HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to all my stitchy friends.

I suppose I should do a wrap up of 2012 like so many others do but I'd rather look forward to 2013!
But a quick recap won't hurt. I did a have a few really great things in 2012. I made a good friend through stitching and this blog. I accomplished a satisfying amount of stitching. I was RAK'd a number of charts that I love and didn't think I'd have any time soon, if ever. I even bought 2 charts. So many charts came my way this year in fact, that I now have a stash of charts that I long to stitch. I also started a number of them so I have too many WIP's.
For Christmas Teresa and Molly (Happy Birthday Teresa!) sent me 2 charts to cheer me up. They didn't arrive for Christmas due to a glitch but shortly afterward they were in my E-mail. And cheer me up they did.
Here they are.
Too Hot:

And QS Blue Butterfly:

There were losses this year. We lost my father-in-law this year and I just worked my last day on Thursday due to cutbacks, there were a lot personal and financial problems (car still not repaired) and things look just as bad, and really worse, this year, but somehow I feel hopeful.

2013 begins with my DH's Birthday tomorrow. Then there is the 2013 HAED SAL on the 4th.
There will be lots of job hunting, and who knows what I will find? Something wonderful I hope.
I have all of those WIP's to keep me busy, certainly enough for a few years. I am looking forward to all of that stuff and more. Maybe some sewing, and possibly losing a few more pounds. I've lost 3 in the past 2 weeks, unplanned but welcome. Pulling down wallpaper in the living room. All sorts of silly things like that.
I reorganized all of my stitchy stuff, so no stitching this weekend until today hopefully. I think I may have messed up with the organizing since I think it will slow me down till I get used to everything. Live and learn. lol.

So what are you looking forward to this year? Got anything you want to do? I'm not making resolutions, but I have some ideas of things I'd like to change.

Happy New Year and Happy Stitching everyone. Peace and Love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas. Joy and blessings and love is wished for you all.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Stitching Year

Or not. But still an exciting time.
There is so much going on, and again, at the same time not.
Aside from major implosions in my private life I have 3 days more of work next week and I am officially cut back (out actually). Bad enough, but now my car has broken down and I can't have it repaired so even getting to and from work will be a huge struggle. As is getting to the store, or anywhere else. Try buying Christmas dinner by only going to places you can walk to and carry the groceries home without getting a hernia. Luckily for me there is one small store near by and we will make do.  They carry bathroom paper and that my friends, is a very big deal.

But what, do tell, does any of this have to do with stitching? Well, everything really. I can't settle down to stitch. When I do, I can't settle into a project, a few stitches then it is out of there. I'd make a new start on my black and white but I just can't get excited about it and I'm unsure about the fabric. I may want to use that piece for the 2013 HAED SAL, so there you go. Can you stitch when your life is in turmoil? It usually calms me and I am slowly getting a grip but there is a lot of frogging.

I started this.

 

Pretty small start. It is one of four I want to stitch for my kitchen. They all measure about 80 by 130. I got the patterns from here. I love this site and highly recommend you take a look around. There are a lot more patterns than just alphabets.

I started it for the HAEDless SAL this week and have gotten more than this done but haven't taken a pic, I will wait until I am done with this week's SAL and post one. But...It looks like a nice simple chart, but hasn't been for me. I have gotten quite a bit more done, and have frogged it, some parts of it 2 times, because of simple counting errors. Once I just fudged it I was so sick of frogging and re-counting. Sigh.

What in the world? I have no idea why. I will be very happy when my stitching mojo comes back from being AWOL though.

I have to say, I do love small and normal sized projects just as much as the BAP's. There are still some wonderful kits on my I want list too. And then there are some charts coming to Tilton Crafts that I am feeling pretty excited about, especially the ones that get my inner goth girl all stirred up!

So, not your typical Christmas season post today. I do wish you all a Merry Christmas though. Mine could be much worse so I'm going to try not to whine, and try to just enjoy being home. I love being home as a rule and once I can stop spazzing I'm sure I'll be thrilled to have so much home time. Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to print that first page of the 2013 HAED SAL with neither black printer cartridge nor car. I'll let you know how that works out.

The most stitching fun I've been having is living vicariously through other people's projects. There are some stunning ones out there in SAL's and on other people's blogs. I have updated my stitching links. I'm still adding some of my favorites a little at a time and I have deleted any blogs that have had no posts in the past 6 months. There are some wonderfully inspiring stitchers out there.

Happy Holiday Stitching my stitchy friends. I hope you have a joyous time.

Early Morning Stitching Daydreams

I've been thinking quite a lot about just how many projects I have started this year, about how many yummy delicious charts I've been blessed with that I somehow managed not to start, about rotations, about SAL's, about what other charts I'd really like to have. There was a run-on sentence for you!

I made a finishes page and there isn't that much on there, which is OK, it is just for fun. Still, it did set me to thinking. I feel like I want to be really committed to the HAED SAL this coming year. Not to win new patterns so much as because I didn't take part last year and I didn't finish the ones from previous years. So I'm pretty sure I'll commit to finishing at least one page of it, but more likely two this year. I would love to say I'll do all four pages but I have no idea what the year will be like as everything is so unsettled and up in the air right now.

I do want to make a few things for my kitchen. I'm day dreaming about when we get to start re-doing it in the misty future somewhere and I'm thinking traditional blue and white. In furtherance of that I've chosen some charts I found here. I love this site, which I found by accident when I was home with my back out on Wed. Yes it went back out but is improving. Mostly alphabets there, which I love, but I will actually stitch some of the other pieces as a set for the kitchen walls. Free is good right now, and I love the idea of stitching older charts that have been well loved over the years.

