Fun Weekend

Well at the last minute plans changed. Our friend that was coming camping with us was sick. So we changed plans to other fun things. We went to a tractor pull with my Dad and Bev Friday night.

This is a picture of Jeremiah beside a family friend's tractor. We've been to several tractor pulls but never knew anyone participating. So Jeremiah thought it was pretty cool to be in the pit and be beside one of the tractors. It was supposed to storm and boy did it ever but it waited till we were loaded up and headed home. Good thing we weren't camping after all cause it was bad. Just glad it waited cause we had a blast.

Saturday my dad was in a fishing tournament so we relaxed. I got some stitching done and even finished my PALs stitched exchange piece...

This is a freebie found at Designs by Lisa's website. It was a fun fast stitch. I'm going to make it into a cube using the fabric included in the picture. I hope it turns out as cute as I think it will.

After my dad got home we made Apple Cider together...

What a neat thing to watch. I posted a few more photos on my Facebook if you want to check them out. That's my dad and my step mom Bev in the picture and our finished product. Yum! Jeremiah thought it was so cool to watch Apple Cider be made. I just can't be thankful enough for the memories we made.

1st of 3 Retreat Finishes

Design info: "Boo" Needle Roll by Down Sunshine Lane

I need to finish 3 pieces for my October stitching retreat. I'm doing the Halloween, Christmas, and stitched exchange. Yesterday I got them all kitted up and ready to go. It's always fun to stash dive isn't it? I got started on my Halloween piece and finished it last night! Love it!! I think I'm going to finish all 3 as a cube. I hate the finishing part. It's been forever since I've made one so I hope I can remember how to do it. I have a good link to follow at least for how to help. 2 to go.

Today we are going up to a little festival in a nearby town. Tomorrow we head off on probably our last camping trip of the year. It's been a great year of camping that's for sure.

Fun Time and a Finish

Over the weekend we went on another Kayak trip. This one was up in Three Rivers, Michigan on the Saint Joe River. We had 22 for the trip. It rained once but couldn't stop our fun. We were on the river for almost 5 hours. It was a beautiful trip and we also found 23 geocaches along the way. After we got done we all went out to eat together. This photo is right after we ate. I'm on the very right with my hubby standing behind me. We spent two nights with friends in Michigan and just had such a great time.

Friday about bedtime Tim (male friend) got a fire call. (He's a firefighter.) Sam (his long time girlfriend) asked if we wanted to go out and see. I've only been close to one fire and it was from pretty far away. My son has always had major respect for firefighters. As I stood and watched the firemen fight this fire I was just amazed. How they put their lives in harms way to save people is sure breathtaking to watch happen. As if I didn't respect firefighters enough before this just made it even more serious.

We got home Sunday and then woke up early Monday morning to head up to Shipshewana Flea Market. My mom sold there for 17 years so it's like going with a celebrity. We had a great time and everyone got some goodies that followed them home.

Also as the title said I have a finish to report. Today I got my step mom's tin top finished from the last post...

I did the stitching part and she is going to do the finishing. I just realized I need to get 3 things finished for my October PALs retreat. I better get busy time will fly by! Hope everyone had a nice labor day weekend.

2 Finishes to Report

I finished the last of the Cricket Collection seasons. Now I need to take them to my framer so they will be ready to be put on the wall. Spring is still hanging right now haha. They sure were fun stitches. I saw they made monthly ones but I don't think I will be doing them any time soon haha. The seasons are enough. I already have a million other pieces screaming STITCH ME. After finishing Autumn I needed something else to work on for the weekend. I really want to start something new. (I'll get to that in a minute.) Anyway Jeremiah said Work on the Pirate Ship. I said Oh yeah I haven't made any progress on it in awhile. So I worked on it Saturday and Sunday and finished page 4...

This is just too much fun to stitch and then backstitch and see what little details pop out. Now I have a piece I need to do for my step mom. She found it and decided I could do the top for her...

