Its Saturday March 23, 2013

I don't have any pictures to share but my stitching news is that Autumn Cardinals is at the framers and I will be picking it up on Friday. I love the framer I use now.  His/their prices are affordable,
they have a great sale that runs all summer long and if you can believe it your framed piece is back to you in ONE week  Can't wait to see it framed.  I have even pulled out everything to start on Summer Cardinals.  I didn't think I would start another one so soon. I have LK's Jingles to start but I'm having a hard time getting a piece of fabric at a reasonable price.  I only need 9 inches wide but I need at least 27 inches long. I ordered one piece but when it came it was to yellow.  I also bought another piece yesterday but I have a brain skip. When I got home and checked the stitch count with the actual size of the fabric it was of course to short. I have more mushroom 28ct Luguna that I could open a shop of my own. Okay I really don't have that much.

The sun has been shining for a few days and that always makes me feel good.  I can hear lawnmowers on the block grooming the grass. Its still to cold outside for me at 44 degrees so I'm inside and I'm going to finishing stitching a little Saint Patrick's day design and then I think I'm going to start stitching Lovebird. Its a cute little cardinal sitting on a spool of thread. Maybe I will leave it to be framed when I pick up my Autumn Cardinals on Friday.

I hope you are all seeing a bit of spring, that your not living in the Midwest or East Coast where the foul weather is. Have a wonderful weekend whether you are pulling weeds in your yard or stitching in your warm cozy homes.

I'll share my finished piece next week.

Another UFO Update

I wonder if I will ever get this thing finished? I'm stuck  on the gold leaf in the top left hand corner. I have more berries to stitch and the rest of the basket then on to all the back stitching. When I started stitching this I didn't read the directions. Why should I it looked pretty cut and dry to me.  Well if I had of I would have known that this designer shows half stitches so you can see where the back stitching goes.  I've never ever seen that before.  I'm now going back as I find the half stitches and turning them into full x's! I'm looking forward to getting this finished and framed but I'm really burned out on it.  Did I mention that I have the other three seasons from this designer to stitch.  I really want to get them finished before we move back to California so all the frames match. I have almost 4 years to get the other 3 done.  I should be able to get it done.  I have so many charts to stitch that its crazy. 

 

Its been a good week since I started this update and I've made lots of progress.  I didn't make my personal deadline but so goes life.  I have very little to do before I start back stitching.  In fact the basket is done except for a little bit of the lighter brown. There's a gold leaf on the upper left that took me a full week to get done.  I just couldn't get the symbols right.  I finally decided to start at the top of that leaf and work down.  Changing colors every few stitches if I had to.  I finally got it. 

I've decided not to show anymore photos of this stitch until it is completely stitched and cleaned and pressed or until its framed.  We'll see!

Have a wonderful week and I hope you get to stitch as much as you like.

Sandy



Progress Report

 

Here's my progress as of yesterday (2/10/13). Its coming along but I feel like I'm spending all my time on this one chart. Oh wait I am! I have so many charts that I want to stitch.  I think about setting this aside to work on something new and then I won't let myself do that. I'd like to start on Santa's Village from Country Cottage Needlework but I can't even decide if I should stitch it as one picture or do each one separate and finish them as cubes so I can put them across the mantel at Christmas.

I stitched a Valentine chart in early January and haven't finished it into a cube for Valentine's Day yet either. Maybe I should go and do that now instead of hanging out on the computer!

 

Does anyone have any plans for Valentine's Day?  My husband is taking me to Frida's Gourmet Restaurant and then I'm taking him to see a movie that he wants to see. He asked me what I wanted for Valentine's day and its probably weird but I asked for cross stitch.  There's a chart I want to stitch so I will be getting the chart, fabric and embellishments to stitch it. I can't remember the exact name but I think its Bluebell Pixie. I've seen it stitched by several people and its just beautiful.

 

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!  Have a great week!

January UFO Report

 Sometime last year (September I think) I started stitching this chart. The chart is Autumn Cardinals #1903 by Imagnating.  I lost my place so finally gave up and put it away deciding to pick it back up this month.  Not a new years resolution because I don't make them any longer.

