Happy Dance!

Hi all! Long time no see. Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, those of us in the U.S. I cooked our usual traditional dinner. I might do a ham next year. A coworker and his family did a seafood Thanksgiving with lobster, crabs, and whatever goes with all that. Another coworker did all Mexican food. I guess it doesn't matter what food you have as long as you're all together with your loved ones, whether that be another person or a whole house full!

The cross stitching blues continued on and off the first 3 weeks of November. When I felt like stitching, I grabbed what was near me at my stitching spot and that was Trick or Treat. The work below is from the last 4 days as I felt the joy of stitching come back. I just finished adding the beads for the cats eyes and the jabco cauldron button and it is DONE!

I used the called for 32ct vintage Winter Sky Belfast from Lakeside Linens and all the called for overdyed floss. The picture is a bit wonky. It sure is cute! Finally, I did not run out of floss! The house took a lot of time with that spider web on the right side just put in this morning. I may add a bat button or two to the sky above the kids. That space below the porch of the house kind of bugs me though. This is from Praiseworthy Stitches and they use a lot of specialty stitches in their designs. See the lighter red/pink 'bricks' in the house? Those are supposed to be Kloster Blocks but to me they are like satin stitches. Couldn't get why the blocks when satin stitches sufficed. I tried to follow how the spider web was graphed but I ended up just doing my own thing. I really like how the cats eyes glow. 

Here is how Trick or Treat looked October 13th..

Yay! Funny, my last post I was saying I was getting a bit tired of Halloween stitching and here I finish this!

Trick or Treat was the only stitching I had since Halloween. I'm always stitching so this dry spell has me wondering what's going on. I also picked up a 2nd job and sometimes I get home at 7 or even 10 so that has put a huge dent in my stitching time. 

It's crunch time for me to finish a gift to my daughter, 6 Grinch ornaments that say Stink Stank Stunk so I picked up a Grinchy fabric on etsy along with a pretty Christmas tree fabric..

Haha, that is so cute! The fabric I stitched on matches the Grinch's face. I need more mat board because they will be hanging flat ornaments. My daughter is putting up her tree next weekend so I need to get my crap together and work on them.

Today I hit up Joanne's for their sales. I was after fabric, Halloween and Christmas. True to character, I bought more Halloween fabric than Christmas!

Not only will I use these as backing fabric for future Halloween ornaments, but I have ideas stewing in my head for next year. 

Here's a few Christmas fabrics plus fat quarters which were only .79 cents..

I also picked up a few Halloween sale items for next years Halloween exchange.

That is the gist of my stitching!

However, I have plans for December! On the 1st and running the entire month, I am stitching on Christmas Garden by BBD and here is what I have right now..

Last worked on December 30 2017. I would like to get the whole right side in and begin the middle section. I also want to stitch on a winter piece in December.

For 2019 though I've decided to work on old WIPs for 6 months or maybe the whole year. Christmas Garden will be one and will continue to be stitched January 1. My last post of December I'll reintroduce the old WIPs that I will work on for one week each. No new starts for me in 2019!

I have an exchange piece due in Pennsylvania the first week of December. I need to FFO the ornament and I'm awaiting a few things I ordered off Etsy as extras. So I'm headed to Hob Lob tonight for mat board. I don't know but along with the stitchy blues, it's been hard to get motivated. So I need to light a fire underneath my butt and just do it!

Not a long log post by any means but I do feel my stitchy bug coming back. December 21st is my 8th year of blogging and I'm sure I'll have a giveaway. It'll probably be gift cards again as last time I had a giveaway with charts, fabrics, and goodies, one of the winners never got her stuff until January! Tis the season for postal service slowdown. So be sure to look for that. I will come back to post again the 2nd week of December as I'll have FFOs, and exchange goodies to show....I think!

Thanks for stopping in and visiting! See you all in December!

Happy Halloween!

Hi all! This late in the evening I imagine the trick or treating is over in your neighborhood. We don't get trick or treaters on my street and all my neighbors except for a young family next door are older and kids have flown the coop.

I have FFO's, and spooky progress to show. I haven't stitched much in the last week. Stitching mojo took a hiatus! 

Let's do progress first..Early Witches by the Primitive Hare..before..

And after..

Tituba the witch is halfway done. I changed her skin color from black to DMC 869, as I like to call it, cafe au lait. I will be putting this away for a bit.

