New Start(s) and a Little Finish

After last weeks sorting of the books I started a little God Bless from one of them and finished it this morning. Here is a pic. I really enjoyed this quick little stitch. I've no idea what I will make it up into yet but something will come to me.

And in keeping with the sorting, and continuing on, I began on the cross stitch magazines. Not the knitting, crochet, or God help us, the quilting ones. Here is a quick snap I took of some of them. Not all by any means.

These range from the early 80's until 2009. Can't believe it has been that long since I bought a cross stitch magazine, but there you are.

In organizing some other things I came across these two needlepoint kits. I knew they were there but I'd sort of forgotten so I pulled them.

The cushion is wool and the hanging is floss and ribbon and such. I've begun the wool piece, let the DH choose which to start first. It is called Orchid Collage by Dimensions and is probably discontinued given how long ago I bought it.

The hanging, or picture if you prefer, is Cherry Blossom Beauty, The Gold Collection, Dimensions. It is even older (12 to 15 years) and I will have to work it very soon as the painting on the 18 ct. canvas appears to be fading fast.

There are no other kits, my stash is woefully small. There is one kit, that DH bought and never worked, cross stitch, with wolves. It is on black aida. Maybe I will pull that out one of these days. I had to frog a bit of it for him and he just sort of gave it up as he was just a beginner at the time.

And of course there is Frederick, that I got for my anniversary present last year to be worked on. I do enjoy a nice kit from time to time.

Still putting in stitches on the Mystic Garden here and there as I am doing the BB SAL on the HAED BB this week. I also need to work on my kitchen piece that I showed you before, but may wait for the HAEDless SAL for that. Or not. It has been a long time since I found myself enjoying these simpler pieces and I want to go with that.

Happy stitching this week my friends.

Forgetful, as well as being a slow stitcher!

In my last post I completely forgot to show you what I got from the HAED rewards program for finishing QS Dragon Soul. I requested QS Dragon Angel, by Sinz:
Here is a picture:

Love the dragon and the purple and violet really appeal to me. Of course I've no idea when I will start this one. There is a certain butterfly calling my name at the moment, and getting louder.
I just followed the directions on the HAED site and the chart was e-mailed to me super fast. What a great program!

My QS Mystic Garden is coming along slowly, not so much from the confetti, but from the method I'm using to keep up with the chart. It really slows me down. The pattern is a pleasure to stitch if you don't might a bit of confetti. Here is an updated pic as of yesterday morning.

I was a little bored last night while I was trying to be quiet while DH took a nap, so I pulled out a scrap piece of fabric and began a God Bless Our Home. Yes, I already have a pretty flowery one I did year ago, but this one is super plain and simple. It comes from the book Season's Remembered, an old Leisure Arts cross stitch book that I don't think I've ever worked out of. Remember I did some book sorting and now I naturally have to look through the stitchy ones to refresh my memory of what is in them. There are several pieces I meant to work and never got around to, so don't be surprised if you see some of the smaller ones popping up on here on my spare pieces of fabric. I'm quite in the mood for pieces I can finish in under a year or two right now. I am also still thinking of ornaments for some reason, so who knows what I will take it into my head to do now that things are all tidy and easy to find?

Here is a pic of my little start.

Until next time, Happy Stitching Dear Friends. 

10 DAYS of 2013

I must say I don't feel I have a lot to show for the first ten days of 2013. Being home, and not having a working car I just feel as if I should have accomplished more somehow. Actually I know I've done quite a lot of things. Books have been rotated and mostly sorted, I just don't have enough room for all of them. Movies and Music put neatly away. Oh, and I learned to make homemade tortillas, something I've been meaning to do for months, and they are wonderful!

 I re-organized my stitching supplies and that has slowed my stitching quite a lot. Also, no printer so I had to figure out how to read and mark the 2013 HAED SAL(I'm doing Mystic Garden) on the little tablet, and that took quite a lot of time. Doing it that way is really slow. Here is my progress on that:

I've also done a bit on Needle Maiden and I think on Mini Soul Mates:

And my little kitchen piece saw a few stitches:

I've done a bit of sewing, or revamping, on my clothes. I'm trying to cut things down as most of what is left of them are too big. So I forgot to take pics of all of that, though there is one of a half slip I decided to make as I need one for the skirts I am altering. Here is a quick snap I took when I had set it aside to do something else.

I still have a hem to put into one skirt and some repairs on the side slit on another to take care of. Plus my old, favorite corduroy jumper which is just huge on me, and I'm hoping to figure out how to take that in enough to be wearable.

Obviously all of this takes place around looking for a new job. It completely freaks me out to not be employed. I think I was prepared for a number of things, but not this.

Anyway, I know everyone is full of new starts and SAL's and I've been enjoying looking at all the new work and the New Year blog posts. I can't wait to see more of them. Also thinking of trying a few new things. I've never made a circle skirt or a one seam skirt and I think there is probably enough in my stash for me to do so. No floss or fabric or anything has been bought since the lay-off thing so everything must either be from my small stash or must wait.

What are y'all looking forward to this year? Planning to try anything new or go back to something you've done in the past? I know many of your SAL's have started, do you have more than one? Two? Any new charts or patterns you just can't resist? Let me know what you are dreaming about doing  this year.

That is about all for today.

Hope you have Happy Stitching Everyone!