Water, Sand and Snow

Hi all! Hope you're all doing fine. I came back about an hour ago from watching the Downton Abbey movie with my daughter. I enticed her with a large popcorn! I don't like going to the movies by myself! I liked it. I won't mention any parts of the movie but I was happy to see a couple questions answered and I teared up over 1 scene. Hope that means another movie further in the future for the characters.

I have progress to show, new plans (I always have new plans!), a finish/FFO, etc.

I have reached water!

Yep, that little bit of blue directly to the right of the dog on the sled is water and I'm a 

happy camper. Back story: After finishing and FFOing my last Halloween

project, I picked up Winter At Beacon House, a long time WIP. Here's the before..

The fabric is lakeside Winter Sky and shows correctly in the pic right above. I've 

extended the alphabet, filled in the missing stitches near the girls, started on the

lighthouse, and filled in the snow amongst the alphabet. The nice thing about this

design is I can jump around when I get tired of stitching the sand and snow. I am 

giving it a break though because I am now in a Christmas stitching mood!

Here's my last Halloween finish..

Ritual and Spell from the 2016 JCS Halloween issue. I made a few changes- left

off the skull vine on the bottom, and stitched my own spider web in the upper

right corner. I used my last piece of fusible web on this so I haven't finished my

other Halloween finishes.

At first, I was going to keep stitching on Beacon House but after looking at all

the new Christmas charts on the 123stitch, I've kitted up 3 projects...

I almost had all the called for flosses, with one sub. It's going on a 36ct fabric, 

mystery.

An oldie but goodie. I've made this once before. And..

Christmas Scooter. I'm using a different fabric than called for but it'll look great. 

Starting tonight, I'm stitching this one^. 

I also stashed, lol..

Scored on a stash selling FB group.

That is it. I joined Jo's Halloween blog hop at the Serendipitous

Stitcher blog so I'll be back on Halloween for that.

An upcoming plan is to stitch a Christmas pattern by Romina Petrucci,

otherwise known as Romy's Fibers, for a contest. It'll be an ornament 

I think. Sounds like fun!

Job is going well but Mr. Vertigo has made a return, unfortunately, and I missed a day at

work for that. He's been gone for the entire year and why he's returned

has me scratching my head. I try to pinpoint differences that may set it off and when it 

disappears but can't. I just have to deal with it.

Take care! See you on Halloween!

Just a funny picture of a hitchhiking bug on my windshield! Looks

like its lifting that little car..

Happy Spring Part 2

The Spring /Easter Exchange 2019 is now over and my partner and I have received our gifts. Here is what I sent Lisa:

She likes the same designers as I do, BBD, PSS and so on. I stitched the BBD

piece which I show somewhere in my last posts. I bought the wooden box, 

painted it to match the greys in the design. I inserted the polka dot scrapbook

paper in the top and in the inside. Then finished the stitched piece on 

sticky board as Priscilla and Chelsea call it and glued it to the top. I sure hope

it holds. Then I bought her the other bits and pieces. Here's another look

at the box

It turned out nice.

This is what I received from Sandy..

I can't wait to start the design on the purple fabric. See the adorable Shepherd's 

Bush piece in the frame? Here's a closer look..

So cute. I have it on the wall with my other mini's, what I call my small

framed stitches.

FFOs. One was the exchange box and the other is this LK small..

This is Nevermore. I've really been into sewing those borders onto the 

sides of the stitched piece. Funny how I have favorites of finishing styles like

a cube finish or pin pillows, or flat ornaments. Right now it's the finish above!

I believe this is it. It's Saturday, so it's back to old WIP stitching. As mentioned

before, I plan on 19 new starts/WIPS for Maynia this year. Ten new starts

and 9 WIPs. Christmas Garden will be amongst those plus a few others that

are close to a finish. 

The weather has been flirting with the low 70s which I'm happy about.

