So long March, it's been fun!

Hi all! Thought I would get on here for one last post in March. Can we please slow down the progression of the year?! Spring is here and I can hear dozens of birds chirping away through my open front door. Oh and guess what? I saw my first male Cardinal yesterday! No, not the Arizona Cardinal NFL team! What a pretty bird he was. Wished I had grabbed my cellphone to take a picture but didn't.

So I have progress, a finish, and some stash. 

First, the finish. This was a UFO of a couple years ago. One of the WIPs below I ran out of floss, again!

So after ordering another skein, I put it away for a bit. I was looking through my WIP container and saw A Lady's Sachet sitting at the top with the floss and a master copy of the pattern. So I picked it up and finished it. Yay, another finish! 4 finishes in 3 months. Anyway, here it is...

I just finished stitching in my initials S and C. I had to wait though because I misplaced the whole chartpack with the alphabet pattern. I tore this house upside down and no chartpack. So off to the Internet looking for another one! I only found two, one at a ONS where, with shipping, it would've been over $17. The other was found on eBay for $12.99, postage included. But look, it's a whole kit!

It actually called for 40ct fabric which mine is not and its quite big. And see how I measured wrong, with it hugging the edge? It's going to be a problem finishing it into something. I have a round papier mâché box that will fit that.  I'll just have to finesse the thing to fit. I will probably use wool to cover the bottom portion showing a lot of fabric. So now I have this kit to make another but on 40ct! I will do it but not anytime soon. It has some of my favorite motifs on it: the crown, key, and the color purple.

I tell you, it's been a couple weeks of running out of floss for two of my WIPs. I received WDW Moonglow for Midnight Ride, stitched more moon and some of the building lights and promptly ran out of Moonglow, again! Here is the before picture...

and after...

!!! I don't know who model stitched this design, and I am using the called for count and color fabric, but it needs 3 skeins of Moonglow and 2 of Mascara. I did run out of Mascara too but luckily had more in my stash. This picture right above is the correct color of the fabric. So, I put in an order for another skein of Moonglow and because I need LizzieKate, ordered a chart and it all arrived the other day.

So I decided to get back to the Christmas Carol Sampler by the Primitive Hare. I love this thing and think I can finish it next month. Here's the before...

and after...

I got quite a bit of progress on this. Working on the bottom border with GAST Tarnished Gold, and BAM!, ran out! Just as I was getting ready to stitch Tiny Tim Crachit's hair, the little figure to the left of Scrooge. Right now he's got just the lightbulb head! Put in another order for Tarnished Gold and the first chart of the LHN Farmhouse Christmas. For now, I am building the horse and its tail. Folks, I just have the rest of that bottom border, the horse, the carriage, and more snowflakes to do, and I'm done! But between the snow and the top of the bottom border are the words Tiny Tim Crachit Ebenezer Scrooge A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I don't know if I want the words there. I'm thinking of centering A Christmas Carol in the middle with squiggly tendrils on either side with the holly berries  you see up there with Merry Christmas. We'll see what I decide. 

Stash! I am doing my best to collect a few of my favorite LizzieKate charts. Here are 4 that I bought..

I have stitched the first one before years back but I had to have it again. I am hoping to buy more LK charts in the next month or so before inventory is used up. 

I also bought a piece of Lakeside linen, a fat eighth, but forgot to take a picture. That linen traveled from Oklahoma to Phoenix, then to Peoria, a city next to Phoenix, back to Phoenix and finally up here to me. What is up with the USPS? After Whittakers' travel from Iowa and getting lost for 3 months, I am almost afraid to order anything! I have been signing up for email notifications from the USPS so I can follow where my package(s) are going. 

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Wish me luck that I don't run out of floss again, ha. 

Since Christmas Carol is almost finished, I'll keep at it. I really don't have stitching plans for April. I'll continue with this one ^ and Midnight Ride, and maybe pick up the next Souvenir de France project. I'm waiting on the next exchange announcement to come out from Terri/Dixiesamplar. It's been fun seeing everyone receiving their Spring/Easter exchange gifts.

I'm off. I want to wish a big WELCOME to followers on Bloglovin' and through Blogspot! Hope you like it here. Also, thanks for your comments; I read them all. 

Take care!

