A couple of finished projects!!!

I am on a roll!! I guess seeing how much stitchy type work I have in front of me for the next year really lit a fire under me, because I have just been stitching like crazy:)


I got 'Christmas Wishes' by Beehive Needleworks done a couple days ago. I actually just started this one the end of Nov or beginning of Dec because one of my stitchy groups started a 'Deer SAL' for the month and I had this on hand:) Otherwise it would have probably become one of my 2012 Crazy Stitching projects. I chose a darker fabric for this and instead of making french knot berries around the boarder I chose to make x's over one with 2 threads. It looks almost the same and kept me from pulling my hair out!! :)
I finished LK's Work,Pray,Trust early this morning. I changed the floss colors on this one, but only so that I could use what I had. I used very similar colors, just not exact. I had been carrying this one around with me in my purse to do while I wasn't at home because it was such a nice small project and fit well:)
I was wrong about the Friday Night Sew In being every Friday night this month. It seems like the next one isn't until Jan 20th. I am going to try and keep sewing on Friday's though because it tends to be the only way I get any sewing done:) I thought I'd go back to working on the small quilt that I had started, but I may work on making these two stitchy projects into something. I know that I want Christmas Wishes to become a pouch that I can put greenery and berries into and hang up for Christmas. Not sure what I want to do with 'Work, Pray, Trust' yet. I had wanted it to be a bookmark, but I think it may be a little too wide for that. I will have to think on it for a few days.

I can already mark off 'Work, Pray, Trust' from my 2012 WIP list and am hoping to be able to mark off another one or two before the end of the year. It would be great to have just under 20 WIPs!!! LOL

Well, I'm off to eat lunch and then have a wrapping 'party' with my dd. Then maybe I'll get to do a little stitching as well:)

I actually got something done yesterday!! Well, almost done, I didn't finish the project, but at least I got it started:)

Here is a pic of the mess I started with. I was trying to make some bird ornies. I got the free pattern for it here.

And here is my 'helper'. He was trying to make sure the birds didn't fly away (and my scissors, pincushion, tape measure, etc) :) Lots of help!!

This is as far as I got. I only had a little over an hour to get everything out, work on it and clean things back up. Would be great if I had a sewing/craft room, but the living room has to be it for now, so some of my time gets spent just getting set up and cleaned up afterward. That's okay though since all I have left is a little stuffing and sewing the tails closed. Should get that done this weekend and I'll post a pic of the finished piece then.
And here is the link to the finished project on the origanal blog.
Now to get back to my stitching:)

FNSI

Well, I didn't get to this last Friday as my hubby took dd and I out to dinner that night and then we did some grocery shopping. By the time we got home, I just didn't care about sewing anymore:) I'm thinking that I will probably need this to be more of a 'Friday afternoon sew in' instead of it being at night. When hubby gets home, it's family time and I usually don't get much else done.

These are usually scheduled for once a month (I believe the blog says the 3rd Friday of the month). However, with the Christmas holiday upon us, they have decided to do it every week (I think). So I'm going to give it another try this Friday. Still won't be able to do it at night, as my dd has youth group so we won't be home. Hopefully I'll find time during the day. I was going to work on a small quilt, and I still may, but I'm just about finished with a small stitching project that I'd like to make into a pouch to hold greenery. And I have a pattern to make some really cute little bird ornies that I would like to do. So I'm not sure what I'll work on.

I have just about gotten my Crazy Challenge pieces figured out now. I still need two projects, but I usually do a little stitching shopping just after Christmas and I think my SIL is getting me something stitchy as well, so I'll see what I can add to my list:) I also will need to get a few supplies to kit up a few of the ones I have so they will all be ready. I think this is my favorite part of the SAL!!!

New Challenges/Wips/ SALs. Oh, My!!!

Well, I'm officially off my rocker:) I signed up for several new challenges and SALs, and there is NO WAY I can finish all of them, but it is fun anyway. And I don't want my stitching to turn into work, it needs to stay fun:)

Here is what I've signed up for:

The 2012 Crazy Stitching Challenge!! I wasn't sure I wanted to do this one as I didn't finish most of what I started last year:) However, as I was digging into what I never did start from last year (I still have 7 that are new and kitted) and several more that are ornie size that I'd like to do, I figure that I can go ahead and get them started.(This is set up as a Yahoo group this year).

