Kathy's Stitching Blog

Queen of the Needle

2012-01-22T23:12:00.000-08:00

Here's the progress I've made this week on Queen of the Needle. It's a fun stitch, with some specialty stitches. The only thing I've changed (so far) is that the pattern called for Perle Cotton for some of the white, but I didn't like trying to stitch with it (mostly struggled with even just threading the needle! LOL). The roses (the pink flowers) are a funny little stitch, and the hearts are stitchined with kind of a satin stitch. The white row under the hearts is a "fan" stitch. In between the two sets of pansies there is a charm that gets attached, and there are also some other beads to attach. Obviously, I'll leave all of those for last.

Thanks for checking it out!

I'm BBBAAACCCKKK!!!

2012-01-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

So - it has been a ridiculously long time since I've posted in here. Part of it was just being busy, and part of it was that I had lost my stitching mojo for a while. But - I seem to have it back! (And, by the way, thank you to those who were concerned that I hadn't posted for a while - it does make you feel good when people "miss" you!).

Anyway - when I resurrected my stitching mojo, I stitched a little bit more on my Vegas picture - but I'm not posting a picture until I finish the page I'm on. But as a reward for finishing a row of blocks, I started a new project! (That's a way to jump start mojo right - start something new!).

The something new I started is a Lizzie Kate - always a fun easy stitch. I found it when I organized my stash over New Years - I knew I had the pattern, but I didn't realize that the pattern came with the fabric and the threads - so no work to kit it up!

The pattern is a 2008 Special Edition called "Christmas is Forever". Here is my progress so far:

And here is the sideways picture of what it will look like what it's finished! LOL (I can't figure out how to rotate the picture on here, but you get the general idea.

As is always the case with a Lizzie Kate pattern, it's been a fun stitch so far.

My Southern California Stitchers group had a LOVELY get together yesterday. Six of us descended on one the home of a very generous group member, and settled in for about 6 hours of stitching, talking, laughing...and oh yeah, lunch! We had a great time, and that's where I got a lot of time in on this project.

I'm hoping to get back into a rhythm of rotating my projects AND updating my blog! Wish me luck (I think I vow to be a better "blogger" every year! LOL)

Finished the Cross Stitching....

2011-09-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

So I finished the cross stitching on Spanish Geometric Sampler, now it's time to do the beading. I've started it a little bit last night - the beads are purple and green. (Well, not purple and green - purple beads, and green beads).

I've finished some other things, but they're for gifts and I'm not sure if the recipients read my blog or not, so to be safe, I won't post them here. Once the giving occasion(s) go by, I will post pictures here (and I will look really prolific!).

Anyway, thanks for checking it out.

Boulevard of Dreams Progress

2011-08-13T21:33:00.001-07:00

Well, after another couple of weeks of stitching, I made a LITTLE more progress on my HAED. This was actually taken last Sunday, but I never got around to posting it.

It seems like I go in spurts with my blog....I'm either writing LONG entries and posting pictures faithfully every week, or I'm viewing it as a chore to update. Since I cross stitch for fun (my two jobs are enough work - I don't need more!), when it feels like a chore, I just don't do it! LOL

I also have a few little finishes - however, they are gifts for people who may or may not read my blog...so I don't want to post them here. I think I can safely post them on some of my stitching groups (selectively) and not ruin any surprises. My best guess is that most of you know me from a Yahoo group (or two!) so you can check there to see my pictures.....

Thank you all for sticking with me - whether I'm posting like crazy or posting sporadically!

Spanish Geometric Sampler

2011-07-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished the third page on the Spanish Geometric Sampler. The fourth page is the smallest of the four pages (the pattern's not evenly divided). This is a fun travel project! After the stitching is done, then it gets a bunch of green and purple beads - that's green beads and purple beads, not green and purple on the same bead! LOL

2011-07-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

Okay - going to try this posting again. I thought I had it, but alas, the picture didn't work! I found that out when Gabi and Julie sent me messages and said "Nope, didn't work!"

So, I thought I would try it a second time. I can't pull pictures into my blog from blogger, but I can seem to "push" them from Picasa, so that's how I'm doing it. We'll see if it posts better this time!

Anyway, AS I ALREADY TYPED ONCE....LOL.....I've been remiss. This picture was taken on July 12th, two days after my "Page 1 is done" picture. It was the progress I made from the time I took that picture until the time I took my HAED out of my rotations for a couple of weeks. I was working on a couple of little things, but they're gifts for people who sometimes check out my blog, so....can't post them here.

Meanwhile, I've been BUSY the last couple of weekends. Two weeks ago was my sister's 50th birthday party with the family. We went to a lake near my parents' house, and had a nice day. My other sister and I had made her a poster with pictures of her, and we all bought her gift certificates to pamper herself - a massage, and a manicure / pedicure. So hopefully she'll take advantage of it!

Then last weekend (Friday) we went to a free concert in the park with that same sister to see a Rod Stewart tribute band. It was a nice evening - people bring chairs, blankets, food, and drinks and hang out and listen to the music. They even had a dance floor. Saturday I had a reunion with some former co-workers from a job that I worked at from 1989 - 1999. There were about 30 of us there, and it was an awesome day. We were at the beach (always rough! NOT!) and had beautiful weather. Then on Sunday I had tickets with friends to see Mary Poppins (the stage version). I LOVED IT!!! I think I enjoyed it more than my friends 7 1/2 year old daughter, and I'm proud to say so. Mary Poppins is my favorite Disney movie.

Then last night we went to our county fair. I like to go look at the arts and crafts stuff, and the fine arts stuff (photography and painting). I was a little disappointed in the stitchery....it seems like every year there is less and less. And I hadn't been last year (and I don't remember if I went the year before) but they've changed how they display the stitched stuff. It used to be that in various sections there would kind of be themes....and there might be quilts, china paintings, knitting, crocheting, sewing AND stitched stuff that fit that theme (Christmas, Halloween, Babies, Patriotic, Weddings). Now they have a spot for cross-stitching, a spot for knitting, a spot for crocheting, etc. I liked the old way better because people who might be looking at the knitting might see something cross-stitched and become interested. Now unless you're already interested, you're not going to see the stitched stuff. The stuff that was there was pretty, but there just wasn't enough of it!

Anyway - this is a LONG post - I sure hope the picture works this time.

And in a minute, I'm going to try to post a picture of my Spanish Geometric Sampler.....

Page 1 Done

2011-07-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Okay - so this is my first HAED ever - and I'm counting each page as a "mini-finish". So I've finished page 1, and I'm getting ready to start page 2.

Some statistics (probably only interesting to me, but.....LOL)
Started - 5/15/11
Finished - 7/5/11
Days Stitched - 25 Days
Time Stitched - 79 1/2 Hours
Stitches - 7,840
Percent Completed - 3.73%

Now onto page 2 - more of the same, blues and purples! :-)

Queen of the Needle Update

2011-07-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

The lighting on this picture isn't perfect - I took some with a flash and some without. Surprisingly, the ones without flash washed the color out until the fabric looked white (it isn't - it's pink). This one was with the flash, and the colors are a little "truer".

I don't feel like I made a ton of progress this week on this one. I finished the leaves in the row of pink and white flowers, and then I stitched the white flowers and the pink flowers. It's hard to see in the picture (I should have taken a close up of just that row). The white daisy looking flowers have smyrna crosses for the centers and satin stitches for the petals, and the pink flowers are just straight stitches in three different colors - I think there are something like 36 or 40 stitches in each flower. It took a TON of concentration because it wasn't just counting! The next row is pansies.

If you aren't familiar, it's a Just Nan pattern. There's a medallion type thing that goes in the middle of that spot with the top of it being between the two pink flowers in the middle. It's kind of challenging (not in a bad way) in that it requires some concentration on my part because of the specialty stitches. The white lacy stitching on the top was supposed to be pearl cotton, but I gave up because I couldn't get the stupid needle threaded! Sad, but true!

Any, thanks for looking!

One more week on my HAED

2011-06-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's another week on Boulevard of Dreams. Still lots of blues and purples.....still not QUITE done with page 1. I think the next week it comes up in the rotation I'll finish Page 1. It's going to literally take me years, but that's okay - it's all about the trip, not just the destination. (Although in the case the destination is pretty awesome - since it's a picture of Vegas! LOL).

And after I finish this one, I have a Chicago one to do next (assuming I have any inkling of sanity left!).

Frederick the Literate

2011-06-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here's my progress on Frederick the Literate. One of my stitching groups has been talking about this one and doing a Stitch-Along of it. I'm not officially participating in it (I've got too many other projects I'm juggling to commit wholeheartedly to this one) but it was like an old friend when I pulled it out.

I'm not even a big cat fan - but I am an avid reader, so it's half fitting for me! I just thought it was a really cute picture.

For those that don't know, it's a Dimensions kit. However, the only part of it that's really Dimensions for me is the pattern - I subbed out different fabric (they had stiff aida, and Dimensions - at least in my opinion - doesn't give you enough fabric, and I just didn't want to deal with that. Then I found a Dimensions / DMC conversion and converted it all to DMC floss.

Anyway, thanks for looking. This was actually my progress picture from LAST Sunday (the 19th) I just never got around to blogging it.

HAED Progress

2011-06-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well, after another week of stitching, I've finished another three rows of blocks of stitching (roughly 2,400 stitches, plus the overflow into the next row). Now it will get put away for another week while I work on another piece. You can kind of see mountains coming into focus in the picture......

Thanks for checking it out!

Finished another page

2011-06-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished another page of my "Spanish Geometical Sampler". This has been my travel project forever (it seems). It's a perfect travel project even though it's a little big. Because things repeat it doesn't take a lot of counting (you just have to follow along with what you've previously stitched.

It's a four page pattern, and I just finished page 2. But that's really more than halfway done with the stitching, because pages 3 and 4 aren't full pages. But then again, I'm probably less than halfway done because it gets beads as well.

Thanks for looking!

Progress Picture

2011-06-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest progress on my Blue Ribbon Designs project - the name of it is something like "Letters, Leprechauns, and Luck" (or something along those lines!). I'm liking it - it's an easy stitch - the little extra partially stitched squares are just to use up the end of a piece of floss.....

Thanks for checking it out.

Perspective

2011-06-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well, this picture was to try to give some perspective on just how LITTLE progress I've really made on my HAED. I shouldn't minimize it, a start is a start, right?

The pages of the pattern are (approximately) 8 squares across and 10 squares down, so 80 squares to a page. There are 35 pages (not all complete pages, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to say they are full pages. So, that makes 2,800 total squares. I have completed 24 squares (plus some fractional ones, but I only count "full" squares. That means I am approximately 0.86% of the way done! LOL

To add to the ambitiousness of the project, I am not working only on this. I have a total of four "home" projects and one "travel" project in a rotation. The travel project is a repetitive geometric design, so it's ideal for travel. I don't want my other three home projects to get neglected. So I'm going to work one week on this project, then a week on project A, then a week on this one, then a week on project B, etc. So I will stell get time in on my other projects.

Thanks for checking it out...

Started my First ever HAED

2011-06-03T20:58:00.001-07:00

Well - I did it!!! I took the plunge! This is the beginning of my first ever HAED! It's a design called "Boulevard of Dreams" and it's a picture of the Las Vegas strip at dusk. So the sky is all sorts of blues and purples.

I gridded just the horizontal lines (except for the left hand edge) because I figured as long as I could find the four corners, I could "make" the square out of it. I was too anxious to start, so I only gridded the first ten lines (the pages are 98 stitches long, so ten rows gives me the first pages going across.

