{Stitch from Stash} September Update

Hi everyone!  Are you as excited as I am that it is fall?  I love Autumn!!  I like to stitch and watch/listen to football games.  I like the pretty leaves and the beautiful colors.  And I like that Christmas is almost here!!! :)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Stitch from Stash month.  This has been so fun for me so far.  I enjoy seeing all the projects we are pulling from our stashes, and I'm enjoying making a dent in my own!  Here's my update this month - and sorry if the pictures aren't that great... The lighting didn't seem to catch them right this morning!

I stitched another column on The Nativity.  I'm at 5% now!!! WooHoo!

I finished the chart I picked up at Cecilia's Sampler this spring... Lizzie Kate's Thankful String.  I stitched it on 16 count sparkly fabric.  LOVE the sparkle, but working with it made my hands itch, so I glad that I was only doing a little piece. :)

Finished a little PS design for a gift...

Finished a Sheep Virtue (I'm not doing the border on this one...).  I'd like to make it into a bag for a Christmas gift.

Finished a sweet ME doggy ornament....

And worked some more on the toe of the Stoney Creek Stocking.

Here's my accounting for the month...

I started with a balance of $98.98 + September's allowance of $25.00 = $123.98

I looked at a couple of charts over and over again, but I didn't buy them, so all I spent was $0.47 on a skein of DMC floss.  So my balance forward is $123.51.

Want to see some of my "almost boughts"?

Imaginating Harvest Light

Imaginating Got Snow Reindeer

I'm sure I'll get both of them eventually... I just can't decide which one to stitch first.  I love the colors on the first one, and I just love the cute expressions on the reindeers' faces in the second one!

 Happy FALL!!

Tricia

The Joys of January

I am loving this Stitch from Stash challenge!  For some reason it is really motivating me and I have three small finishes - wait, FOUR finishes since last we spoke - two were WIP's and two new starts.

First, my valentine exchange ...

OOPS!  I can't show you that!  But I can show you the one I received from Joyce.  She made me such a pretty hand towel and sent a handmade card and some silk floss as a sweet extra since my allergies made the other "extra" options not such good choices. : )

After I finished Mitten Friends, I pulled out a sweet Margaret Sherry ornament that Mouse had sent me two years ago.  I made a promise to myself that I would never again do a MS piece on aida.  That backstitching is a killer!

BTW, please excuse my pictures today.  I couldn't get good lighting no matter how hard I tried!

Next I started LHN Sheep Virtues "Patience"...

Just pretend it isn't shaky...  It's really pretty! : )

Then I pulled out a sweet LHN ornament - Good Tidings that I had won when Vicki was doing a blog giveaway last year.  Thanks Vicki!!

Last night I pulled out another UFO - WIP that I started a few years ago during the January Crazy Challenge - Dimensions "Heart and Soul".  Maybe I can finish this by the end of February, or maybe even by the end of the Super Bowl... who knows!! :)

Now a note to some dear sweet stitching angel who sent me this pattern off my wish list and didn't give her name....

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

It was my favorite of the patterns I listed and I am SO excited to stitch this!  I'm going to put it in my "to do soon" basket and use some of my budgeted $$ to kit it up sometime this year when I have the urge to spend.

That was SO sweet of you to do for me.  You really, really were an encouragement to me today, and I thank God for you!!!!!! 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I always read and enjoy your comments, even when I don't respond.  I appreciate each and every one of you!

Happy Stitching!

Tricia

One More Ornimentification

Whew!  I realized I didn't have an ornament for my son's stocking, so I whipped up this Prairie Schooler freebie the other day while watching Christmas movies and ornimentified it this morning. : )  All done and ready now, and only one more sleep til Christmas!!  (And I get to watch Muppet Christmas Carol tonight... YAY!!!!)

Some Ornaments Ornimentified

Don't you just love that word "ornimentified"??  It's about as confusing as saying "I'm going to finish some finishes." :)  But that's what I did today - well, this afternoon, cuz that's how long it took for me to get up the courage to start!  I needed to do some flat finishes, and since I'd only done one up to this point I was a little nervous... but I like how they turned out!  Here's the group shot...