The WIPocalyps SAL:) Okay this one is really needed!! Basically the rules are to post an update of all WIP progress made for the year and post a pic on my blog on every full moon. For this one, I hope to get a lot done.

The LHN ornie SAL. I have several of the LHN ornies that I've wanted to do, so this will work along-side the Crazy Challenge.

TUSAL - which stands for 'Totally Useless SAL'. This one is easy and fun:) I just have to collect my extra threads, pieces of fabric cuttings and broken needles into a glass jar and put a pic up on my blog on every new moon (not to be confused with the full moon:).

Friday Night Sew In - I'd also like to do this as well. I have lots of other sewing that I actually NEED to work on:) Looks like there is one of these scheduled for tomorrow, so I will try to work on a small quilt that I've been putting off.

I will no doubt have a SAL or two (or three) on the Yahoo stitching boards that I follow as well.

I have a little prep work to do before all this starts. I have 8 projects that I need to pick out, buy, and/or kit up for the Crazy Challenge. I also want to do a little clean up and rearranging of my sideboard on this blog to keep everything organized. So there will be lots and lots of posts in the near future of all my stitching. Now to get to work:)

Monday Blessings 9/26/11

I've been writing some of these on paper, so the numbers don't match up to what I had been doing before on the blog. I'll get them together at some point and have the numbering right:)

17. A sink full of dirty dishes. Shows that I've been able to feed my family and that I've been busy with more important things (like spending time with them) than to clean those dishes:)

18. Beautiful weather, so that my dd can get her wiggles out in the wide open instead of the small inclosed!!!

19. Kitty friends. Close compainions for my only child:)

20. A creative mind in my dd that never stops coming up with the next 'big idea'.

Back to blogging?

It's been a long time!! I tend to turn into an introvert during the summer. All the school-year activities blessedly come to an end and I just want to hide for a while:) I don't even get much stitching done during the summer. Anyway, we are now a month and a half back into the school year and the activities are in full swing and I'm ready for the winter break already!!! :)

So with all the other business around here, I thought I'd give blogging a try again and we'll see how it goes. A little update about our lives...

-Garden flopped this year. I'm not real good about taking care of it anyway, and with the lack of rain this year and the extreem heat, not much got done with it. In fact we haven't even pulled it out yet. It's still just a enormous weed patch:)

-DD started 7th grade this year and we can both feel the effects of a longer and a little harder school day!!!

-I volunteered for more than I think I can handle this year, LOL!! :) I am now the community leader for dd's 4-H club and also volunteered to help with the Secret Sister group that her home school group does. It's fun though and I think if I can just get through the next month with 4-H then then amount of work for it will lessen too.

-Cats, cats and more cats!!! We had several more batches of kittens born this summer, sadly not all of them lived. However one batch, whos momma ran off when they were about 3 weeks old, did make it and they are our favorites. They really think I'm their momma:) They are around 4 months old now, so are taking care of themselves, but come running to me when I'm outside and will play around my feet (and try climbing my legs, which is fine if I'm wearing jeans, not so much when I have a skirt on!!!). Here is a pic of most of them, though my babies aren't in this one (they hadn't been let out of the barn yet).

Hoping to put up some pics of the little bit of stitching that I did get to in the next day or two. Maybe someone still reads here? :)

Animal Babies

We finally got the last of our animal babies for this spring!!! The only other animal we might get are calves, but it isn't looking promising right now. The cattle market is crazy high right now, and it just doesn't make any sence to raise up our own when we can buy grass fed beef for about $3.00lb. Usually we can do our own for less, but not sure about that right now.

These girls are for my dd's 4-H project. The two on the outside are Kikos while the middle one is a Boar goat. All are in the meat goat class. Sadly the middle one died last week. We only had it a little less than two weeks and the last couple days we noticed that she wasn't eating as much and was laying down more than the others. She had a little bit of a clear runny nose, but they all did in the morning, and that was all that I could tell that was wrong. Until her last day, when her nose looked gunky and she had a bit of a cough. So I called the vet who wanted me to bring her in, but the trip did her in and by the time we got there, she had died. The vet said it was fast acting pneumonia.

