A long overdue post

This photo is long over due! This is the last installment of this checkered series that I have been working on all year long. I must admit that this one isn't one of my favorites, although I did like stitching all that bright pretty red! =) I still need to share my last alphabet block on here as well., a nd will do so soon, I promise, not to mention my progress on "Sunshine" and some of my WIP's I have been pulling out for the WIP challenge.

It is weird, I have been looking at some of these projects that I started years and years ago, and i'm thinking "I wanted to stitch that?! why?" Do you ever do that? There is one on my list, "A country mile" and I put it on the list thinking I would like to finish it, but I'm starting to rethink that, but I don't just want to chuck it, there's quite a bit of work in on it already, what to do with it? I can't even fathom what was going through my mind when I started it, probably that I was living at home still with my parents, and I happened to have all the called for flosses for it, and so why not? I don't know!! LOL It's definitely not a piece I would start now.And now I'm wondering if I should even finish it? Afterall, what would I do with it once I did? Give it away as a gift? Ugh...any suggestions? =)

Well, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a safe and wonderful New Year Holiday. The hubs is home this week for the holiday, from work, however, Santa Claus got him a PS3, so I think I have seen the last of him for the duration of his holiday at home! Ha Ha! As I type this, the destructive noises of "Call of Duty" are ringing through the house!! Ooooh....boys and their toys!!!

October Checkered Block

10 down, two to go!! Actually, as of this post, I have finished 11 and only have December to get done! I just haven't shared a photo yet! This one reminded me of the talking hat in Harry Potter! Just add a mouth and wala!!!

For Meredith who asked about my book list you can click on my "goodreads" widget on my sidebar...all my books are there, along with a few personal reviews and thoughts on some of the things I've read.

Thank you to all who commented, and alot of you came up with a great idea!! why not use a button or charm for the big blank space on my letter T piece!!! Thank you for the reminder!! I just may have to do that!!

"J", "K", and May

Ok, I know I need to share photos of H and I still, and I will, the photo is on my camera as I type, but for now I am going to show off my laziness for the month!

Normally, by this time of the month (No! Not THAT time!) I just mean half way through the month, I have already finished what I consider my monthly smalls (two letters and a month block) However, the month is halfway gone, or will be tomorrow, and This is as far as I have gotten with my monthly smalls:

Not soo bad on the May checkered block, that is a finish you see there, which occured only this morning. "K" You can see has the entire border finished and a small start on the letters within, and "J"....well, I pulled threads for it JUST this morning, other than that....nothing!

See? I kinda have a system, I like to have these smalls out of the way within the first 10 days of the month, or at least by half way through, thus leaving a few weeks to focus on the larger projects I am working on, like "Howling at the moon", "The Abbey", and my Lamb series.

So, my goal for this weekend is to finish J and K, I am hoping I can do it, though it is promising to be wet and rainy most the weekend, which is good stitching weather, so I think I may get them finished! I will let you know how it goes!

Here is an upclose and personal look at my May block:

Ok, pretend this one is cropped! I cropped it in the edits thingy but apparently it didn't save the cropped one to my computer! Gah! Oh well! And! Notice! I actually did the back stitch all the way around the block this time! A thin line of pink all around the inner squar there! I still haven't pulled out April and done that yet, I guess I better before I do any finishing with this project! I think of allt he monthly checkered squares I've done, this one is my favorite, the colors on here don't do that flower justice! It is SO vibrant and beautiful! And totally pops against that black and white background!

Well, I'm off to get some work on on my letters now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

April checkered block- Finished!

I still am loving this series! I know I say that everytime I post one, and one day I promise I will stop repeating my self and sounding like a broken record, but these are so cute and so easy!! Oh man! i just realized, I didn't put the backstitch around the square, guess I will have to do that today...there is supposed to be periwrinkle backstitching around the square...oops...eeeh, close enough, right? lol...

Thank you for all the lovely comments everyone has been leaving! I have been trying to hit up a few more blogs daily myself, and leave notes here and there. Also, I wanted to say thank you to my new followers! I can't believe how many I have gotten, and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people and fellow stitchers to be friends with!! You are all truly an inspiration to me, whenever I have those times when picking up a needle seems like such a chore all I have to do is look over some blogs and I get inspired to pick it up again. You all do such beautiful work!!

Well, I am thinking that sometime this week I will be posting letter H...stay tuned....

