Ta-DA!!!

Sanctuary

CW Designs

stitched with called-for DMC threads

 on 14 count aida

 

 

I finished this this week. I am so STOKED to be finished with it. It's been a journey. I bought the chart in 2006, but had to stop because I got lost and couldn't find out how to fix it. In 2016, when I spent 6 months on UFOs, I restarted it and worked on it off and on for the past three years. I just loved how it has turned out. It's so calming to me. Really soft, lovely colors, and then those pops of amazing hot reds and pinks in front. I am going to try to frame this myself this year. It would be nice to have it ready for Easter, so we'll see.

 

 

I also had the brilliant idea this week of trying to pull all the things that I might want to work on this year and put them in a bin to have at hand. I found a really simple bin at Dollar Tree (for $1, no less) and put a bunch in there, and then filled up a box, and then another box. I have more ambition than skill, I think. :)  But, you have to have a goal, right? I did find a bunch of projects that need to be finished, so it was not all shameful. I think March may be a month where I focus on finishing items fully. I will have to see how that goes.

 

 

Right now, I am trying to finish up Winter on the Square by Just Nan. It's been a fun stitch. I will post a photo when I take a good one. I am going to finish it as an ornament. I think it would have a better chance of being used in that condition vs. as a picture on the wall.



Another finish and an almost finish

Busy week this week. I had some dentalwork done on Thursday, so I was slightly worried about that all week. It wasn't a big deal in the end and I already feel much better. I did get a twinge tossing the moldy WIP, but, on the bright side,  I found a piece of black fabric in my stash that the new start will fit on and so I may be starting that in a few weeks.

I finished this sweet wee man this week. I don't have a lot of information about the finish, other than he came from Needlecraft, a British magazine, and he was part of a series, probably in the late 90s. I stitched him on Lugana with DMC. I think I need to work on my lazy daisies, but, all in all, I am so pleased with him. He is going to end up with my mom, since she has taken care of and loved my Gus since I got married (Left-brain has allergies, and is very allergic to my cat-son). Gus is almost 20 and having some major health issues now and Mom's having a hard time with what is going to happen. It's funny, he has outlived every other cat in the cat colony he came from by two years, and those two were ours as well, he is probably the oldest cat in the vet practice. He is the oldest cat we have ever had, he was my first cat, and probably the last cat I will ever get to have, and we've had him since he was 7 weeks old. And we still don't think it's been enough time with him. Anyway . . . this looks like him in his prime, since he was on the richer orange tabby side, so it's a nice tribute of him. I would be happy to think of him chasing butterflies on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge when it's time.

 

 

This is my current large WIP, hopefully soon my latest finish:

Sanctuary 

CM Designs

14 count aida with called-for threads.

 

 

I originally started this the year the chart came out, 2006. But I had to toss that start because it was so hopelessly confusing starting in the middle. I restarted it in 2016 in the corner, using my stair-step method, and it's been worked on on and off since then. It's almost finished and I love everything about it. It feels like it's happening on Easter morning, that or an early summer morning, and it's so comforting to me. I love working with those stunning reds and pinks after so much green, but the whole thing has been a pleasure to stitch. I am hoping to have it done this week. I may try to frame this myself, it's not a totally weird size, so we'll have to see.

 

 



 

Sorry about that!

I didn't realize the links wouldn't work. Ooops  Here they are!

A baby wolf

look at this cute fox!

This designer is rapidly becoming one of my favorites

I am really drawn to this style of design lately.


I thought they were nice. In case you need to buy something.

I have made the decision to toss that mold-splotched WIP and start over. It's not the easiest decision, but I would rather start fresh with clean supplies and not end up sick. I need to order a new piece of fabric, since this was not a standard size cut, but I will hold off on that purchase til I NEED enough to make it worthwhile. I think, if I use the stairstep method I adopted after I started it, it will go faster. Maybe in the summer, I can start it.

I have a couple recent finishes, although these photos are arguably not great. I will try to get some better ones.

 

This and That

Cricket Collection Freebie

kitted up by my LNS

 

 

This was intended to be a basket tie on, but, after working on it, I realized I am not the kind of person to tie things onto a basket, so I snipped some fabric off the sides and will make a little pillow out of it.It was sort of a pain to stitch, but I think some of that was the fact that my hand was starting to hurt when I worked on it.

