Freedom!

Hi all! While it's still fresh in my mind, I tried to leave comments on Astrid's and DJ's blogs but Google keeps saying an error occured. Astrid, I'm so sorry on the loss of your furry family member Ming. She had a wonderful life and so will the two new kitties. DJ, your recent stitches are lovely and Anne Thomas is gorgeous 😍

Hope everyone has thawed and/or dug out! Here in the West several cold fronts are supposed to swing down into the SW and who knows what that will entail. Too soon to tell the weather people are saying.

I better start talking about stitching! I have a finish, a couple FFOs, and etc etc. Let's go!

I was surprised to see a few of you were also in the Halloween group that is ending soon. Linda, I knew you were in it and I'm sorry you bought extra Dragon charts to do the one challenge. I think the admin added so many different challenges, it got out of hand. It's like Teri/Dixiesamplar and the exchange she ran. However, it was the participants who probably had a hand in the demise. It's hard to herd people! 

Moving on! I have 2 WIPs I'm doing with the Halloween group. Jack's Bash and These Is My Words. Here's the latter...

I am now in the very last part of this stitch. I have text and flowers/cacti left to do and it'll be a Happy Dance! Can't wait!

Jack's Bash is the other and I feel I've done a lot with it...

Having fun!

I read the comments left at the last post (I always read them) and Honeybee/The Copper Fox said 'Enjoy your freedom!' And you know what? It is freedom! Freedom to stitch on whatever I want with no counting stitches! But first, I up and joined a SAL! Haha! A very informal SAL I might add. The Camping Stitcher on FB is hosting a Leap Year SAL for new starts. Since I planned on starting the Christmas Mug series from Shannon Christine around the same time, it was a no brainer to start on Feb 29. I may take a page out of Carol/Stitching Dreams book and stitch them all on black linen! I do have a small piece of 32ct black linen that I'll stitch a few stitches on to see how it looks.

That's the only SAL that I'm joining!

Next I have progress on a few WIPs. Here's Dog's Declaration from Ink Circles ..

I got my order from 123stitch a few days after my last post which had the missing skeins of Valdani floss to stitch the vine. You can see on the chart it goes halfway down on the left. Then I picked up Bertha Mae Brown by Chessie and Me...

She's just pretty with her pinks and reds. I think I stitched the P to the w and then to her name and the sawtooth line. There are 4 more rows of letters to go before the fun stuff i.e. flowers, deer, baskets, and a pink house.

I have a finish and that's the Jingle Ball 2023 ornament and folks, that skirt is no joke filling in that green!

I'm not sure what fabric this is but with the white dots it's pretty. Once I find flat mat board, I'll make it a flat ornament. Designed by Lindy Stitches.

I also had a designated FFO day a couple weeks ago and here's what I have to show...

Feliz Navidad. From a JCS ornament preview issue I can't find as I'm scrolling on my iPad looking for my post of when I finished it. Here it is-July/August 2012. My coworker is Mexican so this'll go to her for Christmas this year. I'm thinking of attaching a hanger on somehow 🤔

My next FFO is a secret that will be revealed Valentine's Day during the Secret Sweetheart blog hop. Stay tuned for that!

Well, tomorrow is my birthday! Sixty years on this earth, man, that's hard to say! I've used up some lives on the way! I will have a bday start and this is it...

So pretty! I just need 2 missing DMC. I'm so excited to start this. It's been kitted for almost 2 years. 

And because I'm turning 60, I'm doing something wild and crazy!! So be sure to come back on my next post to see what that could be!! 😆😆

I believe that's it! At least my phone has cooperated!

I'm  going to stitch on Dog's Declaration the rest of today and get laundry going and mucking out the cat box; fun!

Be well! See you soon!

Left To My Own Devices

Hello! Welcome to my very first 2024 blog post! Let's talk! I see parts of this country dealing with snow and very cold temps, yikes! Hope those of you in it can stay warm and just stitch. We had just gone through our own version of cold here in AZ with temps anywhere from 9-13 degrees with a dusting of snow up to 4 inches in my area. I could not warm up and throw in aching joints and bones, I was not a happy camper😞 but today it's 54, yay, and I have the front door open. Mother Nature is in a fickle mood.

So let's get to the stitching😊

I'm in a group on FB called Halloween Cross-Stitch Challenge. Last week the gal that runs it announced that she is closing the group down the end of March. I was flabbergasted! The group has grown to about 4k members and I can only imagine that it's become a full time job. I'm in 2 challenges, one ends the last day of February and the other in March. After that, I'm left to my own devices! Oh boy, what kind of trouble can I get into! Actually, I felt a little lost. I've had the challenges telling me what to stitch and for how long for a year and a half and that's now about to end. What to do? Unbeknownst to me that this was going to happen, I joined in on Shannon Christine's Monthly Christmas mug club. At $8 a month, you get a new PDF. It's part of their ongoing clubs. Here's the first one...