The cow and the horse were stitched by my husband.  He gets the cow in it's "ornimentified" form (there's that handy word again!) for Christmas and I get to keep the little "Friends" one. (LK chart)  The other two will find their way into my daughters' stockings.

On the actual stitching front I started the HAED "Little Drummer Boy" stocking this week and I'm close to finishing the first column on the first page.  Yay!   It's working up smaller than I expected, since I've already reached the back of the donkey.  Shall we guess how long it will take for me to finish it???  Hmmm....  I'd love to be done with it by the end of March, but I just saw the sneak peek of the new LHN series and it's about SHEEP!  Must stitch.  So that will mean the stocking will take a little longer.  There is that little thing of finding the $$ to buy the adorable sheep-ies and supplies, though, so I might not have to worry about it!! : )

Here's my start.  All together now...  Ooooooo.....  Aaaaaaahhh...  (What is it?????)  : )  Hopefully there will be a little more to look at next week! : )

Thanks for dropping by this week!  Your comments make my day. : )

Another First!

Hi there everyone!

I think it is time for an update!  After my last finish I decided to start another ornament... this one is from Donna Kooler's book 101 Ornaments for Christmas by Leisure Arts.  There is a whole grouping of Nativity Ornaments that I just love.  I started one on some overdyed aida and it was going very quickly... until I got sidetracked!  Here it is...

 All it needs is a little more backstitching around the outside, but I'm working on another piece I can't seem to put down, so it will have to wait a bit!

Here's another piece of a project that got left when I started "the project I can't put down".  A little Precious Moments piece for a gift...

Interested in this project I can't put down?????

You will NEVER guess.  Especially Gillie, who couldn't understand how I could give birth to a child who loves to stitch these particular patterns...

Yes.  I started a HAED pattern!!

Now don't get too excited.  A year or so ago, my dd (who has three HAED patterns on the go right now) kitted up a Tiny Treasure pattern for me for Christmas.  It's truly tiny.  About 4x6 on 18 count fabric.  But I'm doing it, and what's more I am THOROUGHLY enjoying myself.  The pattern is Cow Over the Moon - now go click on the link so you can see what it will look like!  Did you do it??  OK, here's my progress so far....

Can you see the cat's tail and paw?? It makes me smile.  : )  I'm stitching it with 2 threads over 1 (18 count is so easy to work with!)  and I am gridding down as I go.  I even watched a tutorial on parking threads, so I'm doing that, too, and just working on one block of 100 at a time.  I usually have time for about 2 blocks a day and it is so relaxing for me!  If I actually finish it I want to go a step up and get the Mini Christmas Mailbox chart next.  I might try that on 22 count, but I'm not sure.  I still want it to be fun, but I think on 22 count I might get by with 1 over 1 and save myself some $$ on floss. : )

Oh!  I found something out this past week.  Remember my strong dislike of the Dimensions kit I was doing??  I pulled it out again the other day, thinking I could just do one thread worth of stitching on it.  I did two or three stitches and had SO much trouble pulling the thread through and I was so frustrated!  I handed it to my daughter and said - "Here - you try it and see why I get so upset!".  When she tried it the needle went through like butter.  Grr.  I tried again.  The needle kept catching and slipping through my fingers.  Double Grr.  Finally I realized that our fingertips are shaped differently.  Mine are sort of tapered at the top and there isn't really any padding up there.  Hers are rounded at the top.  When I try to pull the needle through something difficult it slips right out of my fingers, but she has a better grip on it and can pull it through with no problems.  Interesting, huh??  She said that she will finish the Dimensions kit for me. : )  I am a happy camper!!

OK, I've rambled enough now, I think!  Thanks for stopping by today!!

My Very First!

Flat ornament, that is!!

Hello everybody!  I've been a busy stitcher these last two weeks!  First, I met up with a fellow stitcher from my Friendly Stitchers group last week.  So much fun!!  Gillie has a wonderful British accent, and we had a lovely time together chatting over a cup of coffee and doing a little stash enhancement.  Gillie brought me a sweet pair of British flag scissors, which I didn't take a picture of cuz they were in use already. : )

While we were there I picked up the chart for LHN's "Hot Cocoa" ornament.  Now you know that I've only ever made little pillow ornaments, but on the tree in the shop there were adorable flat ornaments that I commented on.  Of course, Gillie said that I should try one... although, if I remember rightly, she hadn't made one either...

