New Year's Eve!

Hello everyone! Hard to believe it's the last day of 2024! It's time for my annual look back at this year. I also have progress to show, a finish, and plans so let's do this first.

Bertha Mae Brown is finished! I took the last stitch on December 10...

By Chessie & Me. The color of the fabric is darker than the picture and the reds are not as bright as shown. The designer always has specialty stitches in her pieces and Bertha had her share. Satin, eyelet, and smyrna stitches, I'm losing my fear of doing eyelets! She's so pretty!

After Bertha, I picked up Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler by Shakespeare's Peddler...

Lots of progress here. I've run out of Black Crow floss for the words. I raided my WIPs, kitted projects but no extra skeins. So she's in time out until I can buy another skein. 

Next WIP is Sweet Autumn Vine by Threadwork Primitives...

I'm using a mystery 36ct fabric with the called for flosses. Lots of changing floss for the 1 or 2 stitches needed in the vine and in the big flower. Patience, grasshopper! When I'm done with Jenny Bean, I'll show a closeup of the border where there were lots of doodads scattered amongst the border; I just put the big girl panties on and dove in! The big girl panties are still on as I work on the Vine. I ran out of the Espresso Bean floss, the dark stitches, but found an extra skeins in my stash. I'll keep working on this one until midnight tonight.

Update time!

Whew! Finishes for this year came to 14, probably the lowest since I've been keeping track. In my defense I had that arm injury in March or April. That was unpleasant. It took at least 3 weeks before I could spend more than a few minutes stitching. 

My WIP count is down too! Don't know how that happened😆 two times a year I look at my WIPs and decide if I'm still in love with them. I think a lot of my starts are FOMO. I start them and then months down the road I look at them and I'm just not interested. I have 18 WIPs as of 12/28. I can't even remember the last time the count was below 20! No worries though, my plans for 2025 are going to create a lot of WIPs!

I turn 61 this next month so I'm starting 61 projects!! Lol, are you okay? Needing smelling salts?! You read it right. I have enough projects to keep me stitching for 2 months. I'll start one piece once a week. I have 4 lined up already for January. I thought this would be a good way to put a dent in my PDF pile. I'll have big stuff, little freebies, small to medium PDF designs. At midnight, I'm starting a sampler. I won't show what these will be but I'll post after 2 weeks of stitching. I'm liking my system of posting twice a month. I stitch a lot so I always have lots to show for each post. Who knows, I might just throw my hands in the air and go back to my WIPs!

I'm in a couple Facebook groups that focus on samplers. One run by Krista Gramer is having a Tom Foolery SAL for 2025. Tom Foolery is a sampler designed by HATS and I jumped on that bandwagon and bought the PDF but I've lost it! Haha! However, I got to thinking that it was a FOMO purchase🤦🏻‍♀️ugh, FOMO will be the death of my bank account! I lost all the hype for it and won't join in. I like my 2025 61 starts.

I also update my books read...

and 4 books was all I read. One is a Diana Gabaldon novel and that alone took me 7 months to get through!

I kept to my 2024 plan to not join SALs and to stay off the Goodreads reading challenge and glad I did. This 61 starts will be my only 'structured' stitching in '25.

I did go to the Jingle Ball and bought a few things. My bigger purchase was in Heartstrings Samplery table. I bought a piece of linen and 2 charts. I bought PDFs from HOD, Tiny Modernist, and Stacy Nash. I also joined in a group from the Southwest at the Ball. I'm still too squirrelly to join in on the speed dating at the Ball though! Next year, I think I'll get out of my comfort zone and give it a try. 

I think this is it! I feel like I'm forgetting something though.  Oh Christmas! I went to my daughter's for Christmas. It was me, her, the boyfriend, roommate, and 3 dogs! The daughter and her boyfriend bought me a Samsung tablet among other gifts, and I've been having fun on that and getting to know it. My iPad officially died in the Fall and with it a whole bunch of stitch PDFs. I was more sad about losing those PDFs than I was over the iPad itself! It's fun watching flosstubes on the bigger screen than my phone. 

