Contest winner and a new start

Hi all! 

What did I learn having this little contest? Blue is a favorite color of most of you. Tiffany, I enjoyed your explanation of how you picked your favorite motif! My favorite color is blue but my favorite motif was the very light colored one below the YZ. Yes, my favorite but not while I was stitching it! It has a lacey quality to it. So that means Kay and Raven picked the right one! After drawing names between those two, RAVEN IS THE WINNER! The prize is a gift certificate to 123 stitch. I don't know how much but I'll decide tomorrow after work. So Raven, I will contact you through your profile and ask for an email of where to send the gift certificate. Congrats! This was fun. I enjoyed reading all your picks.

A couple people picked the big middle motif at the top. That one was the toughest to stitch and also because that yellow silk was never to be found amongst the silks that came with the pattern. That was one of the problems. So I ended up using that lighter color in it. 

Last week after thinking my stitching bug needed a boost, I started something new..

I love this design and have already read the first novel and need to start on the 2nd. The fabric is 32ct Legacy by PTP and using DMCs and CC floss. Here is what I have so far..

For the sawtooth border I used DMC because I don't have CC Blue Jeans and I'm not crazy about it, it's so dark. If you look at the chart, the sawtooth is lighter blue. I'm leaving the DMC in at the sawtooth but the rest of the areas that use Blue Jeans will be stitched with WDW Union Blue which is almost like Blue Jeans. So I'm using half CC and DMC on this. I am now at the covered wagon there at the left and taking a break from the cream color and now working on the wagon itself. On 32ct the design is 11 1/4" square, so it's a big one. I'm enjoying it though.

Paula, I noticed you wanted to find some exchanges. Here's one on Facebook that I belong to:

Dixiesamplar's Exchange group. She used to hold them on her blog but now she just announces her fabric sales on it and mostly works from Facebook. So if you do FB, go check it out.

Raven, I noticed you remarked on one of my earlier posts about the snow I showed coming down. You said you may be moving here to Arizona but your boyfriend/hubby? doesn't want to be cold. Well, to the west of me and south are desert and every now and then we get to see Saguaro cactus with snow on them which makes for a very pretty picture. So Phoenix, Tucson, and points in between are your best bets for no snow and better jobs! Where I live though, we may have snow but by the afternoon it's gone or it's melting. The temp can get down to 0 here in the winter but not often. 

Okay, I believe I'm done! Short but sweet. Oh yeah, I won a Brenda Gervais chart from a Flosstuber named Lisa aka Kindred Stitcher. She's from the Northwest and stitches stuff that I like. The chart is Heap on The Wood, I believe, and man is it pretty! I have looked at that chart online before but seeing it stitched up, wow. I should have it my hands before this week is out. Can't wait. I love Flosstube, haha! 

Thanks for stopping by everyone, and leaving comments. Welcome to any new followers also. The more the merrier, I say! Take care and have a wonderful week:)

Also my header pic is of a trip my daughter and I took north to eat at Chik fil A and drove back down through Oak Creek and Sedona. Always a nice trip through those areas:)

Another finish, and the winner is....

CJ! She wins the LizzieKate chart Coming to Town~Santa '11. CJ, I had your mailing address but not anymore. So email me at _______to leave your mailing address! Thanks to the 3 other contestants who played along.

Another big finish, folks, at least for me. I started Vintage Stars in 2013 sometime. I had to go back and track it down. So here she is...

This is by Jeannette Douglas Designs. This is my problem child and I have detailed the problems I've had with the silks and their names/colors so I won't bore you all again. Stitched on 35ct Liberty Gathering Gray by R & R. It's not splotched at all but sprinkling water on it to iron it resulted in it looking this way. I love it! This puts me at 17 finishes for the year. Here is a picture of the chart against my finish. You'll notice the yellow color in the big top motif..

I took my requisite day off from stitching after Stars and started back on this...

This is not my picture. I took this from the internet but this is what my pattern looks like. It's by Jura Point de Croix. I don't know a lick of French! She has a blog by the same name but it's all in French. I'm stitching mine on a lambswool-looking fabric. I just have half of the skinny snowman right now. Here is something else she has designed and those houses are adorable..