Thistles and Spells Pinkeep from Stacy Nash..before..

And now..

I ran out of the black which is WDW Kohl and GAST Apple Cider for the border and the big plant in the middle. Yup. I usually am able to raid a kitted project for needed floss but not this time. I did have the Apple Cider but it does not match what I have stitched. If I had all the floss I needed this would have been finished! So I'll get the floss and set this aside too.

Truth be told, I'm ready to move on as I have been stitching Halloween all month long except for this last week. 

However, I caught the FFO bug last weekend! Here is Winnie the Witch, an extra with the Spooked Mystery Sampler from LK..

Next to Winnie is the freebie from Hands on Designs, just a simple little pillow. Winnie is a flat ornament that is trimmed with black and orange bakers twine and also as the hanger.

I finally FFO'd Wicked from Barbara Ana..

I finished this a year or two ago so it needed to be an FFO. Look at the poison label I used to cover the opening on the back..

This next one I'm really happy with. It's one of those Postcards from The Heart projects from the Summerhouse Stitcheworks where you stitch the design then mount it on a burlap covered wood frame and add all sorts of trinkets and what not. This one is the Halloween one..

The design is on 40ct. I had no idea what to do with this one! Once I cut the fabric to go under the stitched piece, I knew what I was going to do. I had the orange and black flower trim there on the left and glued that on and just went from there. On the sides I glued on a ribbon..

I just love it! Sometimes less is more, you know!

I also bought polyfil to finish stuffing this..

It's cute as a button! I backed it with the red horseshoe fabric..

I could not find the Mountain Mist fiberloft that Vonna swears by at Joanne's like I did last time. I was not about to buy the cheaper stuff because to me, it does not stuff good. It doesn't stay in the corners and all those little fibers stick thru my fabric. So I took a look at the other types and found one that was identical to Mountain Mist. I opened a little hole in the plastic to have a feel and it felt like the good stuff!

So what are the plans for the rest of the year? Well, I have an exchange piece that needs to arrive the first week of December out to Pennsylvania. I have two stitched Christmas ornaments that are not FFO'd so I could use one of those. A good thing too because I'm not sure if my stitching mojo will come back! I decided not to join in on Terri/Dixie Samplars latest exchange. The 1st of December I would like to stitch on BBD Christmas Garden and maybe get a few more Christmas ornaments stitched. As I type this I'm just not feeling it! Yikes. Maybe if I watch some flosstube I'll get some inspiration. We shall see.

I think that's it! It is 10:51 pm and I'm ready to hit the sack. Thanks for stopping by! Take care!

The all Halloween edition....mostly

Hi all! How are you on this 13th day of October? Unbelievable! Better hold on because it's going fast! It is a cloudy day here with the threat of rain. It could be remnants of Tropical Storm Sergio. First week of October, we got hit with the remnants of Tropical Storm Rosa where some parts of AZ got their yearly total of rain in just 3 days! We can go 4, 5 years without the remnants of something affecting us but two in a year? Unusual. 

So I've got progress, starts, my Linda SAL update, and some new stash to show. Here we go!

First things first, my #plumstreetsunday or #plumstreetsundays stitch, A Merry Hart..

I don't have much to go now. That bottom border goes up the side to Cheerful. There's a huge red flower next to the house that I'm looking forward to stitching!

So September 1st, I joined Linda of Stitchin with My Furbabies fame on her informal Bday SAL. Here's the numbers:

30 planned starts/WIPs; out of those 30 I started/progressed on 16 projects and finished 5 pieces. About the last couple of weeks in September, I heard the call of Halloween, as you do! I have been stitching all Halloween since then. Take a look:

Trick or Treat, a Praiseworthy Stitches design from a JCS Halloween issue, 2012..

Horrible pic, my apologies. Since the last time, I have added the blonde witch and filled in the roof of the house. The blonde witches hat I had to use another color because the one called for is the same as the purple words going around and I'm coming close to using it up. And we all know my escapades with running out of floss! I received my purple cauldron JABC button too and that will go at the bottom of the light pole between the two witches. I'm not sure I'll finish this before Halloween. That house is going to take some time.

Next piece is Early Witches by the Primitive Hare..

