April/May Goals

April Goals

1. Finish all cross stitching on Woodland Faerie and start back stitching. Nope, didn't even come close.
2. Finish A Time For Everything-yep finished
3. Mail out mystery exchange-yep
4. Mail out Debbie, Jenna PIF gifts. Yes and no, both are finished and ready to mail.
5. Start Seasons in the Snow by Little River for the 4 Season SAL on the FGBB.Started and finished this one.
6. Start Griffin Kitten by X's and Oh's. yep started

May Goals

1. Work on Woodland Faerie.
2. Work on Griffin Kitten.
3. Start on The Brat
4. Find a new design and start for the 4 season SAL on the FGBB.
5. Kit up Fairy Roses.
6. Mail out last 2 PIF gifts.
7. Buy more stash!

I had a rather productive day today. I finished the finishing on the last PIF gift today. I will mail them out Wednesday before Mac's dental appointment. I pulled out Woodland Faerie to work on her but (sigh) I just can't get motivated to stitch on her so instead it was Griffin Kitten.

Thanks ya'll (yes in "real life" I actually use that word....a lot) for the wonderful comments on Seasons in the Snow!

Seas

I had a pretty good day today. There was a Gilmore Girls marathon today so I took advantage of it and vegged on Gilmore Girls and stitching. I have to say it was a rather productive day for me since I finished Seasons in the Snow. :D

I have finished the final snowman in Season in the Snow! In the picture he is missing his black eyes (and the mouths of all the snowmen) but I had to make a run into town and pick up some DMC 310 but he does have eyes now! :)



With all the snowmen finished and the back stitching done I am hoping to finish this piece sometime this week.

We have no plans for anything this weekend because all I am doing in taking it at easy as I can. While I didn't break my tailbone, I did fracture it. The doc says it probably would have been better if I had broke it but, well, that is my luck! While I am sure painkillers would help the pain that is just not an option for me. I am not allergic to painkillers but I am "sensitive" to them. Which means they won't kill me but instead make me throw up until my toes come out! So, it is hot bathes, hot pads, and ibuprofen for me. And yes, Jenna, I did break down and get a pillow to sit on:)

I want to share this picture of Mac. Friday his school had an award assembly and he was one of the lucky students to receive the high flier award for the benchmark tests. As you can tell from the picture he is just a little proud of himself.

Getting Better, Slowly

I want to thank everyone for the get well wishes for my rear end. I ended up not stitching yesterday (Gasp-I know!) but I could not sit comfortably to get in a good stitching groove.
Here is an example of the conversations around my house right now:

*All I am trying to do is sit down gently with as little pain as possible!

Mike(laughing): You know you look like you are 9 months pregnant trying to sit down.
Me(dryly):Funny
Mike is still laughing as I finally sit down
Me: Laugh it up, Fuzzball!

Allie had a choir concert at school last night so those nice hard benches didn't help much. It was a cool concert. There was a girl who did a solo, Life is a Highway, and let me tell you that little girl was awesome! I envy anyone that can sing...let's just say my singing doesn't even rate the shower! LOL. The only bad thing was the lighting was bad so I wasn't able to get a lot of good pictures.

Hopefully I will have some stitching progress pictures to post tonight! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

When it Rains it Pours

Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day with Billy Murray? If you have, you know exactly what kind of week I have been having! Last week my vehicle broke down and Mike broke his little toe. Yesterday, Mike's vehicle broke down (nothing major) and last night I busted my a-- on the back porch steps. All I was trying to do was help Mike out by taking the dog out to go to the bathroom. It was raining so the steps were slippery and I wasn't paying attention when I started down the steps. I slipped on the top step and bounced all the way down! Yeeouuchh!! I slowly made my way back into the house to wipe the dirt off of the back of my legs when I discovered what was on the back of my leg was the beginning of a very huge bruise! Of course, when I attempted to sit down that is when I realized how bad my butt hurt!

I had a terrible night of sleep because every time I moved my a-- and my leg let me know that they were there. So today I was pretty much ordered by Mike to stay on the couch all day. Which would have been good if I could have sit up to stitch! I did put a few stitches in Seasons in the Snow but after a while I had to give up and lay down.



I am hoping to finish the snowman tomorrow...if I can sit comfortably!

Cute Cube

I didn't get a lot of stitching done on SITS today at least not enough to take a picture. So, I will share a picture of a finish that I had done a while ago. The design is a Britty Kitty and I made it into a cube. I really love the fabric that I used. I was going to send this one as a PIF gift but I really fell in love with it so I am keeping it for myself. :)



Jean-The design with the snowmen is called Seasons in the Snow by Little River.

One Down and One to Go

I had a pretty good stitching day today. I finished the rest of the stitching on the last PIF piece today and I even got it finished. Whoo-hoo! Only one more PIF gift to go and I already have it stitched and waiting to be finished.