Carol, I could swear you stitched up some Christmas ornaments from this designer sometime back. I may be wrong. So I wanted to download some freebie patterns from her but my iPad wasn't having it.

I also got some good news from Stitching Noni that my package to her for Christmas in July made it! Sixteen days to Australia it took. She'll be blogging about that pretty soon so be sure to check her out at Fireflies and Cats in the Garden.

Here's another look at Vintage Stars..

Which brings me up to a little contest....who can guess which of all the medallions/motifs on this design is my favorite? I've never mentioned a favorite. So take a look at the better picture and this ^. Just leave your guess in the comments. If two or more people guess the same, I'll draw a name a week from this Saturday and send something. It'll be a surprise! Open to anyone. Sounds like fun!

Well, I've got to get ready for work. I wanted to comment on comments left in the last two posts but have run out of time. So in the next time I'm here with the winner of the contest, I'll do that. 

I better get. Take care everyone!

The Big Reveal and stories

Howdy everyone! Hope the summer has been easy on you all. I've noticed some areas of the U.S. have had flooding and crazy heat. The fire had been put out 4 days after my last post. Everyone was allowed to go home. Here in Arizona, our monsoons have arrived and today it will be 82 degrees. Whew. It rained for a week and a half straight. It heats up and the storms come in in the afternoon. Like I've said before, I don't like humidity but it comes with the territory. The picture on my header is a lake not far from me. You can see the level has gone down. But look at that color! It does turn that color here after a storm. It's very neat.

Let's get to the real reason I'm here, among other reasons. I joined the Christmas in July Exchange hosted by Kaye at Kitten Stitching. The person to send to me is Nadine or Jocondine as her blog is known. Her package arrived the 2nd week of July from France..

I love the stamps!

We had to wait until today, the 25th, to open our packages and here's what I have in mine..

!!!!!!! Clockwise from top left-the package of sweets, the Christmas card, the handmade ornament (love it, by Cuore et Batticuore, an Italian designer), the ornament with monceau sapin which I think means tree hill or mound, and the wonderful Christmas fabric. Here's what is inside the card..

Isn't that cute? Each little 'door' opens to little stickers or a nice little saying, or with a charm like the one at the bottom right. And of course, I had to open the package of sweets...

I have since had one of the little marshmallow-like candy and it's very tasty! Saving the big peanut cluster candy and cane for later.

Nadine, a huge Thank You for this wonderful Christmas gift! I love it all! Thank You also to Kaye for putting this exchange on. It's a lot of fun!

As for my package to Noni aka Stitching Noni, I sent it off on the 13th of July to Australia and I'm hoping it has arrived in time. Seems that 12 days would be enough time? We'll find out. Next time I mail to Australia, I'll have a better knowledge of how long it takes.

Since I'm here, I might as well show a finish I had, the LizzieKate design..

Wow, how blurry. Cute, cute. I used a sparkly braid for his eyebrows and the buttons that came with the chart. I used a linen called Strawflower and I really like it because there are very faint red and green colors in it in real life. Since I'm finished, the chart of this is up for grabs! No embellishments though. The usual rules of which there are hardly any: just comment you would like to have it and I'll draw names on August 2nd, Arizona time. I can mail overseas, follower or not. 

So I lost the stitchy bug for a good week. I just wasn't feeling it. I did however get caught up on some reading. I looked at all my WIPs but nothing screamed at me, until I up and jumped onboard another exchange! This one is the Haunted Harvest Exchange hosted by the Dixiesamplar/Terri on FB. I have my recipients name and info already. While waiting for the info, I started this Notforgotten Farm piece called Death and Judgement..

Everything is looking so blurry. This may or may not be the exchange piece for my person. It's big. I'm going to give it a tea bath and finish it just like the model, a tombstone. I'm thankful my person likes Halloween! We have until the last week of September to mail to our person.

So needless to say, the stitch bug is back!

I guess that's it! Thanks for stopping by. Here's to a great week for all! I'll leave you with a picture of Monument Valley up in northern Arizona while I go out and weedwhack the jungle outside!

Happy 4th! And the winner is..