I'm just doing the tin top. It's a Just Nan Over the Top 2009 kit. I have everything ready to go so I can get it finished for her. Then I realized I was really in the mood for Halloween. So I got to looking through my stash and found this...

Glendon Place Ghoul School. It's really just a haunted school not really Halloween only. Jeremiah and I said we would leave it up in our school room year round so it can haunt us. So I'm going to put this in place of the Seasonal pieces on my Turtle Trot list. I kitted it up today so I'm ready to go as soon as I finish the little tin top piece.

Corn Time

Over the weekend it was corn time. We went down to my dad and step mom's to help with putting up corn. The Sunday before they did 350 bags. We only did 150. It a day full of work but it was a blast. We invited a friend and his son we've got very close to this year. That made it even more fun. Here is a picture...

We picked it, shucked it, cooked it (ate it haha), cut it and then bagged it. It was a very nice weekend. It did rain a little bit but the big tree kept it off of us and we hardly noticed the rain at all.

Last week we started school again. We got started on Tuesday and dusted our brains off. After a few wait what do we do the brain kicked right back in and we were rolling quickly. Jeremiah is doing fantastic. I've noticed his reading speed has really picked up. His speed with math and understanding what the problem is asking is a ton better too. I'm a proud momma that's for sure. When we aren't working on that I've been working on Autumn by Cricket Collection. It's the only one of the seasons I have left to finish. Here is where I am right now...

Getting close. Hoping to be happy dancing soon.

Garage Sale Paradise

So I told you about going over to Ohio for the Buy Way Yard Sale. It stretches all the way across Ohio on the Lincoln Highway which runs along 30. It's the first road that went across the United States from ocean to ocean. We did this sale last year and just had a blast. We couldn't believe the amount of garage sales. This year we did a tally sheet.

Thursday we did 18 Flea Markets (this meant an area that had more than 10 vendors setup in one place) and 37 individual garage sales.

Friday we did 5 Flea Markets and 22 individual garage sales.

Saturday we did 8 Flea Markets and 22 individual garage sales.

Yep total of 112!!!! (Of course we could have missed writing one down and we passed hundreds more we decided not to stop at!) No wonder I was so tired when we got home. Getting in and out of the van. Walking up and down driveways. It was a blast though! We stayed in Mansfield, OH which worked out perfect. Thursday we worked our way there. Friday we woke up and made a mistake. Instead of going East we went West. Some places this road splits into two. One is an older section and one is a newer section. The newer section seems to have the most sales so we tend to stay on it. This section we accidentally turned on was the older section. So we weren't planning on going there at all. I couldn't find us on the map. We kept finding sales so we were doing fine. Then we found a cute little town with a flea market area around an old train depot. We got out and I asked this little old lady Where are we? She joked and said where do you want to be? I showed her and she said Oh no you are here in Galion. We enjoyed the laugh at me for being a horrible navigator and decided to look around anyway.

Come to see this was a very historic area. It was a very important train depot in history. They had pictures of President Nixon and Eisenhower coming here to see groups of people. Also Lincoln's funeral train came here. It was a major depot to refuel the trains. They are in the process of redoing the depot and making it a museum. So we had a fantastic visit learning about the depot. Then I turned to shop at the flea market area and noticed a table FULL of cross stitch items. Now talk about feeling like the wrong turn suddenly made sense. I quickly walked over to the table to drool over all the goodies and seen the prices were AMAZING. So I told Mom WOW. While I was shopping I overheard her tell someone else that the lady who owned all this had moved into a nursing home. So they were trying to sell it for her to get whatever they could to help her out. So I knew more than I already did buying as much as I could was the right thing to do...

The Mill Hill kits (which I LOVE) were $1 each!!! I found one in my stash that I paid $6 for!! I just love these little things. I found floss and more floss. The bottom picture shows the fabric! It's probably at least $350 worth of fabric. At least. I got it for $125!!!! What a deal!! I told her to please tell the lady at the nursing home how much I appreciate it and I promise to give it a good home.