This and that, and Lost and Found

Hi all! Greetings from a blustery day here in AZ. I'm hoping this isn't the beginning of our windy season. It wreaks havoc with hairdos and allergies. Love spring around here but could do without all the wind. I'm going to stay in today. Winter visited us last week with snow, 3 inches, but it was gone in 24 hours!

I'm finally feeling better, yay! Now if I could just get myself off to bed before 11 pm, I'll be doing even better!

So I held the drawing last Saturday and just never got around to announcing the winners. The days are just whipping by and leaving me in the dust! So just two people entered the drawing-Diana and Linda, for the Heart in Hand charts. No one wanted the linen. The winners are-

           Diana for the Big Blizzard Sampler! and....

           Linda gets the Red House Sampler! 

Woohoo! Linda, I have your address in Jackson. Diana, I'll need yours. You can email me at -----with your address. I'll have the charts to you ladies in the mail by Tuesday. Thanks for playing!

Last post I started that little Shepherd's Bush kit I bought at Market day last year. I finished it...

Hope it's not too blurry. The Heart of My Heart. It's just a petite little thing. Amazing how SB manages to get so many motifs and/or flowers in such a tiny space. The kit came with the floss and fabric. It's missing buttons and I don't know if I misplaced them or they didn't come with the kit. It still looks nice without. On Lambswool linen. I made a mistake down near the sheep. There was supposed to be a flower in the field but nope, I just methodically stitched in the field! I was watching Flosstube, that's my excuse! 

Speaking of Nashville market, any of you see anything you like? I like two charts of Heartstring Samplery-Bee Pincushion and the Little House on the Prairie sampler. I read all the Laura Ingalls books when I was little. And WTN&T, of course, 2 of her charts. And a few others. As for my yearly drive to Attic Needleworks in Mesa for Market day, I may not make it this year. I don't know when Market day is though. If I go, I want mostly fabric, Lakeside linens to be exact. I also really like the Farmhouse Christmas series from LHN. I like the fabric called for too. I just know that I can't spend as much as I have in past years. We shall see what happens.

From the Lost and Found department, look who showed up!

Whittaker! I mentioned that he and his package went missing December 12th. Isn't he cute?! He arrived just last week, still packaged nicely and labeled since December 5th when I ordered him. I'd like to think that he was taking in the sights between Iowa and here, haha. There is a woman version of Whittaker, I just might have to have her.

By now I'm sure you have all heard about Lizzie Kate retiring. Sad but understandable seeing how the designer has been doing this for 20+ years. I ordered 3 charts and have at least 5 others on my wishlist. I have two LK WIPs to finish and those extra patterns that come with her mystery sampler designs. I can't imagine how high prices will go once she permanently closes shop at the end of this month. 

I have been stitching here and there. I have a 2nd job working the concession stand at a colleges' performance hall and am being kept busy whenever there's a show to work. Last Sunday, the Phoenix Symphony was playing, this past Wednesday Garrison Keillor was story telling on stage. I haven't been in the mood to stitch really but last night I finally picked something up...

Midnight Ride. I have added more floss to the moon and worried that I may need another skein of it! All the building windows get the yellow floss in them too. I have the beginnings of the banner that the witch pulls behind her and the building below. I think I might run out of the black floss too. It's either Kohl or Mascara. Here's the before...

I also wanted to show you some pfd's I found out about from a flosstuber I watching last night. Take a look...

and...

These pfd's were only $5 each! This designer and her shop SamplersAndStories are on etsy, here's a link- https://www.etsy.com/shop/SamplersAndStories

The top design, Herbal Grimoire, would look great on a tea/coffee dyed fabric and the Christmas botanicals on a pale fabric. She has a few more designs at her etsy shop but these two really caught my eye. 

You can thank me later ;)

I'm going to get back to Midnight Ride and the 3rd season of Downton Abbey. My 3 kitties are snoozing and I have enough diet Pepsi to get me through today! I put myself on a diet Pepsi diet also. I'll have a bottle every other day and try drinking more water and herbal teas in between. I was drinking at least 2 a day! Just thinking about that kind of makes me slightly sick, ugh. 

