Happy Dance

I finished this on Friday but just got around to taking a pic and posting it. I just need to find a frame hopefully this week. Then I will give it to my Doctor as a thank you gift for taking care of me so well during this difficult pregnancy.



This is my second finish from the crazy 15 challenge, hopefully the other 13 go just as well. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Another Wednesday SAL Update

This project is driving me crazy, I feel I have frogged more on it then stitched on it if that is possible. The verse in the middle has been completely frogged twice now, so this is my third attempt at stitching it. I truly believe this project is cursed, if I wasn't doing it as a SAL with Cat and Wendy I think it would have sunk to the bottom of the UFO pile. So here is my slight update for this Wednesday.



At least I can put it away for a few days, now to decide what to stitch on for the rest of the week. Could the first person to comment pick a number between 1 and 17 please. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

International Hermit and Stitch Day

Kim (http://kim-demeter83.blogspot.com/) and Joysze (http://joysze.blogspot.com) came up with the idea of International Hermit and Stitch Day, so I thought what the heck and threw in my stitching to join them. I figured with my due date being moved forward I'd better get my butt in gear on the baby feet sampler. So on Saturday morning this is where I started on baby feet.

By Saturday night I had the second foot almost done:

I decided to make it a weekend advent and DH took the kids out for breakfast then to swimming, so I got a lot stitched yesterday morning. Then everyone went to bed so I stayed up late stitching some more.


I'm very happy to put this piece down and work on something with some colour to it.

Finally Finished

After all sorts of problems including my dog eating my original chart, my fabric and floss to running out of floss and not being able to find any at the LNS. I am pleased to say late yesterday afternoon I put the final stitch into Thine Is The Trick And The Treat


This is stitched on 25 count fabric that I dyed myself, with black DMC 1 over 1. It just needs to be washed, ironed and find the perfect frame. I was suppose to be gone all day my MIL had an early morning appointment with a DR a 3 hour drive away and another one this afternoon. The plan was for me to take her but I woke up at 3 AM to a nasty stomach flu bug, I guess the draw back to being at the hospital every few days you get exposed to all sorts of germs. SO my DH took the day off from working on the house to drive her, I think I'm going to drag myself back to bed for awhile with the hopes of feeling better. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

On Christmas Day

As promised here is my Wednesday progress picture on the Mystery Sampler I'm stitching with Cat and Wendy. Not a lot of progress on this piece this week, I've been trying to get another WIP out of the way. Hopefully if all goes well I'll have a finish to show you tomorrow.

1 down and 14 to go

Yes you heard right finished one of my 15 from the crazy challenge, its a small finish but a finish is a finish right. Here is the completed Winter Greens from Little House Needleworks. This was stitched on 28 count fabric 1 over 1 with the recommended colours.


I have a couple more sampler ornaments that I want to stitch up then will decide how to finish them up after that. Now on to finish Thine Is The Trick And The Treat if all goes well will be back in the next day or 2 with that finish. Well guess I will visit with you tomorrow for my Wednesday Update on the "On Christmas Day Mystery Sampler"

Have a nice day and happy stitching.

Day 15 and the challenge is over

Actually guess it is just begining, the true challenge will be trying to get these 15 projects done by the end of the year. As I mentioned in an earlier piece my fabric that arrived for my last piece was the wrong fabric. I wasn't sure if I sure pick something else or wait for the right fabric to arrive, well I picked door number 3. I went to the local craft store and paid our outragous Canadian prices for fabric, still can not believe that it cost more the twice the price as ordering on line. So here is what I managed to get done last night on my day 15 pick.


After almost 200 stitches it still looks like a blob of brown, but one day it will turn into "Sabrina" by Nora Corbett a Mirabilla Design. I fell in love with this piece the moment I laid eyes on it but truely knew I had to own her once I saw Pumpkin's progress here pumpkinpatchandco.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-girl-wants-to-party.html
So now to draw straws to see which piece wins the fight to be stitched on first.

