1st Small Post 2017

So here is my first small finish of the year.
If you would like to join this wonderful SAL please visit Stitching Lotus.  It's a wonderful way to visit some great stitching blogs too.

 Yes, I found this potholder in my stash - I bet I have had it for 20 years.  And this little Gingerbread dude can be found in a very old Leisure Arts Magazine.  January was a great month to stitch from Stash.  I am having too much fun digging through my old stuff.  I am also happy, I have a fully finished object too!

I am Focusing on a Finish In February.  Please click on the link and travel to  Theme-Tas-Stitch 2017 SAL.  I loved the monthly stitching themes, so I signed right up.

I have two finishes in my WIP - these are also two things I want to finish for my FaceBook Year of WIP Challenge. So in February I will be stitching on - Ursula Michaels Easter Basket and Papillion Creations Celtic Beauty.

I started Easter in 2012 and Celtic in 2013.  I go to visit my grandkids each morning before school and to get them on the bus for their mom - I have about 1 hour to spar while I am there, so I bring stitching - Celtic Beauty will travel with me - It is a great travel stitch.  It would be wonderful if I could finish both of these - but I have not one true Easter design and so few Spring Designs I really would like to be able to display this finish before Easter 2017.  I will be pushing it.

End of Stitching.  And I just have a few pictures to show you from the March On Washington.  Hats off to all of the Sister Marches - Double Hats off to all of those International Women who also marched in their support.  I marched for the women who wanted to be there and could not - I am in no means suggesting all women felt the need to march.

Women from Canada were there - I ask permission to post picture

Women from Chicago were there - permission given to post this picture

The sign we carried - my friend, sister, friends daughter and niece

March on Washington 1/20/2017 I am in this picture with the yellow

The flip side of our sign.

This march was Empowering. And I believe this experience has changed my life.

January 12, 2017

January Stitching for me has been wonderful   I have been blessed with some extra free time and I have been able to get a couple more finishes.  The first up is the Hands On Design Year of Chalk January.  And I did not do this on the suggested fabric and floss.  I think this fabric is platinum and the colors are Hazelnut and Navy - I think Weeks - I wanted this completed before the end of January and after finishing the Woodland Sampler I just couldn't work on the Gunmetal Fabric - to give it that Chalkboard look.  So here it is

I now only have July and August and all months will be done - accept February - I don't do Valentine stuff - just a personal choice.  But I am stitching - Freedom by Primitive Hare to display for the month of February representing Black History Month.  (I am in the US)  This is in my stash (yes Stitch from Stash 2017).  I am changing the color of her dress to a red.  It represents more the color of the cost of  Freedom.

Speaking of American Freedom - I have finished Liberty House - Started back in 1993 when this house represented my house and family - long story short - things change - and this got set aside. for 23 years.  As you can see - I only did the house - I inserted the picture of where I was in October 2017 and what the chart does look like. when year of wips started.  I only put six stars on the roof - one for each of the kids - and for the EST. I stitched my birth year.   This makes 7 WIP finishes for the year of WIPS Challenge - but I picked the easiest ones to complete first.

I am traveling to Washington D.C. to march - I have mentioned that I think in the last post.  I am getting very excited. A little nervous.  Of course, its an 8 hour drive, on a bus, with a group of  "Nasty Women".

Final Post of 2016

This is my final Small for the Small Sal over at Stitching Lotus  Special Shout out to Heather for hosting this wonderful SAL.  I explored the world of Small Charts in 2016 and had so many wonderful finishes.  This was a freebie from my LNS. It is an Ursula Michael's chart.

I have my two final finishes for 2016.  This is a JBW design - It is still missing the tiny little wheels for the engine and caboose - I am going to try to get them and sew them on this weekend
I started this in August for an Olympic challenge and I included it my Year of WIPs

And Woodland Peace is also finished.  Started this in January 2013 for Debbie's Ultimate Crazy CrossSttich Challenge. Included in my Year of Wips and I am so happy it is complete.  I will not be stitching on dark fabric for a bit.  This was a struggle.  But I have wanted to stitch this since 1990 so it is certainly a happy dance.  I have no real plans for 2017 - accept finishing some WIPS and having new starts. Have a wonderful 1st day of the New Year.

It's the Last Thursday in September

And its the day to share our Smalls.  Thanks once again Heather at Stitching Lotus for keeping this SAL going for another year.
This is a very dark picture of my latest little finish from Leisure Arts.  It has been a long time since I have stitched on 14 ct and had to do 1/4 or 1/2 stitches.  My goodness they do not agree with me at all. I remember, once upon a time, I just had to have these bread cloths so 20 years later here is the finish.  I am sure it will come in handy in my decorations for the season.

I started something new.  I started something new, to include in my WIP Challenge organized in a facebook group.  One of my goals for 2016 was to stitch 12 Nutcrackers.  I am proud of my progress. For the last few, I decided to stitch the whole sampler ( I have stitched two of these as singles)

Here is my progress. I am doing this on 22 ct white.  Another old piece of fabric I had in my stash.  Of course I would like to finish this before Christmas 2016 - this would give me 11 Nutcrackers in all, and if I could finish this and then just stitch one more I would be very happy.

