Jul 22nd Monday Update

Lots to talk about. First let's see what I worked on last week.

Monday and Tuesday I worked on Christmas Celebration Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin. Finished the next section the M section and some more border...

I added 784 stitches in the two days. I really hope to finish this one this year. We'll see about that.

Wednesday I hit my monthly goal on Patriotic Gnome Littles by Waxing Moon...

It was used for a prompt challenge with the prompt Stars. 

After hitting my goal on that one I picked up Colorful Eagle by Kitty & Me. Worked on it till I hit my goal Friday of 400 stitches...and then some haha. I actually put in 776 total...

My needle just fell in love and I couldn't put him down. I finished the left page and started the right page. Love him so much.

Over the weekend it was IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). I always have great plans and then I got a whopping 351 stitches Saturday and Sunday haha. That's okay we had fun and visited with family instead. I picked up Yggdrasil again. I have a goal of 500 a month on it. No luck but there is still time in the month...

Just love the details in that corner. Beautiful. Just takes forever haha. It will sure be worth it though.

Plans. I have 4 acrostic picks to finish. So I'm hoping to work on those this week. Mushroom Gnome Mill Hill Kit, The Mandalorian, Lady Liberty, and Irish Blessing. My major problem. I keep joining challenges haha. I am in so many stitching game groups now. I have a group of girls that just keep forcing me to join new things haha. Fandom is a new fun stitching group. This year it's based on Disney. Starting July 26th  (which is also the start of the Instagram Olympics Challenge haha) through Sept 9th they are doing a Dashgo challenge (Dash from Incredibles movie). Every 2 days a number gets picked. There are different levels. The top level you use prompts they provide. Every 100 stitches gets 3pts for your team. So I have it ready to go. I made myself a promise not to get projects to fit the prompts I don't have which are a few prompts. But I have some prompts that will be fun to work on...

Minimum needed 100 stitches to mark off the square. I also joined the weekly challenge but that will help me hit my goals on my last acrostics. Really it's fun because most the time the projects work for multiple games so it's just an extra push to stitch fast haha. I am really enjoying it a lot and honestly don't feel pressure at all. The games are very clear that it's for fun so the points are just an extra fun things to work toward. Progress is what really matters and life still has to be lived....WHAT?! LOL I'm sure Fred would understand doing all the household chores so I could just stitch nonstop right? LOL So another plan I had is to try to not give in to peer pressure and join more challenges. I say that now.....Sure haha.

Yesterday I got all my cooking stuff back out and made 18 more zucchini muffins.....YUMMY...

Trying to make this last all week. Boy it was hard not to eat them all last night haha. They smell so good. I did have some for breakfast this morning.....YUMMY!

Family Update. Grandpa is still holding on. Which is hard on everyone. I really hope he can rest and be at peace soon. Some family wants him around and honestly that's selfish. He won't be well again. No chance. It's so hard to see him suffer now. We wouldn't let an animal suffer like this. So I hope he can rest like he deserves to. Bev is doing great. She is still on a Chemo pill for a little bit longer but she seems to be doing well right now. They have a trip planned for beginning of August since her 60th bday is the 2nd. I really hope she stays well enough to be able to go and enjoy her time. Jeremiah is excited as well to go along. We also have a little weekend getaway planned Fred and I. We haven't done that since mom was around. So here's hoping all health things can be okay for the weekend break.

I did have something happen to myself. I noticed I had a lump that was getting very painful. Friday I was in a lot of pain. I woke up 5am Saturday morning in tears. So I knew something had to be done. I woke Fred up and told him I need to go to the walk in clinic. I told the sweet doctor if you can't do anything I will go to the emergency room. She said my options were an antibiotic and wait a few days or lance it. I said just do it. The lidocaine injection was extremely painful but once that was done it was relief. It was an abscess and I'm glad I got it taken care of. She did put me on antibiotics for a week to make sure I don't develop an infection. It is still painful but I'm doing better every day. I told the lady in tears my body is turning against me these last few years. Just sucks. I have really bad tendonitis in not one but both my wrists. The right one is finally doing a little better but wow. Ouch. Anyway I will hide in my stitching and just wish all pains would stop for everyone I care about including myself. 