Day 14

And yes another long story. I knew as soon as I found out I was pregnant that I would be stitching another Christmas stocking after my last miscarriage I wasn't going to be stitching anything for this baby until I was close enough not to worry about anything. That hasn't stopped me from looking for ideas and looking at all the stocking patterns that I already owned. So when the crazy 15 challenge came up I knew that 1 of my picks was going to be a stocking, as several of my online friends can comment on I have become obsessed with stockings. At 1 point I had over 30 on my list to pick from, so I finally narrowed it down to the 5 I liked best then got DH opinion on the matter. His response "Your not doing one from the same series as the other kids have", so there went my 5 picks and I went back to my pile of old "Cross Stitch and Country Craft" magazines and pulled all of the stocking issues. We are pretty sure we are having another boy but still haven't picked a name yet. Seeing as they all start the same I thought I would just do the top border of the stocking, will put this away until after the baby is born and named. My progress on day 14's project.

I will be back tomorrow with my last start to share and seeing as it is already 10 PM here , I can promise it will just look like a brown blob.

Day 13

Day 13 flew by for me, with all my Dr's appointments and tests. I was right though I got tons stitched after a long day finally arrived back home brought in all my stuff and the groceries. Got everything put away and started supper, and thought I have time to put in a few stitches. So went to grab my stitching bag from my purse and it wasn't there, hmmmm, checked Kenny's bag, checked the car, checked everywhere. Even sent DH out to check the car, finally noticed the answering machine flashing guess what I left my stitching at the Dr's. So what is a bound and determined girl to do, guess I could have waited to post day 13's picture but I thought what the heck. So I grabbed some more fabby unfortunately not the 32 count called for, but rather 28, and started stitching. The first ornament is done except for the rag doll and this is how far I got last night on the second one.


So when I finish both of them, I will post pictures of both then hold a little draw. The 32 count one I will finish as an ornament and the 28 count one will be finished as a no sew cube, the winner will get to pick the one they want.

On more bad stitchy news, my fabby finally arrived for my day 15 pick but when I opened it they had sent me the wrong colour and count size. Accidents happen but now what to do about day 15 pick something different or wait until the right fabric arrives. Decisions decisions.

Day 12

Day 12 got off to a rocky start with me forgetting to take my stitching bag to my appointments, talk about a blond moment. When I got home I had such a splitting headache I went to bed for awhile. I didn't get a great start to "Seashell Treasures" this is a kit from the gold collection petites by Dimensions. Of course it didn't help that I started with threads almost the same colour as the fabric but if you squint really hard you can actually see the stitches.


My plans for today's project have been scrapped for the moment, it was just too big of project to take with me and I have to go to the hospital today for 2 tests, see my Doctor and see a specialist so busy day for me. So instead I picked for day 13's project "Under the Tree" by Littlehouse Needleworks. With all my appointments and waiting maybe I'll actually have a happy dance finish to show you tomorrow.

Day 11 and a Wednesday SAL Update

Well as you can see day 11 didn't go well, I had 2 appointments and my sugars were out of wack, I didn't feel well and had a massive headache but a start is a start. So here is "Fishing Buddies" this is a kit from Dimensions, when it is finished it will be a gift for my DH's Uncle


I had equal as little progress on the SAL I'm stitching with Wendy and Cat, but every stitch counts right. I did manage to get the top right hand snowflake stitched and a couple of the letters on the inside border.

Day 10

Wow these days sure are going by fast not much left in my basket for new starts to choose from, you would think that would make it easier to pick one. Yesterday for day 10 I got a very late start with my stitching, and frogged a lot of it as well. The piece that I picked for yesterdays start is "Christmas" by Jardin Prive, I think this will stitch up fairly fast once I get back to it.


Only 5 left to start what will I pick for today, hmmm guess you will have to come back tomorrow to find out. Stay warm and happy stitching.

