Our Roaming Home

...is finished! Not to mention it's the first thing I have made for the teardrop :)

Now I know that an RV is not a tear but it's travel related - and close enough for me! The lighting in this photo isn't the greatest because I took the picture last night under a ceiling light. I'll get a better one up soon... if these clouds ever go away.

Well, I hope everyone is having a great day. I'll be day dreaming my afternoon away - campfires and chilly nights.........

B is for Backstitch

Last night I finished all of the back stitching on Our Roaming Home. Whoop whoop! I love how back stitching just snaps everything into focus. All that's left to do is stitch the saying over there on the left. Then it's ready to go up in the teardrop... whenever that gets finished :)

Let the Journey Begin!

I got sidetracked again. Instead of going back to my cigar box WIP I decided to start on a whole new something.

Since the end of June I've had a one track mind - and for once it's hasn't been cross stitch! I have discovered the wonderful world of vintage travel trailers - tiny travel trailers to be exact. This includes the old canned-ham-type trailers from the 50s and 60s as well as the older teardrop trailers that are just large enough to sleep two people comfortably. I love them so much that my boyfriend, Jeremy, and I have decided to build one! We've started a blog dedicated to documenting the construction from start to finish as well as all the fun decorating bits in between. Once the thing is built, we'll also use the blog as a travel log for all those fun tiny trailer gatherings and cross-country trips! So come on over to Tracks of my Tear and read all about it!

I'll be posting the progress of a lot of the things I'm making for the trailer here - curtains, pillows, bedspreads. All that good stuff. I started something already, even though we're only in the planning stages of our build. Back when I first started cross stitching I found a Jiffy kit of an RV driving off into the sunset. I held on to it for a long time not really knowing when or if I even wanted to stitch it anymore. The disign is really simple and not completely my aesthetic anymore. But this last time, looking through my stash, I decided it would be perfect for inside the Tear. This is what I've stitched so far. I have a lot of backstitching left to do. And there is a saying that I still need to write in - "Home is wherever you roam". But I'm rolling right along.

I'm going to keep working on it this week and maybe have it finished up by the weekend. We shall see. Until then don't forget to stop over at Tracks of my Tear and tell me what you think of the project so far!

Happy trails!

I Wanna Go Back to my Little Grass Shack

Woohoo! I finished Jeremy's Sailor Jerry hula girl bookmark this afternoon! Ain't she grand? I backed her with a black and white geometric fabric. When you hold her up to the light she looks like she's playing ukulele at a swingin', mod Hawaiian luau. Her current residence is "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy.

Now I'm going to head back over to Cuba and work some more on my cigar box top. Stay tuned!

Making up for Lost Time

Since I've been a negligent mother to this blog for so long I thought it might be time to shower it with affection! Here is a quick wrap-up of what I've been working on - and finished! - over the past year. Yeah, year... Crazy.

I had started working on Mary Wigham many moons ago but it's been hiding in a drawer for almost a year now. Here's the progress...

I made these bookmarks as little going away presents for my parents...

My Dad has been in New Zealand now for over a year. My Mom left this past March.

I stitched these tiny quilts as a gift for my Aunt...

Then they were incorporated into this! Oooooh. Ahhhhh.

I sent this little piece to my Dad in NZ for his birthday last year. It sits on his desk at work :)

Towards the end of the Summer last year there was a "chain" post being sent around Facebook - make 5 things for 5 people and those 5, in turn, would make 5 things for 5 more people and they would make 5 things, and they would make 5 things, and so on into infinity. A GREAT idea in theory however too easy to back out on. I never got my "thing" in the mail but I did make 5 things for 5 people :)

I made this King Kamehameha cross stitch for George, who was born in Hawaii and goes back every year for his birthday...

This was for Rebekah, a friend from high school...

This was sent to Dave, a Halloween-a-holic...

I made this photo holder for baby William...

This was for Maggie, Jeremy's cousin...

And this went to cooking enthusiasts - and newlyweds - John and Melissa. So that technically makes 6 things. So sue me! :)

This saucy bookmark I gave to my brother for Christmas. He uses it to mark his place in school books. Hehe...

I tried my hand at making oilcloth tote bags this Spring. It was definitely a first attempt. I wasn't super thrilled with how they turned out - so "not-thrilled" that apparently I didn't take any pictures of them. I guess I'll have to do that now. Buuuuut, I did use the bags as an opportunity to make K+IC fabric tags!! Just fold them in half and sew them into a seam. I love them.

And, in 2010, I am proud to say I finally put some more stitches into my Cigar Box Art WIP. There's even been more progress since I took the picture below...

I did take a break from that to make a wedding card for my childhood friend, Val. She and her husband met in Baltimore. Awwwww...

And last but not least - drum roll please - I present to you my CURRENT WIP... a sweet little Sailor Jerry hula girl bookmark for my BFF, Jeremy. Don't mind her tiny arm, it's much larger now. She even has the makings of a head. I am stitching it over one on black 32 count. I know I'm crazy. But it's almost finished. There's no turning back now.