Then there are some other charts I'm interested in, but they are daydream charts for now. There is this one from Tilton Crafts which has been one of my favs for a few weeks now. It was love at first sight and hasn't waned at all. Steam Punk Puppy! Actual name of the chart is Amris.

Another old fav is this one from Scarlet Quince.

I've been loving this black and white for a couple of years now.

There are two from Golden Kite, also been getting love from me for a few years.
Suspense.

 And Sympathy.

You've seen my other day dream charts on past posts so I won't bore you.

Have you noticed that I altered the pixxels of the photo's a few posts back? I read that I should do that to save memory storage usage on Blogger and it seems to be alright.

I have no idea what I'll be stitching the rest of the month. I may go back to my rotation, I do love the idea of a rotation, but in reality I usually do whatever in December and just flow with it, so I'll have to wait and see. I haven't started a new black and white yet. I need to sort fabric and I'm trying not to spend anything extra. It will be Cheshire Cat, it received the most votes, and it is smaller and so more affordable. The Black will happen though, it must.

Does your  stitching change at the Holidays? Have you  decided what you'll be stitching next year? I'm still working on that myself. What chart(s) have you thought about stitching for years but haven't gotten round to buying yet, or have bought and not stitched?

Happy Stitching my Stitchy Friends!

My First HAED FINISH!

I'm pretty excited to have finished SK Dragon Soul. Especially since my stitching mojo has gone AWOL a few times in the last week or two.

Here is a picture.

 I have since washed it and just begun the drying process. I can tell you that I won't use pencil again since not all of the grid marks came out. This is odd since I have used pencil before with no problem. I will have to wait for the drying and pressing to see if it removed the page line. So not perfect but it is my first HAED finish and I'm pleased with myself. It was a nice treat amidst all of the resume writing and job hunting while still working at my present job until my layoff kicks in at the end of the month.

Another nice thing, HAED 2013 SAL supply sheet arrived today so I can hopefully begin pulling threads tonight or tomorrow night.

Yet another cheerful thought today. A post on FB reminded of the HAED Rewards program, which begins Dec. 30th. Since I actually bought this chart and it wasn't an RAK, I think I will be eligible. That will be exciting and fun if I am. It makes me want to go and look at QS patterns. lol.

I'm pretty tired and my back is hurting a bit because I picked up something too heavy for me yesterday so I doubt there will be stitching tonight. Seems like a good time to day dream though.

Happy stitching this week everyone!

A proper Thank You to Sharine

As I mentioned, Sharine from Charbella has awarded me a Leibster Award.

Here are the rules:
You must thank the person who awarded it to you, paste the Liebster Award on your blog, pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave them each a comment on their blogs letting them know the good news!

These are my choices. They are not in any particular order.

OctoberLace
Stitching Cats
Family Business
Nothing but Cross Stitch
Intricate Stitches

These are all really fun blogs that I think you will enjoy.

In other news, I will be stitching  QS Mystic Garden in the HAED 2013 SAL. It was a really difficult decision this time around as all the choices were tempting, and there were 3 that I needed to stitch. I had told DH that if the tigers were there I'd definitely join the SAL and they were so. There are so many people this year and I really can't wait to see the wip's.

Now I'm off to figure out how to paste the Leibster Award on here.

Happy Stitching everyone.

On Receiving a Gift this Morning and being nominated for a blog award

I have been having a little trouble sleeping this week, waking up earlier each day. I was trying to be quiet and not wake DH so I was checking out stitching things and perusing Facebook this morning. Well, the Thanksgiving Faery has sent me a chart! I was so surprised as it was completely unexpected. Someone had asked for my E-mail address, but as I have gotten several really kind E-mails since Friday and it just didn't occur to me to think of being RAK'd.

I won't keep you in suspense. Here is the lovely Mini Cheshire Cat.

Isn't it the loveliest thing? It has been on my wishlist for some time. It reminds so much of the stray cat that sits in my tree out front.

It also presents a bit of a dilemma. When QS Dragon Soul is finished I had planned to make Mini The Black my next black and white project. I really enjoy stitching them. But now there is this and I will have to decide. I've compared and Cheshire cat is smaller and takes only 22 skeins of floss which is much less than The Black. Decisions Decisions. Why must we always choose?

In other exciting news Sharine, over on Charbella Stitching has nominated me for a Leibster Award. The rules are pretty simple and I'm going to give that its very own post as I haven't finished picking out the 5 blogs I want to share it with, there are so many good ones. Thank you so much Sharine. I fell really blessed to have such wonderful stitching friends.

Now, I don't know how to do a one of those things where you can vote. I guess I need to figure that out when I'm off work for the holiday, but if you'd like to, feel free to tell me which you think I should try to kit up next. Mini Cheshire Cat above, or Mini The Black, below?

It will be a bit of fun to see what everyone chooses!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving Stitching everyone. I know I'll be stitching on QS Dragon Soul so that I can be that much closer to starting my next black and white.

A Difficult Week, and stitching

Last week was definitely one I will always remember.
On Tuesday I was nearly mugged or something in a local parking lot. I was able to run and lock myself in my car and security appeared like magic just as I did and the guy ran away. Pretty upsetting I can tell you.

On Friday morning I was called into my office and got my lay-off notice along with a lot of others. I will be ending employment at the end of December. I found out today another local hospital laid-off 200 people Friday. It is happening at all the hospitals from what people are telling me, apparently actions that have been planned for months and put into effect based on the presidential election. At any rate, finding something else in system or in the medical field isn't looking too good in my city right now. I confess I am more than a little worried about finding any other job right now.

