I stitched on stuff

Yes indeedie I did.  I sat back down to Flower Power this week.  This is what it looked like the last time I posted a picture of it.

And after about 4 and half hours of work on it through out the week, here is what is is looking like now. I decided to take a break from green leaves and started in on white daisies.

I also worked on the usual suspects.  Christmas ABC's at work.

And Heirloom Nativity Sampler at Church.

And then a little ornament thingy for the Cowboys fan in my life.  I found a lady selling patterns on Etsy of various team jerseys, plus you can ask for customization of name and numbers.  So I did.  This is about 7 hours of stitching.  It's how I know I'm not a fast stitcher.

The other great news of the week is that I'm all set to cruise this summer with my Sister and Aunt.  We're going to be sailing out of Venice and visiting various Grecian isles.  I'm very excited.  I've ordered a couple of tour books from Amazon and have been reading up on the ports and what not on Cruise Critic's forum. 

What's really funny is I'm looking forward to a weeks worth of eating whatever I feel like eating.  Mr. Trainer announced that we had 20 lbs to loose before the cruise when I let him know I was going.  I told him to knock himself out. I have no doubt he could lose 20 lbs at the drop of a hat. He's all muscle, all he'd have to do is stop working out every day of the week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

TUSAL - Feb 21, 2012

Once again here are Pinky and Dude and my Tusal jar. A lot of pinks from the two Valentine ornaments I stitched up this past week, and a lot of greens from leaves on Flower Power.  There are some purples hiding in there from the Kathy's Violets project and random colors coming from Christmas ABC's and Heirloom Nativity Sampler.

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

IHSW - Wrap-up-a-doodle

Well... I had great plans to stitch. And then stuff happened and I barely managed to put a few stitches in all weekend.  I am telling myself that I'm going to go sit back down to Flower Power and move along on it tonight, and wee bit every night for the rest of this week.  How funny is it that if you get away from a project you are reluctant to return to it, even if it's something that you like.

I added the last few buttons and spiders on to Something Wicked.  It is now ready for the framer.  Which will take a small miracle as there is not much fabric on the sides of the stitching.  I knew it was going to be close, but I didn't think it would be this close!

And then I did a small ornament.  I bought the fabric a bit ago at Shepherds Bush for a pattern I saw in a JCS ornament issue.  When I was ready to do the ornament, I couldn't figure out where I'd seen the pattern!  I looked through all my magazines and didn't find it.  So I went through them again, slowly this time, and still didn't see it.  I finally asked the ladies over on the 123 Stitch Message board and sure enough, two ladies knew right where to find the pattern.  If it were a snake, it would have bitten me on the nose.

I started out with green floss on my fabric.

But I didn't like that so much.  So I looked through my shoebox of floss and debated between turquoise and pink.  In the end I tried a pink.

That looked better so out came the green and back in went the pink.

Maybe I should have gone with the turquoise instead.

And that's my IHSW.  I'm hoping there will be a lot more hermiting and stitching in March.

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

A weeks worth of stitching

Well it's the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. (For more information, click on the cute little crab button there to the left.) As I write this, I haven't actually stitched on anything!  I had big plans to sit back down in front of Flower Power and finish up the green symbol that I was working on, and then maybe switch to a white shade of the daisies for a little change of pace.

I posted the two little smalls that I finished up over the week on my previous post.  Wander back here to have a peek at them.  This week was Crafty-Stitchy Night with two BFF's LBH and LMS.  We had a good evening chatting and stitching and scrapbooking and quilting.  We're free form and accept all sorts of crafts.  I worked on Kathy's Violets and got a fair amount done.  I'm now working with Anchor and to me, it's pretty much the same as DMC.  I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference in a 'blind' stitch test.  Here's where I left off with it:

What is interesting to me is the difference in conversion.  The Anchor is much more blue than the Cosmo.  I chalk that up to Cosmo being newish and the conversion lists are still being developed.  We'll see how different it is when I get to the DMC quadrant.  I have a bunch of algerian eyelets to do, and I must confess I don't like them so much.  Takes forever to get anything done when doing those.