Cute! Calls for 28ct which would be 5x5 finished but I'll get me a giant piece of either 32ct pearl grey linen or a pretty light blue where the white DMC will stand out. So stay tuned! In April, I think I'm going to start stitching these. 

I still have progress on WIPs...

Jack is coming along. I'll continue to stitch on this after March because I'd like to have it finished before Halloween this year. 

Next is These Is My Words. I'm pushing to have this one finished by the end of this month...

That bottom row with the 5 flower thingies is the last of it with flowers, cacti, and text. I think I can do it!

After we found out the Halloween group will close soon, I grabbed a couple of WIPs that I had no intentions of working on this year. They are...A Sister's Love by BBD and PSS's My Early Days

That left border is at the halfway point. I believe the fabric is 40ct and I was having a heckuva time stitching! I threw away one pair of cheaters and used another that made it easier to see the fabric. That kind of worried me!

And the BBD...

I believe I stitched that line below the alphabet and maybe more of the border. 

I also had a small finish..

The One by Asbery's Echoes Stitches. I have designated tomorrow as an FFO day so this and a few more will be prettied up. I hope to do up more than a few more so keep your fingers crossed!

I have all my obligation stitching caught up so I'm going to stitch up this little cutie from the Jingle Ball...

My fabric is a lot lighter but it has white dots on it so it should be adorable.

So that's all she wrote! Before my phone complains. 

Take care everyone, especially those dealing with lots of snow and bitter temps. I cannot imagine those kind of temperatures!

Happy Stitching and see you soon!

2023 recap, Updates

Good morning! Here we are on the cusp of 2024 and it's time for my look back at this year. First up though is Christmas. I went to my daughter's place for for the day. I made pumpkin bread and breakfast burritos of eggs and Chorizo, a Mexican sausage. We don't do formal dinners for Christmas day, just finger foods that we can graze on all day. It was pretty iffy as both my daughter and her roommate were sick but 6 days later I'm not sick at all. Just a touch of my friend Vertigo. It's been a couple years of being fine but now I'm pretty lightheaded, ugh. I'm taking it easy the rest of the day  

Alright, let's look at my recent finishes, progress, and a new start. I'm hoping my phone memory cooperates!

I have 2 more finishes for this month...here's Christmas Lodge by Verbena on Etsy...

How cute is this?! On 32ct Taupe lugana. So I have a couple possible ways of FFOing this. As an ornament with a large bead at the top with a trim as the hanger, or put on a wooden shape from Hob Lob or a wood bird house shape using mat board with magnets. Stay tuned!

Next finish is Moonlight by LHN...

So pretty! My cell camera washed out the pic. I used the called for Belle Soie in Icing. That whole skein was used and I ran out of it at the N and the whole last border portion above the N. I decided to ransack my floss stash for a matching DMC or overdyed, and guess what? CCW Bamboo was the perfect match!! I can't see a difference at all. I love it!

I had a Christmas Day start and that was Dog's Declaration by Ink Circles....

Just a tiny start. I am missing 3 of the 6-strand Valdani floss and put in a 123stitch order which arrives on Tuesday. 

I have progress on 2 pieces that I'm stitching for a challenge and they are Jack's Bash and the Noel Sampler...

Jack has gotten some pretty good progress but I've already made a mistake in the sawtooth border beneath the alphabet. I'm leaving it!

And on Noel....

I'm looking forward to the big house that's kind of started to the right of the bird and flowers. I'll continue working on Noel whenever I can in '24.

I also had a tiny start...

This is The One by Asbery's Echoes Stitches on Etsy. If you like primitive style designs, she's a good one. Since this picture was taken, the heart is now at the halfway point. I hope to have it finished by tonight so I can count it in my Stitch from Stash numbers. The fabric is shown as super dark but it's not. It's Parchment from Zweigart.

Time to talk about 2023. The phrase for me in 2024 is Taking it Easy! From my stitching to books on Goodreads, I'm not signing up for a bunch of SALs or joining the reading challenge on Goodreads. For reading, I read 6 books but at the end I powered through the last book to  make it to 6 but I don't like reading books that way! So for 2024, I'm not signing up and I'm reading what I want....

These are it! My umpteenth reread of the Outlander series and Mexican Gothic, a scary story that I bought myself for Christmas.

