IHSW

This is the second International Hermit and Stitch Weekend of the year, and I will am stitching!

Spam!

Celebrating 75 years of Spam?  I don't think so!   I remember having cans of spam on the shelf at our summer home as a child, in case unexpected visitors showed up.   Fried in a pan, it wasn't so bad.                                     

The kind of spam I am really referring to is the unwanted comments, advertisements, etc.  My blog has been overrun with spam!   I don't think my readers are interested in enlarging body parts they may not possess, nor do they want to get various drugs from other countries.....       since I really hate when you have to type in the codes that are hardly readable to be able to post a comment on a blog, I don't want to use them.  I have changed the settings so that I get an e-mail to approve the comment before it is posted. 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

I didn't do any special stitching for Valentine's Day this year, but did stitchup this little ornament for an exchange a few years ago.  I should stitch it up for myself someday.....but there is so much to stitch and so little time....

Another Sneak Preview

Another model for Sue Hillis was completed this evening.  This is the May square for the Desert of the Month Club series being released soon.

TUSAL February

Time to report on the TUSAL (totally useless stitch-a-long) for February.  Here is my ort jar that was filled this past month.  I started with an empty jar mid January, and managed to fill it in a month..

Sneak Preview finish

Here is a model I stitched for Sue Hillis.  This is one square of a new series of charts that will be released at the Nashville Market.

The series is called Dessert of the Month Club, and will consist of 3 or 4 charts that will have a total of 12 months of dessert squares with a header to tie it all together.  The squares can be stitched as part of the entire design or used individually for ornaments or cubes or whatever!

happy New Year!

And yet another pillow....

I stitched this pillow, which was a free design by Handblessings Designs a few years ago, as part of a year-long EGA project.  I finally got around to finishing it as a pillow.

Another Pillow finish

This is Autumn Leaves by From Nancy's Needle.  It is a counted canvas piece.  The chart was sent to me by Barb ( no blog) after I admired her finish.  I have since passed the chart on, and Marguerite and her Uncle Dick have also stitched it.

It was a very quick finish, and I have purchased and kitted up a bunch of From Nancy's Needle Designs. I just need to find the time to work on them.

I chose to finish it as a pillow ( am running out of wall space)

A Previous Finish

In 2010, I stitched this design which had 1 part released each month on a blog.  I finally finished it as a pillow late 2012, and never have a chance to show it to you, until now that is!  It seemed appropriate to share it now that Valentine's Day is coming up.

No title needed

Sampler au bouquet part 1

I am participating in a Stitch-a-long with others that are part of a Facebook group that is called Sampler World.  The piece that we are doing this year is called Sampler au bouquet, and I just completed part 1.  there are 2 more parts, and I just received the chart for part 2 from Michelle, so I can start on that soon.  I am stitching it on 40 flax Newcastle, with one thread over two fabric threads.  Although the sampler is charted for DMC, I am using various over dyed fibres, just because.

This is the first time I have ever stitched on 40 count, and I find that I really like working on it!

Check back in a few months to see part 2.

Baked Goods Finished

I finished the stitching on ornament #7 from 2011 by Little House Needleworks.  It is stitched on the recommended fabric with the recommended fibres.

I hope to finish all rest of the 2011 ornaments this year.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy 84th Birthday to my mother!

Groundhog Day

At 7:25 a.m.Saturday, amidst overcast skies, and frigid temperatures hovering around 8  degrees, Groundhog Phil failed to see his shadow in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pa.
According to folklore, no shadow for Phil means there will be an early spring.  Had Phil seen his shadow, it would have meant six more weeks of winter.

Sir Walter Wally in Raleigh saw his shadow around noon Saturday, predicting six more weeks of winter. But in Charlotte, Queen Charlotte didn't see her shadow when she came out around 11:30 a.m., predicting an early spring. 

January Progress and February Goals

January was a great month!  Two new grandsons were born!  Owen on January 3rd and Peter on January 30!

Stitch was great in January too!  I clocked a total of 158 hours of stitching, 23 new starts and 20 finishes! (even though most of those finishes were ornaments or smallish designs, I will still take the happy dance!) I also managed to have a blog post every single day in January.

