#24HOCS January Marathon Day 3

This was the first time I participated in the #24 Hours of Cross Stitch 24 Hours Marathon.

To break up the photo loading time I'm going to break the posts down to each day. I had a great time and got a TON of stitching done.

My goal was to work on 12 projects for 2 hours each. Let's see what I worked on Sunday.

Sunday I got a total of 7 Hours and 42 Minutes.

Woke up late again. Feeling a ton better finally. We decided to have a nice breakfast. No cooking for 2 days was sure nice though. We had pancakes and eggs. Yummy.

Noon I was ready to go for Day 3. 4 Projects left on my list. Let's Get Spooky was first for the day. This was one of the Ursula Michael word play design. I was really in love with them a bit ago. I started this one in January 2016 for the DUCJC (Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge). Here it was from that start day...

2:12pm I reached 2 hours on the timer...

2:25pm Free to Be Me from Val's Stuff is ready to go. Another Jeremiah piece. He is so patriotic. I have worked on this one a few times down at our cabin. Here is the before...

I reached 2 hours on my stop watch and reluctantly put it down. This project is on my WIPgo board for this year so when the number gets called for it I have decided it will be finished. Really won't take much more really. Here it is now...

5:50pm our WWE pay per view was starting. This is my favorite pay per view of the year. Lots of action but I thought a lot of stitching time too. There were some matches I just couldn't stitch and watch. So I noticed I did put my stitching down a lot. Time for Flock Together another fun Hands on Design piece. Here it was before from 2017 progress...

9:00 I finally hit the 2 hour mark. Told you I put it down a lot. Here it is now...

This was another one I didn't want to put down.

Last piece is another from this series from Hands on Design. Grab Life. Here it was before...

It hasn't been out since the start day for the Longest Day SAL in 2017. I tried working on it but the show was too good. I did reach 1 hour and 42 minutes on the timer before admitting defeat and putting it down...

So I hit 23 Hours and 37 Minutes over the whole weekend!!! Wow. I had a blast but I'm glad we don't do this every weekend. I enjoy the working on different pieces but there were a few that I really didn't want to put down. There were a few that went on forever. My eyes were so tired each night haha. It felt like way too much work and concentration. I like to be able to mix in life with my stitching.

Now back to just enjoying my stitching and I probably should do all the chores that I put off hahaha. Thanks goes to my family for putting up with my "work" weekend. Don't worry I'm back on duty now. Thanks for reading along. Hope you enjoyed it. Remember I posted the model photos on the post right before these progress photos. If you want to look back and see what one of the pieces is going to look like when finished. 

#24HOCS January Marathon

This weekend is the first #24Hours of Cross Stitch Marathon of 2020 and the first one I've been able to participate in finally. I'm going to join in but I have come down with a bit of a bug so who knows how much I'll actually get done. She started this awhile ago with a 24 hour straight marathon. Since some people just can't stitch that long in a row she has now made it Friday through Sunday. The goal to stitch as much as you can in that span. I heard on her latest floss tube she is even going to have a few giveaways this time for if you participate for any length of time.

I wanted to come up with a fun plan for the marathon. I had Jeremiah and Mom pick 6 numbers each to come up with a list of 12 WIPs from my WIP list on my Goals and SALs tab above. I'm going to go down the list they picked and work on each project for 2 hours according to my stop watch. I might not get to them all but boy I'll sure try. I didn't let them pick a number for a new start or for a WIP I've already worked on this month. What they came up with was some really great older pieces. So let's see the list. I will show before and after pictures Monday with my wrap up post.

1) #20 Elegant Squid - Ink Circles
I haven't worked on since 2016.

2) #50 On Beach Time - Hands on Design
I haven't worked on since the Longest Day Marathon 2017.

3) #72 Wave Dancer - Dinky Dyes
I haven't worked on since 2015.

4) #9 Best Friend Santa - Mill Hill Jim Shore Kit
I haven't worked on since the Longest Day Marathon 2017.

5) #22 Evergreen Snowman - Mill Hill Jim Shore Kit
I haven't worked on since the another Longest Day Weekend Marathon 2019.

 6) #12 Christmas Banner - Stoney Creek
Wow I haven't worked on since 2014.

7) #55 Rules for Life - Kincavel Krosses Freebie
Even more Wow here. Haven't worked on since 2012. Before I even tagged my photos on my blog.

8) #1 4 Seasons - Erica Michaels
I worked on this one last July.

9) #41 Let's Get Spooky - Ursula Michael
I wanted to work on for October 2019 but didn't get a chance. So last time was for the January Challenge when I started it in 2016.

10) #27 Free to Be Me - Val's Stuff
I've worked on a few weekends at the cabin. July last year was the latest time.