I had 25 finishes this year! Twenty six if I can finish the tiny Valentine's start. Some were large like Song of the Seasons and Frosty Forest. I also made the mistake of counting the pile of unfinished things and that number is 46! They're big ones that need a frame or smalls that need to be a flat ornament or a pin pillow.

I'm doing just one Challenge in 2024. It's called the Big Spooky 4 in 2024. All 4 designs need to be bigger than 100 x 100. In the first quarter, Jack's Bash is the first project, and 3 new Halloween starts for the remaining 3 quarters in the year. Last year, I took on 4 challenges or SALs. That was a bit too much!

I'm continuing with Stitch from Stash next year. While I'm stitching the big pieces, I'd like to finish some smaller WIPs and SFS helps with that. I'm ending this year in the black with a positive balance of $16!

My last post of 2023! 

Here's to a fantastic 2024 to you all!! A year of wellbeing, prosperity, family happiness, and lots of great stitching!! Thank you for following me all year long and watching me keep up with all the projects I stitched this year. 

See you in 2024!

Winners!

We've got winners from the giveaway on my last post!

For the $13 e-gift card from 123stitch, you were to guess which of the 5 motifs on the Christmas is Coming pillows: holly, tree, Santa, quilt star, or the goose, is my favorite. 

Santa is my favorite!! Carol and Jenn K guessed correctly, then I drew your names and Jenn K is the winner of the $13 e-gift certificate!! 

Congratulations Jenn! Send me an email at azcampis@yahoo.com with a working email to receive your gift certificate.

I wish I could've sent all of you an e-gift certificate!

For the chart giveaway...

Linda and Carol put in for it, I drew your names and Carol has won the chart!

Congratulations Carol!

You can email me at azcampis@yahoo.com to leave your mailing address and I will have it in the mail this coming week. 

Thanks for playing everyone!!

So I found the picture of my daughter on Santa's lap about to lose her head! I wanted to use it on the Advent Blog Hop...

Which reminds me, I need to get caught up on the Advent posts.

It's Christmas Eve, I am ready for tomorrow; things are wrapped, food is bought, and a few baked goods will be baked tonight✔️✔️✔️

Wishing you all a 

A Bit of This & That

I'm back with FFOs, new stash, progress, and recent events. So let's get started!

Last Sunday was my Advent Calendar Blog post. The 6 ornaments I pictured all had Santa in common, either his hat or his Ho Ho Ho. It was fun looking through my ornaments for things to do with Santa. I also mentioned an ornament that I received in a worldwide exchange...

The circled elf girl was from Jocondine from France, and she's participating in the blog hop. Remember Kaye from Kitten Stitching? She hosted this exchange. Noni, who is a flosstuber now who I just watched last night and blogged regularly, was my gift receiver. I remember it took 12 days to get to Down Under. Jocondine sent me candy, a handmade card, and a Christmas cotton fabric, along with the ornament. It was fun!

The Jingle Ball! That was great! My class for making a bookmark was wonderful. I was late to it but was able to see the beginning. Pretty easy! I also dropped some cash, oops! I did most of my spending at the Ink Circles table...

Look how pretty she packaged her fabric. All I need are CCW floss and I just might have them all. I won't start this any time soon. I picked up a fat quarter of the new Mason fabric but was so excited to get my hands on a piece that I didn't realize it was 46ct!!

I put a row of stitches in and can't do it! 40ct is definitely as high as I can go. I will probably sell it. It's a very light greenish gray color. It's a Zweigart. I bought from Hello Liz Matthews the chart that she and her mom designed together which was my original target😂it's arriving soon. I bought PDFs from HOD and Tiny Modernist. I didn't try to WIP speed dating as I found out it was like a Zoom meeting, no one needs to see my mug!! I checked out the entertainment and just looked around. I would join in next year too.

Stitch from Stash is taking a hit this month!

Even more exciting was the fact that the Ink Circles designer Tracy Horner lives up the highway from me in the town my daughter lives too!! I was amazed that my package from her arrived in only 3 days and then I looked at the return address and I thought you're kidding me, hahaha. She wrote on the packing list that we should meet! How fun is that! I think I'll take up her offer.

I won a giveaway from Stitching with the Housewives, woohoo!

Gingerbread! I scored one of the monthly weigh in designs back in September or October but didn't know until a month later when I was getting caught up on their 'tubes', ugh! I emailed but never heard back. Learned my lesson.

For the month of December, I've joined in a challenge on a FB group I'm in and it's called Spooky Fright & Merry Bright and I'm stitching on 2 WIPs....this is Spooky...

Jack's Bash. I like to stitch a whole corner of a sampler before extending the borders. I'm stitching in the alphabet. And here's Bright..