The pattern calls for 2 threads on 25 count - I can't imagine how you would begin to do that. I'm doing 1 over 1, and the coverage is fine. I have another picture, which will show just how small this portion is in comparison to the whole picture. However, I've been struggling to get the pictures to post in Blogger. I finally got this one to post by going into Picasa and choosing the "Blog This" option. However you can only do one picture at a time that way.

I also have been keeping track of my time. Since this is a stitch at home project, I've built an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the time, and I've been counting full squares as "done". Obviously, I cross over into other squares, so the time I've spent and the number of completed squares aren't REALLY a clean match. So far, there are 24 completed squares, and I've stitched for 32 hours. But I don't strictly stitch - the television is always on, and the computer is next to me so I am periodically "distracted".....LOL

Anyway, thanks for checking it out....I think I'll post the other picture on a second blog post. Or maybe I'll see if I can edi this and add a picture. We shall see!

Been busy!

2011-05-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here - actually, been busy since the end of April.

First off at my second job it's been a little crazy . For those of you who don't know, I work one job 2 days a week and another one three days a week. The 2 day a week job I've been at for about 6 years now. It was full time, but they were hit hard by the economy, and when they downsized, they had to cut me to two days. I wish that wasn't the case, because I LOVE it there, but, alas, it is what it is. The other job, where I work 3 days per week, I've been at for a little over year. We've been downsizing there in the last couple of weeks due to the transfer of a big client. So it has just been crazy hectic THERE! I do accounting, so layoffs mean final checks, and all the other stuff that goes with it.

The last weekend of April / first weekend of May (April 30th/May 1st) we were in Vegas for a long weekend with our bowling league. Gambling didn't go great, but bowling went pretty well. I ended up being the second highest scoring female bowler, Mike was 5th highest for the men. And our team came in third! So I won almost $200 bowling, Mike won about $100. So that was nice!

Then of course, we had Mother's Day - we had a fairly low key celebration - my sister had my parents, my other sister, and us over for a WONDERFUL dinner of tri-tip, crab legs, cheesy potatoes (my contribution), asparagus, salad, and cheesecake! YUM!!!

In the meantime, I finished my dollhouse.......here's THAT picture:

This past weekend was my great niece Alexis's First Holy Communion. She prefers to be addressed by her full name - Alexis Grace! She's a sweetheart, and LOVES being the center of attention. So she was in her element in her princess dress. She is Anthony's older sister (those of you who have been following my blog for a while will remember Anthony - he's the cutie patootie that was treated for kidney cancer two years ago). She has already decided she wants to go to Stanford, and has written them a letter telling them so. Of course, that's still 10 years away!

Finally - if you've lasted this long - I started on my first ever HAED. It's called "Boulevard of Dreams". It's a picture of the Strip in Las Vegas. I gridded the first 10 squares - I figured that will get me thru four pages across. That means I'll be good for a quite a while. I got a LOT of stitching time in yesterday, and completed 2 squares (with quite a bit of overflow). I'm going to try to track my time on this one because I know it will take a LOT of time and I know people will ask.

No pictures of it yet - it's just a blue rectangle right now.

Thanks for checking it out!

Lots of Updates

2011-04-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Finally got to give the birth announcement picture to my niece and great-niece. Yep, that's Payton in my arms, and her mommy, my niece Jillian. Jillian was thrilled. Payton on the other hand didn't seem very impressed....although in her defense, it was time for dinner! LOL

This one is my Just Nan - Queen of the Needle. I've had it out for a couple of weeks, but I still seem to be in a stitching slump at home. The progress I've made on this one has been mostly in the last day or two - so I'm hoping that maybe I'm out of the slump now!

And last but not least, my travel project. It's by The Needle's Content and it's called "Spanish Geometric Sampler. It's a four page pattern, and this was when I finished the first page. There is a little "bleed over" as I went onto the next page if I still had some floss left on the needle. I took this a couple of weeks ago.

Finally - after looking at the HAED (Heaven and Earth Designs) website a number of times and not seeing anything I liked, I heard someone talking about a Chicago pattern. So, I had to check it out, and I LOVED it. So I bought a Chicago pattern and a Las Vegas pattern, both by the same designer. His name is Dennis .... something or other! How's that for helpful??? But if you search on Chicago on the HAED website you'll see it, and if you look at that designer and look at "Boulevard of Dreams" you'll find my Vegas one. As much as I would LOVE to start one or both of them, I am telling myself I HAVE to finish something else first! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Two Progress Photos

2011-03-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back to my "normal" rotation - so here's a picture of Frederick. I had him out for two weeks, but really only stitched on him one week. For some reason, I just didn't have my stitching mojo this past week. It seemed like by the time I got home from work, did whatever needed to be done around the house, I just couldn't muster up any interest in stitching. Might have been my car situation - which I will explain about at the end of this post. If anyone doesn't recognize it, it's a Dimensions pattern - Frederick the Literate. However - all I'm using of the kit is the pattern. I subbed out the floss for DMC, and the aida for black evenweave.

This next picture is progress on my travel project. It's not the typical travel project because it's not very small - but it makes an awesome travel project because the motifs are very repetitive and it only has five colors. It's not the greatest picture - I thought I took some with the flash and some without, but I don't think any of them had the flash on. The colors are purples and greens - three purples and two greens. This pattern is called "Spanish Geometric Sampler" and it's by "The Needle's Content". I saw someone else stitching it, and really liked it - wasn't easy to find, but 123Stitch was able to special order it for me.

And on to my car saga. We have (well, had) two cars - one is my Explorer, and the other was an 18 year old convertible that my Dad had given of us (because we had been sharing a car). Last Saturday, we were out for the day, and someone crashed into the convertible - the estimate to fix it is $13,000. Not likely to happen, since the high blue book value on the car is only about $2,000. So - now it's a matter of dealing with her insurance and my insurance....what a hassle!

And I did get to deliver the bingo picture and the baby sampler in the last week or two. My friend Diane LOVED the bingo thing - and she did notice her birthdate included in the picture. And yesterday I saw my niece and the baby, and gave them the birth announcement. Her hubby was sick, so I didn't get to see his reaction. My sister took a picture of my niece, the baby, and me, with the birth announcement. As soon as she sends me a copy, I will post it.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Back from the Framer

2011-02-26T18:40:00.001-08:00

I stitched this for a dear friend that we've played bingo with for more than 10 years. Her birthday was back in October, but right before her birthday her father passed away. So, her birthday passed without a bunch of fanfare (as she wanted it) so we bought her a gift card to a restaurant and kept things very subdued. But she's in a little better place now (with the birth of her first grandchild) so even though there's no occasion, I'm giving it to her now. I decided not to mat it because I didn't want it getting too big. We tried frames in every color that's in it, and the red just made the whole thing pop. It's a little set back so that the charms didn't hit the glass. I customized it a little bit by scrambling up the numbers so that her birthdate is included in it. It will be interesting to see if she notices!

And here is the baby birth announcement I did for my great niece. The framer agreed with me that a simple frame and no mat was best - the pink and blue checks make it look already matted (or at least I think they do). The only other frame I might have considered was pink, but they didn't have any pink frames - well, they had one - it was bright pink with glitter all over it! LOL

I'm happy with the way both of them turned out. It's funny, when I look at the picture of the birth announcement, the bottom of it looks a little crooked. I even went and looked at it again - it's not, it must have just been the way I took the picture!

And on a different note - the subject of blog comments came up on one of my stitching boards, and I realized I'm guilty of some bad blog etiquette. I am thrilled when people comment on my blog, but I'm not very good about commenting on other people's blogs. Part of that is because often I feel like all I would be saying is "That's gorgeous", and I feel like that's repetitive. But then I realize I like to hear that about my stuff, so other people probably do to. The other reason is I follow a lot of blogs on google reader. So I often don't even go to the blogs. But I have made a decision to be better about commenting on people's blogs - even if it's just to reinforce other people saying how pretty things are!

So....with that being said - thanks for checking out my blog - and if you have one, and if you post on one of my stitching groups are, odds are I will comment at some point! :-)

Finished the Birth Announcement

2011-02-19T08:16:00.001-08:00

Well, I finished my great niece's birth announcement...my first finish of 2011. It's actually been the only thing I've stitched on since I started on it which is not my "normal" system. But I really wanted to get it done.

I made a few changes to the pattern - most noticeably in the center part. I didn't like the "fill in the blank" style of the center, I wanted it to look a little more "formal". So I wrote out the date and stuff. The other thing I changed is the original pattern called for the baby's first and last name - I did first and middle, since the last name is down below with her parents' names. And...since she's a girl, I changed the coloring of the lettering to a dark pink rather than blue.

There are a few other less obvious (at least in the picture) changes - the pattern didn't call for stitching the white background on the wallpaper around the clock, the clock face, the stars (nor did it backstitch around the stars) and one part around Mother Goose's apron. But I thought it looked funny to have floating dots on the wallpaper, and also that it looked funny when the rest of the picture area was solidly stitched.

On Monday, it will go to the framer, so I can't wait. I'm thinking of a white frame - I don't know if it will need a mat - I think the blue and pink squares will kind of act like a mat. We'll see once I get there and we play with mats and moldings.....

Thanks for checking it out!

Update on Fairy Tale Baby

2011-01-23T21:02:00.001-08:00

First off, I apologize for the dark picture - I usually play around with taking some with and without the flash, but for some reason, I forgot to when I took the picture.

I didn't post an update last weekend because I THOUGHT I would be done with the stitching of the design (other than the border) by Monday, or Tuesday at the latest and I figured I would post at that benchmark.

Instead, I spent Tuesday evening frogging. The bottom left hand corner is about five or six shades of brown and tan for the ground. On Monday, I went in to fix one solo stitch that I had missed, and then, somehow, forgot which symbol the thread I was using matched up with, so I went ahead and started continuing with that piece of thread on the WRONG symbols. I got a little further along before I realized my mistake. And because there are so many color changes in that area, the threads get kind of interwoven with one another on the back, so frogging gets a LITTLE tough!

I finally frogged it, and finally finished off the stitching of everything except the pink and blue border...and the backstitching. After I took this picture, I started on some of the backstitching, and it does bring the picture to life.

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and all your comments!

Sad News

2011-01-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

The world has sadly lost a wonderful woman, a talented stitcher, and a good friend to many....

Rest in peace Rene LaFrog....you will be missed by many.

You are thought of with every stitch.

Update on Fairy Tale Baby

2011-01-09T20:27:00.000-08:00

Here is my progress picture on Fairy Tale Baby - it's a fun project to stitch on, and it's been the only thing I've stitched on since I started it. The baby is 3 months old already (in my defense, her parents didn't pick it out until after she was born).

I've made a couple of modifications to it - the face on the clock and the white on the wallpaper weren't stitched in the original pattern. But I didn't like the "negative" space aspect to it. I'm not one who needs the whole thing to be solidly stitched, a lot of patterns obviously call for unstitched areas. But on this one since the whole frame area was stitched (except that area) I thought it looked funny. The other thing is the stars (which you can barely see in the sky because of the angle) are also unstitched, and I'm going to fill them in with white as well.

The other thing I'm going to change is the lettering in the middle (which will be the baby's vital statistics - birth date, time, weight, length, name, parents' names, etc) is supposed to stitched in blue. But since it's for a girl, I'm going to use a dark pink color. Stereotypical, I know, but since there are both blue and pink in the design, I think it will work.

Thanks for checking it out.

Birth Announcement

2011-01-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

Since all my Christmas stitching was done pretty early, I've been focusing on the birth announcement for my niece's first baby.

The baby was already born (in fact, she'll be 3 months old tomorrow!) but my niece and her husband didn't pick the pattern out until after she was born. I had given them their choice of about 15 patterns at the baby shower. They didn't let me know until Payton was about two weeks old which pattern they had chosen. This is it! LOL

The middle will have the critical stats - name, date, weight, etc....

