Monday, January 31, 2011

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, January 24, 2011

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.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

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:)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

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!!!

Friday, January 14, 2011

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!!!).

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

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!!!

Monday, January 10, 2011

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.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

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:)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

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

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

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...

Monday, January 3, 2011

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...

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Jan Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 of this month's challenge turned out to be harder to find time to stitch. With dh going back to work tomorrow and my trying to get things organized for that (laundry, lunch things made up and started to get packed, etc.), and wanting to hang out with him and dd all together, stitching didn't take priority today:) That's okay though, as dh is back on overtime again, and that means more stitching time.

So today I reached in my stitching basket and pulled this one out. This is from Prairie Schooler book #86 - At Christmas All Hearts Go Home. I am doing this over one on 28ct antique white fabric. Those trees are VERY teeny tiny:) Sorry about the crappy pic, it is pretty dark in my house at night:0)
I also worked just a bit on BBD's Sarah Tobias, but didn't get much done on it. Maybe there will be enough change on it by the end of the week to show an update on it.
Well, it will be an early day tomorrow so I'm off to bed, but will be back tomorrow with Day 3 of January's Crazy Challenge:) Have a good night!!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

January Crazy Stitching Challenge

Nope, I haven't forgotten about this. I've just been busy stitching:) I have two projects for today because two different stitching groups had a January 1st challenge. This first one is 'Peony' and is my first Nora Corbett design to stitch. I've always wanted to stitch one of her fairies and just needed someone who would want the finished product. Well, my dd really loves bright colors and she really liked this one, so here I am stitching it:) I'm doing this one on 32ct antique white fabric and that little bit of stitching at the bottom of the pic is all that I got done so far today.
This one I've been waiting to do for some time now. I am stitching it on 32 ct cream Belfast, lightly overdyed with coffee. I am working this over one. My plan is to make this into a pouch to carry scissors, tape measure, needles, etc.
Because I have a really hard time following directions;0) and because I went a little nuts with this challenge, I will be posting a project for every day this month. Some of the ones at the end of the month will be projects that I had previously started, but most of them (I believe 23 of them) are new starts:) I have no idea how many I can actually finish in a year, but I figured, since I already owned most of the charts I will be starting, that it couldn't hurt to go ahead and start them!!!
That's all for today, I'll have a new project to post about tomorrow:)