Christmas ABC's by Lizzie*Kate is coming along nicely.  I can say that I'm halfway done.  I put about 20 to 30 minutes a day into this one during my lunch break at work.  It's fun to stitch a little bit of something different each day.

I didn't add anything new to the Heirloom Nativity Sampler this week.  I remember taking it with me to church, but i don't know what came up that I didn't put a few stitches in.  Could be I was easily distracted by entertaining the toddler that sat in the pew in front of us today.

I've been doing okay with my self imposed stash budget limit.  I've gone over it for both January and February, but not crazy over like I've been known to do.  I'm feeling good about it.  Here are my purchases for the past two months:

Two of the Cottage series.  I'm on the hunt for a good piece of fabric to stitch them all on.  The Lizzie*Kate "A little love" kit that I fell in love with when I saw it on her blog. (Thank goodness this years series that can be stitched into one long banner doesn't appeal to me!!! I can spend the stash budget on something else this year!)  I read the 2012 Year of Smalls blog and fell in love with the Garden of Love pattern that was selected for February, so into the cart it went.

I love the Pixie Couture fairies and have decided to start buying the patterns, even if it's unlikely that I'll get around to stitching all of them.  They are all so beautiful.  I know there are a half dozen that I'll stitch for sure, but I think I'll just collect all the patterns here and there.  Lastly a big chunk of 32 ct Water Lilly linen.  I'm going to stitch Garden of Love on this, I think.  I bought so much of it (much more than Garden of Love will need) because it's nice and versatile.  I've got a plethora of pansy patterns that I think would look good on this linen.  Not all of them at once, of course, just that I have a ton of patterns to chose from to put on the fabric (thanks mostly in part to the awesome sale The Silver Lining had little bit ago).

I had a small, non stitching related triumph this week.  On Friday, I was doing my warm up on the elliptical machine waiting for my time with Mr. Trainer.  Well he was ready for me about 15 minutes early.  I really wanted another 5 minutes on the elliptical, so I challenged him to get on and give me 5 minutes.  He always says that he doesn't do enough cardio.  So on he got.  He lasted about 2 minutes before he started to let me know how hard it was.  I chuckled and told him to suck it up and keep going.  I had just finished 30 minutes when he got on.  I was at a resistance of 8, he was at a resistance of 0.  He did make it through his five minutes.  So while he may be able to lift heavy stuff, I can totally out walk him. ... It was also nice to dish out a wee bit of pain for once.

His experience totally reminded me of when I started on the elliptical.  I had to talk myself through each five minutes too and after 20 minutes I was just about dead.  Back then I was moving along at maybe 3 mph with a resistance of 0.  Now I cruise along between 4.5 (when I'm slacking) mph and 6 mph at a resistance of 7 or 8.  How far I've come.  It's nice to remember where you started and what you've improved on.

Okay, I'm off to Hermit and Stitch for the rest of the evening.
Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

Valentine's this and that

Valentines is not my favorite holiday.  I'm single and tend to feel completely left out when it comes around.  I've referred to it as Single Awareness Day for a while.  I did get a few cards out to family members but didn't expect much of the day itself.  All day at work, I thought I'd swing by Target in the evening and see if I could find a pink frosted sugar cookie.  Singles Awareness Day just isn't the same without a pink frosted sugar cookie.  I managed to talk myself out of a sugar coma and went to the gym instead.

Imagine my surprise to come home from the gym and find this on my bed:

My sweet SIL A had gone out and got some balloons filled with confetti and covered my bed.  What else to we spy?  That's right a pink frosted sugar cookie with my name on it.  Bliss!!  SIL A also brought me a purple heart shaped Mylar balloon.  That silly balloon nearly brings me to tears every time I look at it.  You see, for Valentines day I used to buy two or three heart shaped Mylar balloon for Grandma S who passed away last April.  They were big and bright and something that Grandma S could see.  They also lasted a good while and when done, no ones feelings were hurt when put in the trash.  Anyway, my purple balloon is more special than SIL A had intended, I'm sure.