Now don't expect the same for February.  With two new babies, and the beginning of Lent, I am going to be very busy at home and at work, so I definitely won't have 5 hours to spend stitching each day.

January Progress

WISPS:

Work on Bavarian Table Topper  worked on it

10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
work on Logan’s stocking 

Antique Map and Needlebook

Heirloom Christmas Sampler

In Progress

Poinsettia Stocking

Halloween House #9 

6 snow Belles border  finished

Crazy January starts

Blizzard Babe finished

Frosty Friends  finished

Owen’s first Christmas ornament finished

Baby’s First Ornament finished

Photo booth Bacon and Eggs finished

Natalie’s Birth Sampler  started

Be Merry 1 Snowman Ornament (Val’s Stuff) finished

Sue Hillis Seasonal Baskets – stitch border finished

Silent Night (Ornament)  finished

Let it Snow  finished

Quaker Rose Sampler page 1 started

Pink Flowers on Gingham  finished

Natalie’s ornament  finished

Freshly Baked  finished

Pine Tree Inn  finished

My RR – Spring  finished

Fresh Fallen Snow  finished

Logan’s ornament finished

Be Merry 2 finished

Be Merry 3 finished

Sampler au bouquet 1 started

Baked Goods started

Be Merry 4 finished

February Goals

WISPS:

Work on Bavarian Table Topper 

10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
work on Logan’s stocking 

Antique Map and Needlebook

Heirloom Christmas Sampler

In Progress

Poinsettia Stocking

Halloween House #9 

Crazy January starts now in progress

Natalie’s Birth Sampler 

Quaker Rose Sampler page 1

Sampler au bouquet 1

Baked Goods

Future New starts

Hallelujah

Joy and Peace

Snow in Love

Good Tidings

afghan pillow bear

afghan pillow moose

Crystal Violets

French Alphabet block sampler

Silent Night (CCN)

Around the World in 80 Days

Julie’s RR

Owen’s birth sampler
Peter's birth sampler

Natalie’s Stocking

Owen’s stocking
Peter's stocking

Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler

Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler

and then there were 4!

I finished the last of these four ornaments on the last day of the month.

I made 23 starts for the Crazy January Challenge.  I had 20 finishes, 19 of the finishes were Crazy January starts.

and then there were 3

I finished the 3rd Be Merry ornament on Wednesday.    I also got a good start on the fourth one!

Let it Snow!

It has been unseasonable warm here in the midwest, and I am stitching "Let it Snow!"

Here it is all finished.  I will pick up a frame next time I am at Welcome Stitchery and get it framed up soon.

and another finish

I finished this Sweetheart Tree design, Pink Flowers on Gingham.  It is much more sparkly in person than shows up in the picture.

There is enough fabric to either stitch it again, or to make a bottom for a biscornu.  Not sure yet what I will do.

Another New Start

Started Baked Goods, another Little House Needleworks 2011 ornament.  I didn't get too far, but it's a good start.

I am stitching it on the recommended 30 count linen with the recommended threads.

In case you are keeping track, this is the 22nd start this month.

Silent Night Ornament Finish

I finished the stitching on Silent Night by Little House Needleworks.  This is one of the 2011 ornaments, and I changed it to Stille Nacht because I could.

I think this is my favorite of all the LHN ornaments!

It is done with the suggested threads on the suggested 30 count fabric.  Ornamentification will happen at a later date.

In case you are keeping track, this makes finish # 16 for January so far.

Sampler au bouquet part 1 statred

Sampler au bouquet by Jardin Prive' is a Stitch-a-long

piece for a Facebook stitching group.  I started part 1,  and I love how it is coming along.  

This is the first time I am stitching on 40 count, and I love it.  The piece is charted for DMC but I am doing in  with various overdyed floss.

Freshly Baked

This evening I finished Freshly Baked by Sue Hillis.  It is found in the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.  I stitched it on the recommended 28 count Fabric Flair fabric with DMC floss.  The piece of fabric is big enough to stitch it a second time, so I will start it again soon.

