April FFG

It's the 10th of the month and time for another awesome blog SAL. The purpose of this one is one I really needed. A kick in the bum to finish up my stitching instead of just letting it hide away in my box of shame. I love the push and definitely find myself thinking Oh I need to get some pieces finished for the 10th. It's the perfect excuse not to put it off. Thanks again Rachel!!

Stop over here to see the other beauties that have been created this time around. Now let's see what I have to report on this time.

First up this time was a fun finish. I finished up a Jim Shore Mill Hill Snowman called Snowy Owl Snowman. I thought about gluing it to something to display it better and I was wondered what to use. I had made the suggestion to mom and she remembered this Christmas tree my Grandpa had made long long ago. So I tried it out and personally I LOVE how it turned out. I actually haven't put it away yet because I just love looking at it...

At my stitching retreat I finished up two little Easter freebies. I knew they just had to be on display for this year's Easter season. On the 4th I setup everything and got busy. The two Easter pieces were first up...

Happy Easter from AlitaDesigns

Fabric under pillow is on the back.

Bunny from Durene Jones 

Facebook Page Freebie 2019

Fabric under pillow is on back.

This one was quickly stolen and displayed on Mom's shelf. I had to beg to just get the photo.

I got these two finished up and went over to my box of shame to see what wanted to be pulled out and included this time. 

Finished on  Jan 17th, 2013 -- Kit from 

Dimensions called Dog's Love

I had this cute dog print fabric and finished this one like a tuck pillow so you can see the fabric from the front. I didn't do a very good job at all getting it straight on the sides but once I filled it with stuffing you can hardly tell so I'm happy with it. Plus it's an old finish finally getting to be on display instead of hiding away. 

I've also finished up Mom's Nautical Monthly pillow...

We are putting the older months into a small basket so they can still be displayed on mom's shelves throughout the year...

So 4 new finishes and 1 from my box of shame.
  So let's recap so far for the year...

 February -- 5

March -- 6

April -- 5

After much torture when I realized my count was wrong somehow. I found out I forgot to report my February Lizzie Kate Stamp on my March post. So I really have 6 for my March post. I finished it the evening of the 10th. So I have really completed 16 pieces this year because of this SAL. That's fantastic.

March Smalls and WIPocalypse Posts

Two updates in one since I was so busy over the weekend at the Fancy Works Retreat (Update coming soon too don't worry!)

March Smalls Post was the 29th. The idea is to stitch up some small things for each month. I like to use this SAL as an excuse to do up some year long monthly pieces. This year I'm doing a set for mom and a set for me. I finished up both March pieces...

 Mom's is the top one from Sand, Sea, and Cross Stitch booklet a Nautical Year long set. The bottom one is Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamps set for me. I also had time to get a cute little Saint Patrick's Day piece done...

So there are 3 smalls for the Smalls Check in.

Also yesterday was the March WIPocalypse check in. The idea of this fun blog SAL is to finish all our WIPs before the end of the world. Don't worry I will hold it off forever because I will never finish all my WIPs since I keep adding to them all the time haha. I use this SAL as an excuse to keep track of how many days I've spent on my projects. So let's see what I've been working on since the last time which was February 24th.

Ocean in a Bottle -- 10 Days. Here is where I was before this time...

It's finished now...

Nautical Year -- 4 Days. Started and Finished this one. Shared above for the Smalls Post.

Lizzie Kate Stamp -- 4 Days. Started and Finished. Shared above for the Smalls Post.

Kiss Me Freebie -- 1 Day. Started and Finished. Shared above for the Smalls Post.

4 Seasons Winter -- 3 Days. Was here before...

Made it to here...

Snowy Owl Snowman -- 5 Days. I had only one day on this one...

I finished it in this time frame...

Other projects are coming with my retreat update next. I only had 4 days of No Stitching so that's great for me too.

We also get a neat question from Measi to discuss Question of the Month: What newer designers and product creators (fabric or floss dyeing, etc) out there have you discovered and recommend?

Oh so many. I love adding new designers and items to my stash. Hence why I will never be caught up haha. I love it all though. So many new designs came out this year at the market. I look forward to stitching as many as I can of course. As far as recommending....keep your eyes open. How can you not find things you want to stitch? I wish I had that problem haha. See ya next check in. April 28th. 

Snowy Owl Snowman Finish

Just had to stop in to report on the finished Snowy Owl Snowman Mill Hill Kit...

(Finish #11) March 26th

Snowy Owl Snowman Mill Hill Kit

Jim Shore 2015 # JS20-5103

Using Kit Materials

Stitched on Perforated Paper

Finished on one of Grandpa Faust's Trees

Started June 22, 2017 for Longest Day SAL with Jo. Took 6 Days.

Wait what's that behind the snowman you might be asking? Well it's how I decided to finish him off...

My Grandpa Faust made these Christmas trees for my mom's business so many many years ago. Mom painted this one to show how they could be finished. For some reason though she decided not to sell it. She kept it. Fast forward many many decades later and for some reason it was laying in Jeremiah's school room in a basket. I had seen it several times and thought I needed to do something with it. When I showed the snowman to Mom one day while it was in progress I said I was thinking of gluing it to something to finish it. She said something about the tree. She had seen it and almost put it away with our Christmas things. I said Hm I wonder if that will work. Last night I finished the stitching on the snowman. This morning I grabbed the tree and yep.....it fits PERFECT of course. Love it!!! Just so in love with how it turned out. Definitely meant to be!! Plus it's another finished finish....WOHOO!!

Got all my stuff packed for the weekend stitching retreat. I kitted up two little Easter freebie pieces to take along with me. I am also taking Dragon Eye along. There will be 2 class pieces that I will probably work on too. So the stitching bag is packed and ready to go. Oh yeah I packed clothes too haha. We hit the road tomorrow morning. Have a great weekend!