A late ornament and Day 9

Before I show you what little I stitched yesterday on day 9 of the 15 day crazy January challenge, I must share with you what arrived in the mail this morning. I was in an ornament exchange with one of my Yahoo groups "Friendly Stitchers", we were suppose to have our ornaments mailed by December 6Th. When December came and went I had sort of given up on my ornament arriving, Jillann had mailed it on the 7Th of December. So when to my amazement there was a little package in the mail today for me, I'm waiting on a few things to arrive so I wasn't very sure on the contents. I was delighted when this came tumbling out onto my lap.

It is beautiful, I'm sure glad she choose a wintry pattern so that I can still display it for awhile. The back is just as beautiful, Jillann used a sparkly fabric for the back. My picture doesn't do it justice.


So onto Day 9 told you there wasn't a lot to share. Here is "Feathered and Frosty Friends" from a Stoney Creek Magazine. Just the start of the scarf and an arm.

Day 8

I had a good stitching day yesterday and I'm pleased with the results. Yesterday's project was "Thread Gathering" which was a Special Edition design by Little House Needleworks, I'm not quite sure why this has sat so long in my stash pile. I managed to get almost half the border finished yesterday.


Now to decide what to stitch for today. I'm going baby shopping so might not get much done, come back tomorrow to have a look.

Day 7 and another new start

So the challenge is at the half way mark. Yesterday as I was looking through what was left in my basket I came to the conclusion that I had picked way to many Christmas/winter/ snowy pieces so with much thought I removed some of the charts from my what I had left and went through my stash pile again. So I think I'm finally happy with my selections, I hope. So unfortunately with picking new charts it meant looking for fabric, I'm trying as much as possible to use what I have on hand. So after lunch I got my dyes out and dyed a few pieces of fabby. By the time I was ready to stitch I just needed a warm iron to finish drying the piece I was using. All in all I am very happy with the progress I made on yesterdays stitching which was "Charmed Water Garden" by Hinzeit.

The chart was model stitched using Weeks dye works and sampler threads but the colours are also listed for DMC and as I'm trying to stick to a stitching budget this year, DMC it was. I don't think this way take to many days of stitching to be in the finished pile.
My big problem on the 16Th will be deciding which of the 15 pieces to work on first.

Day 6

Sorry I'm so late posting yesterdays progress picture, my relaxing day was a little too relaxing spent most of it sleeping guess I needed it. Yesterday my pick was "Tribal Seahorse" from White Willow Stitching, it is a one colour chart so fast and easy stitching. I decided to stitch it in DMC Color Variations 4240 Mid Summer Night which is looking beautiful, its hard to see all the jewel tones in the picture. Looking forward to finishing this one.


I have the "Tribal Fish" that I will do at some point this year or next, both will end up living in my spare bathroom. So off to read a few blogs then try to get in a few stitches on the day 7 project.

Day 5 of the crazy challenge

Day 5 got off to a slow start yesterday. After all my tests at the hospital then to my Doctor's office it seemed like is was a long day, I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing. My little mountain climber had other plans it seems and decided to have a climbing adventure. I came around the corner to find him standing on the arm of the office chair by the computer. It all happened so fast I'm not exactly sure what he hit his head on, all I remember is the blood being all over his head. so back to the hospital for stitches we went. So my first few stitches hit my fabric at about 10 last night. This is the "Giraffe Family" by Vervaco, I stitched the fabric to 18 count instead of the called for 14.


Well another busy day filled with appointments but at least I get to go to the LNS, hopefully she'll have black thread in by now. Tomorrow I'm having a me day filled with nothing but stitches well that's the plan anyway.

Day 4 of the crazy Challenge and a Wednesday Update

So after my great start to yesterday's challenge. I head into town to get groceries and return some video's. When I returned home it was time to start cooking for the hungry family. Then it was play time, bath time, story time and finally time for jammies for Kenny. So I got a late start to stitching yesterday but considering all I am happy with the results. Here is the start to Snowflake Serenade


With the 15 day Challenge going on I haven't had much time to work on the Christmas Sampler that I'm doing a SAL with Cat and Wendy. It doesn't look like much has changed but I've finally frogged the rest of the problem areas and managed to get most of it restitched. So even though the picture hasn't changed much there is actually a lot of stitches in.