It's a fun one to stitch, I like the colors. But there are a LOT of fractional stitches, which can get a little crazy, but it's worth it for the effect. Also SOME blending but not a lot. The grass is two shades of green, and some of the sky is two shades of blue. Also, there are a couple of other areas that are blended...I'm hoping maybe it will be a 6 months birthday present!

(For those who might want to know - it's called "Fairy Tale Baby" by Bobbie G Designs).

Thanks for looking!

It's Been a While....

2010-12-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

So.....first I had computer problems....then I had camera problems.....now I seem to have ALL of those resolved, so I am finally posting some pictures of my finished Christmas ornaments.

First off are all my Prairie Schooler Santas - I know I've mentioned previously that my siblings are all hockey fans (I'm not - funny how that happens! LOL). We're originally from Chicago, and last year the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup for the first time in almost 50 years. So even though stitching the same ornament FIVE times was not my idea of fun....I did it for them! Here is the finished product. The first one I stitched came out a little too big for an ornament. So, I finished it the same way as the ornaments but with a longer hanger, figuring that my sister (who has a small apartment, and doesn't really feel she has room for a tree) could hang it on an interior door knob or hook or something. She seemed to be happy with it..

Next up is an ornament from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue. I made some changes to it. The original pattern called for the house, roof, and the lettering were all in black. I felt that was too severe for the ornament, so I changed the colors up a bit. I used a grayish blue for the house, a dark gray for the roof, and did the lettering in the same green as some of the decorations on the house. Hopefully, I remained true enough to the original pattern....but made it my own at the same time! This one went to my dad and step-mom.

And now my two cute / too cute Mill Hill kits. These are for my niece and her family. With four kids, I'm sure there are Naughty days and Nice days.....and probabably some days that are a blending of both! These were a ball to stitch, and I plan on doing more like this in the future. The beads don't show up real well, but each letter has one row lengthwise of beads...and all of the lights on the strings of lights are beads.

Last but not least, this one may not seem very Christmas-sy. But Las Vegas has a lot of special memories for my mother and me, so I stitched this one up for her. She hadn't gotten it yet when I talked to her on Christmas, so hopefully it will show up in her mail box tomorrow.

That last onrnament has some other emotional significance for me. A stitching friend that I've been blessed to meet on line, and then was lucky enough to get to meet twice in person lives in Las Vegas. We have recently found out that she is very ill, and not expected to survive much longer. She is in my thoughts with every stitch, and my prayers are with her and her family. Loss is never easy, and particularly at holiday times.

This holiday season - hold your loved ones for an extra second or two, and make sure to tell them how much they mean to you......

Thanks for checking out my blog! And I promise it won't be four months before I post again!

BIG stitching news! (Well, big for me!)

2010-08-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

Well....I finally did it.....yep, I did it....and I was going to try to upload a video of Snoopy happy dancing but obviously, Snoopy happy dancing is copyright protected, so.....picture Snoppy happy dancing all over the place.

Now...you may be wondering what I finally did. Now, in the big scheme of things, it's not a life-changing event or anything. But I did finish something that I posted my first progress picture of a little bit over 2 1/2 years ago - January 2008.

Have you figured it out yet? If you have, then you've obviously followed my blog for a while....if not, here it is - ANGEL OF CROSS STITCH!

The bottom picture is obviously me with the finished product. Not the best ever picture of me, but you should be looking at the project, not at me anyway!

Last weekend I picked up the fabric for two more projects - one is by "The Needle's Content" and it's the Spanish Geometric Sampler (I think that's the name - all greens and purples) and the other is Just Nan's Queen of the Needle. Haven't kitted them up yet (going to use the DMC equivalents not the specialty flosses, and I can get those locally - just have to travel a little ways to get fabric). Meanwhile, I'm working on ornaments, ornaments, and more ornaments. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I'm stitching last year's Prairie Schooler Santa FIVE times for my hockey fan siblings (our home town team won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 45+ years), and I'm on number 4. Plus yesterday I started a Mill Hill Christmas ornament for my niece (who hates hockey with a PASSION).

So...all is well in my neck of the woods. Thank you for checking out my blog - and for those of you who have been following my progress on Angel for 2 1/2 years....can you believe it's actually DONE?

A Little Finish

2010-08-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

I finished this a couple of weeks ago, but my computer died....now I have a new laptop (YEA!) soI could actually get the picture OFF my camera card and ONTO my blog. I'm still figuring out how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to make this into a Christmas ornament. I'll figure out in the next four months! Hope all is well with everyone - thanks for checking out my blog.

And....my next entry will have BIG stitching news...and I'll be posting that entry momentarily, so most of you will see this in backwards order anyway! :-)

A little Finish

2010-08-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

This isn't the best picture - neither setting on my camera seemed to be "right" - this was on "Auto". I sometimes take my stitching pictures on close up, but the ones I took on close up weren't any better....

Oh well - this was a quick project I did - I still have charms to attach. I did a little changing - it's for a friend that we play bingo with whose birthday is October 27, 1949. So...I changed the B ball to 10, the I ball to 27, and the G ball to 49. All ten digits appeared somewhere, I just shuffled them around a bit.

Anyway, thanks for checking it out!

Need your opinion....

2010-08-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Above is the picture of the golfing nutcracker on the pattern....

Below is the one I stitched....

My question is...does the one I stitched look Christmas-sy enough to be a Christmas ornament without the border around it? Be honest - I can take it! I'm going back and forth on whether or not the border adds anything or just makes it too busy!

Thanks for casting your ballot!

Why I've been missing....

2010-08-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

So....I haven't posted much nor I have I updated my blog, and here's why! We had a family reunion in Wisconsin last weekend, and I'm still trying to get caught up. Between lost sleep, tons of e-mails and stuff, and trying to get back in the swing of things, I've just been BUSY!!!!

But after a quick stitching session this afternoon at the mall (my new weekly Sunday routine), I plan on posting two more things to my blog, as well as responding to some individual e-mails that I just haven't gotten to. Don't mean to be ignoring you....just frazzled! LOL

Yes, I am in that picture somewhere. I'm hiding under the umbrella (this is kind of like a "Where's Waldo" puzzle, isn't it). All you can really see is my face. My niece is in a black shirt, my sister is in a dark blue and white striped shirt, and between them are two women - one is me, and one is my other sister.

The group is (believe it or not) just the offspring of two sisters...my step-mom and her sister. There are seven of us in our family, and my aunt has three kids. Then there's the next generation! And we're actually missing a couple of people - my uncle didn't make it, nor did my Mike, my sister's hubby, and my one male cousin from that family. The neat thing was that even though Scott didn't make it, his wife and their three kids were there. We had a great time - most of my family is out here in California (except my brother, whose cottage we were at) and all of the cousins are in the midwest. So we don't get to see them very often!

Another little finish (literally!) and Frederick Update

2010-07-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my second hockey Santa - the first picture is the one I just finished (on 28 count over 1), and the second one is the comparison of the first one I finished (on 36 count over 2) and the small one. I put the ruler in the picture for comparison purposes.

And here is my latest progress on Frederick the Literate...I'm onto his legs and tail, so that's a good thing!!!

Thank you all for checking on my blog - I haven't been posting much on the groups - it just seems like there's been a lot going on lately and I end up debating between stitching and posting....and stitching wins!

Two New Starts

2010-07-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

With the completion of my two Lizzie Kates, there was a sudden hole in my rotation - two of them actually!!! So I've started two new projects:

The first one will be a quickie - it's pretty obvious what it is. It's the iconic "Welcome to Vegas" sign. As much as it might not seem so obvious, I'm going to try to figure out how to make this into a Christmas ornament. My mother LOVES Vegas (I think it's hereditary) so I'm going to try to figure out a way to make this into something she can hang on her tree! I changed one thing - the words "To Fabulous" and "Nevada" (no, you're not blind - the "Nevada" won't get stitched until the bottom half of the sign is filled in) were supposed to be in a turquoise blue color. It was too light and didn't show up very well, so I decided to wing it!

The second project is looking very exciting so far - NOT! It's a Blue Ribbon Designs pattern, this one is for St. Patrick's Day. I decided to do all the boring gridwork first, so that I can just fill in the motifs and the letters later. The little tail in the top left hand corner is because there is another row of stitches further out to finish off the border (and then you fill it in with a specialty stitch) and I figured if I did that little diagonal line I might actually stand a chance of remembering the top left hand corner!

Thanks for checking out my blog! Coming soon will hopefully be finish number two on my hockey playing Santas! This time on 28 count over one.

Christmas ABC's

2010-06-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, this was my "bigger" finish for this week - Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABC's. My plan is to get this one and the ABC Lessons one both framed...the Lessons will hang on the wall 11 months out of the year, and then the Christmas ABC's will be there the other month! LOL It was so much fun to stitch this one.

My smaller finish was my first Prairie Schooler Santa - I say first, because I'll be stitching it a total of 5 times. This one is on 36 count over 18. It's too big for what I wanted to do with it - I wanted to make it into an ornament. And yes, I figured out how big it was, but somehow seeing it stitched it looks bigger! LOL So then I tried stitching it over one on the 36 count. I COULD do it, but it was going to irritate me too much....so I pulled out some 28 count and I'm doing that over 1. I think it will make it a more reasonable size for an ornament. We shall see!

Now I need to add a couple of projects into my home rotation - All that's in it right now is Frederick and Angel of Cross Stitch. This week Frederick is up - and then the next week I'm either going to start on a Blue Ribbon Designs St. Patrick's Day project OR Christmas ornaments OTHER than Hockey Santa. Hockey Santa(s) are my travel project!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Angel of Cross Stitch Update

2010-06-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I've reached a landmark on Angel of Cross Stitch - the cross stitching is DONE!!!! Now, of course, here comes the backstitching. At least the backstitching is only a couple of colors - this one had so many confetti stitches and color changes I'm looking forward to one or two colors! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this one come alive!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Another Lizzie Kate Finish

2010-06-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

I guess I've been on a roll finishing Lizzie Kate's! This time it was ABC Lessons - I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I think I'm going to frame it and keep it for my very own self! LOL

I think my Blue Ribbon Designs St. Patricks Day design is going to take its place in the rotation....probably...unless I change my mind before I'm ready to start on it! Who knows?

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Finished my Travel Project

2010-05-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

I finished my Lizzie Kate travel project - I'm happy with how it turned out. I think I'm going to make it into either a flat fold or somehow finish it to where it can hang off of a door knob at my office or something....not sure yet.

You can't really tell from the picture - but the white on Santa's hat, cuff, beard, and mustache and the tan on the moose's scarf are all Wisper floss - so they're fuzzy! It was the first time I ever used Wisper, and I was nervous about doing it, but it was pretty easy. I used a bigger needle than I usually use (so the thread would fit thru it) and kept the lengths fairly short, but no big complications.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Frederick Update

2010-05-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Stitching Update
I stitched on Frederick this week - got the blue and burgundy book finished up, and stitched the gold colored book...and then started on the cat's rear-end! LOL When I had it in the Q-Snaps, Mike didn't recognize it as being the back end of the cat (because the front end didn't show).....but now he gets it!!

Challenge Update
Well, I was doing the 100 stitch a day challenge this month, along with my own 30 minutes of back-stitching, and I'm going to make it just fine! I had a VERY stitch-filled week this past week, with a couple of long uninterrupted stitching sessions - so I averaged 192 stitches per day (month-to-date I'm at 126 stitches per day). I averaged 32 minutes per day of back-stitching (month-to-date is 34 minutes). So I will finish the month out fine.

