EkHrafn's Dove

Where has the month gone?

2009-08-31T13:02:00.001-04:00

That's odd... I thought I was rather diligent with being crafty this month... But alas I haven't anything to show.... sigh. Baby Boy is as cute as ever... Does that make up for anything? :p

A few quick stitches

2009-07-28T12:59:00.002-04:00

We went to the Seattle area Highland games over the weekend. While there I picked up a little cross stitch project. So far only got the header done. Next up the Hairy Cow.

The Insane Person's Photo Quilt

2009-07-08T19:24:00.008-04:00

I was trying to find picture of a quilt that I'm nearly done with the binding one, but the pictures seemed to have disappeared. While hunting for the missing pictures I came across pictures I had for a different quilt that is long since been completed. But since I had not shared pictures of it yet I figured it was high time... A show of good faith that I am in fact going to write about my stuff.

So it all started long ago what I came across a really cool quilt pattern called Hunting Grounds by Gathering Friends:
I the crazy person that I am decided that this would make the coolest photo quilt ever! One would have though that once I got the pattern and found out the lovely little strips at the top and bottom were from a panel I would haven't given up... no instead I sat spent a few late night diligently constructing the quilt using photo shop.

I first had to find a useful ratio for the strip photos. This is what I came up with:
If you noticed my version has 12 spots instead of the 10 in the original pattern. This is because if I were to crop my pictures to the ratio to make a 10 all my pictures would look really really weird since most of my pictures start life as vertical pictures and not horizontal ones.

From there I added my pictures and played around with there placement. Actually in all fairness I printed off thumbnail size version of all the pictures I considered using and played with them on a table for a while, and then tested them in photo shop. Thus coming up with this:
And then I gather "swatches" on-line of various fabric lines that I like that were aviable at the time. I ended up settling on the Kansas Troubles fabric. After another late night playing wiht photoshop we had something like this:
Happy with the result I went fabric hunting. The local quilt shop was running very low on Kansas Troubles since they were using it for their block of the month kits, but I manage to squeek by.
Cutting and peice wen relatively quickly. Well there was the matter of getting the photos onto fabric, but I just used some my inkjet printer and some fabric paper from Joanns... it wasn't from the quilting department... it was some generic type that i liked.

I do have to say that there were a great many 3/4" strips used to get the 1/4" borders and those got rather tedious after awhile. However like I said it peiced together quiltky to form a HUGE quilt:

we now return you to your regular postings...

2009-07-08T16:15:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not we have a new entry!

Things has been a whirlwind:

Mr. Mac returned from a year long deployment.
I graduated from college.
We drove across country to get to Mr. Mac new duty station.

We are still up to our chins in boxes but I'm able to make a little bit more progress on a few of the projects that have manage to surface.

Stay tune for the upcoming fun!

Too cute not to share

2009-02-12T21:03:00.003-05:00

Icky cold Georgia weather is acting pretty. Baby Boy got to spend some time in the sun the past few days. I got this pic of him and it's just too cute not to share.

I'm back at college for my last semester. It would have been a waste to have stoped with only credit hours left till a degree. It's hard to go back, especially since it's a full load day and classes start at 8am... that's not really bad the icky part is the school is 60 miles from my home. It's a good hour and something to get to class. couple that with baby not wanting to sleep and you have for a very tired mommy.

Baby Boy is sprounting! last doc check up he was 95% in height and 50% in weight. He has an appointment later this month so I shall know just how much more he is gaining. As you can see he has two little teeth! he love to sit up. he doesn't not laying very much. he is getting good at rolling if he lets you lay him on the floor and not cry lol. if you "leave him alone" he is really good at playing by himself when he thinks you aren't looking. he loos very intently at his toys. very cute

epp little one has woken up and not sounding thrilled. duties call

Progress!

