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!

Stitchy Start

Hello dear friends,

As I type this, I'm sitting in my hotel room in St. Louis, MO. Waiting rather impatiently for our training to begin in about 2.5 hours. I arrived at about 11 PM last night, after a boring 3 hour drive. Did I mention that was after a full day of work? Ugh. I like driving, but goodness I was toast.

I have several things to share this morning. First, I decided to join with Tammy at I Want To Do One More Stitch on a new blog. A New Stitchy Start SAL 2015. All those joining are planning to start a larger project this coming year and will be posting progress along the way! I'm still debating on which project to use although I've been considering using the one I've already designated for Jo's SAL. Oh decisions. Anyway, please go talk to Tammy if you'd like to join in this endeavor. It promises 12 months of fun!!

I have Christmas tree pictures! Okay so this isn't actually our only tree. We are planning on buying a real tree, but in order to keep it from turning brown before Christmas I've put off getting one quite yet. This cute little tree has been my DB's for several years and when it became mine (did you like the subtle way I totally stole his tree? haha) I decided to put ornaments and lights on it. Last year this was our only tree as we went to visit his family on Christmas. There wasn't really much of a point in putting up a huge tree we wouldn't use.

Without further ado:

Onto the stitching.

There was a slight bit of stitching done last night, and as I pulled out The Lion King - for the first time in months - I realized that I, somehow, missed posting progress on this one! Shame on me. :-)

We started out here as of 6/19/14:

I took a photo before I continued last night. When I say I forgot to post, believe me, it's been a LONG time. So sometime between then and now, I made it to here:

TONS of progress!! I have no idea how I missed this?!

After stitching last night, we are now here. Not a ton of progress last night. But something is better than nothing!

Now for my frustrations. I now remember why I put this thing down to begin with. I'm missing floss!! Of course all the colors I'm missing are the ones to finish the lions and the rock. Ugh. I'm debating on making a stop at a craft store around here after training tonight. It's really bugging me not to have everything I need.

That's all I've got for you! Only 2 hours 10 minutes of mulling around my hotel room. Please feel free to comment/follow! I love having new bloggers to stalk follow. :-)

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!

Another Giveaway?!

Oh its true! These little buggers are popping up everywhere!

Gillie at Random Thoughts from Abroad has announced her DMC floss giveaway. 15 skeins of your choice! The only requirement is that you must live outside of the US. Much to many folks dismay, DMC prices are a wee bit outrageous outside of the US which puts a large dent in some pocketbooks.

This is a fabulous offer for those eligible. What are you waiting for? Get on over there and see what she's cooking up. :-)