I have some new followers, Welcome! If anyone tries to go back in this blog to start from the beginning, there are lots of pictures missing. I started this blog on a PC and then it went kaput and then used pictures from Picasa web album, and then got this iPad and use an app. My pictures disappeared when Picasa became no more. 

I'm off. Take care everyone and Happy Stitching! 

The Gamut

Hi all! Hope you're all doing well. We won't talk about how I'm feeling! Thanks for the well wishes on the last post though.

So I have progress, FFO's to show, and a few other things. Picture heavy!

You all know that I'm doing the Class Schedule SAL. I'm kind of keeping up with it. Here is before:

And after:

I am not too crazy how the title of the classes are showing up on my fabric. That first class is Transfiguration, when Ron's spell ends up with half goblet and half rat. The word is so light that I'm going to have to think about frogging that and using a darker color for the titles. So many people made changes to what is in the box that I hemmed and hawed on what to stitch. Some people made the goblet/rat pink and brown and other colors. I tend to stitch what the designer has designed. I will outline the cat though. I have February's class to stitch. If I don't keep up with this SAL, it could end up a UFO. I wish I had dyed this fabric a little darker.

Here is my progress on Midnight Ride. Before:

And after:

Sorry if it's blurry. After I ran out of the yellow and waited for it to arrive, I counted down to start the town. I'll keep alternating between all that yellow and black so as not to go bonkers.

Along with the floss for Midnight Ride, I also got the Moonlit Path for Christmas Carol sampler. Of course, the skein was different from what I used before. Aaargh! Frog came to visit. Here is before:

And after:

See the building on the left in the foreground? I had to frog all that grey in the before picture so I could use my new skein. The new skein matches the color up in the cartouches for M and C at the top of the design. I didn't want a multi-colored building! I am now almost to the bottom of the building and still have to add more snowflakes here and there. They will be the death of me! I have put this away for a bit.

So last weekend the FFO bug stopped in and I was able to take care of 3 finishes:

Top picture is Souvenir de France, freebie by BBD, and a Love freebie by can't remember! I made Souvenir de France into a flat ornament and trimmed it with chenille. The back fabric is the same fleur d'lis fabric used on Love. For the Love pillow, I added that Walmart flower to the front and sewed on the metal charm and bell onto the flower. This bottom pic is by LizzieKate and I just did it a pillow and added the fabric and then the ribbon and bell. I have yet to close the bottom. 

Kay wanted to know what I plan on doing with the Souvenir de France finishes. I might try to sell them at a Christmas craft fair later on in the year. Or my cousin who is mildly crafty! and I are looking into renting a small booth at a local craft store for a fee and I thought I could try that. About the only thing I have to buy for these are the mat board. I have all the other materials already so costs are minimal. Here's my next Souvenir for February:

I'll use a black or gray trim for this. I need to get going on it.

As you can tell, I have got myself into a rotation of sorts. I don't do well with rotations but I like what I'm stitching right now. So I'll stitch up the newest Souvenir, add February's spell to the Class Schedule, and keep at Midnight Ride.

I also joined a valentine SAL on FB and will do this Shepherd's Bush that I bought last year:

It's just for one day though. Who knows, I just may continue to stitch on it.

And now we have arrived to a Giveaway! I was organizing my craft room/ bedroom again and ran into these items that I don't want. The usual rules, be a follower thru Bloglovin or Google/Blogger. Open to those overseas. Here's what to do: enter in the comments which ones you are interested in. I will take all your names and pick a name for each item that you would like. One person could win the whole enchilada! Good luck. This will end on the 24th of February, 9pm Arizona time. Here's the goodies:

I have a blackbird button for the first pattern, I will look for it. I don't have the buttons for the second chart and the fabric is 28ct linen at 14 1/2" x 9". Be sure to leave an email if there is no other way to contact you.

Okey dokey, that is it! I decided not to join the latest exchange at dixiesamplar's because I wanted to stitch all the above and get in some SAL's hosted by Stitch Maynia. 

Take care everyone and have a great week! Hope you get to stitch a lot!

News, new start, FFO and more

Hi everyone! I feel like I've been MIA for awhile. Just been stitching! Hope you're all doing well, maybe starting to thaw out there on the East coast and in the upper Midwest. We actually had a cold front come through and left snow on the mountain tops and then the next day, right back to 60 degrees. Just crazy weather, I tell ya.