Monday Update

So Friday Mom picked out the Snowy Owl Snowman Mill Hill kit for me to stitch...

I only had the first day from June 22nd, 2017. I wasn't happy it was picked honestly. I just felt blah about it. Yeah it's on my YOW Challenge list. Yeah it's really cute. Yeah I love Mill Hill kits. Just not feeling it right now. But I told myself I would make myself make progress at least for Friday. Saturday morning I would pick another paper out. So I could make it just one day right?

I picked it up and started working finally in the afternoon...

My needles disagreed and just took off. Which made me fall in love after all. I was really happy with my progress for Friday. Then I laid in bed that night and was thinking about making more progress Saturday. So after our fun trip as a family to a big flea market and eating a delicious lunch out. I got back at it...

Wohoo....more fantastic progress. Sunday I had the whole day and it was still calling my name so...

Now no doubt I'm in love. It will stay out till finished. So glad I was wrong. It's too cute not to love. Picking a random paper out sure helped to have the kick in the bum to work on it.

Other than our trip out Saturday it was nice relaxing weekend. We had fun at the flea market. We all got some new t-shirts to feed our t-shirt addictions haha. Jeremiah and Fred found a bunch of beef jerky and were happy boys all weekend munching on those. It was a fun trip and good exercise. Then we had a delicious meal out at Red Lobster. When we were home we watched a lot of Netflix. We finished up Series of Unfortunate Events finally. It's sad to see it end. We really enjoyed it. Then we started Lost in Space. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it but I actually like it a lot. I'm noticing a theme for the weekend of me liking what I don't think I would haha.

I also have a gift I can't wait till the 15th to share with you all. StitchThrifty sent me an awesome surprise in my inbox...

The pattern for Adjust Your Sails!!! I'm so thankful. Now to find the perfect fabric for it. Luckily I'm going to a stitching retreat this coming weekend and get to stop at a wonderful stitching store so I bet I can find a piece there. It's suggested to be stitched on grey so the white stands out. Thank you again Bridgette. I appreciate it so much.

Hope everyone has a great week. I bet mine will go fast. We are going to do some more clothes shopping tomorrow, packing Wednesday, and hitting the road Thursday morning for a fun weekend away.

Check in Post

Hi all. Just wanted to stop by to see how everyone is doing. I've been having a good week so far and hope you have too. I've been working on an Erica Michael's Petite this week...

Even though it's officially Spring now here in the US I wanted to finish this one up before I start the next one. Here it was last time I worked on it...

I wanted to see if I could finish that border. I worked on it 3 days this week and here I am now...

Met my goal and then some so I'm really happy. But today I wanted to work on something different. Just no idea what. They are all equally calling to me. So what do you do when they are all calling your name...

I put all the names into a little adorable tin I have. I was bad and including one for a new start too just to be 100% honest with everyone haha. I let Mom pick today's focus piece. As you can see she picked Snowy Owl Snowman Mill Hill. Remember this one?

Like you can see I don't have much in this one at all. I started this one during Jo's Longest Day SAL in 2017 and haven't been back to it. So I will work on it today at least. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Longest Day SAL

Yesterday I joined Jo in a fun SAL called the Longest Day SAL to celebrate the longest day of the year with the arrival of Summer. She worked on beautiful WIPs. I thought that would be fun. Then I noticed a stack of things I wanted to start. What better excuse to start them then a fun SAL. So I decided to do new starts and spend an hour on each one before starting the next one. I warned my family. I warned my couch. I was totally lazy haha. So let's see what my day looked like...

9am -- Here we go. 1st Start...

Refuse to Sink

Hands on Design - To the Beach #9

Starting Point - Bottom Left

10am -- 2nd Start

Flock Together

Hands on Design - To the Beach #3

Starting Point - Left Side 

11am -- 3rd Start (with break to take dog out...Izzy didn't get the memo about not needing me haha)

On Beach Time

Hands on Design - To the Beach #5

Starting Point - Bottom Left

12pm -- Lunch Break

1pm -- 4th Start

Stars in the Sky

Hands on Design - To the Beach #6

Starting Point - Top Left

2pm -- 5th Start

Grab Life

Hands on Design - To the Beach #8

Starting Point - Top Left

3pm -- 6th Start

Oh Whale

Hands on Design - To the Beach #1

Starting Point - Bottom Left

4pm -- 7th Start

Mill Hill Kit -- Snowy Owl Snowman by Jim Shore

Starting Point - Center. I don't know why Mill Hill kits I've noticed take a lot longer. Weird.

 

5pm -- Dinner Break

6pm -- 8th Start

Mill Hill Kit -- Best Friend Santa by Jim Shore

Starting Point - Center

7pm -- 9th Start

2013 PALs Limited Edition Hands on Design 

(Last one of the set of 4 so far. I finished the other 3 already.)

Starting Point - Bottom Left of Top Panel

8pm -- 10th Start

Mill Hill Kit -- Sea Turtle

Starting Point - Center

9pm -- 11th Start

Mill Hill Kit -- Evergreen Snowman by Jim Shore

Starting Point - Center. Ice cream called my name and I only got a half hour on this one haha.

So 11 new starts. I really enjoyed my day. I have to admit it was really hard to stop at the hour mark. I really wanted to keep working on each one. I was already told (by mom haha) that Flock Together must be worked on and finished soon. She really likes that one. I also know there are a few of the To the Beach pieces I don't own. Need to fix that of course. Thanks Jo for the fun reason to be completely lazy and get a ton of stitching worked into one day.