After this we headed back the right way and at the end of Friday we came back to our hotel. Saturday we went to several we missed Thursday cause they were closing up and then jumped on the main road to get to a friend who was set up selling somewhere. We had a very nice visit with her and then got home. Jeremiah found some things he couldn't live without including two Xbox 360 games for $5 each which are normally $20. Mom found a lot of nice boyd bears and some other goodies and what nots. We also found some fantastic books we added to our school workbooks. It was a very successful year and we have it on the plans already for next year.

Turtle Trot and WIPocalypse

This month both WIPocalypse and Turtle Trot happen today. So let's see what's been going on since July 14th when it was the last WIPocalypse and July 10th the last Turtle Trot.

Cut Thru Pirate Ship by Bothy Threads - Worked on 2 days.
Before...

After...

Advent Animals SAL - Worked on 10 days trying to catch up.
Before I had finished # 1
Now I have finished through # 6 the pictures are in my finishes tab above if you would like to look at them.

Dog Wisdom by Bucilla - Worked on 3 days.
Before...

 After...

Seasonal Word Pieces by Cricket Collection
Before I have them all finished except for Autumn. So I decided I better get it marked off the list too.
Here is where I was last time I worked on it which was October 31st 2012.

Here I am now...

None Days - 12 We had our long camping trip and no stitching was done. Also I just got back from 3 days of garage sale shopping in Ohio so nothing there either.

Well that's my check in for both SALs. Now to get to my relaxing day of stitching and TV. Tomorrow I have 300 loads of laundry to do (okay maybe a little more than the real number haha). Tuesday we are starting Jeremiah's school year.

Caught Up

I'm caught up now. This is the latest released cutie from the Advent Animals SAL from Brooke's Books. Her name is Cashmere Camel. I think one of the most fun parts of this SAL (other than stitching them) is waiting to see what the next animal is going to be. We've had a cat, polar bear, mouse, dog, hedgehog and camel. What's next?!

This weekend we are hitting the road for the Lincoln Hiway Sale. It goes the whole length of Ohio on Lincoln Hiway. All along the road there are just garage sale after garage sale. I forget how many we stopped at last year. I'm going to do my best to keep track of how many we stop at. It's so much fun. Mom, Jeremiah, and me will hit the road Thursday morning and be back Saturday evening probably. We are really looking forward to it cause you never know what you will find. Hopefully I'll find some stitching stuff.

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend was nice and relaxing. Well sort of. Saturday morning we tackled some weeds. We made quick work on it though and was ready to relax the rest of the day. I pulled out my Dog Wisdom kit. I haven't worked on it since April so it was time to get some daylight. I got a lot done! I was up by the bone and the Learn New Tricks part. I love it when the needles just seem to take off and fly.

Saturday in the middle of the night I went to roll over and move my leg and my leg decided to get a major cramp. So I woke from my peaceful dreams screaming bloody murder. My poor dog came running to see what was wrong and my hubby said What What?! I was able to get out My leg My leg. He grabbed it and straightened it out and oh it hurt but I needed it. The knot will be there for a few days. I keep joking about guessing I need permission to move my legs next time. Then this afternoon I was walking back from the bathroom and ran the same leg into Jeremiah's reading table. OUCH! It turned pretty colors right away and just keeps getting prettier as the day goes by. I swear I'm doomed. I told hubby I just need a padded room but I think I would find a way to hurt myself in there.

Oh well at least I got a lot of stitching done haha. We also got a lot of TV watched. Is anyone watching the new series called The Strain on FX? Oh I just love it. There are just way too many good shows on nowadays.

Number 5 Done

Number 5 is done too now. I just love this little one. Hedgehogs are just so cute! The next one is an adorable camel but of course my ink just ran out so she will have to wait until a trip to the store is made.

