Freedom!

Hi all! While it's still fresh in my mind, I tried to leave comments on Astrid's and DJ's blogs but Google keeps saying an error occured. Astrid, I'm so sorry on the loss of your furry family member Ming. She had a wonderful life and so will the two new kitties. DJ, your recent stitches are lovely and Anne Thomas is gorgeous 😍

Hope everyone has thawed and/or dug out! Here in the West several cold fronts are supposed to swing down into the SW and who knows what that will entail. Too soon to tell the weather people are saying.

I better start talking about stitching! I have a finish, a couple FFOs, and etc etc. Let's go!

I was surprised to see a few of you were also in the Halloween group that is ending soon. Linda, I knew you were in it and I'm sorry you bought extra Dragon charts to do the one challenge. I think the admin added so many different challenges, it got out of hand. It's like Teri/Dixiesamplar and the exchange she ran. However, it was the participants who probably had a hand in the demise. It's hard to herd people! 

Moving on! I have 2 WIPs I'm doing with the Halloween group. Jack's Bash and These Is My Words. Here's the latter...

I am now in the very last part of this stitch. I have text and flowers/cacti left to do and it'll be a Happy Dance! Can't wait!

Jack's Bash is the other and I feel I've done a lot with it...

Having fun!

I read the comments left at the last post (I always read them) and Honeybee/The Copper Fox said 'Enjoy your freedom!' And you know what? It is freedom! Freedom to stitch on whatever I want with no counting stitches! But first, I up and joined a SAL! Haha! A very informal SAL I might add. The Camping Stitcher on FB is hosting a Leap Year SAL for new starts. Since I planned on starting the Christmas Mug series from Shannon Christine around the same time, it was a no brainer to start on Feb 29. I may take a page out of Carol/Stitching Dreams book and stitch them all on black linen! I do have a small piece of 32ct black linen that I'll stitch a few stitches on to see how it looks.

That's the only SAL that I'm joining!

Next I have progress on a few WIPs. Here's Dog's Declaration from Ink Circles ..

I got my order from 123stitch a few days after my last post which had the missing skeins of Valdani floss to stitch the vine. You can see on the chart it goes halfway down on the left. Then I picked up Bertha Mae Brown by Chessie and Me...

She's just pretty with her pinks and reds. I think I stitched the P to the w and then to her name and the sawtooth line. There are 4 more rows of letters to go before the fun stuff i.e. flowers, deer, baskets, and a pink house.

I have a finish and that's the Jingle Ball 2023 ornament and folks, that skirt is no joke filling in that green!

I'm not sure what fabric this is but with the white dots it's pretty. Once I find flat mat board, I'll make it a flat ornament. Designed by Lindy Stitches.

I also had a designated FFO day a couple weeks ago and here's what I have to show...

Feliz Navidad. From a JCS ornament preview issue I can't find as I'm scrolling on my iPad looking for my post of when I finished it. Here it is-July/August 2012. My coworker is Mexican so this'll go to her for Christmas this year. I'm thinking of attaching a hanger on somehow 🤔

My next FFO is a secret that will be revealed Valentine's Day during the Secret Sweetheart blog hop. Stay tuned for that!

Well, tomorrow is my birthday! Sixty years on this earth, man, that's hard to say! I've used up some lives on the way! I will have a bday start and this is it...

So pretty! I just need 2 missing DMC. I'm so excited to start this. It's been kitted for almost 2 years. 

And because I'm turning 60, I'm doing something wild and crazy!! So be sure to come back on my next post to see what that could be!! 😆😆

I believe that's it! At least my phone has cooperated!

I'm  going to stitch on Dog's Declaration the rest of today and get laundry going and mucking out the cat box; fun!

Be well! See you soon!

Left To My Own Devices

Hello! Welcome to my very first 2024 blog post! Let's talk! I see parts of this country dealing with snow and very cold temps, yikes! Hope those of you in it can stay warm and just stitch. We had just gone through our own version of cold here in AZ with temps anywhere from 9-13 degrees with a dusting of snow up to 4 inches in my area. I could not warm up and throw in aching joints and bones, I was not a happy camper😞 but today it's 54, yay, and I have the front door open. Mother Nature is in a fickle mood.

So let's get to the stitching😊

I'm in a group on FB called Halloween Cross-Stitch Challenge. Last week the gal that runs it announced that she is closing the group down the end of March. I was flabbergasted! The group has grown to about 4k members and I can only imagine that it's become a full time job. I'm in 2 challenges, one ends the last day of February and the other in March. After that, I'm left to my own devices! Oh boy, what kind of trouble can I get into! Actually, I felt a little lost. I've had the challenges telling me what to stitch and for how long for a year and a half and that's now about to end. What to do? Unbeknownst to me that this was going to happen, I joined in on Shannon Christine's Monthly Christmas mug club. At $8 a month, you get a new PDF. It's part of their ongoing clubs. Here's the first one...

Cute! Calls for 28ct which would be 5x5 finished but I'll get me a giant piece of either 32ct pearl grey linen or a pretty light blue where the white DMC will stand out. So stay tuned! In April, I think I'm going to start stitching these. 

I still have progress on WIPs...

Jack is coming along. I'll continue to stitch on this after March because I'd like to have it finished before Halloween this year. 

Next is These Is My Words. I'm pushing to have this one finished by the end of this month...

That bottom row with the 5 flower thingies is the last of it with flowers, cacti, and text. I think I can do it!

After we found out the Halloween group will close soon, I grabbed a couple of WIPs that I had no intentions of working on this year. They are...A Sister's Love by BBD and PSS's My Early Days

That left border is at the halfway point. I believe the fabric is 40ct and I was having a heckuva time stitching! I threw away one pair of cheaters and used another that made it easier to see the fabric. That kind of worried me!

And the BBD...

I believe I stitched that line below the alphabet and maybe more of the border. 

I also had a small finish..

The One by Asbery's Echoes Stitches. I have designated tomorrow as an FFO day so this and a few more will be prettied up. I hope to do up more than a few more so keep your fingers crossed!

I have all my obligation stitching caught up so I'm going to stitch up this little cutie from the Jingle Ball...

My fabric is a lot lighter but it has white dots on it so it should be adorable.

So that's all she wrote! Before my phone complains. 

Take care everyone, especially those dealing with lots of snow and bitter temps. I cannot imagine those kind of temperatures!

Happy Stitching and see you soon!