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

Stitch from Stash #1 - A Finish!!

Greetings and Salapuppies, everyone!

It's time for my January Stitch from Stash post, cuz I have a FINISH to show you.   WOO HOO!  By the way, in case you are wondering, my dad would always say "Greetings", which was lengthened into "Greetings and Salutations", which morphed into "Greetings and Salamanders" and has now changed into "Greetings and Salapuppies".  And no, no one has ever accused me of being normal... LOL!! ;)

Are you ready for an overload of cuteness??  Let me present "Mitten Friends" by Imaginating.  I'll even link it, in case you want to stitch it, too!! : )

It is stitched with DMC on 16 ct natural aida, and was a JOY to stitch.  I really love the Imaginating patterns!  And, yes, I did put "2013" as the date.  I stitched most of it last year, and really thought I'd be done by December... LOL!!

OK, here's my Stitch from Stash report....

January, 2014

Amount Spent (so far): $0.00

New Starts from Stash:  Will start an exchange piece today from a 2006 magazine

WIPs worked on:  FINISHED Mitten Friends!!! : )

I thought it would be fun to post my top five wishes during the month that I didn't buy.

Here's this month's list...

Imaginating - Mantel Mischief

HAED - The Nativity  LOL - I have this on my list twice! : )  Here and again in February!

Lizzie Kate To Do List - Received from a secret stitching angel!! : )

Lizzie Kate - Spring String

Pine Mountain - Wondrous

I am saving my stash money right now to buy one of these...

Fiber Hider

I'm thinking the turtle, since I stitch so slowly!! : )

All right, that's it for right now.  I'm going to go pull fabric and floss for my Valentine's Exchange piece.  You probably won't get to see it until next month, though... Sorry!!

Happy stitching!

Tricia

Ready for Next Year!

Hi everyone!

I took some time last night to organize my sewing basket for next year.  I signed up for the Stitch from Stash challenge, so I wanted to pick out some of my favorite stash projects -- most of which are already kitted up!  It's ok if a few of them aren't, cuz we get a $25 a month spending allowance, and we can roll it over month to month if we don't use it... BUT we have to actually report what we spent each month, so we really have to be careful.

Here's my basket full of all my projects except the one I'm working on.  Looks fun, doesn't it??

And here's my current project - Mitten Friends by Imaginating.  I'd love to have it done by the new year, but I'm figuring it won't be until sometime in January.  

Aren't they ADORABLE?? (If I do say so myself! LOL!!)

I can't wait to see what everyone will work on this year.  I'm sure I'll have a LONG wish list come next Christmas!

TTFN!

Tricia

The Shepherd's Song

It's early Christmas morning here and I couldn't stay in bed any longer.  I'm worse than the kids!   So I thought I'd drop in and share a poem I wrote this Christmas season.  Thank you so much for your friendship this year and have a Merry Christmas!!  ~~  Tricia

Almost an Update...

Hi everyone!

No update yet... too much to do to take pictures! :)  But I finally looked at the 12 Days of Christmas giveaways over on The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe blog and WOW have you been there and entered?  It looks like you can enter all the different giveaways up until she draws the prize for that day.  Too fun!  Here's the link to the $50 gift certificate giveaway, but if you go back in the posts there are more to enter!

http://victorianmottosamplershoppe.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-twelve-days-of-christmas-come-to.html

TTFN!

Tricia

NaCroStitchMo Update!

My, my!  Did you think I had fallen off the planet??  Nope!  Just after my flu at the beginning of the month I didn't get back on here!  Let me show you my projects...

Not fabulous pictures... Sorry!

Heart & Soul  - Dimensions

Margaret Sherry Ornament

Mitten Friends - Imaginating

Good Tidings - LHN

Bunny Baby - EMS

Oh Holy Night - Stoney Creek

Promise Me - Lizzie Kate

I love seeing them all together!  Once I started Mitten Friends it was all over for me.  I didn't want to work on anything else!  I'm a fairly slow stitcher with not much time, so that has been the one I've stitched on most.  When i get antsy I'll switch to one of the others on the list!! :)  I've decided, though, that I would like to get one or two or three of those pretty project bags that Karen sells through Crazy Annies or her Etsy shop so I can keep all my new starts in order.   Wouldn't it be fun to see a basket full of projects in pretty bags to choose from???  : )

Thanks for stopping by today!

NaCroStitchMo - Day 5

Well, NaCroStitchMo has turned into NaBlowNoseMo due to the arrival of a cold/flu bug at my house.  Uggh.  Funny thing is that when I did the January Challenge a couple of years ago, the exact same thing happened!!  Hmmmm....  So, let's see.  Sunday I was just coming down with it.  I started LHN's Glad Tidings that I had won from Vicki's blog.  (Thank you, Vicki!!)  I thought it would be a nice easy stitch.  HOWEVER, "nice and easy" and "coming down with the flu" translate into "frogging most of what you stitched".

Monday was filled with aches and pains and a chiropractor appt.  No stitching.  It hurt to  even think about holding a needle.