On to stitching.
I confess I missed a night or two this week. I was feeling pretty traumatized after the parking lot incident and well, life gets busy sometimes.

I did get a bit done though. I stitched on some ornaments and on those little Bucilla kits like they sell at Walmart and such for 97 cents.

Here is the one I took a pic of.

My camera seems to have trouble picking up small objects. I also left some of the greenery off of this one as it looked better without it. I'm glad I decided to pull these out as a little instant gratification was in order. Still have one or two but I don't know when I'll do those. Also, those little plastic frames are fussy. Don't like those. Lots of floss included though.

The only other thing I really worked on this week was Mini Soul Mates. I was able to finish the row and I'm looking forward to the next one. Wings!  lol.
Note to the person who asked me if Mini's have a lot less confetti.  No, they have just as much as any other HAED so far as I can tell. Just compacted down.

Mini Soul Mates:

And that is pretty much it for last week. I did have a panicky moment or two wondering if I'd made a mistake joining the 2013 HAED SAL last week but I've settled down since. I 'think' I have fabric that will do and I will borrow floss from other projects and pick up a few skeins before I run out of cash completely, and I will stitch what I can as I can. I'm looking forward to it actually. I love the tigers and I know I'll enjoy stitching that chart.

That's all for now folks.
Happy Stitching to you all through out the coming week.

Just stitching. And yay, more than 20 followers!

Work and home, work and home. Not doing much else, finally recovering and back to my slow but steady stitching routine when I can. I'm looking forward to the Holidays. I thought I would update a with a few pics. I haven't been working to rotation while I've been feeling so ill.

I've done a little on Mini Eternal Promise. It got two days in Oct. and so far only 2 days in Nov. so there isn't much to show and I didn't take another picture yet.

Here is Mini Soul Mates. I'm still enjoying stitching this one and it is the piece my DH likes best at the moment and I am making sure to give it time each week so it will be ready in a year or so for his man cave, should it ever get made.

The loss of detail is surely noticeable but not as bad as I'd feared and so far I am encouraged to continue as I am really enjoying it. What I've seen of other mini's has been really encouraging, for those who have asked. I've seen some good work on them on Facebook and I'm looking forward to seeing more of these finished so we can have some viable comparisons.


I'm hoping to finish QS Dragon Soul sometime in the next 2-3 months so it is rotating in more frequently.  Here is the latest update pic.

So in my slow and steady way I am making progress and I'm happy with the results. Sometimes I do envy those who stitch faster, or who can stitch for several hours a day. I wouldn't be able to stitch for long periods anyway with the pain, so it works out, but sometimes I'm still envious. lol.

I can't really begin kitting up the next thing yet because A. I can't spend the money right now, and B. I have no idea what the next thing is going to be. There are too many choices. Also, there is that HAED BB SAL to be thought about. Really looking forward to see what the charts are this year, and then I can decide if I want to take part. I barely managed to resist last year. They do have a tendency to give a good choice of charts.

Happy Stitching this week while we are all preparing to get ready for the Holidays.

Slightly weird but sweet or Christmas in November

So last week we found out we would have to do some repairs on our house asap got a new crack in our foundation from a little quake, found out there was no way we could afford health insurance for both of us at the new rate, had a few other things come up, and just generally got overwhelmed.
Yesterday, after trying repeatedly to juggle the budget and realizing we just can't get that many balls in the air I sat down to relax by looking at stitchy stuff on the comp.

I was intent on narrowing my wishlist back down to 10 charts as I was feeling embarrassed by having 2 pages on there when DH came up and asked what I was doing. We chatted for a bit about various things while I was doing that, about not having money for Christmas presents this year, about working on the house, about how I was so lucky to have been given a gift certificate to finish kitting mini Eternal Promise. About how we only had about 20 dollars we could spend in the next few months. DH said I should order a chart as a Christmas gift to myself, since it would be about all we could afford.

Long story short I let myself get talked into it, since the charts were half price. But I asked him to pick the chart so it would be more like present. (Yes, we both know I have plenty of stitching and don't need another chart. You sort of had to be there.)

Anyway, he picked 2 from my wishlist and we blew our little bit of money. DH picked these.

Gothic Cross.

And Woodland Guardian:

I'm a little suspicious of Woodland Guardian since he has always love that chart. lol

Things are tough all over, and this bit of silliness was unexpected and, well, silly. But I think we both needed something frivolous just now. And sweet. Sometimes he does something that reminds me of why I fell for him in the first place.

So there you have my Christmas in November. I can't think of any gift that he could come up with that would touch my heart more, all things considered.

Love you babe.

A quick floss and assorted junk post

I can't believe it but my order from 123 stitch was in my mailbox this evening! I e-mailed them on Wed. morning. Got a confirmation, then a notice that they had sent the order on Thursday. I was expecting it would arrive next Tues. or Wed. so I was thrilled that it was here on Sat. I can't thank Stitching Sister enough. Some people are so kind and seem to know just when to pass that kindness along to others.
On the same subject, this was my first time ordering from 123 Stitch and I was very pleased with their service.
Quite a few people have bought the mini Eternal Promise so I'm in good company and can't wait to see others stitching it up.
It's been a badly stressful week, ending with yet another flare-up, but I am still able to stitch a little so it is all good. A few hours of work tomorrow and hopefully some stitching after that.
My eyes are a little better, but I've cheated a few times and gone on the net away from work. Still, the headache is gone most of the time so I guess I will have to permanently cut back on my web and net stuff. More reading and stitching time. I'm usually in bed by now but my hours are all off from broken sleeping and will try again soon.

