What's new for 2013

I started a new project for the new year.  It's called Iris by designer Nolda von Hezewijk.  It's one of three patterns based on the work of Albert Smit.  Adriana was also based on the work of this gentleman.

You will notice after checking the link that I decided to change the colors a bit.  The bright blue is too much for my taste and instead of the gold thread, I'm using a DMC thread with blending filament over it (still lots of sparkle).  The fabric is 32 count cream Irish Linen and I'm stitching over 2 threads.  I'm lovin' the warm, caramel look of the browns.  Sooo yummy!

Another new thing is that I signed up for two ornament SALs in 2013.  One is for Halloween and the other is for Christmas.   I decided to try this because I find that I end up stitching lots of nice ornies for Christmas and never keep any for myself.  And so the plan is for me to end up with a few Christmas ornaments.  I have more Halloween ornies but decided to join it also.  Mainly because I really like stitching spooky stuff.

My Halloween ornament in January is a  Mill Hill kit called Bountiful Kitties.  I've had this one going for at least 3 years and would really like to finish it.  It's totally adorable -- which is why I bought it in the first place.  And for my Christmas ornament, I'm determined to finish one started back in January 2011 for the 2011 Crazy Challenge:

The kitty is actually finished (this is not a current pic) and all that needs added are the words and either french knots or beads to the tree.  How sad is that?

The final new news for the year is that last weekend, the dogs and I were in Edinboro for an AKC agility trial.  Meadow, my young female beagle, finished her 2 Novice titles.  These are her first AKC titles -- I'm very proud of her.  She's such a good beag!  And Willow, my oldest female beagle, got her second Open leg in standard and had a super JWW run.  She already has this title so the run was just for fun.  She's a super beag!

And here they are . . . .  my pups:

And if you made it this far  --  a happy Tuesday to you!

The last WIPocalypse for 2012

Even though I had lots of Christmas stitching to do, I managed to pick up the Tulip Sampler in December and finished the big square on the bottom plus two smaller squares above it :

I also found some time to work on Flower Power from Anne Strite-Kurtz. This was a 2011 Crazy Challenge piece that didn't get very far in 2011.  I finished the third band -- hooray!

This year has been a fruitful one for me - stitching-wise.  I finished quite a few stitchy items . . .

and still have quite a few to go . . .

These (and any others that may strike my fancy during the coming year) will be the ones I concentrate on for the 2013 WIPocalypse.  Wish me luck.  And I'll also wish you good stitching luck in 2013.  May the games begin . . .

Here comes the snow ....

I just looked out the window and the snow she is a fallin'.  We're supposed to get lots of the white stuff today -- it'll be our first real snow of the season -- and if we do, I'll be spending the evening shoveling.  Yuck!

I didn't get to post my last ornament before Christmas so here he is, Santa with Drum, a gift for my brother, the drummer (perfect, no?):

The original pattern called for lots of shading and tiny color changes (which are all very pretty) but I didn't feel like being that "fussy".  Instead, I decided to limit the thread colors, thereby making him somewhat plainer but none the cuter. 

I also finished the Christmas SAL by Carole (Thank You Carole!):

I changed the colors significantly and am happy with the results.  (For some reason or other, I don't like stitching with the traditional Christmas colors.  It isn't that they aren't pretty, I just prefer not to stitch them -- color me weird.)  While working on Carole's sampler, I 'discovered' a 3-color combo that I am absolutely smitten with and plan on using in an as yet undetermined future piece.

I'm  not a real purple-lover but I do love this purple.  It's very understated and seems to go well with browns and other fall colors.  Plus, it looks great on tea-stained fabrics.  I've used it a few times now.  The first time was with Harvest Angel a few years ago:

And then just recently with one of the Christmas ornaments for this year:

I guess you could say it's one of my new favorite colors :-)


YIKES!  I just took another peek outside.  The road outside my window is covered with snow now and more is falling.  Guess what I'll be doing tonight.  Hopefully, I won't put out my back or hips or knees or whatever.

Take care everyone and have a happy Wednesday!

