So Much Greatness!

Hello all! This may be quite the long post.

We're still stuck with horribly cold temperatures and ice galore. Fortunately it has melted off of the roads, but everyones yards and several driveways are still a little treacherous. The poor UPS man has almost busted his rear end delivering packages to me. We won't even discuss the USPS man who has to walk up and down the streets and through everyone's yards delivering the daily mail. Happily they are still delivering which has provided me with so many lovely things!!

Stash

Thankfully I am not participating in the SFS group this half of the year or I would have failed miserably. My personal budget hasn't really "suffered" as I don't usually spend much money on myself anyway. So, thanks to ebay (the evil money-sucking place), I am now the proud owner of 3 Mirabilia patterns. And some fabric. And some embellishments. Now before you start shaking your heads, they were all DIRT cheap!!!! I almost couldn't believe it honestly.

I wound up with the entire kit for Fairy Moon (chart, Kreinik, DMC, beads and fabric) for a little under $30.00. Upon receipt I did realize that one of the DMC colors is incorrect, through no real fault of the seller. The number kind of looks like a 0 but it's a 6. Those of you who are familiar with these designs may know what I'm talking about... the font is a little funky. So I must go get one skein of floss, but $0.33 is not going to break me. Here she is in all her glory! I hope to start her this weekend. :-)

See the bright-ish pink thread... that's the culprit!

The other two charts, both with fabric, are Sleeping Beauty and Fairy Idyll. I was in LOVE with both of these charts and at $30.00 for the pair I was suckered in. I haven't received these two yet, but I'll post when I do (should be by this weekend). No more ebay for me.

 

Gifts

I was absolutely astonished when I received my gift from June at Butterfly Wings. Let me back up a little. Back in December (I think) June began stitching a lovely piece and began a contest for the first person to guess the design and designer of this piece. After much searching I finally found it and emailed her. Another follower was a bit quicker than I and found it before me. Didn't bother me as it was fun to search around and find tons of new gorgeous designs. And then I read the rest of dear June's email stating that she would be stitching gifts for the both of us! I was so very excited as I love her stitching. Well I received my package and O.M.G. Let me show you... these photos do it no justice...

The packaging was adorable!! Love the colors.

The card was so cute and so very sweet, albeit a wee bit blurry in the photo.

Inside the cutest bag (the little blue and white one) was the date book, magnetic bookmarks (I have already begun using), the heart clothespin, and the pretty ribbon (wrapped around one of June's beautiful bobbins I've been admiring).

The pincushion is stunning. So pretty and (I don't know how she knew) stitched/finished in some of my favorite colors. The little dragonfly is too stinkin' cute!! I must admit I was almost in tears. Happy ones of course. I was just struck by the amount of time and love and care went into this wonderful package of goodies. Obviously I had to send her the most mushy email I could muster up. :-) Go visit this wonderful woman if you haven't already.

  

Stitching

Are you still with me? I know it's a long one. This part will be short and sweet.

I've continued on with Beauty and the Beast all this week since I do plan on putting it away again this weekend to pick up my new Mirabilia and some other WIPs that are begging for attention.

Last night wasn't the most productive, but there is still progress to be seen.

Giveaway

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has just announced another giveaway! This time it will be for a Spring, Easter, Primitive hand dyed trim bag. This woman has some amazing things. Hop on over to this post to enter.

One Unhappy Thing

If you've made it this far, I applaud you. I have one more update... MCG Textiles. The company I love and hate all at the same time. I apologize in advance for griping about them again, so you're more than welcome to skip this part. :-)

I called back at the beginning of February to find out why the fabric was wrong and why I didn't get my pearl filament. The woman I spoke with assured me she would send the filament out. She was confused about the fabric and said she would talk to someone (I don't remember who) and would get back with me. Haha. Right... so I've heard and received nothing *gasp, shock*

I finished gridding the center lines, both horizontal and vertical to send them photo evidence that they're wrong mistaken. The fabric is not evenweave, not by any stretch of the imagination. I think its about 26/27 count by 24/25 count. It would add an extra 3 inches horizontally and is about a half inch short vertically. I'm ready to tear my hair out.

I emailed them... again... on Feb. 23rd. I will be allowing them until Monday to respond. If not, I will be calling. I'm pretty sure they hate me at this point. I'm probably on some blacklist they have. Hahaha! They'll probably tell me they never received the email. UGH! I wish there was some way to complain that wouldn't result in me never getting anything I need from them again. Oh well...

Thank you for hanging on through this lengthy post!! Until next time...

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!

Dear Bad Luck, Let's Break Up

I feel the need for a short rant. If you don't want to delve into the ticked off parts of my brain... run... run quickly.

So after praising MCG Textiles the other day for their wonderful customer service they have officially angered the beast. I can understand floss being placed into a kit incorrectly, or at times not placed there at all... and don't get me wrong their customer service is great... now for the but. And it's a big one.

I opened Fantasia in hopes of getting tons of work done on it this weekend since our first Gifted Gorgeousness SAL post is in 4 days.

It does have a large piece of pretty fabric... the wrong fabric. (Yes I've already sent an email detailing my problem complete with photos. Aren't I handy??)

How the H-E-DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS do you get the fabric wrong!??!?!?!?!? I spent about an hour trying to figure out what I did wrong when I was gridding the whole thing up since supposedly it's stitched 2 over 2 on 28-count evenweave. It was either going to be so very tiny (nowhere near 16x12) or way larger than that/the fabric.

This is a stupid thing to get me wound up so tightly, but for the love of the stitchy gods, EVERY kit I have has something wrong with it. I debated on opening Snow White and starting her instead, but I'm in too crappy a mood to have something else go wrong.

Thank you to those that didn't run screaming. I apologize for my rage-induced rant. I needed that. :-)

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!