Falling Behind

I'm sorry I suck this week. I was planning on posting a review on my new thread organizer this past Monday which I totally failed at. I didn't manage to get my threads switched over like I wanted to. Honestly I've just had a crappy week, and don't feel like doing anything or for that matter being around anyone...

It did brighten my spirits, however, to see Jacquie back from her hospital confinement. Bionic leg and all! If you missed that she's home, go give her some more love. Lord knows we can all use it sometimes. :-)

That being said, I have been very lax at commenting on new posts. I have been reading them and checking out all the lovely new things going on. I'll be back out of my slump soon and back to bombarding you all with notes!

There's been a little progress on Hummers since my last update. Being in a bum mood doesn't bode well for my stitching. :-/ I think I may pull my Snow White wall hanging back out of hiding this weekend and frog the screw-up so I can get some more done. Possibly a change of project, one that's not so tedious, will bring my happy back from hiding.

I shall leave you all with a progress photo.

Until next time :-)

Grumpy Owl Restart & Other Stuff

Again I want to thank you all for your help in deciding what to do with Grumpy Owl. I finally have some real progress to show you! Yay! I'm stitching this on 32-count 1 over 1. Surprisingly it's going rather quickly for having such tiny little holes.

I am LOVING the colors so far. The fabric looks perfect, I honestly wasn't too sure about it when I originally purchased it. Granted I loved the fabric, just wasn't sure how the design would look against it. The photo on the left is a little more accurate in color.

Straying away from kits and actually being able to put some of my own creativity into the project is proving addictive. Joining Blogger and being able to see everyone else's takes on different projects/patterns has really been an inspiration.

Don't worry, my Disney kits will be making their appearance again soon. I haven't forgotten about them.

More good news. My floss organizer came in early! I picked it up this afternoon and will be posting a review on Monday after I get some time to really use it and see how much I like it. I have very high hopes for this little bugger.

Confession time. I bought another pattern. There is no hope for me. Lol. A little back-story first. When I first joined Blogger, I was looking around at tons of other posts and had seen THIS post from Suz at Crafty Weasel. Its parts of the Wee Beasties collection by Terrence Nolan. I found the designs so cool, which is high praise for someone who detests bugs. Thus began my search for these elusive patterns. Much to my dismay I found that they are OOP. :-(

Ebay to the rescue! I managed to find one, Common Green Darner, that I bid on and won for a very decent price. It will take a little while before I can start stitching this one since I have none of the thread I need. It calls for lots of Kreinik which I've never stitched with.

If any of you find one of these and don't want it yourself, I would appreciate a heads up. :-)

Just a Quickie

Wanted to pop in quickly to say how much I appreciate all of your help on deciding what to do with Grumpy Owl.

And the consensus seems to be ditch the background. I'm so not complaining. I frogged the 200+ stitches and have begun stitching Mr. Owl. Goodness I LOVE stitching with all the bright colors!! I've been so used to the dull grey/green/blue in Hummers, so this is a welcome change. Don't get me wrong, Hummers is gorgeous, but we all need several WIPs to keep us amused. (At least that's what I tell myself)

I promise to post photos of his owly goodness very soon! Thank you all again. :-) You really are all the best.

Help?!

I am in dire need of any/all of your advice. I started Grumpy Owl, well a few stitches anyway.

You've all heard me say that the background thread blends in with the color of the fabric. Soooo. Should I even bother stitching it? Or should I just stitch the owl? I'm torn and I'm so used to following these charts to the letter that I am paranoid about making a mistake. Or just making it look hideous. On the other hand, stitching the background may just be redundant. Ugh I have no idea.

Here's the fabric with the stitches that I've already done. (Don't worry, I can't see them either, LOL)

And here's the picture of the owl.

I value all of your opinions very much. I'm pretty sure you've all figured out you're not going to offend me... Tell me whatever you think!! PLEASE AND THANK YOU ALL!! :-)

I'm A Little Hermit

Short, but not quite stout. Lol

Anyway, I'm horrible at following along with the actual IHSW since my weekend plans are either brimming with too much to do or are non-existent. Somehow the weekends of freedom never fall when the hermit weekend is "planned". Well, I suppose I shouldn't say I had no plans as I did want to stitch to my heart's content. Which is exactly what I was privileged to do. DB is gone again for another training, leaving me and the pooches to do as we please.