Oh, I had to leave that 2nd job I had for health reasons. I have bad knees

and sciatica which after my work accident, is so much worse than

it was. It's been a relief to let it go. That also means more stitching time! Yay!

Take care everyone. Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you in April!

Happy Spring!

Hi all! I thought I would get in one last post for March. Spring has definitely sprung here. My header photo is my back yard which is covered in those little purple flowers. It's really pretty.

This post may run into Part 2, so let's get a move on.

First up are my old WIP progress: Winter at Beacon House..

I filled in the sand/snow between the brown dog and the boy with the light blue hat 

and installed 1 over 1 bird at the lower left tree. 

Promise Me by LK, before:

After:

Pretty good progress I would say

Next is Christmas Garden by BBD:

No before picture because all I stitched was the beginnings of the red flowers at the left.

I have 2 finishes. First is Do You See What I See by Shelly Auen:

I love it! I believe I started this for last year's Maynia.

Next one is Snow Day by Sisters & Best Friends:

On a piece of Babbling Brook jobelan, I believe. I saw this stitched up at another blog called 

Black flies and Snow flies and commented on how cute he was. The blogger Lisa

offered to send me the pattern! So I took up her offer and here he is. I searched for this pattern

which is a freebie but I still could not find it. If anyone would like to stitch him, let me know, I'll send

this freebie to you. Go check out Lisa's blog. Thanks again, Lisa!

Ok, 1 more picture before Blogger goes nuts! On Stitch Maynia there's a SAL I'm

taking part in, new starts in 2019 on the 19th of each month. Here's 

my new start-Night Moves Trumpeter Swans..

I have the lower swan going in. The swans themselves are 5 different DMC greys

plus white! That is several hours of stitching! Whew. Swans will be a WIP for Maynia 

because I'm joining this year again!

Onto Part 2. Over there are FFOs and exchange goodies. See you there!

Procrastination rears its ugly head!

Well, I pulled it out! Barely! I know the rules aren't set in stone but still...! Here are my starts for the last 6 days, counting from the last to #10

I thought I had a picture of the chart but I didn't. This is 30ct WDW Gold linen, using WDW threads. How shameful, lol!

O.K, here's my 14th start

This is the beginnings of the pattern at the bottom, the pillow. Using 32ct Queen Anne's Lace jobelan with a mix of CC threads, DMC and some beads. That's a pretty fabric; wish I could find it in linen.

The 13th start is a re-visit to my favorite WIP-Winter at Beacon House or WaBH, from the Jan/Feb '10 issue of JCS. I stopped stitching on this in August to start my holiday stitching. Here's what it looked like then, here's what I stitched Saturday and was having fun, I might add.

I'm hoping to have this finished by the end of the year. Just being realistic!

The 12th start

This is Stars and Angels and I don't have a pic! Sorry! It is stitched on 30ct Parchment by WDW with just two WDW threads.

11th start

Christmas Magic, on 32ct white linen using DMC threads, Mill Hill beads. Still no pic! I'm almost to the finish line! Here's #10

Meet Tweet stitched on ?ct Days Gone By linen with a mix of GAST, WDW, and Kreinik braid. I stitched up one like this, different year from a JCS ornament magazine and same designer, and it was enjoyable so going to make this my focus point for this week. Another Yahoo group stitcher mentioned she was going to spend a week on one of her new starts and then move to another start the next week and I think that's an excellent idea!

Whew, my computer is really acting up. I have a blank square smack in the middle of the screen so I will apologize first-hand for any punctuation, spelling and whatever else mistakes are in this post!:))

I now have 17 WIP's (2 are ones that I already had) and will spend tomorrow and the following days on Tweet. But for now I'm going to read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while listening to Kill Bill 1 on the t.v. I know, a bloody, bloody movie but it's entertaining!

Have a super week! And a big WELCOME to the new followers!