Hugs. Have a great week. Love yourself. Find any reason to smile.

Jul 15th Monday Update - Finished Mill Hill

 It's a HOT Monday here in Indiana after a HOT weekend. I was luckily able to hide inside the AC and get a lot of stitching done last week. Let's see on what...

Monday was a no stitch day. Computer work. Laundry. Groceries won the day. 

Tuesday I started the next Zodiac Mill Hill kit for Fred added 857 stitches. Pisces. Wednesday I added 606. Thursday I put in the final 154 stitches...

Finish #21

Pisces

MH16-1826

From 2018 Mill Hill Kits

Stitched on Perforated Paper

Using Kit Threads and Beads

Started July 9th, 2024. Took 3 Days.

1,617 Total Stitches.

 

 After finishing that up I picked up Beer Dragon. Time for the monthly 500 stitches. I added 68 Thursday, 301 Friday, 139 Saturday, and 523 Sunday. So a total of 1,031. I finished page 5 and got a little start on the 6th page which is the last page in this row of pages.

So this is the farthest right side now. Wohoo!!!

Saturday against all my whining we had a day out haha. I really notice I've been enjoying hermit life more and more. I run out to get groceries or do laundry but am really really happy to return home and hide. The real world is just crazy! But I don't want to enjoy having a good time. So we woke up Saturday and went to our local farmer's market. I had heard about it and we've been talking about going since we moved here. But something always seems to come up. Spike is even allowed. It was hot but it was a really nice time. We will definitely be back later when it cools down. We went to get hair cuts. Then we came back home so Fred could mow the grass. The forecast was rain and HOT so he wanted to do it before all that. 

When he was done we all loaded up again and headed to the cigar bar. They were having a BBQ food truck that we liked. So we went and visited with our friends and ate ourselves miserable. The heat won though and we left before too long. Bev was released from the hospital and they were on the way to visit my Grandpa so we headed over there. Hospice has been called in now for the making him comfortable. He needs a surgery that they can't do because his age and how bad his health is. So unfortunately we will lose him soon. He is my last Grandpa. I'm his oldest grandchild so have always joked about being number one and he would just smile. Then Jeremiah is the oldest great grandchild. So we knew we were the favorites. He was awake enough to ask me for a big hug. He was glad to see Jeremiah and said There's my man. It was emotional but I'm glad we were able to say Bye. Now it's a waiting game. Right now my family is doing okay. I think my Grandma is in denial she keeps talking about when he's better. Dad is handling it well. Sadly they had a very hard relationship most of my dad's life.

Sunday I got to do something I've always wanted to do...

I've been researching zucchini recipes since we have so many from our garden. I seen a zucchini muffin you could do in the air fryer. I've never made muffins before but I've always wanted to. So I made the first 6. I was yelling and smiling the whole time. My first muffins with my zucchini out of our little garden. Then I tasted them.....THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!! So that made it even better haha. I will definitely be making more of these as soon as it's not 300 degrees outside haha. Guess I could just bake them without the air fryer haha.

Plans. This week there is a Christmas in July challenge. I need 500 on a Christmas themed piece. I picked Christmas Celebration Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin so I'm excited to work on it. This coming weekend is IHSW. I don't know if we are doing anything or not. We did lose at least one tree in all the storms we've been having. I haven't walked the whole property but I'm sure there are more. So we will see if we end up doing work or not. If not....stitching time haha.

Have a great week. Love yourself. Hug your loved ones. Find any reason you can to smile.

Jul 8th Monday Update - Finish

Hey everyone. Hope you had a great 4th of July to my US readers. We sure did. Let me see what stitching I was able to squeeze in last week too.

Monday was the 1st so I decided to start my monthly new start pick...