Yesterday was a little better.  In between sneezing (hard enough to scare my dogs and my daughter!), blowing my nose and moaning, I was able to put in a few stitches on "Glad Tidings" while watching Feel Better Little Bear.  Some people have comfort food, I have a comfort movie... or perhaps movies, because then I stitched on Heart and Soul later in the evening while watching Pride and Prejudice.

Here's my progress on them both....

I just got a package from 123 Stitch with some fabric and a few charts that I ordered with a gift certificate that I won from Mary Ann a while back.  One chart is for my daughter's Christmas stocking, but the other two will probably be my next two starts.  You'll have to come back tomorrow to see the first one! : )

So... just so I can keep track... here's what I'm working on so far...

1.  Dimensions Heart and Soul

2.  L*K Promise Me

3.  LHN Glad Tidings

4. ???

5. ???

6. ???

7. ???

Thanks for stopping by!

Tricia

NaCroStitchMo - Day Two

Ok, so not a lot of stitching to show today.  I started Lizzie Kate's Promise Me, stitched the R and promptly stitched the WRONG letter E next to it.  SO I spent the first 20 minutes stitching and then another 20 minutes tonight unstitching and restitching until my shoulder said enough.  So here's Day Two's progress....

I think what I'm planning at the moment is to stitch on something different for the first seven days of the month and then rotate them for the rest of the month, starting something else new if I would happen to finish something.  I want to stitch at least 30 minutes a day, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a doable goal for me.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more to show for my stitching!! : )  LOL!!

NaCroStitchMo

Well, my DD is participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and I see some people are doing NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), so I've decided to start something fun for me... hence NaCroStitchMo -- (Not Quite) National Cross Stitch Month. : )  Why wait until January to give myself a challenge????  I haven't decided yet what my end goal is.  Will I start 15 pieces?  Will I start 31 pieces?  Will I cross stitch for a certain length of time each day?  Will I post each day?  Don't know.  So, since I didn't have time to map it all out, I decided to start the month by working on Heart and Soul for a little bit.  I've completed a nice chunk since last time I posted, though...

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have my plans mapped out for the month. : )  See you then!

Time Stitched Today:  35 minutes

Time Stitched this Month:  35 minutes

** This really doesn't mean anything, I just want to see if I can get in a habit of keeping track of it! **

Catching Up

Hello again!

It's time for a progress report!

First up...  HAED Little Drummer Boy Stocking

It's coming along!  I got most of the next column done.  Now i'm back in the solid confetti section, but most of my threads are parked, so it should go fairly quickly... as long as I parked them in the right place, which is sometimes a question!

Next...  Dimensions Kit:  Heart and Soul

More flowers and outlining done.  I'm definitely in the mood for a new start from my basket, so I need to really, really work on being good and sticking with these until one is complete!

Then there is this Margaret Sherry kit called "Good Heavens" that is calling my name, but I can only find it in the UK...

http://www.dkhcreations.co.uk/margaret-sherry---good-heavens-1380-p.asp

If anyone happens to have it in their stash and wants to find it a new home, let me know.  I should really be sure I have all my Christmas presents bought before I buy myself any more cross stitch! : )

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I know I've been horrible at keeping up with everyone, but I do read your blogs, I just don't always find time to comment. : )

Have a lovely day!

Tricia

Working on WIP's and Lots of Goals

Hello friends!!

First ... Congratulations to Carol!  I'll be passing the Give Thanks chart on to you to stitch next. : )

In other stitching news...

No finishes to show this week.  I actually pulled out two WIP's from my piles (GASP) and set one in each of my "relax in the evenings" rooms.  My HAED stocking is in the Living Room where I watch football with DH on Sundays and Mondays, and sometimes baseball during the week.  Remember this stocking?

 I haven't stitched on it since April!  Here's my progress now... (It's a crummy picture... SORRY!)

I only managed 400 stitches or so, but I am so glad to have finished that chunk of confetti stitching at the bottom of the column!!  YAY!

The next WIP I pulled out I hadn't touched since February... of 2012!!!  It's the one in the upper left.  This is the one I stitch on when DD and I have Jane Austen or old movie marathons.  I remember why I stopped working on it.  It's a kit and the floss is definitely NOT DMC.  It shreds horribly!!! : ( 

Here's my progress...

I do love the colors in that one! : )

I went through my patterns and WIP's and such the other day and picked out a number that I would like to work on this next little while.  I definitely couldn't finish all of them in that time since a number of them are bigger projects, but maybe if I finish a few of them before Christmas I'll have my Crazy January 15 all picked out.  I didn't do the Crazy January challenge last year, but looking back at 2012, I really did well on completing most of those projects, so I think I might try it again this coming year.