Other Things

Little Giz, my Chihuahua, didn't leave the comfort of his blanket fort except to eat and, very rarely, venture out into the cold for a potty break. He hates this weather, just like his mommy.

The GSD on the other hand, likes nothing more than staying outside to watch stalk the squirrels in the trees. They have fun with him and throw things down in a futile attempt at knocking him out. Their aim is getting better by the week which is slightly terrifying...

I finally got to watch The Judge this weekend! I've been dying to see this one as I missed it when it was in theatres. I'll spare you the details, but if you're at all interested, check it out here. I loved it!

Stitchy Stuff

First up are my new stash items. I know, I know, I don't need anything else. But I wanted them and I couldn't beat the sale price (plus free shipping). So I've added Pinocchio (12x16) and Cinderella (12x16) along with a vignette of Pinocchio to my collection. :-) You can see them all on my rapidly expanding stash page.

I FINISHED A PAGE! Probably should have started off with this little tidbit of information. Lol. Hummers is officially one page down. We shall refrain from discussing how many are left. Kinda still looks small when you see the entire piece of empty fabric below my square of color, but I love how this one is turning out. Tons and tons of confetti so far, but as I looked through some of the other pages I was pleased to find that not every page will be this tedious.

Also, Jan 28-31 was the first official update for A New Stitchy Start 2015 SAL. Everyone posted their January progress and there are some fantastic projects going on! Go check it out!!!

Grumpy Owl has seen a few more stitches added to the background, not too terribly exciting yet. Stitching one color does go a bit faster so maybe I'll make it to the actual owl (aka the fun part) before too long. No photo of this one. It's quite boring so far.

I was in huge need of a needleminder, but wasn't really looking forward to shelling out $10+ (plus shipping) for one. So off to Hobby Lobby I went for supplies. Found some seriously strong magnets that are plated so they won't leave any funk on my fabric. It took my picky self forever to figure out what I wanted to use for the top. After much deliberation, I decided on this. My all time favorite Disney movie! Plus this little "book" was the perfect size.

Ooo, one more good thing. I found a $25 gift card I totally forgot I had! So I finally decided to order this little trinket. A, hopefully, very handy floss organizer.

I am getting a little tired of using index cards to hold my threads. Plus it's not exactly the most time efficient method. They don't carry it in store, but shipping to the store for pickup doesn't require I pay the shipping charges. Which I'm totally okay with. As of the moment pickup looks to be scheduled for Feb. 9. We can always hope it'll show up sooner though.

Annoyed Ramblings

I did get my fabric for Fantasia (yay), but much to my dismay when I went to start gridding it somehow didn't seem to be quite right. Yet again (boo). From my calculations it's 25-count, however when I called (forget email) MCG they told me they don't even make 25-count. Only the 28-count. I have NO idea what's going on. Ugh. Plus I never received my pearl filament. I'm guessing somehow while I was busy bitching asking about my fabric, they forgot about the filament.  Because, ya know, adding fuel to my fire is obviously amusing. :-( At least I have 8 other kits to borrow it from! Hahaha.

That's all I've got to ramble on about for the moment. Until next time!!

A Little Bit of Everything

Hello again!

Figured I was about due for an update on the goings on with my stitching and various other things. I've been slacking on the blogging!! First I shall start with the "other things."

DB and I watched The Equalizer with Denzel Washington (aka one of my movie boyfriends, oh I love him so, haha). I will watch pretty much anything he does and this movie certainly did him justice. It was quite gory and there are TONS of fight scenes, so for those of you who don't care for that type of thing I would say it's not going to be one you enjoy. Certain parts almost made me think that he was a much more refined version of The Boondock Saints (another movie I love dearly).

This past weekend we also went to see American Sniper with Bradley Cooper. This, for those who don't know, is a movie based on the life of Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. There has been so much hype about this move, both negative and positive. I, for one, thought the movie was fantastic. Cooper did a wonderful job portraying Kyle. DB and I arrived at the theatre only to find out the showing was sold out. :-( So we purchased tickets for a much later showing and, even with arriving 45 minutes early, we were still near the end of the line to get in. We did luck out with some pretty good seats and I sent DB off to find me a massive tub of popcorn. I could seriously live on that stuff if given the opportunity. Lol.