Dd was really upset, but that is part of raising animals, so we just go on. We started watching the other two really carefully and sure enough, they had it too. So they both got shots (actually I've given them both two shot now, and they seem a lot better, so hopefully we have this beat). I really hate giving animals shots!!! I've had to do it with sheep (we had a long time ago), calves and now goats. But the goats are the worst because they cry and scream!!! Makes me feel horrible, but I know they need it, so I guess I have to do it.These little ones are Rhode Island Reds and we have a mixture of male and female. Around 25 in all. I was only going to buy female this year, but then made the mistake of reading about how chicken that you buy at the store are usually raised and slaughtered (though I know there are exeptions) and well, now we are planning to send some of the males off to be slaughtered locally so we can have chicken meat in the freezer:) We'll keep a couple of the males so that we can raise more babies later on.

And these are the first born of the spring kittens. They are 6 weeks old today!!! They were born in the barn wall, but we got them out a couple weeks ago and put them in this box. Momma is still kinda taking care of them, so we started feeding them just a little and giving them water. However, they are already starting to excape the box, so hopefully momma will keep an eye out for them so they don't get lost:) Yes, one of them has a yucky eye that just won't get better. Another one had a yucky eye too, but it cleared up. I may have to call the vet to see about some eye drops if it doesn't clear up soon. UPDATE: They are now out of the box and thankfully their momma is watching over them:)

And this batch was just born on Monday. I really didn't think this momma would take care of them at all as this is her first batch, she was hand raised (her momma disapeared when she was 2 weeks old), and she is under a year old. We haven't had good luck with the really young mommas, but she hasn't hardly left these kitten alone and is being a really good momma!!! And I'm so happy too, because so many of our cats are gray and white, but she has one down in that pile that is almost all orange with just a bit of white:)

There was one more batch of kittens, but they didn't make it. This was that momma's 2nd batch and she hasn't been interested in taking care of them yet. She's kind of a runty cat, so I'm wondering if that isn't the problem. She did start out pretty good as she at least birthed them all in one place this time, but then didn't feed them for more than a day or two. We usually try to keep them alive (though other than the 3 that were two weeks old we've never been able to get them to live). This batch was in part of the barn wall that we couldn't get to though, so sadly they all died (which they probably would have anyway, but we like to at least try).

Well, I think that is all of the new animal news around here for a while. They are all sure cute, but going to keep us a bit busy!!!

I hope to have a small spring-time stitchy finish to show off by the end of this weekend, so I'll update with some pics then:) And we are hoping to get most of the garden in this weekend, so I may have a few pics of that too. Busy, busy around here!! :)

Update and some finishes

Wow it's been a long time since I've been on here. I was doing so good too:) We've been super busy getting ready for spring and the addition of young'ins around here and that has taken up some of my computer time, that and I've been busy stitching!! In the next few week I should have some pics to post on the young'ins coming, but for now I will post on the stitching that has gotten done. This first one I actually finished stitching it in Dec 2010, but I never posted about it because I wanted to finish it into this very cute bunny first. I didn't get around to sewing up the bunny until now though. The ears gave me some trouble and I'm still not real happy with them and I think the ribbon needs to be aged a little as it seems too bright for this bunny, but all in all I really like him:) This is my first spring finish for this year and I hope to do several more. This one was the last of my Valentine's stitching I did for this year. I'm not usually into Valentine's, but thought the house could us a little color and trying to get away from the winter themes in hope of warmer weather:) This one was a freebie from The Stitcherhood, I stitched this on 35ct WDW Chestnut and I stitched with one thread over two. It took me about 3hours 45 min. And finally (and thankfully this one is at least part of my Crazy Challenge!!), I finished stitching the ABC Pinkeep Bird also designed by With thy Needle and Thread. I didn't finish this one off the way the instructions said to because I didn't have an old oil can, but I like it as an ornie better anyway. I stitched this over one on 28ct something:) Not sure now what the fabric was other than the count. This one took me 5 hours and 15 min. Well, I hope in the next few days to have an update on my 'Sarah Tobias' project and also the Nora Corbett Fairy, they are really coming along. And maybe by next week I'll have some new babies to show off as well!! I'm pretty excited about that:)

A bit late

I was hoping to get this finished by Valentine's Day, but just barely missed it:) Got it done early this morning though, then surged around the edges and stuck it in this 'tuck'. I know I really didn't 'NEED' another project to work on but after seeing this one done up on a blog, I just HAD to have it!!! LOL This is a primitivebettys freebie found on the side of her website here.
I did this on 32 ct Jobelan 'Sandcastle' and used CC's Muddy Puddle and Red Current. It took me around 4 1/2 hours to stitch it.
I hope everyone had a 'Sweet Valentine's Day'.