Fox Forest

Workbasket

called-for threads on unknown aida

I have had this chart since it came out.  Please take the following as my personal opinion that may or may not  affected by the face that I was in A LOT of pain working on this. I loved the design, I did not enjoy stitching it. I realized I have been spoiled by using GAST and CC floss. It covers better than Weeks. This coverage felt skimpy to me, and I think of foxes as luscious and fluffy. That poor guy in the middle, he even looks like a coyote to me. Poor dude. I may redo this with DMC when my hand doesn't hurt. The burning, raw sensation is starting to go away, though it came back this week when I was brushing snow off the car, it's mostly just achy. I know I posted I would go to the doctor, but I have had some dental issues crop up, and my kids have been dealing with respiratory stuff since the beginning of the year. Hopefully we are going to start feeling better.

 

 

 

But I did want to share this darling tabby gentleman:



 

He is so soothingly perfect in his orange sweetness. The stitches are laying correctly. The backstitch is falling into place. The long stitches are so satisfying. Most of my work is not this even and . . . pretty at this distance. This is stitching ASMR. The chart was torn out of an old image of British Needlecraft (with no identifying issue information) and it's just lovely. I have had it for several years, and just decided to work on it. It also uses lazy daisies, which I suck at, so it will all even out. I will post a photo when he is done, but thought you might like to see him in process.

 

Fell off the wagon

I ventured onto Etsy this week. And fell off my no shopping wagon. I couldn't help it. It was one of those weeks. Found out we developed some manner of a mold issue in my garage over the past year, and I had to start throwing things out, some of which were handmade. I thought about trying to save the things, but realized that it just wasn't going to happen, and I am not willing to compromise my family's health for things. As much as it hurt, they had to go. But now I have to deal with going through every box in that garage and seeing what else was damaged. And this is stuff that was in plastic boxes, so it's not like it actually got wet. Most of my stitching stuff is OK, but there is a basket that I had stuff in that got ruined and who knows what else. I think if it was on the other side of the garage, closer to the house, we wouldn't have had this problem, but I don't know. I am trying to figure out if we put a fan in there, would it help keep whatever is causing this.

Even throwing it out is a pain in the butt. My town is doing a study where, instead of our trash being taken out of our taxes in a set amount, we have to buy special bags to use to put our trash in and ONLY those bags. They are $1.25 a bag, which isn't a lot of money, but at two bags of trash per week (cause I have a toddler in diapers), and a six month study period, it's adding up, and it doesn't take into consideration situations like this. I have been upset and, last night, I finally lost my, pardon me, my SHIT, over our trash. I went through what we had and told my family to start carrying the recycling out to the recycling. ALL the cereal boxes, the cans, the bottles, the milk jugs, it's all gotta go in the right bin. I think they got the point. But that still doesn't deal with what is probably going to have to happen if stuff is ruined. I told DH he is probably going to have to end up hauling a bunch of crap to the dump--we don't have to use the bags for that.

One thing, my hand doesn't hurt as exquisitely as it had been. I would not wish that ache on anyone. Even holding a bit of stitched aida on top of my index finger was like rubbing it with sandpaper after burning it. I can touch my hand now, hopefully a few more days, it will be back to somewhat normal. I am glad of that. It was scary.

So, I just needed a bit of retail therapy. And Etsy is about the cheapest place to shop on the planet for cross stitch stuff. I wasn't too awful. I bought:

this

and this!

And this.

And I couldn't leave this!

I think I could make a cute pillow or two out of some of these. I favorite a lot of small designs that might work on the Christmas tree, but I didn't buy those this week.

So that is all that is going on. I hope everyone is having a good week.  They are calling for 1-3 inches of snow here this week. I am OK with that, since I don't have to leave the house.

Second finish, and . . . ouch

Moonstruck

Midnight Stitching freebie

 



I have another finish for the year. I actually have a couple more almost finishes, but I had to put those down. This little guy is a freebie my LNS kitted up about 10 years ago. I inherited him from a stitcher who passed away. He was a cute quick finish. I am still not 100 percent sure how I will finish him, but I love him!

