Progress, 2019 update, news

Hi all! I hope your Christmas was wonderful! We had a white Christmas and finally today, we have sunshine. I'm looking forward to summer!

I thought I would do my update today but first I'll show my progress on These Is My Words. I got the stitching blues and didn't stitch for 4 or 5 days leading up to Christmas but I started stitching again last Friday.

I've been working on the house. So far so good. This thing will be big-11 1/4" sq. 

That's on 32ct too. Here's where I was before..

As for 2019, I had 25 finishes. Yay. Some were exchange pieces which I no 

longer have. I also have 21 WIPs.

Plans for 2020? I think I'm going to have a bday SAL! My birthday is the

end of January and I'll be turning 56 (yikes) so I'll be starting 56 new projects!

Yep, I'm nuts! I have spent almost all of this year stitching on WIPs it seems so starting that many sounds like a lot of fun. I have 7 kitted up that are ready to go. I don't know 

how far I'll go but stay tuned! I'll try to post every 3 of 4 days as long as I can.

What could cause a problem is I'm using a wifi hotspot from my phone to be able

to post. I had to let my wifi go and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to

post. That would've been pretty sad. Luckily, I remembered I have that hotspot on my 

phone. 

Unfortunately, I didn't get a Barnes and noble gift card like I usually do,

so I haven't bought any new books to show for my 2020 reading. I did

grab a novel off a second hand shop, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. I would

like to read what is considered classics. Of course, I am waiting

 on the new Outlander series book to come out! 

That is all I have. I am chomping at the bit to do all new starts next year

and it's not far off too. Boy, time sure marches on, doesn't it? 

Take care everyone. Thanks for coming along this year on my stitching adventure!

I've had a lot of new Bloglovin' followers too so Welcome. And as always..

Progress, Happy Blogaversary

Hi all! Today is my 9th Blogaversary! Who would've thought little ol me would start a stitching blog? Not me, I'm soft spoken and reserved. I'm an introvert. No big deal, a lot of Flosstubers call themselves introverted. Well if I'm their kind of introvert, well, I'll take it! I've had a lot of fun. Thanks for coming along with me.

I have progress to show and a few other things.

Three posts ago, I was working on These Is My Words by LHN. This is what it looked like before..

and how it looks now..

I needed CCW Cocoa Bean for the roof and other places, so ordered that from 123 and got it yesterday. You know, I couldn't see buying just 1 floss so I added a nice piece of cotton fabric. The big square next to Sarah is a quilt. Before I put this down though, I started thinking of another WIP I have. Sandy/Stitching In Sunny Cal showed Song of the Seasons as a WIP she wants to work on next year. Every time I see this, it makes me want to stitch on mine. So while waiting on my 123 order, I pulled it out, here's the before..I think I accidentally deleted the picture. All I had in the middle portion is the tree on the left. The tree in the middle was already there. Here is what I've done..

It's really taking shape. I did make a counting mistake on the house though. One line extra, ugh.

So the tree on the right side will be adjusted to match since it's the same house but

looking different because of the season. Below this section are the words Spring Fall

Summer Winter and below that an alphabet and vines and flowers. I'm going to stitch

the words and end it there. It'll look nice. I've seen others that were ended right

below the tress and houses.

Now that I have my needed floss, I'm back on the LHN piece.

I had a lot of fun with the Advent post and I though I'd comment on a few 

comments left over there. Jo mentioned using chains on a Scrooge tree if I

ever get one going and I like that idea. I see a few of you also like my choices of

Christmas carols and movies. Astrid wanted to know if I've found any other

designs with the Christmas Carol story on it. Yes I have..

I first saw this on one of the stash selling sites. Of course someone else me pleased it

before I could! It calls for 40ct silk gauze. I would use a 36ct fabric because my 

eyes couldn't handle it. I will buy this sometime, but not now. Below are two

more charts I found..

I'm not sure I like this one. Lots of blocks of color for mindless stitching, right up

my alley though! And this last one..

Love it. I would have to send out to a finisher to do the strawberry. By

Erica Michaels like the one on top.