Holding my Breath and some finishing

You're probably wondering what the title of this post means, right? Two weeks ago my 16 yr. old daughter got her drivers license and I feel like I hold my breath everytime she takes the car somewhere. I listen for sirens, and generally feel fidgety until she pulls into the driveway. Not to mention the hike in my car insurance rate-Wow!

How're you all doing?

Sunday, as stated before, was the last day to stitch on WaBH. I stitched religiously on this thing for the past 5 days. I still have the 1 over birds to do down by the trees, and have smyrnas to do in the air near the left side of the house and around the birdhouse. I like the whimsical alphabet going on. The sand and snow are a little tedious!

I apologize for the fuzziness of the pic (for some reason I just can't take a decent picture of this project!!). There's also another smaller house next to the bigger one and another 1 over bird on the birdhouse. I can't wait to get back to this after I've stitched all the Halloween and Christmas designs I have planned.

Months ago, I was working on a Fall table runner with leaves on it. Well, in a fit of finishing this past Sunday, I finally finished it!

All it needed was for the ribbon to be sewed on at the ends and the blanketstitching. I also finished a few stitched items:

The little framed stitching is Faith by Shakespeares' Peddler. It fit perfectly in this little frame from my stash. There is no glass on it. On the left is Letters and Leaves (or vice versa) from La D Da, a freebie. (I wish my stuffing skills were better!). The bottom and back fabric is a homespun cotton, and I used the white ruffley ribbon, a skinny burgundy ribbon, and the faux mother-of-pearl button to finish it off.

I've begun stitching on my Halloweeny things. Here's my start from 'My Pretties' by PSS:

Nothing much here! The rest of the raven and lettering need to be stitched and then I'll be on to the next thing. I believe I have the necessary silks for one of the other designs from that chart. The model of this was made into (from what I can make out on the picture) a flat-fold or a flat ornament. I have a simple stitching of a Mission on 14ct Aida and I'm going to use that to attempt my first flat-fold as soon as I find a perfect fabric for it. I've been studying some tutorials on different blogs so wish me luck!

I'm jumping the gun with my latest woolfelt creation, this Christmas tree skirt

I need to cut out a hole in the middle and a cut thru to the edge. Cream-colored stars with large red beads and perle cotton will be glued onto the red portion and then blanketstitched with cream perle cotton. Then both red and cream edges will be blanketstitched. Now, I followed the directions for the large skirt but this will not fit a large tree! It will for a mini tree. Which is ok because last Christmas we put up a mini tree instead of a big one. Stay tuned because I've been going thru all my prim craft magazines for projects that I have woolfelt for. Can you tell I have a hankering for Fall?!

All these projects I want to do will hinge on whether I take the 3 credit online class I'm interested in. It's Microsoft Office 2010 and like other online classes I've taken, I may have a lot of work to do. I have 3 weeks to register. We'll see.

Take care, thanks for the comments and to my 16 followers, thanks for following! I'll leave you with a pic of our 4 cats enjoying the shade before the sun moves and comes to the front!

A Casey Anthony sighting and more

Long time no blog! But being MIA means I have lots of show and tell!

Yes, according to local info (or gossip!!:)), Casey Anthony was said to have landed at our small airport overnight Monday. The husband of a co-worker works at the airport and said he re-fueled the small airplane she was on. He SAYS it was an F.B.I. plane. How he knew this the co-worker didn't say. The newest stuff being said is that she is looking to buy a place in Prescott, which is 9 miles west of where I live. Latest news reports has her broke. She may have to move to Borneo if she wants an anonymous life! Instead of Where's Waldo, it'll be Where's Casey!

Okay, onto stitchy stuff. I've been stitching on WaBH and here's what I've got:

I'm loving the big red house. I've since added more onto it. I had finally received the thread needed for the house, birdhouse, and the alphabet. It was a lot brighter than the skeins I already had. It's a good thing I separated the older stuff for the border. I'm going to stop stitching on WaBH the end of this month because I want to start some Halloween designs. The designs are 'My Pretties' by PSS, some Halloween freebies, and designs from The Stitcherhood:

I just love Halloween!

