Last Post of 2005

It is hard to believe that it is New Year's Eve already! Where did the year go? I am not one to make a list of resolutions for the New Year mainly because I usually end up not sticking with them!

Since I am here posting it is obvious that we aren't going out to celebrate New Year's. We are both firm believers that this day in particular we don't need to be out on the road. My main reason is when I was 5 months pregnant ( 6 weeks before he was born) I was hit in the rear end of my car by a 16 year old girl that was drunk. I had my 2 girls with me who were 3 and 4 at the time. Luckily, all of were fine but ever since that incident I am more than content to stay at home on this particular day!

So since I haven't had to go anywhere today I have been stitching away! This will be the last progress picture of 2005. Since the last time I posted I stitched the letters C, H, and M. 6 more letter to go! Whoo-hoo!

Tomorrow is the official start of my new rotation! On Sundays I will be working on exchanges, RR, or what ever I want! I need to choose designs for the Birthday Exchange and the Lottery Exchange. So I probably will spend most of the afternoon looking at my patterns to see if something calls out to me. I also need to go straighten up my craft corner sometime tomorrow too!

Happy New Year's to all!!

2006 Plans

I have been thinking about my goals for 2006. I don't know if you could even call them goals but more of a stitching plan. So here is my plan for the year!

WIP's To Finish:
1. Finish Unicorn and Fairy Magic
2. Finish ABC Bears
3. Finish The Fortunate Traveler-start 1/4

New Patterns:
1. Woodland Faerie-start 1/2
2. A Time For Everything-start 1/3
3. Deepest Love-start 1/5
4. Herbs & Spices-start 1/6
5. Dragon Lake
6. The Legends of the Dragons
7. 4 Seasons Dragons


Round Robin Squares
1. Cathy-post 3/1
2. Renee-post 5/1
3. Nicki-post 3/15
4. Laurie-post 5/15

Exchanges
1. Melissa-birthday-post 2/15
2. Cathymk-Birthday-post 3/15
3. Renee-birthday-post 5/15
4. Lottery-post 3/1

Adopted Stitcher Care Package
1. Spring
2. Summer
3. Autumn
4. Winter

Christmas Ornaments for Family
1. Dawn
2. Mike
3. Krissy
4. Allie
5. Mac
6. Jerry
7. Mom
8. John

2005 Recap of Finishes

Here is my list for the year:

Gingerbread Boy (scissor pocket) gift
Boo (tuck pillow) gift
Checkers (treat bag) gift
Christmas Spider(ornament) gift
Snow White (pillow) gift
November Cherub (framed) Kept this one for me!
Unicorn (ornament) My ornament
Insects (floor pillow) Mac pillow
International Buffet (WTF)
Season Greetings (cube) gift
Giant (ornament)gift
Pegasus (ornament) Krissy Ornament
Snowman (pillow tuck) gift
Dragon (ornament) Mike Ornament
Let There Be Light (door hanger) gift
Christmas Tree (ornament) gift
Mermaid (ornament) Allie Ornament
Dove (ornament) Kept this one for me!
Halo, and Merry Christmas (wall hanging) Kept this one for me!
Cats in Flowers ( wall hanging) gift
May Your Sorrows (wall hanging) gift
Phoenix (ornament) Mac Ornament

Round Robin Squares
Fire Dragon
Cats in Hats
Bunny 2000
Autumn Tree
Autumn Chair

Exchanges
Happy Jack (pillow)
Joy (cube)

29 design finishes for the year. That not too bad since I finished 23 out of the 29 into something. Out of those six that weren't finished 5 of them were for RR, so I actually only have one piece this year going into the WTF pile! That was major accomplishment for me this year!

SBQ of the Week

This week's SBQ was suggested by Nancy and is:

How do you balance your stitching time with your other obligations such as work, household chores, etc.?

For me stitching is a way to unwind, relax, and be "me". A normal day for me starts out with getting the kids off to school. When they are all gone is when I clean the house without the fear of cleaning a room and looking back to see the kids have already destroyed it. After the house is clean I head off to work. I am lucky enough to be able to do my stitching while I am at work! When I leave work is when I do my shopping and errands for the house and then it is time for the kids to be coming home from school. Our evenings are pretty normal....homework, supper, bathes, and bed. After all that is when I finally get to sit down and stitch. On an average I would say I stitch anywhere from 3-4 hours a night. There have been nights when I have stayed up till 3 am stitching!