I'll take this time to wish you all a 

filled with happiness, good health, harmony, and lots of stitching! Thanks for joining me for another year of stitchy goodness!

Take care and we'll see you next year! xoxo

Merry Christmas!

Greetings on this Christmas eve! I thought I better get in here and say something🤣

I'm stitching and have a finish but I'll show that on my yearly update post in a few days. I've been stitching on Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler after finishing Bertha Mae Brown. Here's how the Halloween sampler looks now...

She's coming along! Since the last time I showed this, I've stitched the tombstones, the leaves on the weeping willow, the rest of the cabin, the 2 cartouches, and the rest of the border at the left. I'm running out of GAST Black Crow for the rest of the border and the words in the space below the cabin but I may have another skein somewhere. Once again I've been monogamous.

For Christmas I've decided to show some older Christmas/Winter finishes...

On the left is a design that I just don't remember what the name is or who the designer is! I used Vonna's flange pillow tutorial on both pillows. On right is Vixen at Crow Creek by Pamela Dervarits. She had a blog at one time. I'm now seeing her designs coming up on ISO lists. I have tried to email her or message with no response. I would like to stitch this again and use a lighter tan color for the deer.

So here we have at top right an exchange gift from Becky Nolan, a favorite, middle is a freebie from Primitive Betty's I believe made into a flat ornament. Bottom is a Sunflower Seed Designs piece based on the Christmas carol Do You See What I See. The designer had 4 or 5 of these with different parts of that carol through JCS ornament magazine. It is my goal to stitch them all.

This cute envelope and pillow came from an exchange from long ago. The pillow design is a LizzieKate. 

I received my exchange gifts also...

I received the cute round stitching, the North Carolina kitchen towel, toffee which is gone now and the pretty Christmas card. The lady who hosted the exchange stitched a piece for the stitcher whose partner skipped out. I was to send a gift to the mystery woman but didn't have to.. Oh well.

Truth be told, it's been hard to get into the Christmas mood. Another uncle died in November and the funeral was this past Saturday. He was 94. He had dementia. That was 2 uncles in the past 4 months and we're all feeling it. 

Our weather has been decidedly non-Christmas like! Last week I didn't have to wear a jacket! People were out and about wearing shorts and tshirts🤦🏻‍♀️odd weather, I'm telling you.

So I'm off from work for the next 7 days and guess what I'll be doing? FFOing finishes! Yes, there will be Christmas ornaments but they'll be in time for next Christmas😂

It was also my 14th anniversary of blogging! It's been fun so thanks for coming along on this adventure🌹🌹💃🏽

I'll be back on the 30th for my look back at 2024 and my plans for 2025. 

I want to wish each and everyone of you a

See you soon!

Monogamously

Hello everyone! Still eating leftovers? I am. That's because my daughter and her significant other cooked ham and prime rib for our Thanksgiving! Sides were dressing, corn and green beans, potato gratin, mashed potatoes with gravy, the 45 year old fruit salad recipe that is made only for Thanksgiving, and pumpkin and apple pies. Whew! I brought home a lot and just had the last slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream for breakfast this morning! Breakfast of champions! 🤣 

Let's get to the cross stitch.

As my title suggests, I've been stitching monogamously on Bertha Mae Brown...

That's a good representation of the color of the fabric. I stitched in that tree on the left side last night around midnight. I'll pick this back up after I click publish for this post. 

But! The squirrels are moving into formation and could interrupt my monogamy! Haha. Look at my recent stashing. All PDFs, and printed this morning. I'm getting that Christmas stitch bug and just might start 1 or 2...

Back story! I was watching flosstubes last night as I stitched. A new tuber I watch is also a model stitcher for Erin Elizabeth. Her handle is Cross Stitch (or Stitcher) Kim, she lives in Canada. She stitched the freebie on the right on black and I swooned! I stopped the video and went to the website under Erin Elizabeth and got it and the beautiful 1 color pattern on the left. The Winter Freebie calls for 14ct but I'd use 28ct black linen. It's getting hard for me to use 32ct black linen! So yeah, I might hold off on the freebie.

