Saturday, February 22, 2014

Stitch from Stash-February

Hi all! Hope this finds you enjoying warmer weather maybe?

Time for SFS14!

I am proud to say that I did not spend a cent this month! But we were given a Splurge weekend, which at first I resisted but on the last day, I put in an order for these! I was below the $100 for the splurge.



Hopefully, when you click on them, they'll show up nicely. Yes, the two are HAEDs! In my defense, they were on sale! Ha! I'm attracted to the artwork of James C. Christensen, they're so whimsical and I love the fish. The design in the middle is 525 x 700! I did not notice that when ordering. The one on the left is 400 x 201. So with the way things are going with my stitching, look for ONE of those HAEDs to be started next year. I also bought one of my temptations from last month, the LHN The Journey. Looking forward to stitching that one soon.

I had no new starts from my stash this past month but I did work on my Halloween ornament, Snow Day (soon to be finished), Hornbook Angel, School Days, and Blackwater Hollow Sampler. On WIPs I worked on: In The Meadow, Home (almost finished), and Fancey Blackett. Here's where I got to on School Days



By La D Da. I'm using a different fabric than what is called for, Goldfinch by R&R. I bought American Chestnut to use. It's identical to the model on the picture. All the words are to be stitched with GAST Tarnished Gold. I nearly subbed that with a darker gold color because I thought the words were going to disappear in the fabric. Not so it looks like. This is nice medium size and I feel I'll be done with it soon.

The Temptation this month is this, borrowed from the 123Stitch site



PS Mini Card Collection E (Black Crow). Fall-ish designs, my favorite would be that first one at the top at left. The pigs on the bottom, naaah! The pig commercials for Geico drive me bonkers. The latest one with the boots n pants, boots n pants, ugh! I haven't really taken a good look at Market things so I'll do that soon. The Attic down in Mesa has a great Market set up. Last time I went, I had a hard time restraining myself. I did end up spending almost $200 and that's without Market goodies! I do recall picking up a LK limited kit though.

I almost came close to joining the Chatelaine stitching challenge. There's still time, I believe the cut-off time is in April. But I talked myself out of it! I did print some small freebies from the Chatelaine site and will give one a trial run sometime. At any rate, they are just beautiful and intimidating all at the same time!

Enjoying the Olympics? I'm a hockey fan so I've been watching that along with most of the skiing. And tomorrow night's episode of Downton Abbey is the end of this season, arrgh! I don't know what I'll do with my Sunday nights, probably stitch! I always put down what I'm stitching to watch it.

Well, that's all folks! My daughter and I are having a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie marathon and its about to start. Thanks for coming by and commenting. I enjoy reading them! And a huge WELCOME to new followers, glad you're here!


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Monday, February 10, 2014

Turtle Trot Feb. 2014, Horse of Another a Color, Ghostly Green Snowman

Hi all! It's TT time!

I worked on three of my WIPs, which is unusual for me. Here they are:

Home, A Diminutive Sampler. Before



And after



I'm so glad this picture is not really a closeup because my stitching is not all that great for some reason! One of my purchases with my SFS-exempt birthday money was more floss for Home because I ran out at this point. By this next time month, I should be doing a Happy Dance!

In the Meadow by CCN, Before



After



See the Ghostly Green Snowman, wooooooo. I'm seeing a reddish splotch in the middle area, must be my pink fuzzy socks since I have my snaps leaning on my crossed leg. Those leaves on the trees are probably the toughest things to stitch on this-there's soo many!

Fancey Blackett by Pineberry Lane, Before



After



I've added a few more leaves and one and a half of the levitating owls! I can't wait to start stitching Fancey and those freakishly large rats! Eww.

And Horse of Another Color! I'll explain!



Since the last time I stitched on Blackwater Hollow Sampler, I've added the legs to the horse, the vine, and flower. That horse is Supposed to be GAST Walnut but for some reason I've turned it into an Onyx horse! I don't know what happened. My best guess is that I was watching tv and stitching! So be it, I'm not going to frog the horse. It looks fine.

In summary, I'm looking at at least 3 Happy Dances by the time March rolls around. And what's up next? Posting for the SFS on the 22nd. I can proudly say that I haven't bought anything. I used some of my birthday money on some thread for some Spring and Easter stitching, and I bought another Q-Snap, all of which are exempt. I love being exempt. Now if I can find a way to be exempt from working!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Thanks Ladies for your comments. I enjoy reading them. Take care to those of you dealing with more snow and cold. We had a scare last Friday of 1 to 3 inches of snow, which never materialized! Then 2 days later it hit 61 degrees! Weird weather we're having. But I worry about our fire season which may start sooner than later. We're at the mercy of Mother Nature, aren't we? See everyone on the 22nd!


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Thursday, January 30, 2014

TUSAL January #2

I was a stitching dynamo this month-behold!!!




Believe me, this is a lot for me. I received some birthday stitching money yesterday (yes, I celebrated my half-a-century b-day, yikes!) so I'm off to spend it! Best thing is that it's exempt from the SFS budget!

Be back on the 10th for Turtle Trot. Take care and welcome to my new followers!