Onto the stitchy stuff that you all come here to see/read.

I'm slowly kitting up Grumpy Owl, but with about 6 million squares of the same color for the background, I've started this one before I finish winding all the remaining floss since I won't need any other colors for awhile.

The thread blends in with the fabric more than I thought it would, especially in the photo. I think I like it so far.

Oh I almost forgot. I bought this little floss winder for a whole whopping $0.99 the last time I went to the craft store. This has been the best money I've spent. I don't quite feel like carpal tunnel is setting in every time I go to wind a bobbin. It seriously makes things so much easier.

Hummers decided to be a wee bit of a pain last week. I took a moment to actually look at everything I had stitched and, much to my horror, I realized that there were a few dark green stitches that didn't appear to belong. Oh was I correct. Now for my wish to you. May you NEVER have to frog a HAED. It SUCKS. I was terrified that I'd cut or pull a thread I wasn't supposed to or that it would look funky and/or fuzzy when I went to restitch the correct color. Fortunately the frog was kind-ish, and after the right color was in there, you really can't tell that I had to redo it. Thank the stitchy gods.

So here's where we left off as of last night. I would kill for a page finish by the time our update rolls around, but I'm not sure if I'll accomplish that...

Hummingbird Welcome is coming along nicely. This is the one I've got on my hoop right now. I've finished the purple flowers and now I'm onto the leaves. It looks so much better when you can see all the details.

I added to my stash. "Hello, my name is Caitlin and I have a problem"....... Keepsake Needlearts had a 50% off clearance sale on 2 of the Disney kits I don't currently have and one of the little vignettes was only $2.99. Plus I had a coupon for free shipping. :-) There was NO way I could pass that up. They were supposed to be delivered on Saturday, but it looks like I won't be getting it until Tuesday.

I was also digging around on some other sites I hadn't yet been to and now I have a GORGROUS Chatelaine design on my wishlist - Hummingbird Lace Mandala. All the sparkly things, not to mention the hummingbirds, were calling my name. I really need to stay off the internet. :-)

I think I need to sign up for SFS when it opens again.

MCG finally decided I was worthy of a reply. Told me when I emailed (again) last Monday that it can take up to 4 days for a reply and they were currently working on emails from 01/14/15. I found this amusing since they had no problem responding to my email about the pearl filament from 01/16/15. Anyway ....... they've told me they'll be sending a new piece of fabric. We'll see how long it takes.

Hakuna Matata

AHHH! Yay! I have a finish! The first of, hopefully several, for 2015!

Let me back track a little. I finally received the two brown thread colors I was missing for The Lion King. Aaaaaaand apparently I miscounted the pearl filament (aka the evil sparkly thread) so I was just a little short on what I needed to finish. Oops. I did, once again, email MCG but I really wanted to finish this one. So I stole two strands from another kit to use for this one.

I stayed up WAY later than I should have to get this thing done, but I couldn't help myself. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and I was sprinting towards it. At about 3 am I crossed the finish line (told you it was really late, lol).

Please pardon the stray dog hairs I probably missed... the pooches like to "help" 

I love the finished product, however the backstitching tried to test my patience. Oh my goodness there were such tiny tiny tiny little stitches. Simba is so adorable and Rafiki looks fantastic! The overall look was more than worth it. I have also found out that I suck at french knots. I'll have to do a lot more practice before I finish Beauty and the Beast. There are hundreds of little knots on that one!

This one probably won't be framed for a little while so I'll update on that at a later date.

Grumpy Owl is ready to be kitted up now that The Lion King is done. I love the fabric I got from 123Stitch.com. It's a 32-count linen, which in my weirdness I forgot was a real linen and not evenweave. I know, I know it says linen right in the title... I'm a dork. Oddly enough it actually isn't that uneven.

The color is amazing, the photo doesn't really do it much justice. It's a more peachy color that seems to go pretty well with all the floss so far. I was surprised by some of the floss colors but I can't wait to see how they all look when they're stitched!! First I must spend my time bobbinating all this floss.