11) #26 Flock Together - Hands on Designs
I haven't worked on since 2017.

12) #29 Grab Life - Hands on Design
I haven't worked on since the Longest Day SAL 2017.

I love how 3 of the Hands on Design set has been randomly picked. I swear they were randomly picked too. 8 numbers were picked that had to be skipped. 3 were WIPs I have worked on this month already. 5 were going to be new starts. How fun. So wonder how many I will actually be able to hit the 2 hours on. Luckily we don't have any plans and I've changed the menu around to be no cooking for me. We are going to binge watch The Mandalorian finally on Disney Plus. Sunday we also have a big WWE Pay Per View to watch. So should have lots of stitching time as long as this bug leaves me alone.

Grab your stitching and join in. See ya Monday with how I did.

Monday Update

I know this is a broken record. I've seen a lot of people talking about it. I've seen a lot of people asking this same question. How in the world is it already July??? Wow! I really can't believe how fast life is just blowing past. I'm making a lot of memories along the way but I really really need things to slow down. Here we are another Monday so let's do a Monday update.

Last week was a fast week. I had only two days at home. Monday I got started on Mom's Nautical piece after getting everything done I needed to get done. Tuesday I got a nice day of stitching while doing laundry and was able to finish up the front panel for her July piece...

For the #24HoursofCrossStitch monthly challenge this one is for M since it's Monthly. Also Rachel said it would work because it's for my Mom too so it fits for a few reasons. I'm using a stopwatch now also because Rachel helped me learn how to keep track of my time spent stitching. I didn't have a problem at all feeling like it was just a normal thing to hit the button when I put my stitching down. I thought it would be depressing to see the time length I spend. I thought I would feel like it shows how lazy I am to everyone. Well I noticed I end up getting up to do things here and there. Laundry in the washer. Laundry in the dryer. Stop fold. Start new load. Make lunch. Put out water for birds. Make dinner. So I don't stitch the straight day from waking up to bedtime like I thought it would come across haha. So Monday I only put 1 hr 30 mins in. Tuesday I had a very nice day of 4 hrs 16 mins.

Wednesday Mom, Jeremiah, and I packed up early and headed down to the cabin for our long weekend. Wow what a time! Let's see we ended up having 20 people camping and several friends who dropped by for a visit too. Wow! Thursday we all jumped in the pond and floated around to cool down. It was hot and humid but having the pond to soak in sure helped. When it got dark we had some fireworks that turned out fantastic. Then Daryl (my godson's father) got us an outdoor projector for our own outdoor movie theater. So we set it all up and watched Aquaman together. It was like our own personal movie theater. How awesome!!! Here is a picture of it before it got too dark...

We could hang the screen right from our deck. How fantastic. Now we have the stuff to do this any time we want too. We watched a movie 3 of the nights together. Mom headed home Saturday and just couldn't stop saying how much fun she had while there. My step mom's family had to attend a funeral so we had a slower day. I ended up hiding in the cabin with my boys (Jeremiah and my godson Damein) while they played Playstation together...

The AC sure felt good. So I pulled out my stitching for an hour and worked on Free to Be Me in honor of our 4th of July holiday we were celebrating...

I noticed my eyes were getting very heavy so I took a little nap. The boys were giggling when I woke up I guess I started snoring haha. How nice to have a place to take a quick nap and cool down. I was in charge of dinner with the help of my hubby. He cooked pork chops and brats on the open fire pit. I made baked beans and put together a salad bar. I normally only feed a few people so it really made me feel good to feed everyone there. Bev's family even all got back and we had enough to feed all them too. I was really happy. I did up all my dishes and just kept smiling. The compliments were plenty of how delicious the meal was. We work together most the meals so this was a big accomplishment to pull off on my own.

We got home last night. I'm tired from all the sweating but WOW what memories we made together. My dad was so happy. His idea of a campground sure worked. Just amazing. Can't say it enough how much we just love it there. It's actually hard to leave. Especially when surrounded by friends and family.

Now it's a new week. Time to get some things done. Groceries. Laundry. Sweeping. Lots to do. But don't worry I'll squeeze in time for X's too. Hope you can as well. Have a great week! I love seeing how many blogs I read have joined in the #24hour monthly challenges too. I'm enjoying it and I sure hope you all do too.

Monday Update

So I already told you a little bit about last week. Monday and Tuesday I was busy trying to catch up on emails and just kind of resting after my marathon weekend full of stitching. Tuesday we went grocery shopping and I had some more computer things to finish up. I shared my June #24HourofCrossStitch group completed June challenge information with everyone.

Wednesday I finished up the Mill Hill Beach Ball I shared in my Smalls post. Thursday I fixed the Cabin Fever square I had messed up for the marathon and made a little bit of progress on it.