Noel Sampler by WTN&T. I'm not crazy about single stitches and there's a whole border of them on light fabric! I want to stitch those as much as I can to get them done with! The zig zag part is easy but not those single stitches!

I've had a finish this month! It's Christmas Sampler by Blue Whale Designs...

I love it! I wasn't sure at the beginning, the dark color for the alphabets are DMC 935, a very dark green, I wasn't crazy about it but I love how it turned out. The chart shows metal snowflakes around Santa but I've decided to stitch another near the bottom of his beard. And the dark linen shows them off pretty well👍🏼

In between all the above, haha, was progress on Moonlight...

By LHN. I'm a bit past the halfway point.

Whew! All that before the halfway point of December!!

But wait! There's more! FFOs😳

During the Thanksgiving weekend, I finally sat down to FFO. The first ones are from Plum Street Samplers called Christmas is Coming...

I can't remember what count fabric but it is Flax. I waited to buy sawdust, I knew it was going to be pricey but Notforgotten Farm sells good stuff on Etsy. I bought two packages and it cost $20 + change to get here from Virginia. I used about 2/3s of 1 pkg. I really like how they make a pin pillow feel. 

Next is The Nutcracker Dancers. I'm especially proud of this round ornament. After I finished the pin pillows I thought why not FFO something else and I picked the dancers...

So pretty! Didn't take long to assemble but I let the glue harden before adding all the trim and hanger. From a ornament preview magazine JCS December 2021.

Since Christmas is almost upon us, I have picked out a Christmas start. It's Dogs Declaration by you guessed it! Ink Circles. I've had the chart kitted for a year or two and thought this is the year I stitch it. My daughter, due to fertility issues, doesn't have kids but she has dogs, 3 of them. So some of the dogs in the chart will get a color change to look like my granddogs..

If you look closely you'll see it says Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Squirrels! Hunter, the dog, who my daughter had to put down last year, would get so excited when my daughter would say Squirrel!! Hed jump up and down and whine; it was funny to watch. When I'm finished, I'll frame it for a gift to her. 

There won't be a New Year's Day start because of another challenge I'm doing in 2024. 

Now we're up to some fun stuff. Giveaways! One is to giveaway a chart that I'm finished with and the other is to celebrate my 13th year of blogging. 

Here's the chart...

It's in great shape. It's a fold out pattern using DMCs.

The next is a contest giveaway. Just like my others, you have to pick what motif is my favorite. If more than 1 picks it, there'll be a run off between those names. Here it is...

Is it the goose or the holly, the tree or the quilt square, or Santa?! In a comment below, tell me what your pick is. 

You can enter for both giveaways, just say what you need to in your comment. Leave a working email if you're entering for the contest giveaway which will be a gift certificate from 123stitch and will be $13 for the 13 years I've blogged! A winning nternational guesser will get an e-gift certificate, like what 123stitch emails, from a LNS near you. Rules are you must be a follower, if you're anonymous, please leave your first name in your comment, leave an email for the gc. I will let the time run until the 23rd of December 11:59pm Arizona time. I will comment soon after who won what.

Good Luck!!

Lots of things happening this month besides all of the above. Trying to keep track of my obligation stitching, and it's going to be last minute Christmas shopping I'm afraid. Two coworkers, my daughter and 2 brothers I want to gift this year. The coworkers will get pumpkin/cranberry bread, the Bros will get gift cards, and dear Daughter will get books, gift cards, fluffy socks, a DVD and stocking stuffers. 

Busy busy!

And this phone hasn't gone bonkers yet, lol!

At this time I'll say Merry Christmas to all!! I'll be back at the end of the year for a 2023 look back. 

Phone has decided to go bonkers! Haha!

See you all soon!

Advent Calendar Blog Hop 2023

Now that I'm sufficiently awake! Welcome to this 3rd day of the Advent Blog Hop! Hosted by the amazing Jo/Serendipitous Stitcher, her blog is the place to go to open doors for this year's Advent.

https://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/2023/12/2023-advent-calendar-blog-hop.html

Let's get this party started!!

I decided to do something different this year to show my stitching. All are Christmas ornaments that I've made myself with the exception of 1 which one of the participants in this blog hop might recognize as one she sent me in an  exchange one year. Because Santa is the focus this year, my ornaments show something related to Santa, there are 2; can you guess what they are?!

If you'd like to know who designed them, let me know in comments below and I'll identify them. At least 3 are from the JCS ornament magazines.