I mistakenly said I had 3 stitched items of Christmas Carol but it's really Do You Hear 

What I Hear.

Unfortunately, I planned a giveaway for my Blogaversary but I won't be able to do 

anything for it. Sorry:(

That's it. I want to wish you all a

and Happy Holidays! Take care!

Day 15 Advent Bloghop 2019

Welcome to my Advent post, the first one ever for me! Hop on over to Jo's blog the Serendipitous Stitcher to see all who is taking part. Sorry I don't have a link, my geriatric iPad doesn't let me.

Let's get started!

Here is my most favorite Christmas finish....ever!

Christmas Carol by the Primitive Hare! On her hand dyed linen with

over dyed floss. We see Tiny Tim and Scrooge standing in the snow. I just love it. I love everything about the story. For those who don't know, it's my mission to stitch everything Christmas Carol!

 So far I have 3 stitched items with words from the story. In fact, now that I'm looking at this,

I see a Scrooge ornament tree using Scrooge from this design! Haha.

My favorite Christmas movie isn't a movie per se but an animation..

Released in 1968 by Rankin Bass, masters at stop animation. When my 

daughter was small, we watched this during the holidays, it was required watching!

I finally bought the DVD 5 or 6 years ago. Although I love all the other old 

animation films, this one is about the birth of Jesus. 

I have a memory about the song Little Drummer Boy. Our elementary school would, before

break, set up a projector in our big cavernous cafeteria/gym for Christmas. They 

projected the words of Christmas carols onto the wall and us kids, from 

kindergarten to 6th grade, would read and sing. This song became my favorite along with

Do You Hear What I Hear. It just gives me the warm fuzzy feelings of that time. Life was so 

much easier! This adulting has gotten way out of hand, lol!

As for a real movie, Home Alone! Luckily it's on Netflix!

That's it! 

Hope you've enjoyed this 15th day of the Advent Bloghop.

Thanks Jo, for the invite!

Take care, all!

Winner!

Linda, you are the winner of the PS cards! Lucky gal! I am pretty sure I have your address and
I'll get the cards in the mail this coming week.

See everyone later for my turn at the Advent blog hop!

Stuff!

Greetings from a chilly, wet and gloomy day in AZ! How's is everyone? My header picture is of the courthouse in my hometown. We got snow last weekend, wet and heavy that resulted in power outages all over. Where I live 9 miles from the courthouse, we had only about 5" and no power outages. Good thing because my house is all electric! And the wind oh my gosh, was bad. Gusting to 50 mph at times; I was truly scared. I did not got to bed one night until 2 am when it slowed down. I have an irrational fear of this house blowing away. It's irrational because it's been standing for 41 years!

First, let's address the elephant in the room-Are you ready for Christmas?! Haha, not me! I do have a white pre-lit mini tree with all my stitched Christmas ornaments on it on the squarish TV cabinet with  white batting underneath to mimic snow. I have lights hanging from the mantel. No gifts bought yet.

I've pretty much been a monogamous stitcher since my last post. I was going through my WIPs and this WIP pretty much screamed out to me! I was getting a little tired of smalls anyway. Here she is...

These Is My Words from LHN and based on the writings of Nancy Turner. The first book

is titled the same as what is stitched. Loosely based on her grandmother's trip west to Arizona from Texas in a covered wagon as a young girl. I have read this trilogy 2 times already.

When I saw Diane Williams's interview with the author, I knew I had to stitch this. 

I am now working on the house. Below is how it looked before..

and the model on the chart..

This is all I've been working on! There's hope for me after all, lol!

As I said I was going through WIPs but I also went through stash because I have big doings

planned for 2020. More about that later! I'm offering a few things for a

GIVEAWAY!!

Here they are..

#1 PS

#2 GB

#3 HE 

Pick which ones  you would like to win. I can only mail in the U.S. and you have to

be a follower thru Bloglovin and Blogger. If you want to be in the running for 

all 3, put down 1,2,3. I will draw names on the 14th 9pm Arizona time.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! The turkey my daughter cooked came out fine, 

the other food was great. We texted back and forth about the turkey and what I 

do to prepare it and then I drove over later with my additions to the meal.