2008-11-13T22:44:00.001-05:00

Alas stitching and wee ones don't mix, so I haven't got to stitch much with the baby. This past weekend I planed to relax and stitch at my MIL's house while she wayched the baby. Sadly all the sleep I got was due to getting the stomach virus from my neice. sigh. I did recover enough to enough a little bit of my holiday and got to get a little stitching done on Veterans day.

Before:

After:

Autumn Update

2008-09-22T08:56:00.001-04:00

Grump no where near where I'd like to be with these. I was musing to put the border of the design on the Name square however the time it's taken me to do the amount I've done thus far I think I'll cut that lose. With that said I'm more than half way done with the lot. Perhaps *crosses finger* things will be done by the weekend... but deffinately next weekend?

A Little Progress

2008-09-15T12:38:00.003-04:00

Baby boy is a month old! Days drag by, but weeks seem to fly by. Fussy Buttons got his first hair cut yesterday. You probably think I'm insane for cutting his lovely locks this early. But it's a Chinese thing. My mom tried to explain it to me but I still don't know why. But if Fussy Buttons is anything like his dad or me, his hair will grow back soon enough.

I worked more on my Autum Fair and Square blocks. I have the center motif done. Goal is to have the design done by this weekend. All the back stitching done the following week. And then the name block done the following. Idealy would like it all done before that, but well I'm trying to be realistic lol. Will post the progress pic here after the blocks have been recieved.

Can it be... a Post?

2008-09-11T23:20:00.003-04:00

Little fellow is nearly a month old! Beautiful Baby boy is growing bigger by the day. He's strong and healthy. One couldn't ask for a better baby. He has his querks mind you but we all do.

It's been a week since MacMac had to go back to his duty station. He wont be back till May, so sad. Feel so sorry for him, missing out on the baby's milestones and such. sigh. It's a hard life, but its one we chose it. We are however musing at the thought of having me and the wee one visit him for the Holidays... Musing being the key word since with layovers the flight there is a stated 20 hrs. that doesn't included getting to the air port or secuirty. I'd really hate to be the lady with the screaming infant on board an air plane, but someone has to be :p

I think i put in ten mins of stitching in to Celtic Christmas while MacMac was here helping me out. I puttered about to much to be able to enjoy the breaks he was giving me to their finest.

Realizing my stitching time was going to be very tiny, I decided small little projects are my best bets. That said I never can figure out what to do with the little buggers. So I was delighted to fine the Fair and Sqaure blog. It seems to be a lovely solution to my problem. With the deadline and all it also forces me to find a moment to stitch, which also means that I'm taking a moment for myself and therefor my life isn't completely over runed by the little guy.

I'll wrap things up with a pic of the floss toss for the Autumn Exchange I'm doing:

Birth Announcement

2008-08-17T08:52:00.003-04:00

Baby Boy was born Tuesday Morning!

He weighed 6 lbs and 12 oz and was 18 3/4 inches long.

For Someone who should be studying....

2008-07-31T00:48:00.003-04:00

I get a great deal of crafting done? Actually I was rather diligent yesterday. This evening is a very different story. Todays final I actually had a shot of making a better grade if I worked really really hard at studying. Tomorrows final no matter how good i do i have the same letter grade, I just can't fail the final or I'll lose my letter. So I'm not too terrible concerned about tomorrows final.

After I got home I had some quiet time with the scissor holder. Alas I'm sick of orange and had to take a break from it. oh wells.

I decided to clean my sewing machine area. And being that it was cleared off I decided to do some sewing. I made another square for the In Bloom block of the month. As much as I love block of the months I'm good at finding the pitfall of a pre cut pre packaged one.... the opps i shouldn't have done that error. the error that can't really be fixed and you just have to adapt. The block isn't suppose to look like this it's my attempt to fix a problem. Don't worry the top isn't messed up it's just that the blocks are too big for my 12 x 12 storage stuff so I hate to fold them up so I use hangers to keep creases out of them. And since I don't want any marks from the clamp things I fold scrap muslin to cushion it.