Happy Weekend  Stitching everyone.

A very heartfelt thank you

To Stitching Sister. She has sent me a gift certificate to 123stitch to finish purchasing the floss for my mini The Eternal Promise. I was so gobsmacked when I opened my e-mail at work today and saw this. Thank you Stitching Sister. I was having a terrible morning/day and this just perked me up unbelievably. Felt bad, car problems, massive headache and then this sweet thoughtful surprise. Sometimes people are so kind. I can't wait for the day I can do stuff like this and the RAK's for others.

I will likely not be posting for a week or two since I also have massive eye-strain and shouldn't be using the computer except at work.

Love to you all
Happy stitching

Slow stitching, Project Alpha and Stitch a longs

Well, both has-and hasn't -been a lot going on since I last posted here. The pain has kept me from stitching for a number of days in that time. Anything I do with my hands increases it and so I tend to 'use' it up, so to speak, typing at work.

There has been some progress though. I got through Glamour's rotation and was actually able to stitch a little bit on it. It is a shame that Glamour doesn't photograph well with all those light colors, because it is such a beautiful chart in reality. I nearly finished the first (last of the pattern) page.

Project Alpha: My DH loves to play war games and shooters, hence the new name for my project. At some point we intend to turn one of the rooms in our house into an all-out man cave. He has requested that Mini Soul Mates go in that room. Now we all know that I don't much concern myself with finishing things anymore, but once upon a time I was a one at a time stitcher and had to finish things. I'm pretty happy as long as I'm stitching in my poke- a-long slow way, but, since he wants it, I'm inspired to work more on this project. I will pick it up a least a couple of days a week and will hopefully finish in the next year and half. It will be at least that long before we do the man cave anyway and that gives me plenty of time. (I hope. I am slow.) Project Alpha = my focus piece. Haven't had one of those for a long while. Anyway, here is an update on Mini Soul mates after my latest week's stitching.

I've done a tiny bit more on that row since I took this pic, and hey, I've got wing tip! lol, I am so excited to see some color in there. It is no hardship to make this a focus piece as it is a pleasure to work.

And hmm, lost the rotation right there, yesterday. You see, Teresa and Molly the black lab decided to make a sort of RAK to the stitching world by having Matt Stewart's The Eternal Promise made into a mini. Teresa herself has the original and has no plans to stitch the mini so it was just an unselfish sort of gift to all of us who long to stitch the chart. I have the new release, which is even  bigger than the original, so I don't need it right?

Well, originally I was going to have it done myself and was furiously saving my pennies. At first it was all noble, I wanted it for a friend who loved the chart but was just never going to stitch anything that big. But then I got to thinking I'd be able to stitch it that much sooner if it was a mini and got pretty excited about it myself.

Here is a link to Mini The Eternal Promise.
And here is a pic if you have forgotten the pattern.

To add fat to the fire, someone went and made a Lord of The Rings SAL on facebook, then Liz got it up and going on the HAED Bulletin Boards. Oh how I longed to join! The first 'big' book I ever read as a child was The Hobbit. I have a life long interest in the LOTR. But there was no way I could afford to kit up the full sized chart, even if I used 2 yards (2 yards!) of the cheapie 14 count they sell locally. So, long story short, the mini came out, HAED is having a Halloween sale at 35 % off and I bought the chart for less than 8 dollars. Who could resist that right?

I have a piece of 18 count and after pulling floss I need about 20 colors still, and don't know when I will be able to purchase them, but, yesterday I put the first 50 or so stitches in on Mini The Eternal Promise. I have decided to forgo the Kreinik and just use white but other than that I will stitch it as charted.

I was a little concerned about how 'small' the Mini counted out as compared to the size of the original, and by how quickly it was released after the request was made. But I have so far had excellent results with my HAED charts and decided to trust Michelle's charting and go with it. I will almost certainly stitch the full sized chart one of these years. But I am limited so I am loving the idea of stitching the mini.

So, LOTR SAL, and I am waiting to see what the HAED SAL will be this year before I decide on that. I think I will not get to do the Shineysun's SAL on FB since there is now money for a pattern or to kit one up right now, but I will follow that one with a great deal of interest since some of their charts have grabbed my attention.

That is all for now stitchy friends.

Happy stitching this week!

Weekend stitching thoughts

Well, about 3 full days without being able to stitch, and as usual my wishlist grew. Today begins Glamour's 3 day stretch, with poor Freddie having seen only about 30 or 40 stitches during his time.

I did run water over him to try and wash away some of the sizing, but didn't soak him or anything. It feels a little less stiff so perhaps next time it will go a bit easier.

I've sent an e-mail to HAED to find out if The Eternal Promise has been requested as a mini. I may save up and have it done as one if it hasn't. After we finish saving up for DH's game in November. Until then I can't spend a penny extra.(It was really hard resisting buying a bag of Halloween candy!) But I am thinking Eternal Promise would make a nice mini, and then I could afford to kit it up. And might actually finish it someday.

Right now I am day dreaming about what I will kit up next. I am going to be measuring up to see if I have a piece of 18 ct. that is big enough for The Black, which would make kitting it a snap, and very inexpensive . I think the 18 ct. is large enough but I may have to settle for only 2 inches around instead of 3. But that isn't the piece I am speaking of kitting up.