The reason my other two finishes aren't totally finished is that I have done something to my wrist. It started last week, pin pricks and a fuzzy feeling in my thumb that has steadily gotten worse. In the middle of the week, my thumb and first finger felt like I had gotten a terrible burn and ached. I think it could be carpal tunnel, but wasn't aware that it would be a burning pain like that, OMG. I didn't want anyone touching it.  I did buy myself a brace last night and am trying to rest my hand to see if it helps out a bit. I will go to the doctor if it doesn't get better; I don't have time to not be able to use my left hand.

Still doing OK on my resolution not to buy any new stitching supplies. Especially now that I am resting from stitching. I am enjoying looking at the old stuff I have, appreciating those old designers.

We are under the gun for bad weather this weekend. It's spitting snow now, but they are worried about ice tomorrow. I went to the store last night and picked up some things we could eat even if there was no power and tonight I will make a big thing of egg salad. Everyone likes it in the house and. worst case scenario, we can put it in a car if we have no power to keep cool.

My first finish of the year

Millenium Needleroll

Shepherd's Bush

stitched using called-for threads and fabric

 

 

 

I actually have a finish already for the year!  I started this during the week between Christmas and New Years ad finished Thursday evening. Only 19 years late for the New Year it was celebrating, but it will still look nice on our tree. I did break (on accident, I swear) the ball my husband got during his first marriage to commemorate the millenium, so this replaces that (and is probably a better idea in our house.)

 

I did all the finishing myself, by hand. It wasn't terrible. I wanted to learn how to finish correctly before I attempted doing a "needleroll" finish I envisioned for another ornament. I will not be making it so fancy, but now I know I can accomplish it. 

 

And I managed to delight myself this morning by finding several little kitted-up projects I had misplaced. Yay for me!

 

So far, still on the wagon as far as buying anything. I know it's only 6 days in, but I did get a gift certificate to 123stitch for Christmas, and I'm tempted to redeem it, but I know I would add extra to the total, and that is not part of my goal for the year. So I am putting it aside til at least closer to next December when I can really decide what I need vs. what I want. I am enjoying looking through my stash to see what treasures I have available. And the creative juices are starting to flow!





The Year to Come and the Year in Review.

I am sorry to have been away so long. This fall got crazy. Life got crazy. But, here I am, and with new resolve.

My biggest issue for the new year is rebuilding myself. I am not the same person I was before the things that started in October, 2016. I seem to have lost confidence in everything. My self-care is non-existant, even though I know I am dancing a dangerous line in regards to the healthcare parts of that, but I have a lot of issues with trusting doctors. I know I need to work on that, even if it's just summoning the courage to get a checkup and deal with what the fallout is from that. I need to deal with the financial issues that we fell into after everything; I've been so embarrassed, but I'm not the first person that has gone through this, it doesn't define me, and, like everything else, doing nothing isn't getting me anywhere I want to be. It's easy to get comfortable and wallow in sorrow and malaise, but I don't like it here anymore. It stinks, and I feel like I have an awkward residue on me that I need to scrub off once and for all. I don't know if this is the right place to admit all this, but 2019 is the year I pick myself up and cherish myself. I've warred with myself for way too long; it's time I won.

Anyway, part of getting myself back on the proverbial solid ground is spending less money. Among the ways that I am doing that is putting myself on the wagon with my stitching. I talked about this a bit in my last post, spending the year stitching things that I have and not shopping vs. spending the year kitting things up and buying random charts, with the idea of stitching them "someday". I know this seems so logical to 99% of the world, but remember, I'm not hitting on all 4 cylinders, and I am starting to think I haven't been for a very long time. I have been pulling out things I kitted up, and . . . YALL . . . I probably have 100 projects kitted up and not started, and that isn't counting things I have already started or have actual kits of.  So it seems rather stupid to pay for new stuff when I have plenty of stuff to work with. I'm not going to punish myself if I can't do it for the whole year, but I can at least try.

And I am also going to make more effort to finish my pieces, at least the smaller ones. I see all these beautiful trees with stitched ornaments and I want one so bad, but I keep not getting the gumption to finish my own work. I am going to get there this year. Maybe setting a specific goal of 4 a month is achievable.

Not that I had a shabby 2018, stitching-wise.

my 2018 finishes

It's missing two small finishes, but that's OK.

I liked the vast majority of what I worked on.  I did not finish Summer Ball, but I got pretty far! And that's more than I can say for it when I picked it up.

I will leave this for now. I have some surprises up my sleeve for 2019, I am looking forward to sharing them on here, along with pictures of my finishes.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's.