Grandma and Grandpa L sent a fun letter with this inside:

A certificate for 1 pound of chocolate.  Mmmmmm.... Chocolate.  They've given up on Christmas and send Valentines to the grandkids instead.  It's a fun and different tradition. I went and chose my chocolates today.  I'll admit that I wasn't very creative with my selections.  I chose half a pound of chocolate covered peanut butter discs and half a pound of chocolate covered caramels.  I thought about some toffee bits, but since Mom is buying supper yummy toffee bits from Costco, I decided I could fore go those.

And against the norm, I stitched a couple of smalls.

The first one is Be Mine.  A freebie that I printed off of someones blog.  Unfortunately the blog name didn't print with the pattern so I have no idea where it came from anymore.  I know I printed it off this year, though.  If you know where it came from, please let me know so I can give proper credit and a link.  I stitched it 2 over 2 on 32 ct. Picture This Plus something or other.  It's a little remnant of fabric from Crabby All Year.  The floss I used was DMC 99 that I found in the bottom of my floss shoebox.

The second one is a restitch.

This is Love a freebie from The Workbasket.  I stitched this last year to put in the casket with Grandma S.  I thought about her the whole time I worked on it.  I added a few more colors than what I did last time around and left off some of the other bits.  I've realized that I dated it 2011 even though I stitched all of it on February 12, 2012.  I'm such a dork sometimes.  I stitched this 2 over 2 on 30 ct. Angel Hair linen by WDW with the following WDW flosses: Camillia, Bayberry, and Plum.

So all in all, I made out pretty good for a holiday that I don't really like.  I wonder when the marketing guru's will come up with a contrived holiday for singles?  Something to sell anything, right?

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

Another weeks worth of random stuff

This week has not been nearly as busy as the last week but I spent the whole week feeling tired.

Monday started off with a trip up to Centerville to see my aunt LJ in Noises Off at the Centerpoint Legacy Theatre.  She was great and the play was hilarious.  It was the first time I'd seen it (not getting out much) and I'd like to see it again to catch all the stuff I missed the first time through.  Centerpoint is going to put on The Drowsy Chaperone next month and one of LJ's good friends and an acquaintance of mine is going to be playing the part of Man in Chair.  Drowsy is one of my new favorite musicals, so I'm going to go up and see it again.

I had the second interview for a job I had applied to on Tuesday.  It was a miserable interview.  I just didn't connect with the fellow I was interviewing with.  I went home feeling pretty bad about it, and sure enough, got the e-mail on Friday stating that they had gone with a different candidate.  Too bad as I know I would have done an outstanding job for them.

As far as stitching goes, I didn't put any time into Flower Power.  Mostly by the time I got home I was too drained to really think about sitting and doing much stitching.  But I miss the project and think I'll get a few good hours in on it today.  Next week is looking peaceful, so I'll probably sit and stitch on it during the week again.  And, next Wednesday is Crafty-Stitchy night with a pair of BFF's.  Definitely something to look forward to.

I did put some time into the Heirloom Nativity last Sunday.  The second shepherd got the lamb he is holding, plus his red cloak, and I started on his green robe.  I think I should finish him up today in Church.

I worked steadily on Christmas ABC's at work.  I just need to finish the lettering for Xtra Special here and then it's up to the top to finish up Bells and the first lines of the second half.

On Wednesday I worked on Kathy's Violets, the piece where I'm sampling different flosses.  I've finished up the quadrant of Cosmo floss (so soft! so smooth! love it!!) and have started on the quadrant of Anchor floss.  The Anchor is preforming well so far, it's not as soft as the Cosmo and doesn't pull through as smoothly.  For me it's pretty close to DMC.  The strands in the dark colors seem to be thinner when I'm pulling them, but they cover just as well as the slightly thicker lighter colors.  So I guess so far the opinion on anchor is good floss, no complaints.

My last little crafting adventure of the week was to make a little fob for my pointer.  I use this with my Kindle Fire and my iTouch.  Yes, I can use my fingers, but I hate all the fingerprints I get on the screen.  The pointer prevents those smudges and works quite well.  It was black and basic, so I made it a little bit of purple bling.