I have good news, not so good news, a new start, an FFO, and more. First I want to respond to some comments left on the last post. For those of you new here, I have to disconnect my email from my blog because of the amount of trash email I get when I do connect. So this is how I respond. Here we go:

Barb, this is your year to start Jack's Bash. I just know it. It will always be my best finish ever.

DebbieSFL, glad you're doing the Class Schedule. I have the table stitched but deciding on a color

   for Ron's half Scabbers and half goblet! 

Kay, glad to hear your new stash has made it out to you!

Linda, hope you are feeling better!

Honeybee, I have seen the Christmas version of Spirits and Spells and it's great. They stitch up fast

   as pictured below.

Some good news-I won the Mani di Donna contest!! Here's my ornament...

Couldn't believe it! I keep my iPad on my bedside table and grab it first thing in the morning before I have gotten out of bed. I opened it and saw a notification of a fellow contestant saying 'congrats to the winners'. So I thought oh Simona must've picked the winners. So I looked and there was my name for 1st place! I'm one of these people who couldn't buy her way in to win something! I smiled all day long!

She messaged me this morning to pick out some of her charts from her website to spend up to 50 euros which comes out to about $59 and change US. That was fun, haha. Can't wait to get it all.

I am home from work with Mr. Vertigo. I could feel it coming on early this morning and boom! sure enough, there he is. All the usual nausea, and dizziness. Vertigo is kind of chronic for me. It has gotten less severe than the first 7 years since 2004. I still have to lay down and get up out of bed s l o w l y. Something else that has been bugging me are my shoulders and right arm. I stitch a lot and I think it's now catching up with me. I am stitching but have to quit after awhile. Right now it's not aching so after I'm done here I'll stitch a bit.

I also have 2 finishes, yay! The first two of 2018..

Spirits & Spells by Brenda Gervais. I love Brenda Gervais! A fast stitch on 36ct Confederate grey. Her hair called for CC Muddy something, can't recall, which I didn't have so I used WDW Pewter. She's 1" bigger overall using 36ct than the 40ct called for. Ignore the redness, I think it's there because of the red sweatshirt I had on when I took the picture. I may look for some kind of oval box to put her on.

My next finish is Souvenir de France, a freebie by Blackbird Designs..

On a mystery scrap of linen with Belle Soie Poison Apple. Here is the fabric to go with. I'll probably make a flat ornament out of it. It's my plan to stitch Souvenir once a month using my scrap fabric and backing fabric. I think the fabric is Natural Light. It was very stiff.

I found that fabric on Etsy. It's so pretty. I think it's half a yard for a very good price. I have a floss, backing fabric and linen for each of these Souvenir's to stitch. In February I'll stitch this again but on a different fabric and with a different floss.

After I finished Spirits and Spells I started this..

From the 2014 JCS Halloween issue and here is where I'm at..

I have had this kitted up since 2014! I'm mired down in the yellow so I jump around to black and then back again. Saves my sanity! I'll stitch this for the rest of January.

As for the Class Schedule SAL, I have January's portion stitched in but deciding which color for Ron's half Scabbers half goblet. Some people have totally modified the pattern in that first block and changed the colors of the Scabbers/goblet and Professor McGonagle as the cat. I will try to stick to most of what the designer has down.

Now I have an FFO..

The FFO bug has gone missing but on a whim I created this. The stitch is from a JCS Christmas ornament issue, probably 2015. I ran a running stitch through the fabric and pulled it, added stuffing, then glued the cording around the top. Then added the bow to hide the join and added the bells on fishing line. Half of the time I have no plan in place doing these things and just keep adding as I go. It turned out alright as a last minute FFO! 

Also, Terri/Dixiesamplar is taking sign ups for the Easter/spring exchange. They close tomorrow if anyone is interested. On FB search dixiesamplar's exchange group, be sure to use the A and not E for samplars. I'm waffling over joining this one because I really like what I've been stitching on lately. 