Stitching plans-continue stitching These Is... I'll be back on the 14th to

announce winners and then again on the 15th for the Christmas blog hop

hosted by Jo/Serendipitous Stitcher. Then at the end of the month I'll do 

my usual yearly update, how many finishes I had, how many WIPs, 

and my reading for 2020. Oh, and sometime around the 20th, a giveaway

to celebrate my 9th year of blogging. Woohoo! Next year will be 

even more fun for my 10th anniversary. Think Oprah and her

favorite things. That's the only hint I'll give! 

Take care y'all and Happy Stitching! 

It's Looking a lot like Christmas!

Hello everyone! In my craft room it's looking a lot like Christmas! Outside, no. It's been about 70 degrees for the last couple of weeks it seems. Starting tomorrow though, they're talking about rain for the next 3 days; bring it!

I have been stitching nothing but Christmas. I have finishes and FFOs. Let's go!

First up are my finishes. Here is Christmas Scooter by Madame Chantilly..

As you can see, I pretty much squeezed the stitching in there! When I got to the

polar bear, I had to take it off my snaps and stitch in hand, the other side too!

There's only one way to FFO this and that's to sew fabric onto all 4 sides and 

make it a pillow. I'll have fun going through my fabric stash or buy some new

fabric somewhere. It sure is cute and it brings a smile to my face.

Next are these two ornament sized finishes..

On the left is Snow Day (I think), a freebie by Shepherd's Bush. It has been in my

freebie stash for awhile. Too cute. At right is Winter ABC's by LK. I didn't have a mitten

button so I stitched it in. This is the 2nd time I stitched it.

Well, the FFO bug bit me pretty hard! 

There's Witchy Kitty on the left. I'm happy with the contrasting lime green fabric with the black

spiders throughout. Do You Hear by Shepherd's Bush, found in one of the JCS 

Christmas issues. For those who don't know, it's my goal to stitch everything with the 

lyrics of my fave Christmas carol, Do You Hear What I Hear. On the end is And Nature

Sing, also from a JCS ornament magazine. I trimmed it with Carol cord, sewed on a

bell at the top.

Finally, FINALLY I FFO'd this WTN & T piece, forgot what the name is though

It's a bit wonky. It's an oval paper mâché box..

that I painted orange to match the orange in the design. The side of the lid

is scrapbook paper that is glued on. The inside is painted also. I think the next

time I do a box like this, I'll first mount the batting and design onto mat board

and then set on the lid top. That way the design is secure, mine isn't. I'm happy with it.

And from the Department of Refinished Finishes is the Pickety Witch..

For the life of me, I cannot remember who the designer is. It's a freebie though.

It was a pin pillow before, stuffed with that awful polyfil. I mounted it

onto mat board with batting, attached the black pompoms. That is scrapbook paper from a

previous FFO, and it's attached to the mat board. Then I glued the design and

ribbon hanger to the backing. I'm tempted to leave it as is but I also feel it's 

missing something. Maybe a black bow directly below the design? We'll see.

So Astrid asked on my last post about where I get all my finishing 

supplies. I pick things up at the big box hobby stores, second hand stores.

Victorian Motto (Nancy) sells trims on her eBay store, under the same name. 

There are a couple designers who sell trims like hand dyed pompoms and

silk seam tape on etsy. I think Joanne's has a better selection of

trims than Hobby Lobby.

Yes, Meg, I like to kit up Christmas! 

That is it folks! Thanksgiving is coming up and my daughter wants to

host it this year. I'm helping her roast a full size turkey, gulp! I have not

roasted a huge turkey! For the last 15 years it's been just a breast, 13 lbs

or so. My dad always did a smaller full size turkey and then I took over

the turkey roasting. Then we started with just breasts. So it's 

going to be interesting! Haha.

Thanks for dropping by! See you in November!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the States and Happy days for those of

you not! 

Also a big Welcome to the new followers! Happy to have you! 

Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2019

Happy Halloween!! My favorite time of year. This is the second time I've joined in on the fun of this blog hop, the brainchild of Jo at the Serendipitous Stitcher:

http://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/2019/10/halloween-trick-or-treat-blog-hop-2019.html

One of my favorite Halloween finishes is Halloween from the Postcards from The Heart series of seasonal designs, by Summerhouse Stitcheworks.

There are 2 designs to stitch that are then mounted onto a burlap covered wood frame. 

You then pick whatever bits n bobs to add to the front to make it yours. This is

mine. I love the sparkly spider crawling into the orange and black rose bush. The

side of the frame is trimmed with a black and orange ribbon.

My letter..

The letter T. Make sure you gather up all the letters from this blog hop to make 

a word and then head to Jo's blog, link above, to enter your word. How

fun is that?!

I will now send you on your way to:

http://jocondine.blogspot.com/

to see what spooky and scary stitching she has!

Hope you have a great Halloween with no tricks and plenty of treats!

Water, Sand and Snow

Hi all! Hope you're all doing fine. I came back about an hour ago from watching the Downton Abbey movie with my daughter. I enticed her with a large popcorn! I don't like going to the movies by myself! I liked it. I won't mention any parts of the movie but I was happy to see a couple questions answered and I teared up over 1 scene. Hope that means another movie further in the future for the characters.

I have progress to show, new plans (I always have new plans!), a finish/FFO, etc.

I have reached water!

Yep, that little bit of blue directly to the right of the dog on the sled is water and I'm a 

happy camper. Back story: After finishing and FFOing my last Halloween

project, I picked up Winter At Beacon House, a long time WIP. Here's the before..

The fabric is lakeside Winter Sky and shows correctly in the pic right above. I've 

extended the alphabet, filled in the missing stitches near the girls, started on the

lighthouse, and filled in the snow amongst the alphabet. The nice thing about this

design is I can jump around when I get tired of stitching the sand and snow. I am 

giving it a break though because I am now in a Christmas stitching mood!

Here's my last Halloween finish..

Ritual and Spell from the 2016 JCS Halloween issue. I made a few changes- left

off the skull vine on the bottom, and stitched my own spider web in the upper

right corner. I used my last piece of fusible web on this so I haven't finished my

other Halloween finishes.

At first, I was going to keep stitching on Beacon House but after looking at all

the new Christmas charts on the 123stitch, I've kitted up 3 projects...

I almost had all the called for flosses, with one sub. It's going on a 36ct fabric, 

mystery.

An oldie but goodie. I've made this once before. And..

Christmas Scooter. I'm using a different fabric than called for but it'll look great. 

Starting tonight, I'm stitching this one^. 

I also stashed, lol..

Scored on a stash selling FB group.

That is it. I joined Jo's Halloween blog hop at the Serendipitous

Stitcher blog so I'll be back on Halloween for that.

An upcoming plan is to stitch a Christmas pattern by Romina Petrucci,

otherwise known as Romy's Fibers, for a contest. It'll be an ornament 

I think. Sounds like fun!

Job is going well but Mr. Vertigo has made a return, unfortunately, and I missed a day at

work for that. He's been gone for the entire year and why he's returned

has me scratching my head. I try to pinpoint differences that may set it off and when it 

disappears but can't. I just have to deal with it.

Take care! See you on Halloween!

Just a funny picture of a hitchhiking bug on my windshield! Looks

like its lifting that little car..

Where's the time gone?!

Howdy! Yes, I am back with a new post! I've been AWOL for almost a month. Crazy!

How's everyone doing? I've been catching up to everyone's blog posts and seeing great things being FFO'd and stitched.

First order of business, I finally sent the magazine giveaway to Linda about two weeks ago! Sorry
about that Linda. Things were crazy last month. Also I'd like to respond to some comments from
last post. To Carol: No I didn't take a picture of the lightning strike. It is hard to get a pic of
lightning! I stood outside during one storm constantly clicking the camera button on my iPad and
caught nothing, lol. I heard shutter speed comes into play so a fancier camera works.