The options are Eternal Promise (of course), Pals, QS Christmas Venice nights, Day/Night, mini Ariadne, the Spangler from the freebie SAL. There is also the three charts I bought a couple of years ago before the budget stopped budging. So that would be A gift for the unicorn king, (restarting) Anal Nathrac and SK Lost Melody.

That is, assuming I don't cave and join the Shineysun SAL for next year on fb(Just Raven would be my choice at the moment), or if HAED does a SAL for next year and has something I don't want to resist. Maybe I can figure out how to do one of those polls like so many others do? And let you guys help me choose.

There is also the problem of QS dragon soul, which, if you looked at the pic, you probably saw that there is a page line, which has never happened to me before. I've read about it, seen pics of it, and am still clueless as to why this happened. So I will either begin stitching block by block only or going straight across as I am on mini Soul Mates and Needle Maiden. Thoughts on that? It will definitely require some changes in my already begun projects.

And speaking of Soul Mates, I haven't worked out yet how I'm going to give her more time and still stick with my rotation. So back to the drawing board on that. Suggestions welcome.lol.

All that is based on actually being able to stitch again soon at my normal rate. Will have to wait and see what develops on that front.

Off to look at other people's stitchy blogs.

Happy Stitching everyone!

Advice needed, and an update

Well, today is the day in the rotation when I should be working on Frederic the Literate. Unfortunately the neck shoulder area is out of commission again, as happens with depressing regularity. The pain had gotten so intense by lunch that I was calling DH to ask him to have the heating pad ready for me when I got home. So poor Frederic is not being worked on this evening. But...There is a small problem with Frederic's fabric.

 It is so stiff that it makes my left hand cramps to work on it for just a little while. I've never had this happen, usually I can wad up a piece of stiff aida a few times to loosen the starch, and it is fine. It has never happened before and if I could work in a hoop I'd probably love that.  Any advice on how to loosen this up short of washing? I've never washed aida before a project so I'm wary of that. So, any advice would be appreciated.

The new rotation is going along just fine. I'm considering giving a good deal of extra time to Mini Soul Mates though since DH would like to have that one in his man cave when we actually make him a man cave next year.

Here is a pic of the Blue and White sampler after I fixed my boo boo at the end of its rotation. I finally did remember to take a pic this morning before work.

And here is a pic of Basilisk after its rotation ended yesterday.

Click as usual for a better view. I was almost able to finish the next row, but not quite. I do love stitching this pattern even if the confetti makes my slow stitching even slower.

The RAK thing is still going on for HAED over on face book and they still have a sale on if you are taking part in that. I wanted to but didn't join because I simply don't have the funds right now. It looks like everyone is having great fun though and you still have time to join if you'd like to.

That is all for tonight.

Happy Stitching everyone.

An Important notice to my friends

Yesterday someone from FB told me they had gotten a malware report when they visited my site. As you can imagine I was pretty upset. I have checked it thoroughly on both of my computers, which have different anti-virus software, have also checked on a third. I asked on Blogger and also had a friend  I used to work with check as he keeps high security on his laptop since it has sensitive information to his job on it. So far we have not been able to detect any problems at all. If you should notice something please let me know right away but for now it appears to be clean.

Nevertheless I felt it would be irresponsible not to tell people. Two people have suggested it may have been her anti-virus software but I have no way to establish that and I felt everyone has the right to know.

In stitchy news today begins Basilisk's 3 days of rotation and I have so far not been able to get more than 10 or 15 stitches on it before being interrupted, but hopefully later today.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I accidentally deleted some recent comments when I was checking out my blog to make sure it was clean and I am sorry for that. I was advised to raise security on my comments so the nasty Captcha thing is back. I really don't like these but it will spare me the spam and I will get rid of it when I learn more about being safe.

Until next time, Happy Stitching everyone.

After 6 days of rotation plus random thoughts

I'm feeling pretty good about starting it back up. On the other hand I can hear mini Soul Mates calling to me and it is not her turn.

I've just realized I forgot to take a pic of my blue and white sampler after it had a Mon. through Wed. rotation. I will do that later and for now just update on QS Dragon Soul. She is coming along really well. Here she is after today, I doubt I will stitch on her any more this evening but I suppose it is possible.

She has become a lot of fun to stitch again but after three days I am growing bored with the white, which usually happens. I love color.

Lately I keep having a strong desire to keep stitching whatever I'm stitching. But when  I switch I feel the same about the next one so it is all good.

I am very much wishing I had an all out Halloween chart to stitch, but I'm hoping that will pass after the holiday. Not sure though because I love Halloween stuff for some reason. I've been looking around for a chart, but they aren't easy to find if you are looking for something really detailed. I think I would just not be satisfied with a tiny boo and pumpkin thing right now. That usually works for Christmas, just stitch an ornament with a snowman, wreath or santa and I'm good. Oh well, just random thoughts on a very chilly and rainy Saturday evening.

I've been looking through my charts and I seriously don't know, other than The Black, what I will kit up next. I thought it would be  Eternal Promise, but that is going to be very expensive. Also, before the budget became a nightmare 2 years ago I had bought a couple of patterns. Anal Nathrac, A Gift for the Unicorn King and SK Lost melody.  Anal Nathrac has to be restarted at some point because I simply love the dragons and all of the colors, but it is unkitted and will have to be redone. Unicorn King I had planned to only stitch the top right quarter on. Since then I've been given lovely gifts, and as you've seen, I've started many of them. But there is still some to think about (Pals, mini Ariadne, Day/Night etc.) as well as some charts that are freebies from the freebie SAL's I took part in with HAED. And old and newer freebies from the HAED site. I should do some links but tonight I'm just rambling and letting you all know what I'm thinking about as regards future kitting up and stitching. Oh, and there is SK Magical Arrival, which I let DH have and he stopped working on. It is possible I will beg it back from him and work on that since I like so well.