Todays post brought to you by the letters F and G, and by the number 9...

Here are some really bad photos of letters F and G from the Mini Alphabet Sampler Book by Rainbow Gallery, and I just realized that I didn't finish letter F....didn't fill in the squares on each corner....oops....Just pretend it is, ok? lol

I love these little guys, so quick and easy!!

So, here is a question...it's been rattling around in my head making all sorts of racket as it tumbles about up there. Ok, here's the thing, I dearly want to post more, but I feel weird posting the same project 5 times a month to show progress. Although when I think about it, I love to see other people's progress photos. But I guess last October, when I was ripping off finishes right and left I just got used to posting finishes, and not so much progress photos. So, I need to share progress on "Howling at the Moon" (which I thought I'd done last month for some reason, but apparently did not.) And "The Abbey" and "I'm not Sleepy".

So, what are your thoughts? Does it matter if I share progress photos of the same project 50 times? Are people gonna get tired of seeing the same project? I guess if I just share weekly progress, not like every stitch I make, it won't be so bad....I need to figure out a posting schedule, I'm thinking three times a week, each day share another project....I'm probably making this more complicated than it needs to be, but I just don't want to bore my wonderful readers who take time out of their busy schedules to drop in and see what I'm up to, with the same stuff everytime!

And I DO appreciate and want to thank every one who do drop in to read my drivel and leave me lovely comments!! I do enjoy reading all your blogs and I just want my blog to be worthy of your time.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend, whether or not you celebrate the holiday or not. We had a pretty good weekend, hanging out with lovely friends and fellowshipping with others.

Til next time! Have a stitchy day!

February Mini Block

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised how well this photo showed up! Colors really pop! In real life, the two darker reds in the heart are hard to decipher...

Anyway, this is February's Mini sampler, I have a start on March's but not enough of one to show a photo, I am loving this little series, and I was originally thinking I would stitch each square with it's correlating month, but I just am enjoying it so much I want to just keep stitching on them...so I'm still undecided on that, to spread it out or just stitch it all up as fast as I want...I do have SO many projects I want to finish up this year, that maybe I should just stitch each with it's month, giving me time each month to work on my BAP's, which sadly, even though I said I wanted to work 5-10 hours each on "Howling" and "The Abbey" that didn't happen! =( I worked maybe 2 hours on "Howling" and that is it! Oh well.

Monthly rundown:

1. Finish Letter D-YES!

2. Finish Letter E-YES!

3 Finish "Raindrops"-YES!

4. Finish February block- YES!

5. Start "I'm not Sleepy"-YES! (Got 3-4 hours in on this one!)

6. Work 5-10 hours on "Howling at the Moon"-NO! (1-2 hours at most )

7. Work 5-10 hours on "The Abbey"- NO! Didn't even pick it up!

So, I guess I didn't do TOOOO bad with goals for this month...5 out of 7 is pretty good. My goals for March will be sparse, since I am traveling and not sure how much of what will get done. So, for March:

1. Finish Letter F

2. Finish Letter G

3. Finish March block

4. Work on Howling

5. Work on I'm not Sleepy

6. Work on The Abbey

Not too bad....still 6 is alot, but the only DEFINITE ones are 1-3...the others I've decied not to put specific number of hours, just to pick the thing up and work on it. No pressures. We shall see how I do!

First finish of 2010!!

Sorry this is sorta fuzzy, but it is overcast and cloudy today, so this is about as good as its gonna get.This is my first finish for the year. It is a freebie found at the Rainbow Gallery website, and the designer is Erica Micheals. I plan on doing the entire years worth of these little guys. Right now I'm about half finished with February's. I love these little guys, they are small and easy to finish.

I want to share some more progress photos with you, as I worked on "Raindrops" This weekend, but I am kinda bombed out on pain pills, since I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday and am still recovering. The pain keeps shifting from side to side, and it is kind of annoying...oh well. At least it is done and over with.

Also, I want to thank everyone who left such supportive comments on my last post! I was so aggravated!!! And I apologize if my tone or wording was offensive, but I just get so sick of other people ruining something that I enjoy!! There's no need for it, and I just blew up....sorry!!

Anyway, I was thinking last night, as I lay in bed, in pain, waiting for my meds to kick in, about my goals for February. And here they are: We shall see how it goes!

