Organizing Squirrels

Good afternoon everyone! I wanted to get in one last post for 2022! This year flew by! I am fighting a head cold that hit Christmas Eve. I sound like a trash compactor! But that's fine because I'm hermitting with the next 3 days off and no plans to do anything, tonight for New Years Eve and into the week. We're slated for a good storm to move in tonight.

Thanks for commenting on the last post. On trimming one of the Christmas finishes I showed, Jo said maybe a white whispy trim or pom pom; I like the white pom pom idea. 

So let's talk about stitching!

Right now I'm in 2 Sal's with one ending tonight. It's the one from Halloween Cross Stitch Challenge. My two victims are Frosty Forest and Wicked Alphabet. Carol thought maybe this would be finished this year but no such luck! Here's Frosty Forest...

The number 7 block is done and I've started with part of a chimney in the 8th. I'll be continuing this in the 2nd SAL I'm in. 

The other WIP is Wicked Alphabet by The Primitive Needle. I've had some good progress on this one...

Each letter feels like a finish! It's not bad stitching actually, and I am past the halfway point. This too will be continued in the SAL which by the way is found by the hashtag #idareyousal2023. It's almost like WIPGO but just a number picked. Here's a longtime WIP of 9 years that was #7, the first number picked...Song of the Seasons, the mystery sampler by LHN!

Remember this?! An oldie but goodie! When I made my list of WIPs for this SAL, I included a lot of old ones. So you're going to be going down Memory Lane with me monthly as I get back to some of these. So I've stitched in everything on the right side in the last few days. Looking at the house on the left, the tree shows 2 seasons, maybe spring and summer. It can and does snow in spring. The fabric is WDW Straw. It's great to get back to this.

I also had a Christmas day start and it's this one by PSS..

My Early Days. I love this! I was waiting on a few overdye floss which arrived today in the mail. The shots of blue in this design are what got my attention. I might stitch in the blues in other areas too. It's on a Dixiesamplar 40ct linen. The called for floss are all DMC and WDW.

My Early Days is part of 3 new starts in 2023. Past years, I did a bday SAL with 29 new starts but I really want to knock out WIPs which there are about 25. Here are the other 2 new starts...

I have been sitting on that 35ct parchment non-zweigart linen for a year! It's a half yard! I knew I wanted to use it for Grace Bridges but couldn't find the chart. I finally found the PDF at the Stacy Nash Etsy shop. Calls for DMC. I can't wait to get to that mustard house! To see this finished, see the Primitive Stitcher/Suzette on flosstube #80 at the 14:49 minute point in the video. She is responsible for my wanting to stitch this sampler!

The next start will be the mystery Halloween design by Tiny Modernist...

I have the first 2 charts and took about 8 months to buy all the floss. The Onyx alone needed 5 skeins so luckily they all were the same dye lot. It'll be on the gray evenweave pictured.

Btw, I read that one of the bigger overdyed floss companies are raising their price for a skein. Might as well! The price of eggs is crazy! And sometimes I have trouble finding my cats regular food. Ugh.

Okay, let's continue with stitching!

I had 30 finishes this year! That's pretty good as I work 40hrs a week. A lot of them were small though.

As I do during the end of the year, I show my reading for 2023...

This year I only read 6 books with the newest Outlander taking up a good chunk of time. I am rereading Voyager after finding a decent copy on eBay.

That top book is a William Monk mystery, the 2nd in a series. If you like mysteries held during the Victorian era in London like I do, take a look at the author. They're pretty good.

I read the Hobbit in preparation for the Lord of The Ring books and the movies. These two paperbacks are a bit dog eared.

Last book, I like a good scary one every now and then. Darcy Coates writes nothing but!