That's all for now.
Happy Stitching everyone!

Whats wrong with this picture? or Where is the frog landing?

So it is the second day of my new rotation. First project being the blue and white sampler, that I once stitched half of, then lost in a move.

Here is a pic from when I restarted it in 2011, about 10 or 12 years after the first.

Hardly a start at all.
See that light blue sort of circle on the right? One line off so I decided to frog that bit tonight. I was so tired and achy after work but I finally talked myself into it.

Then I went on with my stitching. You know, the fun part. I'm determined if nothing else.

Here is a pic of the work from yesterday and a few minutes tonight.

See the pretty flowers coming along? I was filling in the lt. blue and as soon as I finished the one on the left side, what did I see? Look closely. Does that stem look a little short to you? Cause yep, I didn't stitch that part. It is little enough to frog, except I'm tired, except it is an easy enough pattern that I shouldn't have messed up, except I don't feel like it. Whiny is what I feel.

It isn't much to frog and re-stitch compared to when I have had to re-start a BAP, or mini Soul Mates. But for some reason, perhaps because of the aching, this one bothers me more tonight. I'm weird I guess. So instead of frogging I'm curled up here sharing a fail. Not an epic fail, or even a big deal really. I guess it just feels more productive to blog the frog than frogging that tiny flower at the moment.

I think I'm going to look at other peoples stitching for a bit.

Happy stitching everyone!

Excited update

I was going to wait until I had some pics to show from starting my new rotation today but I just had to share with all my friends.

Teresa sent me this as a birthday present. It is mini The Black.

I received him after my last blog post. I was so excited. What a great birthday present! He will be started just as soon as I finish my present black and white QS Dragon Soul. Special thanks to Teresa, not only for the gift, but for making my birthday feel special.

I saw a finished pic. of him on facebook recently and added him to my wishlist.
At present he is the only chart I know I will start next, as I've reconsidered Eternal Promise. I have too many options at the moment to know what I want to kit up next. Long story, and I will go into that another time as I'm tuckered out from work and need to start working on my new rotation tonight.

Happy stitching this week everyone.

Happy Birthday to me

I've had a lovely day off as a birthday present to myself. I cheated a bit and started my birthday start a little early to coincide with the new start SAL on HAED and so I actually have a pic to share of about a week's work.

 

I think I may be getting hooked on these charts with borders. And confetti. I'm very much enjoying working on it and I'm just about to get down to the bird's head, as I started in the upper left for a change. I was sure I'd begin this one in the middle but it just wanted to be started on page one.

Unfortunately Frederick didn't fare so well. I got caught up in Tree of Life, on top of which I messed up the first bit of back stitchng and will have to take it out and do over. Sad.

The fabric is really stiff, but that will work out. Both pieces will go into the rotation that begins on Oct. First. I'm not sure what I will be working on till then.

Thanks for the birthday wishes Lynn. I didn't buy anything as starting Tree of Life was my present, as well as having the day off.  I did toy with my wishlist and consider buying either a black and white or a Halloween chart (there is one mini that could fit into both categories) but the budget has to be kept to, and it isn't as if I need a new chart, or don't have anything to work on!

I found a new (to me) place with some nice charts. Shiney Sun. Eye Candy. Has anyone used the?

Happy stitching weekend everyone!

Floss Eye Candy for the new start

Just a quick post. I couldn't resist showing you a few pics of the floss for my new start. I've been kitting this up since April when it RAK'd to me by Liz. Tree of Life by Marchetti.

This is the chart

And here are some pics of the supplies.

Ok, the color on these isn't looking so great on my laptop, maybe I shouldn't have used the flash? Well anyway, I love all the varied colors. It was so much fun to lay them out.

Yes, the little floss bags you see on the ring are Glad Snack sized bags. I've been using these for over a year now and they rock. They are (a lot) cheaper than the ones at the craft store, and really sturdy. Don't buy the off brands though, I tried them once and they were thin  and flimsy.

That's about it for now, just wanted to touch base and show the lovely colors of this chart.
Next time will hopefully have a WIP pic of it!

Happy stitching you guys.

Planning a New Rotation and other Fun Stitchng Thoughts

Having been off of Rotation for a little while now I've had the time to see if I want a rotation at all or want to go back to the old stitch me when I call method. Stitching whatever calls can be fun, but sometimes I find myself picking up the project I was working on yesterday simply because it is easier than putting it away and walking into the next room and picking up another.

Since my projects are stitched in hand there is no frame or anything to deal with, just putting everything back into its tote bag and getting out the next. Pure laziness I'm afraid.

I considered stitching the way I've seen others do. By the page, or work X amount of hours on each project. I even considered, for a few seconds, working only 2 projects at a time! Not for me anymore. I might just as well only work one at a time as I did in the past.

So what did I like? What do I want to do? Well, obviously I like most everything I have. I want to stitch all of them. But even for me, that is not practical. I really enjoyed working on a project for a week at a time, but I didn't get to see much of each project, it was taking to long to work back to them because I have too many. This has been the year of patterns and I have not resisted starting a few of them. Water under the bridge. Now that I have them they have to be dealt with. So.

I loved the 3 day rotation and decided I want to stick with that in some form. I get to work on everything if I want. On the other hand I need some organization so I decided to run my rotation by month. Huh? Well, three days for each project is what I came up with. That would allow me 9 projects a month that would all see some progress. I decided to eliminate wild card day, or rather, to make it a possibility rather than a sure thing.