Off to get ready all my tests from yesterday were bumped to today. SO I have a NST at the hospital, a growth ultrasound scheduled, plus blood work to do, then I have to go see the Doctor. So no promises on how much stitching there will be to show for Day 5 tomorrow. Wishing everyone a safe and warm day.

Day 4 of the crazy Challenge problems

You will laugh at my pregnant mommy brain. Went to my basket and flipped through what was left and do you think any of the 12 charts jumped out at me and demanded to be stitched no. So instead of walking away and coming back later when I sure they would all be screaming at me at once. Nope not little old me, so instead I waddled over to my filing cabinet of stash and started looking. I'm so bad, so I finally found something that screamed at me "Snowflake Serenade" by Country Cottage Needleworks. So big sigh of relief I have something to stitch today, then onto pulling thread, yep I have all the colours called for. So only one thing left fabric, think I'm going to get lucky nope. Don't have the called for colour, but I'm bound to have something that should work in my stash. Wrong again, its snowing so I didn't want to drive to the not so local LNS. So what is a girl to do, hmmm. The answer white fabric and add coffee. So just waiting for the coffee pot to finish running through then I will antique my fabby and hope the white thread will show up. So its 2PM on January 4th and I have yet to stitch 1 stitch on my day 4 project. Hopefully if your still reading I will be back in the morning to share a pic.

Day 3 of the Crazy January Challenge

Yesterday I picked this cute sepia chart from Vervaco as my day 3 start. I thought it would be a cute easy stitch for a Thank you gift for the Doctor who is looking after me during this difficult pregnancy. Hmmm should have thought it through a bit better only 9 colours how bad can it be. Well considering 5 of the colours are 433, 434, 435, 436, and 437 which all blend in together beautifully. So by the time I put it down last night I was seeing cross eyed. Here is my progress on the baby feet sampler.



You can see some of the babies toes on one foot, should look cute when its all done.

Oh I almost forgot its a new moon so that means it is TUSAL time. My jar doesn't have much to show for it but I started fresh on the first of January so I guess not too bad for 4 days. The TUSAL is being hosted this year by Daffycat.

Day 2

Well after all the birthday Cake and ice cream was gone and I had a hyped up sugared up 3 year old that didn't go to bed until 9:30. My stitching time was short so not a lot of progress on "Inviting Holiday Wreath" this is from the gold collection petites from dimensions.



I'll be back tomorrow with Day 3.

Me again

With everything going on I forgot to show you my progress on Thine Is The Trick And The Treat. I stitched on this a good part of last week until I ran out of black DMC, I know who runs out of black thread. Well I guess me and my LNS because when I went to buy more they were out as well.

I have the top 3 pages completely done so just need to fill in the gaps on the bottom half. I'm heading into the city on Thursday so hopefully can get some black thread then. So the next time you see this piece hopefully I'll be doing a happy dance.

Now to get a wound up, sugared up Birthday boy to bed then I can stitch. Thank you to everyone who sent little Kenny Birthday wishes, he had a fun 3rd Birthday.

Day 1 January Challenge

I would like to wish all my family, friends and fellow stitchers a Happy New Year. My original plans for 2011 stitching was to stitch only small things manly ornaments for my Christmas tree for next year, but like most good plans things happen. What happened to me was the crazy 15 day Challenge. I do most of my stitching at night and my camera and lighting do not seem to co operate at night so I'll be posting day 1 on day 2 and so on. Most of you will be use to me being a day behind anyway. So the project I picked for yesterday was "Winter Greens" from the "All Dolled Up" series for Little House Needleworks. I started stitching yesterday morning when I had a brilliant idea, so I ripped it all out and instead stitched overt 1 on 28 count fabric so it will be an ornament for next year.



I'll be back tomorrow to show you Day 2 pic, I probably wont get much stitched today because it's my little boy's birthday today.