Next! Instagram gets a little dangerous and as I was perusing, I ran into these 2 patterns. I follow both designers on IG. My IG name is #azcampis if you'd like to follow. Here's those patterns, PDFs...

Just cute, both of them. I have fabric for the Tiny Village on the left and uses all DMCs. Sweet Pleasure on the right just hits me right! I have a mystery piece of 36ct linen in that same color as the model. It takes overdyes but has a DMC conversion.

So tempting!!

One other purchase is this JCS Christmas ornament preview magazine that I had to have because of the ornament on the middle right...

It is so pretty!

Last weekend I dropped off donations at a local charity shop that helps women who are in a  abusive relationship. I parked and went straight to the craft area. I always fantasize that I'm going to find OOP cross stitch charts!! It never happens but look at what I did find...

Looks like a Mill Hill piece, mounted to a papier mache box, for $2.00. Saving the Stitches!

After that I headed to Hobby Lobby for floss and a new storage box for some of my floss. You know the really pretty boxes that are sold during Christmas? I use them for my floss storage. Here's a few...

I like the boxes that look vintage. I store my CCW, and GAST floss in that box along with lose DMC metallic floss and any lose uncarded but identified overdue floss. 

I keep my WDW floss in this one...

I have all my floss on rings.

Last box is for silks and it was a mystery box. Too pretty to throw away, lol...

I also bought this tiny framed wood piece that has like a putty heart in it. I thought it would be perfect for a round ornament to place inside covering that heart...

I joined an exchange on Facebook in a group called Smalls or Cross Stitch Smalls. I should have wrote the name down🤦🏻‍♀️my recipient lives in the Netherlands. We are to send a finished Christmas piece that has enough fabric for our person to do their own final finishing. So I'm sending her this BBD ornament with 3 skeins of Christmas colors. I was ready to send this 3 weeks ago but I and the host of this exchange are having trouble getting in touch with her! I've sent 2 messages asking for an address and the host has sent 1! Hope she shows up! I've mailed to Malta, England, an Eastern Europe city that I can't remember now, and to Australia. The Netherlands will be a first

I think that's it! I might be the only stitcher out there not stitching Christmas right now! But I'm feeling the pull for sure. I wanted Bertha done this month but that's not happening. I'm pretty sure she'll have her day in the sun in December. 

Weather here is warmish, it's supposed to get to 63 here but it dips below freezing at night. I'm predicting a non white Christmas this year. Boo hoo.

Have you begun decorating? I will put up a few things like lights hanging from the mantel and getting out a 3ft green artificial tree that I use for ornaments. I had a white one last year but it was getting that ugly yellow color to it from age.

I almost forgot to say I won a chart from DJ at Tickled Pink In Stitches, and it's on its way from the East coast. Woohoo! Exciting!

Have a super day and stitch a lot!

Post Halloween Hangover

Good evening, everyone! Hope you're all well. Many thanks for all the comments on my Halloween Party post😊it was a hangover after all that finishing! I took the next 2 days off, no stitching and no FFOing! And it's blasphemous to say but I got a bit tired of the scary season! Haha. So I moved on to whatever WIP caught my eye and I'll show 3 that I've worked on in the last 8 days. 

First up is the Sarah Rickwood Sampler by Running With Scissors and Needles...

I'm using the called for fabric but in 36ct and my own floss conversion from Vikki Clayton silks to DMC and 1 over dyed. I started in the middle with the green and white bush and worked my way to the top which is where I like to start. I do a bit of vine and add flowers then work in the middle. Last time I showed this I had the bush but not so much white flowers and a little border on the left. 

After that I grabbed Yule...

by The Primitive Hare. I've filled in a lot of the bricks but ran out of GAST Brown Bear for the sides of the fireplace and the grout. I wished I had darkened the fabric more but I may do that after it's finished. 

Then I worked on A Sister's Love by BBD...

I had 3/4 of that top border done but have since finished it and turned the corner. I also stitched M N and O. It uses just 4 colors and it finishes out to about 8 1/4" x 8 3/4. 