1. Finish February checkered Block

2. Finish Letters D, and E in Alphabet mini sampler blocks

3. Finish "Raindrops"

4. Get a good start in on "I'm not Tired" (Lamb series #3)

5. Work on "Howling at the Moon" (5-10 hours at least)

6. Work on "The Abbey" (5-10 hours)

So, those are my goals. I am thinking that I should get more stitching in this month, as I am pretty much caught up on reading for the this month. In order to reach my 75 book goal I need to read 6 and a quarter books per month, and I just finished #12 for the year last night, so I'm done with this months' quota. Although I know I will still read like crazy...lol. So, I am going to concentrate on stitching this month.

Long, rambly post!

Well, it is now almost a whole new year...only 3 more days until 2007 is a gone thing. I really didn't do so well on most of my stitching goals. I didn't get any big finishes done, although I got lots of small ones finished. I finished all 12 of the Erica Micheal's freebies for the year. Plus some of the other smallish freebies she has...the alphabet sampler minis...I have finished letters A and B. No big finishes though. How disappointing. And to think that for most the year I wasn't working. Even though I started school in the Summer, I still had half a year to stitch, although I had lots of other goals as well, such as my 50 book reading goal for the year. I just finished reading #35, and started #36. So, I didn't reach that goal either, but I got sorta close.

I think part of my problem is my addiction to the computer. I spend WAY too much time on here, playing SIMS, and surfing the web, reading blogs, spending time on Myspace.com...things like that. I think I am going to have to do something about that next year, maybe then I will get more stitching done. Oh well, it's all been fun, so why care? Although now looking back, I wished I had spent more time with needle and thread. Oh well.

I do have a finish to share...the last of the Erica Micheal's freebies for the year. I was able to finish it last night while watching one of the DVD seasons that hubby got me for Christmas, because of another gift my hubby got me...my white thread that I needed! He got me 50 new skeins of floss!!! And! he stuffed my stocking with them...but he wrapped them!!! there were 25 individual wrapped things of thread. well, like there were two to a package... unwrapping them was a pain, and he sat and thought it was hilariously funny! It really sorta was! So, I got floss, but he said I had to work for them....funny funny guy!

So, I have to share with you my finish, and show you my progress on my little snowman mini stocking. ornie.

Now I just have to finish out what I want to do with the quilt I want to make all these into.

next up is my snowman...

I got his little face in almost, just have to finish up his cap and scarf and sweater, and the reast of the stitching on the stocking itself. so, that is what I have been up to. not too much, and i am hoping that next year will produce much more stitching from this end, but we shall see.

I had a great Christmas, along with floss, I told hubby I wanted him to get me things that will keep me occupied while he's away for the year. So, he got me some of my favorite TV DVD series, and some jigsaw puzzles, and a bunch of new SIMS games. So, I think I will be kept happily busy. He refuses to buy me any new books or stitching stash, besides the floss, because I have so much already.

My parents sent a huge box of goodies too, so I made out pretty good!

And things with work are slowing way down...all week I have had short 5 hour shifts, so that allows for more relaxing, but hubby is home this week, so we have been spending time together. He goes back to work on Monday. And we only have 13 more nights to throw the route...thank goodness. Then he leaves for a week to go visit his dad who is leaving to move to japan the middle of Jan, which I can't go with him, because of work, which is fine with me. Then he comes home for a few more weeks and leaves for four weeks for training, then he comes home for two or three weeks then leaves for 6 month deployment.

I just can't wait for the route to be done and over with! I am sick of getting up int he middle of the night and throwing papers int he freezing cold, then having to work in the day, although I think it may take my body a bit to adjust to the new sleeping all night thing again, as I find that even when hubby goes and throws the route all by himself because I have to work I still wake up at 2 am without an alarm. So the first week without the route, I may have to take Tylenol PM or something to help me sleep through the night, and get me back on track with an all night sleeping pattern.

Well, that is about it here, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! sorry this is sort of a rambling post, but had a lot to share!

Happy Saturday...er Sunday!

It feels like a Saturday to me as today is the first of two days off in a row from work for me! I am happy to report that I have completed the 2007 Fall semester!!! I am done! Finals are finished,papers and assignments are all written and turned in, all there is now is to await grades! ::biting nails:: But I am not too worried about it, I feel like I did well, despite the end of the semester being so compacted and hurried with life's other little oddities, but it is finished now, and onto Christmas!!! And stitching!

