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Morning all!

As they say..better late than never! I'm continually amazed at how fast time is going and not posting here:) I have a different job now Monday through Friday 8:30 to about 4:00 and I'm just exhausted in the evenings. I haven't touched my stitching for 4 or 5 days until I decided to stitch a new start last night:

Here's my progress for 2 hours (I finally hit the sack at 11 p.m.):

The thread is Belle Soie Plush Plum and the fabric looks to be 36ct something or other. I bought this as a kit from Shakespeare's Peddler and I'm thinking Theresa sent me the called-for fabric-36ct Fresco by PTP. Whatever it is, it's beautiful. By the picture you can see it has some plummy or burgundy-colored undertones. Perfect with the Plush Plum silk. The model is finished as a shelf pillow with crushed walnut on the bottom and stuffed on top; I may do the same. I'm finding out though, that 36ct is probably going to be the highest count I can possibly stitch on. 40ct might be a little too tight for my lousy eyesight! I'm enjoying this and stitching with silk, for me, is always fun. I need to do more of it! Right now, my stash enhancement plans only include a couple of threads to start and finish a couple of projects. The near-finish needs a skein of GAST and I'll be turning that into a long upright pillow. I have the fabric and embellishments for it already. The new start I need a skein of GAST for is this: Guess what? Blogger is not letting me post the picture! There sure has been a lot of  problems with Blogger lately. The planned project is Witchy Brew by Witchy Stitches. A small stitch-up and cute as heck! It says 'If I don't get my witchy brew I just might put a hex on you..

Anyway, last post I planned on stitching Winifred Witch (let's see if Blogger will post the pic): Nope, it's not letting me! Sheesh! I posted a picture of the witch over on the Spooky Stitcher's SAL:
http://spookystitcherssal.blogspot.com/

I made progress on the witch until I got to the 1 over areas and proceeded to have problems, which is why I started the SP design. I watched the DVD 'No Reservations' with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart while starting it. A chick-flick and very nice! About a chef (Jones) who runs the kitchen of a high-scale restaurant who suffers a loss. During time off, the restaurant hires a new chef (Eckhart). The new chef worms his way into Jones heart and her niece who survived the car crash. Just a nice little movie. I would post a pic but I may not be able to!

Well that's it in a nutshell! Hope the weather is fine where you're at. Those people in those tornado-plagued areas sure could use our thoughts and prayers right now:) I've only experienced an earthquake and a somewhat minor one at that. Here in Arizona, our weather is kind of predictable!

Have a great 4-day week!

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!

Happy Mother's Day!

Afternoon all!

My, how time flies. It's hard to believe the 28th of April was my last blog. I've been spending most of my time, outside of work, stitching on WaBH (Winter at Beacon House). Here's what it looked like before:

And what it looks like now:

I'm enjoying the Algerian eyelet trees with one under production. I believe there are 3 more on the other side. I normally avoid specialty stitches but these are going well and looking nice. The hardest part of stitching this design is all the sand and snow. I'm looking forward to stitching the alphabet and all the animals and the people on the beach.

School is almost over! Yay! I've finished one class already and have a test to do today for the other one. Sadly, I dropped Algebra some weeks ago. I was stressing over it and felt I had to drop it to save my sanity! Because my degree in X-ray tech depends on 3 Algebra classes-beginning, intermediate, and college-I may be looking at a change in what I want to do. I definitely want to stay in the medical field. So I'll start looking into Phlebotomy. It was my dream to become an X-ray tech but the college I attend chooses only 10 students per Fall to attend the Radiology tech classes, which would mean 3 more years of school, and its a requirement to take classes semester after semester. Not to mention there are dozens upon dozens of students enrolled in the Radiology tech program. I will be looking into vocational schools that offer Radiology tech degrees without Algebra. They're mostly down in the Phoenix area though.

Well, this was a short post. I'm going to get back to WaBH now. Enjoy this day all you Moms out there!
Spend it stitching!

Morning all!

First of all-Giveaway at Edgar's! Head on over to http://blacksheepsite.blogspot.com/2011/04/four-years-and-counting-blogoversary-is.html. It's his 4th Blogoversary and he has something special planned for his giveaway! His postings are always fun to read. If you haven't read his blog, now's the time to do it.

Onto other news:

Alphabet Rhyme by Little House Needleworks is finished!



Alphabet Rhyme-LHN
28ct mystery linen
called for CC thread

This last pic is an experiment to get those close-up shots like I see other bloggers have. I'm not sure how they do it but I'll keep trying! I'm breathing a sigh of relief because I ran out of CC's Hickory Sticks for the 'with m' at the bottom, so I used GAST Dark Chocolate instead and I must say, it's hard to see a difference! FYI: an extra skein of CC Hickory Sticks may be required! Anyway, it's a fun stitch, and didn't take long. I have one other LHN pattern in my possession and as soon as I can, will start it too.

I am now going to give my full attention to Winter at Beacon House and here is my progress as of now:

That's a lot of border! See the red border at the top right? Well, it goes much further than that! It'll be long, for sure. I am dealing with all that extra fabric as I stitch, just flipping it back and forth! I'm going to start filling in the sand and snow below that black fence left center because I'm weary of border stitching. At this rate I'll be done with this around February or March of 2012! But that'll be fine because then I can use some of my tax return to pay for the framing!