To Meg: Yes I added Orange RIT to my coffee dye mix to come up with that fabric color, then
popped it into the oven for a bit. And to Astrid: I have gotten used to the new job and the hours.
I cuss when the alarm goes off but after one 5 minute snooze, I get up! I also now go to bed at
9 pm or sometimes 8:30 if I'm especially tired.

I have exchange goodies to show and a finish so let's go!

Here is my finished creation that went to my exchange partner..

This is Land of Milk and Honey by Summerhouse Stitcheworks.

I attached magnets to the back of the stitched piece and hot glued some to the 

muffin tin. Some of the flowers are either hot glued in place or glued to a magnet.

Next time I'll use skinnier, flatter magnets. I am happy with how it turned out and 

Susan loved it. As usual, I forgot to take a picture of all the things I sent.

Here is what I received..

Love it all. Bag of M&Ms are gone! I love ceramic pumpkins so was glad to get that

small one in the corner. The WTN&T pattern, perfect. And everything else.

Here's a look at the stitched piece..

It's by Pineberry Lane on Carrot linen, probably from WDW. So pretty. One of

the questions for the exchange is what colors do you like and mine are always

the same-Halloween colors! I am going to have to buy that pattern now!

I also have another Halloween finish-Vlad's House..

By Lucy Beam Love In Stitches. That house, though! I had to leave off windows

on the bottom of the house because I was running out of GAST Soot. I 

figured Vlad lived in a fortified castle and it wasn't a good idea to have

windows at the bottom! The lighter gray areas of the house are WDW Pelican Grey

which I nearly ran out of but I went into some kitted projects and found a skein. 

I'm not sure how I'll finish this.

I am stitching yet another Halloween ornament but it just has a few stitches in so

no pic.

I guess that's it's. I have chicken and two bean chili going in the crock pot right now,

almost done, and in two hours an oil change for the car. As I mentioned above, the job

has become easier. I wake up at 3:45am and now have a routine going. I hate

rushing around that early in the morning! Things are done the night before so I can

get on the highway for my 30 minute commute. I don't mind it, I listen to music, see

the sunrise yet, and think! 

I'm not sure what's in store stitch wise. I'll finish the ornament and would like to

put in some work on Christmas Garden by BBD. I've seen several finishes of it

and am inspired to get going on mine.

Well, thanks for visiting! Hope you're all stitching up a storm!

Take care!

For the love of orange

Good afternoon everyone! Can it really be September?! Almost 3 and a half months left in the year, crazy! I think my part of AZ got the memo that's it's September; I had to put on long sweatpants and socks this morning when I woke up! Right now it's only 80 degrees out. All of the last week, it's been in the 90s. Just yucky.

So enough of weather. I wanted to post something now because a later post would be long. Ready, set, Go!

Yes, indeed! I started my Halloween stitching on the 1st and now have 2 finishes, a near

finish and a WIP..

Vlad's House by Lucy Beam WIP on the left and the finished Witchy Kitty on the

right. I am missing some floss for Vlad's. I don't have the overdyes for the house

so I need to root around in my stash for substitutes. The fabric was a last minute

dye job when I was coffee dyeing another fabric; I threw in some orange RIT 

into the coffee water and voila! a perfect Halloween color. Witchy Kitty is a 

little on the big side. I'll make her into a pillow. 

PSS on the left and Goody Trask 1692 on the right. I just finished the grassy hill

on the Salem Village just a little bit ago, slogged through that after slogging

through the black on the judge at right! I still have parts of the wagon, the judge, and another

branch of the tree to stitch and it's done! I love how it's looking. Goody Trask is from one of 

the JCS special Halloween issues. 

I'll have Salem Village done this week. Since I have all of this month and October to

stitch Halloween, I'll be back with more WIPs and new starts.

I am finally getting somewhere with my exchange stitching. I am finished stitching 

but wasn't sure what to make it into. Take a look at what I'm doing...