Anyway - here is my stitched and finished ornament to remember our get together...

TADA - a Flat Finish!!!! : )  Yay for me!!

Just a note... My aida was called "Lambswool" and it was almost too light.  I had to change out ecru for B5200 and you still can't see it that well.  I'd recommend a darker color fabric if you want to use the recommended colors!

 Here we all are after supporting the local economy...

And look what arrived in the mail for me!!  From my sweet blogging / Friendly Stitcher friend Melissa...

Another flat ornament ... with SHEEP on it!!! : )  I love it Melissa!  Thank you so much!!!!

That's all for me right now.  I'm working on a Precious Moments piece for charity at the moment, but I think I'm missing some colors, so I might start another ornament.  We'll see!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dropping By with an Update

Hello friends and neighbors!

I had a few minutes this morning while the house was quiet, so I thought I'd drop by with a quick update.  First, thanks so much for all your sweet comments and emails about my Mom.  I so appreciate you all!

With the extra busy-ness of life right now, mixed with a little bit of not being able to concentrate, and topped off with a sore shoulder, I haven't made much progress on my stitching this month.  The olympics have been a good reason to sit and stitch, but only in short bursts, cuz I don't want to miss anything! :)

Here's my progress on my Jardin Prive piece...  you know - the one I thought I was almost finished with because I only had the border left.  HAH!  It's like the Energizer bunny... it keeps going and going and going... : )

My goal is to finish it by the end of the Olympics.  We'll see!

Next up is the ornament I stitched for Melissa.  Melissa, if you are reading this and don't want to see it, just close your eyes and scroll down!! 

This LHN ornament was a fun stitch and I love how it turned out... especially because I changed the colors to what I had on hand and sometimes my color choices are...umm...questionable.

Last, but not least, let me introduce you to Amber Grace.  After the past few weeks, months, year of different stresses, I decided to have a mid-life crisis. : ) Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted a pretty doll.  Growing up I usually inherited my sisters' hand-me-downs who looked like this...

 Actually she is one of the better species that I found when cleaning out my parents' house - believe it or not!

Anyway, for my mid-life crisis, I decided that I would go to the American Girl Benefit sale and buy myself a doll.  It was SO fun!  I even bought some clothes so I can dress her up. :)  

Meet Amber Grace...

Isn't she beautiful??

Here she is in her Thanksgiving outfit that I picked up from a craft fair outside the sale warehouse...

Sometimes it's nice to be a kid again, if only for a few minutes at a time! :)

I've been thinking through my stitching goals for next year, and I have a theme in mind that I would like to work on - but I'll save that for a later post.  I did have a strange urge yesterday, though.  It was to stitch myself a stocking.  Hmmm. And not just any stocking.  This stocking...

http://www.123stitch.com/cgi-perl/itemdetail.pl?item=K70-08838

REALLY???  After I have complained about Dimensions kits over and over?  After having stitched two Dimensions Gold stockings in the past 4 years and each one taking me almost 2 years to complete?  REALLY???

ummm... yes.

I think I'll ask for it for my birthday.

{insert sheepish grin here}

On that note of craziness I'll say good-bye for now.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tricia & Amber Grace

Amazing!!!

Hi everyone!  Long time no see!  I've been on vacation this past week and I had so much fun!

Here's what I stitched in the car...

And here was one of my favorite stops on the trip!!

Honestly I almost started hyperventilating when I walked in the shop.  It was jam-packed with goodies... patterns, accessories, threads, fabric....  I didn't know where to look first!  I had decided before we left that anything I got there would either be an accessory or a pattern that was completely kitted up... or possibly some fabric for one of the patterns I had here, so I started out at the scissors, and picked up this pretty pair by Bohin.  It is lovely!  Then I noticed a table of fobs and patterns that turned out to be a trunk show by My Big Toe.  The little pins and the fob and a few frog needle threaders joined my pile.  The pretty red fabric is a project case by Impie, Hattie and Bea for the Traveling Stitcher.  I have the cross stitch all done for it, but I had never bought the case.  So it came home, too...