Bacon and Eggs

I finished Bacon and Eggs, by Bent Creek.  It's part of the Photo Booth series and the third of the series that I have done.  I plan to do them all, they are just so cute!  It's done on whatever 32 count fabric came with the chart with the recommended threads

6 Snow Belles, Week 19, Finished!

Since I had Monday off, and my car didn't start, I had lots of time to stitch.  I managed to finish Frosty Friends and Blizzard Babe, thus completing the piece.  It took a total of 19 Mondays (73 hours of stitching).

I will miss spending my Monday's with the gals, just as I missed spending them with the boys in 6 Fat Men.  I looked back and found that it took me 19 weeks to finish the boys also.

Now that they are both completed, all I have to do is wait for the framing sale at Welcome Stitchery in May to have them framed.

A finish, a Start, Another Finish and Another Start

 As part of my IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) I picked up this snowman by Val's Stuff, (found in an older JCS Ornament Issue) and finished the stitching on it.  It is stitched over 1 fabric thread with two strands of WDW floss on 20 count fabric).

Since the piece of fabric I had was big enough for 4 of these ornaments, I started another one.  I finished that second one, and started a third!

With the finish of Logan's ornament on Friday evening, and the finish of the LHN ornament on Saturday, and then the addition of this stitching, I would say the the IHSW was quite successful for me!

...and another finish

This is Fresh Fallen Snow, by Little House Needleworks from the 2011 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.  I started it on Thursday evening, and finished it on Saturday evening.  It is stitched on 30 count cocoa linen by Weeks Dye Works with DMC floss instead of the recommended Belle Soie.

Another Start, Another Finish

Do you know how hard it is to find a small firetruck chart or a chart for a firetruck ornament?    Well, let me tell you, it isn't easy especially when you want to stitch it now and not take some time to keep searching.  I finally found a freebie on an obscure web site somewhere, and stitched up this little truck last evening.  Today I stitched Logan's name, the year and the border.  So, now the 2013 ornaments for the grand kids are stitched.  Ornamentification will happen soon.

Please note that this is the 18 start for January and the 8th finish.

This weekend is an International Hermit and Stitch Weekend!  I haven't been able to fully participate in one of these in a long time, but after work today I will begin stitching.  I have to teach German School on Saturday morning, and need to attend a luncheon on Sunday, but other than that, I plan to stitch!  Laundry is all caught up, grocery shopping is done, the house is clean.....so I plan to stitch!

and the stitching continues......

Now that I have had my 15 Crazy January Challenge starts, I can continue on and either finish the things that I have started, work on some WIPs or WISP, or even start something new!

On Tuesday, I finished all of the borders on Seasonal Baskets by Sue Hillis.  On Wednesday, I stitched the Winter square and finished it!  This piece is now ready to send out as my Round Robin piece.  Sue, Leta and Lena will each have a turn to stitch on of the seasons and I will have a finished piece when it comes back to me around mid-May.  In the mean time, I will be working on their pieces as them come in the mail.

January TUSAL Report

So why is the gnome scratching his head?  Probably because so many people are scratching their head, wondering why we have this TUSAL (totally useless stitch-a-ling) report.

The jar was empty on January 1st, and now on the 16th (just a few days late) there are quite a few orts in there!

6 Snow Belles Week 18

No new start on Monday, but great progress.  I finishes the "border" part and made great progress on Frosty Friends.  I really, really want to be finished with this.

Crazy January Challenge Day 13

Sunday was the 13 day of January, but I had my 15 start, and I finished it.  (the 4th finish if you are keeping track).

This one is Pine Tree Inn, by Little House Needleworks.  It's #6  of the 2011 ornament series.

Crazy January Challenge Day 12

 Saturday, I started this Purple Penguin ornament for Natalie.  It is done on 32 count lavender bliss Belfast.  The design is by Casey Buonauguirio and was in the 2009 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.
As, you can see by the photo, I also finished this piece.  In case you are keeping track, this is start #13 and finish #3.

Since I still had some stitching time left, I started #14, which was Freshly Baked by Sue Hillis, found in the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Ornament issue.  It is being stitched on 28 count pink peppermint by Fabric Flair.