I'm awaiting a package from Stitching bits and bobs, on a back ordered chart, as usual. You all might know that the USPS raised their rates again. Well, the above ONS uses only Priority Mail to mail your purchases. I took issue with the $7.00 shipping cost for one medium sized chart and two skeins of floss! Yup, I emailed her to find out why. She said her store has been absorbing the recent postal rate raises and now she can't be doing that all the time. I don't know what's going to happen when it gets to be too expensive to have anything mailed. I did not ask Bobbie if she would mail First Class on request which would've cost me about $3.50-4.00 if using First Class mail. I don't know if all ONS's mail Priority but it might be a good thing to ask if there is a cheaper way to ship.

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Feeling horrible so I'll wrap this up. I hope you've all avoided getting the flu going around. Sounds bad. My daughter has been a little sick. A coworker was sick and they sent him home. 

Got to say Welcome to the new followers with Bloglovin'. The more the merrier! Hope you stick around for awhile! I have a little giveaway planned, just a little chart like Heart in Hand or another. I did some organizing in my craft corner and found that with the bird button for it. I was going to do it here but just not feeling good. So look for that next time. I'm hoping my contest winnings come soon but since Simona is in Italy, that could take a couple of weeks. That's okay, time is all I have! 

Take care all! Thanks for stopping by! 

Progress, plans for 2018, etc.

Hi all! Coming to you from central Arizona where it's 65 degrees! Short sleeve weather! I know, I know...some of you are trying to keep warm! You have my sympathy believe me. This is the weirdest weather here. No rain since maybe August or September, certainly no snow. Last week, however, it dipped into 18 degrees in the early morning hours. That set off a rush of insulating pipes. It lasted just one day though! We're getting spoiled!

So I have progress to show, a new start, new stash, my reading plans, and plans for 2018. 

I continued stitching on Christmas Garden up until this past Wednesday. It's coming along nicely! The before picture....

and now

This pic shows the correct color of the fabric which is 30ct French Vanilla. I have to admit that this fabric is driving me nuts! You can't see it from the picture but I'm either pulling my stitches too tight or something. It's not warped from pulling stitches too tight, it's just the fabric strands have all been squeezed together in between each leg. It shows up through each flower and vase. Of course, it's probably just me and when it gets framed, non-stitchers won't notice it's there! I know it's there, lol! It still looks real nice. My plans for the next couple of months don't include Christmas Garden. So it's going byebye for a bit.

I mentioned joining a Harry Potter SAL in my last post. Here is what I've stitched so far...

This is Class Schedule. On my dyed fabric that was to be with another project but I decided to use it on this SAL because it needs a big piece of fabric. The vertical stitched line is part of a square. There are more squares stitched on either side of my start, and I think, two more rows of 3 squares below all. On the 1st, we will get the first pfd of what is stitched inside the first box. There may be a total of 10 squares but I'm not sure. Justine, I noticed you're tempted although you've joined other SALs. I say just do it! Life is too short, lol. So in the next couple of days I will try to get another square stitched in, the very first one. It's nice to have this new start.

In the last couple of month, I have picked up a few new charts...

I don't know when I'll stitch these but at least I have them. Once again, Christmas and Halloween! I need to branch out more!

So for 2018 I've decided to do a few new starts, beginning with Class Schedule. Every few days I'll just do something else. Next week I want to start this...

My Confederate Gray fabric looks nothing like the models version. This looks like a fairly fast stitch. 

I wish there were 5 more hours in the day for all the things I want to stitch!

I have my 2018 reading together...

Fiery Cross is what I'll begin reading. It takes me an entire month or two to get through these Outlander books! By the time I'm done with the series, I'm hoping her new one will be out. We shall see. The Widow of the South will be my 2nd reading, love it, and the rest are all new. I have to throw a scary one in there too with Daughters of The Witching Hill. 

Kay and Sharon W have received their gift card funds from my giveaway last post. That is always fun!

The Mani di Donna contest winners have not been announced yet. I'm not on pins and needles about it. Being the holidays, people are just busy. Speaking of holidays, a chart I ordered has gone missing. Last known location is Iowa on the 15th. It was the Stacy Nash Winston, the mouse. So cute. So I'm hoping it'll show up soon.

Our Christmas was wonderful, lots of eating, chocolate, tamales, chocolate. Yeah, I can't look at chocolate at all. I received from my daughter a heating pad! And chocolate! Dinner with daughters boyfriends family. Good food.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I thought I had more to talk about, guess not. I haven't been feeling the FFO bug so everything continues to sit and wait. I will be home for New Year's Eve trying to keep my cats calm because my town has chosen to set off fireworks twice! At 8:30 pm and at midnight! 