I had a great day and added 802 stitches. Tuesday I added the rest 141 for a finish...

Finish #20

Mini Block America

by Hinzeit

Fabric 28ct New Khaki Lugana

Threads WDW Liberty and Americana

Started July 1st 2024. Took 2 Days.

943 Total Stitches.

After finishing that up I made some more progress on Summer Line Up by The Trilogy. 278 added Tuesday and 810 added Wednesday. 4 Days in now...

Mom would love the lighthouse of course. Thursday I picked up Forever in Peace by Sweet Wing Studio again...

I had 8 days into it. I picked it for a 4th of July challenge to see if I could get 500, 100, or 1776 stitching into a patriotic piece. I didn't know if I would hit the max but I did. Wohoo!

Info on piece. Fabric is 32ct Lambswool Jobelan with suggested DMC threads. 12 Days into it now. Friday I was very antisocial and hide inside to stitch haha. Added 912. Friday was only 181. Saturday I did 143 on the porch being half social haha. Sunday everyone finally left so I got 758 which completed the max. I actually ended up with 1,994 added. I don't know if anything famous happened that year haha. My Aunt put on Facebook that she really wants this one when I finish so it might be stolen haha. It's sweet she loves it so much. Just the other half to do now. 

We didn't have a huge crowd for the 4th but it was still nice and fun. We did a bunch of fireworks Saturday night and they were wonderful. We enjoyed our time relaxing. We watched a few movies. Dad and Bev came into our cabin for a fun military movie. We also watched the new Ghost Busters. It was really good. Just a nice relaxing time overall which was very nice. 

Bev went up to the hospital today and everything was okay for her round of chemo to start. So that's good news. Unfortunately my Grandpa isn't doing well so more stress for the pile. We are supposed to get hit with Hurricane Beryl leftovers Tuesday and Wednesday. Which we do need rain so I guess it'll be okay. Maybe 2 to 3 inches of rain coming. Hopefully it adds up in the pond. It's still so low. So trying to get laundry and groceries tonight so we can hide until it all passes. Hopefully that means stitching time ahead. I might work on the Pisces Mill Hill haven't decided yet.

Have a great week. Love yourself. Find reasons to smile.

Jul 1st Monday Update

Here it is the first Monday of July. How? 7 months into 2024 already. I just wish the rest would SLOW down. Let's see what I was up to last week.

Monday I started another new piece. I mean I haven't started anything else lately right? Shush haha. The Pirate from Cottage Garden Samplings just had to be mine. I mean pirate! Hello? I worked on it Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm using 36ct Mirage Edinburgh Linen. I loved how it was a dark and I hoped the snowman white would pop better. I love it so far...

1,274 stitches so far. Thursday I got to working on Thanks to the Brave by Erica Michaels. Worked on it Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Sunday I put the last stitches in. 

I found a little frame while shopping at Hobby Lobby Saturday so I tried it...

Love it!!! Oops forgot to give info on the piece...

Finish #19

Thanks to the Brave by Erica Michaels

Fabric 40ct Silk Gauze

Threads GAST Black Crow, Roasted Marshmellow, and Weathered Barn

Started March 1, 2024. Took 10 Days.

7,065 Total Stitches

A friend of mine got me interested in a new hobby...

It's a felt kit from Merry Stockings. From a mantel series so it makes a little shelf display. I've always been intrigued by felt kits. So I figured why not. I received it Saturday morning. Of course I needed some supplies so off to Hobby Lobby I went...

Some batting, sorting containers from the sequins, new scissors, some of the clips everyone is using, and I needed some floss of course. I will hopefully start it soon. My left wrist is hurting really bad probably tendonitis and I want that to heal up before I even try twisting and holding that felt. Luckily it doesn't hurt too bad to hold my Q-Snap. Not that I would let that slow me down haha.

I have 3 new starts planned for July...