December/January Goals

December Goals:
1. Start and finish Renee's RR fabric.
**Finished and ready to mail to Laurie
2. Mail Jo's RR fabric to Renee.
**Done 12/13
3. Mail SB Lottery Exchange to the lucky winner.
**Mailed 12/5
4 Finish my Mom's birthday present and mail.
**finished and mailed 12/5
5. Finish Christmas presents to family and friends.
**Last one finished 12/24
6. Finish Unicorn and Fairy Magic. (if the beads arrive in time)
**Still waiting
7. Work on ABC Bears.
**Finished 4 letters!! Only 9 left to go!
8. Work on Fortunate Traveler.
**I worked on this one for a couple of hours but not as much as I would have liked to have stitched.
9 Start on Melissa's present for the SB Birthday Exchange.
**I have been looking for a pattern but nothing has jumped out at me yet.
10 Dye fabric for Woodland Faerie SAL in Jan.
**Yep, dyed one solid yellow and one a tie dyed.

January Goals
1. Start TW Woodland Faerie SAL with Christine D.
2. Start A Time For Everything SAL with Becky.
3. Work on Fortunate Traveler.
4. Start Mirabilia's Deepest Love
5. Start Herbs & Spices
6. Start/finish Melissa's present.
7. Start on Cathy's RR fabric
8. Start on Lottery Exchange
9. Mail Renee's RR fabric to Laurie.
10. Start on Adopt A Stitcher package.
11. Start on Nicki's RR fabric.
12. Work on ABC Bears
13. Finish my afghan.

A lot of new starts this month!

Now that Christmas is over with maybe my house can get back into a normal routine. Our day went pretty good. The kids were thrilled with their presents and played all day long and I got to stitch. I finished the letters Q, L, and most of G on ABC Bears. Only 9 more letters to go! Like I have said before I am in no big hurry to get this one finished as it is more of a learning pattern for me. Tons and tons of french knots to make.

Sunday I get to start my new rotation. Sunday is for working on RR's/exchanges. I am caught up on my RR's so I will be working on exchanges. I have several that are going to be due at that same time. That itself kind of freaks me out but I know I can get it done. The first thing that is due is for the Birthday Exchange for Melissa. I have been thinking about what to do for her but I haven't come up with the "perfect" idea yet but with the holidays I haven't had a lot of time to think!

Later today we will be taking our tree down. I am happy to say that the kitties and my dog did better this year with the tree. We only had about 10 ornaments get broke which is a lot less than the year before!

Merry Christmas to All!

I have been sick with a head and chest cold so I managed to let things pile up to the last minute. (again!) I had all the main shopping done so all I had to pick up were the stocking gifts. The worst part of the trip was the downpouring rain! I got so drenched and it was cold rain, too!

At least I was able to get warmed up with the cookie baking we did tonight. We always bake a batch of cookies after dinner to eat and to leave some for Santa. Warm cookies and glass of milk are my favorite! :D The kids are getting ready for bed now so hopefully in the next few hours I will be able to finish up the last little bit of wrapping and then I can finally collapse in my bed and sleep.

Christmas Day for us is pretty relaxed. The kids wake us up to open gifts. We take turns opening gifts from the youngest to the oldest. The kids usually head off to play with their toys and try on their clothes while I clean up the wrapping mess and Mike cooks breakfast. After breakfast the kids usually head outside to show their stuff off to their friends. Mike will head to his computer to play with his new games and I will be left to prepare our Christmas Dinner. Our Christmas dinner is odd. We don't do turkey or ham instead we eat lasgne. We like turkey and ham but we eat enough at Thanksgiving that we don't want any at Christmas time so we started our own little tradition. We will have lasagne, cheese bread, veggie/dip, cheese/meat/cracker tray, and assorted sweets. After our dinner is when I get to really relax and do what I want to do. (stitch, of course! )

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Halo, and Merry Christmas

I woke up this morning feeling like crap so I knew I wasn't going to accomplish much today which I haven't. I did decide to work on the WTF pile. I pulled out this cute freebie from Gloria & Pat that I stitched sometime last year. I used Isabelle's wall hanging tutorial to finish it and I have to say she did a great job with the tutorial! Thank you, Isabelle!!