I heard today from Outi that my gift for the Mystery Exchange arrived safely. I had piece already done for her but for some reason I just wasn't happy with it so at the last minute I stopped by my LNS and I found the pattern Keep it Clean from Brittercup Designs and immediately I thought that Outi would like it. I stitched the "Clean" kitty but I omitted stitching the word on the fabric. The stitching gave me no problems but that wasn't the case with the finishing. I originally was going to make it into a tuck a pillow but I messed up and it became a wall hanging/ornament. Overall, I liked how it turned out.:)



Looks like tomorrow I will be working on SITS. I am hoping to finish the last snowman and at least start on the seasons names. Maybe, if I can get to the seasons names, I might even put a few stitches in Griffin Kitten.

I want to thank everyone that leaves comments for me. They really help me stay motivated and on task! So...Thank you!!

No pictures

Sorry no pictures tonight. I worked on PIF gifts today. I finished all the stitching on one piece and a little over half of the stitching on another piece. I still have the finishing to do on both pieces but I do have ideas for both finishings. Looks like I might have a finish or two this week. :)

Griffin Kitten/PIF

Today has been a pretty productive stitching day for me. I worked on Griffin Kitten and finished page one of the pattern. He is so adorable!



After that I worked on a PIF piece. I am about 50 percent done with the stitching. I have a couple ideas on how to finish it but like always I never am sure how to finish until I am doing the finishing. If there was one thing I would change about myself it would be to be able to plan a whole piece from stitching to finishing and actually follow the plan! I am hoping to have it all finished and ready to mail sometime this week.

Mystery Exchange

I went to the mailbox very hesitantly today since yesterday I recieved a letter from my biological father and let's just say it didn't help my week along. Anyways, today I braced myself for the worst and instead one piece of mail turned my whole week around! Inside my mailbox was a manilla envelope but when I looked at it I noticed there was no return address. Hmmm...how mysterious I thought.

When I opened the envolope I pulled out another envelopee marked for "My Mystery Exchange Partner" in very neat and pretty handwriting. I thought "wow, this is almost like my best friend's handwriting." Guess what....Renee did get me as her partner! How awesome is that?! As you can imagine, since she has known me for 20+ years, she picked out everything perfectly for me. :)



Here is what was in my exchange. The prettiest stitching bag. Renee, you do realize I have to hide it from Allie don't you? lol The inside fabric is a turqouse blue with very spring like colors. The goodies she sent me are the best too! She sent me some cute lady bug buttons..they are so adorable! She also sent me some needles. That brought a huge smile to my face since when she came for a visit from Germany she brought me some then. I only use #24 needles (except when beading) because I have a tendancy to snap the eye of the needles. I think I just grip it to tight and of course when I am stressing that is when they seem to snap and go flying across the room. But the fabric was the best of the goodies! I am proud to say I own one of Renee's personally dyed fabrics! She calls it Celery Dream. I remember when she dyed it and I thought it was an awesome color. I have to forewarn everyone...this fabric will be used for me!!



Here is a close up of the pattern. It is very me! She made some minor adjustments to make it for me. She changed the Angel's hair from black to brown and since neither of us drinks tea so she opted for coco.


I was going to post my progress on Griffin Kitten but I think this exchange deserves a post all of it's own. I will post a picture tomorrow!

Have a wonderful weekend!

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ was suggested Danielle and is:

Are you on "The Wagon?" If so, how long have you been on and how"serious" are you about it? If not, have you considered it?

Nope, I am not on the wagon. I have a considerable amount of stash but it is kind a like clothes....when you look for something you can't find anything at all! LOL I am a firm believer one can not have too much stash! Of course, sometimes the budget just doesn't allow for that belief to work so at those times I guess I would be on the wagon. :)

I worked on Griffin last night but I will post a picture later as I am going to work on it for awhile today.

True Color

I got a lot stitched on Griffin Kitten today. :) At first it didn't start out to well because I stitched for about 40 minutes and then realized I had used the wrong color! I was supposed to be stitching with DMC 677 and instead I had used Ecru. After I fixed that problem I didn't have any problems with it today.

I took this picture outside today so you can get a good idea of the true color of the fabric.



I am not sure what I am going to stitch tomorrow. The Brat is in my rotation and I have the fabric but I still need to get the Kreiniks. So instead of trying to stitch around the metallics I think I will just wait until I get them before I start it. Maybe I will work on a PIF gift. I have the patterns picked out (finally!) and ready to stitch. Who knows..lol...just have to see what screams at me tomorrow. :)

Summer Snowman Done

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, I do hope my week gets better!

I worked on Seasons in the snow today. I finished the summer snowman and I started on the fall snowman. Unfortunately, I ran out of white so now I have to make a run into town...probably this weekend.... *sigh* having one running vehicle sucks!



