Aug 19th Monday Update - 2 Finishes

Well Hello to the few readers left in blogworld haha. That's okay I'll still be here. Let's see what I worked on last week.

Monday Dashgo call Sunday was WIP with Hands so got more stitching on The Mandalorian by Forbidden Fiber Arts. Grogu has hands so I worked on it again. Finished up Grogu and moved to the words after 320 stitches...

I admit I don't like the way they did the colors in his head but it's okay. I wouldn't try to change it myself. 

Tuesday new Dashgo call WIP with a horse. None for me. So I pulled out Summer Line Up by The Trilogy since I wanted it done by Sept 1st. Added 676...

Wednesday I added 375 more...

Thursday Dashgo call was WIP with Strawberries. Wohoo I have one. Gathering Berries by Luminous Fiber Arts. Added 443 Thursday and 420 Friday and finished it off...

Finish 23 August 16th

Gathering Berries 

By Luminous Fiber Arts

Fabric 32ct Vintage Country Mocha Lugana

Thread Classic Colorworks Belle Soie Cranberry

Started May 8th. Took 5 Days. 

2,550 Total Stitches 

Friday after finishing I added 95 more stitches to Summer Line Up before bed. Saturday was a busy day so no stitching. Sunday afternoon I added 508 and finished Summer Line Up...

Finish 24 August 18th

Summer Line Up

by The Trilogy

Fabric 32ct Lambswool Jobelan

Threads Suggested DMC

Started June 20th. Took 10 Days.

3,652 Total Stitches.

Saturday we had a busy day. Spike had a vet appointment in the morning. He did fantastic. All clear and all medicated for another year. We got home just in time to help with doing up corn for the freezer. We did up 60 bags and the family all split it. 

It was a great time. We had a lot of family and friends.

Bev got out of rehab on Tuesday. She got the all clear. She is walking with a walker some but slowly getting her strength back. They are kidnapping Jeremiah to go gambling again tomorrow. So she is really happy to be able to do that again. Now we just wait and see what's next. I just hope she stays well for awhile now. My dad and her deserve the break.

Plans. More Dashgo this week. Today they new call was Something so heavy you can't life over your head. So I'm going to work on Yggdrasil. Laundry tonight but I should be able to stitch a lot after Jeremiah leaves tomorrow on his fun night away. New calls Wed, Fri and Sun. I have some stitching friends coming over to camp this weekend so that should be a lot of fun. We might just take a trip to a stitching store which is exactly what I don't need hahaha. Plus probably more corn on Saturday. Have a wonderful week. Love yourself. Find reasons to smile!

Aug 12th Monday Update

 Another fun challenge week with lots of different projects seeing progress. Let's look back...

Monday Olympics Prompt Favorite Designer. Fandom also had a monthly prompt for Iconic. Dashgo new draw was 2 people and I have no WIPs that count for that. So I absolutely love Erica Michaels and her Silk Gauze pieces so perfect time to start my August monthly pick...

I added 540 tiny little stitches. I'm using the suggested Weeks Dye Works threads.

Tuesday Olympics prompt was Something with an animal. I pulled out Gathering Berries by Luminous Fiber Arts. 

I added a wonderful 851 stitches on the 32ct Vintage Country Mocha with the beautiful silk thread Selle Soie Cranberry.

Wednesday Olympic prompt was Recommend by another stitcher. The Dashgo was Koren designer but no WIP in my tote to use. So I picked up The Mandalorian by Forbidden Fiber Co because Janet showed me this design and Jeremiah fell in love with it...

401 added to the 40ct White Evenweave. Using one strand of the suggested Forbidden Fibers. 

Thursday Olympic prompt was for the weightlifting something you couldn't "weight" to work on. So Yggdrasil came back out because I just want to make progress on this one so bad...

I can't wait to make it past that corner block section haha. Getting closer every X. Day 9 still there haha. 

Friday Dashgo call 8 was a new start. Olympics was stitch to your gooooaaal on a project. So I picked a project I've been wanting to do forever...

Enchanted Pumpkin a Mill Hill kit. I added 711 black stitches. It's on perforated paper. 

Saturday Olympics prompt was part of a series and we had a busy day. So I just worked on that pick which was Autumn Time by New York Dreamer...

Added 301 to the 32ct Vintage Country Mocha and finished the left page. So now on the right side. 

Sunday Dashgo was Something with Hands and the Olympic prompt was something you want to finish in 2024 for the final. I worked on The Mandalorian again which worked because Grogu's little hands...

547 stitches added. Finished Grogu and worked on the This is the The way at the bottom. I really don't like the way they did the colors in Grogu but it's fine. You can tell it's probably computer done and I think a solid color or better shading would have suited it better but oh well. 