However after that interesting ad lib I think it's time for bed.

More stitching...

2008-07-28T12:08:00.005-04:00

and not much studying. I really need to get my act together. Just a heads up though, between needing to study, I'm migrating to my mom's house this weekend. So a fair amount of packing is involved there. Mac will be home for leave soon, and the baby will be here shortly after. So just a warning posts may be far and few between, and most liekly will have a more family theme to them.

But in stitching news I did so some stitching this weekend. I'm still doing the which screams at me the most method. I'll probably switch to a project a week method but haven't decided. Anyways this is the progress on Celtic Christmas:

However I got a little tired of all the red so I switch over to the Viking Sampler. Alas even with gridding I goofed on stitched placement so next time i go to work on the bugger i'll have to start with some undoing of stitches oh well. I had that sort of day yesterday.

I also couldn't resist starting something small and new. It didn't help that last weekend I found the a box of DMC variations on clearence and felt it was too good of a deal to pass up and bought it. But atleast it will be a practicle project. It's a scissor holder. A freebie that can be found here. I'm using DMC 772 and the variation DMC 4120. Minus the few (okay many) goofs that required a great deal of undoing of stitches it's turning out nicely. I really do need a scissor holder, while working on Celtic Christmas I kep losing the scissors. Once this is done i'll be able to loop it onto on the the scroll knobs... well that's the plan if it works is a different story lol.

A sense of accomplishment

2008-07-24T13:27:00.003-04:00

So I got loads of stitching done last night on the Celtic Christmas! So this is what I started the evening with:
And this is what it looks like after having Galdiator and Beutiful Mind play in the background.
And this is what it looks like off the scroll frame! It might actually be done in time for Christmas!
Next week is finals, but I think if I buckle down the week after I might get a good portion done! and then I can start thinking about which Celtic Lady will be next on the scroll frame.

Block by Block

2008-07-23T01:37:00.003-04:00

I'm so loving my pregnancy. I have just a few weeks to go. There's an on-line group of mom who are due the same month as I and most are wanting it to be over and the baby here. I'm actually enjoying it. There has been uck but it's been managable, and where most of the other mom's to be actually had someone to help them out, I've been helping keep morale of my deployed hubby up.

That said one thing that I've had a case of is insomnia. I had it prior to being pregnant so i'm not that concerned. It does mean that I've done some mild stitching since if i can't sleep might as well be "productive."

And so I worked a wee bit more on the Rune Sampler. 1st pic is what it looked like when i started. The second is what I ended on. As you can see i didn't get very far. Many because my mind was going a hundred miles an hour trying to convince me to start a new quick stitch project. I wont permit myself another quick stitch this month, even though i feel oh so productive when i finish one. No i need to make a good summer time dent in all my long term projects. Since baboo is due next month I haven't a clue how much stitching I'll have time for.

To appease the "something new" feeling I did opt to tuck the Rune Sampler away and work on my Celtic Christmas. I have all five charts for the Celtic Ladies. I've been working on Christmas since 2005 eep! I think I figure out why i've been dragging my feet: it's all one colour. The thing I look forward to with the seasons is that they aren't all one color. And boy are there some lovely color conversions out there that really make me hurry up and finish. But I only got two blocks worth done before the sleepiness kicked in.

No stitching was done this evening. I had a project I needed to work on for class. Next week is finals and that always is a double edge sword of good and bad feelings lol.

Here's to the time and attention span for some stitching tomorrow!

Brought to you by the letter Z... or is it R?

2008-07-19T23:45:00.002-04:00

Worked a little on the Celtic Rune Sampler. Completed "Algiz," which means Protection, assistance, defense, and or warning. I had to undo stitches because i miss counted on the next rune, So i decided that i was going to put down a grid. Thus not much got done tonight.

Finished "I Do"

2008-07-18T02:51:00.003-04:00

I'm rather happy with how it turned out. I hope you don't mind my use of the floss as censory. I had to think really hard on how to go about that and still make it look pleasing to look at. But what is covered up are our initials and our wedding date. Such a happy sampler!

