Finally!

I have a finish!  Yippee!! : )  This one seems like a HUGE accomplishment, because I started it last February.  Acorn wanted to hold it...

Eye on the Sparrow
Silver Creek Samplers

I finished the stitching on my exchange piece, too, but I can't show that yet.

In the mornings after I read my Bible I've been stitching on the "Courage" sheep virtues chart.  I caught Acorn trying to put in a stitch when he thought I wasn't watching...

Oops!  She caught me!!  Hi Mom!!

So... my WIP in progress right now is Yesterday, Today, Forever.  I got a good bit done on it yesterday evening.  I'm thrilled to get some of these pieces finished that have been on my list for awhile.  I love starting new projects, but after awhile it really starts to weigh on my conscience if I don't finish them. : )  

Thanks for stopping by!!

Tricia

Sparrows, Exchanges and Acorn

Hello friends!

I've made good progress on my Eye on a Sparrow piece since last we spoke!  Yay!  Isn't it pretty?  My work area is messy right now, though, and I'm having a hard time sitting down to finish it.  I'm going to have to do some reorganizing this week, for sure!

I also started my exchange piece which is supposed to be a secret, but if you won't tell, I'll show it to you...  READY?????

Bwahahahahaha!!! : )

That's it for me today!  Oh, wait!  Did I show you the artist bear that my daughter made me for Mother's Day??  He is SO sweet.  He sits next to my computer and sometimes he even helps me stitch.  He is pretty little, only about 2 1/2" tall when seated, and he's weighted with steel shot so he feels "real" in your hand.  His joints are movable, too, so I can pose him for the camera.  I love him!!  I told her I wanted another one for Christmas!

 Meet Acorn...

"I can see why you need glasses!!"

That's all, folks!  See you next time!

Tricia

May Goals

Hi everyone!

It seems I need to do an update for April!  Here are my pictures for the month...

I finished LHN Sheep Virtues "Peace".  This one brings to mind Psalm 23...  "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul."  I love the fishies in the water and the garland around his neck!

I worked on Silver Creek Sampler's Eye on the Sparrow for a little while.  Although I must admit with this one I wish I had started on the words "Do Not" instead of on the word "Worry"!!  I'm stitching this one over 1 on 28 count and it's beautiful, but I can only work on it for bits at a time or my shoulder and back and neck bother me.  I've made good progress, though!

Here's the start...

Here's where I am now...

I finished and sent a charity quilt block...

I finished this sweet little PS block...

And started Promise Me...

All right, let's see how I did on my goals for April...

hmmm.

 April 4-10: Finish and send charity block - DONE

April 11-14:  Stitch LHN Sheep Virtues "Peace" - DONE

April 15-30:  Finish 1200 stitches on stocking - pg 2, next column - NOTHING DONE

When I need a break from the stocking tiny work...

 Finish PS Bunnies - DONE

Stitch one night on Eye on Sparrow - DONE (plus some!)

Start L*K Promise Me - DONE

Ongoing:  Work on Yesterday, Today, Forever at Mom's - NOTHING DONE

And my goals for May?  Finish Eye on Sparrow and stitch LHN Sheep Virtues Courage.  For some reason I'm in a "finish my WIP's" mood.  So I'll run with it while I can!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

'Til next time...

Tricia

Scattered Stitches

END OF FEBRUARY UPDATE

Greetings, fellow stitchers!

Today is the last day of February.  Time for me to look over my goals for the month and make new ones.  Let's see how I did!

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY... complete page 1 and 2

Not quite!  I have two and a half columns left on page two.

LHN Sheep Virtues... Stitch Second Sheep

Nope!  It hasn't come yet.  : (  Maybe tomorrow!!

L*K Promise Me... Start

Make one project bag

I decided to let DD stitch this one first, and it turned out ADORABLE!  She stitched it on 28 Ct Tea Monaco over 1.  I love it!  I'm going to be stitching it on 16 ct fabric so mine will seem HUGE compared to hers!  I plan to start that this month. : )

I was able to finish another project bag this month, using the same fabric as my last one.  I learned a few more things this time - like how NOT to put the zipper in - and I am still playing with the size of the bag a little.  I have another zipper, so I hope to make another this coming month.

L * K Promise Me on a new Project Bag

Other Progress...

Here's my traveling bookmark.  I never have much time to work on it at Mom's, but it's growing little by little and it's a nice take-along project.  I don't have an "I want this done by..." date on this one, it's just a time filler. : )

I worked a little on my Eye on the Sparrow (Silver Creek Samplers) WIP this month.  Filling in the red around the two R's...

And here's a new start from this week.  I wanted to stitch a block for charity, so I pulled out a square of blue Monaco and this sweet "Baby's First Christmas" pattern from the book "Priscilla's Babyland" by Gloria and Pat.  I've had it on my list to stitch for over 2 years! : )  That blob will be a bunny...

DD the Designer...

DD stitched up this sweet little design that she made up.  Isn't it precious?  If you'd like the pattern, just let me know!

HAPPY MAIL!

Shirlee was so sweet to send me her HE snowman ornament that was wreaking havoc at her house.  : )  I'm looking forward to stitching it... I think!

