Happy New Year

I just want to wish everyone a very happy new year.
May your stitching be relaxing.
May your projects be enjoyable.
May the frogs stay far far away.


Happy Stitching!

Year End Re-cap

First, I want to thank you all for the comments on my final finish of 2011.  :)




I did a copy/paste from my goals post.  




1. Crystal Ball (as my WW) I'd love to get a few more pages done  


 I think I finished one page.  That's it.  

2. HAED SAL Blue Fairy-- finishing this would be full of win   

Nowhere even near.  I hardly even made a start.

3. Blackbird Designs mini-stockings -- would love to do each month as it comes, though it would be smarter to do each month the month before so I can display them. 

I finished something like 4 months.  Then found out I would be moving and this ended up in storage.

4. Mini Gingham months -- finish the last of these 

Another nope. Don't recall if I even stitched on these.

5. Start Yaquina Head Lighthouse for in-laws 

Another nope.

6. Finish a few more smalls from my smalls list 

Finally!  Something I did do.  I made a few finishes here.

7. Finish Odd and Ends 

Yup.  Finished!

8. Another house or two into HOHRH 

Not just another house or two, I completed the entire thing!


Finding out I would be doing an international move and then moving half way through the year really did put a dent in my goals.  Many of my stitching things ended up in storage in the US.  That is where they will stay until we move back sometime in 2012.


I also worked on many other things.  Finished some.  Making progress on others.  It was a good year of stitching.  


I hope 2012 will be awesome as well.  May the WIPocalypse help me.  :)

busy holidays

The holidays have been keeping me busy.  No time for the blogging.  :)  I have had a bit of stitching time.  So, I will show you my last finish for 2011.

All Our Troubles

La D Da

Called for fabric and NPI silks

I will be doing a year recap in another day or two, you know, before the new year.  heh.  I know I didn't stick to my 2011 plans, I never do.  That means my recap might be a bit ridiculous. It is what it is.

Happy stitching!

Sad, sad, sad

My IHSW was a bit of a bust.

I did get another ornie stitched.

I used a christmasy coloured thread.  It's kinda strange and patch-worky.  The colours are richer in person.

This is where I started on my new piece for the IHSW.

This is as far as I got on it.  Pretty lame.

I did have a wonderfully lazy weekend, but... I got sucked into a video game, and it didn't let me out for most of the weekend.  heh.  I need to be more disciplined with my time.  :P

That time again!

First, thank you for the comments on my finish.  I have thoughts of giving this to my in-laws for their beach house.  I think it would be perfect.

I signed up for IHSW .  It's this weekend, already!  So, my plan is to be really lazy and stitch all weekend.... when I am not having to run around doing other things.  I think I will work on another christmas ornament and perhaps start something new.  I guess that is the easy way of saying, there are no before pictures for the weekend.  :P

Have a great stitching weekend all!

TADAS!!!

Thanks for the comments on yesterday's post.  :)

I entered a blog give-away a bit ago.  I won it.  Today I got it in the mail.

huh.  Blogger won't let me keep the rotate on that photo.  Anyhow, as you can see it is the pattern and a frame for the itty bitty stitching you make!  I hope to try to get at least one done for next year's Christmas.  :)

Medieval Mermaid

Midsummer Night Designs

fabric: unknown hand dyed

thread: GAST Deep Sea

I finished this up last night.  It was an amazingly quick stitch.  

Today, I think I will just read and take it easy.  No stitching until o'dark-thirty for me tonight.

it's one thing, or the other

Yesterday I sent in an order for some threads.  Not 10 minutes later an e-mail pops into my box from the dyer asking what I am doing in Belgium.

I figure I either 1) buy way too many threads from this person, or 2) they have super awesome customer service skills.

I am going with two.   :)

I stayed up way too late last night trying to get "just this bit more" done on my mermaid.  I finished that bit, but it took longer than I thought it was going to and now I am all draggy today.  I also gave my mermaid a little bit of a tummy tuck.  She is rather square in the original chart.

Progress!

Thank you for the comments on my pieces.  I do so enjoy hearing them.  :)

I have finally stitched enough to make enough progress to warrant taking a photo!

I'll be working more on this today once all teaching and chores are done.

Stitchy update

Thanks for the comments on my piece.  I love hearing them.  Also, thanks for the idea of where to get beads.  I have been trying to not add to my stash much while living here, and getting mail here is also an.... adventure.  I guess not ever ornament needs to be sparkly.  :)

Now onto the update.

First Adriana.

 I am though part 5 now.  Part 6, the last part, will be out next month. 