So in 2016 in December, Honeybee The Copper Fox posted a black eyed pea crockpot recipe during her Christmas Open House. It's called Black-eyed Peas and Ham, and I have it cooking in my crockpot right now! I won't eat it until tomorrow when the good luck is supposed to start, lol! I grew up eating pinto, and kidney beans, and to this day can't get Lima beans down the gullet! So this soup sounds good with the ham chunks thrown in. You'll find it at the December 6 2016 post along with a cute Christmas box tutorial.

This whole post felt like herding squirrels! Normally, I write down stuff I want to show or talk about but I went rogue with this one! 

Hope your Christmas was magical, whether with a lot of family and friends, or just a few. We had a great one but then everyone got sick! My headcold, my daughter with strep throat and her boyfriend and his head cold!! I wonder who started that! Hope you're all staying healthy!

I'm off! Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year with wishes of health, happiness, love, and togetherness!

See you in 2023!!

Sunday stitching

Hello everyone! Hope you've done your Christmas shopping! I'm about done, it'll be a record for me. Waiting on a couple shipments arriving this Wednesday and that'll be it. Usually I'm still buying things on the 23rd!

Thanks everyone for stopping in for the Advent Blog Hop, and to Jo/Serendipitous Stitching for hosting it. I enjoy hopping about! It was great to read your comments and see what you called these round cookies. Interesting to know that Russian cake was made from the trimmings from cakes and mixed with jam! That actually sounds good, almost like a thumbprint cookie with jam in the middle. Many of you like lemon meringue pie, I like the sweet tang of the lemon. As Carol said whatever the cookies are called, they are delicious! I agree!

On to the stitching!

I have 2 WIPs I'm working on in a SAL from the group Halloween Cross Stitch Challenge. For December we are to work on a Halloween project or scary with Christmas/winter. Here's Wicked Alphabet by The Primitive Needle...

Before I had just that top vine with the swirlies. This is on 36ct Antique Lace by Seraphim maybe? Fun stitch.

WIP #2 is Frosty Forest. I know you'll all recognize this one! I'm pushing to have it done this year...

The 7th block is going fast because there's more solid stitching with less floss changes. I have since added snow to it. 

This FB group is partly responsible for the 30 finishes I have for 2022!

Speaking of finishes, here are the last 5...

This is The Banshee's Cry by The Little Stitcher who is on Etsy. It was a WIP for quite awhile.

This one is from the Wild Violet, The All-Seeing Eye...

I'm not sure what I'll make it into. I try to use my scissors with a scissor fob on it and it just gets in my way! It'll probably end up as an ornament.

The last 3 are from a single chart by PSS called Christmas is Coming...

On 40ct Flax with DMC, they stitch up fast. I want to stuff these with sawdust but I'm out. I may turn to the local FB pages to see if anyone does any woodworking with natural untreated wood.

So there you have it, all the finishes I had spread out amongst 3 posts! Some were WIPs from a year or two ago and some were started and finished immediately. Woohoo!

My daughter gave me Christmas money early and I bought stash!

The top two designs are from Kittenstitcher and her Black Friday sale, the 4 Pineberry charts from the designers sale, and the project bag at the bottom middle is from the Wishing Thorn, a new-ish sampler reproductionist. I follow her on Instagram.

And I have FFOs too!

This is from one of those JCS preview issues before the main ornament issue comes out. I forgot to look for the date. I'm not quite done as it needs something else I feel; trim and/or a hanger? It's fine as it is too.

Next up...

On the left Regalo de Navidad with store bought trim. I love how it turned out! On the right is a design that comes from a JCS ornament issue but I couldn't find which one! It's tiny so I added the brown checkered fabric to it. I cut coffee dyed yarn lace trim and sewed a rusty bell to it and then sewed it to the pillow. The hanger is a very wrinkled seam ribbon. It's turned out very nicely too.

Last but not least...

A cube and a tiny pillow. The cube is Do You See What I See by Shelly Auen. I was stumped on what to put on the top so I took a woodsy spray apart and added the faux pine needle and the gd leaf to it. I had small baubles to add but I wanted to keep it prim. On the right is It's Not The Size of The Gift, and it's not because this ornament is tiny, three and a half inches tiny. I couldn't find the issue it's in. It's on 40ct fabric. I may leave it as is.