MARCH GOALS...

• Finish Charity Block
• Finish page 2 of Little Drummer Boy
• Start a Stitcher's Notebook like Linda's for any new starts
• Stitch LHN Sheep Virtues Love 
• Make one project bag
• Stitch for 1 night on Eye on the Sparrow
• Stitch for 1 night on Yesterday, Today, Forever
• Start Promise Me
• Kit up Along for the Ride ornament

I shouldn't need to spend anything stitching wise this month - but I do love the little L*K limited edition spring kits (flowers and chicks, especially!) that I'm seeing sneak previews of for market.  I wouldn't probably be able to use the fabric that they come with, cuz I assume it's linen (I'm allergic), but if any of you are going to get them and would like to pass on the patterns when you're done, please keep me in mind!  I'd be happy to pay for them!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a splendiferous day!!

Tricia

New Rotation & Prize up for Grabs!!

Happy wet Wednesday!  It sounds so Spring-like here today.  The rain is falling gently...  ahhhh!!! : )

Lots and lots to show you today!  First off, how about a look at the prize for the Scissors Scamper.  There are just a few more days for you to link up your post of your scissor collection!  In keeping with the theme, I chose to stitch this adorable little Summer Fab Fob by Lizzie Kate for the winner and I'll include the scissors, too!  Of course, my dd looked at it and said... "what if one of your overseas gals wins??".  Hmmm.  Good point.  I guess you'll just have a keepsake from the US with our flag on it! : )

Here's the fob & scissors...

And here's the prize all together. : )

That was a fun project to put together, especially because I hadn't ever made my own cord before!! Yay!  I learned something new.  Now to try a pinkeep.  Hmmm.  Maybe next time!

After my trip to Branson and fun at the cross stitch store, I decided that I was going to try working through a rotation of projects again.  I need to keep going on my DH's Big Huge Project, but he said it didn't have to be done right away, so I feel better about taking it a little at a time again.

So, right now... at least until I change it in a week or so... here's my list of projects.

Sundays I'm going to work on O Holy Night by Stoney Creek.  I found some gorgeous Lugana fabric to use and I love how it is coming along so far.  Here's my start...

I wasn't sure if I could use Lugana with all my allergies, but I haven't had any problems yet and I love it!

Monday is Jardin Prive's Douceur de Vivre.  This has been in my stash for awhile and I think it is SO pretty.  And it has sheep on it! : )

Tuesday is the BHP - Cabin Fever.  It was easier last night because I was using the floor stand with it, so I got quite a bit done.

Today I'm working on Eye on the Sparrow by Silver Creek Samplers.  You'll see an update of that next week.

Thursday is be CCN's January Cottage...

Friday Old Colonial's Turtle Needlebook that I bought in Branson...  (I just have the other side to complete)

And Saturday is Yiota's Dogs Caroling kit.  I really hope I allowed enough fabric for this.  I have measured 6 or 8 times and I'm going to be really close!

Now... a couple of (very wrinkled) finishes!! : )

Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons

28 Tea Monaco

Threads from Kit

And DH's first finish...

 He wanted to be sure that I showed you his current progress on his WIP, too.  He's doing such a good job!  It's fun to sit and stitch with him in the evenings!

Thanks so much for dropping by!  I've been horrible at commenting lately, but I am keeping up with everyone's posts.  We'll see if I ever catch up with myself enough to drop by and say hello! : )

Don't forget the Scissors Scamper!

TTFN!

Tricia
aka Inkystitcher

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!

It's Time!

For another weekly update!

First, the winner of my little giveaway is... CALAMITY JR.!!


Congratulations!  Could you email me at inkystitcher @ yahoo.com with your address?  Thanks!!

Now onto the pictures!

First, let me show you what Catherine sent me for the Love and Friendship Exchange.  It was amazing!  She stitched the pretty pillow and put my husband's and my initials on it, along with our wedding year.  That is SO special, cuz this will be our 25th anniversary this year and now I have a stitched remembrance of it!

Then there are beads and a mesh bag and a wonderful pair of Dinky Dyes scissors and lots of deep fall colored floss and needles and... HAND DYED FABRIC.  I could not believe it!!  The best part was that the color of the fabric was just PERFECT for a pattern I've had kitted up since last year, that I could not find fabric for!!  I was so excited that I started it right away!  I'm stitching it over 1 on the Hand-Dyed Monaco...

Do you recognize it?  It's Silver Creek Sampler's "Eye on the Sparrow".  It's coming along so quickly and I absolutely love working on it!  I have put in a few stitches on all my pieces, even my UFO, but I'm only going to show you a progress picture on my Dimension's Cabin which is still pretty close to being "on target" to be finished by the end of the year...

Oh!  Here's my exchange gift that I sent to Shirlee.  I enjoyed stitching her pillow, which was an ornament from one of the newest JCS ornament magazines.  I haven't stitched a whole lot of pieces that just use one color and it was sort of relaxing. : )

Now, for a favorite card... Hmmm... which one to choose...  I know!

This is a digi stamp that I colored with copics.  I followed the My Favorite Things Wednesday sketch and got to use my new Flower and Leaf Trio Die-Namics to cut out the flower and leaves.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!