I definitely got a lot done on a lot of stuff again. I definitely enjoy the challenges. I finished the Olympics challenge. I did have to make up the day I was out of town but I will accept that because life has to be lived.

The numbers are the stitches I added on the project every day.

Dashgo is going okay. I had 3 in a row I didn't have a WIP for but I'm really proud I didn't start something only for Dashgo...

I still have some options for Bingo but we'll see. No pressure just fun.

Life update. Bev got to move to rehab on Tuesday. She is doing great and hopefully we will be going home soon. She is walking fine with a walker and can get herself to the bathroom when needed. She has a doc appointment tomorrow. So we'll see what his suggests for future plans. I think right now it's just blood work and building up her immune system better.

Saturday we ended up having a small ceremony for my Grandpa. We gathered at the gravestone to put his ashes to rest. The funeral home guy knew about my Grandpa's Navy years so he told the people in charge and he got the full military salute. So beautiful. Tears were definitely shed during taps. Such a beautiful song. Then we went to my Grandparents home and told stories. My Grandma is doing great really. She didn't want him to suffer any more and his last few years he was in a lot of pain and ready to be at peace. So she seems strong and learning to be herself without taking care of him all the time. Big change.

I'm off to stitch. Have a great week. Love yourself. Smile as often as possible. We deserve it!

Aug 5th Monday Update

 Wow....August. How?!? Let's see what I worked on last week...

Monday - Olympics prompt Olympic Rings - Stitch with a color from the rings blue, yellow, black, green or red. Also Fandom Week 5 had a prompt that matched Stitch in color red, orange, or yellow to represent Fire. How perfect. So I picked Gathering Berries because it's a beautiful red...

I added 300 stitches...

I'm using Classic Colorworks Bell Soie Cranberry and 32ct Vintage Country Mocha fabric. 

Tuesday - Olympic prompt was Swimming something with water. Dashgo was stitching something with grass. Fandom Week 5 had a prompt about friendship. Wohoo 3 different goals met with this one project. Simple Treasure a Dimensions Kit. Water, Grass, and reminds me of Myrtle Beach and the wonderful retreats I attended there.

Added a wonderful 602 stitches. 

Wednesday - Olympics Cycling Something round. My last acrostic J from Jetski. So I picked Mushroom Gnome another Jim Shore Mill Hill. Contains lots of round beads.

Added 416 to my new start on this one. 

Thursday - Olympics Marathon prompt Oldest WIP. Fandom Week 5 also had an oldest WIP prompt. I went through my WIP tote and made sure I had all the years added to my info on when I started things. My oldest WIP in my tote now is Grow Together which I started in 2013...

Added 209 in a the treetop which is definitely full of confetti...

Friday - Dashgo pick 4 was work on SAL. Olympic prompt was Beach Volleyball work on something with more than 1 person. So watch this stretch. Winter SAL 2024 has two sweaters so for two people right?? Works for me...

Added 303 before leaving for a weekend trip...

Saturday - No Stitching. Dashgo call was WIP with a Duck which I was kind of glad I didn't have. So another No for me on the board. Olympics prompt was Rowing something with a row or border. I moved it to Sunday.

Sunday - Olympics was Olympic Village something with a house of building. Fandom Week 5 had one last prompt WIP with something that opens and closes. Plus the border prompt from Saturday. Summer Line Up fits. Lighthouse doors open and close also a building. Also there is a border around it. 

Added 200 before bed...

These challenges definitely have me stitching on a lot of different pieces haha. Sure love the push though.

So over the weekend we had a wedding shower to attend so I made plans to head up to Michigan City area. Then I seen a post on my favorite stitching store in Laporte they were having their stash exchange which is basically a garage sale in the parking lot of all stitching stuff. It was Saturday morning. So we started timing things out. Fred, Jeremiah, and Spike dropped me off at the sale when it started at 10am. They took Spike back to the hotel and put him in his cage for while we were at the shower. Came back to get me and we arrived at the shower exactly on time. I of course had a blast at the sale...

Most expensive thing was the Dimensions complete kit for $10! I've wanted that piece forever for $10 I couldn't pass it up. Then I went inside and got 4 newer pieces to support the store...

Like I needed more projects haha. Oh well. I love them all! The wedding shower was beautiful. It was held at an expensive winery so the meal was just delicious and mimosas were free haha. After that we headed back our hotel...

It was a new to us place. Vintage little roadside motel and it was so cute. Tiny but cute...

The whole town was sold out because of a big boat race so since we ended up taking Jeremiah with us we just brought an air mattress and moved the chairs and table out of the way. It worked fine. Saturday evening my BFF and his girlfriend came over and we went out for a delicious meal and had a nice time chatting. So it was definitely a great day. Sunday we woke up and headed home so Fred could mow.