Lots of stitching and sewing

I've been keeping myself busy this past week. I finally have sewn up a couple of small designs that I've finished stitching and started and finished one that wasn't part of the 15 day challenge:)

This one is 'Cranberry Deer' from Beehive Needleworks. This one took me 7 hours to stitch. I added my initials and the year on the back, I am trying to do that with most of my pieces this year. The chart called for this to be turned into a pinkeep, but I thought it would be nice as an ornie, so that's what I've done with it:)
This one is my new start that I stitched up for a Valentine's SAL on a stitchy board. It is a freebie from Kissy Cross that you can find here...
She has lots of really nice freebies, and this is the second time I've stitched this one up. The first time it was for an exchange and I really wanted to do it again for myself. Well, here I am!!! This one took me 8hours and 15 min to stitch up.

This one is my favorite of all that I've finished this year. This is Small Tokens from BBD and it took me 10 hours 45 min to stitch this. I filled part of this with crushed walnut hulls and also polyfill as well. I couldn't figure out how to stitch the lace to all sides and get the corners right, so I just put the lace on the top and bottom. I'm really happy how this turned out!!!

Here they are all together. One of my goals for this year was not only to stitch more, but also to do something with what I stitched. I usually stitch something up and then place it in a baggie and forget about it. So far this year though, I've stitched up 4 things and finished them into something as well:) 4 for 4 isn't bad at all!!!

I also got brave and did a little baking. I used to bake a lot, but after going gluten free, well I can't get things to turn out nearly as easily and I just gave up for a while. I've found a few websites and blogs that have started getting me back into baking, and though it is really different than before, I'm starting to produce a few edible things. These are biscuits (and I say this because when my dh came in he though they were cookies;). They are really pretty good right out of the oven, though they turn into little hard rocks if I put them in the fridge:) All in all, pretty good though.

Well, I'm working right now on a WIP from 2010 in the Saltbox Scripture series (LHN) as I figure I should be getting some of those done too!!! :) Not sure I'll finish it before going back to my 15 challenge pieces, but at least it will be some progress on it.

Found a Great Givaway

I don't usually do the giveaways on sites that I don't know, but this one is too good to pass up. SO as part of the requirements, I'm to advertise this giveaway on my blog:), so if you'd like to see the goodies that is up for grabs, please go to ....
http://natalysneedle.blogspot.com

She's also got lots of neat pics of her stitching, so have a look around while you're at it!!!

A Stitchy update

I haven't been posting much because I've been busy stitching!!! I am trying to get a rotation schedule to work for me and I think I just about have it. Since I am trying to keep track of how long these pieces are taking me to stitch, I've decided to work on each piece for at least 5 hours before moving on to another project. This way I spend enough time on the project to make it look like I've gotten somewhere with it, but not so much time that I get tired of it. Now I've already broken my rule a couple times, but mostly it's working for me:)

First off I have my Sarah Tobias (BBD) to show off. This was one of my first projects that I started and I really love it:) As of this pic I've put in 9 hours on this (yes, I'm a really slow stitcher!!). I should have put a pair of scissors or something to show how small this is (over one on 32ct), it is turning out great!!!
This is my progress after 5 hours of work on Peony Fairy (Nora Corbett). I'm not enjoying this one as much, but it is a really different project for me, so it will be nice to have a challenge:)

And I got 'Small Tokens' (BBD) done!!! This project took 10hours 45min to complete. Hoping to get this one stitched up into a pincushion this weekend!! Will show pics when that is completed. So far this is one of my favorites that I choose to work on. I'm really excited that BBD seems to be a designer that I really love to stitch. This is my 2nd project that I've finished of theirs.

And I'm really excited to say that I found more GAST 'Mulberry' in my stash of threads (it was kitted with another project, but there's enough to share with two projects!!!). SO I started working on 'Cranberry Deer' (Beehive Needleworks) again and am hoping to have that done by tomorrow!!! That will be my 3rd Crazy Stitching Challenge finish!!! Not too bad:)

I haven't started any more new ones to this month and I'm thinking that other than a Valentine's Day start that I'm planning for this Friday (one of the stitching boards I'm on is doing a Valentine's SAL), that will be all the new starts for the month. Maybe next month I'll start a couple more new ones:).

Well, I'm off to get some housework done and maybe I'll get to do a little stitching as well. Have a great day.

