Its The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Dear Friends,

We had a wonderful Christmas! I hope yours were full of fun and family. I'm enjoying seeing the photos everyone is posting!

DB's dad was with us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day which was a wonderful treat for both of us. As the rest of our family members are many hours away it was nice to have someone here besides the two of us. Dinner was amazing both nights. DB made steak for Christmas Eve and, after presents were opened, I made enough food to feed the neighborhood on Christmas Day. Basically Thanksgiving dinner again with ham instead of turkey. I personally love ham more, but DB is enamored with his turkey. I get one holiday and he gets the other. Fair I think.

"Santa" must have thought we were pretty good this year if the presents under the tree were any indication. I didn't put them out until Christmas Eve since I was worried the dogs would decide all the presents were for them. This is our first Christmas at our house, we're normally going off to visit someone. Thank goodness they were good boys! Their reward was totally worth the wait. New bones and toys galore.

I got a scroll frame for Christmas!!!!!!!! Yay!!! I almost jumped out of my seat I was so happy! It came with three different sizes (three, isn't that awesome), but I think I'll wind up using the largest size most often. There aren't many small patterns in my repertoire. I may try to change that this year, but no promises.

My newest Disney pattern, Fantasia, is finally mine!! This will be the piece I'm using for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness SAL. Time to get my fabric ready. :-)

DB's dad also gave me this little picture frame. I thought it was so cute. Now I just have to find something to put in it. Neither one of us is a big fan of photos so we don't have too many of us anywhere. Maybe a picture of the boys is a better idea. ;)

I took the day after Christmas off, since no one wanted to meet with me to discuss anything for work anyway, and I managed to get my fabric gridded for my HAED start for the New Stitchy Start SAL. Yay! I decided, after much deliberation, to only grid the horizontal strips. We'll see how much I like it once I start, but it took SO long I really don't want to do anymore. (The photo wouldn't turn for me so its turned on it's side)

Also managed to bobbinate all 12 bazillion colors for this piece!

I'm having a hard time NOT starting this one until Jan 1. I'm so ready!! Can't start Fantasia either.......!

Speaking of HAED, for those of you that are unaware, their 35% off sale is ending today. I'm in the final moments of deciding if I need to buy myself one small storykeep pattern. More specifically, THIS one. It's so cute and so appropriate for me.

Onto Beauty and the Beast. TONS of progress! I'm basically finished with the second quarter of this piece. Only a few stray stitches along the bottom of the right top quarter that I'll get to as I stitch the bottom right quarter. You can really tell it's the Beast now and even Belle is beginning to make her debut. I haven't finished the rainbow either. Let me tell you how much I hate the sparkly thread that these kits come with. I avoid it like the plague. It really does make the piece look beautiful, but UGH! Hopefully I'll get the courage up to stitch it this weekend.

That's all for now dears. I'll be here, very impatiently waiting to start my new stitchy pieces in 2015.

The Countdown Begins

Hello Friends,

First let me give a belated welcome to the new followers! Welcome to the craziness!

And now I shall begin the post from H E double toothpicks. It has taken more time than I care to admit to get this post together, but apparently that's what the holidays do to me!

Last week was a whirlwind adventure of working, working some more, Christmas shopping, Christmas shipping (eww), parties, and of course stitching! I am counting down the minutes until Christmas!!!!!

Our office held the Christmas party on Friday which, aside from being an absolute blast, made the earlier part of my week so unbelievably busy! When you lose a day in this job it's like a mad dash to the finish line of getting things completed. Our dirty Santa gift exchange found me with a $20.00 gas card!! Since I put about a tank of gas in my car every other day, I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciated this.

I decided to make a cheese dip to bring which meant I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get it made in time. All in all it was a rather fun (and filling, oh my God there was so much food) day.

Somehow, in all the running around, I managed to get everything for Christmas with the exception of a few small gifts for DB. Poor man gets shopped for so late. Every other present I buy has to be mailed out so they've all got to be completed much farther in advance. Even as I type this, I'm debating on which store to go to next. :-/ I also realized, as I did begin shopping for DB, that all the gift ideas I had for him I gave to my mother, his mother, and my grandmother. Helpful for them, but it just makes me have to think harder.

My surprise gift was received! I can not believe how quickly the package made it to her, but I was so thrilled to hear she loved everything. Whew. Many of you may remember the tags Lynn B made for me. See THIS post. I was so grateful for her kindness, I had to return the favor somehow. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of everything in the package, so go check out her post for the full details.

This was my first piece gifted (other than to a family member). It was also my first attempt at a Biscornu and I loved it!! I've been debating on which pattern I should use next as I really want to make one for myself now. You know, with all the spare time I have. :-)

I won something! It's a Christmas miracle! June was having a contest to see who could correctly guess the new design she has been stitching. Okay so I was the second to guess correctly, and June (in all her wonderful kindness) decided that the both of us would receive something from her. Isn't she so sweet?!?! Anyway, the colors are amazing, and after much googling, I managed to figure it out! It's a beautiful design by Luca-S called Tulips. Go check out her wonderful progress HERE.

