March's FINISH IT FRIDAY

 

It's time again for a 'FINISH IT FRIDAY'!!! For 'offical' rules click the button above, but really all you need to do is blog about a project - any project such as stitching, scrapbooking, crocheting, quilting, etc- that you put all the finishing touches on. As in it is completely finished:) After you blog about it, come back here and link up your blog post. I will pick out a winner for some random prize to be figured out and given away at the end of the year:) Really this is just about motivating us all - but mostly me- to dig through your piles of 'almost finished' project and get them completed!!

 

So here are my completed projects for the month...

 

 

This one is Prairie Schooler's Winter Ornie found in JCS 2006 ornie mag. I finished the stitching on this one last month for the Ornie SAL. All I did to finish this into an ornie is to line the back of the stitching with thin cardstock and then glue that onto a piece of felt. Easy finish!! :)

 

And this one is from Lizzy Kate. I finished it in the same way as the ornie, however I think this one will be used as a bookmark. We will see if it feels too thick or not.

 

It is really nice to get a few things out of my pile of 'stitched but waiting to be finished' projects, but even more fun is looking through all the pieces in the pile and remembering what I have already gotten stitched.

 

Okay, so if you are interested in joining me, go and blog about your finished project, then come back an link up here...

March WIPocalypse update

It's that time of the month again. No, not THAT time of the month, but rather time for a WIPocalypse update:) Since I had so many starts earlier this month and I've been working on them a bit here and there, it didn't seem as if I had much to show off. However I did just finish (as of this morning:), this block entitled 'Lovebirds' from Midsummer's Night Designs. This is a freebie and will be used for a bird themed block exchange. I have actually stitched this up before, I think this is the third time I've stitched this one, and so far I haven't kept even one of them. Maybe I'll need to stitch it up one more time, but for myself this time!!

 

 

This one is La D Da's 'Live, Laugh, Love' and a group of ladies and I, 5 of us in all, are doing this one as a round robin project. We each chose our own thread colors we wanted to use and stitched a section of our choice on our own project and then switched them out and stitched a section on the next persons' project. So this one belongs to my SIL, Marianne Meyer of Midnight Stitching, and the top section is what I stitched for her. It is now ready to be mail out to the next person. This is my first round robin to participate in and it has really been fun. I am hoping not to see a pic of my project until I get it in the mail and it is all finished. I want to be surprised!! 

 

 

 

 

And tomorrow is my 'Finish It Friday' Challenge. I've been looking through my stitching cabinet to find what I plan get get finished off so I can post on it tomorrow. I am hoping to get my March ornie done and if I can I think that the P.S. winter and spring ornies will be what gets finished off. Then the whole set will be completely finished!!! :) If you want information on what 'Finish It Friday' is and how to join in, click on the button above and it *should* take you to my page that give all the details:)

 

 

March FNSI

This is my Friday Night Sew In post, hosted by Handmade by Heidi. Of course, I'm a few days late posting this:) I am still working on my patchwork quilt that I've been working on for a little over a year now. So I'm not super into sewing, but I really do want to get this done at some point this year.

 

 As you can see, the kitty doesn't mind my using 'his' table at all!! He didn't even wiggle when I was throwing rows of fabric on him:)

 

The last time I worked on this I had 7 1/2 rows done. The 1/2 was because I needed to cut more squares of two different fabrics. So I did that earlier in the week so it wouldn't take time away from sewing. I got 5 more rows done this Friday, so up to 12 1/2, and this time the 1/2 was because I ran out of one of the fabrics all together!! YIKES!! Thankfully I found some more in town, so I'm good now:) Since I couldn't form more rows I decided I would sew some of the rows together and I was able to get 4 of them sewn together. I'm really excited now that it is starting to take shape and I can start to really see what it will look like once it's done:) And yes, the cat wanted in this pic too.

 

Dd and I have decided to take this week as spring break, so I'm hoping to get lots of projects done and posted!!! 

The IHSW that wasn't

 

 

Wow, this weekend really got away from me. I knew it would be busy and that I would have to try really hard to fit some stitching in, but it ended up that I wound up only stitching for a half hour for the whole weekend!! Shame on me!! :) It was a fun weekend for dd though!! She worked the nursery during MOPS on Friday morning, we picked up her friend in the afternoon and went to Leather Craft class until evening. Then the friend spent the night, stayed up until nearly 7:00 am (hubby stayed in the camper and was VERY thankful to have somewhere to hide!!). Then her friend went home and we went to a cousin's birthday party. On Sunday we went to church, I cooked with hubby and once that was done I pretty much vegged out!! The house is a mess that is slowly being put back together:)

 

Since I don't have any weekend stitching to share with you, I thought I would share all the new starts I had from last week!!!

