January Mystery & Crazy Flowers

I finished all the cross stitching on the January Mystery SAL.  Now I have the backstitching to do.  I couldn't decide on an third color for the shared head area.  Instead of letting this piece sit around while I came to a decision, I did this:

Looks kinda cool.

Last weekend I wanted to stitch on Flower Power but just wasn't up to it.  Now that I'm feeling better, I picked it up and set needle and thread to it:

This is going to be so pretty when it's finished.  I enjoyed stitching it so much I may spend most of the week working on it.  I love the colors I chose and though it looks complicated to stitch, it really isn't.  Each band is composed of several different patterns interwoven to give the final lacy pattern.  I do one pattern at a time.  In the pic you can see the second band's first layer completed.  It's pretty as is but with each layer it becomes more ornate.  Once the first layer is down, the remaining layers don't involve much counting.  The repetition is actually kind of relaxing.  I suspect this will be my first large crazy finish.

Sunday, the dogs and I were at a teacup agility trial.  I only entered Stormy and River -- we weren't successful but had a good time.  Meadow got to play with her common brother (they are from a different litter but the same parents).  She had a blast.  Firefly got to sit in my lap and visit with her only surviving child, Pheonix.  Shasta is in season and almost ready to breed but just wasn't 'in the mood' yet.  She got to take a nice flirty walk with her paramore, Ruddy (maybe tonight will be the night??) -- get him all wound up and snarl when he tried to get to first base.  And last, but not least, poor Willow didn't get much attention or have much fun yesterday.  Tonight she has agility class -- hopefully that will make up for it.

Have a happy stitchin' week.

A little update between working and sleeping

Unfortunately not much stitching was done since my last update.  I'm having some sinus issues -- mostly I wish I didn't have the pesky things but right now I have a sinus infection.  I'm not sure why I get soooo tired when this happens but since all I want to do is sleep, when I'm not at work, that's what I've been doing.  I did manage to get the next part of Homage to Japan done over the weekend (and yes, it took me all weekend to get it finished).   I love wild violets and the ones in this piece are so sweet.  It took me forever to get them done because I kept making mistakes and having froggy moments (blame it on the sinuses).

Before the infection took serious hold, I did get some work done on the Busy Bee Tuffet and the January SAL.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the tuffet done for my Monday EGA meeting.  BUT as fortune (and nasty little sinus-loving bacteria) would have it, I wasn't planning on going so wouldn't get to take the biscornus class anyway.  Luckily (?) we had a major winter event -- freezing rain, sleet, snow, major slippery roads, etc, etc, etc -- so the meeting was cancelled.  Yup -- I was a happy camper -- the biscornus class is postponed until next month :)

Have a healthy, happy Wednesday.

Halloween craziness and a beeginning

I finished one of my Crazy Challenge pieces -- yippee! -- the Sampler Girl's "The Old Black Cat" with some changes to the border.  This is such a cute piece.  However, I decided the black spiders look more like ticks to me (bleeechhht!!)  --shiver-- way creepier than spiders.

And I started a new project (Busy Bee Tuffet by Chessie & Me) that needs to be stitched by my next EGA meeting on Monday.  We are going to learn how to assemble it into a biscornus.  I'm looking forward to learning a new (to me) finishing technique.  And as you can see, I've changed the colors:

 I love the little bee keep scissor fob and plan to stitch it also -- though probably not before Monday.

The weather man is threatening us with nice weather for the next couple days -- party sunny with temps near 50.  WooHoo!  Break out the shorts and flip flops!  I hope your weather promises to be just as pleasant .....

Wow!  I just noticed I have some new followers -- how cool is that.  Welcome!

Another crazy finish, lots of pink and a new garden

I finished my first Brittercup kitty on Saturday.  Isn't he 'dorable?  I just love him!

I think my next crazy finish will be the other Brittercup kitty.

Yesterday I finished part 10 of Odds and Ends.  I added a butterfly for my Papillions, a bunny for the beagles and couldn't think of a little logo for the Storm.  So I just made a representation of his smilin' face 'cuz he's such a happy, vivacious little dude.

Oh, and I started another Sticklounge SAL called The Purple Garden by Angie Designer.  However, I already have a purple butterfly garden (the designer's name escapes me)

and since purple isn't one of my favs, my Purple Garden isn't going to be purple.  It's going to be multi-colored, more like a Spring Garden (wishful thinking on my part).  I just started it last night so I'm not very far with it yet.

Enjoy your day!

Framed finishes and other stuff

See the Star and Baumchen are now framed -- yippee!  They aren't hanging on the wall yet but they're almost there.

I completed the border on my crazy Santa piece:

Stitched more on the January SAL (which is starting to look kinda cool):

And that's about it.  This weekend I plan to finish part 10 of Odds & Ends and the Brittercup Kitty ornament.  It's going to be another cold one but at least there won't be snow.  Another good stitching weekend.