My camping trip was a blast. Hubby and me snuck over Tuesday night. It was hot during setup but we kept hearing there were going to be some storms and then the weather would be perfect. We got everything setup and quickly fell asleep. 2:30am I got woke up by rumbling thunder in the distance. The lightning show was simply gorgeous. The rain then decided to dump on us so I quickly woke up hubby. He was running around outside in just his pj shorts trying to keep our roof from holding water. One time he got a nice cold shower when it all dumped right down his chest. After that the weather was just perfect. We did end up getting some sprinkles of rain here and there but nothing to ruin our time at all. I had a blast getting to know some new people and getting closer with several others. It was a wonderful time indeed.

It's that time of year again. I've been seeing a lot of friends post pictures of their kids going back to school. I am so very thankful that Jeremiah doesn't have to go to public school. It just didn't work for him. We looked at the calendar and picked August 12th for our start day. We are both really excited to start again. We just love his books and they make learning so much fun. I think even he is getting bored with Xbox everyday haha. My mind is already whirling with fun ideas for this year. Well I'm off to look through my WIP box and see what needs to be stitched.

2 More Little Finishes

Guess what IHSW brought me?

2 more little finishes. I finished Day 3 and 4. Love these little guys. We got a TON of TV shows watched off the DVR too. We had so many we needed to watch. It was a very nice weekend. Now I just have to survive the next 2 days. Actually day and a half. We leave tomorrow after Fred gets off work. It's our party camping trip. It's the one time a year where we act more foolish than normal haha. No kids. No responsibilities. It's crazy fun. Jeremiah will have fun here with mom. They have a lot of plans already. We will be there till Sunday and then drag ourselves home. Hope everyone that joined in IHSW got a lot of stitching done.

Little Finish

I have a little finish to report...

I'm doing the Brooke's Books Advent Animals. She just released #5 so I figured I better get busy so I don't get too far behind. So here is Peter Polar Bear. The design had I Love Coco but a lady on a Facebook group changed it to say I Love Xmas so I asked permission to copy her. I really like it a lot better for me personally since I'm not a coco drinker.

This weekend is IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend).I've been busy the last several ones but I think I'll have lots of time this weekend. I can't decide what I want to work on. I thought I would work on something else but then I thought maybe I'll work on these Advent Animals. Guess we'll have to see what happens. Pick up your needles and stitch along with us.

Stitching Questions

A fellow stitcher blog that I follow by Shebafudge posted these fun stitching related questions. I really enjoyed reading her answers and thought I would follow along...

Q1 - How did you start?  Who introduced you to cross stitching?
I was always a crafty person. I love walking through craft stores trying to find what I wanted to do next. I did latch hook rugs. Needlepoint. I noticed the counted cross stitch section was larger (at that time) than the needlepoint section so I stopped to take a look. There was a dragon and I just had to buy him and try it out. I taught myself and have been in love ever since. After I had my son in 1998 it was something I would pick up and do every night while sitting watching TV.

Q2 - Favourite theme or designer

I love fun bright colors. I thought I would love Teresa Wentzler until I realized how HARD her patterns are haha. I seem to change a lot. I love Bothy Cut Thru's. But I really tend to jump around and just stitch whatever I like most.

Q3 - What brand of floss do you use?

Good ol DMC. I enjoy the pretty threads and have used them for a few pieces but DMC is just fine for me.

Q4 - What is your fabric of choice?

28ct Jobelan Evenweave seems to win a lot. I do enjoy using hand dyed when I can find a piece that works. 

 

Q5 - Do you use a needle threader or are you a floss licker?

I'm a floss licker haha.

 

Q6 - What brand of stitching frame (or hoop or otherwise holder) do you use?

I fell in love with Q-Snaps a long time ago and have used nothing since. 

 

Q7 - How many projects have you finished?

Wow I have no idea. I haven't kept as good of records and I wish I did. Just a quick count of 2006 and 2007 already had me over 100 so alot! I've done a lot of smalls though back then. I used to do exchanges with little 6x6 blocks of stitching. I would finish about 50 things a year. Now that it's just my own pieces or a few things for others I do about 30 things a year.