I've picked 9 charts and included the two that will be new starts (Frederick and Tree of Life).  There is room for one more new start at a later date if I just sort of scooch around and ignore that whole 28 days in Feb. thing. And I've decided not to have a focus piece. Everything gets equal time.

So the list, I literally chose randomly so I wouldn't cheat and put current favorites at the front, goes like this...

1. Blue and White. This is a piece from a magazine. 10 or 12 years ago I stitched half of this and it was then lost in a move so I re-started and then didn't touch it after the first few stitches. Sampler like in two shades of blue.

2. QS Dragon Soul

3. Basilisk

4. Frederick -New

5. Glamour

6. Mini Soul Mates

7. Tree of Life-New

8. Needle Maiden

9. I am Half Sick of Shadows

I plan to start the rotation after I've had a little fun starting Tree of Life at the end of next week, so still on target for Oct.

Hopefully I won't have more than 1 new start in the next year or two (More on that in another post) and eventually things will start to fall off the list as they are finished. Unless I get hooked on one and can't put it down and then everything goes out the window.

Right now I have hurt my stitching hand and have far too much time to think about all of this. Tell me what you all think. Have I taken on too much in my 27 days of stitching? Any suggestions? Does anyone stick to their rotation anymore?

Weekend is coming. Happy stitching everyone!

What Little Actual Stitching I've done.

I haven't gotten a lot of actual stitching done. Either because of time or because of pain. And I have eye strain from too much computer etc.

None the less, there has been some stitching action happening.

First up is just one more little row on Basilisk. It had one of the most confetti heavy blocks I believe I've ever stitched so I'm pretty happy about just the one row.

I really enjoy stitching those confetti heavy areas sometimes and others not. This time I did, though in the one block I stopped counting at 36 color changes. This chart is such a beauty, I always have fun when I stitch on it.

Next is QS Dragon Soul. Last night I had to do some frogging on this one, but I've got that part all fixed up and moved on. Unfortunately I am becoming bored with the black and white and will put it aside for a few days at least. I really like that there are only 20 something colors and that I can drag it around with me, but then I always start to want more color and put it away again.

It is a fun stitch. I still think that when this one is done I will try to buy another black and white to stitch on for those times I am in the mood. I have put a few on my wishlist to think about but I know I don't want anything large.

And then there is this. A needlepoint kit I ordered years ago because I had the book and loved the pattern. It has been finished for quite some time. This was an Ehrman kit from a Candace Bahouth pattern.

It has been languishing in a drawer forever. It needs to be blocked badly. It also needs to be made into a cushion. I have to admit my crafty mojo is just off right now though, so I don't know when I'll get to it. I'm hoping telling you guys about it will get me moving on it. But I'm not holding my breath because there is also a dress pattern I finally got and want to try.

Next time I will tell you about my rotation. It isn't anything special, but I want to wait and see if I change my mind on anything before committing to it.

I hope you all have a wonderful stitching week.

Stitching with Passion

I've thought very seriously about my stitching just lately. I organized how my new rotation would go and just finalized it on Wed. For some reason I have been blessed with all of the must have charts I have wanted in this past year. Except for one or two, certainly every HAED I felt were things I must try to stitch. My bucket list, so to speak. There were two charts on there that were discontinued, one from HAED. Yesterday that one was re-released, and even though I don't need another chart, don't have time to stitch another chart, or the money to buy another or kit another up, I bought it.  With DH's blessing. He's such a sweetie.

That chart was The Eternal Promise, and I am no different than so many others in having wished that chart hadn't been discontinued. Here is the pic from the HAED website.

It has been changed in that it is larger, with more detail on the dress.

Now why would I buy it, given all that I wrote above? Not just because I wanted it, but because my fundamental thoughts about stitching have changed over the past 2 or 3 years. I no longer stitch just one chart, I no longer aim for the goal of a finish. No, I've become more of a process stitcher. It is the stitching itself I must have and do, the 'final goal' being simply to enjoy my stitching time. No rush, no fuss or worry about when I'll 'accomplish' something with it.

What about you? Do you have to finish something? Does it disturb you to work on more than one or two projects at a time? Does the idea of just stitching on the pieces you love and are passionate about free you or make you shudder at the idea of having so many projects going at once? Is there one chart that would make you drop everything and do an immediate start, and if so What and Why? Some charts just call to us.


I thought I would start the rotation back up in Oct. After I do my birthday start. I love having all of these wonderful things to work on but I've discovered I need some sort of structure to feel content with it. Since I know I'll be starting 2 more new large and involved projects this year I have decided to forgo my Christmas start. I know I got carried away with new starts this year because of all the pretties I've received as gifts. So Tree of Life on the 28th, and The Eternal Promise as soon as I can organize and afford to begin.

I had thought that Pals or Day Night would be my next big start but Promise has managed to supersede them. At least for now. I will give details on the rotation next post if you guys are interested, as I have changed it, but only a little.

Ah well, must go to work. Happy Weekend stitching everyone!

Ten Year Wedding Anniversary, and of course, Stitching

Friday my DH and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We didn't get to go to the lake or anything but had lots of fun together none the less. 10 years! Where does the time go?

Stitching-wise I got a kit I had been wanting for some time. I have an I Want folder on my browser so that I wont forget where something was or what it was called . I was able to take Frederick the Literate off of there Friday.

He's a cutie, but of course I have zero back stitching skills any more, (they were never that good to begin with) so that part will be challenging. I even thought about stitching in my favorite titles but the ones on there are so cute, and part of its charm, that I decided to leave them. They might not be readable in my wacky back stitching anyway.

