eat this week. All that's left is the border then on to framing. My plan is to put this in the galley of the teardrop permanently. I'd like to shrink wrap it before I frame it. You know, like a piece of meat? Nice and tight. I think that might be better than contact paper. I think the glue in the contact paper might eat the piece over time.

Any ideas?

Also, I just wanted to give an update on the magnet menu that I posted two weeks ago. In the time we've been using the menu to plan out our weekly dinners, we've saved about $40-50 a week on groceries!! I can't believe how much overspending we were doing before. You just buy what you plan to eat. No impulse spending, no wasted food at the end of the week! Tough Economic Times, I think I just kicked your butt :)

Fishing and Knitting

I worked on All You Can Eat a little bit more this weekend.

For some reason my camera isn't taking the greatest pictures lately. Maybe I should ask Santa for a new one :)

I also learned some knitting basics this weekend - my aunt and cousin taught me. Right now I'm just fooling around a little. I'm figuring out how to purl. Cyberseams on YouTube has helped me get through some problems. When most instructions are geared towards right-handed people its hard to be left-handed and follow along. Cyberseams has a ton of tutorials for lefties.

Learn to knit with me!

A Night of Awesome x3

First, here is the progress on "All You Can Eat". Whoop whoop! A fish and a half to go :)

Second, I'm going to make a door mat for the teardrop. Possibly out of climbing rope, possibly awesome. I searched the internet for rope rugs and found this plait knot rug on About.com.

I found a big piece of "shoelace" rope leftover from some drawstring bags I made. I followed the how-to on About.com and came up with this mini-rug. I didn't have enough rope to do another run around the rug so I left it like this (I still think its pretty darn awesome) :

Yeah, it has some gaps in it but after looking at the same rug on Martha Stewart I have an idea of how to set up the "bones" of the rug so the shape works out better in the end. (*Hint: make the loops at each end large.)

And may I present the third wonderful of the evening...

Homemade Reese's Pieces sundaes!!!

We had the vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, the store across the street had the Reese's Pieces, and I found an awesome recipe for Friendly's peanut butter sauce on Chow.com. Drool....

I am thoroughly satisfied. I also apologize for my excessive use of the word "awesome".

Eat More Fish

I worked on All You Can Eat a bit this weekend. This is my progress as of Sunday night. We almost have a fish, ladies and gentlemen!