Finished!

 In My Daughter's Eyes

Custom Chart from  personal photo

stitched with DMC on 18 ct aida

After almost 4 1/2 years, I finished the photo of my daughter and I this past week. I really wanted to have it done before the Wee Man gets here, so I pulled it out Labor Day weekend and it's been my focus. I am quite proud of this finish. Not only because it is pretty, but it was also a lot of work (although when I look at how large it is, compared to how long it took, I shake my head). I just think when I started it, back in July 2012, it was a little beyond my skillset at the time. Finishing Santa's Pets earlier this year gave me the confidence to know I could finish this. Now, maybe, I can work on some of my other full-coverage pieces without getting so intimidated. But, I am happy that this was one of the 5 projects on my list that I determined I had to finish before starting Noah's Sub. The others were Soul Music by Dimensions, Sleepy Hollow by Cricket Collection, Santa's Pets, and the year of floss tags by Needle's Content. It seemed like a lot to ask of myself last summer, but, out of them, only the Needle's Content remains to be done, and I have 4 of those stitched already.  So, it's possible that Noah's Sub will get started next year, but later, probably. Heck, getting two large projects done in one year is impressive!

I thought I would rotate Little Wings back in and make that my weekday stitch, but I adopted a UFO from stitching group, a Precious Moments baby blanket, that would be nice to have for Wee Man, so that is going to be my weekday stitch. It shouldn't take too long, and it will be nice for him. The already-completed stitching is beautiful, so I am trying to match it.

I am also trying to follow the Keeping Christmas challenge, to stitch an ornament a week. It has not been easy--somehow I find myself wanting to do more involved ornaments. I have been working on Mitten Mitten, a freebie from Cricket Collection from 2009, it has taken about 3 weeks of weekends. Ooops! I am stitching it in Sullivan's floss. I have used that floss before, but I am still up in the air about it. Part of me really likes the colors--this ornament is very cheerful and luscious--and I like the way it feels. It doesn't feel like regular cotton floss, more like linen, and it just feels very crisp and nice, maybe a little fluffier than regular DMC or Anchor. But they don't have all the colors DMC has. Maybe if I ordered it from them, or bought at an LNS, but I got mine at Hancock, and, considering no one seems to use it for anything, every time I went in there, the floss bins were a horrible mess and they were missing colors. Even if it had the number on the bin. I wish my LNS would carry it, because I do like it for designs with minimal shading. As it is, I am being creative with this finish. But it will be personal! Do you all use Sullivans? Do you like it?

A few WIP photos

I've been notoriously absent from blogging lately. I have been doing a lot of stitching, but the last few weeks have been a little weird. I ended up in the ER a few weeks ago in a panic, and the doctor asked me to take it easy and not do a lot of strenuous things. No heavy lifting, no travel outside the Baltimore/Washington area (though I can go to the Eastern Shore tomorrow for a reunion, but only because it would be close enough to get me to Baltimore if things got real), and just take it easy. After so many months going full-tilt, I've been in a daze. I am not used to not being able to do what I want, but it's for the Wee Man, so I have been listening. Watching a lot of Law and Order and movies. Last night, I saw "Joy". It was a really good, empowering movie.

I have three major projects on the go right now:

In My Daughter's Eyes

charted photograph from my collection

18 ct aida with recommended threads

I had been working on Little Wings like crazy since the 16th of July. I was starting to get burnt out on it, and I still have Mama's massive skirt to do. So I took a pre-Labor Day vacation from it to work on a smaller project. On Saturday, I pulled out this UFO for stitching group and decided I need to finish it.  So I have been working on it all week. I have almost completed two pages since I pulled it out--it helps that there is a lot of black, LOL.  I would like to have this finished before the baby gets here. That way, I won't feel guilty about having two kids with no birth samplers, it will just be him, LOL.  

 

Little Wings

Lavendar and Lace

16 count jobelan with called-for threads

I don't have the most current picture of this, but this is, I think, my favorite part of this chart. That little birdhouse is so sweet. It's neat and dainty and so, so pretty. I love it. I am doing this for Kaydence, so she has something Mom did just for her, a love gift. She told me it looks like her and I, so that is awesome. I hope I can get it done to hang in her room. I just need a break.

I have started thinking about my plans for 2017. So much depends on how well the new baby sleeps, my work schedule and when we start doing the remodelling on the new house, but I am going to focus on small things that i have already kitted up for the year. That has been another project for me. I sorted the ones i wanted to do into project boxes by subject so I can pull them out and work on them when the mood strikes. I know thinking I can do a big project is asking a lot, so that is OK.  I think my mistake with Kaydence was wanting to stitch big things and not accepting that I had the rest of my life to do that, to just understand my time is not my own for right now. I know we need to get the work on the house done, it's what is best for us and is a better, bigger house. More wall space to hang stuff, yay! I don't know how many more UFOs I am going to be able to work on this year, or that I want to work on next year. When that is all you can work on for 6 months, it gets to wearing on you. I have them in a box and will pull one out as desired, I guess. Or wait til 2018

So that is all that is going on in Crazyville. I am starting to be ready for Fall. It's 92 here today. Too warm for September!