Someone asked (either in a blog comment or on one of my groups) if I actually count my stitches. I don't (usually), I was just doing it for this month. And with a couple of the projects in my rotation it's been really easy - my Christmas ABC's and my ABC Lessons are very "count" friendly because I usually only stop at a point where I have finished a block letter or a word or a picture, so I know right where I started. This project (Frederick) it depends on what I was stitching. The books are easy to count - the cat, not so much...so in the case of the cat, I only counted full rows. I marked which was the last full row from the last time I stitched, and then the last full row that I stopped on. That might mean that I didn't give myself credit for some straggler stitches one day, but would have given myself credit the next day! LOL

Anyway, that's it for this week - hope all of my US friends are enjoying their long weekend, and taking a moment out to remember those who have given their lives for our freedoms (in between shopping all the Memorial Day sales).

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Christmas ABC's

2010-05-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Christmas ABC Update
Well, got quite a bit done on my Christmas ABC's....it's such a fun project to stitch on, so it goes fast! I just have five more words to stitch and a few more little pictures and then it will be done!!!

Stitching Challenge
Because I was stitching on such a fun (read - EASY) project I made a boat load of progress on my stiching challenge. I actually caught up to the 100 stitch per day I've been TRYING to average - for the week I was at 188 stitches per day and 41 minutes of backstitching (my target is 100 stitches and 30 minutes of back stitching). Month to date I am at 105 stitches per day and 35 minutes of backstitching. We shall see how the month wraps up!

That's about all the news from here....thanks for checking out my blog!

Angel of Cross Stitch Update (and other stuff)

2010-05-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

Stitching Progress
Well, it's hard to see in this picture, but I'm not QUITE done yet.....I still have to fill in the centers of about 16 flowers...the top half or so of the left hand side and three or four along the top on the left hand side. And then, of course, it's the dreaded back stitching! But it will get done! And hopefully this year! LOL

Stitching Challenge
Thanks to this lovely piece, I am still behind on the stitching challenge! Friday evening I stitched for about 2 hours - and I only got 43 stitches done! That was HORRIBLE, but when you never do more than four stitches of one color, it tends to go very ssssllllloooowwwwlllllyyyyyyy. Hopefully the week coming up will be better since my project will be Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABC's and that's an easier stitch.

This week I averaged 55 stitches per day (my goal is 100) and for the whole month so far I have 66 stitches per day. However, I am ahead of the curve on my backstitching goal - this week was an average of 46 minutes (my goal is 30 minutes per day), and for the month so far I'm averaging 46.

Stash Enhancement
We had a birthday party to go to yesterday in the vicinity of my LNS - so what better excuse to stop and see if they had anything I had to have.......I picked up two patterns - Shamrock Row by Bent Creek and the 2009 Prairie Schooler Santa. Most of my family are hockey fans (myself excluded) including a nephew and a brother who both play. So, I thought I could make a couple of Christmas ornaments or something out of it. I also bought a piece of pretty blue fabric that was in the already cut bin. It's a pretty blue that will be nice for something where I want it to look like sky.

Anthony Update
Those of you who have followed my blog for a while will remember my nephew (actually great-nephew, my niece's youngest son) Anthony. Almost two years ago he spent most of his summer in the hospital being treated for kidney cancer (a childhood form). He is doing AWESOME, is considered to be in full remission, although he has to continue to be tested regularly, etc. But the really cool thing is because he is a child who was impacted by a life threatening disease, he was referred to Make A Wish. As part of thier "World Make a Wish" Day, he was granted a wish! He made a wish for an electric scooter (the riding kind, not the wheelchair kind) so that he could ride with his little friend Tyler. He not only got that, but because he had mentioned wanting to meet John Cena (I guess he's a wrestler....I know NOTHING) he got a bunch of autographed goodies from him. It was a great experience for their family, and they are so eternally grateful. My niece said it best - they already had their wish granted - Anthony is healthy!!! He'll start kindergarten this fall....and is just a cutie. Here he is:

ABC Lessons / 100 Stitch Challenge

2010-05-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

First the progress report:
Here is my progress on ABC Lessons. I stitched on it for two weeks since the middle weekend I was in Vegas and didn't get any stitching done at all....getting there, I only have a few words left and a bee hive thing. Might get it done the next time it comes up in the rotation!

And the 100 Stitch Challenge:
Not one, but two of my stitching groups are doing 100 stitch challenges for the month of May. Nothing formal, just the concept of getting 100 stitches done in a day and then you make quite a bit of progress without even realizing it! I'm not sure how other people are working it - my goal is to average 100 stitches per day for the month - I know I won't do a minimum of 100 stitches each day because there are days I don't get to stitch at all. I also set myself another goal of averaging 30 minutes of backstitching per day - my travel project (dollhouse) is down to the backstitching, and I try to get an hour in at lunch time each day during the week (at work).

So far, I'm averaging 76 stitches per day and 21 minutes of backstitching. The first few days of the month we were out of town (in Vegas) so I didn't get any stitches at all done those couple of days. So hopefully now that I'm back to a "normal" schedule I can catch up this week. Although my project for this week is Angel of Cross Stitch, and I'm on the border on it...which means TONS of color changes, so no fast progress! We shall see!!!

And Vegas:
We went to Vegas with our bowling league, as we do twice a year. We bowled badly, and gambled badly (LOL) but we had fun. Met up with Rene from my ILCS group, and had a very nice lunch at Sam's Town. It's the second time we've met, and it's always enjoyable!! I'm mad - I brought my camera, and then forgot to take any pictures!!! Sigh!

And the Thanks:
As always, thanks for checking out my blog! I do appreciate it!

Frederick the Literate

2010-04-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here is my progress for another week of stitching on Frederick the Literate. I got the whole rust colored book done (the second from the right - the area that looks empty on it really is stitched with black), plus the start of the blue book. It's a two page pattern, with two bookshelves, and the rust colored book is split half and half between the two pages....so I've now moved to the second page (although I still have the whole SECOND shelf to do on the first page! LOL).

One of my stitching groups is doing a challenge for the month of May to try to average 100 stitches per day. I haven't decided for sure whether to join in....I probably will, but I'm going to be starting out at a disadvantage - I'll be out of town May 1st-3rd, and won't get any stitching done while I'm gone....but we'll see!!!

Anyway - thanks for checking out my blog...and as usual, thanks for all the comments!!

Christmas ABC's

2010-04-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well, another week on Christmas ABC's.....Lizzie Kate, if it isn't obvious! I love Lizzie Kate patterns - they're nice easy stitching, and they're cute!

Somewhere in the row that says "King, Lights, Mistletoe" I got off by a half a row. I'm stitching over 2, and on the next row noticed that I was an odd number of threads away by the time I got the t in Ornament. But....it's not very noticeable, and I know if I frog it, I'll end up leaving red marks where I've taken out the red threads. I figure if I even out the "Quiet, Reindeer, Snowman" line (keep the bottom of that row lined up) then I can finish the "Nutcracker, Ornament" line using the line below it as a reference point. If it was perfect, it wouldn't be homemade, right?

Thanks for checking out my blog - and thanks for all your comments!

Backstitching Difference

2010-04-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

This is one side of the dollhouse roof - after I did the backstitching on it. It makes the shingles look like shingles, and the ornate little doodads on the top look more polished. I'm not done with the backstitching on the room yet, but I can see how it makes the wood scallops (or whatever you want to call them) stand out.

Here is a comparable piece of the roof (the other side of the house) without the backstitching. I think it really drives home the point of how the backstitching makes the piece come to life!

Thanks for checking out the pictures.....and for all your comments!

Angel of Cross Stitch

2010-04-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm another two weeks into Angel of Cross Stitch. I didn't do a lot of stitching the week before last since I had a cold so I was going to bed early and stuff. So, I decided to keep stitching on Angel for a second week....I still have border left to do....sigh.....just flowers now. The top half of the left hand side and most of the top. I THINK (famous last words) that I should be able to finish the border the next time it comes up in my rotation. Although I think I might have said that last time! LOL Then it will be backstitching time! I always debate with myself whether to do the backstitching as I go or leave it until the end. I usuallly end up leaving it until the very end, I love watching it make the design come alive. But when I'm getting bored with backstitching, I end up regretting the decision! LOL

Thanks for checking it out, and thanks for your comments!

Dollhouse cross stitching is DONE

2010-04-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

Well, as I projected, I finished the cross-stitching for the dollhouse - now it's just the outlining (and LOTS of it!). I've already started it - I have the first piece of the roof done (on the left hand side), and I can already see a difference. I'm going to try to remember to bring it in the house and take a picture of each roof section close up - one with the backstitching done, and one without it. The backstitching will be worth it, it's just going to take a while....ho hum!!!!

ABC Lessons

2010-03-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Well, another week down on ABC Lessons.....it's coming along, I'm thinking maybe two more appearances in the rotation and it might just be done! This one is so much fun to stitch - I really love Lizzie Kate designs!

Not much else going on - I'm thinking that within the next couple of days I will have all the cross-stitching done on the dollhouse project. Then it will be backstitching time! When I get the cross-stitching done, I will definitely post a picture of it before I start the backstitching...just because I love the way backstitching makes designs POP!

Meanwhile, I'm fighting a cold...I thought I was thru the worst of it, and then it kind of came back with a vengeance today...I ended up leaving work a little early today just because I was really tired from the cold. No fever, so I know it's just a cold, not the flu or anything...but it is tiring...and oh yeah, my nose hurts! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and I appreciate all the comments!

Two updates!

2010-03-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, this picture should have been posted two weeks ago - on the 7th...that was when I took it off the Q-Snaps and put it away for a while and picked up the next project in the rotation. This is such a fun project to stitch on - I love most of the Lizzie Kate patterns -the kind of irregular lettering and stuff just make them fun to stitch.

Then for the last two weeks i've been stitching on Frederick the Literate. I usually only spend one week on each project, but in this case I was enjoying stitching on it, and wasn't bored yet, so I decided to keep going. I'm almost 1/4 of the way done. If you're not familiar with the picture, it's two bookshelves, this is the left hand half of the top shelf. The mid point is about six or eight stitches beyond the last book spine I've stitched....so i figure when I get there, I'll be half way done with the top shelf. It's fun, Frederick actually looks like a cat now! LOL

This week it will be ABC Lessons - probably just for a week, but we'll see!

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and I appreciate all your comments!

Dollhouse Update

2010-03-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I had envisioned this as a "before" shot of how much I was going to get done at my all day stitch-in yesterday. However, fate intervened. Our usual location for our stitching get togethers screwed us up. They remodeled their classroom (which really was an ideal location in which to stitch) and took some of the tables out. We had made reservations a month ahead of time, but they ended up giving the entire classroom to a bigger group and we're going to set a table up for us out in the main part of the store - totally unacceptable.

So we still got together to stitch, but first at a Starbucks and then moved to a Corner Bakery for lunch. At the Starbucks location, pulling out the dollhouse project to stitch was just a little awkward because it is pretty big. So instead, I stitched on a Lizzie Kate that I've been working on as a travel project. Once we moved, we had a better location, and I did get some stitching in on the dollhouse but nowhere near what I wanted to do. Oh well, at least I was stitching on SOMETHING!!!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Angel of Cross Stitch

2010-03-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well, another week of stitching on Angel of Cross Stitch. Got a little more done on the border. You can't see it because it's kind of "cream on cream", but the two lines within the flower border are all done. And I got some more of the turquoise and browns done along the top, and the upper right hand corner heart is done. Slowly but surely. I just looked back and realized htat the first progress picture I took of this project was in January 2008. So, I've passed the two year mark. Oh well, since I don't even know what I'm going to do with it, I guess it doesn't matter!