My Day of WIP Stitching

What a day I had.  Jo,I had too much fun - also too much frustration.  I really do know why some of these projects are WIPS.... I had originally selected 19 WIPS.  I worked on 14 of them.  I thought I had a great plan and was very organized when I started.  Had a few stumbles along the way.  I am posting pictures only of the work completed.  Most of these before pic are on some page/post in my blog but in 1/2 of stitching - not much stitching difference but lots of insight. Please enjoy the pictures, no need to read all my descriptions - I wrote a lot of this for me - to help me organize my WIPS.
  Trying to keep the pictures small - In Order of how I stitched.  This is tribal wine glass.  Started 2012 maybe 2013.  stitched 3 little parts in the middle of glass - around the heart.

Thoughts After Stitching:  Am starting over with different fabric and different thread different colors would like it to look like a glass of red wine.

My 40 count -- I just continued on the very last EVIL White Stripe.  Again ripping out more than I stitched.  I am determined to finish this little tiny project no matter what!!!!!

Upside down Celtic Beauty (2013 DCC)  I love this - This was another Frog/Stitch project. There was a mistake in the border - I had to fix.  Was happy to finish the gold to the end of the top.  I will finish this one.  It has a lot of beads - I am not a great beader, but for some reason it is really important to me to finish all those I started for that challenge.

Finished the P - T.  Woodland Sampler - 2013 Challenge - Worked on this one earlier this year.  I will finish this.

Touching the Autumn Sky - 2013 Challenge  Before only the red stitches were complete.  This is my first and only ever started Mirabilia.  I love this design - It took me about 15 minutes to figure out where in the design these three little red bunch of stitches were. WHAT I LEARNED:  Always make sure when you put a project down you know where in the chart you need to start.  I knew it was in the center somewhere

 This is Joan Elliot I started this for the 2013 Challenge also - for some reason this picture was not on my original page for this Challenge so I added a picture of this - I love this saying but wish I had not started with the border.  It will be very pretty when finished even if all my kids are married a long time before this  It will not be done by September 3, 2016 the date of DD#3's Wedding - I am looking for a quick but very pretty little something to stitch up for her.
This is when I broke for Lunch with my Sister's who took me out for a wonderful Birthday Lunch.

 Patchwork Egg Basket - CS_N magazine Long ago start - one of the first evenweave projects.  I completed the top purple design - all one color - easy stitching.  Will Finish.

Liberty House - Leisure House - .  Did the red door.  I have been working in 2016 on this I will finish - this is one of those projects where everything is back stitched.  I am not doing the border, or anything besides just the house.








Around the World in 80 Stitches.  I completed nothing.  I have only the outline of the very first heart done.  I hate the fabric I started this on. And I am going to restart this one on a different fabric I think  I really want to finish this because of all the Specialty Stitches.

SamSarah 2013 Challenge start.  I don't like this fabric - but I do love this and love the colors.  Finished the star and a little bit of something else - was missing the correct color and spent too much time trying to locate  will Finish.





Dinner Time

2015 Start - Woneta  Worked on her green hand and the yellow on her skirt.  This I will finish will work on this one again soon.  It is tedious because I am not use to the big blocks of stitching the same color - and back in the day it seems that was all I stitched.  Wow how my stitching has changed over time.  I love this Witch - I love all witches really.

One Hundred Years - Lizzie Kate  Started 2015 Have cropped to show you what I completed in my 1/2 hour.  I really want to finish this for one of my kids.  I think it is a saying that is so important in the way we live our lives.

Stoney Creek Silent Night Cardinals 2013 Challenge.  Worked on earlier this year and for the longest time I had it upside down and couldn't figure out where to add the branches I had planned on stitching.  Finally figured it out.  There are two tiny little patches of brown branches I completed.

This is Lizzie Kate Belle - I started a challenge in 2012 to stitch all these guys one a month on the same fabric.  I got behind and have only a few left to complete.  This will be a shame if I don't finish.  I did more of her - the white a the bottom.








My Final piece of the day:

Yes there are stitches here.  This was my project for the 2015 retreat.  This was a year I took off from blogging - so there are no pictures of this.  There were three projects - the little strawberry - completed, the pincushion completed and the needle book.  The needle book - we had to baste first the outlines of the six pages.  Which was a very long process.  I had not stitched on anything since I finished the original basting.  The next step is to backstitch the actual frame of each page.  I worked on this backstitching - this was my first stitching on this since the retreat and it took me awhile reading the instructions and all.  This will be a beautiful needle book and I will finish this so there will be many more pictures.

If you have made it this far you have made it to the end of the day.  I kept out my most current wips to the last - and did not stitch on my RWB Nutcraker, God Bless America, my two LaDDa projects they are my most recently started and unfinished WIPS.

