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...

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!!!

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:)

Christmas Time is Near

We are just under one week out till Christmas Day!!! We actually had our family get-together with my inlaws today and it was a really nice time. I even got stitching stash and a gc for our needlework store!!! Can't beat that:)

I did get a few ornies done/done, as in not only stitched, but sewn/glued into actual ornies:) Pretty good for me. So this is the first batch for this year. One for my sil, one for my mil and two for me!!! Hopefully in the next few days I will get the next batch of ornies all sewn up.
And this is my Christmas tree. Dd was all excited to get this up and then it took a week with it up before I could get her to decorate it, and we've only turned the lights on a couple time, LOL. Oh, well:) We really wanted to get a new tree this year, but just can't bring ourselves to spend the money on something that is up (and in our way:) for one month a year.

And finally, here is a pic of my 15 new year projects (actually this is only 14 new ones and several WIPs and UFOs). Need to pick one more out and get it ready - though now that I got 2 new projects for Christmas, I may need to do a couple more than the 15:) Hmmm, wonder about doing a new project for every day of the month, LOL!!! Okay, maybe not:0) I will start listing the projects (both new and old) as I show them on my blog. Will be trying to get on here everyday until I go through all the projects and then posting at least twice a month on my progress. I am trying to finish at least one of my WIPs up until then now that I have all my ornies stitched up for the year.

I will be going to my LNS for their end of the year sale in a week or so and I will post pics of whatever I end up getting from that:)

Daybook Entry 12/8/10

Been a LONG time since I've done this, so here it goes...

Outside my window-Last time I posted this I said it was too hot, now I'm thinking too cold!!! LOL I'm one who doesn't like the heat or the cold, so I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to the weather. Actually we haven't had it too bad yet, only a few days so far when the high was around freezing or just under. Nothing like last winter (or at least not yet), so I won't complain... right now;)

I'm thinking - mostly about Christmas and the 'get-togethers' that are coming up. Also thinking about some friends of mine that are going through a really hard time and trying to see if there is anything I can do to help them out.

Out in the garden - Well, not much going on in the garden this time of year. *We* (and by this I mean dh:) did get the garden cleaned up but it still needs tilled a time or two yet before spring. I would also like to get the area around the front porch cleaned up as it has been a while and we have some dead weeds and toys and cardboard boxes (?), and some etc. Really need to get that cleaned up before it snows and then I can't find it all!! : )

In the kitchen - Not much going on there either. Dh has really gotten into cooking (grilling) and is doing most of the cooking for us now. I'm not sure I even remember how to cook (not sure I care to ever remember either:). He has done everything from fahitas to pizza to baked beans to grilled fruit deserts, and he had dd even grilled cookies a couple of weeks ago that turned out great!!! It does help that he has a nice propane grill and a nice pellet smoker grill too:) The last thing that was in my oven was fabric that I was coffee dying!! :)

Creativity this week- Unlike the other catagories in this post, I do have lots going on in this one!!! I am almost always working on something. I am working like crazy to get some ornies done for Christmas, just got one done yesterday in fact. Though I can't post a pic of that one, it is for someone that just might peek in on my blog, I'll post a pic after our Christmas get together. I also started a small lap quilt a few days ago. We have a total of 3 people in this house, and a total of about 3 blankets:) So when a certain young monkey of a girl spills her dinner on my blanket, then we only have 2 clean ones:) I guess I could go out and buy some more blankets, but this is more fun!! I'm also really excited to get started on my 15 new stitching projects!! I think so far the hardest part of that challenge is to wait until it starts!!!

In the barn - We really have dwindled down the number of animals we have out here. We got rid of the chickens last summer (?), and a few months ago took the cows in to slaughter. So now we only have the dogs (2), the cats (8), and the guinea pig. Dd is wanting to do bucket calf for 4-H this year, so we'll be getting a couple more calves around the beginning of the year, and we are all really wanting chickens again, so are planning on those sometime around early spring. That should help raise our animal numbers back up again:0)

What I'm reading - Nothing for me right now. Dd and I have been going through some missionary stories lately though. One of them took us only 2 days to get through:) It was really good, about the missionary Ida Scudder (1870-1960, missionary to India). So reading those and a few other things for her school (science and history).

Okay, so two posts in a week!!! I'm doing so good:) hehehe

It's been a long time:)

Well, I never did promise that I would be good at keeping up with blogging (or anything else for that matter, you should see my laundry pile!!! :) However, I am going to try to do this once again. I'm pretty sure no one reads here anyway, but even if not, it is fun to go back and read what I have written and it makes me feel that I have actually accomplished something to go back and see pics of my stitching and other things.

So I have a few pieces to show off. I'm pretty sure I've finished a few other small ones as well, but I can't remember now (SEE? I should be doing this more often, if for no other reason than to help me remember what I have done!! :) hehehe.

These will all be made into ornaments as gifts for Christmas. Once I get them all sewn up, I'll put another pic on here. This first one is from Brittercup. I did this one for an exchange, but did another just like it (though half the size) for my dd as she really likes it too. She has a mini tree for her room and so the ornie needed to be really small.
This one is from Blackbird Designs and can be found in the 2009 ornie issue of JCS mag. I'm pretty sure I'm keeping this one for myself:) Oh, and I hand-dyed the fabric on this one and the next one!! The fabric looks different in these two pics, but it is really the same color and both look closer to the first pic IRL.

And this one is by The Victoria Sampler - Designs by Cathy Jean. I started this one thinking it was for me, but after my mil saw it, and said she really liked it, it became hers. Now, I am thinking I need to stitch this one again for me:).

I am also signing up to do a internet stitching challange. The challange is to start a new project everyday for 15 days, starting Jan 1st and blog about those projects over the course of the year, until they are finished. I WILL FAIL this challenge (at least the last half of it, I do have 15 projects to start), but it will be fun anyway. I have already picked out my 15 charts and have most of them kitted up (though I need a few fibers and fabric for a couple of the projects). I will need to wait until our LNS has their sale at the end of the year to get the few things that I need, but I am almost ready as it is. I think I will also add my older WIPs to the list as well, so that they don't become lost and forgotten!! After counting the WIPs I already have (and that I still would like to stitch. I have several that I just don't like anymore), I will be adding 8 more projects to the 15 new ones:) Well, like I said, I WILL FAIL, but that is okay, I really like stitching:)