And...for those of you who knew I've been looking for either a new full time job or (ideally) a second part time job, I finally found one!!! It's been a year, almost exactly, and I found a job for three days a week, which was just what I needed. I'm working at my other job two days a week. So now I'm fully employed again! I start next Monday (the 8th). I'm really looking forward to it. I think that's part of why my stitching mojo has been a little lacking the last couple of weeks - I find I'm more productive when I'm busier.....lol

As always, thanks for checking out my blog, and thanks for all your comments!

ABC Lessons

2010-02-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest progress on ABC lessons. For whatever reason, I didn't get much stitching done this week. I'm not sure why - just didn't seem to have the stitching "mojo" going. And this is a project I like stitching on, it's a pretty easy fun stitch. Oh well, I'm not doing it for any particular reason, so no rush!

And on a non-stitching note - I have the most wonderful parents EVER!!! Things are tight for me right now (since I'm only working two days a week) and they offered to pay for the framing on my "March" project in my previous posting. That was really nice of them, and a big help. Custom framing is SO expensive, but on something like that project that was a gift I really think it's worth it.

Two funny things about the framing on that piece - I pulled it up on the 123 catalog to see who the designer was, and saw that they had framed and matted it very similarly for the sample to how I had done it. And I can honestly say I didn't remember that, I just worked with the framer. And to make it funnier - I pulled the pattern out to show the similarity to my parents, and guess what - I didn't forget to dot the I! There is no dot over the I on the pattern! LOL

Then today my dad called me...to offer me their CAR!!!! To back up a little bit - Mike and I have been a one car family for a couple of years now. Mike had been driving my old car, and it finally died. It needed a transmission, and since the car had about 170,000 miles on it, we just didn't want to make the investment. At the time, Mike was about to lose his job, so we weren't in a position to go buy a car to replace it. Then...he got a full time job and not too long afterwards my hours got cut. So, again...not in a position to start a new car loan. My parents had two cars - a 17 year old Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible, and I'm not sure how new their other car is (maybe 6-8 years old) but the mileage on that car was getting high enough that dad was feeling more comfortable getting a second newer car. So they went yesterday and bought themselves a Ford Fusion. They weren't offering much of anything in trade for the Oldsmobile - it is 17 years old, and has about 130,000 miles on it. So my dad figured if they weren't going to get much for it, they might as well give it to us! So now I don't have to make two round trips every day on my day off to take Mike to work, and we don't have to deal with all the logistics of sharing a car. I'm so happy! My parents are just AWESOME!!!!

Sorry to ramble....

Thanks for checking out my blog, and thanks for all your comments!

Back from the Framer

2010-02-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I got my aunt's gift back from the framer. I'm really happy with the way it turned out (sorry for the glare - without a flash, it was too dark, and I couldn't figure out how to avoid the glare).

You can't see it to clearly in the picture, but the framer put spacers between the turquoise mat and the yellow mat so that it looks a little more set back. I noticed after the fact that I never dotted the I in aquamarine.....oh well, that makes it "unique" right? And the other thing is I stitched it and finished last year, but I'm not giving it to her until this year. And the date in the corner says '09. I debated taking it out and changing it to '10, but figured I'll just put a note in there explaining that I finished it last year.....she'll probably think I meant to stitch it for last year's birthday (I really didn't!) but whatever.

Anyway thanks, for checking it out!

Frederick Update

2010-02-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

Here is Frederick after another week of stitching - it's a little slow because of the black on black, and just in general the dark colors on dark fabric. But it's a pretty straight forward project. There are a few sections of blended threads, but nothing ugly. The only thing I've changed is I'm not using the gold metallic. I just don't have the patience for it - and I stitch to have fun, not to torture myself!!

Today is Valentines Day - we had a nice relaxing day. I woke up to find a little heart shaped cake with pink frosting and my name on it in red. It's only as big as one of those small clear plastic bakery containers, but it's super cute. It came with a very sweet romantic card. We went out to breakfast (which we usually do on weekends) to a place we really like that's not far from the house. I had my favorite thing they make (rotisserie chicken hash). We came home and relaxed and then we did Pick Up Stix for dinner - I think today is Chinese New Years, so we figured we'd bring it into our Valentines Day too!

Mike's going to take me out for a nice dinner on Tuesday - after he gets paid! We figured places would just be too crowded tonight, plus you usually have limited dinner options on holidays. This way we get to do what we want!!

Hope all is well with everyone - thanks for checking my blog, and thanks for all the comments!

Angel of Cross Stitch / Chirstmas ABC's

2010-02-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I took a picture of Angel of Cross Stitch LAST weekend, and never posted it to my blog. So here it is in all it's glory - made a little bit of progress on the border.

And here is Christmas ABC's. The floating equal sign is actually two stripes in an ornament - I just stitched them because I had a short length of red floss left and rather than wasting it or tucking it away, I figured I might as well just use it up!

This was a fun weekend - an all day stitching session at a local store (8 of us from our So Cal stitching group) and then a Super Bowl party today. I didn't really care who won the game, but I came within one touchdown of winning $300 in a Super Bowl pool! But alas, the Colts missed their last opportunity to score - if they would have made the touchdown, I would have had the money! LOL

ABC Lessons

2010-01-24T22:16:00.000-08:00

Here is my progress this week - this is a nice easy stitch, and it's a nice break between Frederick and Angel of Cross Stitch. I have five out of nine rows done. I discovered an error on the letter B block, but I'm not going go back and fix it. The top line of the B is supposed to go one stitch further out (you can kind of see it on the D, the E, the F, the N, and the P). But....I'm okay with it!

And it looks like there's a floating dot for no apparent reason between the P and the l in the word Play (kind of underneath them). It's not as random as it looks - it's a dot over an I in one of the words below - it just happened that it was actually closer to the P and L than it is to the I it floats above, so I decided to stitch it while I was doing those letters.

Now this week I'm back to Angel of Cross Stitch...there will be lots of sighing because it's time to do the border. I vowed I was going to do the border a little at a time but....the best laid plans, as they say!!!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and, as usual, for all your comments!

Frederick the Literate

2010-01-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well, another week of stitching on Frederick. It's slow going (the whole stitching on black thing!) but I'm happy with it so far.

Had a busy end of the week....Friday got a phone call from a friend of mine...long story, she needed someone to look after her granddaughter for a couple of hours because her (friend's) grandmother-in-law was back in the hospital after only a couple days at home.....so a few hours of running around to get her and drop her back off, etc.......

Saturday we watched football, and then went to my brother's 50th birthday. It was fun! My other brother hosted a Texas Hold'Em tournament (I didn't play, but Mike did) and we ate a bunch of my brother's favorite things. His wife is awesome, so it was very nice!

Today more football.....and more relaxation.......

Now this week I'm working on Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons - a MUCH easier project thatn this one! LOL

Christmas ABC's

2010-01-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I said I was going to turn over a new leaf and stay on top of my blogging this year...oh well! I took the picture on Sunday, I just forgot to post it in here! LOL

I spent a week stitching away on my ABC Christmas by Lizzie Kate - this is a fun stitch. It was a kit (well, came with the pattern and the floss, had to buy your own fabric). I love the colors and the overdyed floss. Not sure what I'll do with it when it's done, but I love it! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog - this week I'm stitching on Frederick the Literate - big change as far as the "challenge" level - stitching on black with dark colors! LOL But it's another fun one.

Dollhouse Project

2010-01-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finished another room on my dollhouse...the kitchen this time. The picture quality isn't the best - I did about four pictures with my camera set on "auto" and four more with it on close up, and this was the best one! LOL

Here's the whole picture as it stands right now. It's pretty big - I took the picture on top of a folding TV tray, and it pretty much covers the whole top of it. It's a magazine pattern from an issue of Cross Stitch Gold - I think it was in 2008, but I don't remember what month. It's my "big" travel project. I stitch on it at lunch time at work, or if I'm somewhere stitching that I have a table I can use - it's too big otherwise! I really like the colors - kind of a combo of pastels and bolder colors. Lots of backstitching still to do after I'm done with the regular stitching.

A Quick Finish

2010-01-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

Well, this was my little travel project, and I finished it today. I haven't attached the charms yet - I just laid them on top to take the picture. I'm not sure when I'm going to frame this, and I didn't want to store it with the charms attached. It's a Hinzeit (sp?) pattern - they have a bunch of these with different words and they include the charms. I have another one that says "Hockey" - I thought I might do the hockey for my brother's 50th birthday later this month, but my family tricked me and we're having his birthday party THIS Sunday. His birthday's not til the 20th, so I wasn't "ready"! LOL

Thanks for checking it out!

Angel of Cross Stitch Progress

2010-01-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!!!! I finished the picture part of Angel of Cross Stitch!!! I had pulled this out and kept it out for a couple of weeks over the holidays rather than adhering to my "normal" weekly rotation. I wasn't sure how much stitching time I was going to have, so I figured I'd leave this one out and stitch away. Then I realized I was getting REALLY close to finishing the picture part (still have half the border to do, plus all the back stitching), so I decided to just plug along and get it done. Worked out well - I stitched quite a bit last night, and then a lot today while we watched football. And just now I put in the last stitch.

So, I'll put this away for three weeks while I rotate on my other three projects. And then I'll tackle the rest of the border!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and thanks for all the comments!!

And oh yeah....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Hope 2010 brings you all you wish for!

Ornament Finishes - 1982

2009-12-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

No....that's not a mistake on the date that I finished these. That was the year my mom wanted to learn how to cross-stitch. Since I had done needlepoint before, she decided to wait for me to come home for the summer, and we went shopping together (back in those days it seems like there were cross-stitch stores on every other corner!).

Someone at one of the stores we went to recommended a kit with ornaments in it. Their logic was that (1) they were small enough that if we didn't like it we didn't have a big commitment and (2) they were easy to split up. So, I honestly don't remember which two I did and which two my mom did! But...I did stitch two of these! Sorry for the picture quality. They hang on the hanging light above my parents kitchen table every year (my mom doesn't want them to get lost on the tree), so I did the best I could!

Thanks for checking it out....little did I realize what an addiction this project would start!

Ornament Finishes - 2009

2009-12-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here are the 8 ornaments I finished for Christmas. They were all gifts for family...siblings, parents, aunt, and my niece. I was okay with the finishing on these. Truly, I got lazy. They were supposed to be cut to follow the edges of the stitching, but I just didn't have the patience. So, instead I cut them within 2 squares of the widest and tallest sides, and then backed them with self-adhesive felt. The hangers are just wire twisted. The samples in the book had the wires twisted, etc, but.....again, no patience!! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Some Christmas finishes!

2009-12-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

This one is "Hula Lulu" - I made it into a flatfold (although from this angle it looks like it could be a cube!) for a friend that we play bingo with every week. She decorates like CRAZY for Christmas, and her hubby is from Hawaii. So, I was trying to combine both of their personalities. I couldn't find a Christmas fabric that had that turquoise color in it, so I ended up with kind of a turquoise on turquoise floral. Not very Christmassy, but I think it will work!

This is my attempt at a creative finish - you can't really tell from the picture, but I made it into a "triptych" if you will (forgive my spelling! LOL). The three are connected by two ribbons (You can kind of see it between the snowmen) and then they're backed like you would a flatfold. The fabric I backed them with is kind of a royal blue with white snowflakes. This one is a hostess gift for my brother and sister-in-law who are having us over on Christmas.

Now the only remaining stitchy stuff I need to do is attach some beads onto my perforated paper ornaments and back them up with self stick felt. I need to get two of them done today so that Mike can mail them off tomorrow (pays to have a boyfriend who works in the mailroom at his company - saves me a trip to the post office!) The other six don't have to be finished until Christmas day! Hopefully I won't wait that long!

Thanks for checking it out!

Productive Stitching Weekend

2009-12-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

Well, here's my latest start...Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons. Mike bought this one (and the Christmas ABC's one) for me for my birthday. It's a fun, easy stitch, which was a nice break after stitching on Frederick last week. This wasn't all done this weekend, it was a week's worth of stitching.