The last IHSW of 2012

For the final IHSW of 2012, I ornamentized 2 more Christmas ornies and are they a little over the top :)

I love all that red!  Two more down . . . . only 1 more to go.
And I should have done it over the weekend but I decided to work on the little house in the Christmas SAL from Carole instead:

The little 'mistletoe with hearts' motif below the house, I did on Monday.  Though that's all for my IHSW report, I do have a few more pictures to show you.

Kate of Momuboocrea Island and I exchanged Christmas ornaments:

This is the ornament I sent to her - the little angel I love so much.

And this is what Kate sent to me.  Ummm, there was a chocolate Santa but I ate it.  Yum! 

And then I entered a giveaway held by Jules and I won it!  How cool is that?

Snowmen are one of my favorite winter things ....  and she sent me 2.

Let me tell you, I feel totally spoiled by these two lovely ladies :-)

4 Down . . . .

and 3 more to go.   I'm making good time with the ornament finishing.  Maybe I'll get that wall hanging done before Christmas after all.

Have a good day and thanks for stopping by!

WIPocalypse update for November

I was driving home last night under a gorgeous full moon and remembered it's WIPocalpyse time.  Most of November was spent stitching for Christmas with a little Adriana thrown in just for yucks.

First up is Adriana.  I back stitched the birds' legs, beaks and some of their wings.  It's almost finished but I may not make it for this year.

The big hurrah! for November was finishing the Advent Calender and picking out fabric for it.  I plan to make it into a small wall hanging.  I really want to get it done before Christmas but am not sure that will happen.  Doing this kind of finishing is new to me -- I only did it once before -- and need to be nice and calm and relaxed before attempting it.  Right now, that's not my mental state.

The other Christmas stuff I've been stitching are presents for various friends and family and are on the top burner right now.  I forgot to get the designer for the Santa with drum but he's from an old issue of Country Cross Stitch Magazine.  The Stitching Sisters isn't finished yet.  I may remove the gold thread and replace it with something darker.  I like the way the spools show up but the individual strands of it aren't so visible.  And what can I say -- I just love that little angel.  Last Christmas I stitched a forest of trees, this year I stitched a sky full of angels. 

Have a great weekend!

IHSW - such that it is.

Well, I didn't get much stitched over the IHSW.  Actually, the only stitching I could get in was on Friday evening.  I started a little angel:

I just love this little lady with her curly-q dress and shapely wings.  When finished, she will be a Christmas ornament for a friend.

Check out the other IHSWers for their progress.

And Happy Thanksgiving for those who will be celebrating it Thursday.   Eat lots of turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie (my personal favorite).       YUM!

Enjoy!

Fall Into Halloween Exchange

The Stitched with Love 'Fall into Halloween' Exchange is finished.  Autumn and Halloween are 2 of my favorite stitchy topics.  I love the colors of Autumn.  I love the spooky fun that's Halloween.

Kim stitched me 2 really cute (and scary) Just Nan ornaments and included a bunch of other fun goodies with them:

And for Beth, I stitched a creepy black cat with back arched higher than any I've ever seen:

Unfortunately, I'm a little short of time right now, so that's about it for today.  Have a happy Monday!

October WIPocalypse

Unfortunately, I didn't get as much done this month as I had hoped.  Poor Adriana, which I wanted to have done by this update, didn't get anymore stitches added.  Nor did the Sticklounge Advent Calender or the Old European Sampler.  Sigh.

Instead, I spent an enjoyable month on Halloween and Exchanges (one of which is still a secret):

I did finally finish Something Wicked by La-D-Da.  It only needed the spiders added but had fallen to the bottom of my pile and was hidden -- until now:

I can't remember when I started this one but it was at least a year ago, maybe more (time flies when you're having fun).  I doubt it'll get 'ornamentized' before tomorrow but at least it's ready for the process.

 
The last piece I stitched on was the Christmas SAL from Carole and I'm happy to report it is up to date:

Carole's original design called for lots of white thread but the white doesn't show up well on my tea stained fabric (at least not stitched 1 over 1, it doesn't).  So I picked a light brown for the snow instead -- hmmm, better than yellow, don't you think?