So I hope you've enjoyed my sprint through the past year and don't feel too abandoned. I am alive and well and hope to take much better care of my blog from now on...

... fingers crossed.

I Know, I Know

Like I said before, I haven't posted anything in a long time. And for good reason. Blogger is blocked at work!! How dare they! So, of course, I can't get to my Dashboard to post any new entries. But worst of all... I can't keep up with your blogs! Anytime I try to view a Blogger blog I get prompted for a system password about 20 times. Click, click, click, click, etc. It's endless. Eventually the page loads but I know that a million little warning lights are going off up in IT. I'm just going to have to move all of my internet aspirations to "home time".

DAMN THE MAN. SAVE THE EMPIRE.

So there's the rub - sad but true. I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with posting - because I'm sure you all know that I am definitely still creating. It's just hard to go from sitting at the computer all day at work to sitting at the computer in my free time. If there are lapses here at Kate + Ice Cream take a look over on my Flickr for the latest happenings.

Now on to the good stuff...

Tiny-bama is finished!!

This awesome chart by Subversive Cross Stitch is a re-working of Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" poster from Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign - just in case you've been living under a rock :) I wanted to do something a little different with it so I stitched it over one on 32ct white linen and changed the colors around a bit. The resulting awesomeness is about 1.25in wide x 2.5in tall. I framed it using a very presidential portrait-y frame I found at Michaels in their SnapShot collection. I love the clash between the intricately traditional frame and graphic poster. So you get a real idea of size...

Now that Obama is finished I plan on revisiting some things that I put to the side: (1) Hallow Sampler, (2) TIAG's The Auction, (3) a special project that I'm working on for a friend.

Stay tuned! And don't forget to check the Flickr!

Get 'em While They're Hot!

Jo-Ann Fabrics is having a huge Spring sale and the black oval frames that I used to finish up my pet silhouettes are on super sale - I think 40% off. They would also look great spray painted colors other than black or maybe sanded and distressed. Anyway, they're really nice and have great vintage detailing. Thought I would share!

It's True

Framing Fiasco

After much deliberation I decided to use the frames that I had bought a few months ago for the pet silhouettes. Originally I wasn't quite sold - they had the look I was going for but seemed a little large. Turns out oval frames are almost non-existent anymore and anything smaller that I found was too small. Anyway with everything said and done... I love them! And good thing too because boy was it a labor of love getting these things framed up. Phew, baby.

The day starts off taking apart the frames and cutting foam board to the size of the glass. I can't cut a straight, non-jaggedy line with an Exacto to save my life so the boyfriend was recruited. We went through a few "oopsies" before getting 2 ovals cut to the right size. Then I cut my batting, 3 pieces for each (one big, one medium, one small). Next, at the ironing board, I end up burning a portion of the linen around the cat - the iron was set to "linen" and everything! No idea. I was heartbroken. Thankfully when I mocked it up the huge burn was just outside the frame. That was probably my closest call of all time - literally millimeters. With all of that out of the way I started framing the dog, had it all pinned to the foam board, even started cleaning up the back. Then I realized I hadn't signed the piece or written the dog's name on it yet. DOH! After all that was the grand idea - to created portraits of all the family members, even furry ones, that come into our lives over the years. And what's a portrait without a name to go with it? So I, extremely carefully, took everything apart and stitched in dates and names. After that everything was smooth sailing. I guess I learned that no matter how excited you are to get something finished up still take the time to make sure everything is exactly how you want it.

Confucius says, "Measure twice, cut once".

The Frenchman

The Lioness

Aside from the framing horror show I've been doing a little work here and there on Primitive Needle's Hallow Sampler. My camera died last week after 7 years of service (RIP, good buddy) so I hadn't taken any update photos. We bought a less-expensive replacement this weekend, a Nikon Coolpix, and I'm back in business! Here's the latest...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Finally, a Finish!

About a year ago I had an idea to make old-fashioned silhouettes of the entire family. Instead of going the paper cut-out route I figured that cross stitch might be more interesting. I also decided that over 1 would give them that crisp, paper look I was going for. (I would sooo do over 2 now in a second! Ug. Talk about a ton of work.) At any rate I finished my Frenchie's, Louis, silhouette last year around Thanksgiving and then started up on the cat, Boh. Since you don't need a chart to stitch a silhouette once the outline is layed down it became my stitch-at-work (hence no update photos) lunch break/sanity getaway. All of those 30 minute sessions did eventually add up to something though. Feast your eyes...

Meeeoow! So now they're both finished and are looking for frames. What do you think? Matching? Mis-matched? Oval? Square? I might be leaning toward something vintage and oval. Still pondering.

So my new lunchtime project is going to be - drum roll please...

The Primitive Needle's Hallow Sampler

I already got a few stitches layed out yesterday afternoon. It's such a fun project I don't think I'll be able to contain it to just stitching at work! Plus those last 2 quilts on Told in a Garden are just wearing me out. This will be a nice break.