MENDY ELLIOTT!! Mendy, you won the Sweetie Peetie Pumpkin. Thanks for playing. Here is an email to reach me: ________. Let me know your mailing details and I will get Peetie out to you. Thanks to everyone else for playing. It was a good turnout!

I hear the fireworks as I type, trying to keep my poor cats calm but it's not working. I am nervous about fireworks as it has been so hot and dry here. Two neighboring towns canceled their fireworks because of this:

I took this picture off my front porch. It looks like the fire is right behind those houses but it's really 14-16 miles south in the mountains. This was Tuesday of last week. It started 3 days before on Saturday. By Sunday you could see a plume of smoke. It was all white smoke, burning through chaparral and pine. Those dark smoke section means it burnt some cabins and outbuildings. After this picture, the wind turned and for the first time since the fire started, the smoke poured in to town. I began to get worried. Otherwise, it had been blowing to the east.

An aerial shot from a news chopper. At this point, it grew to 20,000 acres. And got within 5 or 6 miles from my town! A whole slew of evacuations for 5 or 6 small towns down the highway with us being a maybe. People with horses had to write names and numbers on their hooves or backs and set them loose. I started packing important papers and wondering how my cats were going to handle being tossed into my car! I was a nervous-wreck. I went to work expecting to get alerts that we were to pre-evacuate.

On Sunday the slurry tankers began to fly along with the helicopters that scoop up water to pour on the fire. By Friday there were 1,120 firefighters fighting this and they began having success. As of this morning, 28,740 acres, I believe, had been burnt and it is 95% contained. Whew. The evacuations began lifting and people were being slowly let go to go back to their homes. They haven't said how many structures had been destroyed. There is a couple crews doing mop ups and watching some small fires still going. There is still a little bit of smoke in the air. Boy, was that scary. Every June this happens here, fires springing up. Not helping was all the rain we got from January to April and everything just grew. It's been 10 or 11 years since a fire sprang up this close and I'm hoping we don't see another one for quite awhile.

Last weekend before all the above, I got the FFO bug. Here's the result:

The round ornament is The Bluebird of Happiness from a JCS ornament magazine. If you go back in my posts, you'll see which issue its from. Above is Why Yes..from Lizzie Kate and the Mardi Gras ornament I think is called duc d'Orleans but it's by Ink Circles. I wish I had cut the contours for that one instead of one big oval shape. But I'm quite happy with all three.

I started and finished this one. Cute as a Button by the Nebby Needle..

I will sew a button or two on the end and make it like the model with jumbo ric rac and buttons..

I picked up Coming to Town-Santa '11 by Lizzie Kate just a couple hours ago and am half way through it. It's failing miserably as a cool reminder: today was pretty warm. Cricket-bug, you are right, I don't have AC here so fans and ice water, and shorts, and windows open is what I have to do. I don't get a good nights sleep but I am now used to hearing the big box fan I have going in my room at night. We are just praying for rain and our monsoon is running a little late. Once they arrive, the fire ban throughout the forests get lifted and we get some relief. 

So that's it, ladies and gentlemen. It's been a hectic week and a half here what with the fire and a few other little crises. Here's hoping things settle down. Take care!

Oh I forgot that I framed this little cutie, Home, Diminutive by Pineberry Lane

This poor thing has been on the to-frame pile for the last two years. There is no green in the design but the yellowish areas pick up the same in the frame. The word HOME looks like HOMB. I learned the hard way to pay attention to details. The fabric is 35 or 36ct and I went ahead and stitched 2 over 2 when it should have been 1 over 2! I couldn't figure out why my stitches looked so squashed and awful! 

Okay, now I'm gone!

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!

PSS worship or Progress and stash!

Hello everyone! 

Where is the time going?! The 20 days since I last posted have gone by so quickly!

I guess I'll show you some progress. Here is Sweetie Peetie Pumpkin..

I forget what the name of the fabric is-Sea foam, Sea green? Oh, Saltmarsh! What I have left is to fill out the rest of the pumpkin in Orange.

I picked up the Halloween SAL when I got bored with Jack's Bash and whatever else I had going..