Oh, yeah. I have plans to do some craft fairs and farmers markets in 2018. One of my cousins does candles and soaps and I do sewing and needle crafts. I have ideas to use up some of the cotton fabric I have, things that I won't use on stitched ornaments. I have some DIY pallet crafts in mind. A coworker has already cut up some pallet board and even loaned me his saw. I have some neat stencils to apply to the pallet board, just have to buy paints, sealers, sanders and sandpaper. Ideas and more ideas. I have a glass cutter and tons of glass bottles to make candle holders and pendant lights out of them. So yeah! Wish me luck!

So now I'm just blabbering!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2018 is the best yet for you all! Thanks for hanging with me throughout the year! 

and the winners are....

KAY and SHARON W!!!

Congrats ladies! Contact me with your email address at ...........It takes at least a day for 123stitch to send you a gift card notification. By Thursday this week, you should see something! Thanks for playing everyone! Wish I had gift cards for everyone!

So how are you all? Keeping warm? Two weeks ago, our summer turned to winter in one day. I'm not sure we had an Autumn! I broke down and turned on the house heating and it's been on ever since! The older I get the colder I get. People are saying that for here, it's going to be a dry winter. So no white Christmas this year I guess:(

The stitching continues, however!

On December 1st, I picked up Christmas Garden by BBD....here is what I've stitched so far..

The lighting is not so good...below is the before picture...

I have already made a small counting error on this! At least I'm consistent! See the beginnings of the large flower at the right with two buds and the vertical stitches that look like a sideways J? They're 1 stitch too many. I'm not going to remove it because it won't throw anything off. I believe the light gold partial border below everything on the newer picture is the halfway point and I've almost stitched a quarter of the entire design. That huge flower is the center of the top portion. I'm enjoying this. A threat to Garden is a SAL that I joined. It's called Harry Potter-The Class Schedule SAL. Right now most people are stitching in the words Class Schedule and a bunch of boxes below it. I have the perfect fabric for it. I'm just clamping on the bit about starting this now but I really need to stitch on Garden more. The moral of this story is: never get on the internet first thing after waking up! I woke up, got on FB and someone was asking about this SAL. They had me at Harry Potter! I don't have a link for the SAL but if you search Armada Designs, you'll see it.

Before all that above, I had more done on the Christmas Carol Sampler. Here is what it looked like my last post..

and how it looks now...

I have turned the corner at the bottom. As you can see, I have the background houses in, the rest of the left-side border, and the top of the black carriage. I'm sure there are more snowflakes to stitch here and there. I'm more than halfway done. I'll be working on this more in January. Unfortunately, I ran out of the GAST Moonlit Path, the blue/gray of the big house. So I'm worried what a new skein will look like and hope the dye lot matches that one^.

I also FFO'd a little Christmas design and made it into a flange pillow via Vonna the Twisted Stitcher and her tutorial...

I don't know the name of it but words on my copy are Jura point de croix. Anyway, I love it! I made a mistake while cutting but it's not noticeable in the picture. First time making a flange pillow so this is my practice pillow. I love that kitty peeking behind the snowman. On the chart he has red eyes and red whiskers. Well, that won't do! So he has white eyes and whiskers now. I coffee dyed the ribbon at the top left. I have another flange pillow candidate so be watching for that. This was so easy and Vonna explains it very well. Thanks Vonna!

So that's is it! I wanted to announce the winners, show my progress and the one FFO. I have a work Christmas party next week so I have to find something to wear. I have Christmas cookies to make for gifts, a few more gifts to buy and wrap. Yesterday, I bought a few things and wrapped them. My daughter is 22 so she likes gift cards along with stocking stuffers. For my brothers who live in Phoenix, I send them gift cards. They say not to buy them anything; well, I'm the big sister and I do anyway!

Stitching-wise-I'll keep stitching on Christmas Garden while fending off Harry Potter and his influence! This 53 year old loves Harry Potter! I may use the last week of December and this year to start the HP SAL. We'll see...

I'll be back the end of December with an update on this past year. I had lots of finishes too. Happy about that. 

So I'll take this time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and happy days!!