In the midst of all this craziness, there was some stitching done. The Beast is slowly coming to life. I know I'm not really on this page yet, but I can't help myself. I'm a wee bit tired of sky and leaves/bushes/grass.

Now onto my new terrifying project. HAED. Enough said. So I bought my fabric, at some point last week I think. The time is running together at this point. Gridding is going to be the death of me. Only 4 lines done so far! I did finally managed to find all the floss I need, which put a little pep in my step. (Only 3 stores later) I've even got a nifty little box and about 3 million bobbins. So who wants to have a bobbin-winding party? I will provide coffee, lots of coffee.

The thread does look really pretty all laid out together, keep in mind this is only a small portion of what I still have to bobbinate. I can't wait to start stitching this.

That about sums it up for the time being. Thank you all again for your kind words and all the encouragement!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Hello dear friends,

I have a Christmas tree! A real tree! DB and I managed to get all the lights strung and the ornaments on Sunday night and I love it. Originally we didn't realize we had all of his ornaments so we were planning on purchasing a few to fill in the holes. Haha. So glad we did NOT do that. Between what he has and all those my grandmother sent, our tree is very full. Unfortunately with a GSD roaming the house, most of our ornaments need to go very near the top as they are fragile. So far so good. One night down, many more to go.

I had to snap a photo with the lights on (mainly so you can see the ornaments) and another with the lights off (to show off my lights of course). Please ignore the fact that there is no tree topper at the moment. We have yet to find one we both like...

The remainder of my lights will be going up outside when I have 5 free minutes. Not sure when that will be.

Most of my Christmas shopping was started and finished Saturday. A few things had to be ordered, most of which were mailed straight to the recipient with only a few I have to go pick up from the store. I even managed to get DB's birthday present purchased and wrapped (in Christmas paper because I have nothing else).

I was slacking Sunday and Monday night since the Red Tent was on Lifetime. For those of you unaware of what I'm talking about. Many moons ago Anita Diamant wrote a book titled "The Red Tent." It tells the story of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob. You follow her through her life and watch as her story intertwines with those more popular (ie. Joseph and the coat of many colors, etc.). If you have not read this I would highly suggest picking up a copy here. I thought it was a fantastic book, and the depiction of this story in movie form was great.

Enough on that. Onto the stitching news.

Not much progress on Beauty and the Beast since yesterday (seen here). The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was on and I had to watch. My yearly tradition. :-)

I did, finally, decide on a piece to use for A New Stitchy Start. I put on my big girl panties and took what felt like the Polar Bear Plunge into purchasing and committing to my first ever...... drum roll please...... HAED pattern. Ah!! Without further ado, here she is!!

Humming birds are my absolute favorite bird, and this is a beautiful piece by Jody Bergsma. I've spent more time than I care to admit trying to decide on a chart. My original plan was to try a QS first, but this one screamed my name too loudly for me to ignore. So I bit the bullet. I was questioning my sanity as I watched the one billion pages of charts print, but so far I'm not too terribly intimidated. Okay I lied, yes I am. But that will NOT stop me from trying.

I'm debating on attempting parking my thread as I go. I know this one will be way more confetti-ish than normal. Ugh. So many new things to try on one poor little project. :-) I am hoping to have my floss purchased (or at the very least located) by the end of this week. Fabric may take me a minute to decide on. I don't think I'm comfortable enough stitching on linen to try something of this magnitude, so it's possible that I'll be stuck back with aida. Not the worlds worst idea.

I believe that's all my little heart can handle for the moment. I love reading your comments and am always surprised when there's a new follower or two! Thank you all for keeping me going!!

Until next time. :-)

Mini Vacation

Dear Friends,

Hello again! And welcome to the new followers. :-)

I've managed to squeeze a little vacation in, which was lovely. Thanksgiving went off without a hitch! We had a wonderful meal and really enjoyed spending more than 5 minutes together. My Lil' Butterball (that's actually what they're called oddly enough) was delicious. For someone who doesn't care for turkey much, I was pleasantly surprised.

The apple pie I was intending to make for the festivities was pushed off until Friday. After cooking everything else on Thursday I was dog tired! Needless to say, I refrained from shopping in all the madness that is Black Friday. Cyber Monday is the preferred method of saving money, although I can't even say I've done much online shopping for Christmas presents.

Beauty and the Beast has jumped forward by leaps and bounds. I can almost see the light at the end of this page!! You can see where I've jumped ahead just slightly with the dark browns (peeking out at the bottom). It's a start on Belle and the Beast. Getting antsy! Soon there will be much stitching of the actual characters... which would be nice for a change.

I mentioned, in my last post, I'm working on a surprise project. Figured I'd show a little teaser just to keep you all guessing. :-) I love the colors so far and believe it or not, I'm already 3/4 of the way through the stitching. Then will come the finish I've not tried before and many prayers would be welcome. :-)

The metallic DMC thread is NOT my friend, but I won't be writing it off completely as I'm hoping it just sucks to stitch on Aida. I really like the effect, just not actually stitching with it.

As I upload this photo I'm realizing that a stray pooch hair has weaved itself in. Leave it to my dog(s) to make sure they're a part of EVERYTHING.