All I had last time was the bottom half. I'm doing this 1 over 2 on 32ct but I swear to you this is a higher count fabric like 35 or 36. Maybe it is 32ct but shrunk some in the dyeing process. I could go to Ship's Manor and look up the info but I'm too lazy! I am now behind 1 month. The above is the May portion. I'm paid up for the rest of the SAL so no problem there.

As I mentioned above, I was stitching on Jack and tackling the 1 over 1, whew! Barb, it's pretty intense and I still have a ways to go! Here's Jack's Bash from PSS..

Hope it's not blurry on your side. I added the grass under the left side urn, the small flowers scattered there and about, the urn on the right, Jack's cane, and a bit of grass under him and the missus. The big thing is the verse. In keeping with times of old, Paulette has the 'S' looking like an F. So what looks like ruft is actually rust. And then wouldn't you know, I run out of GAST Raven for the verse! Aargh. 123stitch came to the rescue and since I can't buy just a skein of floss, I threw in a PSS chart that I show below! Haha! Since the chart was on a 5-7 days mailing time, I had to wait and just received it today. After I publish this post, I will be back with Jack, yay.

I thought I would show you what I do with multi-page patterns!

Yup! I tape them all together! At first I print out a working copy and copy the rest as I move along. A flosstuber was showing her big taped together pattern and I said hey, I do the same thing!

Speaking of the 123 order, here's that chart..

There's my Raven floss and this chart. I saw this stitched up on Stitch Maynia and the person used PTP Cauldron for the fabric and it looked great. I wouldn't have thought to use a Halloween sounding fabric for a Christmas design but there it is. Stitch Maynia can be dangerous at times!

But that's not all the new stash, I bought these charts elsewhere..

The Cricket Collection charts were from Stitching Bits and Bobs, where it took 6 or 7 weeks for back order. I knew it would take some time so I wasn't worried. The two bottom charts from a FB selling group. The hard to find Thirteen Owls by PSS and this snowy chart which I thought would look great on some kind of dyed fabric with sparkly floss for the northern lights. I'm still in the black on Stitch from Stash because of my finishes but I won't join for the second half of SFS though.

So I got bored with all the above and started something new! Salem Hornbook by PSS..

The fabric is Vintage Lentil from Lakeside. I had to add some color to the fabric because it was making the border stitches and outline of the house, church and people look awful. As I only have a Keurig that uses those K cups, I used Starbucks Iced Coffee on it! I can live with the fabric now.

I managed to have an FFO too..

I am so out of ideas on what to top these cubes with! Haha. Those are pom poms on top. Cubes seem to be my go to finish. What I would like to do is do a drum finish. I have a stitched Stacy Nash drum design ready but I just chicken out! I have two designers who explain it on charts but it's not enough. Maybe there is a YouTube tutorial out there somewhere.

Like a crazy person, I joined a different kind of exchange. This one is with Kaye from Kitten Stitching, Christmas in July. Everyone's partners have been chosen and I luckily have been teamed up with two bloggers. How cool! I am sending to Stitching Noni, I'm sure you all know who she is, and I am receiving from Jocondine. Nadine has visited this blog and I have watched all of Noni's Flosstube videos. I know what Noni likes but that didn't stop me from going through most of my JCS ornament magazines. I forgot her Christmas likes and started an ornament just to find it was going to be too big. So I started the pattern on 36ct fabric and just remembered the subject matter was not something she favorited! So now I have two started ornaments on two different size fabrics! Guess what? I will finish them and maybe give one away in a giveaway. I went back and found a pattern for her and stitched that baby up in a couple days. The deadline is the end of July! The early bird gets the worm! All I need to do now is buy some black beads for French knots and a few other supplies, along with Christmas candy, a Christmas ornament, and Christmas fabric to wrap all the above up with. It's a fun exchange. Thanks Kaye!

Alrighty! This will be it. If you made it this far, good for you. Barb, you have every right to be scared of the 1 over 1 on Jack's Bash! I get started on the verse and then go stitch in more grass. I'm keeping my sanity that way. Like everything I have stitched above, there are a few mistakes in Jack but nothing noticeable. The border is matching up so that's a good thing.