This is another ornament.  I really need to try to take better pictures.  The colour on this is off.  Maybe I should try to find some sunshine.  :P

I have gone back to working on Medieval Mermaid, but didn't take a photo, not enough stitching in it to call for that yet.

Today is Friday

For some reason I thought yesterday was.... oops.

Well, that means you get updates today.

First.

Another ornament.  I didn't have any beads, so I just used french knots.  I do think sparkly beads would look better, but I have no clue where to get such things here.... ah well.  I still think it worked out nicely.

More progress on Medieval Mermaid.  I have gone across the entire top.  One of these days I will have to try to get an accurate picture of the colour.  The thread is really pretty.

Not sure when I will next update.  So, Happy Stitching all!!!!

Goals, and other stuff.

November Goals.

1. Finish iStitch SAL  Done.  Finished the pin pillow as well.
2. Finish part 3 of Adriana  Done.  Finished part 4 also.
3. Finish block 11 of HOHRH  Done.  Finished the whole sha-bang!
4. Start stitching some ornies  Done. Stitched up four.


None to shabby there, if I do say so myself.  :)

December Goals.

1. More ornaments.
2. Work on Medieval Mermaid
3. Start another something new?
4. Finalize organization of WIPocalypse

Who knows what else I will do.  Maybe something, maybe nothing.  I am still going back and forth about starting a new January 1 project.  Considering how long it took me to finish Houses.... maybe I shouldn't.

Anyhows.  I finished up my Christmas-ish piece.  So, here's a photo.

It is Winter Floral Sampler by Knotted Tree.  I used other than the called for threads.  Sadly the photo washed out some of the colour.  The letters are much more noticeable on the actual piece, and the bird is not quite so striped.... hmm, you can't even see the second green colour for the vines.  Wow, terrible picture!

I started a new project last night as well.  You might have noticed it's name in my goals for December.  :)

Not much progress yet, but hopefully there will be more soon.  I am going to Germany this weekend, for about a week, and I don't think I will be bringing this, so who knows when there will be another update on it. :P

another ornie

Thanks for the comments on Adriana. :)

Stitched up another one last night.

The photo is a bit dark, sorry about that. I also wish the sparklies I used would show up, but, nope.

Back to my christmas-ish stitching, which I still haven't taken a photo of how very bad of me.

more white

I have gotten more white thread which means I was able to finish part 4 on Adriana.

Forgot to take a picture of the new christmas-ish piece I am working on. As I have already moved the Q-Snaps it will just have to wait until later.

a fight, and ran out of white

The fight with blogger continues, so to heck with it. I loaded my Houses finish elsewhere to post it here. After all, a happy dance is something that should be shared. :)



Then, as I was stitching away on Adriana, I ran out of white.... and those birds are mostly white. Grrrr. So, now it is put to the side until I can get more white. Who runs out of white? I mean really. I could have sworn I had skiens of the stuff. Guess not.

I started a new piece last night instead. It is a small piece, and Christmas-y-ish. It is done with different threads than called for so the piece is more muted than the original. I kinda like it.

Today I cook Thanksgiving dinner for my family. We are not in the states this year, so didn't get the holiday. We will make a weekend out of it instead. :)

TADA!!!!

It's done I did it! Teehee!

First, here is block 12.

And now... the finish. The TADA... The Happy Dance.




Names have been blurred to protect the innocent, or at least me. :P I started this piece as my New Year's start back in 2008. Yipes, I had to go look that up. I didn't think it was that old. blush. Ah, well, it is done now. I must admit that feels darn good.

In the end, and after trying for two days, I have to admit defeat. Blogger won't let me load up my happy dance picture. It did make it into my finished slideshow, but it's TINY over there. Ah well... what's a girl to do.

Now, I am back to Adriana. Perhaps I will also do another ornament. We shall see.

Words, words, words

There was less meh yesterday so there was some stitching to be had. I was able to finish up block 11 on Houses.

Once I finished up the block I started thinking about what I wanted to work on next. Would I just move on to block 12? Maybe stitch a few more ornies? Get back to Adriana, as I have part 4 all ready for me to start? Or, Gasp of all gasps, start something new? Maybe work on a different WIP that hasn't seen the light of day for awhile?

These were some serious questions. I went back and forth, pondering, thinking, planning. The decided the best thing to do would be to have a cup of tea and think, plot, and plan some more. At the end of my cup I had made a decision.

Block 12 was started. I even finished all the words on it. Could this piece be finished sometime in the near future? I sure think so! After this block there is still the personalization to do, which I still need to chart out. But, I am getting close. :)

got the mehs

First, thanks for the comments about the ornies. I always say, every year, that I am going to stitch some. Then I never do. This year, at least, I am stitching them... now it will be interesting to see if I ever finish them. :P

As I said in the title, I have the mehs.... the was-wells... the blahs. Which means I didn't really feel like stitching yesterday. The house still remains unfinished. sigh. Maybe today.