Time for an MCG update..... I emailed MCG again (as you skimmed read a minute ago) about the evil sparkly thread. What did I receive in response? Well, exactly that. A response. I was shocked since I still haven't heard anything about the fabric for Fantasia. They told me they never received the email and asked that I resend it. I forwarded the original message. No reply. Sent a new message with the same content in case there was a problem with the first one. Again, no reply. So I responded to the one they apparently did receive asking if they saw anything. No reply. I was almost in tears I was so beyond frustrated. Can't do anything about it today since it's the weekend. If I have no response by Monday afternoon, I'll be hunting down a phone number to call instead.

I suppose I bring this upon myself since I keep purchasing these kits, but they're the ONLY ones who make them. No other company has Disney patterns/charts/kits that compare to Thomas Kinkade's work. He was a crazy talented artist and these pieces are what got me into stitching again after so many years. Ugh.

I do want to thank you all for your kind and spirit boosting comments. They all make my day every time!

Goodbye Christmas Money...

Dear Friends,

As I was cleaning up the Christmas decorations and storing them all away until next year, I ran across a piece I completely forgot I had. Honestly I have no clue how old this is, but I received it about 4 years ago (maybe more) from my Grandmother and Great Aunt. I was told that it was a gift for me! Yay! And then I was informed that it wasn't finished and that was my job before I could frame it. :-)

Anyway, I pulled it out and started looking to see what exactly needed to be done. Well much to my surprise this wasn't simply a cross stitch piece, there are many stitches I've never used before. Fortunately, almost all the hard stuff is complete (haha!) and mostly all I have to do is backstitching. Mostly. There are a few odd stitches in there that I'm trying to figure out as well.

I'll post a pic of the progress on this one for Jo's Gifted Gorgeousness in just a few days! I don't want to give away too much too soon...

So....... online craft shops are dangerous places, hence the title of this post. I need to be banned from these websites. Needless to say I found the perfect fabric for Grumpy Owl!! It shipped this morning and I'm dying to get it and actually see it in person. It's a 32 count Chalice Belfast Linen. So pretty, and I hope/pray it works well with the colors in the piece. I hate not being able to see it in person, but there are ZERO shops near me other than Michael's and Hobby Lobby. Neither of which are very cross stitch friendly. Don't get me wrong they do have some cheap DMC but fabric is another story.

I'm planning on stitching this one 1 over 1 so I hope the coverage is as good as I'm thinking it will be. Speaking of stitching, I also found a coupon for 20% off my entire order at Michael's so sometime this month I should be able to pick up the remaining thread and have this bugger kitted up in no time!!

I also managed to snag this Ottlite for $70 from Joann!!!! (P.S. for those that may want one, I do believe it's still on sale, although it's out of stock online so you would have to go to your store and buy it there). I've read quite a few mixed reviews, but I figured it was worth a shot... I hope.

Since we don't have one close I had my Mom pick it up from the store right around the corner from her house. Oh I can NOT wait to get it! Even with shipping charges my total is coming in WAY under the $209 they originally wanted for it. Thank God for Christmas money. haha. My eyes will be so much happier with me once it's hooked up and ready to use.

This weekend will be my stitchy hermit weekend. DB is leaving for 4 days for a training class so beginning on Sunday I'll have the house to myself to stitch!! My mom did tell me that I must watch "If I Stay" so I believe I'll be renting that to watch as well. My poor fingers might need a break at some point!

I finally pulled out Fantasia to start on tonight for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL and as I was reading the package I noticed that instead of the normal Aida cloth these kits contain, this one has Evenweave. I'm curious to see how much more I like it than the Aida. Probably a lot. :-)

Sorry that there aren't any progress photos for you all today, but stay tuned for this weekend when I'm certain there will be more than you care to see!!

Oh and I almost forgot - the floss I am in need of to finish The Lion King was also shipped out to me this morning! I LOVE MCG Textiles. They are fantastic to work with, not to mention the wonderful projects they have and their customer service is impeccable. Never once have they had an issue providing me with the floss that has either been missing or incorrect in my kits. (NO this doesn't happen all the time, but we're all human and once and awhile mistakes are made) I must say again -- I LOVE this company. I'm sure others are this way as well, but they're really the only ones I've dealt with in this capacity so they get my love at the moment. :-)

Thus ends my rants. :-) Until next time!

