Poppy Fairy by Joan Elliot

Marriages hit their rough patches especially when there is a lot of change to cope with. My husband and I had a bit of a break just over a year ago. Our reconcile date was 11-11-11, Remembrance Day. In honor of that date that we really committed to change, for Valentine's Day I'm sewing Poppy Fairy by Joan Elliot.

As an aside, if you haven't tried getting magazines on your tablet, I highly recommend it. Easily bookmark and zoom in on patterns. You have access to your thread stash list and more on the go so you don't over buy. International and back issues can be a few dollars cheaper or even significantly less than buying in print. You always have access to them to download, and supplemental freebies are now being added to the end of the magazine. If you have young children or are prone to coffee spills, this is great. You can also print just the patterns you need. Cross Stitch Collection (awesome fairy patterns) and Cross Stitcher are two brilliant magazines from the same publishers with different themes that offer a free back issue to test. I can't remember the last time I went on such a magazine spree.

Fabricland sells Aida to cut. The roll was a smidgen dirty where she cut so she added a bit more fabric to cut around and marked it half off. It worked out to paying $2 for the fabric for this project and I have plenty left for two more. Membership for students is available and membership is significantly worth it. I saved what I paid for it in one trip.

If you're local to Kelowna, Kelowna Yarn and Needle Crafts (http://www.kelyarn.com) had all the colors I needed (Michaels sold out half the colors I needed and are better organized with better quality notions - no substitutions needed). I was given some really good pointers to keep my project sewing smoothly.

It's been so long since I've cross stitched. I started a mysewingcircle.com project page. I got my threads all organized. I bought all my notions. I've posted a picture of what I've done so far. I'll post more pictures as I go along. Wish me luck!

My Sewing Circle and the First Cut

So cool discovery. There is a Ravelry equivalent for sewing in the works. It's still in early development and the community is still building but it's worth checking out if you haven't already. Seeing different color or alteration ideas for sewing and tracking my tools, library and notions is fabulous! My username on there is the same as Ravelry so look me up :)

That aside, Christmas break was short and needed. I thought I was going to get a ton of crafting done but all the holiday preparations, visiting and relaxing took over. So today in the new year I'm getting getting organized for my first patterned project since sewing classes as a child. My fabric is washed and air drying. Almost ready to iron. I've done some reading on machine sewing. I chose some cheap fabric so I wouldn't be upset if it didn't turn out right but that backfired; I love the fabric! I'm nervous cutting it. It's like that blank canvas a painter stares at before the first stroke. I will post pictures later. So here goes!