Dancing with Jack, a finish, and more

Hi all! Hope the weather has been forgiving for you where you're at. Here in the Southwest it has been an oven. Where I live, at 5120 ft. elevation, we went maybe 5 days at over 100 degrees or over. It went to 103 this past Tuesday. I think yesterday the heat caught up with me at work as I started feeling shaky and lightheaded and clammy. I almost came home but I took it easy and drank more water. At least it hasn't been Phoenix-like where flights were canceled because of the extreme heat. I think I can speak for all Arizonans that our monsoon season can't come soon enough but not the humidity! Can't be happy at all!

So I have a huge, Huge, HUGE finish! Not in size but in the 1 over 1, and the amount of motifs and people in a small space- Jack's Bash!

I just love this! It's not the biggest piece I have ever finished but just the amount of flowers, people, alphabets, it's the busiest I've finished. Once I sat down to tackle the verse, it went fast. I couldn't say how many hours it took but I worked on it 4 evenings in a row for maybe 2 or 3 hours in between laundry, washing dishes, etc. The grass under the couple really took longer than the verse! In the end, it was all worth it, a real piece of art and I'm glad it is finished! 

I also had this small finish, Sweetie Peetie Pumpkin by Twisted Threads..

The color of the fabric is as close as I could get it. I'm either going to attempt a flat-fold on this or just a flat ornament. I have an Autumn fabric that will look real nice with this. 

This brings my finishes for 2017 to 15 with the more important ones being Jack's Bash and Blackwater Hollow by Stacy Nash. Also, my WIP count has gone down, yippee! From 31 in December to 27 as of now. 

I have two new starts and I can blame the recent weather for these!

Ah, Beau Leggy, squatting over that Cholla cactus. I'm using a Tarnish fabric, don't know the maker, in 28 or 32ct. When our monsoon rolls in, our skies will look like that, dark, gray stormy clouds. With the moon and stars out, this cowboy is out roping at night, looks like. I made some changes though. The model has Beau wearing a purple hat. Nope, I changed the hat to brown. He is wearing leather gloves so I left them that color. The rope got a change of color too. I will probably change his boots to another color also. Pretend my needleminder is a coyote!

My other start is this..

I only have the two lines of stitching done above Santa Claus so not worth a picture. I was in the mood for Lizzie Kate and something to put me in a cool mood!

I have finished my piece for the Christmas in July exchange hosted by Kaye of Kitten Stitching. It's so cute if I say so myself. I have found Christmas fabric, an ornament and now just need to track down Christmas candy. I found a website called the Candy Warehouse and they sell Christmas candy. Although it's Winter down under, if I send chocolate, it will become a melty mess just from here to Phoenix! So that's a no go. If you should see this, Leonie, the package will be on its way after July 6th. I can't wait to see what I receive from Nadine!

On my last post, Cricket-bug commented that if you do 1 over 1 more frequently, it will become easier. I believe this because once I got down to the last two lines of verse on Jack, it went fast and wasn't so painful. Barb, are you listening?! Or rather, reading?! Haha. It's like giving birth, lol. You swear you're never getting pregnant again and once that baby comes, you forget what you just went through! Lol.

Stitchinowl/Carolyn said in response to Thirteen Owls by PSS being hard to find that she didn't know that. After that, I thought I would search for it on eBay. I didn't find it but was amazed to see that people are buying charts, PSS specifically, that cost more than 123Stitch or Stitching Bits and Bobs offer, if you're willing to wait for the latter! On FB and Stitch Maynia, there are posts by stitchers who don't know of these ONS's and are doing the Dimensions kits and such that are found at the chain craft stores. On the Plum Street Samplers FB page, sometimes you get stitchers who ask where to get a certain chart. I can't quite remember when I discovered these ONS's myself but it sure opened up a whole new world! I too was buying from eBay. 

If you made it this far, good on you because I'm giving away the little Sweetie Peetie Pumpkin chart. It's in good condition. I will mail in the U.S. and overseas too. Just comment that you would like to have it. Follower or otherwise, open to all. I will draw names on the 4th of July if there is more than 1 person wanting it.

I believe that's it! I will continue to stitch on the Lizzie Kate and Beau. I have some quick stitches in the queue that I would like to do, Halloween and Christmas stuff. I have some FFO'ing I want to do today or tomorrow. As I'm typing this, I'm trying to decide what to get at the grocery store. Multi-tasker here! A plus side to these hot temps is your appetite gets killed off. My soda consumption goes down because the only thing good is ice water. So I can't think of a single thing that sounds appetizing. Hmm.

Here's wishing a wonderful, patriotic 4th of July to those of you in the U.S. We will be watching a parade and fireworks along with the rodeo. A happy stitching day and week to those who aren't in the U.S. Take care!

2017 plans, a last finish, and other stuff

Hi everyone! Better get comfortable, grab a drink or something because I've been talking to cats for the last day and a half!

Hope your Christmas was magical with family, friends, and food! Mine was particularly wonderful, partly because of this..