That is all for this post.  I do hope it will not take me so long a to pick up these projects again.  I have been in the New Start Something Small Enough To Finish mode - so we will see where my 2nd half of 2016 Stitching Joy takes me.  My goals are set 90% of the time with no END DATE.  So we will see.  Once again thank you Jo

20160119 Painting With A Twist and 1st Finish 2016

Kim and me - Wicked Willow

My Finished Painting

So this is a picture of my Painting with a Twist Event.  There was 16 of us in our group, celebrating my nieces birthday.  I have two pictures - my completed picture to the left and above a picture of my friend - who won 2nd prize for her painted on mustache - and myself (right).


Below you will see my Final Winterlogy - all done - My first finish of 2016 and yes it is sideways - this must be a camera setting and have something to do with the original picture - I will continue to try to figure out what's up with that. Below this picture is my update for Woodland Sampler - Started in 2013, and is my WIP for the month of January 2016.  I did a little knitting over the weekend, dealt with a broken furnace and a serious snow fall.  Monday we had a holiday Martin Luther King day - which was great, and I cleaned up my craft room, and I found 4 more unfinished projects.  Do I make every effort this year to finish these WIPs?  We will see what the days bring.

1st Final 2016   

This is sideways too.  I really am happy with my progress on this one.

I actually spent time working on my Small for the Small Sal 2016  But no pictures of it yet.

Stay true to you...

It's Almost Christmas

It's almost Christmas and all is well.  I am ahead of schedule on all counts.  Presents are wrapped and all that is left are those few things I leave on purpose for Christmas Eve.  Seriously, I don't know why, but I love the last minute Christmas Shopping.  

This is my first year without a child - since I moved and left my two youngest daughters in the large family home, into a very tiny - one person size house (one of the many memories of 2015) this is the first time in 40 years it will be just me and a dog.  Me moving was the only way it seemed I could get that "Empty Nest"  Someone was always moving back home - so!!!.  It was funny trying to fit all the Christmas decorations in my new home - so I had to leave several of them - that was sad.  But the over all peace of living alone was well worth it - now this is me - Having had six kids, and now 10 grand kids - Peace and Quiet is good. 

New Year, New Traditions:

Christmas eve will be with my sister and friends.

I will travel Christmas day - dropping off the presents at each house - all my kids are local, That will be fun to see all the presents at each home and individual attention to each family.

I am having a open house on New Year's day.  And I have invited them all - fingers crossed they stagger their time of arrival and departure, because there is no way everyone will fit in this house at the same time.  But I do have late and early risers so I am pretty sure we will be fine.  Just soups and chili - so it will do well to the eat when you get here thing.

Book Club:  

Last finish - A Room with A View - I loved this read.  After I finished I watched the movie.  I usually don't like love stories - but this one I did.

Next Book:  To Kill a Mocking Bird.  That is the CNY Book of the Year for 2016, which is why our Book Club is reading it.  I have read this book I bet about 5 times - the last time was only in the fall, One of my favorites,  

Stitching News;

As everyone else it's been limited so I am a little far behind with my December goals - but that is pretty normal for me - so at least with the holiday season I have lots of good reasons.

First up - My WIP from a Crazy Cross Stitch Start I did in 2013 The fabric is black and this is a terrible picture - I hope the next shot will be better.  I have a 2016 goal to finish three more of those I started in 2013 This is from a Leisure Arts Magazine - February 1993.  That has been a very long tine on my todo list.  The thread is DMC 3844.  I really like the blue with the black.  Below is a new start - Trilogy - Winterology. The 2nd in the series I am doing - hope to finish this and Spring and Summer in 2016.  I am blogging from home so no picture editor and my WIP is as you can tell standing up and it should be lying down.  

Final note:  I do celebrate Christmas - it represents a big part of my Faith.  It is a time of Good Will towards ALL and my wishes for peace and joy are not based on how I worship, or what this day means to me - I only hope that we call all find a way to celebrate all of our neighbors, and keep kindness and love in our hearts.

Happy New Year

Stitching Update

 

I did not finish all of my December goals, but it would be a very strange thing if I had.  I did finish my 2nd Snow Belle - Baby it's cold outside, which was my number one goal. 

 

 I am very happy with my progress on Winter by Sue Hillis.  I am so close to being finished, so I hope to be able to finish that off by end of January - but not sure with the 2013 Crazy Cross Stitch Challenge, but stranger things have happened. 

I worked a tiny bit on Santa's Village - and on my other Christmas piece, Santa may sit for quite awhile before he comes out again - but being that Santa's Village is a SAL, and the 2nd part has been released, I will be working a little on it in the month to come. 

 

 

2013 Cross Stitch Challenge - 15 Starts in 15 Days, Day 1 - This is a very old chart - from this late 80's early 90's publication.  I have a better picture on my Challenge Page.  I have decided to do this on black - with DMC 3844 - It looks pretty good - I hope to be able to get a better picture next time. 

My January Goals - to work on 15 different projects one different for each of the first 15 days of January.  Some of these will be left overs from other years.  AND
To finish my Next Snow person  

Peace to All.  I hope this new year brings peace and wonderful blessings to all.