A Dove

I finished this little dove this morning. The dove is from Heart in Hand's Holiday Trimmings II. I stitched it on 28 ct evenweave fabric.

I would have had the dove finished yesterday evening but I messed up on the finishing and had to rip out all that I had stitched. I didn't have the patience to rip out all that I had done last evening so I worked on the letter Q in ABC Bears. Only 12 more letter to go!

Since my new rotation will start in 10 days I have no set plan on what I will be working on in the next few days. I know that I will be working on ABC Bears and some small pieces. I was going to work on Collecting Shells but the more that I look at it, the more I really don't like the tan fabric mostly because it blends it too well with the design. I will probably end up restitching it on some white fabric.

Thank You, Jenna!

See what the postal lady brought me today in the mail :D

This is an ornament from Jenna. I was one of the lucky recipients of her wonderful ornaments. I love it! Mike was joking with me and told me I was going to have to buy another tree just for my ornaments. It isn't a bad idea but I don't have the room or patience with my cats to deal with two trees!

Jenna-You really did an excellent job with this ornament. I will always treasure it! Thank you a million times. :)

I finished up the last of my ornaments last night. Actually I have had these stitched for awhile but I was waiting on the exact color of Kreinik to arrive. As my luck runs, the Kreinik still isn't in so I used what I had closest to the color given. They didn't turn out too bad. I am to lazy to post a picture of them tonight but you can use the J.L. Aikman-Smith Ornies link to the left to see them.

I have pretty much finished all of my stitching for 2005. I didn't do too bad this year. I didn't get as many large pieces done as I would have liked but that is why I am trying a new rotation. I did get a lot of small pieces done and even got some of them finished. I will be ending the year with 1 UFO (Collecting Shells), 2 WIP(ABC Bears and Fortunate Traveler, and way too many to count WTF's. Overall not too bad but I do need to work on the WTF pile more in 2006!

Fringed Ornament

Late last night I finished the stitching on this cute Christmas tree. The pattern is a freebie from Janlynn. I stitched it on 28 count evenweave that is dyed golden yellow. I used glittery gold ribbon for the hanging loop. I really like how this turned out! This is the second to last ornament I have to finish for Christmas.

I still have one last ornament to finish this week. It is for Allie. I have one almost done but no word from the craft store and I have been way too busy to make a trip for one small thing. So I will just make her a complete new one. I have everything ready so I will probably start on it later today.

A Little Knock

This morning there was a tiny little knock on my front door followed by a voice saying "Dawn, In!" I immediately recognized Dayzia's little voice and opened the door up to greet her but instead she greeted me with a Christmas present. Inside was this adorable pillow that her mom, Nancy, made for me. She did a wonderful job and I love it! She also gave me a bunch of chocolate which Dayzia was quick to point out to me.


As you can tell the morning went well for me and got even better after I got home from buying groceries!

Birthday Exchange

This afternoon I had to go grocery shopping but when I got home I found a package waiting for me! It is from Melissa for the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Exchange. The stitched piece is beautiful. Sorry for some reason I couldn't get a good close up shot of it today. The blues and greens are so pretty but then again green is my favorite color. She sent me some lovely goodies too. I love the Lilac Ice fabric but then again the apricot is running pretty close! LOL I love the threads and can't wait to use them!

Thank you so very much Melissa! I love all of it!

Class Party

Mac's class party was a success or at least a success to a second grader. The first thing they did was eat! We had a breakfast buffet set up for them. We had sausage biscuits, bagels with cream cheese, blueberry muffins, glazed donuts, chocolate iced donuts, apple juice, orange juice, and chocolate milk. They were stuffed. After we cleaned up the plates and cups we watched part of The Polar Express. Then the kids opened their goody bags which were full of candy. We stayed long enough to watch the teachers to open their presents. I might add that both of Mac's teachers loved their gifts.

Here is the class Christmas tree. The kids each made a little reindeer ornament and Mac's is safely on our tree at the house.