 

Q8 - How many completed works are hanging in your house?

20 right now. LOL big difference from the last question. I have a few baskets of ornaments and what nots.

 

Q9 - Do you stitch for gifts or for yourself?

Mix of both. I've done a lot of things for my mom but since we live together I guess it's for our house haha. 

 

Q10 - Favourite finished cross stitch piece

Wow I have so many.

My first finished Heaven and Earth designs makes me really proud.

Q11 - Worst experience whilst stitching?
I did model stitching for a long time for several different designers. I really enjoyed it until it became a job. I had a piece that I just hated and each stitch made me hate stitching. I didn't even want to work on my own stuff any more. When I realized what was going on I quickly quit and promised myself not to do it again. So far I've stuck to it haha.


Q12 - What do you love and hate about cross stitch?
I love how it calms me down. Something about forming a picture with X's makes me happy. I hate that I can't finish the 3,000 pieces I want to finish haha.

Q13 - Have you introduced anyone else to cross stitching?
No I don't think so.

Q14 - The first project, did you finish it?

No but I think I was close. I have no idea where it even is now. It was a Dimension Charts and Charms piece. This is what it was supposed to look like...

I think I had it almost done maybe. I wonder if I kept it after all these years. Maybe I'll find it one day.

Q15 - How do you store your floss?
2 ways. I have a bunch on plastic bobbins in Jammers. They used to be sold at Walmart in the Hot Wheel section. I have 3 of those. Then the ones not on bobbins they are in ziplock bags in 2 of Fred's boxes (my hubby has huge feet so that means he wears huge shoes and I get the awesome shoe boxes).

This was fun. Thanks for posting Sheba I enjoyed answering.

      

July WIPocalypse

Over the weekend was WIPocalypse but I was busy watching DVR and stitching away on what I hoped to be soon was a finish (which it was!). The last WIPocalypse check in was June 16th so let's see what I've been doing since then...

Snow Drifters by Stoney Creek (I want to do 2 Designs) - Worked on 2 Days
Grow Together by Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) - Worked on 2 Days
Summer by The Cricket Collection - Worked on 9 Days and finally finished!
Christmas Snowfriends Banner by Stoney Creek - Worked on 3 Days
None -- 12 Days (At least my none number is better than last check in!!)

The pictures are in the post below this one other than my new finish...

This is Summer by Cricket Collection. I have Spring (on my wall now haha) and Winter already mounted. Autumn is the last one I need to do to be finished with this series. Now I have to see what is screaming the loudest for me to stitch it. I also purchased this cute chart...

It's from Artecy called Halloween Minis. A friend on Facebook was selling it and I just had to help her out by buying it of course haha. I think I'll do them as little individual ornaments instead than one big piece.

Now let's see what the topic question is this check in...It’s halfway to Christmas.  Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  If so, what do you hope to accomplish this year?
I'm the kind of person that works on what I want to work on when I want to. I don't really do gifts of stitching for the holidays so I guess I would start that now if I had a deadline. Since no deadlines I stitch whatever is screaming loudest. Hope everyone has had a great month and got a lot of stitching done. See ya next check in.

July Turtle Trot

I just have to start the post with a cute turtle picture because it's Turtle Trot Time. On the 10th of every month we post an update on 10 projects we have on our list. I'm proud to say I finished one which means I get to replace it with something else. So let's see what I've been working on since my June Turtle Trot post.



I worked on 5 of my 10 picks.








Let's go to the Beach by Imaginating
Before...

Finished...

Snow Drifters by Stoney Creek (I want to do 2 Designs)
Worked on Have a Ball
Before...

After...

Grow Together by Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED)
Before...

After...

Summer by The Cricket Collection (Trying to finish!)
Before...

After...

Christmas Snowfriends Banner by Stoney Creek
I had not started this piece so here is the after...

If you joined in the Turtle Trot I hope you had a successful trot too. Wonder where we will be on our projects next month. Guess we'll have to stitch and see.