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!