As you can tell we were having fun! :) Mac's teacher took this picture of us.

2006 Rotation Schedule

Sundays--------Exchanges/RR's/Choice
Mondays-------Woodland Faerie (TW SAL)
Tuesdays-------A Time For Everything (4 season SAL)
Wednesdays----Fortunate Traveler (TW SAL)
Thursdays------Deepest Love (Mir SAL)
Fridays---------Herbs and Spices (Magazine SAL)
Saturdays------ Exchanges/RR's/Choice

Work M-F-Crochet Afghans

Whew, I think I have come up with a rotation that I am going to like and enjoy! I am doing 5 SAL's but they are all patterns that I have wanted to stitch and just haven't gotten around to doing. I can't wait to get started!

Almost Halfway There

It looks like I will be setting my crocheting aside for the rest of the week and do some stitching! I have crocheted 40 rows so it is about 40 percent done. It is so soft and warm!


This week is going by so fast! I have to go to Allie's class party tomorrow morning. I am still not for sure if I am going to the party or not. She has a school party on Friday that she wants me to come and help with that one, too. I know for sure Friday morning I have to go to Mac's class and help with the "breakfast party". On top of that I am pretty sure there will be at least 2 extra kids here Friday night or Saturday night.

Door Hanging

Yesterday was one of those days I should have just stayed in bed. Krissy called home sick from school and then was upset with me for making her take cough medicine. Mac got into some trouble on the bus and then handed me a note from his reading teacher telling me his grade is a C but he could do better if he paid more attention. I already know this lady! I spend an hour each night fighting with him to have him read to me for 20 minutes. He knows how to read and does well but he hates to read.

After all the ruckus of the evening died down I decided to work on finishing another present for Mac's teacher aide, Mrs. H. I have had this little guy in my WTF pile for a long time. I stitched it on 14 count Oatmeal aida cloth and made it into a door hanging. With this one finished I am done with all the teachers presents for this year and just in time too!

Help Please!

I am not for sure how many of you out there crochet but I have encountered a problem I have been trying to figure out for awhile and maybe one of you can help me out. My daughter Krissy has been after me to teach her to crochet. She is left handed and I am right handed. This is our problem. I don't know how to hold the needle and yarn for a left handed person. I have tried what usually works for us by sitting in front of her and matching her hands to mine but for some reason it is not working for us this time.

If anyone knows of a link to a picture on how to hold the yarn and needle for a left handed person I would great appreciate it. :)

Afghan Progress

It was pretty much a normal weekend for us. The kids has friends spend the night last night so it was night of DVD's and the playstation. Of course that means they were a little cranky today. I did manage to get some crocheting done this afternoon. I changed my mind about this being a blanket for my dog. I am keeping this one for myself! The finished size will be 49 inches wide by 63 inched long. Perfect for covering up while stitching! :)


This week is going to go by too fast for me. The kids get out for winter break Friday at noon and last until Jan 2. 2006. Which means my normal schedule is going to be way out of whack!

No Stitching

I managed to stitch one more letter up last night so that makes me at the halfway point of ABC Bears. Yeah! However today I didn't do any stitching but I did do some crocheting. I haven't crocheted in a long time but for the past month I have been wanting to start something. I tend to do my crocheting in the winter time.

Since it has been since last winter since I did anything I figured I would start off with something easy. I have decided to make a blanket for my dog's bed. She has one now that is pretty worn and it needs to be replaced anyways. I am doing a simple wave design of three colors. I am using Red Heart Worsted yarn and the colors are Light Fuchsia, Dark Orchid, and Plum Pudding. I really like these colors and if it turns out I am gong to make an afghan for me with them. I only got 3 rows done this afternoon so there isn't much to show yet. I would have had more done but I was helping Allie with learning how to make a chain.

I'm Being Fair

This hasn't been a good week for stitching for me. I have only gotten one letter done on ABC Bears and nothing else. Last night we attended Krissy's first band performance. It turned out pretty good although I had to sit on the floor just to get some pictures. This performance was put on by the band and music class which Krissy is in both. So not only did she play the clarinet but she played the recorder and did a little dance. The pictures turned out a little dark ( I think my batteries are low) but I had to post about it to be fair with Allie's ornament.