Yup, a white Christmas, yay! Although I can live without the white stuff, you just gotta have a white Christmas. My brothers came up Christmas Eve morning to avoid the snow and it was great to see them. They live in Phoenix. And...my gift that my daughter bought me that brought tears to my eyes...

Works like a charm. I also received chocolate, lottery tickets, and gift cards but this...! I fired it up yesterday and made this..

An ornament that I stitched up earlier this year. My cord-making went haywire. I cannot make cording to save my life! I have watched Vonna's video on cord-making and this is what I end up with ^. So I improvised and sewed it on the top and hung a skeleton key on the end and made a tassel. It's back to the drawing board for making cord. One of my New Years resolutions, to master this. Ha. But it's just great to have a sewing machine again. I never took my old one in to be checked and fixed. 

Here we go....I joined Honeybee's (Copper Fox) little sal The Keeping Christmas Project to stitch ornaments. I had my first finish in September and as of last week, ended up with 7 ornaments. Here is the very last one...A Sprig of Holly, from the Primitive Punchneedle and Cross Stitch, I think?

On 32ct, 1 over 2. Love her dress with the the eyelet stitch at her waist and the satin stitch spool to the right. All of these ornaments I'll FFO them next year.

I also had another finish last week, the last one for 2016. Little Lamb by Kathy Barrick...

It's a small design, fits a 8" sq. frame. I stitched in the reins at the last. Does anyone see Rudolph and his red nose? I think Santa was giving his reindeer a night off! 

Total finishes for 2016 comes to 37! Woohoo! Two of those finishes were exchange gifts and are gone. Some of these finishes have been FFO'd already, or need it, or need framing. I'll do all that next year.

Remember I won a gift card from Brian (Blitstitch) from flosstube? Well, here is what I used it on..

Overdye's to kit up some projects, two LHN designs that have been on my wish list for months, and the Mardi Gras silks for a sal that I've joined for February or March. 

Uh, what next? Oh. Here are my plans for 2017. I reserve the right to chuck it all and do what I want! I have 4 or 5 definite projects to do and here they are: 

Frosty Forest by CCN

I just need to get the DMC's together. This is my New Year's day stitch. Somewhere down the line I will add a border on this, just like Jeannie at Willow Tree Stitcher did on hers. I don't have a link but some of you may know what it looks like. I may tweak a few borders from other CCN or LHN charts for my border. Just hope I have enough fabric for that!

Classic Christmas Charm by Barbara Ana, found in 3 issues of Cross Stitch and Needlework mags..

I wasn't too sure about this called for fabric, Milk Chocolate, but after the floss toss, decided it won't be too bad. I'll do half of the border starting from the upper left and then start stitching the inner white and green blocks. I'm thinking of a week spent on each new start. Next up are two Primitive Hare designs, Christmas Carol Sampler and Ichabod Crane Inn, all ready to start..

As for WIPs, these are what I'm stitching on..

Top to bottom: Jacks Bash by PSS, Blackwater Hollow by Stacy Nash, Vintage Stars by Jeannette Douglas, A Bee in your Bonnet by Summerhouse Stitcheworkes, and last but not least- Christmas Garden by BBD. Vintage Stars is the oldest WIP here. Wish me luck..

I run with the Stitch Maynia crowd on FB and have joined a couple of SAL's through Maynia, a Mardi Gras style one in February I think, and an M sal which is stitch on something that starts with the letter M, or a designer or subject matter. That's in March. I also joined a Stitch from Stash on FB. 

If you can believe it, I'm still waiting on Cricketbugs chart and fabric for winning my giveaway! Everything she gets she can use for next Christmas! I emailed her a couple weeks ago and this was her response:

             I am having the same problems! It's like it's Christmas or something 

Lol. She's too funny! Like it's Christmas, indeed! I'll have to time the giveaway next year a little better. The problem is the dyed linen coming from Dames of the Needle. Well, dame- it! Just kidding!

On the 10th of this month, my daughter and I were supposed to fly to Chicago but after the last two months of a kitty death, auto breakdown, and various other mishaps, we had to cancel:((

But....that weekend it was below zero up there! We dodged that bullet! I really wanted to see the Christkindle market and eat Chicago deep dish pizza. So before the tickets expire in June, we have decided to go back to New Orleans in March. Weather wise, a huge extreme. It'll be after Mardi Gras and the room prices will go back down somewhat. 

I believe that's it! Whew. Hopefully, you made it to the end with me. I will continue to stitch an ornament or two a month. I'll be busy for sure. I have 31 WIPs and hope to whittle that down by this time next year. 

Followers and lurkers, I just want to say Thank You for hanging with me throughout the entire year! Thank you for your comments, for your words of sympathy on the death of E.T., for commiserating with me on my wacky health which I might add is much better. Helps to lose 20 pounds here in the last 3 months, not diabetic anymore. I appreciate each and everyone of you. Wishing you a 

and a year of great health, lots of new stash, peace, and new beginnings! See you next year!