This is where I stopped today.  I'm not quite half finished.  Close I think.  I figure it will take me another month of stitching to finish it. I'll take it and have it framed when finished.  I also have 3 more charts that go with this one.  A spring, summer and winter chart.  All have birds and baskets.

This is my friends Chihuahua DeeDee. I'm watching her and the chi-weenie that we have both fostered.  The coke can is taped shut with dried beans or peas in it.  When the dogs get to barking I will shake the can to break there concentration.  I've also caught DeeDee sleeping in the pantry on a bag of plastic grocery bag tied shut.  She's pretty funny.

I was trying to put this final picture at the top as my second photo so you could see about where I began.  I actually didn't have any of the cardinal started. The little Chi in this picture is my first Belle!  She's a sweet little girl. . . . . .                            I'm also getting the yearly series of Santa's Village.  I cannot decide if I should stitch them all together as one picture or stitch them separate and finish them off as cubes.  I've only finished one cube but I sure like the way it turned out. So before I start that (I still need to buy fabric if I'm stitching them all together) I'll be thinking about it even longer.  I'm also doing the new Lizzie Kate series Jingle.  I'm going to stitch it as one picture.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .I hope we have a short winter this year.  The grey, gloomy, wet, cold weather is really getting to me this year.  Maybe because I know in 4 years we will be moving back to sunny California.  .  .  .  .  .  .  Hope you are all stitching and making great progress on your stitching projects.  Stay warm and safe.

 

 

2013 Christmas Ornament SAL

I was invited to join the 2013 Christmas Ornament SAL.  We stitch an ornament each month for ourselves.  Every other month we stitch whatever ornament we want and the other
months we have an assigned theme.  January was a free
month and since I didn't get any gingerbread men stitched this year.  That's why I picked this one.  I'm taking the pattern out of Cross Stitch Crazy December 2011which I got on eBay.  There are 7 different gingerbread men and women to choose from.  I think I'll stitch them all. 

I also started my second Valentine chart today.  I hope by the first of February to have at least one more stitched so I have a few for my mantel.  I like to decorate my mantel for different holidays.  I've always had things for Halloween,Thanksgiving and Christmas.  This year for January I have my snowmen up but they all seem to be the same size.  Its not like I don't have others to mix in!

Hoping everyone is having a great start to 2013.  We're almost half way through the month of January.  Why does the time have to fly by so fast?

Its A New Year - 2013

I can remember thinking 2000 was a long way off and now its 2013!  Where has the time gone.  Well for one thing I know I'm 13 years older.  I have 3 additional grand kids.  I really can't complain!    First picture is the first start and finish of 2013.  Okay it was a very fast stitch but it still counts.  This year I have signed up for several monthly series.  Lizzie Kate is one.  The second is from Blue Ribbon.  And the 3rd is Santa's Village.  I can't remember the name of the Blue Ribbon  series or the designer of Santa's Village.  I notice from the many yahoo groups I'm on that many stitchers make a list of the things they want to stitch in the new year.  And some stitchers start 13 or more new things, one each for a set amount of days.  I would just have a mountain of starts.  I just stitch what appeals to me at the time.  My only real goal is to finish 2013 without a bunch of UFO!!!

 

While at my sisters and daughters over Christmas it was fun to see all the things I've stitched and quilted over the years and given to them as gifts.  I didn't get any pictures from my sister's house but I did get a few from my daughters.  This is a Santa I stitched in the 1990's.  Its stitched on 8 count fabric.  I actually have a couple pieces left from the 90's.  If she would send it back to me I would refinish it better.  It has been stored for quite a long time in a box though.

Heather, my daughter collects penguins.  But only the ones she can display at Christmas.  I stitched this for her personally.  I'm not sure if she was married at the time or not.  I think the Santa above was stitched and she took it when I didn't have it out.  I'm sure I wasn't happy with the way it was finished. 

This is another chart that I stitched back in the 1990's sometime.  I hae another one similar to this one or I stitched it twice which isn't very likely.

