Coming Down from the Mountain

I've returned from the mountain; I've left a "place apart," the real world, home. Here I am back at my permanent address after a summer that was more amazing and blessed than I could have imagined. I adored each and every camper, I was in God's beautiful creation all summer feeling closer to Him than ever, and I was awash in His joy and peace. I'm still trying to find ways to bring that world back with me from the mountain and let it seep into every part of my life here.

I've started and finished listening to The Old Maid, by Edith Wharton, while working on Love One Another, the famine relief chart. I've started reading The Giver, by Lois Lowry. I've also been singing camp songs, doing camp crafts, and engaging in vespers (evening worship) and praying out-loud. Thus go my attempts to blend my two lives now that I am (nominally) "home."

Here's Love One Another, before and after:

Happy stitching, and may God's peace wrap you up like a warm blanket!

2015 WIPocalypse: March Post

It's time for another WIPocalypse update! I admit, I'm actually writing this early and scheduling it to post on the proper date, because from February 28 until March 7 I'll be on a mission trip in Costa Rica! I couldn't be more thrilled at this amazing opportunity. I shall have to post about it when I'm back. :)

Anyway, on to the update! The topic for this post is: "If money – and time – were not limiters, what projects would be on your stitching bucket list?" Wow, what a question. Although I haven't been stitching for long, I already know I would probably say just about every Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks pattern, almost every Dimensions Gold Collection kit, along with several other Dimensions kits, a bunch of Lizzie*Kate patterns, and some Heaven and Earth Designs pieces. If only money and time weren't such limiters!

Despite limited time (especially so this month, because of midterms), I feel like I've made good progress on my WIPocalypse pieces. I haven't touched most of them, but I finally finished two of them, which were close to being finished!

1. Honor Restored: Untouched
I still haven't decided for sure about this one. I really appreciate all the suggestions I got on my last WIPocalypse post! It seems the general consensus is I should go 1 over 1. I'd like to wait until I'm positive before I do anymore work on this piece though! Also, the Kreinik I've stitched with so far is already 1 over 1, and it's about as bulky as the 2 over 1 floss, so I'm not sure how it would look with 1 over 1 floss.

2. Love One Another: Progress!

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After:

3. Flowers in Purple Vase: Finished!

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After:

4. Shell Collection: At home and untouched

5. Hummingbird Duo: Finished!

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After:

6. Margaret Sherry Christmas Mice: Untouched

7. Bookworm Fairy: Progress!

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After:

Thanks for stopping by! I shall look forward to seeing my fellow WIPocalypse-ers' progress when I get back from Costa Rica! Happy stitching~

2015 WIPocalypse: February Post

It's WIPocalypse time again! :) The topic for this month is: How do you overcome that feeling that you’re in a rut with a particular project? I don't have tons of experience with that, since I've only been stitching for a couple years, but so far just putting the project aside for a while has been all I need. After working on other projects for a while, I always get out of the rut and am eager to return to whatever project I've put aside.

Here are my progress pics for the month:

1. Honor Restored (new start)

I'm a little unsure of this piece right now. It's going to be absolutely huge, so I want to make sure I feel good about doing it 2 over 1 on 25 ct. evenweave, full cross stitches. This project was a gift fully kitted up, so I'm definitely using this fabric, and I prefer full X's, but I'm mulling over switching to 1 over 1. I want good coverage though. I'll get back to this piece once I'm more sure of it.

2. Love One Another

6. Margaret Sherry Christmas Mice (new starts)

7. Bookworm Fairy (new start)

This has been the piece I've really been working on. I'm so glad I chose 2 over 1 on 18 ct. Aida for this, it's a lot less stressful for someone like me who's only been stitching for a couple years. I'm on my 6th shade of blue - it's a good thing that's one of my favorite colors!

January 2015 IHSW

Hi y'all! I just finished my first week of the semester last week, and boy was it crazy! Between all the readings I had in Latin, ancient Greek, and English, and the papers I had to write, I didn't get any time to stitch. International Hermit and Stitch Weekend came just in time! Perfect excuse to just cozy up and stitch on Friday night. :) Although I'm crazy excited about my classes, I look forward immensely to any stitching time I can get! Anyway, here's my progress for the weekend:

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After:

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Happy stitching!

Lots of Updates (FNWF, TUSAL, etc.)

It's been a long time since I could squeeze in a visit to the blogosphere! Some highlights of the past couple months:

-I returned to Davidson College for my sophomore year

-I read my first Platonic dialogue in the original Ancient Greek

-I watched a ton of Star Trek: Voyager

-I finally started reading A Game of Thrones

And now for stitching updates!

I participated in Friday Night with Friends for the first time last night and did some serious stitching on Little House Needleworks's Famine Relief Chart (Love One Another).

Before:

After:

I'm also quite overdue for a TUSAL update, so here are all my orts since I moved back into school:

And here is the progress that's been made on Tardis 3D since I last posted a picture of it!

After such a long absence from the world of cross stitch blogs, I was crushed to find out just yesterday about the death of Debbie of Debbie's Cross Stitch. She was an amazing person. I found her blog not too long after I first started cross stitching and would check it every day. She inspired me, and she always replied to my comments. When I started my own blog, emulating her, she always commented on my posts with encouraging words. I pray that she has found eternal peace.

LHN's Love One Another

I've had this one going for a while but am only now posting a picture, I think. It's the famine relief piece from Little House Needleworks, "Love One Another." It will be a gift for my grandparents, along with the requested donation going to the charity of their choice. I'm hoping to have it done for Christmas, but I'm sure school will sidetrack me come fall. I've been listening to a lot of C.S. Lewis while stitching this - Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, etc.