  

While I was shopping, it seems my DH was, too.  He found these two patterns that he really liked...

And next thing I know he was asking where the threads were and how to pick them out.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when he announced that he was going to pick up two of the beginner patterns and learn to cross stitch over vacation, so he could make the lighthouse himself.  NO WAY!!!  (My dd's were speechless when I told them over the phone!).  Well, we spent a lovely afternoon stitching at the little cottage we had rented and he made great progress on his cow...

And he actually finished it when we got home last night.  And he liked it!  WooHoo!!  He's already asking for his own scissors and needle minder. : )

Speaking of scissors, look what I found in the mail when I returned??  Sandy sent me a pair of scissors almost exactly like the ones I had lost, and added the sweetest frog fob.  I *love* it!!!!!!!!  Thank you, Sandy!!

So... to continue my shopping saga... I ended up finding this chart that has been on my wish list for a year or so.  I would have kitted it up, too, but they didn't have the right fabric, so I just brought home the book.  I don't know when I can start it, although if I had it kitted up it just might jump into the front of my rotation.  SO pretty!!!!  Have any of you stitched this one??

We had a ton of fun away together... We shopped a lot (smiles!),  took lots of pictures, cross-stitched!!, played mini golf, ate (and ate and ate), went to a wax museum and the Titanic memorial museum, saw a gospel show, and relaxed in our little cabin.  Today I ordered the supplies to make a scrapbook of our trip, so I need to get all caught up by Friday when the order will probably arrive.  I want to work on it while the trip is still fresh in my mind!!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to link to the Scissors Scamper if you haven't already!

Blessings!

Tricia

March Ornament and New Friends

Hi everyone!  

I wasn't sure I was going to get an ornament done for the month of March, but on Saturday, DH asked me to take a 10 hour round-trip ride with him, so I kitted up this little L*K Tiny Tidings ornament to work on while we drove.  It was a hoot!  We were in a flatbed tow truck kind of thing and it was SO bumpy!!  It took me forever just to stab the needle through the right hole or count to three! However I was more than the bumps and finished all but one word or so by the time we got home.  :)

A little more progress on my L*K ABC Lessons.  I'll get back to the Cabin Fever piece in a few weeks, but I'd love to have this finished before I switch over!!

I know this is a crummy picture, but look at the adorable new friends that have shown up at my house in the last week or so.  My dd has started to crochet these precious bears.  Oh my!  They are adorable!!  Soft and fluffy and cuddly and they have such sweet expressions.  I told her she should start to sell them!!

Here's my card for the week...  Another MFT Pure Innocence gal spreading some love.  Perfect to send to my DD at college. : )

Thanks for stopping by!  I pray you'll have a wonderful Easter celebrating our risen Saviour and Lord!!

Blessings!

Tricia

What a Week!!

Hello friends!

It's been a busy, busy week here!  Where shall I start???  Hmmm....

Well, I finished the February ornament on time, but I haven't "ornamentified" it yet.  (Don't you love that word?  I saw it on Shirlee's blog, I think, but I'm not sure... )

And then I spent hours and hours and HOURS working on these new pages for GraceWorks...

I bought the basics for my Happy Monday Journal...

And drove through THIS...

To go away with my husband for the weekend.

Of course I had to bring some stitching along, and the WIP that called to me was Lizzie Kate's ABC's.  Want to see what I got done??

See the tulip and the half an "i", v, e?   That's it.  I started the letters at the beginning of the word 3 times and frogged them, before I figured out that I had moved the "B" in Be Kind down one row and had gauged everything from that.  So.... being the non-perfectionist that I am, I am just starting the word on the other end and making it work.  I really don't think anyone will notice in years to come! : )

We had a wonderful weekend away and my fabulous DH bought me a pre-anniversary gift of a Pandora starter bracelet.  I.am.in.love.  with him *and* with the bracelet! : )

I didn't have a ton of time to work on my Cabin this week, but there is still some progress.  I really need to concentrate on it, though.  I'm getting behind in my goals, and now I'm swamped getting orders out, so I'm going to set aside all my other stitching for a few days - even my SAL's and UFO Thursday piece - and just spend some quality time with this one.  "Quality time" it will have to be, though, cuz I'm afraid that I won't have a lot of "quanitity time"!