IHSW recap

I did get some stitching time. The friends in town did a few things I wasn't interested in, so I came home and stitched during that. We did go to Brugge, which was fun. But, you are here for stitching, so let's get to those pictures.

First I worked on a couple ornies.

These are for the Sticklounge group. They are both small and were fun to stitch up. And gee... look at me.... getting ornies at least stitched up!

Also, made a bit more progress on block 11 of Houses. Just have house fill to do, which might be hard to see in the photo. I should get this block finished up today.

IHSW

I have decided to hop on this. I love this idea soooo much.

I will have people in town with me, and will be going to Bruge for a day as well...... but other than that. There will be stitching!!!!!!

or so goes the plan.

This is what I am talking about, in case you don't know. :)

a tiny ornie

I stitched up a tine ornie for the sticklounge group. That is a Euro next to it. It is soooo wee.

Did a touch more on block 11, but not enough to warrent a photo. No more stitching or posts for the next week, maybe a touch longer.

Happy Stitching all!

two willows

More progress on HOHRH. I was hoping to get this done before I leave for London on Wednesday, but I don't see it happening. ah well. There is always later, right?

Those willows were deceptively difficult.

hell colds lead to much stitching

Came down with a horrid cold. This thing is really kicking my butt. So, I spent the weekend at home under a blanket. At times I was stitching and at times I was napping. I am just really glad that during those stitching times, while on cold meds, I didn't have an infestation of frogs! Guess I lucked out.

First off.

I finished the iStitch SAL. It was a fun little piece.

Then,

I decided to stitch up the pin pillow chart she sent out for those that finished the SAL. I did the SAL over one, and the pin pillow over 2. Same fabric and same thread. It was nifty to see the difference. :)

Then,

I finished up the third part of Adriana. This is a neat art-deco-y piece. The only thing I don't like is the chart bits we are sent must have been scanned in, and it makes it difficult to know what colours the backstitch parts should be. I am guessing and winging it. Seems to be working so far.

And lastly.

My progress so far on block 11 for HOHRH. I's got sheepies.

Seems to have been a very productive weekend.... perhaps I should get sick more often... nah.

Home again home again

jig-ity jig.

I am back from my week in Paris. I already want to go back. I never made it to the Louvre! When I go back I will need a day just for that.

Since there is no stitching to share here is a few photos I enjoyed of my trip.

Notre-Dame... and Pere Lechaise Cemetery. I could have spent days in just the cemetery.

Ok, Ok... you get this picture too.

After all, what is a trip to Paris without a picture of the Eiffel Tower. :)

Now, at least some talk about stitching.... I may be a few days late, but, hey... Paris, so now.... goals.

Here were last months goals.

October Goals.

1. Finish part 2 of Adriana Done
2. Keep up with iStitch SAL Done
3. Finish block 10 of HOHRH Done

Not too shabby there. All done.... yeah, yeah, I know, only three, but they DID get finished.

This month will also be a low goal month, I have a week in London, and then a handful of days here playing tour guide for some friends. It will be great.

November Goals.

1. Finish iStitch SAL
2. Finish part 3 of Adriana
3. Finish block 11 of HOHRH
4. Start stitching some ornies

Let's hope I can have another successful month.

Happy stitching!

It's later!

First, I want to thank you for the kind words on my Houses project. It is nice to hear, or... read. :)

Now, I said I would show you my progress on the iStitch SAL. So, here is part 6.

And part 7. heh. I finished it up yesterday as well.

Now I move on to Adrianna part 3. I had to wait on that one because I deleated the chart piece in my e-mail. Stupid me. I saved the e-mail that announced that part 3 would be coming out.... and then deleated the actual piece. sigh. Ah well, I have it now and will begin stitching. It may take me a bit as I will be in Paris for a week and don't plan on bringing my stitching.

teehee

I did finish block 10 before I went to Amsterdam... I just didn't take the time to post a picture. Now, I am back so you get a picture. I know that's what you all are waiting for. :)

I can't believe I am finally getting close to finishing this one. Two blocks and the personalization to go! I feel like it has been a WIP forever. (And it isn't even my oldest. *blush*)

Now back to the iStitch SAL. I have finished up part 6 and will post that picture later.

a squeek away

If I hadn't started nodding off last night I would have finished block 10. So close, but not finished yet. I plan to get it finished off today.

a little bit of this and that

Back from my trip to Germany. Yup, I love to travel. It was a very neat and interesting trip.