Ok, during winter when I think of a color that describes this season I think white, what about you? Well, I am currently in the middle of two stitching projects that require this particular color...alot of it! And what do you know? But that I have run completely out!!!! So, I need to stock back up on it, which is weird to me, because I see white and black as two basic colors you should always have on hand, and I have run out of white, HOW DID that happen?! ::shaking head:: oh well, and I am not sure that I want to run right out in the holiday rush to acquire one skein of white, or a few to have on hand, so I shall wait. Hubby keeps asking me for a list of DMC's I need so I will put that on the top in BIG bold letters! So he knows to get plenty, and maybe I will be able to finish these two projects before the first of the year, or!!! I can dip into a kitted project and pull white out of one I don't plan on starting for awhile. I might just do that!

And now for some pictures! Here is my December Freebie by Erica Micheals. as you can see all i have left is white to finish and alas cannot, because of my no white onhand predicament, the outlining of the buildings I added as I didn't think the white stood out enough on the fabric, so I added that so you could actually see the sillhouette of the buildings.

And next up is my little snowman stocking/ornament

This is not a very good picture, sorry, but you can see how much I have done and how much I have left to do. I am not enjoying this piece as much as I thought I would, for such a small project, it sure has a ton of color changes, for the detail and shading. And I'm sure that when it's finished and the backstitching is in, it will look wonderful, right now though, it looks a mess. Probably because he's missing his face! Oh well, maybe today I will have to pop in a DVD and watch something Christmas-y and stitch away on it until he looks much cuter! So between school and work (both jobs) and life, not much stitching has gone on here, but I try to do just a little bit at least once a day, usually before I go to work at the store, as it calms me down and ready to face the mob! Especially this time of the year! Good grief! But now with school out of the way I anticipate alot more stitching. I do see a light at the end of the "going crazy" tunnel now, After Christmas my hours at the store will slow way down, and I will be getting rid of the route in less than 25 days, and then hubby will be leaving for his deployment in less than 2 months, and I am not taking "in classroom" classes next semester just online courses, and 1 less class than last semester so I think things will calm down, they already are with no school right now.

Well I think this post is nice and long enough so I shall sign out and go crawl in the Christmas tree, or behind it, I guess, and see if I can't make this snowman look a bit cuter!

Stitchy junk

December freebie started.

Happy Dance!

And there it is all finished!!! Only one more to go to finish this year!!! I finished this yesterday afternoon.

I am so happy Hubby is home!!! Yippee! It was so nice to have him with me to throw the route this morning...I felt so safe! lol!

And now only two more days until my mom comes in for a visit. She's a crack up! My dad said he's gonna send a letter to the city and tell them to put out a high security alert, because this city will never be the same after me and her run loose in it! lol! And he was teasing my hubby saying he was gonna send bail money to him, just incase! Funny funny dad!

Well, in lieu of finishing that freebie on only the third day of the month,I have really been goingot town on Dare to Dream, but I am too lazy to go get it and post a photo today, maybe tomorrow, after I have done more on it.

That's all i got for today! bye!

ps...Faith ann, I wanted to check out your blog, because i haven't dropped in for a while, and I looked at your profile but only your health blog was noted there, do you still have your stitching one up? If so, can you leave me the address/URL in my comments? Thanks!

Well, I have been working all day on November Freebie, and this is how far I got, since the scan last night, and this is AFTER I had to do quite a bit of frogging as well. So basically I sat my behind in my stitching chair and watched DVD's and ripped out the boo boo' I'd made yesterday and then kept on going, all day. I made a bit of a change...The little corn on the right, I decided to make it multi colored like the indian corn you can buy for decoration during this time of year, I thought it'd be cute. There is another ear of corn on the left side, I think I may do the same thing with it. I am definitely thinking that after this little break of posting and maybe some reading I will return to this and see if I can't get it finished tonight! Wouldn't that be something! To actually finish a monthly freebie the 2nd day of the month! That would be a record for me!

And here is a scan of the September freebie that I never had a chance to show. I especially like the colors in this one!

Sorry the Scan is a little crooked, but you get the idea! I enjoyed stitching all the little apples!

Well, I am starting to get a bit excited...hubby gets home in less than 24 hours!!! Yippee! I am sure that I can find enough reading and stitching to get me through 24 hours!

YAY!!! photo's finally!