I was invited to join the 2013 Ornament SAL this year.  It will be fun stitching some ornaments again.  I did stitch several this year but didn't get them finished into ornaments yet.  Now if I could just figure out how to get this moved over to the right side of my blog page.

For Christmas every year its either held at my house or my sisters in California.  This year we went to her house.  What a trip that was.  Our normal day and a half trip took us 3 long days.  I couldn't figure out why Cal Trans kept closing the roads.  If these people lived in South Dakota they would be in big trouble. 

Finish, Two Finishes and Some Shopping

 Thought I'd share this photo with you.  I stitched this back in the early '90's.  It was from a book that was published every year.  They had great projects and recipes in every issue.  Its stitched on paper Aida probably 14 count.  Its just sitting on my mantel right now.  I wish I could have gotten a better picture but the flash on my camera was giving me fits so it was close with a big flash blob or farther away.

These are my newest finishes.  I love the little mouse at the mail box.  I'm not sure who the designer is off hand.  It was in one of the magazines from Great Britain.  I'm not sure how I'm going to finish it but I think its going to be one of the boxes.  I found some really good instructions for finishing it and want to try it.

This is a UFO that I finished several months ago.  I started cross stitching in 1985. In 1986 my husband and I got married and we loved all the Mr and Mrs Claus charts that were available.  So every year I stitched a Mr and Mrs for our tree.  Then I started finding small kits (this one is 5X7).  I never finished it but kept it.  So now its completely done.  The frame is from Michale's.  Its stained reddish and works really well.  I bought 2 of them.  In all I purchased 8 small frames 5X7 and smaller.  It had a red plastic frame that was shaped like a house.  The shape was perfect but not so much the plastic.

 

On November 16th my husband took me over to The Northwest Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival.  It was over in Puyallup, Washington which also means a drive to close to Seattle for my liking.  I think this is all I bought from Bobbie G. Designs.  I was so excited to see a needlework booth.  I did check the vendor list online before we left to be sure.  Last time we took the 2 plus hour drive (one way) there wasn't a single needlework booth.  The Santa top left has buttons on Santa's beard.  I got 2 extra kits free.  So I chose 2 more of that one.  One for my sister and one for my sister in law.  It didn't come with the buttons for the beard so I went into my mom's old button jar and put some into little Ziploc bags for them.  I marked the bag so they knew where the buttons came from.  Since they both cross stitch I'm giving them as kits.  My Mom passed away on Christmas Eve 1997!  It was a bitter sweet Christmas.  I had a brand new granddaughter born 4 days after my Mom's birthday (December 10th) and then I lose my best friend.  It was a hard year - 1997.  My friend moved from Bakersfield, California to Reno, Nevada.  We were putting on a seminar for 200 plus women and she leaves me.  We did get the seminar done long distance.  The rest of the year is a blank until November.  My Grandmother Britain (Mom's Mom) passed away in November. That same week my precious Doxie Molly's back went out.  She was so sick until we were able to get her to Fountain Valley for back surgery.  I missed my grandma's service because we couldn't travel with Molly.  Six weeks later my Mom's was gone.  I was standing in the parking lot of the funeral home looking at my Aunts and trying to decided who I should feel sorry for.  Me because I lost my Mom and Grandmother in 6 weeks or my Aunts because they lost their Sister and Mother in 6 weeks.  Then my favorite cousin Larry came up to me and hugged me tight.  That really helped.  Some!!!

Wow - I'm sorry you all got to read that but it does seem to help.  So anyway these are the kits and charts I got.  I may have missed one or two.

 

We're heading to California this year for Christmas.  To my Sister's first for Christmas.  Then on the 26th we head down to Ventura to see our newest great niece Alana and her older sister McKayla.  We'll see my husband's sister and husband.  Then to the nursing home to visit my mother in law who has the final stages of dementia (sp).  And to top it off we'll be spending time with the couple who introduced Mike and I some 27 years ago this Month.  We've renewed that friendship last March.  Its so nice to be spending time with Jim and Kristi again.

 

I can't decide if I should put up a small tree and a few other things or not.  I was pretty excited about doing some decorating at Thanksgiving and now I'm not sure.  I still have time-I guess.