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