Take care everyone!

Maynia finishes and progress, Road Trip

Hi all! Hope things are going well where you're at. 

Picture heavy so get comfy!

First up are my 2 Maynia finishes. I only did 17 days but my plans crashed and burned because of the blahs and a road trip. Up first is Stars and Hearts by Cross the Lilliebridge..

How do you like my French knots? Just stitches as I can't do French knots. I rarely do patriotic stitching and thought it was time to. Bowls or dough bowls of holiday stitching are all the rage on FB and Flosstube right now!

My 2nd finish is Oh Blarney! by the Sunflower Seed..

A fast stitch on mystery fabric with GAST floss. I don't know how I'll FFO this.

I managed to get some progress on a few things. First is Halloween Revelry on 40ct which is why it's taking awhile. It's my daytime only-with-readers-and-lamp project!..

I still have to fill in the kitty eyes at the top with that yellow or orange. I last stitched in the start of the witches hat. 

Next is A Bee in Your Bonnet by Summerhouse Stitchworkes..

The flower below Bonnet is all I stitched.

I think that's it, well, some other things I put in a few stitches on and not worth a picture. I am, however, enjoying this one..

The fabric is Saltmarsh green, 30ct I think, which is why that pumpkin is not going to be Itty Bitty! Stitching in hand because the fabric is stiff.

I'm horrible with sticking with a plan and this Maynia did not work for me like a lot of the other people who can stitch and put up pictures on Stitch Maynia. I'm a rebel! Anyway, I'm glad to get back to my WIPs if my mojo cooperates! 

So onto the road trip!

I had waited two years for the Dressing Downton Abbey museum exhibit to reach this side of the U.S. and for the last two or three months it has been in Anaheim, CA. Driveable from AZ for sure. So my daughter and I loaded up on the 9th and drove the 6 hours to Anaheim. Our motel was right across the street from Disneyland but we didn't go. At $105.00 a pop per person, it wasn't in the cards. Besides, we already had plans. So this exhibit was featuring the clothing worn on set of Downton Abbey, my favoritest show, among a few others. Here are some pictures I took..

Our tour guide told us all the clothing was made to specifications of the actors and actresses sizes. I forget their names but the actresses who play Lady Cora and Lady Mary are quite small! A few of the clothing where Lady Rose came out in London were vintage. No flash was allowed and the lighting was low. We spent a couple hours going display to display. We left and found us a pizza place and then back to our room to relax. The next day was open for whatever.

You probably don't know but I was raised in Los Angeles from 2 days old to 9 years. I was born here in AZ though and my dad drove here and picked us up and drove back to LA. We thought about trying to find the old neighborhood but decided to check out Hollywood and Rodeo Drive, instead. We walked up Hollywood Blvd. to see the Chinese theater and the stars in the block. They are everywhere but I don't pay attention because nowadays they just put anyone on a star! People like Jennifer Anniston, etc. I'm sorry but what has she done?! Lol. We stopped and had lunch at a wing place, dessert at a Ghirardelli chocolate place to sit and people watch at the front window. Then we went to Madame Tussaud's Wax museum! So cool! Here are some pics. My favorite is Angelina Jolie!..

They were all pretty creepy! Beside each 'person' was props like a boxing robe and gloves so you could act like you were doing something. My daughter put on the robe and gloves and was about to knock out Rocky Balboa..

Haha. 

So we had a good time. After that, we drove around in Bel Air and saw fancy houses and fancy cars like Maseratis, BMW, Porsches, and such. Lots of black cars there and we fit right in with my black Honda Civic! Next up we hung around at Santa Monica beach and before we left the next day, spent a couple hours at Newport Beach..

I wouldn't get in because I'm scared of drowning but I walked along and collected shells. We had fun but it was nice to get home! 

That's all she wrote! I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting to talk about other stuff but my brain is misfiring. 

I'll continue on with my sweetie Peetie pumpkin because it's going fast. After that, I believe I'll get back to Jack's Bash or Vintage Stars. I'm still feeling blah so I may not.

Thanks for stopping in everyone. Appreciate your comments as usual! Take care!