Yesterday was our So Cal Stitchers Group get together at a local "medium box" craft store. It's not a national chain, just a local chain with (I think) 3 stores. The location we go to has a nice classroom area, and you can rent a table for the day for $5. The tables are set up in kind of blocks of 4, and we can easily sit 8 around a block of 4. So....for $20, 8 of us can stitch the day away! We were there from 9 am to 6 pm with a short break for lunch. Everyone was stitching away, and we had a great time laughing, talking, and TRYING to count! LOL! I was working on my dollhouse project - I'm almost done with the kitchen, so maybe soon I'll have some pictures of another finished room.

Then this evening I watched a really cool episode of "Ace of Cakes" . I don't know if you're familiar, but it's the one with Duff Goldman (I know some people think he's obnoxious, but I think his bakery does awesome cakes). This particular episode (which I think will be on a couple of more times - the description says it's about a building being demolished, which is one of the other cakes in the episode). The cake I was interested in was a replica of a cross-stitched stocking! The woman the cake was being made for has stiched FIFTY THREE stockings for her family members. Her husband wanted to surprise her, so he brought pictures of her stocking to the bakery for them to make a replica. They made a stocking shaped cake, and the decorator actually piped individual little X's to make the pictures on the cake. It really was awesome, and it was neat to see an artist in another medium (cake decorating) have "respect" (for lack of a better word) for the technique of cross-stitching. She actually took fondant and put it over graph paper on top of a light box to get the squares for the X's. If you get a chance, check it out!!!

Now this week I HAVE to start on family calendars. I make a calendar for my family every year for Christmas - actually I think I make 10 of them, because each one is a tad different than the others. I incorporate pictures each month of the family members who have occasions in that month, and put their occasion where it belongs on the calendar. It is a lot of work, but I love doing it. I think this is the 6th year I've done them! They actually take longer to print than they do to design! LOL

So....not sure how much stitching time I'll get this week. But...I'll be back!!!

Have a GREAT week! And thank you, as always, for your comments!

Frederick the Literate is started

2009-11-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

Well, this week I started on Frederick the Literate. It was a Dimensions kit but I didn't like the aida (too stiff) and I didn't like the thread (too icky!). So....substituted some 28 count evenweave (not sure what kind) and re-did the floss with DMC and we're off to the races. This one will take a while, I'm sure. This is one week's progress. Stitching black on black is interesting, to say the least!!

Thanks for checking it out!

A new start

2009-11-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

A quick blog update - I'm trying to get back on track with weekly blog updates and getting back into my rotation. Although this is a Christmas pattern, I'm not trying to get it done for this Christmas, and it's not a gift, so no rush on it.

I love this pattern - my sweetie bought me this one and the ABC Lessons one, both by Lizzie Kate. I started on this one first because Mike said he liked it better. Both patterns were sold as kits (well, almost kits - pattern and threads, but no fabric) so they came with the overdyed threads. I ran into a little issue along one edge (it's just on the edge, so it won't be a problem), but it let me know I need to be VERY careful. Where the edge of the fabric rubbed up against the red of the letter B, the edge picked up some red color. So - I'm being very careful to put paper towel around my fabric when I'm putting it away at the end of stitching time....hopefully that will keep it from happening on a more important part of the piece.

This week's project is Frederick the Literate. It will be challenging (stitching on black fabric) but I'm okay with that. My Ott Lite and I are good friends!!!

Thanks for checking it out - and, as always, thank you for your comments!!

Stitching and something else!

2009-11-18T16:54:00.000-08:00

I finished my "Stop and Stitch The Flowers". I'm happy with the way it turned out - the specialty stitches around the outside weren't too bad! Now that I've finished that, I was (notice the use of the word "was") down to one project at home and one project in my travel bag that I work on at work (that is too big to really be a travel project). So...I broke down and kitted up SIX more things! I went Friday to my LNS and bought fabric for 3, and the other 3 I had fabric for in my stash. So...some time in the near future I will be stitching "Stitching" by Hinzeit (sorry if I've spelled it wrong), the St. Patrick's Day equivalent of Stop and Stitch the Flowers (by Blue Ribbon Designs), Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons, Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABC's, Frederick the Literate, and cute little Lizzie Kate design that is Santa and a Moose (we collect stuffed Mooses!).

Now for something non-stitching...some of you may recognize the image below as a screen shot from the game show Jeopardy:

Now...you may be asking why I posted a Jeopardy question on my blog. Well, it's like this....I graduated from high school with the "David Cullen" mentioned in the question!!!! How awesome is that? He was a journalist for our school paper, and was always a great writer...and his book last year made it up to something like 7th on the New York Times bestsellers list! I just thought it was so awesome!!!!

Anyway - that's it from me for now - Thanks for checking out my blog!

Stop and Stitch the Flowers

2009-11-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

Well...I'm almost done with this one. What's that you say? It looks finished? Well, it's not - it still gets three more rows of border on the outer edges. It calls for a "fly" stitch (which I've never done) that takes up two rows, and one more stitch of regular cross-stitches. I'm going to try the fly stitch, but if it annoys me too much, I'll just do cross-stitches (which is an option offered on the pattern.

Speaking of the pattern - it's called "Stop and Stitch the Flowers" and it's by Blue Ribbon Designs. I used the DMC conversions. The fabric is a light blue - I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it's a 28 count even weave (I think I have decided that even weaves are my favorite - I've done mostly 28 count, but I think I've seen 32 and maybe even 36, which I would like to try.

I have another similar Blue Ribbon Designs pattern for St. Patrick's Day. In my ideal world, I would have room to store multiple versions of this same pattern and change them out with the seasons - they have the St. Patty's one, a Christmas one, a Valentines one, and I think a couple of others. It's a fun stitch - I did kind of one block at a time. Well - I would outline a row of blocks, and then stitch each block individually.

Anyway - thanks for checking out my stitching! Love all the comments - nothing like feedback from other stitches to keep you motivated!

Would you believe....

2009-11-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

...another snowman???? I don't believe it!!!

After all my whining about being tired of snowmen, I remembered I had one more kitted up to stitch...so I had to do it - that gives me an even dozen snowmen that I've stitched!

The pattern is called "Hula Lula" and it's one of the Snowballz by CM Designs. I made it specifically for a friend who decorates big time for Christmas - and since her hubby is from Hawaii, it seemed like it fit. I was originally thinking I would stitch it over one and make it into an ornament - but after trying to do a line or two over one (on 28 count) I just realized I was not going to have the patience. So....it's too big for an ornament - it's going to become either a no-sew cube or a flat fold.

This one used DMC variations thread. I have to say, I don't consider myself a floss snob - in fact almost everything I stitch, I stitch with DMC threads. But I was not impressed with their variations threads. They just seemed kind of rough or something. But, I'm happy with the outcome, just not necessarily the process!

I also changed the grass skirt technique. The directions (I thought) were kind of silly. They told you to just take a length of thread, run it thru from the front, take one running stitch on the back, and then back out the front. I felt like it would pull right out! So, what I did instead was first I did a whole line of back stitching at the top of the grass skirt. Then I kind of did a loop start, at the end of each back stitch and left the two ends dangling. I'm happy with it, and they won't pull out. I don't know if my explanation makes sense.

Anyway - thanks for checking it out, and thanks for your comments!

Been a good stitcher, but a bad blogger!!

2009-10-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been away from my blog for a while (took even me by surprise when I realized it had been almost a month since I posted anything!).

Had some good excuses though....

First off - a weekend in Las Vegas

There's our hotel room - we stayed at Green Valley Ranch - it's actually in Henderson, not in Las Vegas, but we really don't mind having to drive to get places. We got a GREAT deal on our stay there ($78 total for three nights!), which made having to drive places even more palatable!

While we were there, I was finally able to connect with Rene, from my ILCS group. The last time I was there, we were going to try but we got our signals crossed on which weekend I was going to be there. But this time all was good - we met at Stitchers Paradise where I picked up a piece of fabric for a new project, and a couple of Hinzeit (forgive me if I've spelled that wrong) patterns (with charms). One is for me (Stitching) and one is for my nephew (Hockey). You don't see a ton of hockey patterns, so I was happy to see that one.

Rene was very kind - I was the lucky recipient of one of her cute little cupcakes. I'm not sure if the picture does it justice - but here it is.

And finally - probably the biggest thing that has kept me from updating my blog...I've been stitching like a wild woman on Christmas ornaments for my family. This morning I put the final stitch in the 8th ornament! So I'm done with my family ornaments. All that's left is some beads (in lieu of French knots) and the final finishing (I'll back them with felt and attach wires for hangers). I'll wait until closer to Christmas to do that because they're easier to store this way.

And one more quick thing - a number of people have asked where the dollhouse pattern came from (my last update). It's from the British magazine "Cross Stitch Gold". Unfortunately, my pages are torn out of the magazine, and I don't still have the magazine to tell you what issue. I THINK (emphasis on think) that it was from March/April 2008. The issue has an elephant on the front cover - not a wild elephant, one that has the beaded decorations like when they're used in ceremonies and stuff. Hope that helps!

Anyway - now I've had it up to my eyeballs with snowmen! So...who knows what I'll pick up next (maybe get back to my rotation - what a novel concept!!!).

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and all of your comments!!!

Victorian Dollhouse Update

2009-09-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to have a whole day of stitching time on Saturday - a group of us that used to be able to get together every other Friday evening had a full day outing to a local crafts store. There were a total of 10 of us there to talk and stitch...sometimes more talking than stitching, but it is just so much fun to get to meet up with other local stitchers.

I spent all my time working on my Victorian dollhouse. I've posted a picture, both of the full project and of the most recently completed room. This one is taking a while, but I typically work on it at lunch time at work (and I'm only working two days a week) or if I'm a stitching "get together". It needs a table etc.

Thanks for checking it out - I really appreciate all of your opinions and feedback!

It's Raining Men....Hallelujah, it's Raining Men...

2009-09-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

...well....maybe more appropriately it's SNOWING men!!! I've finished my third member of the Snowman Trio (a Stitchy Kitty pattern)....I finished stitching Milly today.

As mentioned, Milly is part of a trio.....she has friends (or maybe they're family members) Chilly and Willy!

The pictures don't really do them justice (wait....I don't mean that my stitching is that beautiful). I just meant the color of the fabric. It's really light blue - tried to make it look like the sky. Each of them will eventually be holding buttons - I think Chilly has snowflakes to hold, Willy has a cardinal and a bluebird, and Milly has hearts. I'm going to wait until closer to finishing time to attach them. My plan (although I've never done this before) is to try to make a tri-fold out of them. It's going to be a hostess gift for whichever of my siblings hosts our family Christmas get together. We shall see!!!

Now - I've also been working on perforated paper ornaments for my family - I need to make at least six - I may make eight in order to also give them to do of my friends. I've finished two of them - except for some beads because I HATE French knots. Here are the two I've finished....

They're going to get felt on the backs of them, and then wire hangers (I'm channeling Joan Crawford here, except instead of "NO WIRE HANGERS" I am using wire hangers!). When I get them all done, I'll share....

I'm feeling REALLY good - it's the middle of September and I've made quite a bit of progress on Christmas stitching already!!!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and thanks for all of your kind comments!!

MawMaw's Quilt is FINISHED!

2009-09-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've finished MawMaw's Quilt by M Designs...it was a fun, challenging project. It's on 40 count linen, over 2, so it's the smallest stitching I've ever done. I used the fabric and floss the pattern called for, which means it was the first time I've used silk floss. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it - most likely I'll frame it, but I'm not sure about mat colors or frame styles. Something kind of rustic, I'm thinking since it's a quilty design.