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Saturday, January 25, 2014

SFS2014 check in, and more

Time for my SFS check-in! This is exciting!

I spent $15.19 on thread for one of my new starts. My new starts from stash are all those in my personal 10 day start from the 1st. But here are 3 that I spent a little more time on



This is a tiny design. I'm stitching it on 36ct but the model is on 40ct! I'm using 1 strand of Gloriana silk, love the feel of it but it sure hangs up on my dry hands!



Blackwater Hollow Sampler. When I first started this, I wasn't too sure of 1 over 2, but now really like it.



LK Song of the Season, I think it's called! Not bad at all. I'm surprised its going to fit on this fabric that came with it because all the finishes I've seen on other blogs, it looks so big! That's probably why I never started it last year when I bought it.

And any WIPs or UFOs I worked on-I finished one!


Winters Nap by Erica Michaels. Turns out I had enough Juniper color floss for all the trees. There were more snowflakes up around the top trees but I settled on the few. 'Nap' is also a Turtle Trot WIP.

I also finished a new start-Housework Never Killed by LK



Love it! I'm going to frame this but it would look nice as a pillow too.

I thought I'd put up one or two Temptations during my SFS posts. Here are two



Borrowed from 123Stitch, this is from Long Dog Samplers called Rain Dance. I see at least one blogger stitching this. It's a BAP but I love it! And the other Temptation is this nice LHN Tumbleweeds design also borrowed from 123Stitch! It speaks to my Southwestern USA roots as does the one above



Those have been my WhydidijointheSFS?!!! Shakespeare's Peddler was or is having a sale on her Etsy site. I'm not sure if it was a one day sale or not. And of course, 123Stitch! This will be hard. I realize that what I didn't spend this month can be added to February but I just have so much stash that the two designs above would just get shoved to the back like everything else! Shamefacedly, I'm amazed that I have fabric and and thread for almost everything I have. I can substitute something I don't have with DMC. It's humbling for sure. Thanks Mel, for putting this together. This is almost the 12 Step program that some of us have been looking for!

There's a Harry Potter marathon on tv today, so that's what I'm watching as I stitch up my second ornament for the month, a Halloween design.

Hoping that second vortex is easing up for some of you back East! I went into work one morning at 5:55 am Arizona time in December last year and it was 11 degrees. Cold enough but to deal with below zero is hard to fathom. I think I'll stay in Arizona for the time being!

Take care everyone! Thanks for the comments and stopping by!



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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Starts 8 and 9

Hello. I've had questions about the School Days stitching. Here's info about it: it's found in the October 2003 issue of Just Cross Stitch. Sorry Carol, I forgot to tell you which month! So there you have it.



I received the fabric I had been waiting for and cut it up for my 8th and 9th starts



I'm stitching this on 36ct. It looked like a quick stitch-Not! Lol. And 9-



I have just added more WIPs to my 10! Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming! Last night I put in a good amount of stitches in the LK Housework Never Killed until 11 pm. Likely, it'll be my first finish of my new starts.

Have a nice Sunday evening!


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Saturday, January 11, 2014

Turtle Trot January '14

I worked on two WIPs since the beginning of the year..



Fancey Blackett before..



Fancey Blackett as of last night. A few more acorns added. I really need to finish this one this year!

And Long Winters Nap, I think it's called! Before..



And after..



I'm running out of the color for the trees, as there are 2 more above and another at the bottom. I'll probably use different greens for them, variety is the spice of life, right?!

Here's my 7th start-


This one is going to be fun to stitch and there's not a whole lot to it, really. The house will take some time. Still waiting on my other fabric. Haven't checked mail yet, it might be there.

And last, but not least, my first ornament



This is Happy Holidays by Country Cottage Needleworks, found in the JCS 2012 Ornament magazine. My plan is to stitch the ornaments I've marked in each issue. In this issue, there are 3, maybe 4, that I'll stitch. Next month, I think I'll stitch Halloween!

Carol, School Days is by La D Da and it's found in the 2003 JCS magazine.

Thanks for stopping in! I'm reading your comments and Barb, I agree, Grandma was right from the beginning! Jan, the wait between seasons are hellish! Leslie, get to downloading! You'll love it! Carol, good time to stay in and stitch. I'm on my way out to take care of stuff in 60 degree weather, sunshine, oops, did I say that?!

Take care!



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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Catching up

Good Evening!

We lost our Internet and home phone last Saturday and after a visit from the serviceman and a repair, I'm back online! Let me tell you, that was a rough 5 and a half days without Internet! Oh I've got a smart phone but its not the same. Couple nights found me at McD's using their Wi-Fi out in the parking lot! Yeah, hardcore!

Back to my 10 days of starts, here's 5....



Just a nice straight line right now! This is School Days. It calls for 1 over 2 and I'm liking it.

And 6..




I'll be getting caught up with the rest of my starts, 4 more, when I receive some long-awaited fabric that I ordered last year. I have received my order of threads that I needed for my next start. For now, though, I'm going to get caught up with everyone's blogs!!

I see a bunch of you are Downton fans. What did you think of the first episode? I think it's off to a great start!

Thanks ladies, for stopping by! Stay warm!


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