We had a great time yet again traveling together. I just love my little family. Spike  had a blast. The bed was low and he loves laying under the bed so this had to do...

Works haha. Goofy dog. They provided a little treat and dog dish. It was very cute. We would definitely stay there again in the future. 

Well I'm off to stitch. All those prompts are calling me haha. Dashgo and Olympics are still going this week. Olympics challenge will end Sunday which will be kind of nice. One less prompt to work in haha. Have a great week. Love yourself. Find reasons to smile as much as possible.

May 13th Monday Update

 Hey all. It's my 45th birthday. Definitely feel old haha. A lot of arthritis lately making sure I know I'm aging not so gracefully haha. Let's see what stitching I did last week...

Monday and Tuesday I spun my acrostic tiny decision wheel.  Unicorn Biscornu by Tiny Modernist. This was from the monthly mix new starts I had planned for the year. Honestly I'm surprised by how SLOW these biscornus move and I'm confused. Is it the 18ct Aida? Is it the pattern? So weird. Oh well. I'm glad they are started but honestly they are a pain to stitch haha. I will mix them into my WIPs and make progress no matter how SLOW they go haha. I had the goal of 200 for my acrostic list. Monday I added 163 and Tuesday added 144. This one I decided to start with the back panel so I got to stitch some pretty pastel flowers and a diamond...

18ct Vintage Country Mocha with the suggested DMC. 

Wednesday was another new start. Every Wednesday in May. Wohoo. This time the wheel picked Gathering Berries by Luminous Fiber Arts and I was so excited to start this one. My first Luminous Fiber Arts pattern. Definitely not my last! 32ct Vintage Country Mocha (Yes I love this color if you haven't noticed haha). The thread is a Classic Colorworks Belle Soie called Cranberry and it's SOOOO soft. I added 536 stitches...

I really enjoyed this one a lot as you can see. It will be back out soon I bet. But more acrostics to mark off in my Mega May stitching month.

Thursday I spun an OLD Mill Hill. Harvest Wagon. The theme for one was Farmer's Market and I seen this old WIP on my list and thought hey a wagon full of pumpkins screams farmer's market to me. So I sat the goal for 100 stitches. After some research I bought this with mom on a trip to House of Stitches in 2019. Started it for Halloween in 2019. Here is where I was with it...

I started stitching and was loving it. I noticed there wasn't a lot left. I hit the 100 mark and kept going. At dinner I only had 3 symbols left to finish. So I went back to it after dinner. Added a total of 292 I finished it...

So Wohoo a finish to mark off my always growing WIP list haha. I'm going to make a magnet for the fridge but it's cut out and ready.

Friday Jeremiah spun the wheel again and Beer Dragon was picked. Perfect for a weekend. I wanted my 500 monthly goal. Friday I added 370 then Sunday added 141. So I hit 511...

Looking great! Getting close to another column finish. I think there is only one page left for this top row. So happy about the progress I'm finally making on this beauty. 

So far I've stitched 3,392 stitches this month and loving every single one. It's been fun stitching so many different things. The acrostics are definitely fun for me. I'm glad I found these challenge groups.

Today is my birthday so I'm doing a new start today and Wednesday this week. Jeremiah picked Luck of the Irish by Primrose Cottage for today. We haven't spun yet for Wednesday. 

I seen in my email this morning the sweet Faith sent me a birthday GC for 123stitch. So I'll get to go shopping. That's always fun to do haha. 

Quick life update as well. Saturday was my Uncle's Celebration of Life and it was wonderful. He would have loved it. Probably 150 people showed up throughout the day. It was just a laid back celebration in his wood shop. I seen some family I hadn't seen in way too long. They did a full military salute which was beautiful but so many tears were shed. It was a lovely day. He will be missed by many but I smile thinking of the party in Heaven with my mom and their parents. They were happy to see him again I'm sure.

We also had a nice time here at the campground. Bev is doing good. Tired easily but still doing okay. She did need some platelets last week but it went well. So we are just waiting and enjoying time that we are lucky enough to have. Dad came over today. They aren't planting their big field of corn this year so we are making us a small garden and I'm just so excited. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini are definitely going to be planted. It will be so nice to learn dad's techniques because he's great at gardening. I'm sure so thankful.

Anyway I want to get off here and STITCH haha. Thanks for reading my rambling haha.

Apr 22nd Monday Update

 Hello to my blog readers. I hope this reaches you on a good day and things are going well for you. Let's see what I worked on last week.

I was in a weird for me mood. Not wanting to change projects. I decided I wanted to finish another one of the Jim Shore Mill Hill gnomes. Remember this set?

Monday I started the one in the middle on the top. Evergreen Gnome. Friday I put the last stitches in...