I have this one planned for today. I would think it will be pretty fast so hopefully I'll finish it this month. I'm using 28ct New Khaki Lugana and Weeks Dye Works threads Liberty and Americana. I also have one like this that says Freedom. A LNS posted them on their Facebook page in April 2020 and I just knew my little patriotic kiddo would like them. 

Two Mill Hill kits will be started this month. Pisces which is Fred's Zodiac. The other is another Jim Shore gnome this one is called Mushroom Gnome.

Life update. Our little garden is doing fantastic...

Zucchini and Cucumber galore. I see a lot of baby tomatoes growing as well. Any time now. Yummy!! We like having the zucchini on our grill. So delicious.

Bev update. She was released from the hospital. They think the antibiotics treated whatever the infection was and her numbers are slowly building back up. They also did a bone marrow test because they wanted to check her overall cancer. Right now she still shows as cancer free. So last discussed they want to do one last round of chemo just to keep it gone. Then we don't know other than to switch to watching and maintaining. Still more to learn. She seems to be doing okay. She is sick of not being able to see. I sure wish that could come back. She does beautiful embroidery and she misses it badly. I simply can't imagine. Thanks for all the extra prayers and thoughts sent for her. I appreciate them a lot.

I'm off to stitch. I love the beginning of a month. I get all excited about my stitching plans. Let's do it. Have a great week. Happy 4th of July to my US readers. We are going to be a little laid back. Supposed to be HOT and stormy. My BFF is busy doing some things with his new love haha. So he won't be here. So should be hopefully laid back. Maybe I'll even get to stitch! That would be lovely. I have a challenge to stitch 1776 on a Patriotic piece. I would love to get that done.

Love yourself. Find reasons to smile. Stay safe in the weather.

June WIPocalypse

Hello readers. It's the last Sunday of the month which means it's time for a WIPocalypse post. The idea of this fun blog game is for us to stitch all our WIPs before the end of the world. I like to use it as an excuse to show progress I've made since the last update. I keep track in a planner what I work on each day. Also the day number on the project and the amount of stitches done that day. So let's look back this last month.

Dragon Biscornu by Tiny Modernist -- 2 Days

Irish Blessing by Herrschners -- 3 Days Started and made progress on this freebie from Herrschners

Yggdrasil by Paine Free Crafts -- 5 Days. Started this beauty new piece.

Patriotic Gnome Littles by Waxing Moon Designs --1 Day. Finished up Balloon Girl and got a start on the next one Celebrate Gnome

Christmas Celebration by Frosted Pumpkin -- 1 Day Finished another section on this one

Halloween Potions by Les Petites Croix De Lucie -- 1 Day Got some progress on this one

 

Beer Dragon by Paine Free Crafts -- 2 Days. Got my monthly goal of 500 added

Taurus MH -- 2 Days Finished up this cute zodiac Mill Hill kit

All American by Primrose Cottage -- 3 days and I finished this one up too

Love Beer by Hinzeit -- 2 Days Started and finished this fun little project

Winter SAL from Stitchonomy -- 1 Day. Added some progress to this one

The Mandalorian by Forbidden Fiber Co -- 2 Days. Progress on this one

Summer Line Up by The Trilogy -- 2 Days. Got a start on the new seasonal stitch

The Pirate by Cottage Garden Samplings -- 3 Days Got a start on this adorable pattern

Last one is Thanks to the Brave by Erica Michaels -- 2 days but I will work on it today too and maybe finish? So you can wait till my Monday update for that picture.

Measi also gives us a fun question to answer. Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year? Right now I'm doing fantastic and really enjoying my time a lot. These FB challenge groups are a lot of fun. I also found some role playing groups where they do stitching (Utopia and Stitch Village) I'm a really enjoying them a lot!!! I think this month life will be a little more busy so I think I will focus on stitching more on less projects but we'll see haha.

I have 3 new starts planned for July.  2 Mill Hill kits and another Hinzeit pattern. Have a great July. See ya the last Sunday for the next WIPocalypse update.