Last time all I had was the angel, the words and those vertical borders. That is the Bell Witch above. Next to her will be Tituba from Salem, the Pickety Witch from New York, and Marie Laveau from Louisiana. I still have to extend the borders down to cartouches that will have their names and where they're from or from the legend. I know it won't be done in time for this Halloween! 

Next is Thistles and Spells pinkeep from Stacy Nash..

Sheesh, another blurry pic. Sorry about that. I'm using the called for Tin Roof linen and GAST. The flowers are Old Purple Paint and I don't have it so I'll be going through my stash for a replacement. I am spending more time on this than anything else. It's been in my stash a couple years at least.

Here are my finishes..

Nevermore by LizzieKate. It is tiny on a mystery scrap of linen that just might be a 35 or 36ct. I used the Valdani floss left over from a kit. I have a piece of fabric to turn it into a pillow.

Surrender the Treats, a freebie by Hands on Design..

Not very scary but that's alright! Another blogger thought it would be a nice stitch for her cat and her kitty treats which I thought would be pretty cool. I also have a piece of fabric to FFO it.

Here's another LizzieKate design, Winnie the Witch, an extra that came with the Spooked Mystery Sampler kit..

I just love her. She's on leftover Periwinkle linen. I will make her a flat ornament and have a fabric set aside for that.

Two other finishes are on the last post. All the above are being FFO'd today since it is now raining outside. Sometimes I spend too much time on social media and getting crafty is my antidote to that.

I also stashed a little..

These are both a little over 10 years old! They sure looked new to me. Halloween of course! The Winterology looks like fun. I would put the word Winter in the middle though!

I found this in Joanne's..

I always find things to stitch in these magazines. I guess the Christmas issue is coming out real soon.

I made an order to 123stitch for two flosses I needed but you know how things can't ship alone, I looked at their fabrics and found these two fat quarters of BBD fabric..

For just a couple dollars each. The one on the left is for a Halloween design that is being FFO'd today too. There is more I would like to get my hands on!

That is it! I will keep stitching Halloween for the rest of the month, after that who knows? I did sign up for another exchange on a stash selling/buying group on FB. It's for Christmas and it's not due until the first week of December so I've got time. My partner just likes all Christmas like myself. 

I'll be back on Halloween to show my FFO's. I have Christmas ornaments to finish up too so there's that.

Take care everyone! I have had some new followers so Welcome! Hope you like it here!

I better start sewing and stuffing before I get lazy!

Winner, winner, exchange goods, and more

Hello hello! Fall is on its way and I couldn't be more happy! Yesterday, it hit 91 degrees, ugh.

First order of business, thank you for your kind words on the passing of my aunt Teresa. She was laid to rest yesterday after a very nice, and sad service. Thanks.

Second piece of business- Diana, you are the winner of the La D Da chart Yellow Bird! I think I have your address somewhere so let me look for it before I email you for it. Congrats! Diana, turns out I do need your address so if you would email me at.......I will get the chart out to you.

Thursday night my exchange package arrived, Woohoo! Here it is..

Hope it's not too blurry. The chocolate kisses were gone within minutes! Love it all. I love ceramic pumpkins so that was nice. I'm really excited to start the new PSS chart and the PSS pillow is wonderful. Trims are always welcome here and the Halloween kitchen towel and socks are jump starting my decorating for my favorite holiday. Take a look at this tiny pincushion Sue sent...

It's in an antique salt cellar. I don't know what they were used for but the whole thing is wonderful. Sue doesn't know I have a blog but Thank You Sue for the great exchange goodies! 

So my SAL that I have going on has gotten derailed for a bit. To tell the truth, I can't even remember when I stitched and didn't! The struggle is real! I have a journal with all my starts and WIPs and I WAS writing down dates of when I stitched on something but quit around last Tuesday, 9/11. My dad also died 11 years ago on that date so I think the anniversary of his passing and the terrorist attack kind of put me in a funk. But today is a new day and all the sad has been taken care of.

Onto the Linda SAL! Thanks Linda for letting me use your name for the SAL. I took one day to finish up a couple small stitchings and will show those down below. Here is a Christmas ornament...

This freebie has been in my freebie file for quite awhile. I'm using the colors called for but using a scrap piece of Ship's Manor fabric 32ct. Sometimes I feel the need to mix things up so I paired this up with the fabric. 

The next piece is...

Yeah, all in Russian! It's by Verbena on etsy. To me, that project looks big. Nope! I stitched it on 32ct PTP fabric and it's just 3" long! 