Now it's on to something new - probably some ornaments to get ready for Christmas. I also have a pattern of the famous "Las Vegas" sign that I think I'll work on...might make that one into an ornament as well for a friend of mine who (like me!) loves to go to Vegas!!!

Thanks for checking it out!!

Stop and Stitch the Flowers...

2009-08-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Another week, another bunch of squares on here. I made a couple of minor changes....the 7 seemed to have one stitch too many (it went lower than any other character) so I left one stitch off. The blue square that's up between the C and the D was supposed to have two shades of blue.....but the blues didn't look different enough to me so I replaced the lighter blue with white. The funny thing is that now that I see the picture, the two blues (which are in the flower between V & W) look different enough in the pictures, just not in real life! LOL Finally, the J looked too long and too narrow - again, it went higher in the square and lower in the square than other characters, so I fixed that and I also made the hook at the bottom of the J wider.

Anyway, that's been my project this week. Now I'll be stitching on MawMaw's Quilt this week. I think I only have another couple weeks left on it - I'm on the last diamond. Someone in one of stitching groups finished hers, and it looks really nice!

Hope you all had a good week - and lots of stitching time!!! Thanks for looking, and thanks for all your comments!

Angel of Cross Stitch Update

2009-08-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the wing done on my Angel of Cross Stitch...normally I would switch out tomorrow, but since I was at a good stopping point, I decided to switch tonight. I've gone through and pulled the colors for the next section, but I'll just set it aside until it next comes up on the rotation.

It's coming along - I guess extra stitching time is the one benefit to only working two days a week! LOL

Thanks for checking it out - and thanks for your comments!!

An early finish

2009-08-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Here's an unusual occurence for me - I have finished this one, and I'm not planning on giving it to my aunt until her birthday (here's a shock - her birthday is in March - bet you couldn't have figured that out!). It's pretty small - I don't remember the exact measurements, but I'm thinking it's like 4 x 8 or so......it's hard to see in this picture, but it used some stitches I haven't done before, and a couple spots used perle cotton, which I also haven't used before. I think my aunt will enjoy it - she's my Godmother, and we're pretty close.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

MawMaw's Quilt

2009-08-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well, here's my MawMaw's Quilt progress for the week...I am on the last section! (Well, that and finishing the border - big shock, me with border left!!!).

I'm really enjoying this piece. It's tiny (stitching it on 40 count linen, over 2, but still the tiniest I've ever done) but I love the colors and I love the pattern. So...even though it's slow going (or feels like slow going!) it's fun to stitch.

And on a non-stitching note - had a really fun day today - my niece Stacey and her husband Paul (along with one of their daughters) have July birthdays, one of their sons has a birthday in June, and another daughter has her birthday in August. They have one more son who's the "odd man out" with a February birthday. So...we had a family get together at a local lake complete with picnic lunch, a rented party boat, swimming for the kids, and just all in all a lot of fun! Those of you who were following my blog last year at around this time might remember Anthony - he's the one with the June birthday. He spent his third birthday (last summer) in the hospital having surgery for kidney cancer (had a SEVEN pound tumor removed). Well...it's now a year later. He got his porta-cath removed last month (that's the way they deliver chemo drugs) which is the real sign that he is done with all of his treatments, and can get on with his life! What a difference a year makes! He turned 4 in June, and he'll start pre-school this fall. We are all SO thrilled!!!

Anyway...that's it for now! Thanks for checking out my blog!

Sunday Update

2009-07-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here's my progress on "Stop and Stitch the Flowers". It's a Blue Ribbon Designs pattern, and it's fun to stitch. I've been pretty much stitching one block at a time. I kind of do the green lines until I either finish a box or run out of the piece of floss, then I go back and fill in the blocks that I've finished. The reason for the empty boxes down the center is those overlap two pages of the pattern, and I just hadn't wanted to fool around with making a working copy and taping it together. I had to do that for the fow with the "5" and "6" in it, so I did the vertical ones too, just haven't stitched them yet. Obviously, there is a whole other right hand side to this pattern - it will be 10 boxes by 10 boxes when it's done. I really love all the different flowers all over this. The outer border will actually be wider too - it calls for either four rows of cross stitches or a row of cross stitches, a row of a specialty stitch (can't remember what it's called, but it's two rows wide) and then one more row of cross stitches. I'm going to play with the specialty stitch and see if I like it or not! LOL

Thanks for checking it out! Now it's on to MawMaw's Quilt for the week!

Two out of three snowmen done

2009-07-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished "Willy" the second of my three snowmen....still have "Milly" to do. The pattern is a "Stitchy Kitty" pattern called "Snowman Trio". The fabric is a little blue-er than the picture shows. The pattern also calls for buttons to get attached in the snowmen's arms. Chilly has a couple of snowflakes to hold on to, Willy is holding a cardinal and a bluebird, and Milly is holding a couple of hearts.

I think I'm going to create my own tri-fold out of these when they're done. My thinking is to mount each one individually on a piece of matboard or foam core (with some quilt batting) and then do three more pieces of matboard covered with quilt batting and fabric (I'm thinking of - if I can find it - white fabric with light blue snowflakes...if not, I'll find something with snowflakes or snowmen on it).

Then my thinking is to take one stitched piece and one fabric covered piece, and put them together with ribbons between them (like 1/3 of the way down from the top and a 1/3 of the way up from the bottom). If I do that with two of them (with the ribbons coming out of opposite sides on each) and then sandwich the ends of those ribbons between the third set, I think it will work as a tri-fold. (Notice - I said I THINK!) If anyone else has any brilliant ideas to contribute....please feel free to chime in!

Thanks for looking!

Angel of Cross Stitch Update

2009-07-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well....here is my latest progress on my Angel....slowly but surely I'm making progress. The part I'm working on right now shouldn't be too bad....not as many confetti stitches as some of the other parts. Just lots of shades of white and gray!!

Thanks for checking it out!

New Start

2009-07-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

This is my new project that I started when I finished the heart. I wasn't going to bother to post a picture of it because I didn't think I'd have made enough progress to look like anything. It's just a little piece - it's only a little over 2 inches across and maybe 6 inches tall.

When all is said and done it's going to have quite a few specialty stitches in it - so far there are just some long stitches in the upper left hand corner in the middle of the flowers. And the border is stitched with some overdyed floss from Threadworx in a really pretty turquoise blue.

This is a Sweetheart Tree pattern all revolving around the month of March - my aunt (who is also my Godmother) was born in March and this is her birthday gift for next year.

Thanks for checking it out!

A finish!

2009-07-11T22:08:00.000-07:00

This was a quick stitch - it's only about 5 x 7 (don't have the stitch count in front of me). All full stitches, a little bit of back stitching, and some beading. It calls for a bumble bee button (I bought one that's too big) on the yellow part (that looks kind of like a honeycomb). But....I'm okay without it. I think it's just fine! LOL

Thanks for checking it out!!

MawMaw's Quilt Update

2009-07-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, another week and I've finished off the one diamond in the lower right corner, along with the half one on the right hand side. I also started the top right hand corner.....that one should finish up pretty quickly the next time!

I really do like this pattern - although it does take a lot of focus for me - it's on 40 count linen, and just such teeny tiny stitches! LOL

Thanks for checking it out!

A couple of progress updates

2009-06-28T17:45:00.001-07:00

Woohoo!!! I finished another page on the dollhouse picture! The pages on this are a little weird because it was in a magazine - so some pages are actually two or three different sections. But in this case...it really was a full page. This one is a lot of fun to stitch...but it gets a little neglected. It's my work project (except I'm only working two days a week now, so I've lost three other lunch hours/week) and it was my Girls' Night Out project (when our stitching group was getting together every other Friday night). But....we've kind of quit doing Girls' Night Out because the store changed their hours - they close an hour earlier, so it's really hard for those members who work to feel like they get enough time in. I can't fault the store - apparently by closing an hour earlier, they were able to save enough money to avoid any layoffs.

And this is my update on "Stop and Stitch the Flowers" - a Blue Ribbon Designs. This is another real easy stitch (I guess I felt like I needed a couple to make up for MawMaw's Quilt and Angel of Cross Stitch!). I'm doing one block at a time so I don't get tired of all the green outlining.

And Naomi liked her cube yesterday - although she was a little confused with the bow on top, she thought it was something she got to open! LOL Her recital was cute but LONG (all sorts of age groups - I think I would have enjoyed it more if they did just the little kids in the afternoon and the older kids in the evening. Instead they did EVERYONE in the afternoon, and everyone except the little kids in the evening. So those poor folks had to do it all twice! (Thanks goodness NOT Naomi's group!)

Anyway - thank you (as always) for checking out my blog. I do appreciate it!!

Finished No Sew Cube!!

2009-06-27T09:06:00.001-07:00

Well, here are some finished pictures of my no sew cube for Naomi - she dances today, so nothing like assembling it right at the last minute! I had a hard time finding the right size piece of styrofoam (the piece is probably a little big for a no sew cube) so I ended up with an 8 x 8 x 8 inch cube. Not my first choice, but it worked. I didn't quite finish it the way I would normally (with a band of fabric around the sides top and bottom) instead I used one solid piece of fabric and that's why the back isn't perfect. The bottom is a little rocky too, but not horrible. And it's for a five year old, so perfection is probably not necessary!!

It's not real clear on the pictures - the fabric has ballet slippes in pink and peach intertwined with ribbons, and the bows on top are one cream colored and one pink - sheer ribbon with sparkles in it. I think it's very girly and cute for our little ballerina! (Well - my friend's granddaughter ballerina!)

Angel of Cross Stitch

2009-06-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!!! I'm onto the last page of Angel...well.....not counting the border. I am doing the border the first day each time this comes up in the rotation because it makes me crazy!!!

I found an error (or at least I think it's an error) that wasn't listed on my list of errors. For anyone else who has the pattern, take a look on the lettering on the sampler in the background - I think there's one row where the blue stitch is off by one. I think it was the L, M, N area...seemed like if I stitched it the way it was charted, the letters would have been crooked. (It could have been the U or V area, I don't remember now). Anyway, just a heads up because I know a couple of people were talking about stitching this one.

Yesterday we had a family get together at the lake near my parents house. It's a man made lake that's a membership thing, and they allow non gasoline powered boats on the lake (you can rent the boats you pedal, or sail boats, or little fishing boats with electric motors, or party boats with electric motors). The weather was kind of yucky - cool (cold by Southern California standards!) and cloudy, so it was a shame because the kids couldn't go swimming. But didn't stop the boat riding! The get together was to celebrate Fathers Day and my mom's birthday (which was last Tuesday). It was a lot of fun - and if anyone wants pasta salad, let me know, and I'll download some to you - I have WAY too much left over!! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog!!

New Start This Week

2009-06-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

So I started this pattern this past week - since I had two finishes in the last month I got to start two new things!

I'm thinking the next time this one coms up in the rotation, I'll be able to finish it. Pretty straightforward stitching, and some backstitching and some Mill Hill Beads. I think the designer is AnnaLee Waite - not someone I was familiar with until this pattern.

Anyway - thanks for looking!

Well...it's been a while!

2009-06-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with some spring cleaning (well, really looking for something for my dad, and it turned into spring cleaning, which turned into stash organization)....lol...so no updates for a couple of weeks. Then last week my camera card and my computer had a falling out and weren't on speaking terms, so I couldn't post anything.

But....now I'm back, and I have a couple weeks worth of updates to post (and a short rant at the end).This is my project I stated the week before last. It's called "Stop and Stitch the Flowers" and it's by Blue Ribbon Designs. It doesn't show up on the picture but I'm stitching it on a light blue fabric. I like it because it's straight forward stitching, and I'm kind of doing one block at a time. (And no, I haven't forgotten my alphabet - C, D, and E are on the next page of the pattern! LOL). Blue Ribbon Designs has a bunch of these types of patterns - they're 10 squares by 10 squares, alternating letters and designs, and they all have different themes. There's a St. Patricks Day one that I have in my stash, along with Halloween, Christmas, patriotic, and a bunch more. I like them, so I suspect I'll be doing more of these!