I also bought some stash:

That's the JCS Jul/Aug Ornament Preview, CC fibers for another project, and those silly, cute Pirate frogs from Stitchy Kitty called Toadally Arrrgh! After I've stitched all that, I'm starting Christmas! I'll tell ya, Halloween and Christmas has already arrived at the Hobby Lobby! It's crazy! Can we please get through the hot summer first?! Speaking of hot, I sure feel for everyone living back East who are dealing with those high temps and outrageous humidity. One word: water.

Right at the 4th of July our Monsoon season finally arrived with lots of thunder and lightning, and rain. This is what our skies looked like for a week or two:

See that rainbow in the top photo? These storms arrive fast and dump a lot of rain or not, and then leave as quick. We're not used to the humidity and it's been humid for sure.

Back in April, I had a package of wildflower seeds and planted them in an area under our living room window. I had no idea what kinds they were. Lo and behold, we now know!

Wild sunflowers! They stand about 6 ft. high. They're very pretty and growing like gangbusters since all the rain arrived! At the end of this weekend, we're due for more rain because of a storm off the coast of Western Mexico. It's movement will send moisture up through Baja California and into Southern Cal. and Arizona.

Bring it on!! Arrrggh!!

New stash, WaBH update, and frustrations

Yes, I know the new stash should've done away with the frustrations. Blogger frustrations, that is. I haven't been able to comment on anyone's blogs for a whole week. And I'm not even sure I can get my pics onto my blog. So here goes:

I received my thread that I needed and I bought an extra chart because I've been such a good girl. Have a look:

Yay, it worked! Anyway, I'm finishing the one WIP I have that needed one of the new threads. Stay tuned for pics! As for the PSS design, I had to have it! I bought it at Stitching Bits and Bobs Friday morn, shipped Friday afternoon, received Monday morn! I love them! I get so giddy when I'm able to buy stash:))

I finished my Antique Locks and Keys design from Shakespeare's Peddler. I had a lot of fun with this. Since I got through stitching each key and lock with no problems (although Frog came a-calling for 5 or 6 stitches), I feel I can stitch Rosewood Manor's newest 'Keys to the Kingdom'. It has dozens more keys than this one I just finished.

After finishing 'Keys' above, I went back to WaBH and stitched quite a bit:

Sorry for the blurryness. My recent purchase of GAST thread should've included Cherry Wine. I totally forgot! I could have stitched up the building, the alphabet at the bottom, and the bird house at the fence. Ah well, just gives me the excuse to buy more stash!!

It has finally warmed up around here but it's still below what it's supposed to be. I still find myself pulling a blanket over me in the early hours. Usually the second week of June is hot, in the high 80's. I see areas of the South are hotter than Phoenix! Crazy! Take a look at my cactus flowers. There are more that are ready to bloom:

This Fall, for sure, I'm making Prickly Pear jelly. It's good stuff!

That's it for now. I'm hoping the Blogger problems will be fixed so I can comment on blogs. Obviously, I was able to post pics. Hope the weather is fine where you're at. We have a couple of raging wildfires burning east and southeast of here. Sunday we could smell and see smoke, and see the slurry bombers passing over us. But it's been quiet lately, firefighters must be getting the upperhand. Hope so! Take Care!

Spending time on sand and snow

Good Afternoon all!

Thought I'd update my progress on WaBH:

I might have straightened this out before taking the picture! At the bottom left, you can see the alphabet starting. As the title of this post states, I've been stitching mostly the sand and snow-with more to come! Right now my budget won't allow me to buy more GAST Cherry Wine thread which is what the alphabet and most of the house is stitched in. I have some but that is reserved for the border. Those little areas near the tree at the corner are one-over birds which I think I will tackle just to fill up that whole side. I'm enjoying this design very much but I think I'll set it aside and get back to this witch:

Hope your weather is fine where you're at and spend it stitching!