In the first part of October, I FFOd a freebie from Blue Flower and kept forgetting to show it, here she is...

So cute!! I used a very mini chenille trim and stuck in 2 gold colored pins top and bottom and to hold that ribbon in at the bottom. 

That's it for my WIPs.

My plans for this month and December is to work on just WIPs. I was thinking of a new start for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year's Day but I scrapped that and have new plans! It's a secret but the magic number is 61 and it starts when the clock strikes midnight on the 1st of 2025. So stay tuned!

Thanksgiving is coming up and we're not sure what we're doing. There are some good restaurants in the area advertising dinner and may do that but I love leftovers so we might end up cooking. We shall see.

I'll probably be back at the end of November with hopefully a few finishes. I don't have a lot of WIPs, just about 21.

And that is all she wrote! 

I'd like to wish everyone a

to those of us in the US.

Take care and see you soon!

Halloween Party!!👻🎃💀

 

Happy Halloween!

Welcome to my Halloween party! Please help yourself to some candy, take plenty as I have more!😆

This Halloween is a bit different than past years here in Blogland. Jo of Serendipitous Stitcher has a link up to check out any other party goers:

https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/2024/10/halloween-spooky-link-up-2024.html

The FFO bug bit quite hard and in 1 week I finally finished 8 pieces! Yes, 8 pieces. I would go and buy a lottery ticket or 2 because that may not happen again!

Anyway, here they are:

I'm pretty sure this is a Heart In Hand piece, one of the little patterns that come with the chart and beads. The frame I've had for a very long time. It's a second hand store find. 

Next is...

This is Crone on The Hill by Plum Street Samplers. I trimmed it with Chenille.

Onward...

On top is Salem 1763 by Willow Hills Samplery. It's on a pretty silvery grape color linen. I glued😉the black ric rac to the side. It sort of frames the piece. On the bottom is a design by Wild Violet. I just glued a bat charm to the front and wrapped black baker's twine around the bottom portion.

Four to go:

Here is Halloween on the Farm, from the 2023 JCS Halloween special issue. Love how it turned out! Used more black twine also for a hanging ornament.

Next is this Brenda Gervais piece...

Bittersweet and Broomsticks. A fun stitch, I used the black twine for trim just like the model on the chart.

Now we have Clementine!

A WIP for more than 4 years I'm sure! She is so cute! Lots of backstitch but worth it. My favorite motif is that skeleton🤣I tweaked him just a little. Racquel Blasco was the designer. She no longer designs.

And last but not least, and my favorite, is...

Wicked Night by The Primitive Hare. Stitched on 40ct linen because I wanted it smaller. I used a black pin and buttons for decoration. Love it!

That's it's for stitching.

Here's a little chuckle for you..

Hahaha! This one made me laugh! I don't get trick or treaters here. My street has mostly older folks but 2 families with children have moved to the neighborhood in the last year. 

Fall has finally arrived to the area. It was 30 degrees this morning so I jumped out and turned on the heater! The leaves are finally changing..

My hometown of Prescott, AZ.  Beautiful!

How about a picture of a spider!!!

Isn't he pretty?! I didn't get close for this shot because they can and will jump! This is a Blonde Tarantula. There are dark brown ones with lighter brown legs. They roam around during Indian summer looking for mates and they dig little holes into the ground for homes. They're harmless!

I hope you enjoyed your time at my party! Be sure to check out the link at Jo's blog to see who else is partying! Thanks Jo!👻🎃

Things That Go Bump in The Night

Hi everyone!🙋🏻‍♀️I'm back with stitching to show, a finish, and progress. Anymore I stick my nose into my stitching to escape the news, the constant bickering on social media. But sometimes it all comes to you! Here in my medium sized town of 49k people, the former president Trump has paid a visit. He likes it here I guess. I stitched and listened to helicopters fly overhead, the secret service or maybe the AZ public service. I'm not far from our former hockey rink which is used because it's the largest building that can handle a good sized crowd. 

That'll be the only time you'll see me mention politics! I promise!