Tomorrow I will be working on Griffin Kitten. This pattern was another one of my clearance purchases that I couldn't resist. Who wouldn't?....I paid 58 cents for the pattern!! I admit, I am a clearance sale shop-a-holic. :)

A Not So Good Week

***ranting session***

It has NOT been a very kind week to me. It started off last evening when Mike accidentally dropped a package of frozen hamburger on his foot. It broke his little toe on his left foot! The toe swelled up and turned black right away. It was gross looking! So he didn't go to work today since he spends all day on his feet. I went to bed last night with the thought that tomorrow is a new day and things will be better. Boy was I ever wrong!

This morning I drove my van up to my friend's house which is less than a mile away and shut it off. A little while later when we went to leave I put the key in the ignition and turned it. It wouldn't start which is strange because it is a brand new battery. So Mike went home and got his car and came back to jump start the van. After about 20 minutes the van started and I was happy for a tiny second when I noticed white smoke (LOTS of white smoke) coming out of the exhaust. This was not a good thing to see.

In less than 24 hours time my husband broke his toe and I broke the van. I think we have set a new record, even for our house!

***end of ranting***

I did try to stitch on WF today but after about 20 minutes I decided that I couldn't keep my concentration on stitching so I put her away. I even tried to work on SITS but that didn't work either. However, there was a bright spot in my stitching day when the mail arrived. I had received a gift certificate from a friend and I used it last week. I was amazed at how fast my order from Down Sunshine Lane arrived!

Waiting for Ships is on the left and Fairy Roses is on the right. I think Fairy Roses will fit nicely into my Friday spot.

Fast Start & Finish

The weekend went by to fast for me! I stopped by my LNS and I found a pattern I thought the person I am stitching for in the Mystery Exchange would like so I picked it up and started stitching on it right away last night. I finished the stitching up late this afternoon and started on the finishing. For some reason I was having a hard time getting this one put together. I don't know why either! Probably because I knew I needed to have it mailed tomorrow. Anyways, the finishing turned out okay so later tonight I will package it all up and mail it off tomorrow. I really hope ???? likes it!

I have been putting in a few stitches here and there on SITS. He looks kind of funny without a head.




Tomorrow I am going to work on Woodland Faerie. It has been a while since I worked on her and I feel like I need to put some time in on her. There are a lot of blends and half stitches in this pattern and while it makes it looks awesome but at the same time it makes my head hurt..lol!

Daily Rotation

I'm sorry I haven't posted in the past few days but I have been busy spring cleaning my house. Every piece of furniture has been moved and vacuumed or swept under it. I really need to check under the couch more often because I found 5 of Zoey's toy there! Zoey was in kitty heaven because she thought I bought her new toys...silly cat!

I have my Mystery exchange for the RN done and ready to mail. I just hope the person likes it. Our stitching tastes are slightly different so I was having a hard time picking out a pattern. I tried to find something that I could work both of our tastes into a piece. I think I did. Out of all my exchanges this one has been the hardest for me!

I have decided to go back to a daily rotation. I just haven't figured out what patterns to stitch!

Sunday/Saturdays-are my choice or exchanges/PIF/RR's/etc,

Monday-TW Sal on the FGBB(currently Woodland Faerie)
Tuesday-4 Season SAL on the FGBB(currently Seasons in the Snow)
Wednesday-Griffn Kitten(currently working on)
Thursday-The Brat( still have some Kreinik and Wisper threads to get)
Friday-

I am not sure when I will officially start it because I still have some things to pick up for The Brat and I still have to pick something out for Fridays. I think it will work great for me. I didn't realize before how much more I got accomplished with have a set routine.

Have a great weekend!

I started off stitching on SITS. I finished up the hat and I was going to continue on to the next snowman but I decided to start Griffin Kitten instead.



It's not much of a start but that cream blob is part of the wing.



It will eventually look like this:

Baby Snowman

I wouldn't say it rained today but more like it misted all day. That was still okay since it kept the kiddos inside to play today. I managed to get quite a bit done today. All I have left to do is finish the hat on the winter snowman. I think the baby snowman is adorable!



With Easter done and over with I now can focus on the next holiday which is....Mother's Day. They only present I ask for and it is the same every year is to get a whole day where I don't have to do anything (errands, cooking, etc) and I don't have to have to referee arguments. It usually doesn't happen but it is still a nice thought. :)

348 Stitches

That sounds like a lot of stitches, right? Okay now look at my progress on the winter snowman. All that white is exactly 348 full cross stitches! Makes me wonder exactly how many stitches I put in a large piece!