 

 

This is 'Key to My Heart' from Cherrywood Designs and can be found in March 2013 issue of Cross-Stitch & Needlework Mag. I didn't have the pink fabric so I am using some out of my stash, something in 32ct. I'm thinking I might take out the brown lettering and do it in a deeper brown as it seems to be blending in too much. This one will be for an exchange.

 

This one is Blackbird Design's Loose Feathers Summer/Autumn/Winter. I will stitch them all together as shown in the picture, except I won't be stitching the alphabet. I am stitching this on 40ct Legacy over 2 with 2 threads. This is probably my favorite project I am working on right now:0)

 

This one is a freebie that I have stitched a couple times already, but I love how it turns out so nice and cheerfull!! This is 'Lovebird' from Midsummer Night Designs. I am using the random 32ct fabric on this one too, and this one will also be for an exchange.

 

Here is the very beginning of my next LoveQuilts block. This is 'Forgotten Treasure' from the Stoney Creek book 'Antique Tractor Collection'.  This little boy really likes tractors and all things farm related. The pic is a little hard to see, but it is a old grey and black tractor with a farm scene behind it.

 

 

This one isn't a new start, but I am hoping to get it done by next week's Monthly Ornie deadline. This is Prairie Schooler's Spring Ornie. This is the last in the series for me to get done. I'm really excited to have all four of them done and ready to use!!!

 

 

 

Well, you can see that I've had some time to stitch, even if it wasn't over the weekend. I actually have one more that I'm getting ready to start. It is a bigger project for my dd and has horses on it. And I am also working on a round robin project, but haven't gotten much of anything done on it yet, so I'll post on that later.

 

We have another busy week ahead of us, though I think next weekend will be much quieter than this last one was. :) 

 

March TUSAL

Time for another TUSAL post!!! I have been a busy stitcher this past month, I even added a bit of thread from sewing and a strand or two of yarn from crocheting:) In the background you can see my Thomas Kincaid notebook that I use for keeping all my projects and stitching ideas inside. I've been using this same notebook since 2010, so I have all the projects that I've finished since then written down. I tried for a while to also keep track of how long a project took to complete, but I found I was wasting a lot of time just in keeping track of the time!! LOL  So I stopped that since I'm more interested in actually finishing a project than in knowing how long it took:) 

 

It had been a busy weekend here and I didn't get much stitching done, so I don't have much to show off for all the new starts I had last week. Hopefully I will be able to post a bit about that tomorrow:) 

WOW!!! I finally got this one finished!! I really can't blame anything other than being distracted with lots of other projects that kept calling my name. I love this block, so far it's has been my favorite of the few that I've done for LoveQuilts. 

 

So now that this one is done, what do you think I went and did? Well, if you read a few days ago I said that I would kit up a couple new projects and that is just what I am working on:) I have the next LoveQuilt block kitted up, two exchange projects almost kitted up, and am looking at kitting up a new one for me:) I also need to get started on my next ornament, though it may need put off until April, and I am waiting on the next person's Round Robin piece to come in so I can work on that:) Lots of stitchy busy-ness!!! Now I am off to finish kitting those projects up and maybe put my needle in one of them:)

March YOTA update

YOTA - Meaning Year Of The Acronym is the creation at Pull The Other Thread. The goal (at least for me) is to work on a UFO or WIP that you don't normally work on in your rotation. For me the piece that I am working on is one I started years ago, but because of it's size, I just put it away to work on something a bit smaller and easier to stitch. I really love this design though, so when I found the YOTA Challenge, I decided that I would set aside one weekend a month to get this back out and stitch on it. I'm so glad I did too, because it's becoming one of my favorite things to stitch on:)

 

This is where I was after January's YOTA. I fell behind on my ornie that month and was still stitching my Jan ornie during the time of the February YOTA, so I wasn't able to participate last month.

 

And here I am as of this morning. It is slow going, but I love the colors and the nature feel to it.

And here is a pic of the finished design. Yes, I'm just working on the little bench in the center. If worked over 2 like it calls for, this design would end up being around 18x22 in. I'm doing mine over one on 28 ct so it'll be around 9x11, much better in my mind:) There are a couple more that Marjolein Bastin has done that I would like to stitch as well, but that will have to be for another day - or year!!

February Ornie (late again)

 

I participated again in Silverlotus' Ornie Sal for February, and just like last month, I am late posting on this. And just like last month, it's because I just got the stitching done!!! I really need to start my ornie's earlier in the month:)



 

This is 'Winter Ornie' from Prairie Schooler and can be found in the 2006 Christmas Ornie issue of Just Cross Stitch. I have now stitched the Summer, Autumn and Winter ornies in this series. I just have the spring one left to do:) Actually that will probably be my ornie for March. Then they will all be done!!

 

So for the rest of the day - and probably tomorrow too - I am going to work on my YOTA piece. Then for next week my goal is to finally finish up 'Fishing'. After that I have about 4 new projects I want to start!!! :) I just almost can't wait to get them started!!! I'll post pics as I go along.