Crazy January Challenge Day 11

Friday's start was this Sweetheart Tree chart called Pink Flowers on Gingham.  When I kitted this a many years ago, I planned to make a biscornu, so I bought a bigger piece of fabric so that I could stitch it twice.  Not so sure if I will make a biscornu or just stitch it twice and make two ornaments.

Crazy January Challenge Day 10

Thursday's start was Rose Quaker by Stickideen von der Wiehenburg.  I am stitching it on ivory 25 count lugana with mostly the suggested DMC colors ( just changed one) with one strand over one fabric thread.  Although it only looks like a tiny bit was stitched, it was actually quite a bit, but the stitches are very, very tiny.  I plan to stitch one page of this 8 page chart every 6 weeks or so, and plan to finish it in this calendar year.  Wish me luck.

Crazy January Challenge Day 9

On day 9 of the Challenge, I started "Let it Snow", a free chart by Ozark Sampler.  I purchased the fabric and kitted it up a bunch of years ago, when a few of us did our own Michigan shop hop.  Barb and I both admired this model on a shop wall and purchased the overdyed fabric to get the free chart.  Barb stitched hers up right away, but it took me a few years to get to it.  Here it is!

Crazy January Challenge Day 8

On the 8th Day of January, I started the border for Sue Hillis' Seasonal Baskets.  I am going to also stitch one of the squares and then send it off to 3 friends, who will each stitch a square.

Crazy January Challenge Day 7, Snow Belles Week 17

 For my Crazy January Challenge (this is start # 8 in case you are keeping track) I chose Blizzard Babe, the last of the charts for the 6 Snow Belles, thus killing two birds with one stone so to speak.

Since it is a Monday, I stitch on the 6 Snow Belles, and here is the entire piece so far.  The end is in site.  Just a few more weeks and it will be finished!

Crazy January Challenge Day 6

Natalie's birth sampler was Sunday's new start.  I hope to finish this one before her 2nd birthday which is the end of May.

Unfortunately this is a kit, although I am using evenweave and DMC floss instead of the fabric and floss included with the kit, and I am not fond of the charts in kits.  I find myself trying to "fix" the chart by changing stitches from whole stitches to partial stitches and it makes my cranky.

Crazy January Challenge Day 5

On Saturday, I stitched on Silent Night, by Little House Needleworks.  This is the fifth ornament of the 2011 series.  I plan to finish the 2011 series this year if all goes well.

Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone, I had to re-chart the lettering to read "Stille Nacht" instead of silent night.....

Crazy January Challenge Day 4

On the fourth day of the challenge I started stitching an ornament for baby Owen, who was born just yesterday.   While I was at it, I also stitched an ornament for my older son's baby who will be born next month.  I just need to do the first name on that one once he or she is born. 

The ornament I chose is a free chart on the Victoria Sampler website and I an enjoyable one to stitch.  I stitched it on 28 count white jubilee with DMC floss and some Kreinik gold metalic.

The ornamentification will happen at a later date.

Crazy January Challenge Day 3

Day 3 gave me lots of stitching time while the two little ones napped and their parents were off at the hospital having baby number 3.  (Owen George arrived Wednesday morning, weighing in at 9 lbs, 6 oz, with a very healthy pair of lungs!)

This is Bent Creek's Photobooth series, Bacon  Eggs, done on the fabric in the kit (32ct) with the suggested floss.

Crazy January Challenge Day 2

On January 2nd, I started the second piece in the Crazy January Challenge:  Be Merry, an ornament by Val's Stuff from the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue a few years ago. 

It is stitched on 20 count blue lugana with one strand of floss over one fabric thread.  I plan to do four of these, and here is the first one!

6 Snow Belles Week 16, Crazy January Challenge Day One

 Here are the Snow Belles at week 16.  Since Monday was New Year's Eve and I had a lot going on, I worked on this piece on January 1st instead. 

I started a new chart on this piece, Frosty Friends, and it is Chart 1 of the Crazy January Challenge.  This challenge is where you start a new chart each day for 15 days ( I may do more) and then finish them sometime during the year.