I hope that everyone had a good Easter Weekend. We had a good time and ate too much food! However, this morning I woke up to Krissy being sick. She had a sore throat and a pretty bad headache. The strange thing was she had a rash under her arms this morning. This had me concerned because Krissy usually doesn't have sensitive skin so I made an appointment to see the doctor.

The headache and sore throat were just from allergies so she now has allergy medicine to take. She had been on it before but had been taken off of it around the time she had to stay in the hospital last year. Now the answer for the rash shocked both of us! Krissy had a staph infection! Krissy freaked out when the doctor. told us because she had a real close friend who had to stay in the hospital for four months for staph infection of the bone. After he explained that her wasn't THAT serious now but it could be if left untreated she calmed down. Me, on the other hand, being the mother asked.....How? and Where? Of course, there are no answers other than it could have been anything. I just hate those answers!

Tomorrow looks like it could be a good stitching day for me. It is supposed to rain and there is nothing better to do on a rainy day than curl up and stitch.

What A Day!

It has been a long day and and no stitching for me today. My day started off with grocery shopping with the kids. I came out more frustrated and with only about half of what I needed! Then we went and picked up a couple of the girls' friends and went and visited my FIL. We had a nice visit and the kids had a blast in the hot tub. We got back to the house in time for me to get it cleaned before Mike got home from work. Of course while cleaning, the girls asked if their friends could spend the night. Mike was in a good mood when he got home so the answer was yes to the sleep over.

Their friends don't live too far from us so we drove back to their house so they could get their overnight stuff. Somehow by the time we were ready to head back to my house Krissy and 2 of the friends decided to stay at the friends' house tonight. So Allie, her friend, and I headed back to the house when I hit a bird with my van. I swear, that bird came out of no where and what was worse was both 12 year old girls saw it too. Luckily, it just hit the front bumper of the van and I was able to keep it on the road. However not even 20 seconds later three deer jumped out in front of the van. Let's just say my brakes work excellent and so did the driver's behind me! After my heart slowly went back to it's normal spot I politely told the girls that once my van was parked tonight it was not going anywhere else tonight.

The evening did get better as we dyed Easter Eggs. It was kind of bittersweet for me since this year my youngest informed me he doesn't believe in the Easter bunny. We had a blast coloring the eggs and Zoey even tried to help a few times. Luckily we were able to keep her from coloring her paws pink!

Holiday Weekend

It looks like it is going to be a busy weekend for me. Mike has to work overtime tomorrow and I have to take the kids down to FIL's because it is his birthday. We are also going to visit on Sunday for Easter. Good thing it is only 1/2 hour trip to his house. Hopefully somewhere amongst all the chaos I hope to find some stitching time.



Today I worked on Seasons in the Snow (SITS) again today. My efforts resulted in a full snowman. Isn't he adorable?


Have a great Easter weekend!!

Okay, what is it with the weather?! It was warm, sunny and in the 80's just 2 days ago and now it is cold, rainy, and it is mixed with snow! Crazy!!



I worked on the little snowman again today. He is so cute! I know I should be working on Woodland Faerie but she isn't calling me right now even as close as I am to getting her finished.

A New Start

It was a relaxing day for me today. I started a new piece today called Seasons in the Snow by Little River. Aren't the snowmen cute?!




I am stitching it on some 32 count linen that I hand dyed blue. Funny thing about the fabric is the next couple of projects needed blue fabric but I dyed each piece individually. If I had been paying attention I would have only had to dye fabric once instead of three times!

A Time For Everything

I said I would have a finish this week and true to my word I have one tonight. :D I put the last back stitch in A Time For Everything around 8 pm and nearly tackled Mike because I was so happy to have it finished! Poor man didn't even see it coming...lol. Seriously, I adore this piece. I think the crows are so cute!



It feels awesome to have a happy dance tonight! And to put the cherry on top of it, I have the day off so I can start a new pattern. Although I wish it were under different circumstances, Sissy(the little girl I watch), has to have some dental work done so her mom has to take her in for outpatient work. Big hugs to you Sissy! Anyways back to new patterns, I have decided to stitch Seasons in the Snow by Little River next for the 4-seasons Sal on the FGBB. The 4 snowmen are just too cute! I will be stitching it on some fabric that I dyed blue.

Have a Great Night Everyone!!

So Close!

I worked on A Time For Everything today and I got a good bit done today. I made enough progress that I think I will be able to finish it tomorrow so I have decided to keep you in suspense until it is finished. :) I am so close to getting it done!!

It was a pretty lazy day around here today. I actually took a nap! I really must have been tired because I slept for three hours! I did manage to squeeze in a couple hours to work on A Time For Everything. I am hoping to finish this one this week!



It looks like it is going to be a busy week for me. Krissy has practice every day after school this week for Pom tryouts. The actually tryouts will be held this Friday but it won't be till later that night before the list of the new Pom squad will be posted. I have a feeling that is going to be a long night!