That's my FFOs.

My cell phone battery is about to go dead. Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back after Christmas to tie 2022 up. I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas, those who celebrate it! Happy Hanukkah!

Take Care and see you next time!

2022 Advent Calendar Blog Hop!

Good Morning!! Today is December 4 2022, and it's my day for an Advent post. First of all, many thanks to Jo the Serendipitous Stitcher for hosting this blog hop once again. Visit her blog,

 https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/2022/12/2022-advent-calendar-blog-hop.html

to open doors and visit others who are participating.

My Christmas stitch is Angels Abode by Goodflora Stitchwort, a Scots designer who has an Etsy shop by the same name, one whole word. I turned Angel Abode into a longish cube...

All I remember is the floss used is DMC on linen. It's a pretty design with an angel on top of a cloud, having gotten there by the ladder under the cloud, or maybe via her wings. The word Grace is scattered around the Christmas tree.

"What's For Afters?"

My family called it dessert. My parents weren't big on dessert. We were lucky if we had something sweet after dinner, and that may have happened 2, 3 times a month! For Christmas, however, it was a given. It was usually a lemon meringue pie as my dad loved lemon flavored sweets or chocolate pudding with dollops of whipped cream piled on top. 

My parents have since passed, and for the last 15 years, I've made cookies. Mexican Wedding Cookies, to be exact. They go by several names, Russian Teacake being the next widely known. Others are polvornes in Spain, Swedish teacakes, moldy mice, pecan sandies, Danish almond cookies. They're made with crushed pecans (how I do it), and rolled in powdered sugar twice. They're my favorite cookie to bake.

Interesting to learn that they were widely known in the US as Russian Teacakes but that changed during the strained relationship with Russia during the Cold War! During and after, these cookies became more known as Mexican Wedding Cookies! 

 Funny how politics finds its way into the most unlikely subjects.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is my Advent post for Christmas 2022. I will once again bake 3 or 4 dozen Mexican Wedding Cookies on  Christmas Eve and hope they last long enough in my presence for our After!

Thanks for visiting!

Sunday stitching

Hi everyone! Hope things are well, just a few days off Thanksgiving for those of us who celebrate. Hard to believe we're nearing the end of another year. Yikes!

I just want to say thanks for the welcome back comments you all left on my last post. I see a few of you agree that IG and FB just doesn't stack up to blogging. I hang around on both but on FB much more because I'm in a bunch of stitching groups. I like them but I miss the heydays of stitching blogs.

And thank you for the kind words on my granddoggie Hunter. Bette, I'm sorry for the loss of Sam from the same thing! It's terrible. It's like a death sentence for a dog, getting Valley Fever. I'm sorry you had it too. I have heard it stays with you for a long time. And Carol, I hope your son's cat is okay. I don't have grandkids yet, so these pets kind of take their place.

So I have newer finishes, 3 in the last week, to show plus all the others I had since last June. Turns out there were more than 11 I mentioned. I'm nearing 29 finishes for the year!

Lets get started! First up is Christmas Fruit Basket by Threadwork Primitives, the 2nd time I've stitched it..

I used a silvery pink 36ct fabric from Dixiesamplar, color is not showing up, and the called for GAST floss. When I get my hands on some wood shavings, it'll become a pincushion.

Next up are the 3 designs from Christmas is Coming by Plum Street. I have finished 2 and have started #3...

I'm stitching them on 40ct Flax which means the Ecru stitches are not showing up too well but that's okay! I hope to have the 3rd one done by the end of this month.

Now here are more finishes I had since June, in no particular order...

Colonel Sammy, a freebie by Notforgotten Farm...

The Silkweaver Gingerbread fabric is really washed out. He turned out really nice. I can't remember what floss I used but our Uncle Sam has been getting some sun!