Welcome to My Blog

2008-07-17T23:41:00.001-04:00

Blog, Five years ago today, I went to the grocery store it get a half gallon of milk. He was my bagger. He offered to bag the milk and I declined. He walk the milk out for me, I laughed at him saying he did not need to. He asked for my number, I lied and said I did not have a cell phone. We got to my call and there sitting in the driver’s seat was my cell phone. He put his number in and told me his screen name. I did not intend to call him, but I had no qualms with having something to chat on-line with, so with a screen name that was just too outlandish to remember I ended up calling him.

We have both grown up these last five years. Gone through tests and rigors that some people may have thrown the towel in saying it’s not worth the effort. People grown when people go through transitions in life, as a couple you have to recognize that people in fact change and it’s the ability to still cope with the changes that get you through.

We went through the transition of high school to college. Together we made the decision for him to join the military. We dealt with being in school here with him stationed states away. We survived a yearlong deployment. We joined hands in holy matrimony. We are expecting our first-born. We are in the middle of another yearlong deployment.

We spent the first two years of courtship seeing each other every single day. It was a rough transition once he joined the military. In the past three years, added all together, we have seen each other for 8 months worth of days. Long distance relationships are hard work and not for the faint of heart.

Therefore, to help usher in a new year to our courtship, I am starting a little blog. Geared mostly to be a place to highlight my hobbies there may be a couple snippets about my goings-on’s. I’m not sure how personal I’ll get, this post was rather personal but surprisingly not as detailed as it could have been.

Don’t be surprises to find backdated entries. As I’d like to document things when they happened and I’m betting that happening and documenting might not always coincide.

Don’t work entries probably wont ever be this long. Thank you for stopping by and please come visit again.

Mrs. Mac

Salute to Fathers is Complete

2008-07-10T17:00:00.000-04:00

In case you can't make out the letter it reads: "Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a daddy"

I had to step foot into the Cross Stitch Store...

2008-06-27T16:00:00.000-04:00

Actually, my problems began when I stepped into the bookstore last night. I went to get a book, but I also needed to kill some time. I wondered over to the magazines and thumbed through all the quilting and cross-stitch magazines. Now I vowed that I would not add to my collection of cross-stitch patterns until I finished what I have already started and made a dent in the patterns I already owned.

But Oh! There are patterns that are nice. And then there are patterns that sing out to you, that not only do you have to have it but also you have to stitch it RIGHT NOW.

That is what happened at the bookstore. In the June 2008 Just Cross Stitch Magazine was a pattern I just HAD to have. In addition, it needed stitching ASAP.

So to the cross-stitch store I went the next day. For said project, I did do well. I bought two skeins of The Gentle Arts: Freedom and 32 ct Linen… I lost the slip I wrote the color down oops.

Down near the basket of small pieces of linen was a sampler that just screamed, “I’m the one you are looking for!” I have wanted something to mark our wedding and this one just seemed so right.

The pattern is “I Do” by Bent Creek, but it had some color changes done to it. Weeks Dye Works for Vines and Leaves. Gentle Arts Old Blue Paint for I do, Initials and date. Weeks Dye Works Angel Hair for Alphabet. Also added Buttons. I picked out 32-count Prairie linen to stitch it on.

I cannot wait to start stitching these two. I hope MacDorcha enjoys them as much as I do!

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

Poor Mac, he doesn’t get to be home for his first father’s day. This past week I’ve been busy creating on the sewing machine. I wanted to create something unique for someone so special and dear to my heart.

Vola! Aint it geeky? Lol. How better to say “I love you” and “I understand what I’m getting myself into” than with a Super Mario Mushroom Quilt!

Okay it’s just the quilt top. I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do for sashing and backing but well the lucky recipient wont be home for a bet so I have some time to think it over.