Monday Blessings 1-31-11

At the rate that I'm going with this, it's going to take me the rest of my life to write down 1000 gifts:) Oh, but what a great thing to have written down so that I can look back and remember!!!

So here are a few that I've come up with this week...

9. Hints of Spring - what wonderfully beautiful weather we had the end of last week and some of this weekend. Makes me think of getting the garden in and ordering new chicks:)

10. Winter storms - that remind us that winter is still here and that force us to slow down and give us an excuse to snuggle under the blankets with our 'not-so-little-ones'. :)

11. Indoor play time that remembers making forts in the frontroom (even ones big enough for this momma to climb into).

12. Warm, cuddly, miss-matched socks on my pre-teen:)

Well, 4 a week seems to be a theme so far, so I'll stop there. I do have a few pics of stitchy progress to show soon, maybe we'll be snowed in tomorrow and I'll get a few minutes to do that. I would have liked to have had some sewing progress to show as well, but I never did get around to doing any of that. The 'offical' Friday Night Sew-In group only checks in once a month, but I was hoping to make a habbit of sitting down with the sewing machine every Friday. Will try again this week and see what happens:)

Have a wonderful night!!!

Monday Blessings

I forgot to do this last Monday, but after reading a little over at this blog, I'm ready to get back at it:) So here is my list of what I'm thankful for today....

5. Dh - who goes to a job that he just can't stand (nothing wrong with the job, just one that completely goes against his nature and personality) so we can be comfortable and so I can stay home and raise, and teach and love our dd.

6. His job. I hate to complain that he hates his job since so many don't have one and so many of dh's co-worker's have lost theirs. While it isn't for him and he'd love to change, we know how futunate we are for him to have it at all.

7. This home. We have a small house (under 700 sq ft). It's tight, but well built. It needs work (and lots of it:), but it's bones are good. We also have 10 acres, a nice size barn/shop and a very small mortgage. If he does lose his job, we are okay, not good, but we'll probably make it.

8. For family visits. That give me a kick in the hind-in to clean this small mess of a house:) Hopefull to have a housefull this coming weekend. With so little space things tend to get stacked in every availible corner we have (and closets, top of the fridge, counters, cabnets, etc...) so this week my goal is to clean, declutter some and try to at least find the surface space on some of these things:) Still not sure where people will sit, but I'm sure we'll figure it out!!!

Think this is all for today. I should be keeping notes through the week so I'll have something ready for Monday Blessings:) Maybe I'll get to that this week.

Friday Night sew-in Progress and pics

I actually did it!! I sat down with my sewing machine and only thought of throwing it out the window once or twice:) I can't blame the sewing machine. I have a older model Bernina, pretty close to the exact model my High School sewing classes had, which I love because at least I know how to use it!! Not that I can remember that far back very well, LOL. And it is a pretty simple machine, I'm sure it does more than I know or could figure out, or would ever use, but the basic forward and backward is very easy to do:) This isn't actually MY machine, as I'm borrowing it from my mother-in-law, but I've been 'borrowing' it from her for almost 10 years now.

I started sewing mid-day, figuring that I would get more done and be less frustrated if I spread out the work through-out the day. The first thing I worked on is a pattern for one of my cross stitch projects. This is from 'With Thy Needle and Thread' called Hoppin Along Sampler. I finished stitching this one around the beginning of Dec and had wanted to sew it up into this cute little bunny right away, but didn't get to it. I got the bunny body done, it's eyes and nose sewn up and the ears sewn together and cut out and was about ready to scream, so I put it nicely away before someone got hurt!!! :)

Before... After... I went and bought what I needed for the wiskers today but forgot to pick up the ribbon I will need for around her neck, so I'll still need to get that. I also don't have any blush for the insides of the ears or the cheeks, but I'm sure I'll find someone who does.

After a little break and searching for a little chocolate, I got out my patchwork quilt that I started just before Christmas. I had two rows of 15 squares done before... And after a little work and two chocolates later, I now have 4 rows of 15 squares each:) I would have worked on this a little longer, but I needed to cut out some more squares, and my stitching was calling my name, so I worked on that for a bit. All in all I think I had a very seccessful first sewing night and am excited to do this again next week!!!