Next is Grimalkens Apothecary by The Woolly Ewe....

Wow, it's really washed out! The fabric is 36ct Straw which is a bit dark. I really want to have this one framed.

The next one is a freebie from BBD, Souvenir de France without the words though! I needed it done...

The floss is WDW Peony, a very pretty pink. The fabric is washed out too but it's the Gingham fabric 28ct. I have a really pretty backing fabric for this, I just have to decide if I want to make this a flat ornament or a pincushion. Stay tuned!

This next one is Stage Coach in the Woods...

By Wild Violet Cross Stitch. All 310 DMC on 32ct Queen Anne's Lace, Lugana maybe? I love that fabric and how this turned out! I'm on the lookout for a black ornate oval frame; just have to figure out how to stretch and lace an oval shape! 

This one is Christmas Boughs, pattern found in the 2020 Christmas/Winter Punch Needle & Primitive Stitcher magazine...

On 32ct Vintage Pear linen by Lakeside. It's darker than in real life. I had been hoarding this piece of Lakeside! It was perfect for this piece! I want to FFO it just like the model, a wooden dowel run through a pouch sewed at the top and then glued to an actual tree branch. It'll be beautiful!

The last finish for the day is Santa's Ride...

On 36ct Ale PTP, I had to change the floss for the word Christmas because GAST Endive disappeared into the fabric. I don't know what the substitute floss is but it was Pewter-y. The first reindeer has the requisite red nose! It turned out beautifully! This design is found in the 2019 Christmas/Winter PN&PS magazine.

No worries, I have more finishes for the next post, haha.

Stitching plans for the rest of November? Continue on the 3rd pattern from the Plum Street Samplers chart, then FFO them and my other finish in time to be displayed. I've put all my Nutcrackers out but have yet to set up my mini trees with all my stitched Christmas ornaments. I'll do that after Thanksgiving.

Thanks for visiting, commenting!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and Happy stitchy week to everyone!

See you next time

 

Like a bad penny...

I'm back! I missed blogging so much. Posting on all the various Facebook stitching groups is not the same. I kept my blog because I like to go back in the early days to see what I was stitching. Of course, half of the pictures are missing because of the different platforms I used to upload pictures; some were discontinued, and the devices I used went from a desktop computer to an iPad, and now my cellphone! Gotta love technology, lol!

I'll start first by saying that on that day I announced I was quitting blogging, some of you said you should've commented. Please don't feel you have to! I am an introvert, so a lot of blogs I read I didn't comment, just for that reason. I force myself out of my shell to comment! Just keep doing what you were doing. 

Life update? Same old same old. I'm still working; that's a given. We had a sad time in August. My daughter had to put my granddog Hunter down.

Photo is from this last Christmas. He was a rescue from the Phoenix area. My daughter adopted him 6 years ago here where we live. He was 10. Late July he started stumbling, he quit eating, and was losing his bowels. After many vet visits and testing, it was determined that he had Valley Fever. It's a fungus that grows in dry, dusty areas. These spores grow in the dirt and get kicked up into the air. Humans get it too. The vet was worried that it was settling into his spine, hence the inability to stand up or walk. He was on steroids and pain medication. The vet warned that the meds would not save him, just make him comfortable. The pain meds began failing and the tough decision to let him go was made. He was a laid-back dog, half German shepherd half lab, he never barked. A sweetheart of a dog. 

Life goes on, doesn't it? They still have King the dalmatian and may add a puppy but that's in the future. My 3 elderly cats are still with me, Mama is 14 and her kittens are 13. They are doing fine.

So what have I been stitching on lately? First up is Christmas Fruit Basket Pinkeep by Threadwork Primitives, the 2nd time I've stitched this ...

I'm using a 36ct fabric so it'll be smaller than the other one. That is 2 hours of stitching last night.