Thank you everyone (Michelle, Pam, Alberta, and Ranae) for your lovely words for my photo of the Air Force Ball. When I got that dress, I planned to be able to use it for formal occasions. something else sorta unique about it...my best friend had the SAME wedding dress only hers was trimmed in a champaign color! In fact, she got her dress before I got mine, and I thought "Wow! It'd be perfect if I could find that dress with a Navy blue trim to match his uniform" Because First off, I am just not a frilly girly girl, so I wouldn't want to buy a dress that had lots of bells and whistles, though they are beautiful, they're not me, plus I figure, if you're gonna spend that much money on any dress you might as well be able to use it more than once, and since he's an Air Force "lifer" (twenty years) I figure it will come in handy alot. And the color will always match his uniform! Perfect!

Thank you also Michelle, for your prayers! They are much needed,and appreciated. Also thank you for my birthday wish as well. It's funny, I hear all these women freak out for their 30th birthday, my sister in law went into a depression. Me? ::shrugs:: Oh well! Just another year! I think I look pretty good for 30 years old, so I'm not phazed by it at all. (Just don't look too closely, I have a few grey hairs.)

Pam~ I know what you mean about the scanner! I LOVE mine, and yes we have a digital camera, but I find that I like scanning my stitching much more than taking a photo, because with digital cameras the lighting has to be just right or if your batteries are low or you didn't pay an arm or a leg for the best thing on the market, then your photos don't always turn out that great, the colors are washed out or whatever, but I have never had much problem with the photo quality of my scanner...when it works! lol!

Anyway, and above you saw my scanned photo of my Erica micheals October freebie, I finished it this morning. AND! The start of my November freebie, which I have to admit, I have to frog some of it out, I miscounted...oops. I will try to show more photos of recent stitching in my next few posts, I still have to show my September freebie, and the first two blocks of E Micheal's mini Sampler alphabet series, which I have done. And there is some progress on "The Abbey" and yesterday I pulled out "Dare to Dream" again after not working on it for awhile. So, I do have lots of stitching to share, but right now I want to go frog out my mistake on November freebie and stitch more. Bye!

August Finished!!!

I finished August Freebie by Erica Micheals! I think it came out really cute. I did somehing different with the center of the flower, though, it called for long stitches coming out from the center, but I didn't think it would look very neat so I used the two different shades of brown to make a sort of checker pattern, and I think it looks more like a sunflower and the seeds in the center of a real sunflower than having long stiches coming out from the center.

This week I pulled out The Abbey to work on , and I am actually really enjoying it! I got alot of progress in yesterday, as DH took the modem to work with him, leaving me internetless for the day...very conducive to stitching!!

I also had a dentist appointment yesterday to get a filling, and one of my front teeth had some discoloration on it, and was sort of an odd shape, and she totally smoothed it out and made it really pretty! I'm so happy with it!!! And with the Air Force Ball next month, I will have my pretty new tooth to show off in our photos!!

Well, I have been trying to catch up on blog reading, I had over 200 feeds today...I have never had that much! Crazy! So, I have been on the computer since I got up about 2 hours ago, practically, and now I think unread feeds be damned...I'm going to go stitch! Although I REALLY am enjoying reading the blogs!!!

Oh! and one more thing! I got my "Howling At The Moon" chart in the mail yesterday...oh my startitis fingers are itching to start it right away,but I will be good!!! I think I shall try to finish something first...do my tiny little monthly freebies count? lol!

July Freebie...

Well, here is my July Freebie photo that I was chatting about. I have yet to start August. Today has been a really crappy day...which I figured it should be better, seeing as how I am out of school now, but no...got in a fight with DH, and had a panic attack, and paid bills (who likes to do that?!) The one good thing is that I get to buy stash this weekend! Hubby says he's gonna take me to Micheals, but I am gonna ask him to buy me a pattern off the internet instead. There is one at Herschners called "Howling at the Moon" it's really pretty, of a couple of wolves. So, I am going to ask for that instead of going to Micheals, where besides floss, there is a slim chance that I will find anything that truly calls for my attention. Anyway, speaking of projects with Wolves in them...Here is "Dare to Dream," which I have not been able to put down for most of the week!

Sorry the bottom part is a bit wrinkled. I am really enjoying this one... at first it was hard when I picked it up this time, because I had to frog out some area as I had made a bad boo boo on the last time I worked on it, which I think was the cause of my putting it down in the first place. But once I got it sorted out, I have been working on it steadily.


Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I don't know how much stitching I'll get done, seeing as how we are going to Fort Worth this weekend, but we'll see....maybe I'll take my August freebie with me, it's nice and small, to work on in the car...a two and half hour ride. Or maybe I'll start something new. I have been wanting to start something new for awhile...which so far I have been able to keep from doing, however, I don't know how much longer I can hold off. The thing is I work on such LARGE pieces, very few small ones, that I get bored of working on them after so long, so I have to switch every so often...and when I get sick of ALL of them, then I get startitis. I think I will try to be good though and wait it out until I have rotated through all my projects I have going now. You'd think that'd be variety enough for me, seeing as how I have about 20-25 projects in the workings right now. But then there is all that lovely stash just sitting in those drawers, taunting me!!! Maybe it is time to start Christmas stitching? Hmmm...NOW there's an idea....

Progress photo Friday!

First up is my July freebie: It seems to be stitching up quite quickly. I think I may even finish it today if I sit down and stitch steadily on it for the afternoon.

Here is my June Freebie...finished! and although I didn't think it possible, I did actually finish it IN June!! That Sand castle was a bear for some reason, but it looks great now! I love the blues in this one! And now for the biggie! The one that reminds me of Sesame streets "Which one doesn't match" game: Holiday Airing! Two summery ones, then I blast you with snow! Sorry!

As you can see, I have made quite the progress on this! The barn is just about finished...I have to finish putting in the wreath, and all the white you see on the barn IS supposed to be white, but I have yet to stitch it in yet. You can see where I've parked my needle for the moment...all that green in the tree line- ugh! Such a pain! You really have to watch the pattern, I hope to finish the tree line by the end of the weekend...We shall see if it actually happens! My other goal for the weekend is to finish the July freebie, then I can pick up something else, although what? I am not sure...I have been having a fit of startitis...but keep pushing it away...so far so good, but if I finish July I may have to start something new, or I guess it would be wiser to reach into my UFO pile and work on something that hasn't seen the light of day for a while, that way it feels new, but isn't! We shall see! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Pictures!

Well, finally this lazy blogger is posting something...pictures of recent projects Wow! So, first up is "June" My monthly Erica Micheal's freebie. I am close to a finish here...sorta. I have to finish the sandcastle. And I haven't decided yet whether or not to backstitch it. The pattern doesn't call for it, but it is very light on the Aida that I am stitching it on, and I wonder...can you see the sandcastle very well? I guess I will see when I finish it how I feel. Can you see that break in the blue outline in the upper left hand corner? I ran out of the blue thread at that point. Not like RAN out, Ran out, but just the thread length I had cut had run out, now I have a to cut a new length for what? 3 stitches?! ::sigh:: That has got to be my pet peeve of stitching!





Anyway, and moving on... the most crooked scan you'll ever see!!! Now if you just stand on your head and turn your head in a very peculiar way...you may be able to make out Holiday Airing...LOL! Sorry the scan is so bad, but the fabric is so big and it won't fit in the scanner very easily. You can see that the barn is almost done...SO close, I've also been putting in some of the green of the tree line in the back ground there. It sorta breaks it up...Lots of red...and a little green...








So, there you are...I finally posted photos, now you all can see, I really do stitch, I don't just call this a stitching blog for no particular reason! LOL!

Schoolwork is coming along alright. Not great, but alright, at the beginning of this week I was about two weeks behind in my reading, now I'm right on track. I haven't yet begun this weeks assignment and it is due in 4 short days, but if I work on it a few hours a day it should afford me plenty of time to stitch, and read, and watch E.R, right? Well, wish me luck!

HAPPY DANCE!

I did it! I finished my May Freebie Saturday night while watching Miss Congeniality 2 on TV, I got all the flowers in, and finished stitching the little watering can. I think it turned out really cute. There is a little cat button that is supposed to go in the right hand corner but I don't think I will actually put it on, the piece isn't lacking without it, I don't think.

Today I did no stitching at all. I am having one of those times where I am just VERY tired, so I slept most of the day today. I did read for quite a bit. I think I have written about my 50 book challenge for this year, well, I am way behind, I should be on my 21st book for this year but I am only in the middle of #13, so I am trying to get more reading done. But ayway, just wanted to share my happy dance with you, and thank you for all of you who left such wonderful comments on my last post. I am going to try hard to post more pictures. I realize, after looking at all your blogs how wonderful pictures make a stitching blog. Well, I hope to get more stitching in tomorrow than I did today. I really need to get a rotation going again...but we know how that turns out! LOL! All I can do is try, right?