I should also have stitchy finish to show off later this week that will probably become my sewing project for next Friday in order to sew it up into a pin cushion:)

Friday Night Sew In

Not sure what I'm thinking with joining in on something else, but this may just be what I need to get some sewing (non-cross-stitch) projects finished. I'm one who will start a sewing project, but I quickly get frustrated with it and then give up. I have a cross stitch project right now that needs sewn into a bunny (the stitching part is done, now the sewing machine part needs to happen:), and a small quilt that I started that I'd like to get done as well. We will see:) This starts this Friday, 1/21/11, and if you would like to sign up go to .... http://handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-friday-night-sew-in-signups.html

Should have pics on Saturday to show what I worked on Friday evening/night!!!

A Late Day 15

I did start my day 15 project on the correct day, but only got about 5 stitches in before falling over into bed. Usually I do most of my stitching in the early morning hours after my dh leaves for work (around 3:30 am) and stitch for a while until I can't keep my eyes open any longer and then I go back to bed. However, as the week progresses, I usually am getting more and more run down, and by Saturday I just couldn't even stay awake a few min after dh left for work. So I thought, "I will stitch some on it when I get up." But I had to get ready to go to my parents house with dd. I planned then to stitch at my parents house, however my little neice and nephew were there (I really like playing with the 'littles' :) and mom needed a little housework help (she had a minor surgery and isn't yet up to her usually energy). Then the plan was to stitch when I got home, but after a visit to the in-laws, some shopping with dh and then the drive home, it was time to fix a quick dinner and then off to bed:) I did get those few stitches in before I went to bed, but only just!!!

So what did I work on? This project is from Black Bird Designs (a designer that I have loved for a while now, but haven't done many project from) and is called 'Summer House Pincushion.' I have changed the colors on it and am loving how it is turning out!!! I'm stitching this on 30 ct WDW Mocha and using CC's 'Blue Moon' and 'Cocoa Bean'. I have a bit more done on it than what is shown in the pic, but had better light when I took the pic than I do now, so I'll just leave this pic up for now and put an update later when I get more done.

When I finally put 'Summer House' away, I got 'Cranberry Deer' back out thinking I could finish is real fast. Unfortunatly, I realized too late that I don't have enough of GAST 'Mulberry' to finish the project. I can finish the inside design, and then use something else for the border though, and I think I'm going to do that, though I'm not sure what I'll use just yet. Or I can wait until I can get back to my LNS and get another of the mulberry, though it may not match and my LNS is over an hour away. HMMM, will have to pull out what I have and see what I can do with it.

That is all for now, hope to have some progress pics to show soon!!!

Day 12, 13 and 14 of Stitching Challenge

Time to update on my Stitchy Challenge progress. I had a couple days that I just didn't feel like getting on the computer much, I thought I'd just do a few at one time:)

This is my day 12 project and is Liberty Tree by M Designs. This project can be found in the July/August 2010 issue of Just Cross Stitch mag (this is also the ornie preview issue). I am doing this project over one on 32 ct Jobelan Sandcastle (my FAVORITE fabric:) and am using WDW Lancaster Red for the thread.
This project is an old freebie (and I can not for the life of me remember where and when I got it) from Little River Designs called 'Just Add Snow'. I am stitching this on 18 ct. light blue aida and I did change almost all of the thread colors. I had started this one long ago and was going to add it to my WIP's projects, but noticed that over time it had gotten stained, and I just couldn't look past that, so I'm starting it new all over again:)

And lastly, for my Day 14 project, this is Cranberry Deer Pinkeep from Beehive Needleworks. This is another designer that I hadn't stitched from before, and it is going really well. I'm stitching this on 32ct Natural Raw Linen using GAST 'Mulberry' as my fiber. I was hoping to get a little more of this done today, Oh well:)

That is all for tonight. Tomorrow is offically the last day of this challenge and I think I'm going to stop with tomorrow too, even though I have more new starts ready. I'm going to take the rest of this month to work on some of the new projects I've started in the last couple weeks and then begin February with another round of new starts and also post some of my older WIPs. It's just going to drive me nuts if I can't get back to some of these projects soon, so this will give me the chance to do so. I have several more new projects to start next month that I really want to get to as well, so that will give me something to look forward to for February!!! :) So until tomorrow, hope you all have a restful night's sleep (and for those of you for whom it's already Saturday, I hope you have a lovely day!!!).