Memories of Santa. Well, my memory is pretty sketchy. I don't remember if I was ever told Santa was not real. As an adult, I'd like to think he's real. The tradition of all things Christmas certainly include him, the bringer of gifts but most of all peace and harmony, and the ability to look outside of oneself to spread cheer. For one month, we can try to ignore what's going on in the world because it'll all still be there when the holidays are over.

I looked feverishly last night for a picture of my daughter when she was 2 sitting on Santa's lap but I couldn't find it. She was okay when I first placed her on his lap but her little face soon scrunched up to start a big fit!

Here's a little seasonal chuckle for you...

I don't have a tree up just yet. I have two 3ft artificial trees that I decorate with my stitching and other items I had received in exchanges. I might change it up this year but I better hurry!

Here's my daughter's tree from last year! Beautiful! It lights up the whole room...

Thanks Jo! I'm looking forward to opening doors and reading memories of Santa, and seeing Christmas creations!

Merry Christmas to all!!🎄🎁

Updates!

Well, it's 'feeling' a lot like Christmas lately. Maybe on a cool Christmas morning! This morning it was 15 degrees but it warmed to 53 this afternoon. It's late Fall, y'all!

So I got my marching orders from Jo for my date of posting for this year's Advent Calendar Blog Hop. Thought I'd write a post before November goes bye bye.

I have progress and a couple of new starts. Yeah, I've been distracted but I've been stitching on everything that I set out the first of this month to stitch and then some. Let's do this!

Up first is A Christmas Sampler by Blue Whale Designs....

The color of the fabric is spot on. I changed the color of Santa's outfit though. It called for DMC 632 but it's too dark, a red brown color. So instead I used GAST Antique Rose and I love it. I was after a primitive faded red and it's perfect. Since this photo was taken, I've stitched in more of the small alphabet on the right. If any of you are interested in a giveaway for this chart, I'll run one next month when I'm done. I believe I won't stitch this again. I want to get it framed soon. Let me know.

Next is Christmas Lodge by Verbena....

The fabric is Taupe Lugana using DMCs. It's a cute little design. The picture of the model is back on my last post. 

I had a finish....

My bookmark for this coming Saturday for the Jingle Ball. Tiny Modernist has a class for putting a bookmark together. I can't wait! Have you seen what Hello Liz Matthews will have for sale at the Jingle Ball? Oops, I forgot you have to have a $10 ticket to get in. You don't have to sign up for a class. Anyway, I've put aside money to buy a few things at the Ball. This is happening Friday. Teresa Kogut has sets of cards with her paintings on them too. 

It doesn't bode well for my entries for Stitching from Stash!😆🤣

I also have a couple of new starts and they're both free! One was a birthday sampler from a designer who offered it for only 2 days....

This is by Running With Needles & Scissors. Sarah Rickwood. It called for Vikki Clayton silks but I did a conversion with assorted DMCs and overdyes. Here's my progress....

I just so happened to have a piece of Prairie Land by Atomic Ranch that was called for but in 36ct. I started it in the middle because I thought the size was iffy but as you can see, it'll be fine. The light green border is at left, with plenty of fabric to spare.

Next new start is a freebie by Hello Liz Matthews. You can get them in your email if you sign up for her newsletter. It's an adorable little design so I started it....

Hers is on 36ct fabric so I used the same count because I wanted it to look the same and frame it also. These frames are from Tim Holtz. They come in a package of 6. So off I went on Black Friday on a wild goose chase looking for those frames! First I tried Joanne's. Nope! At 50% off, the Tim Holtz section was nearly gone and no frames but I did find a couple of things which you'll see below. Next I stopped at Michael's. They barely had any Tim Holtz! Then back to my town with Hobby Lobby and Viola! I found them!

Those are the frames bottom left. I also bought the little elegant frame at top right. The dome and the bigger lighter frames are from Joanne's.

Here is the one used with the freebie....

Pretty but you have to be careful because they bend and the foil on top gets crimped.

Here's my piece....

It's turning out nice but I like the lighter look on the model picture. So I'll finish this one and FFO it into the frame but stitch another finding lighter colors and a bigger count fabric so I can get it into the little elegant frame up there with my purchases. I like the lighter colors better.

Okay, what else? That's it for the stitching.

An update on my finger....I'm getting feeling back! It's like all of the sudden it began tingling and moved up toward my nail. I'm glad. It's not feeling like a rubber appendage, haha, like before.

My family had a traditional Thanksgiving meal with a turkey breast and all the fixings and I haven't stopped eating yet! It's back to work tomorrow and that's probably a good thing!

I will be back on Sunday the 3rd for my Advent Calendar post with pictures and a subject to talk about. See you all there!

Take care and stitch a bunch!!