This past week I stitched on MawMaw's Quilt - I did the little triangle in the bottom right corner, and the lower right hand corner diamond (there's still more to do on that - each of those diamonds get partially filled in). It looks like I'm doing this in kind of a weird order, but it's because of which pieces are fully contained on one page of the pattern and which aren't - that center diamond is actually spread over four pages of pattern, so I'm holding off on that one til the bitter end. This one is a challenge for me, just because it's over 2 on 40 count linen, but I like it!

Now for my mini-rant. I mentioned that I did some stash organization - part of it was just gathering up some miscellaneous "stuff" I had around the house that was stitching related. So, I needed a second container (I have my stitching stuff all in "Sterilite" brand containers). I had one mid-size container (kind of file box size - it has all my supplies that I'm not currently using - stitching fabric, backing fabric, ribbon, perforated paper, etc, as well as finished projects that aren't framed or whatever), one container that was the same dimensions but shorter (that has current stuff in my rotation in it), plus four shoeboxes with my floss in numerical order in the Floss-Away type bags.

So my first run-in with Sterilite was that I wanted another file size box. So...off to Wally World (aka Wal-Mart) to buy another box like the old one. Nope....don't have it any more......so off to a second Wally World and to Target...only to NOT find the same box. So, I buy another box, but although it's the same size, they don't stack very well (the lid of one doesn't fit the bottom of the other). So...I'll suffer.

Then I had decided that I was tired of my Floss-Away bags not standing up straight, etc....so I bought some notecards to put inside the bags, figuring that they would stand up better (which they do!). Of course, if they aren't sliding all over the place, they take up more room. So...you guessed it...off to buy more boxes. And...would you believe - they've changed the shoeboxes TOO???? So....now I have a total of eight shoeboxes in two stacks of four. And there's such a difference in size that the stack of four new ones is almost a full box taller than the stack of four of the old ones!

I give up! I'm all for nicer, newer, prettier designs and shapes. - but can't they make the cut outs on the lids the same as the bottoms of the older containers so that they still all stack?????

Anyway...done ranting - now I'm off to start another new project! It's the second new one lately, since I had finished BoInk and Monopoly last month!

Thanks for listening to my ranting and raving! Have a great week all!

Good thing I didn't put away my dancing shoes!!

2009-05-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well....I wasn't going to pull this back out again until the next time it was due in the rotation...but my momentum from finishing Monopoly motivated me. So...another finish!!! I'm very excited about it - now I can start TWO new projects! LOL

Thanks for checking out my blog!

Happy Dance, Happy Dance!!!

2009-05-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's DONE!!! Monopoly is DONE!!!!

Almost a year after the first stitch (we started the SAL on June 1, 2008) and I finished it today! It was a fairly easy stitch except for the things that are oriented on the diagonal (the center logo and the corner squares)...and oh yeah, the Community Chest squares were yucky too! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I'm thinking I'll put it in acrylic, kind of like a poster frame. It MIGHT end up being my grab bag gift for my family Christmas gift exchange.

And...on a semi-related subject, I have to tell you all about my visit to my not so local LNS. A couple of weeks ago I was in Vegas and took my second trip to Stitchers Paradise. This time I was better prepared (had my shopping list with me, and actually stuck to it!) and mainly went in search of fabric. I found three fabrics that I will use for my next three projects, along with the beads that are called for in two of those projects (and the DMC Perle Cotton).

I know a lot of folks here in the US travel to Vegas...and perhaps when you do, stitching is not on your mind. BUT I whole-heartedly recommend this shop. When I was there (a Saturday morning) the place was jumping. There's a table in the front window where three or four ladies were stitching and chatting....and there were probably about 3 or 4 customers roaming around. That didn't stop the very nice woman who worked there from helping me. (She did go wait on a couple of people in between dealing with me, but I encouraged her to do so). She helped me find the fabrics I wanted, and even helped me do a mini floss toss. I wasn't going to buy the floss for my projects, since it's DMC and I have plenty, but we wanted to check the contrast on a couple of colors....

Not only did she cut my fabric, she labeled each one with the count, the color, the type of fabric AND (here's the part I thought was wonderful, since I would be VERY likely to forget) which project I was planning for each piece of fabric. She even wrote down the final cut size so that when I am ready to start I can cut my fat quarter down to the appropriate size.

Anyway - can't say enough nice things about the shop....have fun if you go check it out!

And meanwhile, thanks for checking out my blog....do you know how hard it is to type when you're dancing????

BoInk

2009-05-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I was unrealistically optimistic on this one. I thought this rotation might just be the one that I finished this! But alas, it was not meant to be. I even kept it as my current project for two weeks because our Vegas trip interrupted my stitching time, and STILL didn't finish it. But I'm kind of tired of the light blue (and that's about 90% of what I have left) so I will put it away until it's next turn. One more cat, one and a half more knots, one and a half sides.....and the border around one of the intererior crosses. THEN it will be done! LOL

Thanks for checking it out!

MawMaw's Quilt

2009-04-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest and greatest update on MawMaw's Quilt.....I really do like this pattern! LOL

First the close up of the section I just finished - I think I like this the best...it's solid stitching but I love all the different colors and the patchwork look.

And now a picture of the whole thing.....I think I'm almost 1/2 done. I figure that there are five "whole" diamonds, 4 "half" diamonds, and 4 "quarter" diamonds....for a total of 8 diamonds. I've done two "whole" diamonds, 3 "half" diamonds, and 2 "quarter" diamonds. So....I figure I've stitched 4 diamonds (this used to say 8 - I guess I'm not very good at fractions!). Of course, that logic falls apart a little bit because I still have more border to do. but it's pretty close! LOL

I did make a couple of minor adjustments from what the pattern said because I thought there were two "oopses". I tried to contact the designer, but they didn't respond. So....I did it the way that looked right to me.....if I was wrong, no one will ever know!

Thanks for checking out my blog!!

Another little finish

2009-04-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

My friend Suzanne's five year old granddaughter is dancing in her first recital (I'm thinking you can guess when! LOL) so I stitched this little thing up for her.

I'm either going to finish it as a flatfold or a no sew cube. I'm hoping to maybe find some fabric with ballet shoes or ballerinas on it. We shall see!!!

Thanks for checking it out!

My first no sew cube!

2009-04-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally finished off my first no-sew cube. It's two Lizzie Kate patterns (with similar, but not identical) colors in them, and I did it back to back. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I used some organdy ribbon for the bow, which I thought was pretty, and I used four pearl headed buttons as "feet". It's not perfectly centered, and could probably have been a slightly shorter cube, but.....hey, if I wanted PERFECT I could have bought her a gift, right? I was taking the picture out on my balcony (hence my hand! I was afraid it might fall, fortunately only one floor if it had, but into bushes....).

I'm going to see Stacey (my niece) for lunch today, so I'll give it to her today.

Thanks for checking it out!

Angel of Cross Stitch

2009-04-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here is my progress after another week of stitching on Angel of Cross Stitch....I ALMOST finished the border on the bottom left hand page (I hate stitching the border, so I "force" myself to spend the first day of my rotation on the border - LOL) and then I did a lot of stitching on the sampler that's hanging on the wall behind her. As usual, lots of confetti stitches....but it all seems to be worth it......

Thanks for checking it out!

Victorian Dollhouse

2009-04-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Here is my progress on the Victorian dollhouse so far. I really enjoy stitching this one - it's got a number of color changes for the various pieces of furniture, etc, but it's still fun. This picture looks like it might be a little blurry if you "bigify" it, but you get the idea. I'm glad my friend Deborah is starting on hers too - I know she was anxious to start it, it will be fun to watch her progress too!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

And Happy Easter to all for whom it is applicable!

One Snowman Down, Two to Go!

2009-04-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished one of the three snowmen that are part of the Snowman Trio (still have Willy and Milly to go - I started one of them today, but I don't remember which one! LOL). This was a pretty easy stitch, no fractional stitches....just smyrna crosses for the snow flakes). The photo is a little misleading - the fabric is bluer than it looks (to me it looks gray in the picture, but it's really a light blue).

Thanks for checking it out! I think I'm going to make the three of them into flatfolds. I might (we'll see if I can work out the mechanics of it) try to make it into kind of a tri-fold thing. A friend of mine (thanks Cristin) had a great idea. I'm thinking I could mount the stitching one one piece of foamcore or matboard, and do the same with some complimentary fabric. Then I could kind of make "sandwiches" with those and connect them with wide ribbon of some kind. I'll have to play with it and see how it works.

Anyway....next post....Victorian dollhouse!!!

Monopoly Board

2009-04-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well, this past week was spent concentrating on the logo in the middle of the Monopoly board. It might just be me, but I have had to concentrate pretty hard on this part - apparently I have a hard time orienting myself diagonally! Even though I'm still stitching in straight rows, it's still diagonal in my ind. I have checked, double checked, and triple checked each letter to make sure I'm staying in alignment. And of course, it's a boatload of quarter stitches, which aren't causing me as much of a headache on the aida as I anticipated....

On the hockey tournament - my nephew's team didn't fare so well - they won their first game, but lost all the rest. On the one hand, you know it's a major honor to even make it to the Nationals, but there's still the side of you that would have liked to see them get a little further in the tourney.....but, obviously, we're very proud of them. And the games were close - so at least they stayed competitive.

The job hunt is still plugging along - no big changes there! Still working two days a week for the old place, and still trying to find something else!

Thanks for checking out my blog - I do appreciate it, and your comments!!!

Book of Ink Circles Update

2009-03-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest update on Book of Ink Circles after a week of stitching....I've finished all the counting, just need to fill in the borders. The second picture is the last square of the pattern I customized it a bit - I changed the "20" in "2009" to "KK" for my initials...and then when I did that, I needed to widen out the "0" and the "9" so that it would match the K's, if that makes any sense. I'm sad to see this SAL come to a close (I'm a little behind everyone else finishing it up, but it will happen soon enough.....). It's been fun, and it's introduced me to Tracy's patterns, which could be a dangerous thing. One of the next things coming up on my list is going to have to be Growth Rings that's in Just Cross Stitch. I have the magazine, but I haven't kitted it up yet.

Thank you to Tracy for sharing this wonderful pattern with us - and thank you to all of you for checking out my blog!

(And keep your fingers crossed - my nephew's national tournament for hockey is this week! I'll keep you posted!!).

MawMaw's Quilt Update

2009-03-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here is MawMaw's Quilt after another week. This bottom triangle is kind of fun - it's solid stitching, but not a lot of counting since it's a pattern of triangles. I think I've discovered an error in the pattern (I think I can correct it myself), but I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has either stitched or at least has the pattern. There is a spot on the bottom of this triangle that shows a rectangle of all one color, but I don't think that's right. The rest of the pattern is made up of squares divided diagonally, so that area seems odd to me. I have e-mailed M-Designs to see if they agree with the error issue - there is nothing on their website.

This week it's back to BoInk. I have one square to finish, and then a lot of border work to do.

Thanks for checking out my blog!!!

Dollhouse Update

2009-03-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest update on my Victorian dollhouse - it's coming along - it's fun to stitch....not a lot of fractionals or confetti stitches. I like the colors, they're nice and bright and cheerful. It's kind of my lunch project, but since I'm only working two days a week, it's also my Girls' Night Out project every other Friday! That helps, it gives me about four or five hours of straight stitching.

Thanks for looking!