Chiara-I started teaching both of my girls around 8 years (Allie is 10 now) old but I started them off with plastic canvas and a plastic needle. Once they got the hang of that is when I let them use a real needle and Aida.

I want to thank everyone for their compliments on Allie's HD. They really made her feel great about her stitching. So much that she has already started working on another project. She has already decided who it is for and that person is pretty special to her.

Krissy is second from the right

Allie's 1st HD

This past summer Allie finished her first cross stitch piece and tonight she finished into a little ornament for her student teacher. I did not help her at all with this piece. She did it all herself from the stitching to the sewing. I am so proud of her! :) I don't know who is more excited about it her or me.

My Babies

As you can see my babies are waiting patiently for me to get off the computer and play with them. My dog, Girly, thinks that the kitten is her baby!

The little kitten has grown quite a bit over the last couple of weeks! She is definitely a feisty kitty. For some reason she loves to try to take my wedding band off of my hand all the time.

SBQ of the week

Today's "Stitching Blogger's Question" was suggested by Zohrah and is:

Have you done any charity stitching, been in one, or would like to organize one?

I have never participated in charity stitching. I have thought about it before but that is as far as I have gotten.

Today got even better! When I got the mail today there was a package in it for me! Whoo-hoo! Yippie! Cathy's present for the birthday exchange finally arrived. I must say the wait was well worth it! First of all I was (and still am!) speechless with what Cathy made for me. She stitched the design Imagination Creation by Dragon Dreams and turned it into a flat fold. It is beautiful!!

That wasn't the only thing in my package either! She sent me the chart for Legends of the Dragons by Karen Weaver, Jennifer Aikman-Smith,and Teresa Wentzler. I am on stitching cloud number nine! Cathy also sent me a small square of hand dyed 32 count New Dawn Lugana from Kiwi Illusions. It is such a pretty color! I love all my goodies!!



Thank you a million times, Cathy, I love them all!!

For being a Monday I have gotten several things accomplished. I might add that it is a Monday with Mike and Krissy home sick. Ughh! I have managed (so far) to get the house cleaned up, a load of laundry done, mailed a couple of packages out, and made some cupcakes for the kids for a snack for after school. Watch out I am on a roll. LOL!

With all that done I can devote the rest of the day to stitching! Today I am going to work on ABC Bears. I took a quick picture of it this morning since I haven't worked on it since I got my new camera. :) I am thinking about turning it into a wall hanging when it is finished. I have no real plans for this one since I am mainly stitching this one to make myself learn to do french knots better. This pattern is covered in french knots so if I don't master it by the end of the pattern then I never will.



On Friday I bought a new pattern for my stash. It is Dragon Lake by Black Swan Designs. I can't wait to start this one but NO new big patterns until after the first of the year for me. I had a rotation schedule that I had planned out but the more that I think about it I am not sure if it is going to work for me. I was going to work on one piece each day but my problem with that is I don't feel like I have made enough progress to set it aside. I will figure something out that works for me...eventually.

Snowman Ready to Go

We didn't do anything today as Krissy had a "boyfriend" over at the house so I pretty much sat in the front room with them while they were watching a movie and I was able to get some things finished! I finished my mom's birthday present today! I sewed him up into a little tuck pillow. I really like how it turned out. I stitched him on 28 count evenweave that I dyed royal blue.

Here is the back.

Another Ornament Done

I finished this little dragon ornament for Mac late last night.

A Normal Day

Today was a pretty normal day for me, actually a little on the quiet side so far. I got off work, went and cashed my check and headed to the LNS. I have come to the conclusion that the postal service does not like me in any way! First of all, Cathy's package to me has been missing for about 5-6 weeks now and on top of that my order hasn't arrived at the LNS yet! ( Which was ordered about 2 months ago!) So instead of coming home with beads I came home with some fabric to dye, a new pattern, and some ribbon.

I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing these little ornaments. The Giant is for Mike and the Pegasus is for Krissy. Both are freebies from Dragon Dreams


Tonight I will be finishing the stitching on the Dragon for Mac. I have the Mermaid almost finished, however, that is one of the things on order! GRR!