Lots of Photos!

Well, it is a dreary Saturday afternoon, and I have just been lolligaggin' around watching Movies on the Lifetime channel. I haven't even picked up a needle today, although yesterday I decided to work on The Abby, something that I have not picked up in quite a while. I am getting very close to finishing the first page. First of nine!

Well, my scanner is up and running! So, this will be a picture-full post! Hope you don't mind, and I hope blogger agrees with my agenda!

First off, I want to show my celtic knot bookmark:

This is just the top portion, I am using 318 DMC for the outline and I don't remember the number for the overdyed inside, but it is also DMC-Blue. On white 18 cnt aida.

Next up is my May Freebie. I have put alot of time into this just lately, mostly this week while lounging in front of the TV watching my daytime Television shows. I am hoping to finish it this weekend maybe. We shall see.

And Last, but definitely NOT least is the beginning portion of my Cheryl's Bouquet:

This is my "Masterpiece" at the moment. This is a really bad scan, though. I am working it on 18 count navy blue aida, and am colorcoding my pattern to use various colors throughout the piece, instead of using overdyes. I saw this on the Ink Circles gallery, where a woman did this with the CDC piece, and it looks awesome and thought, hey! That'd be so cool to do with Cheryl's Bouquet. So, I went off in search of the color scheme I wanted to use and here is the beginning. It makes it a bit more tedious, that is for sure, because I have to color in the pattern the way I think it looks best with the colors I've chosen and then stitch it. And that navy fabric is a bear to stitch on! But I like what I have done so far. I have started on one of the corners, but have yet to complete it and so will wait until I do, to show it.

Hope you have enjoyed this! And you can tell: I really DO stitch! I have been perusing the blogs of other stitchers, and I loved all their pictures and because of the scanner konking out on us I couldn't post photos! And I was jealous! I wanted to show my work too! Well, so there it is! Now I have a pretty picture filled blog once again too!

Progress Photo Thursday!...Thursday?!

Yup, I had decided that since I have not posted photos for a few days that I would share some,even though it isn't Friday yet, just so you know that I DO occasionally stitch, you know? In between those long hours on the computer reading blogs. I'm beginning to think that my true love/obsession/hobby is reading blogs, and I stitch whenever I can slip it in...nah not for real, I just love so many blogs, and I have that blessed thing we call Google Reader at hand, and sometimes I don't want to sit and just read, I just want to sort of just read a few posts here and there and move on with life, you know? But then every so often I will wake up and realize after just reading a few post everyday for a week that I have over 80 feeds! Yikes! so, then I plunk my behind in the chair and spend all day reading! Which is exactly what I did today! When I woke up this morning and looked at my google reader, I had 76 feeds, and I am proud to announce I only have 27 now to read! All your blogs are so fun! And the stitching is beautiful!


Now onto the photos!


Here is my March Freebie, finally finished! It is missing a button, to the right side, there is a green stem, but no flower...I think the lion...whom I just realized is blind, because I forgot to stitch in his eye- ate the flower! Yeah, that's my story and I'm stitchin to it...I mean stickin to it!


And I am so CLOSE to finishing April already, I started it last friday I think...? And I stuck with it, and here it is, all I have left is to finish the bunny! I love the colors in this one! So bright and yet soft at the same time...

Sorry it is a bit blurry the fabric wasn't laying flat on the scanner and it caused a shadow on it. And again...I have a flowerless stem, and I don't think the bunny ate it, because he has no tummy yet, but you never know! I am not sure if I will order the buttons for these little things, as I have not exactly decided what I am going to do with them just yet. I was thinking about making them into a quilt, or maybe frame them individually as wall hangings. I really didn't think about it when I decided to take on stitching this series, I was just thinking, "Oh how nice, to do a little something to sorta break up the monotony of the HUGE projects I seem to indulge in. But I have yet to really figure anything out finishing-wise for them. Anyone have any suggestions?
Well, that's about it for me today, I want to thank all of you who left comments on my previous post about hand dyed fabrics and over dyed threads, thank you for the encouragement, and Kathryn for the tips! I think I am gonna do it! Much to the dismay of my DH who was happy that I seemed so "content" with what I had...ah well, what can I say? "Hand over the Credit card, honey,and no one will get hurt!" That works for me! Catch yah guys later!