Yes I opened it. Couldn't resist. Pattern, two needles, floss. Separated floss I should say, I love that it is pre-sorted and has only to go in my little bags to be ready, so expect to see a pic of this one as a work in progress shortly.

And as a complete surprise, from Sarah P. on one of the Facebook stitching groups I participate in, came this lovely on Sat.

Cat, stitchng, roses, fairy, beautiful gown and lots of blues and lavender. Just about the perfect chart for me. If only she had a pup in there. I do love her though.

Mini Ariadne is the chart I had listed on the RAK list, should anyone ever choose to send me an RAK randomly. I had nearly forgotten the list when this came. And yes, I remembered to remove this chart and update with another. It seems Sarah uses the name Ariadne in her online gaming and so chose to send me this chart because of the name. You just never know when something completely nice is randomly coming your way, do you? Apparently she usually plans to use a random number generator. Don't you just love stitchy folks?

I read today on Facebook of a lady who lost all her patterns, over 82 HAEDs  when her computer had to be cleared and reset. She doesn't even have the ones she was working on as she printed the pages as needed. Michelle of HAED apparently told her she can't help her get them back. A very good object lesson to me to e-mail myself all of my charts so that I have some back up besides a thumb drive.

I do not understand why patterns can't be like books and music, so that if you lose them you can go to your account and download them again. It costs nothing extra on songs and books to go to the artist so why should it on patterns? Very sad all around.

Well, I will be figuring out what my new rotation is going to be, since I plan to start back to a rotation after I make my birthday start on the 28th. So obviously my BD start will be the first piece of my rotation, but I'm unsure after that. I'm thinking QS Dragon Soul for certain, since I've made a rule that I can't start anything until I finish something and Dragon Soul is the closest to being finished. After that I don't know. I want to stitch all of them! lol, greedy again.

Until next time, Happy stitching everyone.

New HAED Pattern, Budget, Pattern Greed

So my budget got blasted last weekend and I was very much afraid I wouldn't be able to support HAED as I'd promised since I have another unexpected expense coming up on Monday. With care I was able to go ahead a buy a HAED in support of HAED appreciation week, even though it was a trifle early. I was afraid if I waited there would be nothing left to appreciate with!

I had gone back and cut my greedy chart list down from 28 to 12 yesterday, and now it is down to 11 since I bought a chart. I try to keep it under 10 but sometimes I go crazy and add a bunch of stuff to it. The point being, it was quite difficult to choose a a chart. I haven't had the funds to buy one in a long time and it was just difficult. 

I will show you my choices but first the chart I did buy.

Day Night by Shannon: This one went on my wishlist the minute it came out.in April 2011 and has stayed there since. I would have bought Pals if a wonderful friend hadn't RAK'd it to me a bit back as it is another pattern that became a must stitch. Pals is pictured in another post. I had decided on The Ghost by Sinz:

But when it came time to buy I was in need of color and I knew I longed to stitch Day Night more. But it was still difficult because Dixie:

Daisy:

and the ever humongous Knock at the Door:

were all enormously appealing.

Knock I could justify because it is so huge I'd never need another chart again. Daisy is a long time favorite and Dixie is just too adorable.

I think the thing that tipped me to Day Night was the color. I love the greens and think it would be both pleasure and nightmare to stitch them. Soothing and exciting to watch the subtleties emerge.
Knowing it could be months, if not a year, before I can buy another chart was a bit of a motivator to. I'm not starting anything unplanned until something is finished. Can't afford fabric or floss anyway, so in the short run it doesn't matter what I picked. But I knew my next start after I finish something will probably be Pals, after my birthday start(only two or so  weeks away, Tree of Life)  and Christmas starts (Still unkitted) that were already planned.

So a not too exciting look into the mind of a stitcher on a short budget for you this morning. How do you guys choose your projects? If you could only choose one new chart in the next year what would you pick and do you know why you would pick that one?

Happy Stitching for the rest of the week everyone.

Bad Stitching feels good

Or rather, stitching what you want as you want to.

Don't get me wrong, I love my rotation, but not having one has been sort of fun. It is also a bit confusing sometimes as I am obviously a creature of habit and have a struggle to figure out what I want to stitch. Especially when I'm tired, as my hectic life the past few months has seen to.

Well, here is an update on Mini Soul Mates, which did see a bit of work recently.

 

Well, I did only say a bit! The dragon heads are mostly finished at any rate.

Next up I worked on QS Dragon Soul a little bit more. Got through a small confetti area and thought I would coast through a bit of white in the the block below. Opened a new skein of white, and guess what? The new white is sooo much brighter and cleaner looking than the white I've used for the rest of the work. Now part of her shoulder looks dirty! I was stunned! Now what to do? Frog, start over, give up? Ahh, I decided I could blend it with half stitches over the 'dirty' white in the new white. Not finished with that yet but it seems to be working. Here are before and after pictures so you can see for yourself.

 

 And after:

 Okay, I don't think that is going to show up so well in the pics even if you click on them, but to me it is glaringly obvious.

And finally a definite Hall Of Shame pic. I joined the HAEDless SAL, as I try to do every month. I worked on my GK I Am Half Sick of Shadows. I had finished page one in the last pic. This is all I got done on it during the SAL.  Shame. lol. I've loved this piece of art for years and I have re-started 3 times. You would think I could have stitched on it for more than 2 days.

I hope everyone in the US has a lovely Holiday. Happy Stitching everyone!