Here's my list...  (The ** are WIP's)

1.  HAED Little Drummer Boy Stocking**

2.  Dimensions Heart & Soul **

3.  Stoney Creek Winter Sanctuary Stocking (Need fabric)

4.  LHN Patience Sheep (Kitted)

5.  LHN Wisdom Sheep (Kitted)

6.  LK A Good Marriage (Need fabric and floss)

7.  Precious Moments January Snowdrop (charity) (Kitted)

8.  PM March or November (charity) (Need fabric)

9.  Bent Creek Gobble (Need fabric)

10.  HE Ornament - Along for the Ride (Kitted)

11. Live Within Your Harvest Bookmark (Kitted)

12.  LK Promise Me (Need fabric)

13.  Stoney Creek "O Holy Night" **

14.  HAED Christmas Mailbox (Need fabric & floss)

15. MS Ornament **

16.  Dimensions Twilight Bridge **

17.  LHN Acorn Hill **

18.  LHN Kindness (Kitted)

Give Thanks

LOL!  I just about posted this on my stamping blog!  They would have really wondered... : )

Shepherd's Bush "Give Thanks"
Stitched with recommended floss on 16 ct natural lite aida
(Did I mention that I *love* this aida cloth????)

Hi everyone!  I'm back with another finish.  WOOHOO!!  I've had this in my pile for... ummm... 2 years???  I've wanted to stitch it again and again and just decided this was the time!  It's a sweet little chart by Shepherd's Bush that was passed down to me from Renee.  So I'll do the same.  If you are interested in the chart, just leave me a comment and if there is more than one person interested I'll draw a name when I post next!  

TTFN!

A Finish and a Winner!

Hi friends!  Did you miss us???

Look what Mom finished today!  Yay for Mom!  She started this before either of us were born... WAY BACK at the beginning of the year and just finished it.  It's from a Jeremiah Junction leaflet called Yesterday-Today-Forever.  See over on the left?  She thought she was going to run out of fabric, but she made it. (just!)  She isn't sure what she'll start next.  She'll let you know!!

Now for the fun stuff.  Mom said we could pick where Jingles is going to live, so first we had her print out all the comments...

And then we had her cut them in strips...

Then came the scary part.  Have you heard of "bobbing for apples"?  Well, this was "bobbing for a winner"... and I fell in. 

It's a good thing that Jingles was there to pull me out!!  And here is the winner...

Yes!  It's Mary Joan!  I can't believe that Jingles is going over the ocean!!  Mary Joan, be sure to contact Mom with your mailing information.  Jingles can't wait to meet you!!

TTFN!!

Hi everyone!  It's Tricia here!  Thanks for the super response to the giveaway!  Remember, if you'd like a bear, or would like to give one as a gift, be sure to let me know and I'll pass it on to DD.  She's in the process of setting up an Etsy shop, but she isn't quite ready to open, so I'm her go-between right now. : )

Happy Stitching!!! : )

A Finish and a Giveaway!!

Hi everyone!

Before we get to the fun stuff, let me show you my FINISH of Be Joyful Always by Imaginating.  This was SUCH a fun stitch for me.  16 count lite natural aida with DMC.  Thoroughly a joy to work with, especially because I loved the colors in the picture.  Here it is in all its wrinkledness...

Now onto the fun stuff!!!

I have a Labor Day giveaway!!

Meet Jingle, an artist bear by my daughter...

Here's her birth info...

Birthday:  July 30th, 2013

- Smokey Long Pile peach fur fabric 

- Ultrasuede footpads 

- Black Onyx bead eyes 

- Polyester stuffing and steel shot for weight 

Jingle has a few more stitches showing than Butternut - from the post below - although the only one I can see is on her behind... so it's not very noticable! : )  Please remember... this is not a toy!  These are artist bears that are about 3" high when seated.  Wonderful little friends, but NOT for little people!!

Jingle with Acorn

 If Acorn will let Jingle go, this is what the giveaway will consist of...

But if you don't win, and would like a bear of your own, be sure to contact me.  DD is selling them for only $25.00 plus shipping and they are SO sweet!!

Be sure to leave a comment mentioning that you'd like to be included in the giveaway, and if you post about the giveaway on your blog or Facebook page you get an extra entry!!

I'll draw a winner September 15th and announce it Monday, the 16th.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Tricia

Acorn's Friend

8/22/13 - I'M ADOPTED!!  Luv, Butternut 

 Hi everyone!

It's Acorn here.  I took over Mom's blog for a minute cuz I wanted to introduce you to my new friend, Butternut.  Actually, Mom says that's not really her name, but I thought it was cute!

Isn't she just the sweetest???

She's got a tiny bit of stitching showing at the top of her foot...  I think she must have tripped on something, but Mom says it's a birthmark.

Mom says that she's up for adoption.  I think that means that she's going to go live at someone else's house.  She said to let everyone know that she's available for $25.00 plus shipping.  Do you think if I raise the price a little (like, say, $250.00???) she could live with me forever???  Sigh.  If you adopt her, will you post pictures every once in awhile so I can see her??  Pretty please???

Here's her birth info...

Birthday:  August 20th, 2013

- Smokey Long Pile golden brown fur fabric 

- Ultrasuede footpads 

- Black Onyx bead eyes 

- Polyester stuffing and steel shot for weight 

- Silk ribbon

Just remember that she's NOT a toy.  She's a mini artist bear like me.  That's why I'm always in Mom's stitching pictures.  Cuz I'm an artist... see???? 

Here we are again, together.  You can let Mom know if you'd like to adopt Butternut, just please, please, please take care of her good forever, okay??  Okay.  I feel better now.

TTFN!

Acorn