Friday I pulled out Free to Be Me by Val's Stitchin Stuff again. I had worked on it for the marathon and really wanted to work on it again. I started this one for the DUCJC (Debbie's Ultimate Crazy January Challenge) in 2016 where I started a new project every day in January that year. Here is what it will look like...

Now that I have 3 days into it here is how it looks...

I got a few hours of work into it Friday here at home and then a few hours at the cabin Friday night. Didn't get a chance to get it back out over the weekend since we were so busy Saturday. We jumped in the pond for our first time...

My dad is in the water right beside Jeremiah. You just can't see him. The rest is my hubby on the right, my Uncle Marty (who taught us how to build a lot of our cabin) at the middle, and Jeremiah on a very warm 90 degree day. I jumped in after taking this photo. It was just a perfect way to cool down. Jeremiah had a blast. We got the grass seed planted all around the pond and a lot of other jobs finshed. It was hot but finally not raining so we were able to get some stuff done.

Sunday we did a few more things down at the campground and then headed home in the afternoon. It was a long hot weekend but as always so much fun. Now it's a new week. I hope it's a great one for everyone. Here in the US we will be celebrating 4th of July. Fred has Thursday and Friday off work. So you probably guess what we are doing. Heading down Wednesday and camping through Sunday. Mom, Jeremiah, and I are heading down Wednesday morning. So a quick two day week here at home to scramble and get everything done before heading back to our happy place. We have several friends coming to camp too so that will be great.

It's time to start my two monthly pieces. I'm looking forward to them as always. They are both cute this month. I will be right back in another post to share my July #24HoursofCrossStitch plans. It deserved it's own post.

Day 1 of Longest Hermit Weekend Marathon

Instead of making you all wait till Monday I decided to do a quick post about my Day 1. I realized mostly there would be way too many photos for just one post. So let's see how my Friday went during my Longest Day SAL merged with IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend).

I quickly caught up on my morning computer stuff. Quickly responded to some emails. Scanned to see if anything important needed looked at. Mom was first to pick. She picked out Free to Be Me. I was really excited to work on this one again.

Before Pic:

I had started this one for the Debbie's Ultimate January Challenge in 2016. Where I started a piece for every day in January that year. Goal: Finish the blue section and the top red section beside it.
Start Time 9:08am End Time 11:30am

I really had a hard time putting this one down. I wanted to make more progress. Exactly why I set the goal.

Jeremiah picked a paper now. Spring Bell Pull by Stoney Creek Magazine.
Before Pic:

Goal: Finish the Dragonfly on the right hand side. Start time 11:54am Took a lunch break 12:15pm. Back 12:45pm Finished 3:03pm...

A lot of color changes in that little dragonfly. Didn't think it would ever be finished haha.

Mom picked again. This time it was To the Beach Freebie from Hands on Designs. Before Pic..

Small Goal this time finish the E. Started 3:20 Finished 3:30...

Jeremiah picked Halloween Mini's. Another I'm always excited to work on. Before Pic...

Working on the Vampire Face. Goal finish the light gray symbol you can tell is missing from the right hand side. Plus do the check mark symbol which is a very light gray throughout the piece. Started 4:00 Stopped 4:30 for dinner break back 5:00 Finished 8:30...

Check mark symbol really filled in the design.

Mom picked again. Evergreen Snowman a Mill Hill kit. Before pic...

I started this one for the Longest Day SAL in 2017. Goal this time 30 minutes. Started 9pm Ended 9:30pm...

Last pick for the day was picked by mom again. Dream of the Sea. Working on the last part of this set of 4. Before pic...

Honestly I wasn't excited about picking this one up. I really hate stitching on linen. Of course the kit came with linen. I got it ready and started at 10:00. Goal to work on it till my eyes told me I was done for the day. 11:30 my eyes so Okay time. My needle was sad to go to sleep. I really am so happy with my progress on this one...

I would have been happy with just finishing the words. Proof that sometimes a push is all I need to work on something.

I also watched 14 shows. One of the biggest amount of shows I watched was Riverdale. Almost finished with the latest season. Just a few more to watch today. So weird to see Luke Perry again since he has now passed away. He was a great actor.

Okay enough chatting. I need to get busy. Can't wait to see what I work on today. Have a great day! See ya tomorrow morning.

DUCJC Day 13

Today's pick is a patriotic design. Jeremiah loves patriotic things so this will be perfect for his school room when it's finished. Here is what it will look like...

Free To Be Me by Val's Stuff. Here is my navy start...

I had this piece of fabric in my stash that it fit perfect on. A beautiful sky kind of color. Tomorrow I'm back to another beachy piece from PALs.