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:)