As for the WIP front: nada, nope, no way! Nothing going on there. My witch on the broom (see the WIP label) will get done in time for Halloween though. I try to make enough stuff to hit some of the craft fairs in this area in the Fall and before Christmas. I have finished 7 WIP's, so I feel I have enough leeway to start new stuff.

My vertigo has gone down some. I still have to sit up in bed very slowly but not like it was last time. I haven't had to use the Valium for it. I just take my time and try not to move too fast.

Spring has finally sprung around here. Yesterday morning it was still near freezing but it warmed up nicely. If only these crazy winds would die down some..although come June and July, I'll be wishing for them to come back. It'll get hot then, around the 90's and higher.

Thanks for your comments! I get so giddy with happiness when someone leaves a comment! I know, get a life! Being that it's Thursday, I'm wishing everyone an early happy weekend. I will be one of the crazies waking up in the early a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding and then onto work at 8 a.m. Saturday! I better turn on that coffee machine as soon as I get in there.

Spend it stitching!

As the World Turns

And turn it did! My vertigo got worse Friday, prompting a trip to the ER Saturday morning. CAT scan, EKG all came up normal. The EKG because I was freaking out over the bad vertigo event and I felt like my heart was racing, the CAT scan because although I've had vertigo before, this episode felt worse with no break in the severe dizziness. I was prescribed Valium, and it's made me feel better. I haven't tried to drive yet, but I have to go to work tomorrow. Don't worry-I haven't had Valium since Saturday night.

Needless to say I didn't stitch at all since Thursday. Today, I tackled a few of my finished stitching. Take a look:

All Hallow's Eve turned into a pillow. The backing is a nice homespun cotton with colors that match those of the front. The pincushion is a Sharon Crescent/Diane Williams for Crescent Colours collaboration freebie, whew! I used the called for WDW French Vanilla linen and CC thread, sewed 4 buttons on the left and stuffed it with the lizard sand. The linen was perfect because it had splotches on it, giving it a prim look. 

And in keeping with my unfocused stitching, here's what I started last week before I got sick:

I feel like I don't get anything done stitching this way. The ABC's will probably be laid aside as I pick up on Winter at Beacon Hill. After that, who knows?! If only there were 28 hours in a day!

That's it folks! Hope the week is great for you and spend it stitching!

Giveaway! Check It Out!

Just wanted to let you all know of a giveaway at Cross Stitch and Cupcakes: http://crossstitchandcupcakes.blogspot.com/. Five different giveaway's, something for everyone! Her 3rd Blogoversary!

Dive right in, the water's fine!

Good afternoon!

After a few weeks of walking past this project and wondering when I'll start it, I finally took the plunge and here is where I'm at:

It's funny because I fell in love with this design when I first saw it on someone's blog as one of their Crazy January Challenge 2011 starts. I waited about a month for the fabric and during that time, I waited 2 or 3 weeks for all the threads. I just couldn't wait to start it. I think I hesitated because it'll be so long and I haven't stitched anything so huge in quite a while. I'm having fun with it. It's a large piece of fabric, though. I stitch in-hand so I'm having issues handling this. I haven't used scroll bars in years but am thinking it may come in handy. But it has to be a large one, as this design measures 8 1/2"x19". For now I've rolled up the extra fabric on the right and held in place with plastic coated paper clips! Also, that red border is GAST Cherry Wine. It calls for 2 skeins and I have about 1 and 3/4 skeins, and HORRORS!, the two skeins have a noticeable difference in their color. All because I wanted to save some $$$! What I've done is taken the two skeins apart and re-aligned threads, one strand from one skein and one strand from the other. I will use these two skeins on the border while holding my breath! The red house and the bird house also uses Cherry Wine but I'll buy another skein for those.

I just finished up another WIP, the 7th one. The Up for the Challenge 2011 is one of the good things I've found. Before I stumbled upon that site, finishing up my WIPs was one of my '11 resolutions anyway. But I'm glad I found the site and joined. This freebie is by BBD. It turned out really nice and is bigger than the usual small freebies. I'll be framing this and keeping it.

Friday night my daughter and I drove to Phoenix to see the Phoenix Coyotes (NHL hockey) versus San Jose Sharks for a playoff home arena start. My daughter is the rabid hockey fan and I kinda just fell in line! It was great! For one, it had been a year since we've been in Phoenix. And the weather was cool, always a big draw in Phoenix! We did run into rush-hour jams but made it to the rink in time. We had a great time. The drive home was at 11 p.m. and thru a few sprinkles. At midnight, when we got home, it began to rain. Here is what I had to drive in the next morning to work:

However, today, it's all melted. Welcome to Arizona weather, as soon as that sun comes out there goes the snow. But that's o.k. because here's the results:

This Prickly Pear cactus always sprouts about 20 or more fruits in the Fall. And every year I 'say' I'm going to make Prickly Pear jam with them. But those darn skunks or javelina take them all. So this year I'm going to fool them and cover my cactus with chicken wire. Those little purple/blue flowers really take over the side of the house. They spread, and come back every year. I'm not sure what they're called though. I'm ready for some spring weather though, and the weatherman says it'll dry out and gradually warm up. Hooray!

Well that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! I will be stitching more on my big project and will post pics after I get that border done and start on the sand/snow near the black fence.

Thanks for dropping in! Have a wonderful week and spend it stitching! (wishful thinking)