Morning all!

First of all-Giveaway at Edgar's! Head on over to http://blacksheepsite.blogspot.com/2011/04/four-years-and-counting-blogoversary-is.html. It's his 4th Blogoversary and he has something special planned for his giveaway! His postings are always fun to read. If you haven't read his blog, now's the time to do it.

Onto other news:

Alphabet Rhyme by Little House Needleworks is finished!



Alphabet Rhyme-LHN
28ct mystery linen
called for CC thread

This last pic is an experiment to get those close-up shots like I see other bloggers have. I'm not sure how they do it but I'll keep trying! I'm breathing a sigh of relief because I ran out of CC's Hickory Sticks for the 'with m' at the bottom, so I used GAST Dark Chocolate instead and I must say, it's hard to see a difference! FYI: an extra skein of CC Hickory Sticks may be required! Anyway, it's a fun stitch, and didn't take long. I have one other LHN pattern in my possession and as soon as I can, will start it too.

I am now going to give my full attention to Winter at Beacon House and here is my progress as of now:

That's a lot of border! See the red border at the top right? Well, it goes much further than that! It'll be long, for sure. I am dealing with all that extra fabric as I stitch, just flipping it back and forth! I'm going to start filling in the sand and snow below that black fence left center because I'm weary of border stitching. At this rate I'll be done with this around February or March of 2012! But that'll be fine because then I can use some of my tax return to pay for the framing!

As for the WIP front: nada, nope, no way! Nothing going on there. My witch on the broom (see the WIP label) will get done in time for Halloween though. I try to make enough stuff to hit some of the craft fairs in this area in the Fall and before Christmas. I have finished 7 WIP's, so I feel I have enough leeway to start new stuff.

My vertigo has gone down some. I still have to sit up in bed very slowly but not like it was last time. I haven't had to use the Valium for it. I just take my time and try not to move too fast.

Spring has finally sprung around here. Yesterday morning it was still near freezing but it warmed up nicely. If only these crazy winds would die down some..although come June and July, I'll be wishing for them to come back. It'll get hot then, around the 90's and higher.

Thanks for your comments! I get so giddy with happiness when someone leaves a comment! I know, get a life! Being that it's Thursday, I'm wishing everyone an early happy weekend. I will be one of the crazies waking up in the early a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding and then onto work at 8 a.m. Saturday! I better turn on that coffee machine as soon as I get in there.

Spend it stitching!

As the World Turns

And turn it did! My vertigo got worse Friday, prompting a trip to the ER Saturday morning. CAT scan, EKG all came up normal. The EKG because I was freaking out over the bad vertigo event and I felt like my heart was racing, the CAT scan because although I've had vertigo before, this episode felt worse with no break in the severe dizziness. I was prescribed Valium, and it's made me feel better. I haven't tried to drive yet, but I have to go to work tomorrow. Don't worry-I haven't had Valium since Saturday night.

Needless to say I didn't stitch at all since Thursday. Today, I tackled a few of my finished stitching. Take a look:

All Hallow's Eve turned into a pillow. The backing is a nice homespun cotton with colors that match those of the front. The pincushion is a Sharon Crescent/Diane Williams for Crescent Colours collaboration freebie, whew! I used the called for WDW French Vanilla linen and CC thread, sewed 4 buttons on the left and stuffed it with the lizard sand. The linen was perfect because it had splotches on it, giving it a prim look. 

And in keeping with my unfocused stitching, here's what I started last week before I got sick:

I feel like I don't get anything done stitching this way. The ABC's will probably be laid aside as I pick up on Winter at Beacon Hill. After that, who knows?! If only there were 28 hours in a day!

That's it folks! Hope the week is great for you and spend it stitching!

Giveaway! Check It Out!

Just wanted to let you all know of a giveaway at Cross Stitch and Cupcakes: http://crossstitchandcupcakes.blogspot.com/. Five different giveaway's, something for everyone! Her 3rd Blogoversary!

Dive right in, the water's fine!

Good afternoon!

After a few weeks of walking past this project and wondering when I'll start it, I finally took the plunge and here is where I'm at:

It's funny because I fell in love with this design when I first saw it on someone's blog as one of their Crazy January Challenge 2011 starts. I waited about a month for the fabric and during that time, I waited 2 or 3 weeks for all the threads. I just couldn't wait to start it. I think I hesitated because it'll be so long and I haven't stitched anything so huge in quite a while. I'm having fun with it. It's a large piece of fabric, though. I stitch in-hand so I'm having issues handling this. I haven't used scroll bars in years but am thinking it may come in handy. But it has to be a large one, as this design measures 8 1/2"x19". For now I've rolled up the extra fabric on the right and held in place with plastic coated paper clips! Also, that red border is GAST Cherry Wine. It calls for 2 skeins and I have about 1 and 3/4 skeins, and HORRORS!, the two skeins have a noticeable difference in their color. All because I wanted to save some $$$! What I've done is taken the two skeins apart and re-aligned threads, one strand from one skein and one strand from the other. I will use these two skeins on the border while holding my breath! The red house and the bird house also uses Cherry Wine but I'll buy another skein for those.

I just finished up another WIP, the 7th one. The Up for the Challenge 2011 is one of the good things I've found. Before I stumbled upon that site, finishing up my WIPs was one of my '11 resolutions anyway. But I'm glad I found the site and joined. This freebie is by BBD. It turned out really nice and is bigger than the usual small freebies. I'll be framing this and keeping it.

Friday night my daughter and I drove to Phoenix to see the Phoenix Coyotes (NHL hockey) versus San Jose Sharks for a playoff home arena start. My daughter is the rabid hockey fan and I kinda just fell in line! It was great! For one, it had been a year since we've been in Phoenix. And the weather was cool, always a big draw in Phoenix! We did run into rush-hour jams but made it to the rink in time. We had a great time. The drive home was at 11 p.m. and thru a few sprinkles. At midnight, when we got home, it began to rain. Here is what I had to drive in the next morning to work:

However, today, it's all melted. Welcome to Arizona weather, as soon as that sun comes out there goes the snow. But that's o.k. because here's the results:

This Prickly Pear cactus always sprouts about 20 or more fruits in the Fall. And every year I 'say' I'm going to make Prickly Pear jam with them. But those darn skunks or javelina take them all. So this year I'm going to fool them and cover my cactus with chicken wire. Those little purple/blue flowers really take over the side of the house. They spread, and come back every year. I'm not sure what they're called though. I'm ready for some spring weather though, and the weatherman says it'll dry out and gradually warm up. Hooray!

Well that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! I will be stitching more on my big project and will post pics after I get that border done and start on the sand/snow near the black fence.

Thanks for dropping in! Have a wonderful week and spend it stitching! (wishful thinking)