It's on the left. I don't know what I'll FFO it into. I'm thinking a skinny candy tin to mount it onto or maybe a necklace? Who knows. I used a Belle Soie silk on it called Woolly Bear from my stash and it is pretty with the light and dark brown variegation. On the right is the freebie from Hands on Design, stitched that right up in 3 hours or so. I still need to sew on the metal heart charm on the house. They are the results of my day of finishing.

Okay, this next one I'm asking you all to humor me! Lol. Yup, another Souvenir de France!

But look at how pretty it is going to be! A scrap of the natural gingham which I think is Weeks. It looks perfect next to the rose fabric that Kaye/Kitten Stitching sent with my prize when I won one of her giveaways. The floss is WDW Peony and it really matches the roses in the fabric. It will be a flat ornament.

Alright, that's it. My last post, Rebecca mentioned starting Trick or Treat because I inspired her. She has ordered the floss for it. Yay! Trick or Treat is a WIP I have added into this SAL so once I have worked on my #plumstreetsunday project I'll bring out Trick. 

Thanks for stopping by! I really do appreciate you all!

Catching up

Hello! It is September 8th and I have starts to show for my Bday SAL. Not my birthday SAL but Linda's Bday SAL. Don't want to use your name, Linda, so it's the Bday SAL.

So the first 4 days went well. On Thursday though an aunt died in the morning so no stitching that day. She fought breast cancer 9 years ago and about 6 months ago she was found to have lung and heart cancer. This is the second person I know that fought breast cancer only to have it come back as lung and heart cancer. It's just heartbreaking for all. 

So here we go with my SAL stitching-Tis the Season..

Yep, just a measly start on the 1st. I'm not happy with that green for the leaf. Several times I've gone back and forth with the floss for this project and it is now in time out, haha! I see what everyone is using for their conversions and I'm like oh I like that! I have found good green flosses for the leaves. As for the cardinal, I'm waiting for an order from 123 for Licorice Red CCW.

The 2nd day I stitched my usual Sunday stitch The Merry Hart PSS..

It looks better in person. That C on the right is for Cheerful and under that goldish colored flower under countenance is the house. I'll get back to this tomorrow.

3rd day is this one..

I have had this in my stash for a long time. This reminds me of Winter which I'm looking forward to! Call me crazy but it's supposed to be 90 and 91 today! So the saying says-one who sleeps under a quilt is comforted by love. 

My 4th project is..

Do You See What I See by Shelly Auen. Very primitive and the verse is from my most favorite Christmas carol Little Lamb (I think thats the name). Here is where I am at..

I am so used to stitching 1 over on a high count that my 2 over is feeling bulky. The fabric is 32ct so I could've gone both ways I guess. I like how it's going.

On Wednesday, I started I Bring Thee Joy by Pineberry Lane..

I'm using the called for Tin Roof linen and it will look great. Here's my progress..

Not a whole lot there. It's nice using DMC and not having to worry if I have enough and will dye lots match if I have to buy more. It looks like a lot of stitching from the model picture but looking at the graph, it's do able by Christmas.

Thursday, news of my aunt so no stitching.

Got back on track Friday and with another Hands on Design, this one a freebie..

A cute Halloween freebie on a scrap of linen from a finish earlier this year. 

And today? Another Hands on Design freebie! I Am Home..

I'm not sure what the linen is. I want to finish it just like the little house on the chart. Should be a quick stitch.

Twenty-two more days of new starts/WIPs! I have quite a few freebies in the mix just to get them stitched and the charts out of my freebie file.

It's coming on Go time for the exchange and mailing the package by the 19th. I have time yet and awaiting an order from 123 for floss for the chart I am sending my partner. I need a few other goodies to add also. I thought I would show what I finished for her. I am so proud of it and almost thought of keeping it, haha! I'll make another for myself! Here it is..