I've put in progress on a couple WIPs too. Here's Frosty Forest. Yep, still working on it..

That blue house square on the left is what I stitched. Six down and 3 to go! I ought to just sit down and get it done but there are just too many other things to stitch on. Lol!

Next is the Mighty Acorn by BBD..

I'm so happy to get down into the lower parts because there is more solid stitching! There are several little flower buds that took 2 different floss colors, lots of floss changing going on.

Since my last post, I've had 11 finishes! Yes, 11! And half are Halloween, of course. I'll show a few here and the rest on another post. In no particular order...Crone on the Hill by PSS..

I bought this as a kit from Needlecraft Corner so it's on 36ct vintage beehive. Love that fabric. Last time I showed it on this blog, I had about half of that house. It's a big 'un! 

Next is Believe in your Elf by Myfanny on Etsy..

I had to make changes to this one because I used a white fabric. There were white single stitches curly q'ing throughout the pattern but they weren't going to show up. The white stitches in his socks are hardly visible. It's cute.

The last one for today is 29th December 1925, another Myfanny design...

This was a WIP since last year, maybe before that. See the single white stitches above the houses? Those we're supposed to be on the Elf piece. When I look at this, I feel a sense of peace and comfort. I used 32ct pearl grey fabric, a favorite fabric because white floss shows up on it.

So that's it for now. The rest of my finishes I need to get info on because some are from magazines.

I have a few FFOs too that I'll show on the next post.

And that's it! It feels good to get a post in. I'm still doing Stitch From Stash 2017-22. I was up to $124 in the red in September but a Halloween mystery box purchase from Kittenstitcher used up some of that. All my finishes are a credit against what I spent, and I've had quite a bit as mentioned above.

I'll keep stitching on the Fruit Basket piece, and then move onto another Christmas project.

Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2022

Welcome to the Halloween Trick or Treat Blog Hop 2022, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitcher. Be sure to visit the blog hop page to find links to others taking part:

http://www.serendipitousstitching.blogspot.co.uk/

I love Halloween so I'm taking part in it again! If things sound stilted, it's because I'm out of practice so please bear with me.

My stitching today is the Good Witch, just newly FFOd. She is sitting on her backing fabric. Good Witch comes from the 2017 Fall issue of the Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher magazine, using 36ct Straw linen with the called for floss. The white dots in her dress are eyelet stitches which I was horrified to find that they were used! I mostly avoid specialty stitches but I put on my big girl panties and just did it!

Mwahaha, with gnashing of the teeth!!

Your next job is to collect this letter

And to head on over to:

https://lifeoutsidethewashingbasket.blogspot.com/

to collect another letter to solve the Mystery Phrase.

Happy Halloween!!

Decisions

Hello! 

Lee, if you should see this, you should be getting a notification soon from 123stitch for a little electronic gift card for winning the contest from a couple weeks ago. Enjoy!

After a few days of some serious thinking, I have decided to stop blogging. Why, you ask? Because no one is reading my blog anymore and/or commenting. I know a few of you do, like Linda, and Jo. I thank you two for that. I will miss it.

Take care everyone! Hope you're all healthy and continue to stay that way. Thanks for coming along on this stitchy blog ride!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Hello! Yesterday was the last day to make your guess of which vase/flower is my favorite and today I have a winner. Here's Christmas Garden with it circled...

and the winner is Lee!! She picked my favorite right off. So Lee, contact me at azcampis@yahoo.com with your working email so I can have your gift sent to you! 

Thanks for playing along everyone!

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!

I will be back soon with Stitch From Stash numbers, and what I've been stitching. Take care!!

Squirrels Run Amok

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing well. Hope Mother's Day was a good one! I got a gift which will be below. You should probably grab a comfortable chair because this post will be picture heavy! As my title suggests, the month of May was a crazy one. I jumped from WIP to new start and then back, and just couldn't stay with anything. So let's do this!