A la Priscilla! I was going with a box finish but found this old muffin tin I picked up

at a second hand shop last year. I went to Hob Lob yesterday and picked up the flower

picks and now I'm not sure how to go about attaching the ribbon bow and picks to the

top portion of the tin. The stitched piece will be at the bottom. I went to Priscilla's 

blog and took screen shots of a few of her identical finishes. She does have 1 on

a muffin tin. I have til the 30th to get everything together to send my partner. I am

gathering bits and pieces to add to her box. Stay tuned!

Anyone else excited about the Downton Abbey movie?! I am. My daughter

doesn't know it yet but she's coming with me!

Thanks for the well wishes on my new job. I am going into the 3rd week there and

am exhausted! I wake up very early to drive the 30 minutes go a neighboring town

where my job is at. I stand for 8 hours and with my knee, feet, and back 

problems, I end up very sore. It will be worth it though for the better ability

to take care of my bills and actually have a life! I'm counting down those 9 

years when I can retire. 

I also have a little stash too..

The two charts from Stash Unload and the fabric from Dixiesamplar's

fabric sale in FB. If you look closely you'll see its 46ct! Lol. I was so

excited to see one of her fabrics not snatched up, I did the Me Please and realized later what I bought! 

Oh well. Teri's fabrics are gorgeous and they feel wonderful. Yon have to stalk her

FB fabric page to be able to get one of them. Lesson learned.

Alrighty, that is it. Hope you're all doing well and stitching it up. I've had some recent new followers on Bloglovin so Welcome! For the inquiring minds about my header picture, that

is where I live with a storm moving through.

Take care! 

Happiness is a new bottle of Aleene's glue!

Hello! It's been awhile. Hope your weather is fine where you're at. It's been hot but no humidity so I'll take it. Born and raised Arizonan who is not used to a lot of humidity! I am looking forward to September though. It has been a weird weather year that's for sure.

Before my iPad goes dead, let's go!

I have a few FFO's, a finish, some new stash, and plans.

First up is my exchange finish. My partner likes bees so I stitched this up for her..

This is Land of Milk and Honey by Summerhouse Stitcheworks on 36ct PTP wren.

See the bee in the corner? I don't know what it is about this pattern but it reminds me of

California! I may be a native Arizonan but I was raised in Los Angeles up until age 9

until parents decided to get the heck out and move here. My mom was raised in this area.

I love this design and as far as I know, I'll mount it on a box if I can find one that will

fit.

FFO's-

Here is a freebie by Hands on Design..

My first try at a yoyo there in the corner. 

Next is an Erica Michael design. I've had this quite awhile. It's a door hanger..

A flat ornament trimmed with Carol's cording. I think I'll let more loose strands

out of my tassel at the bottom. A perfect hanger for this winter. My cats would

ruin it so I'll hang it inside my bedroom door.

Here is my next FFO, the Lydia Broome sampler by Pineberry, I think..

Another long time finish finally FFO'd. I was going to make this into a needle book but

changed my mind after watching Sara/1 over 2 flosstube. She finished this into a 

plain pillow and liked how it looks. Here's the back..

This is upholstery fabric from a swatch. Matches the floss colors perfectly.

I like the simplicity of my finish. What I didn't like was the smell of the

fabric when I ironed it but it went away.

So I mentioned a couple charts from Willow Hill Samplings that I was waiting on..

they finally arrived a couple days ago..

Busy Bee Sampler and the Humpty Dumpty sampler. The one on the left was 

supposed to be stitched for my exchange partner but it came too late. Glad I had

something else to stitch for her.

After I finished Milk and Honey, I started my Halloween stitching! Yep. Here's 

a Maynia start that is almost done..Witchy Kitty..

I have a moon up near EA Poe to stitch,  grass under the cauldron, and 

another bat to stitch. I put together Halloween WIPs and new starts to stitch. 

I'll stitch to the middle of October if I don't get bored first! By the way, 

that floss Lemon and Lime is my favorite. It's so pretty and is 

perfect for the bubbling cauldron.

That's it folks! If you could throw up a prayer or two or good wishes for me. I

start a new job on Monday and I'm so nervous! I don't do change well but this is

a good change meaning financial stability but I'm still nervous! 

Take care and happy stitching!