January Crazy Challenge - Day 11

Real quick post tonight, as I 'm just ready for bed:) Today I started ABC Pinkeep Bird from With Thy Needle and Thread. This is over one (yes those letters and such are as small as they look!!!) on what I *think* is some kind of 28 ct fabric:) I really have no idea what this fabric is. I had a couple pieces of it, but it wasn't labeled (I usually do pretty good at labeling the fabrics), so I have forgotten what it is. I think this one will be another quick stitch. I'm not planning on sitting the bird upon an oil can as I don't have one and I think it looks a little uncomfortable for the bird;), so I think I'll just attach a string an make it into an ornament.
That's all for tonight. Dd and I have Awana tomorrow night, so hopefully I'll get my start for tomorrow posted early, otherwise I'll probably wait until Thursday:0) Have a great night!!!

Stitchy Challenge update - Day 9 and 10

This weekend ended up being much busier than I had expected, so I did get some stitching done (though not much).

Sunday my dd's 4-H group had what they call '4-H Sunday' where one family from the group hosts the group at their church for the morning services and then we have a meal and our meeting at the church afterward. It was really nice, but went long into the afternoon, so I hardly got any stitching done yesterday at all. I did start Prairie Schooler's 'Harvest Time' book 93 that I'm doing over 1 on 28 Jobelan antique white. This is the same scene as the Christmas one I'm doing from Prairie Schooler, only this one is for Autumn. Someone told me there is a spring/summer one too, but I haven't seen it yet (will have to try and find that one too!!!).
This is the one that I started today. I expected to get more stitching done on this, however I took some Nyquil last night and never did wake completely up from that today. Ended up taking a nap at 'lunch time' too, but still didn't feel right. Of course, I'm nice and awake now as I need to head to bed, LOL. I am feeling better now too, so I guess it was worth having a foggy headed day:)
This is 'Love One Another' from LHN and I'm stitching this on 32 ct. natural linen.

I'm getting to where I'm questioning whether I should do 23 new starts this month or not:) I'm really wanting to get back to stitching some that I've already started. Maybe 15 new ones this month and then 15 (new and older) ones next month? Not sure yet, guess we will see:)

One Thousand Gifts

Here is something new (for me) that I found today while looking around at different blogs. This blog is the sweetest ever, I just love her sence of peace and the comforting way she 'talks'. So I thought I would start blogging my own 'Monday blessings' and see if after a while, I too, could come up with 1000 blessings:)

1. Snow - even though I really dislike the cold, we really needed the moisture. Now the wheat fields and pasture land that surrounds us will get the moisture they so desperately need.

2. Snow :) Okay, this is two fold, because while I don't like it, my dd LOVES it. She is out in it for the second time today, and no, school isn't getting done as much as I'd like, well, tomorrow will be too cold for her to be out in it, and we can make up the couple things we didn't get to today:)

3. Homeschooling. Goes back to the last one:) While we do have a list of what needs done everyday, we also have some wiggle room for days like today when the white fluffy stuff outside calls her name. And on the first days of warm spring and on the last days of lovely autumn. Not only do we get to learn together, but we have the time and flexabilty to enjoy all that comes our way:) (And while some kids got the whole day off, we still did get some schooling in:).

4. Cats. One batch of kittens that was born early this summer just got their first peek at snow this morning. It was really funny!!! First they tried to attack it, then realized that their paws were cold and wet and tried shaking them off with every step they took!! :)

Now that I try and think of daily blessings, I could list lots and lots:) I guess this will be all for now though. I will have another post this evening for my stitching.

Crazy Stitching Challenge Days 7 and 8

Sorry for the absence yesterday and most of today (if I type really fast, I'll just squeek this in today - Jan 8th:). So really quick I'll post what my projects for yesterday and today were and hopefully I'll have time to post tomorrow too - another busy day tomorrow, but then it quiets down around here for a few days:)

Yesterday I closed my eyes and fumbled around in my basket and I pulled out Country Sampler 'Seek Goodness' Pinkeep Drum by Stacy Nash Primitives. Stacy is another designer that I've never stitched, but have wanted to for a while. I love this design and it is really quick and easy with it being all one color and DMC at that. I am stitching this on 32 ct raw linen.
And for today I pulled out Flower and Bird Sewing Roll from Chessie and Me. I found this chart in the clearance bin at my LNS and couldn't decide if I wanted it or not. I didn't like the white fabric the model what stitched on, but figured that for the price (and an extra 15% off as the store was having a sale) that I would just get it and stitch it later if I decided that I wanted to. Well, after shopping and leaving the store with my SIL, Marianne Meyer of Midnight Stitching, she started thinking of flosses and fabrics and on and on until we ended up back at the store with me buying what I needed for this chart:) She is so BAD!!! So, now it is part of my crazy challenge and I think I'm really going to like this one!!! I am using the threads the chart calls for, but am using 30ct WDW 'Straw' for the fabric.