First order of business is Stitch from Stash:

Beginning budget-$69.17 (carryover from April and the 20 I allow myself each month). I had 2 finishes-31 October by Heart In Hand, picture at last post, and Lucky Love by Primrose Cottage, I think, all for $4.00 credit. Then the $59.99 for joining the Primive Hare Early Stitchers club,  subtracted for an ending balance of $13.18.

I have FFOs, progress on WIPs, new starts, finishes, and more!

So a week before Mother's Day, my daughter and I were in downtown Prescott walking through a couple antique stores. In one I saw a real nice flower frog with the bottom in amber colored glass. I told my daughter that they were all the rage sometime back because you can put embroidery scissors in them. I wasn't buying anything so we just walked on. Lo and behold, on Mother's Day, in walks daughter with the frog we were looking at, just for me!

Is that pretty or what! The bottom portion is like a sunflower. And she bought me two embroidery scissors too!

They're nice and sharp. Here's everything together...

The smaller scissors I already had. It was a great Mother's Day!

On the last post I mentioned I use scissors that are falling apart. Here they are...

See how the rubber has worn off? I'm still using them, haha.

Last month I took a couple of hours to count my WIPs, I have 26. Not too bad but 1 caught my attention and I thought I'd give it some attention. This is These Is My Words by LHN..

I stitched in the entire door and the whole right side of the cabin. It looks great. Then I stitched more of the quilt there at the left. After that, I was to find something else! So I picked up Mighty Acorn by BBD...

I extended the outer border and stitched in the inner portions. I'm missing Schneckley for some of the leaves but using a different DMC substitute for that. It's a doozy.

After that, I decided I needed a new start! So here's Lucky Love by Primrose Cottage, on 32ct black linen....

Just DMC used. It looks better in person. I'd like to get St Patrick's Day and patriotic designs stitched for a basket display. I don't have enough but I'm working on it.

I also started Grimalken's Apothecary by The Woolly Ewe...

On 36ct Straw linen, using GAST floss. My head is straightened out enough to join a SAL again, and it's working out. It's at Halloween Cross Stitch Challenge on fb called the Road Trip. It's been fun.

Speaking of patriotic, Notforgotten Farm  posted a freebie at her blog of Colonel Sammy aka Uncle Sam...

I'm using 36ct cinnamon roll by Silkweaver with half DMCs and hand dyed floss. I nearly have his face done. 

Today I decided to FFO a few things. First one is Land That I Love by not sure. It might be Mosey 'N Me...

My stuffing leaves a lot to be desired! I took a length of that rayon DMC floss and tied little knots on it, then used a dot of Aleene's on each knot to secure it to the fabric. It turned out cute. The FFOing continues tomorrow with this recent finish...

Freebie by PSS. The house color matches the background of the cotton fabric. Then I'll trim it with the chenille.

Slowly, I'm tackling all the finished stitching I have. Some I'd like framed but that will take awhile.

I thought it was a good time as ever to have a contest! Take a look at Christmas Garden and guess which is my favorite flower and vase duo. I always have a favorite motif! If there are more than 1 correct guess by the time the contest is over on the 24th, I'll draw names and send the winner a little something. You must be a follower of my blog and leave a working email because you'll get a notification. Sorry to say, this contest is only for US residents. If I could think of a way to buy a gift card from an overseas ONS for an overseas stitcher, I'd do it. I'll figure something out! Here's Christmas Garden, be sure to click on picture to zoom it. 

Good Luck and have fun!!

I think that's all, folks. It's the first week of June and not terribly hot. On Wednesday though, it's supposed to get to 90, so here we go! What's my stitching plans for June? In between stitching for the Road Trip SAL I want to get Sammy finished and FFOed so I'll have some patriotic decorations for the summer. I'll FFO the Christmas piece tomorrow. I have laundry to wash tomorrow too. 

A picture of a thistle that has grown in my yard..

Pretty in pink!

See you all next time! Take care!