Lots and lots of pretty things to see and interesting things to do.

Now I am back home, but this weekend I am off to Amsterdam. In the meantime I will try to show you all a little bit of stitching.... as sadly, I have only had time for a very little bit of it.

See, very little stitching. Still I am hoping to have this one finished up by next week. We will see if that is at all doable. Then I need to get back to my iStitch SAL as I think the next piece is coming out on Friday, and I still haven't stitched the last one.
AAAAHHHH!!! I need more time so I can travel AND stitch.

floating roof

Did a bit more on block 10 yesterday. Every little stitch counts, right?

Maybe I will be able to finish the windows today. We shall have to wait and see.

OMG

There was stitching this weekend! I can hear your Gasps of shock. heh.

It was a cold miserable weekend, so I stayed in. I got some stitching done, and lazed around. The laundry was ignored, though I have a feeling it will attack me today, and only simple food was prepard. It was nice to sit and stitch again... so nice I might even do more today. If I can. Silly chores and school will take up much of the day.

And now... here is an update on HOHRH.

More words, a cow and a.... mouse? monkey? squirrel? I have no clue. Next up... another house!

an answer, lack of stitching, and a plan

I was asked about the designer for Adriana. I am stitching it as a SAL with the Sticklounge group. But, with some info off the chart and a bit of google-fu I can give you a link to her site. There are some really great charts on it. http://aaronart.nl/EN/index.php I hope that works. :)

stitching... yeah. I started block 10 of HOHRH.... I have all of two words finished in three days. sigh.

SO....

Instead of stitching I looked through all the stitching stuff a brought here for the year. After all I am planning on joining the WIPocalypse. :) With what I have here I have only six WIPs. I know I have more at home, and I may add them when I move back to the states, but it is looking like I will start the WIPocalypse year with just these six. (maybe it will even be five if I can finish HOHRH) Since that seems like such a small amount of projects, well--small for me when I am used to double digit WIPs, I thought about maybe doing the Crazy January Start thing this year. I looked at what pieces I brought, and promptly sat down and laughed. Sure, I could start 15 new things.... but there is no way at all that I would be able to finish them all in 2012. No way at all. I brought several BAPs here, and very few small-ish things. heh. So, no Crazy January for me this year. I do think I will do it some year though. Maybe 2013, and I can have them all be Miras? That could be interesting.

Anyhow I have my WIPs for the first plan.... at some point I will adjust my blog to show them. But, not today.

SAL-ing along

I do like a good SAL. I like them even more when I feel like I am making progress on them. :P

This is what I worked on all weekend.

Now I just need to wait for the next part of Adriana to be released. :)

Goals Recap

September goals all I had listed was to make progess on my travel piece. Well, I did start it and even got a few letters finished. I am going to call that progress. :)

This month I will still be busy and traveling, but I am going to make almost actual goals. Let's see how I do!

October Goals.

1. Finish part 2 of Adriana
2. Keep up with iStitch SAL
3. Finish block 10 of HOHRH

more iStitch

I sent my picture in yesterday and the next part was in my e-mail in less than an hour. So I did part 5. :) Now I am all caught up on this one.

some progress

Bits of stitching over the last two days. This means I have made a little bit of progress on some pieces.

First.

I finally finished filling in the house on block 9. I have really enjoyed working on this one again and am starting to think I "may" be able to finish it this year. We will see.

Next.

And, slowly catching up on the SAL. Here is part 4.

Next up on my stitch-y list is to work on part 2 of Adrianna and to do part 5 of the iStitch SAL. Once I get caught up on these I will go back to HOHRH.

Back from Italy

Italy was amazing, great, a blast. I could go on and on about it, but you are hear for stitching, right? :)

I didn't finish block 9 of HOHRH before I left. Still have half the house to fill in. Will be working on that this week.

Got behind on the iStitch SAL.

Here it is up through part 3. I believe part 5 is already out. Time to get stitching!

I didn't get as much stitching done on trains as I thought I would.... way to much fun stuff to see out the window!

As you can see... not all that much progress on PL. I am using HDF Dragon Toes for the thread. I have two different batches of that floss and they are different colours, a bit, as hand-dyeds tend to be. I also have a little bit of solid blue I will add in as well. So, it will be a blue monochrome, kinda. :)

I would add a photo or two of Italy, but photos are not wanting to load on Blogger today, so I will skip it.

will I make it?

I am really trying to finish block 9 before I leave for Italy in the morning. Not sure if that will happen as I still need to pack. Ah well. I guess only time and stitching will tell.

Also, I am taking a monocrome to stitch on for the train rides. Here's what I have decided to bring.

Doesn't look too exciting right now, does it.