OPPS, looks like I just missed getting this post in on time:( hehehe. I guess today, Jan 9th now:), will have to be a two post day. Though the next post will have to wait for normal human hours!!! Off to bed now, good-night:)

Crazy Jan Challenge - Day 6

I'm so glad I decided to finish the fob yesterday because this challenge was starting to get to me. So many starts and not getting back to stitching on any of the ones I've started yet. But after finishing that little bitty one, I'm feeling much better about it all and am having fun again:)

Today I reached in my basket and pulled this one out (actually, I was looking for this one:). This is Small Token from BBD and I'm stitching it on 32ct Jobelan 'Sandcastle', which is my favorite fabric:) So very soft and I love the color dye on it. I got a bit more time to stitch today than usual because my dd had gymnastics today, so I always take a small project with me to work on while I'm watching her work:) I'm thinking that this is now my favorite project!!!
I'm off to bed, still fighting this cold/bug/whatever it is. Really it's not very bad, just a little annoying and making me feel a bit run down. I don't have anything I'm really wanting to stitch on tomorrow, so I'll just grab out of the basket and surprise myself (I'm pretty forgetful, so this isn't hard to do:) LOL

Stitchy Challenge day 4 and 5

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I did start a new project and got some stitching done on it, but by the time evening rolled around, I just wasn't feeling well enough to stay up and post pics. I had a bad head ache, a cough, and congestion. But I'm doing much better now:) thank goodness for Mucinex and Vit C/Echinacea drops!!! Still have a bit of congestions, but it's all pretty much gone:)

I started 'Acorn Fob' by Chessie and Me yesterday, and as you can see I also finished it!!! Actually I finished it today, wouldn't even start a new one today until I had this one finished, and I LOVE IT!!! This was a 'freebie' handed out to group members of a stitching group at a get-together. I tried looking for a website, hoping I could give you a link to the freebie, but couldn't even find a website for Chessie and Me at all:( Anyway, I stitched this on 32ct Lambswool that I coffee stained. The chart called for silk threads, but I don't have any, so I used DMC instead.
This is the same project before I finished it into a fob. I did add the year to the side with my initials as well.

And this is my start for today. It is Winter Band Sampler from LHN. I am doing this one on 30ct natural raw linen and I changed all the DMC threads that it called for to various overdyed threads (if you'd like to know what I used, let me know:). I think this one will be a pretty quick project.

Well, this is all I'm going to get done today. We are having an early dinner and then dd and I go off to Awana where she had class and I do crafts with the youngest class (3-5 year old 'Cubbies'). It's a lot of fun, but I'm usually pretty worn out afterwards:) Until tomorrow...

Day 3 of Stitching Challenge

I had meant to post a pic yesterday of not only what I stitched, but also a pic of what the project should look like when I'm done with it:) Not sure how I missed that one, but here is a pic of Prairie Schooler's "All Hearts Come Home". My camera is not doing well on close up pics, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but this pic was the least fuzzy of the 10 or so my dh and I tried taking:) And this is what I picked out of my stitching basket for today. This is Pumpkin Hollow Farms from Little House Needleworks and I'm stitching this one on 32 ct Sandcastle. I'm only planning on stitching the top half of this design. My LNS has one done like that and I really like it:) I'm changing a few colors by adding a bit more color to the tree leaves and using a darker orange for the pumpkins. I did have more stitching time today, but still didn't get much done as I kept having to fix silly little mistakes I was making. Clearly I wasn't focusing any better than my camera, LOL :)

And just to add something a little different, here are our two puppy dogs:) Okay, they aren't puppies, but they are our big babies!!! Their names are Gracie (yellow lab) and Titus (brown lab).

I'm planning to pick a smaller project to start tomorrow and see how much I can get done on it. I have a couple projects in there that may only take a day or two if I really focus on them and it would feel nice to get one at least close to done:) I am also hoping to get a few min to stitch some more on Sarah Tobias. So far that one is my favorite!! :) Okay, until tomorrow...