I'm not signing up for any more exchanges or SAL's until after the new year.  I need to get more Christmas gifts stitched and will be spending most of my stitching time getting them done. 

And I really want to get Adriana finished before the world ends.

October IHSW

I don't have much to show for IHSW -- though I wanted to get lots done, it just didn't happen.  I did go the my LNS on Saturday for her sale and bought some stuff.  It wasn't actually stitching, but it's stitching related. 

And then on Sunday, I finished my nephews' Halloween ornies into the actual ornaments:

I'm pleased with the results and hope the boys will be also.

I used to be so organized . . .

sigh . . . not any more . . . sigh.

I participated in a Stitched with Love exchange called 'Animal Antics'.  My partner-to-stitch-for was Loretta and her favorite animal is the bear -- not a teddy bear -- a bear.  Hmmmm, easy enough.  So off  I went in search of a bear pattern.  I didn't actually remember such a pattern but surely amongst my stash I could find one.  Nope.  Nary a bear.

Well, perhaps I could find a log cabin and a bear charm or button to attach?  Yup, found a cute log cabin in the woods . . .  found a really nice log cabin quilt block . . .  found a charm? a button?  Nope.  Nary a one.  And I really liked the log cabin quilt block with a bear charm idea -- bummer.

Hmmmm, not so easy after all.

I guess I'll have to settle for a teddy bear.  Mind you, there were 2 other animals that were Loretta's 2nd and 3rd choice (easy ones, too, dogs and cats --I have tons of dog and cat patterns because they are some of my favs also.).  But no, I was determined to go with her first choice.  So back to my patterns I went in search of the Christmas teddy bear pattern book I knew was there (but never did find).  And in searching for that book, I came across this:

Check it out -- a BEAR!

And a suggestion for the BEAR sans forest friends -- perfect!

(Okay, now here's the lack of organization part.  I forgot to get the designer's name but if you check out your old "Cross Stitch and Country Crafts" Mar/Apr 1992 issue you can find it yourself.  Sorry.)

And here he is, made into a cute little pillow (a new-to-me finish and, yes, I'm very proud of it):

And the rest of the exchange (also please note the black, brown, white color combo -- the color of bears):

This was such a fun project because I really had to do some thinking and searching for bear things.

My partner-who-stitched-for-me in this exchange was Lainey who combined some of my favorite things into one package:

Check out all the butterflies!  And some in pink, no less.  Thank you Lainey!  I love it. The butterfly ornament she stitched hangs on my dresser mirror looking so pretty.  I'm very lucky :)

I hit a wall

Unfortunately, I came down with a cold last week that put a serious halt to my stitching fervor since my last post.  Luckily, it remains a simple cold and didn't develop into something epic . . . and is going away in record time.

(knock on wood)

I did manage to do a little stitching in the last couple days on the nephews' Halloween ornies.

EEEK!  

Spiders!

 All 8 legs (in black perle cotton) have been added to Along Came A Spider.   

And little black spider buttons crawl along the bottom of Eek!






And that's about all I can show for the past week.  That and an empty box of tissues.

Here's hoping next week is better ...... and healthier!

Sept WIPocalypse

I am happy to report that I've been a busy little stitcher this past month, albeit a little erratic -- hopping around from project to project like a honey bee bounces among the clover.  And it was FUN!

I'll begin with Adriana -- I am almost finished with this lovely (still more backstitching to go).  I should be able to have this finished by the next WIPocalypse update:

And since I was doing Christmas ornies for my nephews, I decided to pick up the Advent Calender, a Sticklounge SAL from December.  I stitched the lower, right two ornies this past week.  This one I want to have done in time for Christmas this year:

I found this next little cutie recently and just had to stitch it before the world ends.  I'll probably make it into a Christmas ornie.  I found it on the Freebie Gallery blog (great place):

And then another new start that just has to get done before the world obliterates itself is the Christmas SAL by Carole:

I also managed to get some finish-finishing in:

Wee Three

A Brittercup kitty

And some framing (though I didn't do it myself):

And to All A Good Night

Lily Pond

Sudoku

Rose Wreath Santa

I hope your month was just as productive.