Lets get to the stitching!

When October 1st arrived, I pulled out mostly Halloween stitching. The first piece I picked up is Jenny Bean...

All I did was stitch the rest of the branches of the weeping willow and the trunk. I just need to stitch all the leaves in the tree. 

After that, I started a Halloween ornament from the 2023 JCS Halloween ornament issue...

and I finished it! This is Halloween on the Farm. I used vintage stormy grey evenweave. It was a struggle to stitch on this fabric! It's 32ct and I did 2 over 2 but I fought to get the thread through the hole. The blue of the barn for some reason was the toughest. I left it for the last and just powered through it. Whew! I was glad to get it done. It's cute but ugh. What didn't help was I cut the fabric so small I had to use my smallest snaps, and the clamps had very little fabric to hang onto! 

Then I gladly moved to Clementine! Remember her?

Another piece where I'm using 2 over 2. This is much easier! Designed by Raquel Blasco, Clementine has been a WIP for at least 4 years. I have her skirt to fill in with a light green floss, her black boots, the vines on the pumpkins in her skirt, tombstones to the right of her legs. Then lots of long stitches and back stitches to finish her up. Up at the top next to that last diamond goes a spider web with 2 spiders dangling where the 2 black squares are. Below the orange moon is a skeleton that needs boney arms and legs. She's definitely not ornament sized! That left border is 6 or 7 inches long, maybe more. 

Next up is more FO pictures! We're almost finished, folks, so stay with me!

Here's 29 December by Myfanny at Etsy. I would love to have this framed, in a black chunky frame or a dark brown one. On my favorite 32ct Pearl grey linen.

Here's Song of the Seasons by LHN. Finished last year after 10 long years of living in the WIP pile. The fabric is 32ct WDW Straw.

Last but not least is...

These is My Words, also by LHN. Love that cabin😊

I have 8 more large finishes that I'll spread out on 2 posts and that'll be it. I thought of an FFO parade but I think I'll give us all a break from another parade!

Last Tuesday my daughter and I went on a short road trip to a mountain that sits on the eastern edge of where I live. She borrowed her boyfriend's truck because the road is rough. I had never been to the Overlook my entire life and we've lived next to this mountain for 5 decades! Anyway, it was gorgeous...

We had 2 thirds of my grand dogs with us, Gus and Rosie, sibling Aussie Shepherds. Rosie is deaf so my daughter uses hands signs with her.

They're the funniest dogs. They're low and compact to the ground and well behaved. 

When we drove up I could see the valley that I will be moving to soon waaay down at the bottom, it was dizzying. I'm afraid of heights so I stayed away from the edge...

We've had some wild land fires off to the east so it's been hazy lately. 

We admired the view while keeping the dogs away from the edge. Rosie had to wear a leash since she can't hear my daughter.

I took this picture of an alligator bark juniper pine...

See how it looks like alligator skin! It's a good wood stove/fireplace wood to burn. Full of pine sap, it burns hot but also leaves the chimney full of buildup which could catch fire. Not good. We goofed around up there for a little bit more and then came back down. It was nice to catch up with my daughter who has a different work schedule than me. We text but it's nothing like actually being together doing something.

Carol, I share your thoughts about BRD or Blue Ribbon Designs. The designer has a pattern in almost every JCS ornament magazine. They stitch up fast! Now I have to go through them from the very first issues I have to page mark her designs🤗

Okay, life update. I got probate going on the house. No ones gotten back to me so everything I turned in must've been correct. 

Weather-wise, we're still in the 80s but sinking to the 40s overnight so on goes a blanket! Next week, we finally cool way way down, to the high 60s. This year has been hotter and for longer than usual. 

I think that's all I have for today. Thanks for reading and commenting. BTW, this coming Friday is the day to buy tickets to the Jingle Ball 2024. Just $10 for entry and separate tickets for any classes you'd like to take. I'm taking the Tiny Modernist's class for her mini gingerbread house. It's super cute. I'm excited for that.

Take care, and we'll see you soon🙋🏻‍♀️