Yesterday, I got a package from 1-2-3 Stitch in the mail.  How incredibly fun!!!  Especially cuz I hadn't ordered anything from 1-2-3 Stitch, even though I have a huge wish list there.  Well, lo and behold, sweet Niina had chosen a chart from my wish list and sent it to me!!!  What she didn't know was how much I *really, really* wanted that particular chart.  She also sent me some Bohin needles, which I haven't used before and really wanted to try.  I was SO overwhelmed with her thoughtfulness that I cried!! What a sweet, thoughtful, RAK!!  It absolutely made my day, week, month!!  I think I'll stitch it while we drive to Branson later this spring.  (Which, seeing they just had a huge tornado, really makes me a little nervous.  I.do.not.like.tornados.)   Here's the chart... {Happy Sigh!}

Card making has been relatively non-existant this week, too.  I think this is the only one I've managed to make.  It's another Pure Innocence image from My Favorite Things...

Well, bless your heart for sticking with me through this marathon post.  If you don't see me commenting this week it isn't that I don't love you all, I'm just running crazy!  I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Tricia

On target and a Yiota's Cross Stitch Review

Hello friends!

I've taken little bits of time to stitch this past week and really feel like I've accomplished a lot.  This coming week I'll need to concentrate on a few things to meet my February goals, though.  I'd like to have this page of the Dimensions Cabin 2/3 done, finish my February ornament, and make some sort of sewn or quilted project by Friday.  It's too bad that I can't sit and stitch all day this week, but I seem to have some other deadlines this week that are a little more important than cross stitch! : )

Let's start with yesterday... my daughter brought in this long-awaited parcel from www.yiotas-xstitch.com.

I say "long-awaited" not because it was slow in shipping, I think it came from the UK in 5 days, but because I knew it would be coming in February and I didn't know when, so I was thrilled to finally see it!  You'll see the Post Office didn't quite get the "do not bend" idea, but that's ok - it was well packaged and not damaged, and  (drum roll, please) out came my pattern...

After looking closely at other reviews and at the patterns themselves online, I realized that these cross stitch kits from Yiota's were not going to be as detailed as, say, the HAED ones.  That was OK with me, as those have so many color changes to achieve that look that they can be overwhelming.  But, because of that I chose a piece that I would love even if there wasn't a lot of shading.  Let me show you what I mean....

This is a corner of the picture on the front of the pattern.  Do you see that there are definite lines in the color changes in the sky?  It isn't a problem at all and it going to be so fun to stich, but it can be different than you'd expect just by looking at the patterns online.

Here's how the kit was packaged...

Don't you just love those bobbins?  I put them on a ring and started to work right away.  I didn't use the enclosed 14 count aida - although it was soft and would work just fine - but after working on "Eye on the Sparrow" I decided that I would like to try to stitch this over one instead.  (I should've just gotten it with the evenweave, but I figured it would all be covered and wouldn't really matter which I stitched it on.)  The pattern is "large print" - the symbols are twice as big as the Dimensions kit pattern that I've been working from - so it seems like it will be very easy to work from.  Here's as far as I got in my little chunk of time I allotted to it...

Now when I got to this point and shot the picture I realized that the length of my fabric was going horizontally across my lap, rather than vertically.  AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH.  Well, I measured carefully, and because I'd left so much on each side, I can continue and it will still fit, I'll just only have an inch or so on the bottom when I'm done.  I know most of you die hard stitchers would have frogged it and restarted, but I can't stand frogging unless there is no other way around it, so I choose to pretend I meant to do it in the first place.

Anyway, keep watching to see my progress!  I'd love to have this done by Christmas, as I really want to add it to my decorations!

Whew!  Long post!  OK - here's a group shot of all my other projects.  Maybe you'll notice some progress on a few of them!

And there you have it!  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and HAPPY STITCHING!