I'll be taking a trip to St. Louis, MO from Tuesday night to Thursday night. More training. Woohoo. Can't you just feel the excitement? The hotel is paid for (thank God) and I'm taking the opportunity to finish my Christmas shopping while I'm there. We don't have many stores at all here and I prefer buying certain things in person versus online.

I know I'll be bringing my surprise stitch with me and I'm debating on pulling The Lion King out to drag along as well. It's been my go-to travel piece thus far so I can't very well ignore it now.

Oh dear, I almost forgot one of the most exciting things!! My Grandmother sent a box filled with Christmas things for DB and me. Included were about 6 strands of lights (and she's still asking if she needs to send more!!), 2 tree skirts (for the 1 tree we'll have mind you), tablecloths, place mats, and (my favorite part) a bunch of ornaments she's had that I remember hanging on the tree when I was a little girl. What I didn't recall, however, was that she had cross stitched ornaments! I've got no clue who made them, but they're so darling I just had to share.

On that note I'll take my leave for the time being. Please feel free to comment/follow as I'd love to do the same!

Finishes, SALs, and Giveaways. Oh my!!

Hello friends!

Sadly, I have zero progress to share with you today. I stopped at the grocery store on Monday after work and had to cut my trip short as I started feeling quite ill. I didn't even have the oomph to stitch. :-( Fortunately by yesterday afternoon I was feeling much better, but still didn't manage to pick anything up to work on.

I do have, however, a finish to share! (We'll ignore the fact that I've had this beauty finished since Saturday and totally forgot to post a picture sooner) After much deliberation on what to do with Wine a Bit, I decided to frame it for my kitchen.

Isn't it pretty?! I tried to stick with a more "rustic" theme if you can call it that. Believe it or not even DB likes how it looks.

Onto more exciting news.

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching is hosting a year long SAL that I've signed on for. That's right 12 whole months folks. (Granted it's not completely mandatory for you to go the entire 12 months, but that's my goal!) The theme is Gifted Gorgeousness, which just basically means that whatever you're stitching has to be either gifted to you (kit, fabric, embellishments, thread, etc), or something you plan on gifting to someone else. Mind you that is the completely abridged version of the rules. So go check it out for yourself!!! I'm so excited for this to start as this will be my first SAL. :-)

Next, certainly not less important, is a giveaway from Lynn at Happiness is Cross Stitching. She's calling it a small giveaway. I reject that. To me anyway, this is big! I know designing anything takes serious time and dedication no matter how small.

I'll quit rambling now. The giveaway is for a custom made label with your blog name. Lynn's also got tons of freebies posted all over the place. Just amazing. Skip on over there too!

Finally, and I know we've all seen it but I'm putting it out there again, Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having an intense 25 Days of Christmas giveaway. There's something new every day so there will certainly be something that strikes everyone's fancy. Today's giveaway is a surprise! Oh how exciting. :-)

My goodness everyone seems to be in the Christmas spirit of giving (and I seem to be doing well going on and on about it). I can't tell you how much I love seeing all of these wonderful people doing such amazing things for others. I'm still very green on the whole blogger thing, but with all the support and love from everyone is overwhelming. Good luck ever getting me to leave. Lol.

That's all for now. I hope to have some more progress to share with you all soon. I'm itching to get back to my stitching, but for now work is screaming my name.

Please feel free to comment or follow and I'd love to return the favor!

Back to Posting

Dear friends,

My sincerest apologies for the long hiatus between posts. I was unaware just how busy things could get around my house. My last update was prior to finishing the Angel of Christmas for my grandmother. I am happy to say that not only was it finished, but also framed and ready for delivery on time!
Now for the bad news. Regardless of the crazy amount of packing and bubble wrapping done, the lovely folks who load and unload bags on a plane managed to shatter the glass at some point en route to my destination. Fortunately the actual project remained unharmed, however dealing with shattered glass in my suitcase was less than thrilling.
This is the finished product! Yay! The first cross stitch I have completed from start to finish. Ever. I am quite pleased with the outcome. (I apparently forgot to take a photo when it was matted and framed. Oops).

I received, courtesy of my mom, a new project from my wish list. "Wine a Bit" by Sue Hillis Designs. This one worked up extremely quickly and seems to have come with enough fabric to make two designs. I'm not yet certain if the thread will be enough or if I will need to purchase more.
I'm hoping to have this one completed and framed by this weekend. I can feel another trip to Hobby Lobby in my near future!

That's all I've got for the moment folks! Please feel free to follow and leave a comment so I can check out, and follow, your blog too!

Angel Update

Dear friends,
Thank goodness for grandmothers! I finally had some help figuring out this backstitching thing that has been pestering me on and off everyday. Managed to get a little done to the top of the project. Sorry for the horrible quality of the picture. It is a little dark, but it's the only picture I managed to get so far.

We've been out of the house, a miracle I know, for the past two nights. A couple we know have birthdays a day apart from each other (Tuesday and Wednesday), so we got to go out to dinner with them at Applebee's and Buffalo Wild Wings.
We had tons of good food and fabulous company!
Unfortunately, I now have to pretend I want to be at work... so until later...
Happy stitching, happy living!