Yup, and my first time ever finishing something like this! The design is Black Pumpkin by SubRosa, stitched on a mystery 36ct linen. I can't imagine using a lower count fabric, it would be huge! I think I used 310 DMC. It's a paper mâché box that I painted black, inside and out. Bought scrapbook paper for the inside and top of lid. In the box I glued a black trim around the bottom and used another trim found in the sale section of Hobby Lobby around the edge of the lid. I had that black wire-edged cloth ribbon and attached it to the lid and ruffled it. Here in AZ, people are just barely harvesting Pumpkins and squashes so I didn't think I could find a real squash stump? for the stitched piece. So off to Hob Lob for plastic pumpkins and just cut off a plastic one. It looks kind of real! I hot glued it to the stitched piece and voila! I put rubber footies on the bottom too. Whew! I love how it turned out. I could've done a better job sewing up the opening where I stuffed it but all in all it looks good. I hope she likes it. My partner is Theresa Meloon of Dulaney Woods Treasures, a prim style cross stitch designer! Yikes! I have two of her charts. 

So that's how my week has been going! So far so good on the starts and it's kind of fun going to my bins picking out the new start or WIP to stitch that day.

Well I'm off! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

SAL's and more

Hello everyone! Long time no see. Time has gotten away from me as usual.

As my title says, today is the first day of two SALs that I'm in, the Tis the Season/BBD on FB and Linda/Stitchin with My Furbabies. Linda is celebrating her upcoming birthday with some ideas and I'm doing 31 starts for the month. I hope I can keep up with it!

I also have a near FFO, progress, and some new stash!

Here is Tis the Season by BBD, picture taken off Pinterest. I work from a master copy. This takes care of the FB and Linda's SAL starts...

And my fabric and floss choices..

I'm not using the called for silks but I am using the called for fabric 32ct Pear by Lakeside. I'll stitch in Tis the Season in place of the French. So I have floss pulled for all the other colors but I'm undecided on the color of the Cardinal. In the picture is Country Redwood which is a nice variegated red and I also like Raspberry Parfait which isn't shown. Pictures on 123stitch for country redwood show up different as my skein above. I don't want my Cardinal to be mauve-y but red. So I may buy the skein of country rosewood and if the new skein is a little off I'll just take a strand each from both skeins since I'm doing 2 over 2. 

I will come back to Tis the Season during the month.

I have progress on two projects, Trick or Treat and The Merry Hart..

First is this one. Would you look at that?! I stitch on this for two hours or more for 6 days. There are JABC buttons scattered all over on the model but I plan on only a few bat buttons, a moon, and a purple cauldron placed on the base of the last street lamp. This is so cute! It's part of my Linda SAL so I'll be getting back to this also. Below is where I was before..

Here is my Sunday stitch..

I'll be starting the house real soon!

This FFO I showed before. I was waiting to buy flat pins...

I am still not happy with the decoration on the top but I have added the back and side fabric and the ribbon. I think I'll check out some transparent ribbon in red and green colors for the top.

I also stashed!

These two I bought off one of the resale groups on FB. I hemmed and hawed about the BBD but after I saw how much this was being sold on eBay, I snatched it up for $8 postage included. There are 4 designs in here, one being a reproduction. Then I couldn't pass up these festive moose. I'm seeing a tree covered with Merry Christmooses!

I believe this is my very first Goode Huswife chart. The name threw me off at first with 'Hooked' but it's all stitched. The Chessie and Me is called Scarlett's Christmas Sampler. I had to have it! A simple sampler with lots of Smyrna stitches! That's a given on a Chessie and Me, right? I guess there is hope for me in that I can actually buy a few charts that aren't Halloween or all Christmas!

So delivery day is approaching with the Haunted Harvest exchange and I have finally bought all the supplies to finish the round paper mâché box. I have 3 days off this weekend so I'll be tackling that. I just need a fire lit under my butt! I have mentioned that I'm a procrastinator and it has reared its ugly head in the last couple of weeks for sure. Any other time I would have had the exchange package on its way already but not this time.

If this post sounds disjointed it's because I am disjointed! It was a rough week this past week with plenty to stress about.

So if you made it this far, good for you! Giveaway time! The woman I bought two of the charts from threw this in as a freebie..

Some freebie, right?! I already have it so who would like it? The usual rules, be a follower on Bloglovin and Blogger, comment below you would like it. I can mail anywhere, even overseas. Comment until September 12 at 11:59 pm Arizona time. Good luck!

So I'm guessing that is it. You will be seeing a lot of me on here this month so you may get tired of me! It will be fun starting new projects for a change. I have lots of freebies and some kitted up projects along with a few WIPs to stitch.

Happy Labor Day to those in the U.S. and happy stitching to those not! 

Take care!