I am thinking of adopting a little Sheltie dog from the local rescue.  Hopefully I can get everyone onboard to help take care of her when I'm at work.  She was an apartment dog, so is very well house trained.  She just needs to be let out for a wee walk around lunch time.  I can take care of the walking before and after work.  So far everyone has been pretty noncommittal and I was hoping to get an early start on fixing the fence.  It's now snowing out there.  Maybe it will have stopped and melted by next Saturday and I can start digging post holes.  Digging holes counts as exercise, right?

I'm in the mood to stitch a little Valentines something-or-other.  I think I'll hit the freebies and my stash and see what we come up with.

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

WIPocalypse - February 7, 2012

Happy WIPocalypse Everyone! (If you're new to WIPocalypse, click on the little button to the left for a more indepth description of the insanity. Alternately, click on the WIPocalypse page above for the full list of my projects for the year.)

This is what Flower Power looked like at the last check in:

Plenty of butterfly and leaves left to do.  Well I got them all done, plus back stitching and here is what it looked like before I rolled the scrolls.

And here is where I am now on the next section of leaves and flowers.  Right now, it's mostly leaves:

I've changed the orientation of the project on the StitchMate to make it easier for me to stitch left to right, top to bottom.

Christmas ABC's went from this:

To this:

And Heirloom Nativity went from this:

To this:

Not much on the Nativity, but I've been substitute teaching the kiddies in Church, so not much time for stitching.

Thanks for stopping by. Now I'm going to go pursue the check-in list and look at all your lovely work!

Hugs and Stitches,
Kay

Super Sunday!

Happy Sunday, everyone.  I hope you are doing well.  There's going to be a little football game on later this afternoon/evening that I might sit down and watch.  I really only watch for the commecrials.  I hope there are some funny ones this year.

My week was unexpectedly busy.  Monday was the gym and Mr. Trainer.  Tuesday was my job interview in the morning and then out to a play at the Hale in the evening with Mom and Dad.  The job interview went very well and I am going back for a second interview on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were more normal, but  I was a lazy girl and didn't go visit the gym at all! (The results of which can be seen on the Lose to Cruise page.)  Friday was back to the gym and a scolding from Mr. Trainer, and then dinner out to Macaroni Grill for brother B's birthday. (That scolding just sort of bounced off as you can see.)  Saturday was the usual morning shift at the Temple then Mom and I went out looking for a new pair of jeans for me.  We didn't find jeans, but we did find a nice white sweater to wear in the Temple when the a/c is turned up.

I stitched this week when I wasn't running about.  Christmas ABC's got some good time in at work.  I've nearly filled up the hoop.  I'm sure I'll fill it up this upcoming week and  move the hoop! I'm very close to hitting the half way point on this little project too!

Monday and Wednesday nights I worked on Flower Power and got all of the back stitching done on the section I was working on.  I oriented the picture to show how the project will hang...

I rolled the scrolls and attacked the next section of plants.  I decided to start on the green leaves because I discovered a counting error in one section of the completed portion.  If I started with the leaves, I could correct for that error and everything else would fall in place as it should with out too much trouble.

As you can see, it's a lot of green!  I've flipped the way I have this in the StitchMate.  It's easier to stitch down and to the right for me.  I did have to do a wee bit of frogging, but luckily I discovered the error before I had stitched a second color over the top of the error.  I'm trying to decide if I want to do more daisies when I get done with this batch of green or if I want to do some more  pink flowers.  I probably have a month or so of green before I need to make the decision.

Hopefully I'll have a little bit more done for the WIPocalypse post coming up here on Tuesday.

I bought myself a Kindle Fire the other day (week) with the very last of my Christmas money.  I have been enjoying the free month of Amazon Prime that came with the purchase.  I haven't bought any books yet, but I have been watching a lot of their free streaming stuff.  I found that they had all the seasons of Red Dwarf available for free.  Back in High School, my friends and I would stop what ever we were doing at 10:30 on Saturday Night, and sit down to watch the show on the local PBS station.  I've been watching/listening to Red Dwarf on the Kindle as I stitch.  I am a happy camper.

Hugs & Stitches,
Kay