Starting Off With a Bang

Dear Friends,

Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of 2015. I don't make new year's resolutions, but if you do I wish you all the best of luck. I'll happily be there cheering you on. :-)

We spent NYE with friends and DB's company Christmas party was Jan 2. A little late, but they throw an amazing party so it's well worth the wait. DB even managed to win a smart watch. Not sure what we're going to do with it since he's the total opposite of tech-savvy. (I'm lucky the man has a cell phone.)

A New Stitchy Start SAL began as of Jan 1. This brought about the beginning of my first ever HAED piece! For those that aren't following that blog, I shall recap my progress thus far.

Of course, I had to take a photo of the very first stitch going in, and the first 10x10 block that was completed. I'm stitching this one 2 over 1 on 25-count, with full crosses. So many threads in such tiny tiny holes!!

This is where I left off as of last night. I'm guesstimating that I've done about 1500 stitches. I'm still trying to decide exactly how to do this whole parking thing. I tried stitching one 10x10 at a time for the first 1000 stitches which worked quite well. Then I moved onto stitching the same color for 10 columns, basically the height of the page. That seems to work alright as well. Not sure how I'll continue, but parking (however I decide to do it) really is the way to go with this piece.

I also NEED, not want, a magnifying lens. The first night I gave myself a headache trying to see all those stitches. It doesn't really help that our living room has next to nothing for light and we don't have a lamp. Ugh. I've been looking at some of those Ottlite things, but good lord they must be gold-plated they're so expensive!!

Gifted Gorgeousness SAL also begins this month with our first post coming quicker than I'm ready for, though I'm thrilled to start. I've decided to begin this journey with Fantasia as my Mom bought it for me for Christmas and it's really the only thing gifted I have at the moment. I also plan on beginning Grumpy Owl as it is a gift for Mom, but as of this moment I don't have all the floss or fabric yet. I'm hoping to get that all together by March-ish.

I've also joined YOTA which was probably the best idea I've had. Maybe this will help me get through the pile of UFOs that I'm very quickly accumulating!!

The last (for now) that I plan to join will be TUSAL, but as of the moment the sign up page isn't quite ready yet.

I'm hoping all of these will keep me organized-ish in my blogging and stitching. Of course if another SAL pops up that I can't refuse I'm sure I'll add it to my ever-growing list. :-)

That's where I'll leave you for now. Please be patient with me as I do plan on revamping the look of my blog sometime this week (I hope). So it may look a wee bit strange from time to time. :-)

The Final Countdown

Dear Friends,

We're still winding down from our Christmas extravaganza. I'm postponing taking down the tree until the New Year. Maybe by then I'll have mustered up the courage to pack away all the decorations.

I've had the hardest time not starting my HAED piece. I wasn't expecting to have everything ready so quickly and I'm not the world's most patient person. I have been, rather anxiously, counting down the days (okay and hours) until I can begin my new stitches.

Instead, for a little variety, I pulled The Lion King back out of hiding. Apparently I forgot to email MCG Textiles to inform them of the missing thread several months ago (oh how I procrastinate) so I decided to get that taken care of the other day. Unfortunately, due to my lack of promptness, they are closed until January 5 and we all know they'll be bombarded with emails upon their return. Hopefully I'll have my floss by the end of January. :-(

In the meantime, I've been stitching every other possible color left. As per usual, I've left the sparkly thread until last since it's a *insert your own rude word here* to stitch with. And, as luck would have it, that's all that needs to be done until the missing floss arrives.

DB and I decided, against our better judgement, to tackle our spare bedroom (aka the black hole) this weekend. Surprisingly we were able to clean and organize it fairly quickly without much hassle. Just a few long hours of our time. (The main reason my weekend stitching was so lax)

Beauty and the Beast moved forward by a whole whopping few stitches. I didn't get a photo, but honestly there's just not much to update.

HAED extended their sale until midnight on 1/1/15. I had decided against purchasing the Storykeep I posted the other day, and then they extended their sale. I now have 2 new patterns. :-)

 Storykeep - The Effects of Caffeine - Randal Spangler

QS - Grumpy Owl - Annya Kai

Grumpy Owl will be for my mom. She loves owls and this one was just too cute to pass up.

That's all for now my dears. I'll be here... counting down the moments until 2015!

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. :-)