(10) April 19th

Evergreen Gnome

JS20-2312

from Jim Shore Mill Hill Kits Set of 6

Released in 2023

Stitched on Perforated Paper

Using Kit Threads and Beads

Started Apr 15th. Took 5 Days.

1,442 Total Stitches (without counting backstitching).

So I have 3 finished now...

It's funny when you finish something you wanted to. I felt sad. Like what to work on now? LOL I mean come on I have noooo projects screaming for attention....sure haha. Then this project won the loudest for the weekend which happened to be IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). I added 301 Friday, 475 Saturday, and 520 on Sunday. Did pretty good even with a lot of fun over the weekend...

I am at Day 16 on this one now. Funny thing is I didn't realize it was a Primrose Cottage piece too. I have reached the bottom right now. So just that bottom section to do. This is definitely wanting to be finished soon too. It's stitched on 25ct Vintage Country Mocha. I started it in Sept 2022 after some retail therapy. 

 

So I keep all my screaming to be started patterns in a project envelope and boy they have been yelling loudly. But when I open it I get very overwhelmed and just zip it shut. I can't pick out which one is screaming loudest it's just a very very loud roar. So I just kept trying and nope couldn't do it. So I begged my 2nd brain for help. Jeremiah is fantastic when it comes to this. He was really cute though because even he loved so many it made the choice hard. I was like See?? So looking at May it's my birthday month. There happen to be 5 Wednesdays in May. Plus Maynia for a lot of people. So how about 5 new starts? So we narrowed it down to these...

This one was from Janet in a set of 4. I really wanted this one added.

Lady Liberty was available at my retreat this March. I knew I had to have it. 

My little patriotic kiddo picked it of course.

Then he picked this one because being Irish.

Another no brainer here. I figured he would want this one pretty quickly.

I was surprised he picked this one. But he just loves our dog. Right now I'm planning on doing the two in the top. The bottom one might be done later but not my favorite of the 3.

 

As I was zipping the envelop closed this one jumped out too...

I mean come on. How could they not??? They are too cute. 

 

So I got busy looking for fabric. I used all the new fabric I had bought while at the stitch day except one piece haha. So I did good. I did order some special threads and one piece of fabric. I wanted the Gloriana silks for the Lady Liberty piece. It will be gorgeous in those. So I figured I would get a special cut of fabric for it too. 32ct white evenweave. I will do it over one then so I can make the threads last longer. Then I bought 1 each of the special threads for the Luminous Fiber set of 4. Janet gave me the threads that she had leftover for The Mandalorian and the set of 4 which was so kind. But they suggested having some extra for the Gathering series so I bought some extra to have on hand. So anyway all the fabric is ready to go. Fred made me working copies at his work. Now just to get the threads ready. That's the easier part haha. Least the screaming has stopped.....for now. Of course all these are screaming. I did get smart and download that tiny decisions app. Jeremiah is happy so I will stop blaming him for picking the wrong one to start first. As of this moment I plan on starting one each Wednesday in May. Fingers crossed. The bottom gnomes will just have to be started before May since they fell out of the bag haha.

I've also decided to start keeping track of my projects on Google Keep. It's everything I wanted in a logging type journal but now I have to get it all setup haha. Oh well it will be nice to have a lot of record keeping in one place. Mostly like what fabric and start dates type info. Least it works fantastic on my new laptop haha.

We had a lovely weekend here at the campground. Dad, Bev, and some other friends and family were here. Weather was chilly but we still had a nice time. Dad and Fred tag teamed mowed. It definitely went fast that way. We did some other things here and there. Neighbors stopped over on the way to a tenderloin and fish fry meal at a local church so we decided to go pick up tenderloins and fish for everyone. Then we separated. We watched some movies together in the evening. Sunday we all gathered again. Got a few more things done and said Byes. It was a lovely time and a great reminder of how fantastic life is. 

The Chicago cancer docs that is helping with Bev's care decided it was worth suggesting more chemo treatment. Their worry is right now nothing is being taken care of so nothing is stopping it from coming back hard. Bev said right away why go this far and not take every chance to fight it. So today she went back in for another round. It's very scary. First round caused strokes. 2nd round caused seizures and brain swelling. So we are scared to death but Bev's right. It's her only real chance of beating it. So why not take a chance. She is the luckiest person I know so if anyone can beat this it's her but of course we are scared. Also found out my mom's brother passed away this morning. I'm glad he isn't suffering any longer but my cousin is having a hard time. So much sadness in the world. Just trying to do our best to enjoy every day. That's the definite reminder. 

I'm off to get some stuff done and STITCH. Love yourself. Find reasons to smile. Live everyday like it's your last. Thanks for reading this far.